Has this been covered yet?
I was looking to download the new NWT from jw.org and stumbled across an Awake on creation - March 2014 edition. And it always interests me to see the latest spins they'll try to make creation sound plausible.
Seems now they are implying the sun, moon, and stars were created when god said "let there be light". And that they just weren't visible on earth yet because of all that vapor in the air.
According to them, on the third day: "The atmosphere clears up to allow more sunlight to reach the ground". They have to put this in because if they're talking creation days thousands (or if they want to stretch them to fit reality, billions) of years long, you need sunlight. Note that it does say sunlight, not generic light.
On day 4, "The sun and moon become discernable from the earth's surface".
That is NOT what the bible they claim to follow says.
In the second paragraph of the article, they state:
Many people, however, are unaware of the fact that Christendom's leaders, including so-called creationists and fundamentalists, have spun the Bible account of creation into numerous tales that deviate from what the Bible really says.
To quote their own bible (from the new, new world translation), Genesis 1:14-19:
14 Then God said: "Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to make a division between the day and the night, and they will serve as signs for days and years.
15 They will serve as luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth." And it was so.
16 And God went on to make the two great luminaries, the greater luminary for dominating the day and the lesser lumary for dominating the night, and also the stars.
17 Thus God put them in the expanse of the heavens to shine upon the earth
18 and to dominate by day and by night and to make a division between the light and the darkness. Then God saw that it was good.
19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
Clearly the bible is saying that on the fourth day, god created the sun, moon, and stars. "Sunlight" could not have seeped through on day 3 because there was no sun yet. Who's spinning tales now?
Not to mention the utter ridiculousness of the creation account. All this work to prep the earth and its inhabitants, then in one day, the billions of other stars in the universe? And the fact that the moon is NOT a luminary and only reflects light. But that's a seperate topic.
Also mentioned in bullet points is that "In the Bible account, each of the six creative days could have lasted for thousands of years". And "The Bible account of creation does not conflict with scientific conclusions about the age fo the univese". If the bible and science don't conflict, you'd be talking "days" in the range of >2 billion years/day, not "thousands". That's billion with a B.
Also stated is that "God had already created the universe, including a lifeless planet Earth, by the time the first creative day began". Which also flies in the face of the bible. Exodus 20:11 "For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and he began to rest on the seventh day". And Exodus 31:17 it says "for in six days Jehovah made the heaveans and the earth and on the seventh day he rested and refreshed himself".
Hmmmm, side note. In the NNWT, "he rested" is a lower-case "he". Interesting. I thought all "he"s relating to god were capitalized by tradition. Out of respect.
So they're clearly trying to spin the uncomfortable parts and appeal to people who are leaning towards the scientific and as a result, losing their faith. So they're trying to reconcile science and the bible. And dismissing the Bible in the process.
I SO hope they stop at my door with this one or that I run into them somewhere. It might even be worth a trip to areas they street witness for some fun debate.