Another question for any Jehovah's witnesses people?

Question

In the Watchtower publication Life-How did it get here. We are told that a day as presented to us in genesis is actually a long period of time like a thousand years and not a literal day as in a solar day of 24 hours. When reading Genesis I have noted that the author of the scripture has indicated that the day is in the actually scripture as being from the rising of the son till the setting of the same. So the days as defined in Genesis are confined to a event involving a Sun and the function of that son compared to a days length. So how is this a greater period then a 24 hour day. The scripture states evening and morning another indication of a literal solar day. Now we have 7 days shown to us in Genesis and in 6 day God rested from his works.

In Exodus 20:11 God himself wrote on tablets of stone, In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth.

Could you explain to me how it is that the Jehovah's witness come up with a longer time then a day.

Well that all seems good but maybe i can add some different thinking here. On the third day God created the herbs of the field and the seeds ect. Then on the 5th day he created the animals. And you say that it like a thousand years. Why did not all of the plants the require gernation on a animals intestens die out as we still have seeds that require that in order to produce.
As Gods creation as not changed in all these years the only conclusion is that it is a literal day. Don't you think that is why God has given us seeds that require gernination in the intestines of animals so we would know that a day is a day.

Answer 1

God is in a time zone all by himshelf! Who knows how long a day is! he created time for us not for him!

Answer 2

"This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven." - Genesis 2:4
Does this verse refer to 24 hours? It doesn't.

Was all physical creation accomplished in just six days sometime within the past 6,000 to 10,000 years?

The facts disagree with such a conclusion: (1) Light from the Andromeda nebula can be seen on a clear night in the northern hemisphere. It takes about 2,000,000 years for that light to reach the earth, indicating that the universe must be at least millions of years old. (2) End products of radioactive decay in rocks in the earth testify that some rock formations have been undisturbed for billions of years.

Genesis 1:3-31 is not discussing the original creation of matter or of the heavenly bodies. It describes the preparation of the already existing earth for human habitation. This included creation of the basic kinds of vegetation, marine life, flying creatures, land animals, and the first human pair. All of this is said to have been done within a period of six “days.” However, the Hebrew word translated “day” has a variety of meanings, including ‘a long time; the time covering an extraordinary event.’ (Old Testament Word Studies, Grand Rapids, Mich.; 1978, W. Wilson, p. 109) The term used allows for the thought that each “day” could have been thousands of years in length.
Many consider the word “day” used in Genesis chapter 1 to mean 24 hours. However, in Genesis 1:5 God himself is said to divide day into a smaller period of time, calling just the light portion “day.” In Genesis 2:4 all the creative periods are called one “day”: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day [all six creative periods] that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.”

The Hebrew word yohm, translated “day,” can mean different lengths of time. Among the meanings possible, William Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies includes the following: “A day; it is frequently put for time in general, or for a long time; a whole period under consideration . . . Day is also put for a particular season or time when any extraordinary event happens.”1 This last sentence appears to fit the creative “days,” for certainly they were periods when extraordinary events were described as happening. It also allows for periods much longer than 24 hours.

Genesis chapter 1 uses the expressions “evening” and “morning” relative to the creative periods. Does this not indicate that they were 24 hours long? Not necessarily. In some places people often refer to a man’s lifetime as his “day.” They speak of “my father’s day” or “in Shakespeare’s day.” They may divide up that lifetime “day,” saying “in the morning [or dawn] of his life” or “in the evening [or twilight] of his life.” So ‘evening and morning’ in Genesis chapter 1 does not limit the meaning to a literal 24 hours.

“Day” as used in the Bible can include summer and winter, the passing of seasons. (Zechariah 14:8) “The day of harvest” involves many days. (Compare Proverbs 25:13 and Genesis 30:14.) A thousand years are likened to a day. (Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8, 10) “Judgment Day” covers many years. (Matthew 10:15; 11:22-24) It would seem reasonable that the “days” of Genesis could likewise have embraced long periods of time—millenniums. What, then, took place during those creative eras? Is the Bible’s account of them scientific? Following is a review of these “days” as expressed in Genesis.

Answer 3

Jehovah's Witnesses are absolutely *NOT* Creationists. They believe that the universe, planets, and earth itself must be untold millions of years old.

While Jehovah's Witnesses do not pretend to be privvy to the particularities of exactly how the Almighty created the spirit realm or the physical universe, they do note that the creation account in Genesis uses an interesting phrase: "[created] according to its kind".

According to Hebrew scholars, the term “kind” here means a created or family kind, but with those terms' older traditional meanings and not the modern scientific nomenclature of organisms. That seems to indicate that each general family organism "kind" was directly created, rather than allowed to evolve from a previously existing "kind".

There is no reason to assume that interesting "in between" or so-called "almost there" fossils are not simply extinct species in their own right. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the bible is in complete agreement with true science.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/g/2004/6/22/article_03.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/g/2002/6/8/article_01.htm

Answer 4

The word "day" in the Bible is not limited to 24 hours. To say that it is only 24 hours is not supported by the Bible.Even now, you go to the North Pole and you can get six months of night and day each.

