This generation is a group?

by feelinsketchy 5 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  feelinsketchy

  In 1995 the new light linked the term generation with a group of "contemporaries" that would basically share the same experience of living in the time of the end. At most, that put the end off maybe 20 or 30 years. Not a few left because of what was viewed as apocalypse delayed. What is going to be the effect on the R/F when this new, new teaching is made public? It seems to me that many more will leave because now the generation is viewed not as a time period but as a group. The effect is that the end is nowhere in sight.
• 

  nvrgnbk

  I understand it in this way.

  Those that are alive to witness the end of this system of things are the generation.

  In other words, the term is meaningless.

  Those that are alive to witness the end of this system of things are precisely those that will be alive to witness the end of this system of things.
• 

  Gopher

  Sketchy,

  That change in meaning from "time period" to "group of people existing at the time of Armageddon" occurred in 1995.

  What it meant to me (and I was a JW then) was that whenever Armageddon happened, a "generation" that opposed Jehovah would go down.

  The WTS was trying to eliminate the time prophecy from the "generation" phrase, but as NVR said, they made it meaningless back in 1995.

  Now apparently they will try to inject a little meaning back into that phrase. Isn't it wonderful, the DEPTH of their knowledge confusion?
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  Last year, I contributed to a thread about "This Generation" when there was no rumor that
  the definition was going to change again. The thread was http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/124672/1.ashx

  I resurrected a comment by TD that showed how meaningless the new definition was and added a simple thought:

  Pre 1995 - the "generation" refers to individuals who were alive in 1914. The generation of 1914 would not pass away before the end of the system of things. This meant you would expect the end within 100 years of 1914, give or take.

  Post 1995 - the "generation " refers to individuals around at the time of christ's presence. These individuals being independant of 1914 or any other date. The end of the system of things is therefore no longer dependant on 1914.

  The most amazing thing to me is that Witnesses don't even seem to have the mental steam to define their terms and paraphrase the statement to see if the post 1995 definitions will evaluate to anything intelligible.

  For example, Pre 1995:

  This Generation = Individuals alive in 1914

  Pass Away = Die of old age

  All these things = The entire sign including Armageddon

  Put it all together and you get something like this:

  "Those alive in 1914 will not all die of old age until the entire sign is fulfilled and Armageddon occurs."

  However Post 1995:

  This Generation = People contemporary with the sign who take no note

  Pass Away = Destruction by God at Armageddon

  All these things = The entire sign including Armageddon

  Put this all together and you get something like this:

  "Those contemporary with the sign who take no note will not be detroyed by God at Armageddon until the entire sign is fulfilled and Armageddon occurs."

  --which is an obvious tautology. Of course no one will be destroyed at Armageddon until Armageddon occurs. The JW's have reduced the statement to a semantic nil while at the same time, patting themselves on the back for their "Clearer understanding."

  Try it get a JW to perform this simple exercise and see just how "Clear" their understanding is.

  THIS LOGIC WAS OUTSTANDING:
  I wrote it simplified in my personal notes-

  "Those contemporary with the sign who take no note will not be detroyed by God at Armageddon until the entire sign is fulfilled and Armageddon occurs."

  This can be simplified to say:

  There will be people alive in the last days up until Armageddon. OR People will not be destroyed at Armageddon until Armageddon. (Totally meaningless)

  Abandoning this meaningless garbage isn't going to damage the Borg much. Some will open their eyes
  to the fact that the previous meaning was garbage, and the new meaning is garbage, so maybe the
  application to modern times is garbage. Most won't really be moved to do anything about the new change
  since they didn't understand the old change or the new change.
• 

  jaguarbass

  Regarding your saying the end is nowhere in sight. I listen to late night radio here in the USA. There are a lot of fanatical types that look to 2012 as being a cataclysmic date. Nothing to do with Jehober per say. More of an alignining of the stars and Mayan prophecies and conspiracies.

  I would think people have been thinking the end is near since the begining of conciousness. It appears that the end does come from time to time for society and once every hundred years for individuals.
• 

  WTWizard

  The short version of what they are saying is that the generation is the members of the "anointed", which now can be added to. In effect, the number of partakers will not hit zero (it never will) before the end comes, and now there is unlimited time for that to happen.

  However, we must not let our guard down. We must still sell out as if it were coming tomorrow, so we can spread the cancer everywhere. Never mind people like Danny Haszard: Just accept our specious explanation that his turning apostate [after having been ruined by our nonsense] is a sign that he was not righteous.

  This is what they are going to tell the people when the "new light" comes out. None of it makes sense. It is still an "emergency", but this "emergency" is going to last indefinitely and probably as long as there are people on earth. Coupled with a recent thread about doing away with the public talk and making people use the time for field circus (which may or may not actually happen, depending on whether or not they go through with it), it looks like they are forcing people into a lifetime of shutting everything else out.