Jeffro said: It seems they're saying that the new 'overlapping generations' generation can't be used beyond just the one 'overlap'. Apparently they're trying to rein in speculation about the new 'overlapping generation' allowing an extended period before 'the end'. They drum this point in further by suggesting that the overlapping generation (which is also the same'generation') is also "advancing in years". ('Discerning' JWs should interpret this as "panic".)
Jeffro is spot on there.
Watchtower - "The second group included in “this generation” are anointed contemporaries of the first group. They were not simply alive during the lifetime of those in the first group, but they were anointed with holy spirit during the time that those of the first group were still on earth. Thus, not every anointed person today is included in “this generation” of whom Jesus spoke. Today, those in this second group are themselves advancing in years."
So basically, any anointed person today who started partaking of the emblems during the life-time of the 1914 anointed generation is included in the 'generation'. Theoretically that could mean that the 'generation' will not pass away for the lifestime of, say, a 21 year old that starts partaking of the emblems at next year's memorial if there is at least a single decrepid very aged memorial partaker. That would mean the 'generation' will not pass away for the rest of that 21 year old's lifetime.
Or is the Society saying that only those who were actual adult partakers, ie, not babies, in 1914 would count as the first group? That would reduce the window of opportunity to be one of the 'overlapping' contemporaries somewhat. Eg, a 20 year old partaker in 1914 dies at the age of 102 in a Brooklyn infirmary in 1996. Just before that old partaker dies in 1996, a 21 year starts partaking in his congregation, thus being an overlapping 'contemporary' of the 102 year old anointed fogie. That 21 year old partaker in 1996 then lives to the age of 99 and dies in the year 2074, being the last of the second group and the last of the "generation"!
SO DO MORE UNTIL 2074 YA HEAR!