DINOSAURS - What do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe?

by Bloody Hotdogs! 70 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  wannabefree

  Awake! 2/8 1990 primarily focused on dinosaurs.

  This sums it up in the final article.

  *** g90 2/8 p. 11 What Happened to the Dinosaurs? ***
  The Genesis Account and Dinosaurs
  While the radioactive dating method is innovative, it is still based on speculation and assumption. In contrast, the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.
  Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.—Genesis 1:20-24.
  When the dinosaurs had fulfilled their purpose, God ended their life. But the Bible is silent on how he did that or when. We can be sure that dinosaurs were created by Jehovah for a purpose, even if we do not fully understand that purpose at this time. They were no mistake, no product of evolution. That they suddenly appear in the fossil record unconnected to any fossil ancestors, and also disappear without leaving connecting fossil links, is evidence against the view that such animals gradually evolved over millions of years of time. Thus, the fossil record does not support the evolution theory. Instead, it harmonizes with the Bible’s view of creative acts of God.
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  Bloody Hotdogs!

  Apognophos,

  Continuing to think out loud… If JWs mean to indicate that the creative “days” were "thousands of thousands" of years long, they surely do not mean the same for “day” seven. This would indicate that the “days” of the creative week are not the same length! Now, JWs have never said that, have they? I know they say that events started in one day overlapped into the others, but they never indicate the days are different lengths.

  Also, millions of years would not be “thousands” of years, by any traditional or mathmatical definition of the term "thousands". I suppose they could mean 999,999 years…. This is all so stupid.
• 

  _Morpheus

  Wannabe, thats the article i was thinking of.... Older than i remebered, but i guess i am older than i care to remember
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  Apognophos

  they always clearly differentiate between the millions/billions of years before creation and the "days" of creation.

  You might well be right. It could be that there are some old-timers at HQ who won't let the 7,000-year thing go, or that they internally see some reason why it needs to be true in order to support their beliefs. It's probably just tied to their intense desire to see the end come in their lives.

  Personally I don't know where the 7,000 years came from. We had a discussion on this a few months ago that basically concluded "*shrug*". This old, more careful discussion also concluded "*shrug*". I suppose it was just too convenient for people who wanted to believe they were in the end times, as you said. This isn't just a notion of the Witnesses; this specific formulation of "six thousand years and then the Thousand Year Reign" probably started in the Second Adventist movement. In the 1800s, Russell taught that the 6,000 years ended in 1872, I believe. In the second link I just provided, interestingly enough, it seems that people were suggesting "six thousand years of man's existence" 2,000 years ago!

  I feel like that ought to be allowed, even if it isn't technically…

  Of course people post the Society's stuff here all the time, so you may feel that there is precedent. I think one is legally supposed to be able to post excerpts from their writings, so maybe video stills will be allowed under that same principle. But lawful or not, they can probably issue a takedown notice on the basis of copyright, so one day you may find that your host has shut down your site. You might be able to get it back up again by simply removing those images, but I just thought I would give you fair warning.
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  HowTheBibleWasCreated

  Actually a few years ago an elder showed me the picture in the bible story book (1978) with the ark floating on the waters and people drowning.... there is an identicle picture in the 1983 You can enjoy life on earth forever-brochure... only in that picture two dinosaurs are seen...... So in 83 they felt dinos died in the flood!
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  Apognophos

  If JWs mean to indicate that the creative “days” were "thousands of thousands" of years long, they surely do not mean the same for “day” seven. This would indicate that the “days” of the creative week are not the same length! Now, JWs have never said that, have they?

  Hmm, interesting point. You have me re-thinking my opinion of their beliefs. Now I'm wondering if they really are hiding a continuing belief in 7,000 year "days". It's all so silly because there's no reason at all why, if the days are not literal, they have to be the same length. They could have their cake and eat it too by making some days millions of years and leaving the 7th day as 7,000 years.

  That being said, I do think you underestimate the Society's willingness to use weasel words when you point out that "thousands" is not "millions". It's well within their known record of distorting word definitions to use "thousands" to allow for the possibility of "thousands of thousands".
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  Bloody Hotdogs!

  HowTheBibleWasCreated

  OOOO! That is too good. Must. Find. Brochure.
• 

  FirstLastName

  When I was a kid, my dad who was an elder told me they were God's "lawn mowers". It makes me smile to think of his answer. Only cause I know he did not really know himself what the answer was, but he has to say something.
• 

  galaxie

  These people dishing out this convoluted drivel cannot be taken seriously.

  They are forever hedging their bets, why?

  Because their world of hypocritically dished out misinformation would come crashing down if they actually conceded the fact that their take on dinosaurs or the evolution of living things and corresponding timescales is childish , deliberately deceptive , and relies on the capitulation of their brainwashed adherents.

  Shame on their glaring hypocrisy!!!
• 

  wannabefree

  Concerning the dating of fossils from the same Awake!

  I never thought them to be dogmatic on this issue, especially after this 1990 article. As far as religion goes, to me it seemed to be a fairly reasonable way to view the dinosaur issue (at the time and if you were to reconcile dinosaurs with the creation narrative). I think the 1990 Awake! was a different approach to the subject than the Watch Tower's past explanation. They seemed to allow the possibility that humans and dinosaurs didn't walk the earth together, but questioned the millions of years explanation of science.

  *** g90 2/8 pp. 10-11 What Happened to the Dinosaurs? ***
  The Dating of Dinosaurs
  Dinosaur bones are regularly found in lower earth layers than are human bones, leading many to conclude that they belong to an earlier time period. Geologists call this time the Mesozoic period and subdivide it into the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic periods. The time frames used for these periods are on the order of tens of millions of years. But has this been established with any certainty?

  One method being used to measure the age of fossils is called radiocarbon dating. This dating system measures the rate of decay of radioactive carbon from the point of death of the organism. “Once an organism dies, it no longer absorbs new carbon dioxide from its environment, and the proportion of the isotope falls off over time as it undergoes radioactive decay,” states Science and Technology Illustrated.

  However, there are severe problems with the system. First, when the fossil is considered to be about 50,000 years old, its level of radioactivity has fallen so low that it can be detected only with great difficulty. Second, even in more recent specimens, this level has fallen so low that it is still extremely difficult to measure accurately. Third, scientists can measure the present-day rate of radioactive carbon formation but have no way of measuring carbon concentrations in the distant past.

  So whether they use the radiocarbon method for dating fossils or other methods, such as employing radioactive potassium, uranium, or thorium, for dating rocks, scientists are unable to establish the original levels of those elements through ages of time. Thus, professor of metallurgy Melvin A. Cook observes: “One may only guess these concentrations [of radioactive materials], and the age results thus obtained can be no better than this guess.” That would especially be so when we consider that the Flood of Noah’s day over 4,300 years ago brought enormous changes in the atmosphere and on earth.

  Dartmouth College geologists Charles Officer and Charles Drake further add doubt to the accuracy of radioactive dating. They state: “We conclude that iridium and other associated elements were not deposited instantaneously . . . but rather that there was an intense and variable influx of these constituents during a relatively short geologic time interval on the order of 10,000 to 100,000 years.” They argue that the breakup and movement of the continents disrupted the entire globe, causing volcanic eruptions, blocking sunlight and fouling the atmosphere. Certainly, such disruptive events could change radioactivity levels, thus distorting results from modern-day radioactive clocks.