by Calebs Airplane 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
mana11:
noah was a preacher of R for 40 years
Noah obviously never really existed. But even in the Bible there's no reference to him preaching for 40 years (or for any specific period of time). There's not even any mention of him preaching about the flood at all.
2 Peter 2:5 claims Noah was purportedly 'saved' because he was a 'preacher of righteousness', not that preaching was a response to an impending flood.
Reporting not supporting WTS thinking......
Good catch on Noah and 40 years...one of those non-scriptural details the WTS throws in (like "governing body" in Acts 15 when the word never appears anywhere in the bible).
*** km 6/08 p. 1 par. 2 Is Your Family Preparing for Survival? ***
Preacher of Righteousness: Noah persevered for some 40 to 50 years as “a preacher of righteousness.” (2 Pet. 2:5)
Here are some places the WTS tries to prove it.
*** w10 12/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
The Bible does not specify the year in which Jehovah informed Noah that the Flood would occur. Inasmuch as his sons had been born, had grown up, and had married, possibly 40 or 50 years remained before the Flood. Then Jehovah said to Noah: “The end of all flesh has come before me.” He added that Noah was to build a huge ark and go into it with his family. (Gen. 6:13-18) During the remaining decades, Noah did more than provide an example of righteousness by his life.
*** w00 1/15 p. 9 par. 3 “Keep on the Watch” ***
Before he brought the great Deluge, though, Jehovah gave people an opportunity to repent. He commissioned Noah to preach, and Noah obeyed—serving as “a preacher of righteousness” perhaps for 40 or 50 years or more. (2 Peter 2:5)
*** w97 3/1 p. 12 par. 13 Are You Ready for Jehovah’s Day? ***
Noah put total confidence in this divine judicial decree. After reaching the age of 500, he “became father to Shem, Ham and Japheth,” and custom of those days suggests that 50 to 60 years passed before his sons got married. When Noah was told to build the ark for preservation through the Flood, those sons and their wives evidently assisted him in that endeavor. The building of the ark likely coincided with Noah’s service as “a preacher of righteousness,” keeping him busy for the last 40 to 50 years before the Flood. (Genesis 5:32; 6:13-22)
*** w85 3/15 p. 4 Jehovah—A Cruel or a Loving God? ***
Yet he assigned Noah to be “a preacher of righteousness” for at leastsome 40 or 50 years!
*** w57 5/15 p. 319 Questions From Readers ***
The chronological chart on page 364 of“New Heavens and a New Earth”shows that Noah preached some forty years. How can this be proved Scripturally? Does not Genesis 6:3 speak of a 120-year period?—E. J., United States.
We must be careful not to read into the Scriptures what they do not say or jump to a conclusion on the basis of one text alone. True, Genesis 6:3 indicates that at a certain time in man’s history God was giving that preflood world 120 more years. But it was not at that time that he gave Noah the information and told him to build the ark. How do we know?
Because Genesis 5:32 tells us that after Noah became five hundred years old and the flood was less than a hundred years away he first “became father to Shem, Ham and Japheth.” (NW) And not only that, but when God gave Noah the command to build the ark all these three sons were grown and married, Noah at that time having three daughters-in-law. (Gen. 6:18) By the time all three of his sons grew to manhood and married, according to the custom of those days, no doubt some fifty to sixty years passed. Since most likelyhis preaching began with his building of the ark it is reasonable to concludethat the length of his preaching was between forty and fifty years and not one hundred and twenty years.
--- -----------following shows a related question, why children die at Armaggedon, but now the WTS teaches that the separating work does not start till the GT starts.!
*** w51 5/1 p. 286 Questions From Readers ***
Adam’s offspring did not come under eternal destruction because of his fall. Why should young children suffer eternal destruction at Armageddon because of having wicked parents?—E. N., Minnesota.
Adam and Eve in Eden were on judgment with respect to the tree of knowledge and the course they took fixed their destiny, it being a time of judgment. Adam and Eve’s children were not born at that time and hence not directly or personally on judgment in Eden. That is why God could arrange for the ransoming of all of their future children who would accept his arrangements, this acceptance being shown by them at whatever time God might be pleased to bring them into a period of judgment. It is likely that for the majority of men who have lived on the earth this time of judgment will be in Christ’s millennial reign, at the time of the general resurrection and thereafter. At that future time of judgment arranged for them by God’s mercy each one will be on his own responsibility, as shown by Ezekiel 18:20-23.—See “This Means Everlasting Life”, pages 94, 95.
However, long before this many persons will have had their time of judgment, as the Scriptures show that God has brought certain judgment periods upon human society at certain times, during which he held them accountable for their course of action. That they might be really accountable for themselves and for their young children dependent upon them, he caused testimony to be given that they might know the issue and make their decision, by which they would determine their destiny, independent of any inherited condemnation from Adam. He warned parents not only of the consequences to themselves but also of those to their unresponsible offspring.
One of such judgment periods was the flood of Noah’s day, prior to which Noah preached righteousness for some forty or fifty years. (Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5) Another was the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, which cities saw warning miracles by angels and heard witnessing by Lot before the rain of fire fell. (Gen. 19:11-14, 24) In Jesus’ day it was a time of judgment and he warned certain Jewish cities of a fate like that upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and judged certain scribes and Pharisees fit for the eternal destruction of Gehenna.—Matt. 11:20-24; 23:33, NW.
Our present day is also a time of judgment, and it is this that the objectors to the answer in the November 15 Watchtower apparently fail to fully appreciate. For seventy-one years The Watchtower has been publishing the warning of God’s Word, and since 1919 Jehovah’s witnesses have been active as never before in giving world-wide witness, in this time of judgment when the enthroned King is separating the nations as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. Abuse and persecution come upon them from both adults and children under the influence of their elders. So it is because we now live in a period of judgment that we say all persons are on trial. And because children are present they too come in for judgment, and their case is not parallel to that of Adam and Eve’s offspring, who were not present in Eden at the time of that pair’s judgment trial.
