The 1995 Generation Change (page 4)

Fisherman

Noticed that most supercentenerians are from japan. Must be something to eating sushi or fish or radiation.

The 95 change was weird for me. I was 16 years old and in the middle of wholeheartedly embracing the religion. I would read all the magazines as soon as they came in the mail, so I was in all likelihood the first person in my congregation to find out about the change.

I called up an elder or two to discuss and they sort of got the idea I was an impressionable newb reading too much into things. I started discussing it at the hall and got weird stares from people.

When reality started hitting home for people, they sort of forced themselves to discuss it with me, but in hindsight it was obvious they were trying very hard to hide their disappointment.

I was under the wing of a young and extraordinarily strict JW elder. A few months after the change he got DF'd for cheating on his wife and running off with another woman. It was a loveless marriage and it seems pretty obvious to me now that the 95 change indicated to him that there was still time left before the end came, so he used that as an opportunity to get out from under that marriage. A year or so later he was reinstated, new wife in tow. I believe he's serving as an elder again.

DesirousOfChange

MAGNUM: an experience I had. A 32-yr-old JW tried to informal witness to me in a parking lot. She had never heard of Fred Franz, knew nothing of the old generation teachings, probably didn't understand the current one,

Not unusual for a JW at any age.

They have no idea what they believe other than they (ONLY THEY) are going to live forever right into the Panda Paradise.

There's one born every minute. I was one of them.

Doc

oppostate

I was an upwardly mobile MS, trying to be perfect so the elders would bless my efforts and deem me one of the in crowd of younger older-men.

When the 1995 change came I remember asking my then mentor, a know it all elder who was only four years older than I and was barely twenty when he was appointed elder, say to me that it really didn't matter.

He said that to him The Truth(C) was the best way of living and even if it turned out it was wrong, he would have still lived the best life. So it could never be wrong in his mind, it would always be the best life, free from drugs, immorality, and everything this "wicked system" has to offer.

I remember it struck me as a weird way to look at things.

If it wasn't the truth, I thought, then I really want to find out exactly what is the real truth. And I remember thinking how stupid it really sounded to continue doing something you found out was a lie.

Shortly after that I became an elder and had to quiet down all doubts lest I backslide into questionings and doubts.

What a bone head I was. (& probably still am, it's just that now I know for a fact the many lies that hold up The Truth(C) and no, it's not the best life one could ever have!)

Perry

That was the last straw for me. I knew they were just making stuff up as they went along after that WT article. I moved off to college shortly thereafter.

kaik

I left prior this overlapping generation nonsense. After my family informed me on the new light as "yeah, the generations of 1914 can mean multiple biogenesis", I knew my decision to walk away from JW was alright. My sibling explained that last generation was in fact, generation spanning of several centuries, because people were the witnesses of the last day. In the KH they explained that renaissance generation was all generations between 1450 and 1600 because all these people were part of the same event.

TD

For those that were in at the time, what was your reaction?

I remember thinking that it was an utter disaster.

First and foremost, the Great Crowd teaching is joined like a Siamese twin to the pre-95 understanding of a generation. (i.e You MUST be within a generation of the end before the great crowd can be identified since they survive the great tribulation.)

But even if you ignore that, the adjustment reduced the passage to a meaningless tautology

Pre-95:

This generation = Those born at or around 1914

Pass away = Die from old age

All these things = The entire "Sign" including the great tribulation

"Those born at or around 1914 won't all die from old age before the entire sign including the great tribulation has occurred."

Post-95:

This generation = Those living during the end who take no note of the sign.

Pass away = Destroyed by God

All these things = The entire "Sign"including the great tribulation

"Those living during the end who take no note of the sign won't be destroyed by God until the entire sign including the great tribulation has occurred."

--A meaningless statement of the obvious.

GrreatTeacher

I remember hearing about it and thinking, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!

I had left about four years earlier, but after learning the extent of some of the organizational rot, I predicted they would have to change their doctrine by 1994 because that would be the 80 years with special mightiness past 1914.

They did not let me down. It was one last really big nail in the coffin.

punkofnice

I was more interested in raising my family than questioning doctrine. I totally missed it all. Get the family dressed, let's get to the meeting(tm) or go on the failed misery. Guilt, fear and phobia ran my life. I was heard as saying on a family video: 'Let's just get these kids through armageddon(tm) first.'

That summed it up. I was too busy worried that my kids wouldn't survive god's loving slaughter than to question the stupidity from Brooklyn. Talk about doing busy work! My head wasn't in the sand...it just wasn't anywhere.

The WBT$ came out with the hilarious 'overlapping generations(tm)' and that woke me up fully.

Thanks GB, you are complete idiots! I was a complete idiot for following you filthy, disgusting perverts in Brooklyn. Well, well done GB, I no longer have a family thanks to your shunning. If only karma existed, I'd be able to shrow the switch on your electric chairs! Make no mistake, if given the chance, I WOULD!

Absalom

Magnum hit the nail on the head. Most witnesses nowaday, do not read! That is why they play so many videos now. Most dubs now just parrot what they hear from the stage or the TV show.

The 1995 Generation Change