Generation Change

by slugga 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  montana96

  My husband always said if they changed their minds on the generation he knew it wouldnt be the truth. I remember well old sisters crying because they really wanted to survive armageddon, they knew I think that they would probably die.

  I dont remember many leaving over it but you could feel the change amongst the bros & sis. I think thats when alot more became depressed and downhearted because with the generation view you knew it would come in your lifetime.But with the knew change alot were left wandering. My husband knew then it was no longer the truth although it took us another few years to finally leave,we kept thinking it would get better!

  Mercedes
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  greendawn

  I wasn't a JW at the time of this doctrinal change but I was surprised that they finally admitted it, since by the early eighties I was suspecting that they were really stretching the generation timespan as by that time most of those that saw and understood the events of 1914 were dead. To me generation meant generation as a whole in its totality or at least quasi totality and not a tiny part of it.
  
  As this was directly linked to the soon to be paradise the major selling point of the WTS, I am surprised that most dubs did not leave the org. Because they were also being duped, intimidated, and exploited for decades on the basis of this doctrine.
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  willyloman

  I am surprised that most dubs did not leave the org. Because they were also being duped, intimidated, and exploited for decades on the basis of this doctrine.

  Amen. I think history will remember 1995 as the year of the JW 'Great Disappointment," similar to what caused Miller's Adventism to deteriorate and morph into JWs and other splinter groups back in 1844. Millerism's momentum carried the movement forward for several generations until the followers gave up and went looking elsewhere.
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  jeeprube

  The Society was very slick when they pulled this off. They spun it in such a way as to prove they actually had divine inspiration. There was almost an air of excitement amongst the congregations around us; the friends where so proud to be part of an organization receiving "new light."

  Looking back it was pathetic. The Society ripped the rug out from under our entire belief system, and people smiled and took it.
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  Sunspot

  Nobody batted an Eyelid as far as i remember...i put the Generation change as the number one reason i left the org...took me many Years to completely realise exactly how they had got away with it tho,and what it all meant!

  Stunning really,that People..many intelligent people ..blindly follow this crap and accept absolutely anything

  I would be one of those people...I "thought" of myself as fairly intelligent, but this all flew right over my head! It wasn't until later (after I left) did I even begin to see the ramifications of it all.

  Annie
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  stillajwexelder

  Of course it was never announced. 1914 just stopped being printed inside Awake cover and there was a study article. There was no actual announcement
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  Spectrum

  The principle of it went straight over their heads because the clever new wording still allowed members to assume that the end was still in sight so no harm done. The doctrine still maintained the word "generation" and this word was still linked to 1914.
  Not sure but I reckon that most JWs still believe they are never going to die. Con man Rutherford is still haunting these people.
  
  digress
  Is con man an unfair description for Rutherford?
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  JH

  When they changed the generation definition, It meant that they never knew their ass from their elbow right from the start.
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  proplog2

  I knew one faithful old brother that never married. He was about 78 when that info came out. He immediately quit taking his heart medication and started eating great marbled steaks at his favorite restaurants. He was gone - real quick.
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  willyloman

  I reckon that most JWs still believe they are never going to die

  Perhaps some do, but it was my sense in the months and years before I left recently that many of them are starting to figure out they'll get old and die in this system. It bothers them a lot.