The Watchtower's Latest Remarks Concerning the Flood

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In the most recent (and presumably final) letter I received from the Watchtower Society, they addressed my questions by stating:

More than three years have elapsed since that letter arrived in my mailbox, but the Watchtower Society has published nothing regarding the questions in my letters. During the 2009 “Keep on the Watch” District Conventions of Jehovah’s Witnesses, however, the Watchtower Society released the brochure The Bible – What Is Its Message? Section three of the brochure (on page 6) is entitled “Mankind Survives the Flood”.

Here are a couple of fascinating tidbits from this brochure:

1. Notice the Watchtower Society claims that “numerous animal species” were preserved in the ark. In their book Reasoning From the Scriptures, the Watchtower Society defines the ‘kinds’ in Genesis as equivalent to ‘species’:

Each “kind” has the genetic potential for great variety. Thus there are reportedly more than 400 different breeds of dogs and upwards of 250 breeds and types of horses. All interfertile varieties of any animal are just one Genesis “kind.” (page 87)

In the past, they asserted a specific number of “kinds,” or species that were aboard Noah’s ark. In 1988, they claimed 43 “kinds” of mammals; 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles (Insight on the Scriptures, page 327). Their new publication, cited earlier, does not specify the number of species on board, choosing rather to offer the vague “numerous.”

2. In my second letter to the Watchtower Society regarding Noah’s Flood, I asked them if it was at all possible that the deluge was not global in nature. Despite the fact that a localized flood is consistent with both scriptural text and scientific evidence, they held to the doctrine that the flood covered the entire planet. Judging from the excerpt in their latest publication, above, they have evidently not wavered in this position.