Solving Its Generation Doctrine

by Marvin Shilmer 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  trebor

  Generation teaching:

  -1927 = The Anointed[Watchtower February 15, 1927 page 62]
  
  -1942 = Anyone alive to see 1914[Watchtower July 1, 1942 page 204]
  
  -1995 = Wicked People alive today
  [Watchtower November 1, 1995 page 19]
  
  -2008 = The Anointed[Watchtower February 15, 2008 page 24]
  
  -2010 = Overlap Generations of the Anointed since 1914
  [Watchtower April 15, 2010 page 10]

  The 2010 "overlap" is perhaps due to their 2008 backspin to "The Anointed" 1927 teaching. In part, it may have served to help show that it is "new light", and not "old 1927 light" being recycled. I really believe they don't think things through very well, and often have a knee jerk reaction. Some may have complained that "The wicked poeple alive today" felt too indefinite and they needed to limit the time in the members' eyes. So the suggestion of making it "The Anointed" was brought (back) for emphasizing again to the members that the end is 'very near'.

  Then maybe some person or persons (Perhaps in part thanks to the internet), brought out how "The Anointed" is already exposed as "old light" and the concern that many would either see it as such, or couple it with the notion that the 'original' "The Anointed" understanding consisted of the 1914 generation only, in many members minds.

  They needed to clean up the mess and fix it... Or so they thought that is what they were doing with "overlapping generations" as being the new notion.

  In any event, I would like to know the full blown details of much of their messes, which I'm sure most will just take to their grave. It's amazing though, how many just go along with the directive from the Watchtower...Myself included...for over 30 years. I know they vote and the history in general of the powers that be, but relating to 'today' - say the last 20 or so years, how they keep fooling or convincing themselves what the current 'understanding' should be for the organization. It's mind-numbing, hillarious and sadly pathetic, all at the same time.
• 

  TD

  That interpretation had already solved the problem that the 1914 generation was dying out, and the new "wicked generation" could, in principle, have stretched indefinitely. That's what makes the new wacky overlapping generations teaching such an astounding misstep. Not only is it patently absurd, but it was also completely unnecessary.

  Yeah, but that reduced the entire passage to a meaningless tautology.

  When:

  This generation = "Those contemporaneous with the sign who take no note"

  Pass away = "Be destroyed at Armageddon"

  All these things = "The sign in its entirety"

  You get:

  "Those contemporaneous with the sign who take no note will not be destroyed at Armageddon until the entire sign is fulfulled and Armageddon actually occurs."

  WTF is that supposed to mean?

  Temporal prepositions like 'Until' generally demand posteriority of the conditions on the right of the preposition relative to the event on the left of the preposition. Changing the meaning of "Pass away" from "Dying of old age" to "Being destroyed at Armageddon" ruined that mechanic and made them simultaneous.
• 

  slimboyfat

  It was still better than the new interpretation. "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur" meant roughly "the world won't run out of bad people before the end comes". Which was not a bad gloss. T he context of the gospels indicates that "generation" usually applied to wicked people, they had got that much right.

  The new interpretation is contextually, linguistically and logically nonsensical.
• 

  sir82

  I really believe they don't think things through very well

  That's what happens when the sole criteria for reaching the pinnacle of leadership in the organization is entirely summed up in the response to this question: "how well do you obey?".
• 

  sizemik

  Eggy has the answer . . . you substitute the word "group" for "generation". Then you can have distinct overlapping "groups" of infinite number within a "generation" of infinite length.

  Semantics to the rescue . . . problem solved.
• 

  cantleave
• 

  JW GoneBad

  Hilarious! And I’ll bet you this is how the ‘new light’ overlapping generation ruling thingy really went down.

  
• 

  Marvin Shilmer

  -

  It looks like none of the other GB members were drawn with eyes - as if they were all asleep..??

  MeanMrMustard,

  As I understand it, the GB members who kept their hands down to the question were afraid to see the solution so they kept their eyes closed and their mouths shut, and just went along. Standard operating proceedure.

  Marvin Shilmer

  http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com
• 

  00DAD

  Nicely done. Has Eggy seen that?

  He'd probably point out that it's not two different generations, but two "overlapping groups" that form one generation.

  Never mind the fact that there is a potential 99+ year age difference between the oldest person in the FIRST GROUP and the youngest in the SECOND GROUP.* They are still "evidently " only one generation! How completely ridiculous!!!

  * Frederick William Franz (September 12, 1893 – December 22, 1992). His life was used in the 2010 District Convention discussing the latest generation teaching to illustrate the life of an anointed person from the FIRST GROUP of this single "Overlapping Generation":

  "Since Brother Franz lived until 1992, many present-day anointed ones were contemporaries of his and are part of the 'generation' that Jesus said would not pass away 'until all these things occur'."

  See the comprehensive JWFACTS article " Changes to the Generation Teaching " for more details.