by cosmo 11 Replies latest jw friends
I've asked quite a few JW's and it seems the answer varies. Some say 1000 years other say 6,000 or 7,000 years.
Only one gave me a answer that I found logical. A creative day has no set amount of time. All the creative days could be different amounts of time. He gave me the example of saying "In our day". Then he asked how long that day was. It seemed like a good answer. I'm just trying to get a concensus.
It used to be 7,000 years long....now it is just listed as several thousand years long...that was one of those silent adjustments. 6,000 years human history from 4025 BCE to 1975 CE plus 1,000 years for the 1,000 year reign of Christ. 26 years later that causes too many questions.
According to the JW's, a creation day is 7,000 years.
After creating Adam, god rested. So, God's day of rest
began about 6,000 years ago. It will end with Christ's
1,000 year reign. And, since Armageddon is due to come
any day now, then the 7th day will be 7,000 years long.
Unfortunately, this whole concept has huge flaws. The
simple existance of a human fossil more than 6,000 years
old invalidates the entire reasoning, and in fact, the Bible
itself.
I don't feel anybody has enough information to say how long a creative day can be, they can only guess.
Could be 1,000,000 or 1,000,000,000 years, anybody's guess.
I'm sure there is someone like You Know who will be so dogmatic and venture to give you an exact time.
I'll defend your right to say it, but it doesn't mean I beleive it.
Hey DWilsthire, I merely answered what the WTS taught moons ago and what they say now. The only ones who know are God, Jesus, and the angels...for those who accept the Bible's version. And for those who don't, no one knows.
RunningMan,
Actually the WTS no longer ( since the 1998 'Creator' book ) teaches that the creative days were 7,000 years in duration.
They now teach that these days are 'periods' of indeterminate, and not necessarily equal lengths.
Best regards - HS
Until the 1980s the Watchtower Society dogmatically taught that a creative day was 7,000 years long. In the early 80s one or two comments in WTS literature used the term "millenniums" instead of "7,000 years". This was used again in the 1985 Creation book. The last mention of 7,000-year 'days' was in a 1987 Watchtower article, so far as I know, and the 1988 Insight book, which is supposed to be authoritative, uses "millenniums". So the usage is today.
JWs don't really know what to make of this, since any who were JWs before the mid-80s is well aware of the older 7,000 year teaching. But because the Society has not explicitly abandoned it, and is using the non-committal "millenniums" term, some will say that the Society no longer teaches the old idea, while others will argue that because the last definite statement mentions 7,000 years, that is still officially the teaching.
I think that the Society's leaders are split over the issue, and so can't come to a consensus, and therefore don't want to alarm the rank & file. If they abandon the old idea, that would create a huge problem for older JWs who understand that JW chronology is very dependent on it. Newer JWs generally know very little of the traditional importance, and they accept the fact that life has been on the earth for at least a billion years, and so it's not an issue with them. I think that eventually, after most of the old guard has died off, the Society will explicitly accept modern dating methods.
AlanF
My info is from the earlier "Creation" book. I was fortunate
enough to think up 29 excuses to miss the book study last
year, so I only took in three lessons. Oops.
Either way, the current set of doctrines will soon be proved
wrong and replaced, so don't get too attached to them.
Thanks Alan,
I well remember the sigh of relief in the Congregations when the issue was muddied in the '98 Creator book.
I suspect one too many CO's had had their fill of being being humiliated in front of his quivering co-worker by the typical Grade 8 student.
Best to you all - HS
Modern geology (modern being used loosely) causes too many problems for life to have been around for less than 49,000 years . Doesn't stop the WTS quoting a young Earth geologist from the 1920's to back them up in the Creator book. It helps not list any source for quotes as well.
How long is a creative day? How long is a ball of string?
Thirdson
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
