My letter to Bethel about the flood

by Cornbread 85 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • ShirleyW
    ShirleyW

    Do you really think you'll hear back from addressing the questions you ask? if you do hear from them it will be via a brother from the congregation you attended asking if you want to study.

  • Pete Zahut
    Pete Zahut

    Good letter but why address it "Dear Brothers"? How about just Sirs or to whom it may concern ?

    I'd leave the "Dear" and or "Brothers" words out of it because it sounds like you still hold them in some sort of high regard as religious leaders or Bible Theologians who's credentials and track record make them worthy of your respect.

  • Cornbread
    Cornbread

    Again, I phrased it for the benefit of my still-in dad.

    I was trying to come off as non-confrontational as possible.

  • berrygerry
    berrygerry

    Good letter.

    For your Dad:

    (Romans 12:2) And quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making YOUR mind over, that YOU may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

    PROVE to yourself.

    (Acts 17:11) Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·ni′ca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so.

    CAREFULLY EXAMINING ... WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO.

    Ronald Reagan referring to Russian saying: "Trust, but verify."

  • Cold Steel
    Cold Steel

    It may just be simply an issue of biblical exegesis. One scholar writes:

    A

    critical issue in the Flood story in the King James Bible has to do with translations of the Hebrew words eretz and adamah as meaning the entire “earth.” What do these terms actually mean? It is widely recognized that Hebrew is a wonderful language for poets, since virtually every word has multiple meanings. But that same characteristic makes it a horrible language for precision. As it turns out, eretz and adamah can indeed be a geographical reference akin to what we usually mean by “the earth.” But it is not at all clear that the ancients had the concept of a spherical planet that you and I do. Many scholars argue that the Bible writers thought in terms of a flat earth that was covered by a bowl-shaped firmament into which the windows of heaven were literally cut....

    Duane E. Jeffrey

    Commenting on this, one reviewer added: "Jeffrey notes that ideas of a global flood may have resulted from a widespread local problem. A current hypothesis that has been gaining ground since 1998 is that a significant flooding event occurred in the area now occupied by the Black Sea. Evidence has been discovered which has led a number of researchers to believe that the Black Sea area was once occupied by a completely isolated freshwater lake at a much lower level than the ocean. The theory is that the sea level rose and eventually broke through the Bosporus shelf, resulting in a rapid flooding event which would have wiped out all life living along the shores of the lake. Whether this is the source for the Genesis flood remains conjecture."

    Although no certain evidence for the flood as a global event has been forthcoming, it's interesting to note that the legend of the flood exists in almost all the cultures of the earth, from Greece and Rome to Asia to the New World.

  • Cornbread
    Cornbread

    A local flood in 2300 BC makes no sense archaeologically because the Egyptians were well into the fourth dynasty and there's no mention of such a catastrophe in the region. For reference, the great pyramid of Khufu was built 200 years before the flood was supposed to have taken place.

  • Daniel1555
    Daniel1555

    You wrote very well.

    I doubt that you will ever get an answer.

    I sent them letters too. I got an answer to a letter I wrote about proof that human life is older than 6000 years.

    They brought up young earth creationists reasoning and that we have to trust the bible. Basically they said that the global flood changed everything and that all dating methods are not reliable for dates older than 4300 years.

    I also mentioned ice core data and dendrochronology.

    They didn't even try to refute these.

  • Doug Mason
    Doug Mason

    There are two Flood stories that "someone" (probably Ezra?) combined into one. That explains the internal contradictions in the story.

    http://www.jwstudies.com/Two_Flood_Stories.pdf

    Doug

  • Witness My Fury
    Witness My Fury

    They've heard it all before, facts dont matter to them, once you understand that it's a pointless exercise in even bothering to engage with them at all.

    Live your life cult free.

  • Witness 007
    Witness 007
    Ginko tree is millions of years old and survived the extinction of the dinosuars....guess Noah had a garden on board.

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