Don't give up on the "last generation" because the WTS has been cast into spiritual darkness.
A question. If 1914 last generation doesn't work, then does that make the Bible not true? Because the WTS interpretation failed, does that mean the Bible failed as well? NO. Here's why their intrepretation doesn't work.
1) Armageddon is not included in the signs. All the signs given, including the "great tribulation" occur before the messiah arrives, ostensibly near the very end of a "generation" that begins with the first sign, a world war (kingdom vs kingdom and nation vs nation), thus within 80 years or 40 years of 1914 (i.e. 1994 or 1954). The "great tribulation" is OVER before even the sign of the son of man appears: Matthew 24:29 "Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days....the sign of the son of man will appear in the heavens."
So that's part of what is wrong with why the generation issue doesn't work for JWs, because they were expecting Armageddon by 1994 instead of the second coming. They have to twist what is said about "Immediately AFTER the tribulation" and make you think it is immediately after the "beginning" but actually still "during" the great tribulation that some see the sign of the son of man and represent during Armageddon. HA! "AFTER" is after! In effect, the "great tribulation" was focussed on the Jews and it was the Holocaust. And ultimately the last event was the second coming.
So what Christ's followers were asking was what would be the events leading up to his second coming or attendant upon his second coming; around his second coming is his PAROUSIA. Christ arrives in the earth for a while at the same time Satan is kicked out of heaven, but Satan is still active for a while before Armageddon. So Armageddon is not what one was supposed to expect in the frist place with respect to the end of that generation, only the second coming and the appearance of the "sign of the son of man."
2) While 1914 is the correct date to begin the "last generation" since it marks the first sign, a world war, the WTS has the dating for the fall of Jerusalem incorrect. The 70-weeks prophecy is actually fulfilled by Cyrus in 455 BCE. We know why there is a distortion in history for this dating, now dated to 537 BCE, and that's because Themistocles tricked the Greeks into thinking that Xerxes (who invaded Greece) had died and a new king Artaxerxes was on the throne; but Artaxerxes was just the new name Xerxes had taken up. Themistocles used this to claim a new king was on the throne. This avoided a war. Then they manipulated the Persian chronology so that there was enough time for the two separate rulerships for thse two kings and to make Darius I old enough to be the grandfather to his Xerxes. The result was a distortion of 82 years. But we have all this information now. The VAT4956 actually records 511 BCE lunar observations for year 37 of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus even just based upon the VAT4956 we can date the fall of Jerusalem to 529 BCE. But using the Bible, if 455 BCE was the 1st of Cyrus then 70 years earlier date the last deportation, year 23 of Nebuchadnezzar to 525 BCE. Jerusalem falls 4 years earlier in 529 BCE. So either way.
The question is, though, based upon 529 BCE does the 2520 years end before 1954 or 1994? 2520 years from 529 BCE gives us the date of 1992 which is 2 years before 1994. So, therefore, the "last generation" was actually fulfilled. That is, the promise that the last sign, the "sign of the son of man" and thus the second coming would occur before that generation expired.
The "sign of the son of man" appears to the anointed since Christ first comes as a "thief" and Jehovah allowed it to be photographed by a skyscape photographer when it appeared again in 1998. Here's what it looks like:
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/facenhand.gif
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/clouddove.jpg
The "sign" is a dead/sleeping black child accompanied by an eagle/bird. I won't bother explaining it here but the WTS definitely knew about it as it appears in the Revelation book.
This YouTube video also contains this image of the sleeping black child connected with Jesus and the second coming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdNYXeJw_2Q
Fun!
CONCLUSION: The Bible's last generation of 80 years from 1914 seeing the second coming and the "sign of the son of man" was fulfilled. In fact, it was fulfilled x2, since the "great tribulation" was over by 1945 and "immediately after" the sign was supposed to start appearing, which it would have after 1950. Thus even if you assign a "generation" to 40 years from 1914 to 1954, if the last sign was the "sign of the son of man" appearing then that was fulfilled within a generation as well.
So while the WTS is clueless and their lame and incorrect interpretation doesn't work for the "last generation" that does not mean the Bible's prophecy about the last generation did not come true. It did. But then, you have to be "paying attention" to know these things. You have to be AWAKE. People who are spiritually sleeping during these "last days" will be caught by total surprise when Armageddon occurs. It is not just a matter of figuring out that the WTS is now clueless and a false prophet. There has to be some effort to determine what the truth is. If you dump the Bible along with the WTS because something doesn't work out per their interpretation then you lose out.
I HAVE the refined truth of the "wise virgins" so ask me anything. There is no excuse for not knowing now.
Best regards!
JCanon