Death of a generation

by onacruse 22 Replies latest jw experiences

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  TD

  That says it all about speculation, it does nothing to bolster faith in God and Christ and bring them glory, it is a waste of time, it has been a monkey on the org's back ...

  It's been a monkey on their back alright. I think many JW doctrines by their very nature make it that way.

  The JW doctrine of the Great Crowd for example is inextricably linked to the concept of a generation that will see the end.

  IOW If the "End" cannot be located within the lifetimes of a given group of people, then the Great Crowd can't be identified because a person can't even be a "Prospective" member of the Great Crowd if the "End" lies outside the farthest boundary of their lifetime. (Which is why the JW's teach that from the dawn of Christianity clear up until the 20th century, there was only a heavenly hope.)

  Following through on their 1995 "Adjustment" would logically require other, more serious adjustments to JW doctrine which the leadership doesn't seem prepared to make. (e.g. What exactly happened in 1935, How could it be said that the heavenly calling is closed, How could it be said that the "Other Sheep" are an earthly class if they are separate and distinct from the "Great Crowd" etc.)
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  LoisLane looking for Superman

  Btt
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  panhandlegirl

  God ! that makes me feel old., but you are right . When we were young boys or girls in "The Truth", how did we view the old books that some of them still had in the house? I mean stuff that,in my case, had been printed in the 1940's or before. We viewed them as mere curiosities, collectors items to be put on the shelf, nothing more. It is scary to think that that is how the study books of my time must now be seen.

  The under 40's would not know what it was like to be living in confidence of Armageddon within "months not years" , the under 20's never have expected the "1914 generation " to never die out.

  BluesBrother, it makes me feel old too but it also makes me feel dumb for believing it all. As you stated, we viewed all those old books, such as Children and others as collector's items that did not concern us.I even remember when they stopped printing the Let God Be True book. I guess the books we studied during the sixties and seventies have been shelved as relics too, especially since many new jws are not aware of the 1975 debacle and the organization denies what they told us. I know people who quit their jobs and /or sold their homes because of the belief the the end was near, around the corner, at the threshold. When I tell people what I believed as a young person, that the end was coming in 1975, and why I, and thousands of jws did not go to college, the are incredulous. As bad as I hate it, I believe the WTS can just keep on declaring new light and postponing the end, yet keeping the r/f in constant expectation of the end. It just makes me sick to see how this organization mistreats the flock and takes their money for their own advancement