How long will we accept this kind of changes with dry eyes in our congregation? This must be stopped. What will we believe in 10 years from now? The GB plays the game as joker.
Fader Ozner
Confirmed! Watchtower Feb 15 08 brings the "generation" change
by observador 175 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
GermanXJW
I remeber the change in '95 very well because I had had a discussion on the topic with my father just shortly before the change. There was a hint at a circuit convention that a change was going to be published. There were two articles that evolved to the change and there was a QfR in the issue. So this was bigger than a mere sentence that this is what we believe now.
-
Jourles
I keep advocating that this information is not really much of a change...if at all. For sure it in no way reverts the GEN teaching back to a lifetime link with 1914 so what difference does it make if the new GEN is just anointed or keeps the GC in?
You already hit on it. From the GC's perspective, it doesn't affect them AT ALL. If this were a true jw board and all of us posting on it were of the GC, what does this change do for us? Nothing. The carrot on the stick was pulled back in '95 and hasn't been lowered in front of us since. Back prior to '95, the only carrot the GB had was the "generation" teaching. That was my carrot when I was growing up. I do not remember any other incentive during my younger years for looking forward to paradise. It was going to be soon, very soon. That dangling carrot had a few words inscribed on it as well: "Good until the year 2000. It will come without fail."
Name one current doctrine that the GC has today that gives them the hope of paradise coming very soon - within a decade or so? I can't name one. The GB better come up with something quick, because if the r&f start to lose interest feeling that they may not see paradise within their lifetime, the GB will also lose control. This could very well be the GB's intention. They may be laying out this foundation first - the control aspect - and then they will introduce a new, coming soon, paradise doctrine. They will have to. You cannot control a disgruntled employee. If an employee loses their benefits or incentives, what reason do they have in staying on and working? I wouldn't. I would leave.
Always remember to look at the WTS and the r&f as an employer/employee relationship. Never as a religious one. If you try to decipher their moves as religiously or biblically based, it will make your head spin. But view it as a business, and everything will become more clear and understandable.
-
Leolaia
Gosh, do they really have to rub it in?
On the other hand, the faithful brothers of Christ, the present class of John, recognize this sign as if it was a lightning and understand its real meaning.
Oh yeah. RIGHT.
-
TD
Yeah,
I like how the failure to discern a teaching that they themselves only just came up with is presented as a failure on everyone else's part.
-
Gill
I had to think about this for a few minutes.
'The present generation of contemporaries.....' that could string it out forever, couldn't it!!????
-
BluesBrother
We all know that prior to 1995 it was a key doctrine that "The end" would arrive within the lifetime of the '1914 generation' - Matt 24.34.. and that the Heavenly calling ceased in 1935, bar any replacements necessary., but then -
* w95 12/15 p. 30 Do You Remember? ***
What is the "generation" so frequently referred to by Jesus?
Jesus applied the term "this generation" to the contemporary masses with their "blind guides" who made up the Jewish nation. (Matthew 11:16; 15:14; 24:34)—11/1, page 14
In the final fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy at Matthew 24:34-39, to what does the expression "this generation" refer?
"Jesus apparently refers to the peoples on earth who see the sign of Christ’s presence but fail to mend their ways.—11/1, pages 19, 31.
Compare the latest quote at the bottom of this post
w95 11/1 p. 20 par. 15 A Time to Keep Awake ***
15
Does our more precise viewpoint on "this generation" mean that Armageddon is further away than we had thought? Not at all!
This was the comment in the May 2007 WT p31
"On the other hand as time has gone by Christians baptized after 1935 have had witness borne to them that they have the heavenly hope.Thus it appears that we cannot set a specific date for when the calling of Christians to the heavenly hope ends"
Compare with the latest, taken from the post above ;
Watchtower - February 15 2008 - page 24 paragraph 15:
15Today, people who don't have the spiritual understanding think that there is nothing of "stunningly observable" as to the signs of Jesus' presence. They reason that all continues as before. (2 Peter 3:4) On the other hand, the faithful brothers of Christ, the present class of John, recognize this sign as if it was a lightning and understand its real meaning. As a group, those anointed comprise the present "generation" of comtemporaries who won't pass away "until all the things come to pass".* This indicates that some of anointed brothers of Christ will still be alive on earth when the foretold great tribulation begins.
So with no governing expectation dates for the numbers of the Memorial partakers and the years passed since 1914, the 'Ministry' may conitinue on and on and on ....It seems that God has seen fit to "preach the good news" for over 130 years and counting...I wonder why?
-
Dogpatch
Jourles is absolutely right when he says,
Always remember to look at the WTS and the r&f as an employer/employee relationship. Never as a religious one. If you try to decipher their moves as religiously or biblically based, it will make your head spin. But view it as a business, and everything will become more clear and understandable.
This is true of ALL CULTS, keep it posted in the back of your mind and you will understand how all of them work. I have done inteventions on several cults and they are all the same in one respect: MONEY and POWER. Scientology is another perfect example. Trying to approach it from the Bible or religiously to make sense of it is a TOTAL DEAD END. They make all this stuff up to CONTROL, and that is the key. No mysteries here people, move along! :-))
Randy
-
observador
Jourles,
That was my carrot when I was growing up. I do not remember any other incentive during my younger years for looking forward to paradise. It was going to be soon, very soon. That dangling carrot had a few words inscribed on it as well: "Good until the year 2000. It will come without fail."
the same here. You make a very good analysis. And to think that some JWs didn't even notice the change in 1995. Maybe they'll notice it now.
It is also interesting how something applies to Satan and, in the next moment, can easely be changed to apply to Jehovah.
Observador.
-
mamochan13
I appreciate all the insightful and informative comments on this thread. I know the generation teaching was a big one for me, too, one that I continually cited in field service as proof of the impending end. Now they can string it out forever.
For those who wonder when the end will come and how long the "last days" will continue, no doubt they will just explain it all away "new light", "wait on Jehovah", "his time keeping is different", etc., and then if all else fails, the "where else will we go?" line.