From time to time a discussion will pop up about what the Society has taught in the past in regards to the age of the earth.
Currently they teach the planet itself, as a mass, possibly existed for millions and millions of years, thus agreeing with science findings about the age of the Earth. Notice the following quote s from the Watchtower.org site:
"Geologists estimate that the earth is approximately 4 billion years old, and astronomers calculate that the universe may be as much as 15 billion years old. Do these findings—or their potential future refinements—contradict Genesis 1:1? No. The Bible does not specify the actual age of “the heavens and the earth.” Science does not disprove the Biblical text."
They have also quietly dropped the 7,000 year creative day. Under the subheading, "How Long Were the Creative Days", the Society says this:
"What about the length of the creative days? Were they literally 24 hours long? Some claim that because Moses—the writer of Genesis—later referred to the day that followed the six creative days as a model for the weekly Sabbath, each of the creative days must be literally 24 hours long. (Exodus 20:11) Does the wording of Genesis support this conclusion?
No, it does not. The fact is that the Hebrew word translated “day” can mean various lengths of time, not just a 24-hour period. For example, when summarizing God’s creative work, Moses refers to all six creative days as one day. (Genesis 2:4) In addition, on the first creative day, “God began calling the light Day, but the darkness he called Night.” (Genesis 1:5) Here, only a portion of a 24-hour period is defined by the term “day.” Certainly, there is no basis in Scripture for arbitrarily stating that each creative day was 24 hours long.
How long, then, were the creative days? The wording of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 indicates that considerable lengths of time were involved."
The Society even goes to lengths to distance itself from fundies and creationists:
"Contrary to the claims of some Fundamentalists, Genesis does not teach that the universe, including the earth and all living things on it, was created in a short period of time in the relatively recent past. Rather, the description in Genesis of the creation of the universe and the appearance of life on earth harmonizes with many recent scientific discoveries."
http://www.watchtower.org/e/200609a/article_01.htm
Of course, dubbies accept this new "version" of history as long held "truth" because the Society presents it as such.
But compare the current teaching to what is noted in the Golden Age magazine #39/40, March 16&30, 1921 (combined issues - interestingly enough called the "Easter Number") under the heading, "Earth's Rings":
"It is a generally accepted theory among students of cosmogony that during the 42,000 years in which the physical earth was in the process of creation..."
Not a stupdendous find, I know, but it does show that the current teaching is yet another revision of teaching/belief that the Society has had to make in recent times.
I wish I had time to locate references to the 7,000 year creative day teaching... Maybe we can use this thread to post those references and compare them to the current Watchtower.org info...