Please notice these texts in the Bible.

A day was used to represent a year.
“A day for a year, a day for a year, you will answer for your errors.” “A day for a year, a day for a year, is what I have given you.” (Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6)

Likewise in regard to Daniel’s prophecy that foretold the coming of the Messiah at the end of sixty-nine “weeks.” The Messiah came, not at the end of sixty-nine literal weeks, or 483 days, but at the end of 483 years.

Psalms 90:4 states "4 For a thousand years are in your eyes but as yesterday when it is past,And as a watch during the night."

In the Christian Greek Scriptures “day” is also used to refer to other periods of time, not just to twenty-four hours. For example, Jesus on one occasion said: “Abraham your father rejoiced greatly in the prospect of seeing my day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” Likewise we read of such expressions by his followers as “Christ’s day,” “Jehovah’s day,” and “the great day of God the Almighty.” Surely none of these are meant to be limited to just twenty-four hours. (John 8:56; Phil. 2:16; 1 Thess. 5:2; Rev. 16:14)

Answer 5

Sometimes not only one year, but thousand years are at times represented as one day in the Bible. Moses said “For a thousand years are in your eyes but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch during the night.”

Then Peter said "“Let this one fact not be escaping your notice, beloved ones, that one day [Greek, he·me′ra] is with Jehovah as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”—Ps. 90:4; 2 Pet. 3:8

Learn More!
www.watchtower.org

Answer 6

You have very thought provoking questions! Many of these will be answered in my upcoming website entitled "Six Screens of the Watchtower." Here is a link (it will be released at the end of January) drop by when it's running and maybe I will post some of your information. You are clearly doing your research. Keep up the good work!

http://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/

Answer 7

This flexible use of the word “day” to express units of time of varying length is clearly evident in the Genesis account of creation. Therein is set forth a week of six creative days followed by a seventh day of rest. The week assigned for observance by the Jews under the Law covenant given them by God was a miniature copy of that creative week. (Ex 20:8-11) In the Scriptural record the account of each of the six creative days concludes with the statement: “And there came to be evening and there came to be morning” a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth day. (Ge 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) The seventh day, however, does not have this ending, indicating that this period, during which God has been resting from his creative works toward the earth, continued on. At Hebrews 4:1-10 the apostle Paul indicated that God’s rest day was still continuing in his generation, and that was more than 4,000 years after that seventh-day rest period began. This makes it evident that each creative day, or work period, was at least thousands of years in length. As A Religious Encyclopaedia (Vol. I, p. 613) observes: “The days of creation were creative days, stages in the process, but not days of twenty-four hours each.”—Edited by P. Schaff, 1894.

The entire period of the six time units or creative “days” dedicated to the preparation of planet Earth is summed up in one all-embracing “day” at Genesis 2:4: “This is a history of the heavens and the earth in the time of their being created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.”
NOTICE GENESIS 2:4 just above: ALL the creative "days" were spoken of as ONE DAY. ALSO, the above information is from Insight on the Scriptures, volume 1, DAY.

The phrase "And there came to be evening and there came to be morning...." is interesting in the creative context. When Jehovah began each creative period, observers (anfels) may have been unaware of what he creating or how it was all working together, so it could be said to be dark, like evening. After the completion of each "day's" creating, however, it would become clear, just as the world becomes clear in the morning and daylight brings obscure things into clarity.

To the Creator it can be just one unbroken time period in which he begins the carrying out of some purposeful activity and brings it on to its successful conclusion, much as a man begins a task in the morning and concludes it by the day’s end.

One final point: Just as each day of the week is of equal length to the rest, likewise it is logical that all the days of the creative week would be equal to one another. That would include the sabbath day. Apparently the sabbath day is about 7,000 years long, so it makes sense that each of the other days would be also. Notice the thought from Hebrews 3:7 through 4:11. I will quote the main point here but encourage you to read the entire context in your Bible. The main point is:
>>>3 For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest, just as he has said: “So I swore in my anger, ‘They shall not enter into my rest,’” although his works were finished from the founding of the world. 4 For in one place he has said of the seventh day as follows: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter into my rest.”

6 Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter into it, and those to whom the good news was first declared did not enter in because of disobedience, 7 he again marks off a certain day by saying after so long a time in David’s psalm “Today”; just as it has been said above: “Today if you people listen to his own voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had led them into a place of rest, God would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 So there remains a sabbath resting for the people of God. 10 For the man that has entered into God’s rest has also himself rested from his own works, just as God did from his own.11 Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest, for fear anyone should fall in the same pattern of disobedience.<<< -- Hebrews 4:3-11.

In other words, the sabbath day is a day continuing on down to our own time, and beyond into the future, probably when Jehovah's purpose is finally fulfilled at the end of the 1,000 years.

Answer 8

They are not the only ones that say that.