Having a discussion with my sister and she remembers that there used to be a teaching that the earth had a watercloud over it and that's how we got rain. Anyone else remember this? I vaguely do.
Water cloud over the earth? Anyone remember this teaching?
by QuestioningEverything 24 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
brotherdan
Yeah, I remember it. Because there was supposedly no rain before Noah. Right? So God would cause a mist to raise from the earth and water the vegetation. That never made sense to me as well as there having been no rainbow before the flood as well. A rainbow is a basic physical function of light passing through water...
-
straightshooter
I remember this. It was taught that the earth originally was surrounded by clouds which God used for bringing rain during the flood of Noahs day.
-
sir82
It's still an official JW teaching, it's never been rescinded.
However, they don't mention it in public any more. Sort of like the 7000 year creative days - still official, just quietly dropped from prominence to make them appear a bit less kooky to outsiders.
-
JWoods
Yes - it was also taught that this was the reason people could live nearly a thousand years back before the flood. The water canopy protected them against the radiation from the sun. There was enough water there, naturally, to completely flood the earth in Noah's day.
I suppose this was all cleared by the highly esteemed Brooklyn N.Y. Watchtower Scientific Credibility department...
-
QuestioningEverything
Do either of you know what publication it was in? I'd be curious to see that and wonder where the hell they came up with such an idea!
-
ohiocowboy
The Weird, Shrimpy-Salmony-Peachy colored "From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained" book from 1959 describes the Water Canopy. I remember the drawing of it in there.
-
IsaacJ22
I was told about this when I was a Witness by some older Witnesses, and even told that it was scientific ... when it isn't, of course. It's not that uncommon a belief among creationists and fundamentalists, Witnesses aren't the only ones who believe it.
I think one of those old episodes of "In Search Of..." made the claim too.
I suppose you could just write it off as a miracle if you wanted either way, they just add the "it's backed by science" claim to make it seem even more cool.
-
IsaacJ22
The ancient authors of the Bible are supposed to have believed in a water canopy according to modern scholars, though of a slightly different sort. It was once thought that God made a dome of metal and covered the Earth with it. The dome was surrounded by water and kept the water at bay. The Earth was believed to be flat, but round, like a plate. The sky was the interior of the dome, which was laden with jewels that sparkled at night. There were "shutters" in the helmet, and God would open them occasionally to let the rain in. Presumably, during the flood, he opened all the shutters wide and at once.
Or so I understand it. I'm sure others here know more. You can actually find some references to part of this story in the old Insight Books. My wife didn't really believe the story until she found it there. (She's still a JW.) I can't remember what the term was ... something to do with the "firmament" or the expanse that serparates the water canopy from the oceans mentioned in Genesis? The New World Translation uses a different word than most modern Bibles, which makes it sound like a space between the oceans and the canopy. It's actually supposed to be this metal dome thingy.
Anyway...
-
St George of England
w 8011/15p.23par.4“JehovahofArmies”totheRescue!
4 The fact that today we do not have a vast water canopy suspended high up in space and all around our globe and thus blocking direct sunlight, moonlight and starlight is because Jehovah saw what was going on down here upon his terrestrial footstool and took action. He deluged those suspended waters down from on high upon his footstool, not to bathe his feet, but to wipe out bad conditions among all mankind. The inspired record of this says: “Jehovah saw that the badness of man was abundant in the earth and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. . . . So Jehovah said: ‘I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, . . .’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.”
George
PS I could never work out how stars could be seen through this canopy, the slightest wisps of cloud blocks them out! Then again when I read the Paradise book I was only a kid, what did I know?