This generation and a key weasel word

by Socrateswannabe 14 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Socrateswannabe

  In this past Sunday's Watchtower lesson, which has been discussed at length on this board, the GB/Writing Committee used a key weasal word that we will probably see again. The exact quote is: "We UNDERSTAND that in mentioning 'this generation,' Jesus was referring to two groups of anointed Christians."

  This goofy teaching is merely a patch until they can devise something more plausible, or until some event occurs that they can latch onto that will make this teaching more acceptable to the R&F. I have no idea what that might be but my guess is that they just tossed up a hail mary pass to try to buy themselves more time. One of the GB--I believe it was Lett--in rolling this out said, "We LOVE this teaching!" In other words, "For the moment it suits our purposes perfectly!"

  At some point we'll read that this was only their "understanding" and that they did not claim that it was divine inspiration, so now HERE is generation teaching number SIX, which is of course the REAL explanation of this text!
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  Gorbatchov

  It's the cafetaria mdel. Choose what suits for the moment.
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  sd-7

  "We UNDERSTAND that in mentioning 'this generation,' Jesus was referring to two groups of anointed Christians."

  There's a lot going on in this sentence, more than just a weasel word. 'We understand' is another way of saying 'you believe because we told you to believe it and we're always right that....'

  And I'm particularly impressed with how the words 'this generation' refer to two groups of anointed Christians. The Jesus of the Gospels sometimes spoke with illustrations and signs, but seriously? He doesn't say anything about either anointed or Christians in this verse, much less two groups of anything. Also impressive is how singular "generation" becomes plural "two groups". It's a very good case in point of how even basic reading comprehension goes out the window when the WT essentially rewrites the Bible by saying stuff like this.

  (Also, hi, how are you? Hope you guys are doing well.)

  --sd-7
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  Oubliette

  The WT writers have diluted the meaning of words with their deluded interpretations.

  They have stretched and twisted the meaning of the ordinary word "generation" into something unrecognizable, a gross and bizarre distortion of its original meaning.

  And why have they done this? Simply because they cannot admit that they were wrong and do not know what Jesus meant and do not know if we are or are not in the "Last Days."
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  quellycatface

  I'm sure the GB write ideas on bits of paper, throw them into a hat and do a lucky dip.

  This bunch of idiots have thousands of followers by the short and curlies. It is truly frightening how much power they have.
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  straightshooter

  I like how they use multiple groups to define a generation. Their expression that one has to be anointed versus born during a period was interesting. Because ones can calculate these two groups to make the end some 50 years away, they use being anointed to shorten it my 30 or so years. Hence they push forward the urgency until they come up with another updated understanding. Also the WT conductor asked in one cong for a show of hands of those that believe the generation explanation and 100% of the cong raised their hands.
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  disposable hero of hypocrisy

  Woop ! Welcome back sd7!
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  wisdomfrombelow

  Their expression that one has to be anointed versus born during a period was interesting. Because ones can calculate these two groups to make the end some 50 years away, they use being anointed to shorten it my 30 or so years. Hence they push forward the urgency until they come up with another updated understanding.

  The specifically gave themselve wiggle room when the end doesn't come in 20 years to expand it to those BORN that overlap to give them another 20 years before they find another excuse. By that time it will be a new Governing Body and someone else's problem. Notice that if they used "governing body members" instead of "anointed" that the overlapping members have already died off so none of them remain who were on the GB when Franz was on the GB. One elder described it as two links which make up a chain...so they can keep adding links until there are 144,000 long....
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  WTWizard

  What if they simply acknowledge that they do not have the answers? Making something simple into something so complex that no one can understand it is a common way angels and joke-hova use to create dependence on that monster. This is to enslave us all, because while we are confused about stupid things, we are easier to enslave. And, if they admit that Jesus is false, they wouldn't have to worry about it because it would simply be a story. And, in the story, the generation is those who were alive when the words were spoken and the fulfillment in 70 CE. Problem solved.
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  L3G

  "We UNDERSTAND..." is established "Watchtower speech," among "those mature," of course. If you speak to long-time elders, go the KMS, etc. you will reguarly hear about some earlier doctrine that was then later replaced/reinterpreted as "Well, the understanding in those days was..." or "that was the understanding back before blah, blah, blah."

  It's like the constant use of the passive voice in WTSpeech: "it has been decided that..."; "the decison was made to..."; or the corporate mentality: "the body of elders has seen fit to..."; "the Governing Body has decided..."

  It's all part of the entrenched procedure to abandon any personal responsibility by individuals. It's got a long history in the WTS. Nothing new here, really (and isn't that shocking?!).

  Now this "We LOVE this teaching" thing IS new. It shows how deeply averse they are to the idea of doing any kind of objective, empirical, educated research as a basis for doctrine. Not that they were ever really into that, except perhaps a little bit by Fred Franz, but with all his eccentricites constantly getting in the way. However, the current GB has latched onto the "we LOVE this doctrine" thing like GB I never had. In a certain sense, GB II is a bit more transparent, openly displaying their ignorance far more than GB I did. They seem proud of it, in fact.