Did it take 31 years for Adam to name all the animals?

Question

In the Bible, Adam was created, then he named the animals before Eve was created, after which the 6th day of creation ended. I read in a "Watchtower" magazine that each 'day' of creation was 1,000 years long and Bible chronology showed the end of 6,000 years of man's existence would be October 1975. Armageddon was expected by then, at the latest! In 1968 the 1 May "Watchtower" said Eve was created within the same year as Adam. But the 1 May 1975 "Watchtower" said this time-gap was unknown. Seeing as it's now 31 years from 1975, can any Jehovah's Witnesses clarify whether they still believe this time-gap holds good - meaning Adam must have been busy naming the animals for 31 years (to date)?

This is NOT a question post-1975 converts to the JWs can possibly answer, by the way. I've already spoken to some of them and they insist they never believed Armageddon would come in 1975 but I have their leaders statements to hand so if you are a JW, please state whether pre or post 1975. Thanks

I'm only allowed 1,000 characters Al, so I must be brief. Full quotes are too large. I have the 1 May 1968 Wt. in front of me p271 para 4 "According to reliable Bible chronology Adam was created in the year 4026 BCE, likely in the autumn, at the end of the 6th day of creation. Then God brought the animals to man to name... Adam would quickly realize this lonely condition very quickly, perhaps in just a few days or a few weeks... Nor would his naming the animals take an unduly long time... relatively quickly named, for when such basic kinds were taken into the ark in Noah's day, it did not involve millions of beasts but perhaps only a few hundred basic kinds...Since it was also Jehovah's purpose for man to multiply and fill the earth, it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year, 4026 BCE...8 years from 1967 would bring us to the autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's 7th day." Can you now answer my 2nd Q please?

GoldieMeg, you are right to say if Jesus did not know the time for the system's end, its calculation would be beyond mortal attempts. But that didn't stop the Wt.Soc. from doing lots of arithmetic! In the same Wt. mag quoted from above, pages 272-273 has a complex chart with dates, showing the Socs calculations that end in autumn 1975. This was a main study article for 2 millions JWs.

To test honesty, ask if the Soc ever claimed to be Jehovah's modern-day prophet. They did in their 1 April 1972 Wt. article 'They Shall Know That A Prophet Was Amongst Them'. But after 1975 expectations failed to materialise, they said in their 15 May 1976 Wt p297 "Neither are they inspired prophets". Get the 1972 article and read it first, however! Don't take my word for this.

The issue here is not "an error made by a few persons" but who those mistaken men claimed to be - God's prophet anointed, led with Holy Spirit, God's channel today. If they were wrong then what about now? The HS wasn't wrong!

Natesgirl - Could you get your parents to answer? I found an article by a 3rd generation JW in the 15 Feb Wt 1984, pp22-25. Herald Toutjian admitted his JW father and grandfather expected the end in 1914 and 1925. He recalled his own expectations during WWII: "It seemed to us then that the war would usher in the climactic battle of Armageddon." But the 1970s came and he said, "We were expecting that 6,000 years of man's existence would be reached in 1975." This zealous, sincere JW might have been upset to then read the 15 May 1993 Wt, p8 "Some people expected Jesus Christ to return in 1943 or 1844... They were stimulated by wrong motives. Their selfishness was the principal thing appealed to and excited." Then the Soc excused its false predictions as 1st C Christians thought the end was due back then. But THEY didn't put any dates to it! From 1874 till 1975 the Wt Soc has enticed people to believe the end was imminent. Do they NOW insist Adam took 31+ yrs to name the animals, or not?

Achtung! Clearly you are not a pre-1975 convert! You're using post-75 speak! Here's some pre-75 words written by your leaders in 1968: "The immediate future is certain to be filled with climactic events, for this old system is nearing its complete end. Within a few years at most the final parts of Bible prophecy relative to these last days will undergo fulfillment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind into Christ's glorious 1,000 year reign." (Wt. above - 40 years ago!) No wonder JWs sold up homes, packed in their jobs and moved to where the need was great. I knew 4 such families locally. The parents are now dead. A close relative was at a pre-assembly mtg in 1966 in Scunthorpe where the Circuit Servant held up the new Life Everlasting book and said, "Brothers, do you want to know the date of Armageddon? It's in this book!" (p29) He'd been briefed on the significance of 1975 by his Society. He certainly believed it. And consider the testimony of the previous answerer too.

