The Governing Body and "Josephs generation"

by The freewheeling 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  The freewheeling

  Hi, I´m new here and not so good in English, but I’ve give it a try and hope you understand.

  
  

  The whole idea of the overlapped generation is not only illogical, there are also serious errors in reasoning and how to interpret the scripture.

  
  

  The only "scriptural argument" that the Governing Body has managed to bring in this matter is Exodus 1: 6 where they say that a "generation" can be stretched to cover a longer period than usually meant by a "generation". But, as said, here are serious problems.

  When David Splane interprets this scripture he says that "that generation" is the same period as Joseph's lifetime, and all people during this time shall be compared with Joseph's lifetime. Splane states that if someone lived, if only for 10 minutes, at the same time as Joseph, he belongs to "Joseph's generation," and this is the great error made because the scripture does not speak of "Joseph's generation," as if it was his.

  It is said: "Eventually Joseph died, and overpriced all his brothers and all that generation." What was included in "that generation"? Shortly before, in verse 5, it states: "And all of Those Who were born to Jacob were 70 people. [...]" So the "generation" spoken of in verse 6 is not only about Joseph, but also his 11 brothers, and 58 other people, the whole Jacob's descendants, in all 70 persons. So you cannot do the thought experiment that David Splane and the Governing Body are doing here and talk about "Joseph's generation", one cannot "steal" the generation from Jacob and make it Josephs, and only have him as reference. The generation started with Jacob and included at least 70 persons who mostly lived during the same time and experienced the same things, not just one person who you can compare whoever you want with and anytime.

  
  

  Siblings can be said to belong to a "generation" because they have the same father, One can then say that the father started a generation, and when siblings die out, that generation also dies. That is what clearly mentioned in these verses as I see it.

  
  

  And the most important: there is no "overlapping" mention or hinted here.
  
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  FayeDunaway

  you can't make it make sense no matter what language you are speaking!

  theyre scratching in the dirt, desperately trying to produce vegetation where there is no seed, hoping their own false prophesies are somehow true.

  Welcome, freewheeling.
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  opusdei1972

  Jesus said "this generation". It clearly means, his first century contemporaries. For instance, let's read the following verse:

  "You unbelieving and perverse generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?....(Matthew 17:17)

  Here we also clearly understand what Jesus meant by "generation", but Witnesses want to read

  "You unbelieving and perverse overlapped Fred Franz generation , how long shall I stay with you?"
  
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  iconoclastic

  Welcome to the forum. Nice post.

  When Jesus used the word "generation", he was speaking to his disciples who were not linguistic scholars, hence would mean only what the world means for the common man. There is no scope for interpretation and to lengthen the meaning of the word "generation."
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  Sabin

  Hello Freewheeling, it`s so nice to meet you. Thank you for you thought provoking post. Look forward to reading more from you. SABIN
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  Zoos

  Welcome to the forum. For someone who is "not so good with English" you did a better job than many English-ites.

  Nice dissection of the Exodus account. You highlight a point I never caught.
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  hoser

  Jesus said this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur. He was right. About 35 years later There was a great tribulation and Jerusalem was destroyed. End of story. No further fulfillment of this prophecy needed.

  Hoser
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  cha ching

  *** it-1 p. 28 Abraham ***Family Origin and Early History. Abraham was the tenth generation from Noah through Shem and was born 352 years after the Deluge, in 2018 B.C.E.

  
  (Matthew 1:17) 17 All the generations, then, from Abraham until David were fourteen generations, and from David until the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ fourteen generations.

  
  2018 years divided by 42 generations = 48.04 years per generation according to Matthew.... a person who heard Jesus talk about "this generation"......

  
  After Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 CE, did Matthew start thinking,"Hmmmm..... I wonder if Jesus was really thinking back to Joseph's day, maybe this isn't what he was thinking about after all, and maybe it was overlapping generations, and this "destruction" that happened with Jerusalem is wrong?"

  
  70 CE/destruction -33 CE/ Jesus died = 37 years "This generation will not pass AWAY" .....Well, did Jerusalem pass away within 48.04 years? yes