Odd Announcement at District Convention

daniel-p

When I was at the latest District Convention a few weeks ago there was an odd announcement made. I don't remember it very clearly, but it was something about Noah and how he knew what rain was and that it must have rained before the flood because of that. Also, there was something mentioned about the water canopy and how 'our' understanding of it may not be right.
Does anyone else remember this "announcement"? I don't remember which day it was announced, maybe friday or saturday. Also, it was made when everyone was standing up to hear the typical crap about donations and bringing your own lunch, which I thought was a very odd time.

garybuss

Current understanding:

Highlander

sounds like a strange announcement.

I've yet to attend, however I always hated that water canopy 'theory'

I'm no expert, but a water canopy of some type would be like a sauna, the heat would be trapped at the earth's surface by this overhead

water canopy and all life would soon perish.

I hope they finally walk away from the stupid water canopy crap. I believe there's is one 'public talk' outline given at the kingdom halls

that talks about noah's flood and the water canopy. I guess maybe they'll have to drop that one.

cyberguy

Hey Gary,

Where did you get that drawing? It's very interesting!

daniel-p

WOW! It's almost as believable as the world sitting on 6 turtles and a rainbow-striped zebra humping a camel over a lake of ice crystals spewing milk and fire, all contanied in a chocolate-covered dome that says "ex libris" on the side.

Forscher

Big Tex posted the following on another thread. Since Daniel was starting this thread so that the other wouldn't be highjacked, I thought I'd add it to the mix so that when he follows it over it will be in play.

When I was a Witness, back before color was invented, the teaching was that there was a canopy over the earth and that each creation day was 7,000 years long. Is that still being taught?

I've never really believed in a global flood, although when I was a Witness, I certainly believed the story of Noah. A global flood always seemed to me to be rather silly. There was no need for God to flood the whole earth, killing billions of animals, wiping out entire species, simply because of a few hundred thousand recalcitrant people. That's extraordinarily wasteful.

Localized flood? Sure, why not?

As of when I left just a few years ago the WTBTS still held that as their teaching as far as I know. However, I don't recall them using that very much in the recent literature. Maybe somebody can search the 05 CD and see what pops up. If we can verify Daniels recollection, then that would represent a major change in WTBTS teaching, one which I know nothing of.
Respectfully
Forscher

garybuss

I got it from a Bible commentary I have in my library. This was the Hebrew perception of the earth when they wrote the Bible. IF the Witnesses believe their Bible, this is their belief of the nature and structure of the earth. By the way, the earth is FLAT.

IF they don't believe this concept of the earth, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe the Bible. Some of us think they have never believed the Bible in context.

DannyHaszard

O-kay i will jump in and report my Watchtower indoctrination since 1957 and i was always the science kid so i paid rapt attention to the society's science scripts.

Each creative day was 7,000 years long times a week of creative days equals 47,000 years and before that the earth was completely sterile.-Danny Haszard

tijkmo

Noah

Acted on Well-Founded Faith

5

Noah was one who had well-founded faith. (Hebrews 11:7) What basis did he have for it? Noah had God’s word, not in written form, but as spoken to him. Genesis 6:13 says: "God said to Noah: ‘The end of all flesh has come before me, because the earth is full of violence as a result of them.’" Jehovah directed Noah to build an ark and provided details regarding its construction. Then God added: "As for me, here I am bringing the deluge of waters upon the earth to bring to ruin all flesh in which the force of life is active from under the heavens. Everything that is in the earth will expire."—Genesis 6:14-17.

6

Had there been rain prior to this? The Bible does not say. Genesis 2:5 says: "Jehovah God had not made it rain." But this is how Moses, who lived centuries later, expressed matters in discussing not Noah’s day but a time long before that. As shown at Genesis 7:4, Jehovah referred to rain when speaking to Noah, and evidently Noah understood what he meant. Yet, Noah’s faith was not in what he could see. The apostle Paul wrote that Noah was "given divine warning of things not yet beheld." God told Noah that He was going to bring upon the earth "the deluge of waters," or "the heavenly ocean," as a footnote in the New World Translation expresses it at Genesis 6:17. Down to that time, such a thing had never occurred. But all creation visible to Noah stood as an evident demonstration that God could indeed bring such a destructive deluge. Moved by faith, Noah built the ark.

7

God had not given Noah a date when the Deluge would begin. But Noah did not use that as an excuse for adopting a wait-and-see attitude, putting ark-building and preaching in second place in his life. In ample time, God told Noah when to move into the ark. Meanwhile, "Noah proceeded to do according to all that God had commanded him. He did just so." (Genesis 6:22) Noah walked by faith, not by sight. How grateful we are that he did! Because of his faith, we are alive today. In our case too, the faith that we show can have a profound effect on what the future holds not only for us but also for our children and for other people around us.

garybuss

It'd be like them announcing . . . "May we have your attention brothers . . . The earth is NOT FLAT, it's round.". What a joke! "Brothers . . . the flood waters may not have come from above the firmament.". Hahahaha!!!! Hilarious!!

Odd Announcement at District Convention

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