FYI: Jehovah’s Witness teaching supports an old Earth

Anderson:

Mapou @4: “Based on a controversial interpretation of a tiny handful of verses, there are also indications in Genesis that the original humans were both male and female, i.e., hermaphrodites.” There. Fixed it.

Genesis is not the only evidence we have for this. There are other ancient legends that allude to an original androgynous race of human beings.Mapou

July 13, 2014

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Mapou @4: "Based on a controversial interpretation of a tiny handful of verses, there are also indications in Genesis that the original humans were both male and female, i.e., hermaphrodites." There. Fixed it.Eric Anderson

July 13, 2014

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The Bible itself puts this question to rest. It states that Adam was to die on the day he sinned. Yet he lived almost a thousand years following expulsion from God's favor, seeing multiple generations of humans before dying. The Hebrew word for day can span enormous groupings of years from a human perspective, but from God's perspective, these "epochs" simply hold commonality in that certain historic events began during a specific period of time, or "day." Even though enormous spans of time are covered within each creative period (i.e., a period in which the early dense atmosphere eventually allowed light to filter to the earth's surface - or the first day), certain specific things happened within that period which all relate to each other. So after light eventually began to make it to the surface, eventually this allowed for the creation of photosynthesis-sustaining plant life. And once various types of vegetation made their appearance, many eventually becoming extinct and giving way to types gradually more like that we see today, then eventually the conditions on earth were conducive for the creation and appearance of animal life, including the great dinosaurs and many creatures now extinct. This does not support the idea of evolution that allows for one species eventually BECOMING an entirely new species. Rather, it allows for genetic reproduction across the "kinds" of creatures that God created and supports the idea of genetic mutation and fluctuation leading to nearly infinite variety within those "kinds." The Bible and science can be completely harmonious, as is noted by many well-respected and published scientists who now also happen to be Jehovah's Witnesses themselves (see the articles and their links in the original poster's reply above for just a few examples). And it is true, this has been the position of Jehovah's Witnesses all along. I was taught the expansive, scientifically-harmonious creative "day" explained by the Bible as a young child in the 70s, and I am now in my mid 40s. Consider this as well ... the groupings of years in each day (i.e., the period of time light reached the earth's surface, followed by the appearance of vegetation, followed by the atmosphere clarifying so as to allow perception of the luminaries, followed by the appearance animal life, etc.) happen to be in the precise order of events science explains things to happen. It's awe inspiring to realize the Moses had this general order of creation down in exactly the right sequence in 1513 BCE, while most all other people on earth at the time had wild and obviously human-inspired theories of how things came into existence.mickey2014

July 13, 2014

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HeKs:

The point is merely that the Bible allows they could each have been very long.

In my opinion, the Bible not only allows that the creation of life on earth happened over millions of years, it also allows that there were multiple creations. The designers (elohim) apparently were not entirely satisfied with previous creations and either allowed them to become extinct or may have even caused their extinctions. There are also indications in Genesis that the original humans were both male and female, i.e., hermaphrodites.Mapou

July 13, 2014

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Actually, this article serves as a good, broad primer on the JW view of creation, which is entirely compatible with ID and an old-earth and universe. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/g201403/untold-story-of-creation/ One quick note ... when it speaks of the length of the creative days and says, "In the Bible account, each of the six creative days could have lasted for thousands of years," it does not mean they could not have been even millions of years. The point is merely that the Bible allows they could each have been very long. Furthermore, the Biblical account itself suggests that creative activities that started during one creative "day" in some cases continued on through subsequent creative "days", so that the creative activities can be understood as starting within a particular creative period but not necessarily being completed before the next period began.HeKS

July 13, 2014

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This is not a new development. This has been the position of JWs all along. JW publications have regularly pointed out that they are not Creationists and that several aspects of the Creationist position is at odds with the Bible.HeKS

July 13, 2014

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Was Life Created? http://www.jw.org/download/?output=html&pub=lc&fileformat=EPUB%2CPDF%2CBRL%2CRTF%2CMOBI&alllangs=0&langwritten=E&txtCMSLang=E&isBible=0 The Origin of Life--Five Questions Worth Asking http://www.jw.org/download/?output=html&pub=lf&fileformat=EPUB%2CPDF%2CBRL%2CRTF%2CMOBI&alllangs=0&langwritten=E&txtCMSLang=E&isBible=0melvinvines

July 13, 2014

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