"When do 6,000 years end?" heading, preceded by 2 paras stating that the Sabbath-like millennium of Christ's rule would take place after the autumn of 1975 - Awake! 8 Oct 1968 p15.
"Just think brothers, there are only about 90 months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed. Do you remember what we learned at the assemblies last summer? The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then."-Kingdom Ministry March 1968 p4.
"Since we have such a short time left now... the end of this system is so very near... spend more time and energy in preaching during this final period before the present system ends... Brothers [are] selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days [pioneering]. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end." Kingdom Ministry May 1974 p3.

Wester - it's noble of you to take the rap instead of your leaders but they alone aroused your 1975 expectations as the quote you provided proves! Re-read it. The rest 'day' of God began shortly after 4026 BC, 1,000 years of that ending 1975. The 1,000 years immediately AFTER 1975 were expected to be Satan-and-demon-free, only possible if they were bound for the duration of Christ's millennial rule, which cannot start until AFTER Armageddon! That's why 2 million JWs of that era believed Armageddon would come in 1975. That's why baptisms rose in 1975 to 295,073 but by 1978 had dropped to 95,052. And membership also dropped drastically. That's why I'm asking for the current belief about Adam, the animals and Eve's arrival. Why cannot JWs today suss their leaders' watering-down tactics that keep stringing each new generation of JW converts along the garden path? Look to Christ alone!

(A typo in Natesgirl para - 1943 should be 1843. Ref. in Achtung para - (Wt. above - is 1 May 1968)

Woops, Wester! - I wasn't expecting any agreeable answers! Hadn't checked your profile page so your subtlety was wasted on me. It won't be the next time!

Answer 1

Maybe it did, who knows?


Now how about some actual quotes....

...or maybe the asker's only intention is innuendo and smarminess.


Really, if one is going to brag about supposedly having "leaders statements to hand" then why not share them? Could it be because they don't really say what angry critics pretend that they say?

Answer 2

Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses pretend that their publications connected the interesting chronological milestone of "6000 years of man's existence" with the eschatological Armageddon. Jehovah's Witnesses never published any such teaching, but they have endured more than thirty years of innuendo and outright propaganda regarding the matter from anti-Witness activists.

This questioner even makes this wild, unsupported, and unsupportable claim regarding Jehovah's Witnesses:
"I have their leaders
statements to hand"

Where? What excerpts connect Armageddon and 1975? If this was a core doctrine, surely there must be one!


In fact, the question might be asked regarding Witnesses themselves:
Did Witnesses of the time understand Armageddon as prophesied to occur in 1975?

In 1975, there was a peak of 2,179,256 active Witnesses preaching from house to house. If their faith were tied to Armageddon in 1975, one would assume they'd quit in 1976. Did they? No.

By 2005, there were 6,613,829 actively preaching Jehovah's Witnesses, more than THREE TIMES as many!

Even in the United States, Jehovah's Witnesses have almost doubled their numbers since 1975. The articles of Jehovah's Witnesses which mentioned 1975 did so because it was an interesting milestone in history; no connection was made between that year and Armageddon.

Jehovah's Witnesses have long taught that not even Jesus knew the day and hour of Armageddon.

(Matthew 24:3-36) .The disciples approached [Jesus] privately, saying: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” 4 And in answer Jesus said to them: “Look out... 10 Then, also, many will be stumbled and will betray one another and will hate one another. ...13 But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved. 14 And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come. ...36 “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.


It is sad when the enemies of truth work to spread misinformation regarding this peaceful Christian religion.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/20000622/
http://watchtower.org/e/dg/index.htm?article=article_09.htm

Answer 3

Wow, I'm really impressed with your research. As you probably know, though, there are none so blind as those who will not see and there are a lot of people who don't want to see the truth about the "truth".

To be absolutely factual, though, I think we should not say that the Society was expecting Armageddon in 1975. I was there and it was my understanding at the time that the autumn of 1975 would begin the 1000 year reign of Christ, so Armageddon would be all over and done by then.

