Ages ago I watched the "Photo Drama of Creation" and was stunned when I heard CT Russell say that only man was specially created by God, and that the animals and plants evolved as science tells us.
When did they drop this teaching?
When did the WTBTS stop teaching evolution?
by Gladring 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
blondie
http://www.biblestudents.org/absco/photodrama/index.htm
The Fifth Day or Epoch
click here to enlargeThe carboniferous qualities of the water and the atmosphere having been absorbed into the cretaceous organisms of the sea, which formed beds of limestone, and into the rank vegetation which went to form the coal beds, the atmosphere of Earth began to be pure enough to permit life in breathing animals. To this period, therefore, belong the amphibious developments of animal life, such as the crocodile and other animals which can live either on land or in the water. Birds belong to this period, and in the latter part of it appeared the great Mammoth and the Sloth.
The conflict between Evolution and the Bible has been sharp. Nevertheless, unnecessary friction has been generated.
Only in respect to man does the Bible declare a special, direct creation of God. The statements of Genesis in respect to the lower creatures rather favor something along the lines of specialized Evolution. God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the Earth." (Genesis 1:20,21.) This is exactly in harmony with our scientific findings that the beginning of life came from the waters, and later extended to the birds, and later to land animals. [Dinosaurs 1 | 2 | 3]
The Darwinian theory has disappointed those who swallowed it without a sufficiency of demonstration as to its truth. (1 Timothy 6:20.) Recent demonstrations show that every mixture of species and kind, even where partly successful, means a reversion to the original standards within the third or fourth generation in plants, flowers, fruits and in animals.
-
Jeremy C
I don't believe that is the case. The Watchtower has conceded that micro-evolutionary changes may have taken place within species (changes within finches or earthworms, for example), but they have rejected the notion that species have evolved into other species (i.e. reptiles into birds, etc).
-
Jeremy C
I didn't see Blodie's post. Wow, I never knew the Watchtower taught that.
-
-
Gladring
Thank you very much blondie. That article and the references it contains are very interesting and useful.
Why did this stance change in the '20s? Is it another example of Rutherford's wackiness? One of the things that woke me up to the WT was the poor research and quoting practices used to support jw creationism. Maybe if they were still teaching Russell's version I would never have come round!
-
inkling
Just when the stance seems reasonable...
The Bible does not say how long a period elapsed between the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, and the beginning of the creative week used in perfecting it for man: nor do geologists agree amongst themselves as to the period of this interval--a few extremists indulge in wild speculations of millions of years. (pp. 18, 19)
"Wild speculation".
Also know as "established scientific fact."
