Alright guys, I just talked to my mom tonight. Haven't got too far with my friend yet, no opportunities, but a few text messages.
So! With my mom, I told her I had been doing a LOT of personal study and research lately, in the cd rom, insight books, etc. and I was trying to understand the Generation teaching from the April 15 WT. She said she wasn't familiar with it, but that they had changed it 3 years ago. I didn't remember that. She said it was something like an era, and gave the definition of a generation for era. I looked up both definitions, era and generation, and I told her she gave the correct definition for generation, but that wasn't the same as an era. They are not interchangeable words. Then, I reasoned on, "Say, the era of a phone. If phones were invented in 1910 and we still have phones, then we are still in the era of the phone....but that is not the same as generation."
When I read her the dictionary online definition of generation she agreed. I supposed that the root word "Gene" came from the word produce, as in the word Genesis and Regenerate, as well as Generation. I gave the example of donuts coming down the conveyor in a factory, and then gave up on that, saying it was a bad example. (so much for thinking on your feet). Then I used the examples provided by the dictionary which said a mother and a daughter are two separate generations. "So, you would be the previous generation that generated me, the next generation," I said. She agreed. We also discussed how the dictionary said the average length of a human generation was 30-35 years, or about the age a parent had a kid. So, if it was a teenage mother, maybe 16 years would be the period between generations. She understood.
I went back and read the scripture in Math 24 several times, letting his words speak, and said, "so, this generation would not pass away until all these signs were fulfilled." She agreed. She said they started in 1914, even the world says that. I agreed. I said I had read that the WT said that if you were 15 at the time you would be old enough to recognize the sign," she agreed. So, I said, so you'd have to born in 1899 to be 15 in 1914. So, all the people born about the same time would be born in the 1890s. (We had discussed the generation definition online as saying a "group all born about the same time" and I even looked up "generation" in the Aid To Bible Understanding book and read that definition to her, that stated the same thing. So, we reasoned that it would be like a cohort, like say, all 9th graders in high school, all born about the same time, would be considered a generation. She agreed. )
"So, the person born in 1899, or earlier, would be, this is 2010, so they would be 111 years old, right?" I paused to let that sink in. I wanted her to come to her own conclusions, as tempting as it is to feed mine to her! And she said, knowing where I was going with this, "Yeah, but we have really old people that old and older still alive around the world." I said, "okay..." and began searching for that online. (Oh, I LOVE the internet!)
While searching, I said, "Even so...I mean, according to Math, we still have several signs yet to go...I mean, the Great Tribulation hasn't begun yet and aren't there other signs too, like 'Peace and Security...And then it will come instantly upon you'? Wait, didn't that one come in 1986? I thought the Revelation book said that..." And she said, "No. We're still waiting for that one." So, I said, "Okay. So, we have a few more to go. I looked up oldest living persons and I found that we have three living people that are 113 and 114 years old, one in France and two in USA. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_verified_oldest_people ) So, we do have some still living from the 1890s that were around to see the sign. Well, they're pretty old now..and some of the sign hasn't even started yet. And there's only a FEW left, I mean maybe there are ten more that are unaccounted for. Isn't it fair to say that pretty much "this generation" HAS passed away already? I mean, did Jesus mean before EVERYONE died?"
And she said, "Yes, we are really close to the end. Do you watch the news?" And she went on to tell me about some merging world bank, or something, saying many people are looking to the fact that there will be one final government, right before the end." She was a little excited. I said, "no, I didn't know about that."
She said, "Do you believe that we are living in the last days?" I said, "I'm not sure. I feel like I have been a lazy brain for a long time and just believing whatever I was told and didn't really do much research on things, and I don't know if I could really explain my beliefs to anyone. So, I am reexamining things and doing a lot of research."
She was surprised and asked again, "So you're not sure we're living in the last days?"
So, I said, "I am just doing a lot of research now, and trying to 'make sure of all things.' Like 1 Thess 5:21 says "Test everything. Hold onto the good." And like 1 John 4:1 says "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."
She was silent.. I felt like the implication that false prophets were near, was very thick. She said, "If you are setting up to say something against the Society, than I am ending this call right now."
I said, "No..no. Just answering your question...." maybe a bit too innocently.
There was a really long silence after that. I was silent because I was looking for something to say, literally feelling the time slip by as I tried to think of something else to say...I don't know why she was silent.
Then she said she was tired (I was suspicious of this excuse, but it was after an hour plus convo and after 10pm) and she hoped things go well for me, I love you, good night.
I said I loved her too.
So....her suspicion is up now. I hadn't expected that reaction.
Whaddya think?
