Neither the Bible or Dictionary support the new light on the Generation

by wasblind 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  St George of England

  Matthew 1:1-17 and luke 3: 23-38. These scriptures all talk of individual generations there is no combining of generations just because lives overlaped

  Matthew lists the 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus. This was about 2016 years so each generation was about 48 years long. Considering Abraham had his first child at 99 yrs and people lived much longer then, this is quite reasonable. Today the familial generation is on average about 24 years in the US and 27 years in the UK (Wiki). So a generation of up to 200 years as suggested by the WTS (Franz 99yrs + another overlapper of similar age) is totally unrealistic.

  George
• 

  cantleave

  Is Bane a little simple? That video explains nothing! Joseph and his brothers werew siblings - therefore they were the same generation. Fred Franz and Geoff Jackson could in no way be considered the same generation.
• 

  djeggnog

  @TD:

  "They're attempting to define a generation around a shared experience or event."

  What you say here is correct; "this generation" (Matthew 24:34) is clearly such a definition.

  "The 'World War II' generation is a good example of this usage."

  Actually, Tom Brokaw (NBC News) called this generation (no pun intended) "the Greatest Generation." I'm agreeing with you here, too.

  "The problem is, this doesn't work unless the event is fairly short in duration."

  Nonsense. I'll just stop here. If you should decide to respond, please take as long as you need. This is conjecture on your part and it flies in the face of the truth. What truth do I mean? Read on.

  @agonus:

  You provided the Greek word _genea_ [Strong's G1074] used at Matthew 24:34, which is rendered "generation" in most English language Bibles, but which can also be used in referring to a period of time, like, for example, the Dark Ages, also known as "the Early Medieval Period," which encompassed several generations, from, say, 500 AD to 1000 AD (I'm approximating the dates, but I'm sure you are getting my drift here), which was followed by the Middle Ages, also known as "the Medieval Period," which also encompassed several generations, from 1000 AD to 1500 AD, which was followed by the Renaissance, which covered about two centuries from 1500 AD to 1700 AD. I think you can see where I'm going with this. Read on.

  @WingCommander:

  You wrote "May 15th, 1984 WatchTower articles ... as absolute PROOF of 1914 and This Generation," but I don't believe this issue to be the one you intended, so would you please check this reference.

  @wasblind

  I'm absolutely certain now, if I wasn't before, that the phrase "overlapping generations" will either be fleshed out some more or just dropped, since I've read many of the posts here and now I don't see how the use of this phrase is going to be all that helpful to those that are wrongly construing the paragraph in which the word "overlap" is used to describe Christ's anointed brothers that not only discern the composite sign, but live contemporaneously to its manifesting itself from 1914 to the period when the great tribulation has begun. A couple of quotes that are pertinent to this topic are as follows:

  "As a class, these anointed ones make up the modern-day 'generation' of contemporaries that will not pass away 'until all these things occur.'" ["Christ's Presence-What Does it Mean to You?" (w08 2/15, p. 24, ¶15)]

  However, nothing that you have read in the Watchtower -- ever -- has said a thing about there being two generations, let alone that the Bible supports the combining of "two generations as one."
• 

  TD

  djeggnog,

  As in other threads, you are ranging far afield from what is being discussed here. We're discussing the recent JW interpretation of Matthew 24:34 as explained in the April 15th, 2010 issue of The Watchtower and at this summer's disctrict conventions.

  I understand that genea can refer to an age, but that is neither here nor there. The interpretation we're actually discussing has a self-imposed time limitation inasmuch as the members of the group are held to be contemporaries. Therefore we're talking about only a single overlap of lifespans and no more.

  This is not conjecture on my part, it's simple math. Two or more overlaps would drive a wedge between those at the very beginning and those at the very end. They would not be contemporaries.
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  wasblind

  Thank you for your response djeggnog, when they use the illustration of F.W. Franz i get the assumpution that anyone born during his life time, for example: someone born in 1935 or as even as late as 1991, that becomes anointed is considered part of the second group. Each group is still considered a generation with Franz being part of the first. Franz group saw the start and the second group is to see the end. Thats the way i understand it, and when you put two groups which represents two individual generations into one, they are attempting to make one generation out of two. If they are trying to define a generation around a shared event, and the second group lives to be 99 yrs old like Franz thats almost two hundred years. This is not a short duration so it doesn't make sense to give one generation a life span that long. BTW i never stated that the bible supported this because it's nonsense
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  mentallyfree31

  It seems as if the "generation" update just came and went. Everybody accepted it, and those who didn't understand it didn't seem to worry about it. Of course, I'm on the outside now, so I do not have a direct line of info coming in, therefore I'm not really qualified to judge the reaction from within the ORG.

  -MF31-
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  alice.in.wonderland

  Considering the reasoning here, the term generation would have to be rounded off to the nearest second to constitute the same generation.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X
  
  Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation born after the baby boom ended, ranging from 1961 to 1981.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y
  
  Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, describes the demographic cohort following Generation X. Its members are often referred to as Millennials or Echo Boomers. As there are no precise dates for when the Millennial generation starts and ends, commentators have used birth dates ranging somewhere from the mid 1970s to the early 2000s.
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z
  
  Generation Z is one of the names used for the First World or Western generation of people born between the mid-1990s and the late 2000s. Relatively little is firmly established about its composition, character, and even name.
  
  It should be obvious that Matthew 24:34 was for the purpose of bearing witness to events as history can be altered if there are no living witnesses.
  http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007273
  
  Combating Holocaust Denial: Origins of Holocaust Denial
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  flipper

  The WT society has tried to alter history to fit in with their false prophecies in order to scam and dupe Jehovah's Witnesses into trusting them as Jesus or God. But the word " generation " cannot be altered- no matter what the WT society says
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  zoiks

  Mr. Flipper - that's exactly what it comes down to! People can debate the meanings of certain words and phrases to no end, but the bottom line is this:

  What the WTS presents as "present truth, current light, meat in due season", will inevitably become "previous truth, old light, spoiled meat", with all the associated explanations, evident understandings, and R&F JWs getting all excited all over again.

  Wash, rinse, repeat.
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  alice.in.wonderland

  Google “overlapping generations.” There are various usages of this. All I see is they made reference to overlapping generations and contemporaries bearing witness to different events. Unless the last days lasted no longer than 70 or 80 years, there could not be one generation. People mock new teachings even though only the test of time can define some of these concepts. Did the April 15th, 2010 issue of The Watchtower say it replaced generation as a concept that refers to attributes of someone's personality as explained in the of November 1, 1995 issue of the Watchtower or Philippians 2:14-16?
  
  Keep doing all things free from murmurings and arguments, that you may come to be blameless and innocent, children of God without a blemish in among a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you are shining as illuminators in the world, keeping a tight grip on the word of life, that I may have cause for exultation in Christ’s day, that I did not run in vain or work hard in vain. Philippians 2:14-16

  "Crooked and twisted generation" doesn't apply to you if you are not crooked and twisted, even if you were born at the same time.