WT last week 'This Generation"

by bobld 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  neverendingjourney

  That's an interesting point, Leolaia. The great crowd is supposed to survive Armageddon without ever dying, but eventually all those people Rutherford identified in 1935 are all going to be dead, long after Rutherford made all of those without a "heavenly hope" stand up during a convention talk, pointed to them and made the famous announcement "Look, the great crowd!" They're all going to be dead and not one of them will have formed part of the great crowd that enters the new system without ever dying. What an embarrassment!

  But, as with many other JW mistakes in pronouncements of doctrine and prophecy, this point will be buried in the graveyard of history. Those who ask about it will be dismissed. JWs will point to new light and a readjustment of the flock. The gaff will be irrelevant to them.

  This reminds me of a story Ray Franz shared in Crisis of Conscience. Ray remembered an assembly when he was a young man where Rutherford made the kids in attendance sit right in front of the platform. The WT was releasing a book for kids (I think the book was entitled "Children"). If I remember correctly, in that talk Rutherford stressed that they should not try to seek to get married because the end was really near. They should instead devote themselves to the kingdom work. Ray followed that advice for many years until the society stopped emphasizing celibacy many years later. Ray Franz is now an old man in his 80s. Any of the kids who might have followed Rutherford's advice are now elderly men. But this too has been forgotten by today's JWs. If this point is brought up to any current JW, it will be dismissed as irrelevant. It has been superseded by new light, so who cares. Rutherford's great crowd identification gaffe will likewise become a distant, irrelevant memory.

  The FDS is God's channel. We can't think for ourselves because we're flawed humans. Our thoughts are easily corrupted. We must follow the dictates of the FDS regardless of how illogical they may seem to us. Remember, we're imperfect, but they're directed by God. As Abraham followed God's instructions up to the point of nearly sacrificing his own son, we too shall follow the FDS regardless of how illogical their mandates may be.

  As long as this attitude persists among JWs, none of the holes in JW doctrines will matter to current JWs.
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  JCanon

  Just for the record, the GB was "disfellowshipped" by Jehovah on November 10, 1992. Fred Franz died on December 23, 1992, just 2 days before the second coming. So they are supposed to be CLUELESS and a barren wasteland with no green grass of truth at this time. This applies to their understanding of the "generation" and what to expect during this generation to fulfill Jesus' words. So here are the "errors" corrected, so that ultimately some don't think Jesus' words failed just because the WTS has the wrong understanding.

  1. First of all the "end of the system of things" mentioned in Matthew 24 is not Armageddon or the end of the world. He was talking to Jews under gentile rule and that was the "system of things" they looked forward to ending. They understood when the gentile times ended and the new, independent nation of of Israel was reestablished (i.e. the rebudding of the fig tree) that Christ would be "near at the doors." So there was an association between the "end of the system of things" and the second coming. The second coming would arrive very shortly after the end of the system of things, that is, the end of the gentile times. So the WTS does not understand the "end of the system of things" is not Armageddon.

  2. The WTS thinks the "great tribulation" is also connected with Armageddon. But it is not. The "end of the system of things" indeed follows on the heels of the "great tribulation" but this great tribulation is clearly a local event, not global. And women without small children could escape it by fleeing into the mountains. This "great tribulation" was a major "sign" though leading up to the second coming. It is clear in the Bible that it is completely over before the "sign of the son of man" appears, indicating the messiah had been born. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days..." Again, the WTS is clueless! How can they explain Armageddon comes first and is over before Jesus arrives? They can't. They don't understand. Thus the "great tribulation" that Matthew is discussing was actually the HOLOCAUST and WWII.

  3. The "generation" reference that Jesus is thus noting is saying that from the first sign, which is a world war until the appearance of the "sign of the son of man" there would just be one generation. Included in this generation would be the "great tribulation" where 2/3rds of the Jews would be exterminated (Zech 13:8) but also it would see the reestablishment of the State of Israel within that generation as well as the birth of the messiah after which the "sign of the son of man" would begin to appear to the selected anointed ones ("eagles"). The "end" occurred thus in 1947. The new State of Israel occurred in the Spring of 1948. This was an indication that Christ was "near at the doors." The messiah was born in early 1950. So a "generation" can be understood in its most direct reference, that is a generation like that generation in Moses' day after the Exodus of just 40 years. That would be the primary reference in the mind of Jews to a "generation": 40 years. And that concept of the 40-year generation indeed was fulfilled with "all these things" occurring within that generation, including the preaching of the "good news before the end comes" in 1947.

  So in conclusion the WTS' problems figuring out the generation and the great tribulation and the end of the system of things is their own problem complicated by their being in spiritual darkness and unable to see. It is not a problem for Jesus and the Bible, however, in being fulfilled. There is no need to try to find a means to stretch that generation past 40 years from 1914-1994 in order to fulfill that. And indeed, the "sign of the son of man" has been appearing to the anointed "eagles" so this is real.

  The WTS will never understand the "last generation" because they don't understand the "great tribulation" (Holocaust) or the "end of the system of things" (end of gentile times in 1947, not Armageddon). They are clueless and totally in spiritual darkness and only speak from a barren spiritual wasteland. In the meantime, the truth is known to the "eagles", the JIOR, who are the faithful anointed ones and the "wise virgins."

  JC
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  JCanon

  It has also just occurred to me that this recent change might be reflective of the inevitable demise of the current NB timeline. RC14 dating from Rehov and clearly revisions by Xenophon will only take a matter of time before it affects ancient history dating. Anticipating this inevitability and their focus on 1914, this "generation" revision may be a smoke screen to simply detach significance to 1914. Thus, 1914 will fall softer if it ends up getting revised when secular history finally comes to terms with the Persian Period revision issues.

  I wonder what explanations they will come up with for a 1992 second coming, besides it invisibly occurring. Or maybe they will chuck the 2520-year prophecy all together?

  JC
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  Aleman

  As usual, Leolaia is right. The people of 1914 may be in homes but they are still alive.

  -Aleman