by snowbird 35 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Why don't they just leave it and accept the fact that a plain reading of Jesus' statement shows that He was referring to His 1st century listeners, and them alone.
Because that would deprive them of eschatological material that could be stretched into still-future applications. Much the same is true with Revelation and Daniel, neither of which had long-range distant applications in view. These books are the fuel for the engine that drives pre-millennialist eschatology onward.
My head hurts now. I was trying to understand the lastest understanding of generation and now it's changed again.
http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/generation.php
The 2007 generation teaching is that it applies to the entire 144,000 over the last 2000 years, and that some of the 144,000 will still be around.
However, I have heard from a person that recently visited Brooklyn that there is a new change coming, possibly what you have said. The generation teachings of the last 15 years have not been much of a carrot to compel growth, hence it makes sense to give some sort of soon-to-occur date that followers can hope for.
Yes, there is a "new understanding," which was delivered at the Annual Meeting. The generations--okay, brace yourselves--overlap! As long as there are annointed whose lifespans overlap, they are all one generation.
Got to hand it to them, it's inventive, at least!
Well, that pretty much seals the deal. I’ve been thinking about getting a “1914” tattoo for many years and this would make the conversations it would bring up so much more fun!
They might as well have kept it "those with wicked characteristics". That way, they would never have to make up anything else--these traits they are talking about can be passed down generations, meaning it could go on forever. All this did was to create new problems for themselves where none existed--90 years down the road, it will go out of date again. The "wicked characteristics" definition, which goes down forever, would never have gone out of date.
I did not read the thread about Jack Barr's talk but they brought this out out the DC I went to in August. I was just blown away but no one else seemed to notice it was said. I had thought maybe I had just misunderstood the talk. But then the thread about Jack Barr came out.
It was so strange that I clearly head it said at the DC. I was what in the world are they saying and looking around and no one seemed to notice what the speaker said.
So I have a friend who is 94 years old. I love this older lady, I have kind of adopted her as my grandmother. Her mind is still there, we go to movies and out to eat she talks about the past a lot and I love to hear her stories and no she is not a JW never has been always thought they were crazy. Has had JW's work for her and liked them but thought the religion was nuts.
So she was born in 1915 and because I am friends with her then I am part of her generation. Now if I am blessed to live as long as she has a person in their 40 like am now and who know me will be part of her generation because I have known her and am part of her generation and so on and on the generation can go for ever.
Does not make sense to me. That is how I am seeing what they mean. It is just crazy. Am I wrong in how I am taking this?
And if I am taking this the right way, then way was no one else at the DC talking about it. Everyone else was all excited about everything that was new light and I was thinking hey this is really new light and no one seemed to notice. What is wrong with that picture?
As I understand it, "this generation" still simply refers to those who are anointed regardless of when they live in time. So it includes Jesus' apostles and the faithful 1st century christians as well as those of the "anointed" today. Now because of the new younger anointed GB members brought in at the end of 1999, they later had to say that the sealing didn't appear to have finished in 1935. They're once again trying to get people excited by saying The End will come before all the anointed die off. But since the lives of individual anointed can overlap that means that the End is still indeterminate.
The 2007 generation teaching is that it applies to the entire 144,000 over the last 2000 years, and that some of the 144,000 will still be around.
But if they leave it like this wouldn't that make it last forever seeing as how they say newly annointed are replacing the ones that screwed up?
Now THAT could go on forever.
One of the fallacies here is we assume that a run of the mill JW will really process what these changes mean....come on, those who are true in the organization just accept whatever the GB throws there way. If one takes the time to CRITICALLY THINK about most any of the newer doctrines, one can poke holes in them, but when one has their desire to critically think taken away, one will just 'get in line'.
