6000 / 7000- Numbers Without a Scripture

by OnTheWayOut 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Farkel
    Farkel

    There is strong circumstantial evidence the WTS is moving away from the 7000 year-creative-day legacy of Freddie. They haven't mentioned it in many years. Instead they use generic terms when talking about the distance "creative" past like "many millenia", "many thousands of years" and so on.

    Once again, science has bit the WTS in its own ass. When was the last time you read one of their rants about the inaccuracy of carbon dating? The only time you read about in WT crap is when they (typically) misrepresent it being innacurate when it measures the ages objects that are very ancient. That's because carbon dating was not meant to be used for measurements that old. There are a number of other methods to determine those older ages.

    Farkel

  • choosing life
    choosing life

    I caught part of a show on the Millerites the other day. If I wouldn't have known better, I would have thought it was discussing the early Bible Students under Russell.

    It seems when one date fails, they dream up another one. Freddy made those numbers up to keep it all going.

    Don't forget the reasoning used when 1975 failed. They said the difference between the creation of Adam and Eve was not counted into the formula.

    I often wonder if those who made these dates up really believed they were from God?

  • Narkissos
    Narkissos

    From a JW perspective, 7,000 years looked like a good guess: 6,000 years from "Bible chronology" + 1,000 years from Revelation, with two additional assumptions (# 1 explicit, # 2 implicit):
    (1) The 1,000 years had to start before the 1914 generation (still literal back then) would "pass";
    (2) Jehovah must be fond of round numbers in the decimal system somehow.

    Sic transit consummatio saeculi...

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    If I were to put back on my WT hat, I would say that geology proves nothing because the age of rocks is immaterial. Genesis says that "In the beginning God created Heavens and the Earth, and that was separate from the days of creation - If you wish to disagree please direct all comments to the WTS because they said it , not me.

    It is true that Archbishop Usher had calculated Adam's creation as being 4004 bce. The WTS just tweaked it to 4026 bce.

    As for creative days? I never did get that point even as a loyal dub. The reasoning was just obvious speculation, and yet when you think about it, so much of their expectations centered on that assumption -

    gh 60/61 (Good News To Make You Happy 1976

    "6 Here we enter upon the seven “days” of creation. How long were these “days”? Much longer than twenty-four hours! The Bible tells us that “one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years.” (2 Peter 3:8) But each of these “days” of creation must be even longer than that. How do we know? Genesis 2:2 says that, after six “days” of creating, God “proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made.” The Bible shows that Jehovah’s ‘rest day’ still continues. For the apostle Paul writes that Christians should, through faith and obedience, do their “utmost to enter into that rest.” (Hebrews 4:9-11) The Bible count of time shows that it is now close to six thousand years since God began ‘resting’ from his creative works on earth. Just ahead of us lies the thousand-year reign of Christ, by the end of which God’s purpose of filling the earth with a happy human family will have been accomplished. God’s ‘rest day’ will then end. This would indicate that this ‘rest day’ would be of seven thousand years’ duration. (Genesis 1:28; Revelation 20:4) It is reasonable to conclude that each of the six preceding “days” of creation would occupy similar periods of time, during each of which Jehovah carried out a further stage of preparing earth to be man’s future home. As we now observe how He did this, we should truly appreciate the force of the psalmist’s words: “How great your works are, O Jehovah! Very deep your thoughts are.”—Psalm 92:5.

    Creation Book p27 1985

    7 “Day” as used in the Bible can include summer and winter, the passing of seasons. (Zechariah 14:8) “The day of harvest” involves many days. (Compare Proverbs 25:13 and Genesis 30:14.) A thousand years are likened to a day. (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8, 10) “Judgment Day” covers many years. (Matthew 10:15; 11:22-24) It would seem reasonable that the “days” of Genesis could likewise have embraced long periods of time—millenniums. What, then, took place during those creative eras? Is the Bible’s account of them scientific? Following is a review of these “days” as expressed in Genesis.

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut
    gh 60/61 (Good News To Make You Happy 1976...This would indicate that this ‘rest day’ would be of seven thousand years’ duration. (Genesis 1:28; Revelation 20:4)

    See, there's an example. The two scriptures have nothing to do with 'seven thousand years' but one talks about being fruitful and multiplying and the other mentions ONE thousand years. Absolutely nothing to back their claim. And then, once they proved to the average JW that they were right by claiming and listing two scriptures, they go on to say "It is reasonable to conclude that each of the six preceding “days” of creation would occupy similar periods of time, during each of which Jehovah carried out a further stage of preparing earth to be man’s future home.

    They act as if the first sentence really is a fact. There is nothing here to see. Nothing.

    The Creation book rendering is a way to phase it out. It says It would seem reasonablethat the “days” of Genesis could likewise have embraced long periods of time—millenniums.

    To an old-timer JW, they read SEVEN millenniums, but to a newer JW who has heard different in school, they figure MANY milleniums.

  • DT
    DT

    Freddy Franz was a bit of a copycat. His idea of the end coming after 6000 years of human existence has been around for a long time. This is from the Epistle of Barnabas 15:1-5, an apocryphal book.

    "Moreover concerning the Sabbath likewise it is written in the Ten Words, in which He spake to Moses face to face on Mount Sinai; And ye shall hallow the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and with a pure heart. And in another place He saith; If my sons observe the Sabbath then I will bestow My mercy upon them. Of the Sabbath He speaketh in the beginning of the creation; And God made the works of His hands in six days, and He ended on the seventh day, and rested on it, and He hallowed it. Give heed, children, what this meaneth; He ended in six days. He meaneth this, that in six thousand years the Lord shall bring all things to an end; for the day with Him signifyeth a thousand years; and this He himself beareth me witness, saying; Behold, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything shall come to an end.And He rested on the seventh day. this He meaneth; when His Son shall come, and shall abolish the time of the Lawless One, and shall judge the ungodly, and shall change the sun and the moon and the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day."

  • villabolo
    villabolo

    DT says: "His idea of the end coming after 6000 years of human existence has been around for a long time."

    Zoroastrianism appears to be the first source of millenial teaching. It dates back to at least the 5th century B.C.E..

    villabolo

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    Good find, DT. If Freddy (or Russell as Villabolo states is possible) wanted to use apocryphal books, he just had to say so, and tell why the book wasn't apocryphal.

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