When the rules don't suit you, change 'em

Jourles

Anointed cutoff --- 1935.

You cannot become a GB member without being one of the anointed.

"This generation will by no means pass away..." --- "this generation" means the great crowd who planned on seeing armageddon before Y2K.

1995 comes and this generation now means the great crowd living during our time is part of it, no time cap.

GB is getting old and dying off. To maintain control over the org, new GB members must be added.

New GB member(s) born post-1935. Missed anointed calling. But have no fear, they are "replacements" for the anointed ones who became unfaithful.

Official count of those who partake has consistently hovered at ~8k people for the last 10-20 years.

"This generation" will now mean those of the anointed.

This change allows the GB to maintain control without the awkwardness of explaining why so many elderly anointed ones become unfaithful. (not that they were going to explain it in the first place)

In my view, this new generation change is simply for the GB's benefit. For the r&f, this doctrinal change means nothing. It serves no purpose, has no benefit, or gives the r&f any hope of seeing armageddon come any quicker than before. Prior to this, the carrot on the stick was using the original idea of the generation to keep the r&f on their toes looking forward to paradise coming "soon." But once 1995 came and went, morale took a turn for the worst. The GB was caught in a catch-22 on the 1995 change. On one hand, they had to alter it because of their interpretation of a generation consisting of roughly 80 years. 1914 to 1995 was 81 years long - roughly the span of their idea of a "generation." But on the other hand, they risked losing some members and alienating others with the change. Which was more important from their perspective? They had to maintain that they were still God's special channel dispensing the proper food at the right time. To let the old understanding of the generation continue on, they risked an even greater danger - mass questioning and confusion. By nipping it sooner rather than later, they kept hold of their control over the r&f.

Now the question on every r&f's mind is, who are these new guys that are becoming GB members and why are they so young? Again, placing a date on a doctrine is a tricky matter, especially when it turns out you're on the wrong end of it. The WTS set 1935 up for itself. 72 years later, I'm sure they would be hard pressed to find a competent brother of that age or older to offer any cohesive ideas and actually bring them to the table. So what can they do to get around this issue and to bring in some young blood without being questioned over it? Let's change the doctrine again! If the generation now points towards the anointed ones, and that generation will see armageddon come, the GB has just now solved their problem in regards to its future leadership. 1935 will go away. It must go away - it carries no relevance to this new thinking.

The GB stays in control. Fairly simple. The r&f can talk about it all they want and what it means for them, but in the end it is just another talking point in the WT and future book study publications. It is not a significant change whatsoever for the r&f - no matter how they disect it or read into it.

I gotta hand it to the GB. I knew they would eventually have to get rid of 1935 and I always thought that the "replacement" idea was kind of weak, but changing the idea of the generation, yet again, was a good business move. It keeps the men at the top in power indefinitely. I mean really, how many elderly anointed ones do you know that fall away due to unfaithfulness? I never knew one or even heard of one.

Satanus

It makes sense. I guess the new wt cds will need to cut out the wt mags from 1950 to 2006. They can just issue the wt library on a 1.4 mg floppy disk.

S

REBORNAGAIN

Wow....somebody did their homework. Thanks for breaking this all down into factual details. I find it interesting too how so many so called "Annointed" are still being counted each year for the past 20+ years. It must have exceeded 144,000 a long time ago. These changes are just a continuation of what's been going on and will continue to go on. If they never made such claims as they have in the past, they wouldn't have to make changes or explain themselves. Good thing they have all their claims in writing, because they'd have to have a good memory to remember all the lies they made.

LINDA

bennyk

Quite honestly, I really did not think the Watch Tower Society would junk the 1935 doctrine as soon as they did. I thought they would announce that the increase in the number of (recognized) partakers was because the "Anointed" who became members of the "Evil Slave Class" when the Dawn Bible Students departed the WTS were now (seventy-five years later) beginning to die off in large numbers, and that the newly anointed were merely their replacements. That could have pushed off that 01. May QfR for another ten or fifteen years...and allowed a number of forceful WT articles on the importance of remaining with the Society.

TD

You're absolutely right. But then the majority of the R&F never understood the post 1995 doctrine.

Doctrinally, it's a 180 degree swing on the identity of the "Generation"

It's gone from being the wicked who take no note of the sign and thus pass away at armageddon to being the righteous "First fruits" of mankind.

OnTheWayOut

It's a good thing Jesus didn't speak straightforward in easy-to-understand analogies
when it comes to the secondary fulfillment of prophecy. Otherwise, this pile would
be recognizable for what it really is.

Hey, without the % and the *, I can type just like Outlaw.

Jourles

Exactly. Which is why yet another change won't be all that much different than the first. If a r&f member questions an elder as to why members of the gb are getting younger and younger, the elder can point back to this new change and explain that the anointed will be around to see armageddon, which in turn means that there must still be anointed left on earth thereby eliminating anything to do with 1935. If the r&f find it hard to wrap their heads around this new doctrine, they will be given the usual "wait on Jehovah" or "trust Jehovah's representatives" line. It has worked for the past 100 years, why not now?

As far as the 144k goes, there are two paths they can follow here. Symbolic or literal. Personally, if I were still a jw, I would find it nauseating to learn that the 144k was symbolic after being told my entire life(and which is also the basic foundation of the WTS) it was literal. I'm not sure they will change this one. If anything, the new generation interpretation simply enforces the symbolic view. If the 144k teaching became symbolic, then why would they need to change the generation thinking?? If it were symbolic, there would be no cap on who or how many could be of the anointed. This new generation idea is merely the foundation for supporting a continued literal 144k. They can easily say that there are a scattered few who will continue to live until the end - and that those few are eligible to become gb members(the real reason behind the change, imo). They'll refer primarily to the anointed ones, but in reality, they will use this reasoning as an excuse to keep a grip on power. Afterall, only the anointed get special messages from god. Combine all of this will bleeding coffers, you'll begin to see they are trying to hold on to their power as long as the money is there. A few decades at the most is what I'm guessing.

When the rules don't suit you, change 'em

Jourles

Satanus

REBORNAGAIN

bennyk

TD

OnTheWayOut

Jourles

new boy

stillajwexelder

MadTiger

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