The home study book does not contain an explanation of current doctrine nor the doctrine itself.
The "generation" teaching - just to clarify!
by Beardo 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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AK - Jeff
That is so amazing! I have repeated Pistoff's direction with a correct hyperlink
http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/article_07.htm
It just shows what a disorganised bunch they are.
fokyc
That is a brochure that is 'pre-1995'. They still have it on the website - and that might be called bait and switch - but they are no longer publishing that as a current teaching. Jeff
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awol
Oh right, so what I read on the link, is what I would of been brought up listening to! Ok, and NOW the teaching is......?
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Clam
Please disregard.
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awol
Right so the Watchtower 1984 .... this generation of 1914 will by no means pass away.... they have disregarded it ..... what I need is a w/tower saying words to that effect. Have they specifically said we no longer believe this? I know 80 yrs has come and gone... but there are still people living from that time - okay - JUST. My mum wants specifics. Like here they said this... and now they say this and have two comparisons.
I am being really thick and annoying me thinks!!!
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AuldSoul
Watchtower November 1, 1995, pp. 14-15, par. 18-20
18 What, then, is the "generation" so frequently referred to by Jesus in the presence of his disciples? What did they understand by his words: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur"? Surely, Jesus was not departing from his established use of the term "this generation," which he consistently applied to the contemporary masses with their "blind guides" who together made up the Jewish nation. (Matthew 15:14) "This generation" experienced all the distress foretold by Jesus and then passed away in an unequaled "great tribulation" on Jerusalem.—Matthew 24:21, 34.
19 In the first century, Jehovah was judging the Jewish people. Repentant ones, who came to exercise faith in Jehovah’s merciful provision through Christ, were saved out of that "great tribulation." True to Jesus’ words, all things prophesied occurred, and then the "heaven and earth" of the Jewish system of things—the entire nation, with its religious leaders and wicked society of people—passed away. Jehovah had executed judgment!—Matthew 24:35; compare 2 Peter 3:7.
20 Those Jews who had paid attention to Jesus’ prophetic words realized that their salvation depended, not on trying to calculate the length of a "generation" or of some dated "times or seasons," but on keeping separate from the evil contemporary generation and zealously doing God’s will. Though the final words of Jesus’ prophecy apply to the major fulfillment in our day, first-century Jewish Christians also had to heed the admonition: "Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man."—Luke 21:32-36; Acts 1:6-8.Here you go, awol. The word generation no longer means what it means, it means smoething else entirely. Because cults reinvent words to suit their purposes and to perpetuate their own existence.
Respectfully,
AuldSoul -
Beardo
Have they specifically said we no longer believe this?
Thats what I want to know AWOL - to be honest, this is all quite vague and of no real use, although I do appreciate the thoughts generated.
It seems as though the society just don't focus any attention on a specific number any more, but the generation teaching stands in one form or another.
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LtCmd.Lore
Before the change:
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prsection7p.27par.16God’sPurposeSoontoBeRealized***16
How long a time period would these last days prove to be? Jesus said regarding the era that would experience the "beginning of pangs of distress" from 1914 onward: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (Matthew 24:8, 34-36) Thus, all the features of the last days must take place within the lifetime of one generation, the generation of 1914. So some people who were alive in 1914 will still be alive when this system comes to its end. That generation of people is now very advanced in years, indicating that there is not much time left before God brings this present system of things to an end.The official change:
***w9511/1p.14par.18SavedFroma"WickedGeneration"***
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What, then, is the "generation" so frequently referred to by Jesus in the presence of his disciples? What did they understand by his words: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur"? Surely, Jesus was not departing from his established use of the term "this generation," which he consistently applied to the contemporary masses with their "blind guides" who together made up the Jewish nation. (Matthew 15:14) "This generation" experienced all the distress foretold by Jesus and then passed away in an unequaled "great tribulation" on Jerusalem.—Matthew 24:21, 34.After the change:
***w976/1p.28QuestionsFromReaders***
With similar sincere intentions, God’s servants in modern times have tried to derive from what Jesus said about "generation" some clear time element calculated from 1914. For instance, one line of reasoning has been that a generation can be 70 or 80 years, made up of people old enough to grasp the significance of the first world war and other developments; thus we can calculate more or less how near the end is.
However well-meaning such thinking was, did it comply with the advice Jesus went on to give? Jesus said: "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. . . . Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."—Matthew 24:36-42.
So the recent information in TheWatchtower about "this generation" did not change our understanding of what occurred in 1914. But it did give us a clearer grasp of Jesus’ use of the term "generation," helping us to see that his usage was no basis for calculating—counting from 1914—how close to the end we are.
So for decades they were telling people that armegeddon would come before the people who were alive during 1914 died. Then they change in a few confusing and vauge paragraphs, and everyone forgot about it afterwards... it is not considered a false prophesy to them.
All you have to do is type in the term 'this generation will by no means pass away' in the watchtower library, and you'll see how long they kept on telling people that the end must be near because of that scripture, INCLUDING the reasoning book. Untill it started to become absurd to continue to believe it.
So it's my prediction that soon they will come out with a new reasoning book, and everyone will praise Jehovah and not even notice the change.
(By the way you can't prove that prediction wrong because by 'soon' I acctualy meant 'within the next 200 years')
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Ms. Whip
Speaking with a CO recently (within the last week) I mentioned the change of "generation" in 1995. He said "yes that is when our understanding of the seperating work was clarified" "new light helped us see that the judgement will happen AFTER Armageddon and we are not in the work of JUDGING people today" "we used to say after meeting someone at the door 'oh that's a goat...or that's certainly one of God's sheep' "We realize we can no longer think this way." He continued that "people today are 'lining up' on sides, choosing themselves whether they are on God's side or Satan's side"
He changed the term "seperating work" to a "lining up." Ahh, such a technicality.
He even alluded to the fact that Apostates can be forgiven if they repent and return to Jehovah. Like King David who sinned against God by committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah the Hittite.
It appeared that he had been instructed to be softer with Apostate thinkers. He even went on to say "things have really changed since you have left" "new light has made the organization more understanding and less judgmental."
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Honesty
Here are all of the Watchtower Society's teachings all wrapped up in a neat little sentence:
numerology - The study of the supposed occult influence of numbers on human affairs.