This is from the July 15, 1967 WT, pages 446-447 The Removal of Mankind’s Chief Disturber

"According to the Bible timetable, man’s history on earth has been nearly 6,000 years. Adam was created in 4026 B.C.E., which means that six thousand years of human history end about the fall of 1975 C.E. We are in the great 7,000-year rest day of God, starting at the time he rested after the creation of Adam and Eve. There are, therefore, a thousand years left to run. Without Satan and his demons to disturb mankind it will indeed be a restful time. It will be like a sabbath. In a way it will be a sabbath within a sabbath. The last thousand years of God’s great seven-thousand-year rest is a special sabbath over which the Son of man will be Lord.—Matt. 12:8."


Notice that the "thousand years left to run" would begin in 1975 without Satan and the demons, so obviously that would be AFTER Armageddon had passed.

Hope to hear more from you!

EDITED

I must not have a good way of explaining myself.

I'm on your side.

I left the JW's because I eventually realized they don't have a clue.

I was merely clarifying - for JW's with a penchant for technicalities - that the Society was pointing to the autumn of 1975 as the beginning of Jesus' 1000 year reign of peace which would FOLLOW Armageddon. It was all THEIR idea, not mine. But who was I to question Jehovah who was 'directing' the 'faithful slave' to direct us to the year 1975??? Would Jehovah lead us down a wrong road?

Answer 4

Mine could be: Logan Scott- September 23 (14 a million/2, very almost 15) Connor Jason- April 11 (12) Kenneth Thomas- September 6 (9 a million/2, very almost 10) Bennett Mark- December 30 (6 a million/2, very almost 7) Trevor Spencer- June 30 (4) Logan, C.J., Kenny, Benny, and Trevor

Answer 5

You know yourself that the Watchtower Society have always been open and honest about errors they have made in their interpretation of the Scriptures. Holy Spirit and God's appointed time have made the truth brighter and brighter.

And really, if it was such a simple mathematical calculation to determine when the end of the system was coming, why would Jesus, (an incredibly intelligent creature with unknown thousands of years of pre-human existance) say when on the earth that only his Father knew when these things were destined to occur?

1975 was an error made by a few persons a long time ago, the end will come as a thief in the night as the Bible says.

Answer 6

I was a pre-1975 JW and I can assure everyone out there that JW's were eagerly anticipating the end of this system of things (Armageddon) in 1975. Contrary to what has been said, this was not just a mistake made by a few JW's. Contrary to what has been said about the organisation admitting to mistakes, the society has systematically covered up its mistakes by changing quotes from previous issues of the Watchtower. Here are two examples:

The Watchtower - January 1, 1989, page 12, paragraph 8: "The apostle Paul... was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century."

The Bound Volume of all Watchtower magazines for 1989 (printed at the end of 1989), same issue of above article January 1, 1989, page 12, paragraph 8: "The apostle Paul... was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our day."

Very convenient, given the 20th century has been and gone and the work has not yet been completed.

An older example which also proves JW's believed Armageddon would come in 1914: From the JW book "Bible Examiner" Vol XXI, Number 1, October 1876, page 27 - article written by JW founder Pastor Russell, called "Gentile Times: When Do They End?": "The seven times will end in A.D. 1914. When Gentile Governments shall have been dashed to pieces; when God shall have poured out of his fury upon the nations, and they acknowledge him King of Kings and Lord of Lord."

Now compare with the quote from the JW book, "God's Kingdom of a Thousand Years Has Approached" page 186: "In that article (page 27) Russell said: "The seven times will end in A.D. 1914."

Why was Russell's quote stopped short after '...in A.D. 1914'? Could it be due to his prediction that Armageddon would come in 1914 was a false prophecy? Russell did not believe (as JW's do now) that 1914 merely marked a 'legal' point before God. Now they think 1914 was the invisible second coming of Christ and that he is to come a third time, visibly, some time during the future great tribulation, and Armageddon won't happen till after then.

Oh, by the way, re the days of creation being 1,000 years. The Hebrew word for day is 'yom' and can be interpreted as 1,000 years or a million years. And it was Bishop Joseph Usher who was tasked with calculating how long man had been on the earth since Adam's creation - he added up all the ages of the people listed in the Bible since Adam and arrived at 6,000 years. I think there is enough evidence around to conclude that man has been on the earth for a lot longer than that, which is not to detract from the Genesis account of creation - merely to cast doubt on men who try to arrive at dates in order to prophecy about when Armageddon will come.

Answer 7

First and foremost, I was born in 1975. So I would have to be a post 75er. My parents, however, were around pre-75.

