Teryy, I can remember a watchtower (ahmm) study around '85 that implied the time since '75 was related to the time it took Adam to name all the animals. I don't have the WT CD with me at the moment so I can't double check.
steve
The "Creation of Eve" and the interval affecting 1975
by Terry 28 Replies latest jw experiences
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stevenyc
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DanTheMan
Shouldn't this be a headline in a Watchtower somewhere with a big clock ticking? "ADAM STILL WAITS FOR WIFE!"
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Outrageous ducking and weaving followed by flip-flopping ending in outright bald-faced lying!
Both of those cracked me up!
What I don't understand is where the WTS got their interpretation of the 1000 year reign coinciding with the last 1000 years of the 7th creative day. Was this just another of their patented stiff-arm "evidently" or "apparently" explanations?
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OnTheWayOut
What I don't understand is where the WTS got their interpretation of the 1000 year reign coinciding with the last 1000 years of the 7th creative day. Was this just another of their patented stiff-arm "evidently" or "apparently" explanations?
Maybe a 1975er can explain this, but my take is this. The Freddy Franz era pointed out to us that
every Creative Day after the first one, God said that "it was good." They still teach that the 7th Day
will end with God saying "it was good." They still teach that in order to do that, the 1000 year-reign
must be included in the 7th day. That would mean that it is a day ending with all creation on earth
worshipping and at peace- Good indeed.The problem came in their allowing Freddy to run off with this "7000 years in a creative day" nonsense.
They don't have any real backing for that theory. It did work great for recruitment, they might have seen
something similar when other whacko theorists tried it in the late 1800's. I am mixed on whether Knorr
and Fred believed this totally, or just used it to drive up the numbers- remember, they needed to expand
and pay for modern equipment. After the fallout from this belief, Fred had to give control to the Governing
Body, but he was still a chief "oracle" and they couldn't just say NEVERMIND. Now, though they dropped
the 7000 years to a day, they are married to "it was good." Actually, you can make a good logic case for
everyday ending that way. -
onacruse
I distinctly recall the "fall-back" position after October 1975 came and went: "Well, we're into the 2-year period...just wait a little longer."
DTM, the 7,000-year "creative day" period is what led to the conclusion that the Millenial reign must occupy the last 1,000 years of the 7th creative day, all based on the typical Jubilee pattern.
You really must spend some time reading the WTS books from 100 years ago.
roflmao!
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DanTheMan
Thanks for the explanations OTWO and Onacruse.
Onacruse, good to see you back on the board here lately :)
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mcsemike
To Stevenyc: I've been around since 1971. After 1975 failed, they did say that Adam needed time to study the animals so that he could give them "appropriate names" and also finally realize that there was no mate among them for him. This raised some questions.
First, how big was the Garden of Eden that it took years for Adam to walk around and realize that he hadn't noticed any beautiful, naked woman who was walking around trying to find him? And how many years does it take to name just the "kinds" of animals that ended up on the Ark? If I remember, the talks said that Noah didn't bring all the animals on the Ark that we have today. This is their defense for how all the animals could have been fed and cared for all that time in such a relatively small boat and then become diversified "according to their kind". But now they say it took years and years for Adam to name them all. Another contradiction. The more time, the more animals to be named? The more animals, the worse for the Ark story.
Does anyone have some references on this? I also can't find them. Thank you.
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zack
A District Overseer by the last name of Samuelson, who now teaches at Gilead, did not know himself what the "teaching" was about the length of a
Creative day. He had to ask the writing department because he was scheduled to give a class on it at Gilead. Which
got me to thinking, If this Brother, a former DO, doesn"t KNOW the current "teaching", how is the average JW supposed
to know? And what is up with the idea of "the current teaching?" This was before my awakening at pioneer school.
Zack---------------
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OnTheWayOut
If this Brother, a former DO, doesn"t KNOW the current "teaching", how is the
average JW supposed to know?The average JW is not supposed to know. As an elder, I was not taught
any of this, just the Creation Book explanation that each Creative Day was
"thousands of years" long (enabling old-timers to remember that it's SEVEN
"thousands of years" long, but for me to think TENS of thousands).I learned the 7000 years theory from my mother (who still believes it), and I
read it in my WT Library. Sure enough, Mom has the complete teaching
correct from the old literature- never retracted.When I told my current CO what my mother told me, he said the same thing
I first said- We don't teach that. I doubt the CO did the history like I did.You really would have had to have been an adult JW with good study habits
no later than 1976 in order to have this theory embedded in your brain. Try to
ask a current JW to explain why Jesus presence must have started in 1914 and
they can't do it. It could be changed eventually, because of rank and file ignorance.I studied with an older guy who married an older JW. He had a terminal illness,
and said he would study and consider baptism. He wanted to know all about
1914 from the scriptures. Me and another elder explained it. We were pretty
good, but he did ask many "Why would that apply?" questions that we were not
always too sure of our answers. He just accepted it because he wanted to make
his wife happy before he died. He never made it to baptism, but he was another
reason I knew I needed to get back to serious study of my doubts. -
zack
OnTheWayOut:
Of course you're right. The average JW is NOT supposed to know. But I gave my first student talk in 1970 and I KNOW what they taught. The Insight Book published in 1988 changed the 7000 year Creative Day to thousands of years. But many people never got the memo. Incidentally, the Insight Book says very strighforwardly that the Bible gives no length to the Creative Days. This after decades of assertions to the contrary.
The other wrinkle is that in order to differentiate themselve from other fundies, they say that "the Beginning"-- that time period of Genesis chapter 1--- is seperate frrom the Creative Days. In other words, the Universe and the Earth already existed-- and they concede for billions of years--- prior to God getting the Earth ready for human habitation and beginning his work of Creation. The seven creative days are seperate and apart from the Creation of the Universe and the Earth itself. This would mean, according to their teaching which they have never refuted, that the dinosaurs are at most only 13,000 or so years old since it was in that "DAY" , the sixth, that God created the land animals, of which man was presumably the last, because God then rested.
A sister today commented at the WT Study that we are deep into the time of the end because Adam surely has named all the animals by now. I guess she didn't get the memo.