For the life of me I can't remember and can't find even with "search" what the exact belief was about the age of the earth. Did it change? I could have sworn we were taught to believe that the earth was no more than 5-7 thousand years old. Now I have a JW telling me that is a lie. I searched everywhere, and just knew that you guys could help me. PLEASE??????
NEED HELP with Watchtower or publication quotes (age of the earth)
by Tatiana 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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yknot
I remember the Paradise Regained book said each creative day was 7000 years.......
Of course now we have backed down from those claims, here below is the last comment made by the WTS about the subject.
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g 9/06 p.28 How Can IDefend My Belief in Creation?***
M y science textbook says that the earth and the solar system have been in existence for billions of years. The Bible does not comment on the age of the earth or the solar system. What it says is compatible with the thought that the universe may well have been in existence for billions of years before the beginning of the first creative "day."—Genesis 1:1, 2.
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Tatiana
Thank you, Y. Do you know of the older quotes? Does anyone remember exactly what we were taught in the past until new light hit us in the head?
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Alpaca
Tats,
Go to bed. There is plenty of info. available. Check back tomorrow and all of your questions will have answers.
All the best,
Alex
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Tatiana
Ok, Alpaca....
I searched for over an hour and could not find direct publication quotes. Only a reference to a 1950's belief that Satan scattered the bones to confuse people. I'm a night owl anyway.
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possible-san
Hi, Tatiana.
Although I do not know whether it will be help you, please look at what I had described in the following thread.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/165352/1/1990-All-Scripture-Is-Inspired-of-God-and-Beneficial-PDFWell, about the age of the earth, the publications of JW have not been declared since former times.
http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/creation/creation2.html
(http://www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/creation/creationtitles.html) -
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undercover
As the link to the posts by Blondie and Thinker show, the Society taught that each creative day was 7,000 years. That makes the earth less than 50,000 years old, per the old light.
Nowadays, they've hedged their bets...
From their website: http://www.watchtower.org/e/200609a/article_01.htm
The Genesis account opens with the simple, powerful statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Bible scholars agree that this verse describes an action separate from the creative days recounted from verse 3 onward. The implication is profound. According to the Bible’s opening statement, the universe, including our planet Earth, was in existence for an indefinite time before the creative days began.
In essence they're trying to make their teachings compatible with modern day discoveries of just how old the earth really is. Where years before they made definitive statements and damn the science community, today they realize that a dogmatic stance on the subject flies in the face of reason, especially when you've got creationists mucking up the waters.
In the paragraphs preceding that one they try to distance themselves from the creationists:
Many people claim that science disproves the Bible’s account of creation. But the real contradiction is between science and, not the Bible, but the opinions of so-called Christian Fundamentalists. Some of these groups falsely assert that according to the Bible, all physical creation was produced in six 24-hour days some 10,000 years ago.
The Bible, however, does not support such a conclusion. If it did, then many scientific discoveries over the past hundred years would indeed discredit the Bible. A careful study of the Bible text reveals no conflict with established scientific facts. For that reason, Jehovah’s Witnesses disagree with “Christian” Fundamentalists and many creationists.
Does the Society still teach that each creative day is 7,000 years long? Who knows... Under the subheading, How Long Were The Creative Days, they never really answer the question as authoritatively as they did in the past.
One such paragraph:
Contrary to the claims of some Fundamentalists, Genesis does not teach that the universe, including the earth and all living things on it, was created in a short period of time in the relatively recent past. Rather, the description in Genesis of the creation of the universe and the appearance of life on earth harmonizes with many recent scientific discoveries.
This is a spin article. They're trying to distance themselves from the creationists whose views are more radical than the WT's were of the past. At the same time, the WT quietly drops all of it's references to definite lengths of time for the creative days or the age of the planet. They hope by being obtuse to be able to rectify what the Bible says with what modern discoveries show.
To anyone willing to compare what they used to teach to what they print now, you can see that they've painted themselves into a corner. It's typical WT revionist history. Don't talk about the old teachings, don't admit that you ever proclaimed definite time periods for the creation periods and hope that the rank and file don't question anything.
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Alpaca
HeyTats,
Did you get your questions answered?
That whole issue with the age of the earth and the life on it was one of the final and most important straws that made me bail from the BORG.
All the best,
Alex