Yet one more thread on the new "generation".... Oh, Joy!

by undercover 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Leolaia
    Leolaia

    It is instructive to read what the Society has said in the past about overlapping generations.

    In the September 1, 1952 Watchtower, a QFR article posed the question: "Your publications point out that the battle of Armageddon will come in this generation, and that this generation began A.D. 1914. Scripturally, how long is a generation?" The response said in part:

    *** w52 9/1 p. 542 Questions From Readers ***

    Three or even four generations may be living at the same time, their lives overlapping. (Ps. 78:4; 145:4)

    Today, the Society would say that all four generations are really one generation, as they overlap together. In 1974, the Society again assumed that generations that overlap are, duh, separate generations:

    *** w74 1/15 p. 43 How One Language Will Bring Unity to Mankind ***

    There may well have been little change in Moses’ language from the original language spoken by Adam. Why? Because men then enjoyed very long life-spans, their lives often overlapping into five or six generations. Therefore, the language could have been passed down through only five human links between Adam and Moses, namely, Methuselah, Shem, Isaac, Levi, Amram. (Gen. 5:3-32; 11:10-32; 21:5; 25:26; 29:34; Ex. 6:16, 18, 20)

    So here again separate generations may overlap with each other and still be considered distinct generations. In 2001, with reference to the growth of Australia as a country, the Society wrote:

    *** g01 2/8 p. 22 Bound for Botany Bay ***

    The pace of change continued to accelerate from those early days, and within just three overlapping generations, the “fine and flourishing colony” grew into a multicultural nation.

    Because the three generations have overlapped, the Society today could just as well say that these are three groups comprising one generation, and that the generation of the Botany Bay colonists has by no means passed away. And similarly, they published in 2004:

    *** w04 1/15 p. 5 Promises That You Can Trust ***

    The Israelites were well received in Egypt in the days of Jacob’s son Joseph. The Egyptians later subjected them to brutal slave labor, but true to God’s promise, within a period of four overlapping generations from the time they entered Egypt, these descendants of Abraham were liberated from Egyptian bondage.

    Again, the Society recognizes that generations may overlap without having the overlap render them as somehow comprising a single generation.

    The Society's own literature shows how much the new "understanding" is contrary to normal English usage, not to mention basic logic.

  • agonus
    agonus

    "Because men then enjoyed very long life-spans, their lives often overlapping into five or six generations. Therefore, the language could have been passed down through only five human links between Adam and Moses, namely, Methuselah, Shem, Isaac, Levi, Amram."

    Oh, shit, no... those guys lived for 900 frickin' years... does this mean...

  • notverylikely
    notverylikely

    Oh, shit, no... those guys lived for 900 frickin' years... does this mean...

    Bingo. We can keep this up until 2914.

  • AwSnap
    AwSnap

    I remember being a witness and hearing about the apostates who say OOOOhhhh ...the end is near! Whatever dude! hahahahaha!!!

    But for real, you make total sense and I am scratching my head in amazement that I used to fall for this $hiznit

  • ziddina
    ziddina

    What Sir82 said... "So 1 "generation" can be composed of 2 "groups"...."

    Urk. I can see this going even further...

    Why stop at just 2 "overlapping" generations?? Or 4??? Or 8??? Or 200??? Or 2,000???

    (Hmm. I'll have to try that out on an active JW - if I can catch one...)

    But seriously - er, seriocomically???

    Couldn't they just keep stretching it out??? NOT that they would retain many members, if they did/do...

    Zid

  • thetrueone
    thetrueone

    The WTS can play or spin this generation thing for as long as they like.

    An interesting point is, since they believe the ancients lived much longer than we do today " This Generation "

    could actually equate to 30 sub generations inside of 900 years, so as Notverylikely said 30 x 30 =900 = 2914 AD

    So this means that in the year 2900 they will be saying the end of this system of things is very near, we are now so close to the new order.

  • WTWizard
    WTWizard

    The length of "a generation" is limited? By what? Now that they can string generations up as long as they want, where is the final plug? And, they tell me that it underscores how "deep" we are in the end. How? Didn't they just extend "a generation"? That doesn't underscore anything but that there could well be another 120 years before the end.

  • St George of England
    St George of England
    Again, the Society recognizes that generations may overlap without having the overlap render them as somehow comprising a single generation.
    The Society's own literature shows how much the new "understanding" is contrary to normal English usage, not to mention basic logic.

    Very interesting quotes Leolaia. Definitely need to be pinned in the WT ready for the study!

    George

  • Humanist
    Humanist

    So by the WT definition of 'generation', my 17 year old daughters are of the same generation as my nan, (their great grandmother, born 1902), because she passed away after they were born. They were contemporaries for a while until she died.

    That's ludicrous! Who would define a generation like that? Where do they get 2 groups from? 'This generation' doesn't indicate 2 groups!

  • Mall Cop
    Mall Cop

    We will never know who actually wrote this. Someone in writing dept or elsewhere suggested this "OUT" to the members of the Governing Body.

    I'm thinking one or two of the old timers not of the annointed, who are still hoping and hanging on for dear life because they fear what is natural to all creation, "DEATH." They want to live forever on a paradise earth. They have chewed on that "Carrot " down to the root.

    Blueblades

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