As to Adam's time alone, I found this 1976 Watchtower article:

How much time elapsed between the creation of the man and that of the woman? The Bible does not reveal this. It could have been a relatively short time. Adam was created—not as a child or an adolescent—but as a full-grown, fully mature man, both physically and mentally. He did not have to crawl first to learn to walk, nor babble sounds until able to speak. He was created with these abilities and could communicate with his heavenly Creator and could be set to work to cultivate and care for his garden home.

True, and yet fully adult though he was, the day of his being created was still the first day he had lived. Everything he saw—every tree, flower, plant, every stream, lake, river, every creature of all the bird, animal and fish creation—he was seeing for the very first time.

This was true of everything he did. When he walked he took his very first step; and so too with the experience of running, climbing, touching, smelling, tasting, eating—all were brand-new experiences for him. What enormous curiosity he must have felt as he examined the fascinating handiwork of Jehovah God and became acquainted with his garden home! How long would he be allowed time to satisfy that curiosity before taking on added responsibility as a family head?

The brevity of the Genesis account surely does not require our thinking that God simply gathered all the animals and birds into a big group and then had them file past Adam while he quickly called off names for them, one by one.

True, he may have had to deal only with basic family kinds rather than all the varieties of creatures that have developed out of those family kinds. But even so, we cannot rule out the possibility that God’s “bringing” these creatures to Adam may have involved their moving in sufficiently close to allow Adam to study them for a time, observing their distinctive habits and makeup, and then select a name that would be especially fitting for each. This could mean the passing of a considerable amount of time.

We may note that, when Adam did finally see his newly created wife, his first words were: “This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” (Gen. 2:23) This too could indicate that he had waited for some time to receive his delightful human counterpart.


Edit:
Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their eagerness for Jesus’ second coming, have suggested dates that turned out to be incorrect. Because of this, some have called them false prophets.

Never in these instances, however, did they presume to originate predictions ‘in the name of Jehovah.’ Never did they say, ‘These are the words of Jehovah.’ The Watchtower, the official journal of Jehovah’s Witnesses, has said: “We have not the gift of prophecy.” (January 1883, page 425) “Nor would we have our writings reverenced or regarded as infallible.” (December 15, 1896, page 306)

The Watchtower has also said that the fact that some have Jehovah’s spirit “does not mean those now serving as Jehovah’s witnesses are inspired. It does not mean that the writings in this magazine The Watchtower are inspired and infallible and without mistakes.” (May 15, 1947, page 157) “The Watchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances, nor is it dogmatic.” (August 15, 1950, page 263) “The brothers preparing these publications are not infallible. Their writings are not inspired as are those of Paul and the other Bible writers. (2 Tim. 3:16) And so, at times, it has been necessary, as understanding became clearer, to correct views. (Prov. 4:18)

So what they thought the end was 1914, 1975, and a handful of other years. Some JW's were so caught up in the dates, they left when the date didn't occur. And yet, Jehovah's Witnesses are still going strong. As mentioned in your question, it has been 31 years since a so-called "prophesy" has occured. Jehovah's Witnesses have not named another year for the end since. Get over it.

EDIT AGAIN:

In the mid-section of my answer, I commented on the possible things Adam did between the time he was created and Eve was created. In addition to naming the animals, he had a whole new environment to explore. He saw everything as through the eyes of a child. Imagine how long your child can stand in front of the Gorilla exhibit at the zoo. So, naming the animals for 31+ years. . . unlikely. But was he busy for 31+ years before being given a mate. . . it would appear so. When he first saw her he showed great delight possibly demonstrating that he had indeed waited quite a long time for her.

My parents were not so caught up in the year thing. My mom said that same as everyone else, they would have been more than happy if it would have happened then. It didn't. They are still serving Jehovah faithfully and will do so until the end does come.

What I don't understand is why so much has to made out of it. They made mistakes. 1914 makes sense because they can come to a bible based calculation for that year. Obviously, that date is important for other reasons (Jesus enthroned in heavenly kingdom). 1975 was notable year. (Marked 6000 years or 6 days to Jehovah).

Answer 8

It was a lot of animals, and God didn't want them all to be named Adam Jr., Buddy, or What's that thing?

Answer 9

All of this imagined power above, higher power, is bumbling twaddle, pronounced by deluded fools.