Many threads on the OverLapping Generation...how do you explain it briefly to a ex-jw or jw on the edge?
OVERLAPPING GENERATION Written Review
by blondie 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Ding
JWs have a way of immediately forgetting "old light" that they themselves taught and were taught for decades, so if I were talking with a JW, I would first tell them what I was taught, that the end of this system had to come within one actual generation of 1914, that meant 40 years or so. Certainly, it would would come before the year 2000, since that year was 86 years after 1914. I'd show them the diagrams in the literature and the explanations in the literature, including the 1984 cover.
Then I would ask THEM to explain to me the current teaching and ask them what caused the GB to make the change. I'd ask them how long this overlapped generation might last in terms of calendar years (so they have to face what the GB is really saying).
If they didn't know the reasons or even that there had been a change, I would ask them to help me look it up and understand it. If necessary, I would tell them that the change really troubles me because it's so different from previous teachings and because I wonder what the GB is trying to tell us about the timing of Armageddon and the new system.
If I sensed that it would be productive to press the issue, I might say that Christendom used to scoff at the WT's 1914 generation teaching and JWs used to have to defend it again and again at the door. Yet now it seems the GB is agreeing with those scoffers that the understanding we were taught was incorrect all along.
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Sapphy
Simply - The generation who saw 1914 passed away so the society expanded the term 'that generation' to include people who were alive when the generation who saw 1914 were alive.
That simple explanation would get you called apostate though, so to a JW on the edge:
Since society teaches the last days began in 1914 and Jesus said 'this generation will by no means pass away', our current understanding of the term generation encompasses those who saw 1914 and those whose lives overlapped with them. So if, for example you grandmother was born in 1912 and lived to see your daughter (her great grandaughter) who was born in 1993, they are deemed to be part of the same ovrerlapping generation.
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wobble
"And I will just show you where Jesus clearly says this in the Bible, oh ..er... well Jesus evidently meant to say that if your Granny was ..... er I forgot, what was the question ?"
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sabastious
Oh jeez, I completely forgot about the Written Review. *shudder*
-Sab
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LostGeneration
If someone is actually on the "edge" and questioning things, I think handing them this document and letting them find their own way out is the best way to go:
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drewcoul
Lost Generation: Outstanding! Thanks for sharing. It's nice to have something showing ONLY WT quotes.
By the way, regarding the title of this thread "Written Review," do they still do the written review every few months during the TMS?
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blondie
Good comments; drewcoul, no longer "written" but it's an oral review another case of dumbing down in the WTS. When I was growing up you handed over your written review to the person next to you to "correct." Before that you turned them in to be corrected by the school overseer. The night of the review was alway the least attended meeting.
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LostGeneration
Your welcome drew...to be clear its not something I can take credit for putting together, I wish I knew who did so I could give proper credit.
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undercover
When I was growing up you handed over your written review to the person next to you to "correct." Before that you turned them in to be corrected by the school overseer. The night of the review was alway the least attended meeting.
When I was a little kid, I remember everyone turning in their reviews to be checked. By the time I was old enough to participate, we were trading to someone next to us for "grading". My parents always checked mine. Later they changed it to the honor system of checking your own. But we were dumb enough to compare scores with each other after the meeting. And just like field service hours, I fudged the score on my review.
OverLapping Generation...how do you explain it briefly to a ex-jw or jw on the edge?
I'll use my version of KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid
For decades the WTS claimed that the generation of 1914 would be alive to see "The End", Armageddon. By the mid-90s, it was apparent that that wasn't going to happen. They dropped that claim but re-invented it later but with the "overlapping" angle. The generation of 1914 might be gone but their generation overlapped with later generations, who will see "The End".
I don't need to explain it any further because it doesn't matter. The prophecy, prediction, foretelling of what would happen...as directed to them through Jehovah's spirit, mind you...did not happen. It failed. It was bogus. Anything they come up with now will have the same result.... failure.
