From: corey@sdf.lonestar.org (Corey Carroll)
Subject: JW's claim of a "Water Canopy"
Organization: sdf Public Access UNIX, Dallas--unrestricted free shell access
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 00:00:59 GMT

Well, here's an interesting theory I found in one of the Jehovah's
Witnesses' older (1967) books.  It was the old version of their
current book, _Life : How did it get here?  By evolution or by
creation?_  In it you will find such wonderful things as claims
that the proposed transitional fossils in the horse lineage are
'in the wrong order', theories of catastrophism and the flood of
Noah's day may have accounted for some of the world's features, and
it is hinted at that evolution violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics
(they never mention the law specifically, just in generalized terms).


BTW, the book is called _Did Man Get Here by Evolution or by Creation?_


Now, the Witnesses believe the 6 days in Genesis were not literal
24-hour periods, but rather, millennia.  (Actually, once they said the
days were 7,000 years long, but that is hard to reconcile.  42,000 years
still is a long way off from the MILLIONS of years life has been on the
earth.  This was found in their older literature.  Interestingly, they
do not repeat it any more in their newer literature :)  However, they
DO believe that man was a special creation, and that Adam and Eve were
created wholly about 6,000 years ago.  Therefore, a problem exists.  How
do they reconcile the dates attributed to man that are older than 6,000
years old?


Well, they think the answer lies in the global deluge.  Supposedly, a
bunch of water was suspended in the 'heavens' (around the earth?) before
the flood.  That's where some of the water came from.  The rest came from
springs under the earth.  Before the flood, the water would have shielded
living things from radiation, so that radiocarbon dates before the flood
would be inaccurate, perhaps by great factors.  Let me quote from
_Did Man Get Here_, in the chapter "How Old is Man?", page 99 and on:

	What is often ignored, too, is the fact that there
	was a much greater shielding of the atmosphere
	from cosmic rays 4,300 years ago.  The Bible explains
	that prior to that time a vast water canopy was
	suspended high above the earth, and that its fall
	caused a global delube in the days of Noah, who wrote
	an eyewitness account of the event. (Psalm 104:6,7;
	Genesis 1:6,7; 7:11,12)  This water canopy shielded
	the atmosphere from cosmic rays to a greater extent
	than is true today, thus *reducing the formation of
	radiocarbon.*  That is why objects dated from before
	that time appear older than they really are, for
	they did not absorb as much C-14 as objects have
	absorbed since then.

	(Emphasis mine)

Now, what I want to know, is what this "theory" would predict.
Certainly such a major chance must have been recorded somewhere
in the earth's history..the rocks, magnetic fields, etc?

Are there other methods INDEPENDENT of C-14 dating that could
be used to check the validity of these claims?

What exactly would a 'shield of water' do?  How much would it
protect the earth from radiation?



P.S. While this claim of the water canopy changing the apparent dates of
rocks is found in their old creation book, it was left out of the new
creation book.  In fact, although the old book has no color pictures,
it was written much better and made a stronger case.  It seems that as
time goes by and the Witnesses try to appeal to the mass uneducated
populations, they simplify their literature more and more.  It's my
guess that their current _Life_ book is written on an 8th grade level,
whereas their older one was much more sophisticated.  Incidentally,
the 'water canopy' is briefly mentioned in their book _Insight on the
Scriptures_, but it isn't said for sure whether or not this changed
the dates of objects older than the flood.


-- 
"All religions make me wanna throw up!"
"All religions make me sick!" - Dead Kennedys, Religious Vomit

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