by Slidin Fast 21 Replies latest watchtower bible
I personally believe that each creative day was as long as Jehovah needed to finish a particular phase of creation.
I base this on my own experience when I'm working on a project. I might take as long as ten days, or year, or years, or as short a time as an hour to finish a project.
When I figure I'm done, I call it good, just as Jehovah did when he finished a particular phase.
JWoods, you might like looking at Penton's comments on this...I believe this is the book online
http://books.google.com/books?id=38SYXalMLeQC&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=ussher+jehovah's&source=bl&ots=wtkPUNALqK&sig=u33ity5GXX7uRLirhNILQS7D-Qk&hl=en&ei=yCJgTO-GMoWdlgfCrv2ZCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false
I do not have access to the CD at work.
the 7,000-day creative day business is another one the WTS wishes would just go away......
Room 215, they are just waiting for the oldtimers to leave or die off and the pubs with it in are long forgotten.
Thanks, Blondie - I cannot go to unknown links here at work right now due to security reasons, though.
I wonder if the average rank & file JW knows that this 7,000 year creative day idea has been abandoned, or the implications? I somehow get the idea that practically none of them know it was ever taught nowadays...
______
BTW -
The book I took that from is "Aeons" by Martin Gorst - 2001. It is a discussion of the history of man's attempts to define the age of the earth and civilization. Gorst is a writer for Discovery Channel.
when i was a teenage jw back in the late 60's, everyone was into 1975, using this 7000year day nonsense; i even asked a district servant to explain it to me, only to be told its all in the literature. So what!
No-one could ever prove to me the 7000 year bit, the best advice given to me was to have faith. in what?
just because it may be 6oooish years from adams alleged creation to some year in the 1970's does not prove the earth is flat, or a "creative day" is xxxx years long.
the only faith that works for me is if i live to be 100, armageddon will still be a silly threat to frighten the gullible.
just because it may be 6oooish years from adams alleged creation to some year in the 1970's does not prove the earth is flat, or a "creative day" is xxxx years long.
Operative word being "may". When Bishop Ussher added this all up for the first time in about 1640, he was faced with three different "ages of the patriarchs" (time count from creation to flood) from various language versions of the old testament...
Samaritan had it at 1307 years, Hebrew at 1656 years, Greek at 2242 years. Ussher finally just picked the Hebrew number arbitrarily.
Besides that, you also have to accept the fantasy that some of these ancients lived many hundreds of years to view this literally.
This is the foundation of sand that Freddy Franz built his 1975 prophecy on.
Not absolutely sure it has been completely abandoned. They now say the earth has been created for millions of years before the creative days began. However I know someone who wrote to the WTS about this and I am trying to get a copy of their reply. The last reference I found of 7000 years is the last one below from 1987.
Even though the actual earth may be millions of years old, having creative days of 7000 years still leaves the problem of coal and oil deposits being formed in just a few (13000) years which is unreasonable.
***yp2chap.36p.301HowCanIDefendMyBeliefinGod?***
Mysciencetextbooksaysthattheearthandthesolarsystemhavebeeninexistenceforbillionsofyears. The Bible says that the earth and the rest of the universe were in existence before the first creative day. Thus, the earth and the solar system may well be billions of years old.—Genesis 1:1.
Myteachersaysthattheearthcouldnothavebeencreatedinjustsixdays. The Bible doesn’t state that the six creative days were literal 24-hour periods.
***clchap.5p.56par.20CreativePower—“TheMakerofHeavenandEarth”***
20 Has Jehovah stopped exercising his creative power? Well, the Bible does say that when Jehovah finished his creative work on the sixth creative day, “he proceeded to rest on the seventh day from all his work that he had made.” (Genesis 2:2) The apostle Paul indicated that this seventh “day” is thousands of years long, for it was still ongoing in his day. (Hebrews 4:3-6) But does “rest” mean that Jehovah has stopped working altogether? No, Jehovah never stops working. (Psalm 92:4; John 5:17) His rest, then, must simply refer to the cessation of his work of physical creation respecting the earth. His work of bringing his purposes to fulfillment, however, has continued uninterrupted. Such work has included the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. His work has even involved the bringing forth of “a new creation,” which will be discussed in Chapter 19.—2 Corinthians 5:17.
***w041/1p.28HighlightsFromtheBookofGenesis—I***
The opening words of Genesis, “in the beginning,” reach back billions of years into the past. The events of the six creative “days,” or time periods of special creative works, are described as they would have appeared to a human observer had he been present on the earth. By the end of the sixth day, God created man. Although Paradise is soon lost because of man’s disobedience, Jehovah gives hope. The very first prophecy of the Bible speaks of a “seed” who will undo the effects of sin and bruise Satan in the head.
***w871/1p.30QuestionsFromReaders***
Second, a study of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and of our location in the stream of time strongly indicate that each of the creative days (Genesis, chapter 1) is 7,000 years long. It is understood that Christ’s reign of a thousand years will bring to a close God’s 7,000-year ‘rest day,’ the last ‘day’ of the creative week. (Revelation 20:6; Genesis 2:2, 3) Based on this reasoning, the entire creative week would be 49,000 years long.
George
It is understood that = EVIDENTLY!
***w871/1p.30QuestionsFromReaders***
Second, a study of the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and of our location in the stream of time strongly indicate that each of the creative days (Genesis, chapter 1) is 7,000 years long. It is understood that Christ’s reign of a thousand years will bring to a close God’s 7,000-year ‘rest day,’ the last ‘day’ of the creative week. (Revelation 20:6; Genesis 2:2, 3) Based on this reasoning, the entire creative week would be 49,000 years long.
St. George, do you know of them ever affirming this in writing within the last 20 years or so?
They now say the earth has been created for millions of years before the creative days began...
yp2chap36p301 "How Can I Defend My Belief in God"
The Bible says that the earth and the rest of universe were in existence before the first creative day. Thus, the earth and the solar system may well be billions of years old. - Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1
In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
They intrepret that as meaning that the heavens and earth in place before the creative days begin. But notice what the Bible actually says about heavens and earth being created...
Exodus 20:11
For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day. That is why Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and proceeded to make it sacred.
Exodus 31:17
...because in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and proceeded to refresh himself.
So, comparing the Bible to what the WT says kinda fucks that whole "the earth existed before the creative day" shit all up...
