What biblical support is there for the belief that a creative day is 7000 years long?

by JWB 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  JWB

  WHAT BIBLICAL SUPPORT IS THERE FOR THE BELIEF THAT A CREATIVE DAY IS 7000 YEARS LONG?
  
  As most folks here are probably well aware, the WTS teaches that humankind has lived for about 6,000 years and that there will be a 1,000 year reign of Christ to restore humans to perfection. They teach that the end of 'this old system' must be coming very soon since everything must fit into a 7000 year 'creative day'. So I would like to know if there is any proof from the Bible that a 'creative day' really is seven thousand years long. I would also be very interested in knowing where this idea originally came from.
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  Farkel

  The WTS hasn't mentioned 7,000 year creative days for decades. They now write about something nebulous, ("they were very long periods of time").

  The original reasoning was that since the Psalms said a thousand years for man is but a day for god, and then said that since there were 7 days of creation and god resting and the millennium, a creative day "must" be 7,000 years long; or that since 6 is an "imperfect number", falling just short of 7, 7 "must" be the number. However, since the WTS also teaches that 12 is a perfect number, they could have also stated creative days were 12,000 years long, or that since the number 3 symbolizes "emphasis", they could have been 3,000 years long.

  Therefore, the irrefutible facts show that the WTS pulled that number right out of their asses, and with advances in dating techniques since they made all that shit up, they've had to insert that number back to its place of origin. And hope people forget.

  Farkel
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  Flat_Accent

  There are several reputable sources and well documented texts that envisage the concept of 7000 year long 'creative days'.

  Firstly, I lied.
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  Ucantnome

  I understood that the Apostle Paul mentioned about entering into God's rest. God rested on the 7th day and so this showed the 7th creative day was still going on in Pauls day.

  Then at the end of the 7th creative day it will be as God intended, it will be blessed. This is at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ when everything is restored to perfection.

  Adam was supposed to have been created in 4026 BCE. by counting back from the different people listed in the bible ect.

  We are in the last of the last days and then the last 1000 years begins.

  From 4026 to now add the 1000 year reign of Christ gives you about 7000 years as the length of the 7th creative day.

  It would seem that the others would have been the same length as days usually are.

  That's how i think it worked.
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  rocketman

  Flat Accent pretty much answered it.
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  Chariklo

  or that since 6 is an "imperfect number", falling just short of 7, 7 "must" be the number. However, since the WTS also teaches that 12 is a perfect number, they could have also stated creative days were 12,000 years long, or that since the number 3 symbolizes "emphasis", they could have been 3,000 years long.

  Interesting, Farkel.

  You realise that this indicates that the WTS are, at root, numerologists? These are the same interpretations of number as used by the Babylonians with their duodecimal system, and the ancient hermeticists, astrologers and mages too.

  I enjoy that thought. Love it!
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  moggy lover

  It is true that the Watchtower were not the first to come up with the 7,000 year creation-day theory, but they were the most strident and held on to the teaching for several years. They have never formally retracted the teaching, but have made more cautionary statements over the years. For instance, the original "[Human] Reasoning on the Scriptures" book accepted this teaching, but the revised edition, published in 1989 merely mentions the time as being "several thousand years in length".

  As other posters have mentioned, the Watchtower no longer makes any reference to this teaching, which they once held with such passionate vigour. Basically, the "[human] reasoning" behind this teaching was:

  1. Every one one of the six creative days are said to begin and end, using the Hebraic expression, the "evening and the morning was....". But no such expression is used with the seventh day. Therefore the only "reasonable" conclusion is that the seventh day did not end during the time of the Bible record.

  [Answer: Most Evangelical Christians will disagree. This is not the only "reasonable" conclusion to draw. Because the seventh day was to be a day of special significance in Jewish theological perception, its end was not signified by the expression common to the other days. Its end was signified by the expression "And God rested on the seventh day...". Despite the convoluted way Franz "translated" this phrase implying a present continuous structure, the Hebrew perfect as used here is a past tense, hence a completed action, not a continuing one.]

  2. The Seventh day must be still continuing because Hebs:4:4-6 speaks of Gods "rest day" being in operation at this time.

  [Answer: Again Evangelicals will disagree. This is not talking of the Seventh creation "day" - since "day" is not used here. It is talking of God's Rest, not His rest "day". The writer of Hebrews is discussing how we enjoy security or rest by believing in Christ. God's rest, since Calvary has been to gather believers in Christ who can have the security of belief and freedom from the fear of death. They do this by entering God's rest. This is contrasted with the Exodus generation who lacked such belief.]

  3. Since we "know" that Adam was created in in 4026 BC, more than six thousand years of human history has passed. [6037 years to be precise] So we must be periously close to the end. It is necessary then to accept the GB and all its pronouncements and hasten to join the Organization to survive into the New World.

  [Answer: There is no answer. Since 1889, when the Watchtower first published a date for Adam's creation, [4128 BC] it has had the need to correct this date five further times:

  1.1896: 4129.

  2.1943: 4028

  3.1944: 4026

  4.1953: 4025

  5. 1963: 4026]
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  clarity

  The end of the 6000th year ended in 1975, leaving 1000 yrs left for

  Christ's 1000 yr reign of peace, so either we are now 36 1/2 yrs into the

  "new world" or it was just a big fat LIE all along!

  Guess which one is true.

  clarity
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  JWB

  Thanks everybody for the very interesting answers.
  
  @Farkel: The scripture you mentioned is Psalm 90:4, which the NWT renders as, "For a thousand years are in your eyes but as yesterday when it is past, And as a watch during the night." 2 Peter 3:8 (NWT) also says, "However, let this one fact not be escaping your notice, beloved ones, that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." These two scriptures are the only ones I can think of that make any reference to a 'day', but these do not give any support to the doctrine of a seven thousand year 'creative day'. As you have pointed out, really the WTS belief in this is based purely on speculation, yet they use this as an anchor for their teaching of the supposed nearness of Armageddon.
  
  @Flat_Accent: I think you show very well that sometimes less is more. Also, I really liked the invisible presence of your message!
  
  @Ucantnome: Let us suppose that the 'creative day' was still in progress during Paul's time. That still doesn't tell us exactly how long that 'creative day' was/is.
  
  @Chariklo: Very good point about the numerology. It seems to me that the WTS has always had an interest in numbers, trying to use different calculations to make the Bible say something that it does not.
  
  @moggy lover: Thanks for laying out the reasoning on God's rest period. As pointed out in my message to Ucantnome, they cannot use that to support a specified period of seven thousand years.
  
  To sum up my conclusions on this matter so far: (1) There is no clear Biblical support for the belief in seven thousand year 'creative days' and (2) hence there is no clear Biblical support that Armageddon is just around the corner.
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  Ucantnome

  @Ucantnome: Let us suppose that the 'creative day' was still in progress during Paul's time. That still doesn't tell us exactly how long that 'creative day' was/is.

  It just was supposed to show that the day hadn't ended.

  It would end at the end of the thousand year reign of Christ when Christ hands over the Kingdom to his God and father 1 Cor15 24-25 Gods eternal purpose accomplished.

  The beginning was worked out to be 4026 "Evening of the Seventh Creative Day Begins, 4026 BCE"(God's Eternal Purpose Now Triumphing for man's Good WTBTS1974)

  The start of the thousand year reign of Christ is believed to be imminent by JW as the last days started in 1914 I believe.

  From this understanding it is supported by the bible.