When Did the Watchtower Introduce the "Generation of 1914" Teaching?

by Ding 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Ding

  I'm looking for help to track down the development of the "generation" doctrine, starting with when the WT first specifically tied the end to the generation of 1914.

  Russell taught that 1914 would be the end of this system of things. When that failed, Rutherford started touting 1925.

  No need to talk about generations then; it was just specific dates.

  When did they first tie the end in to a "generation of 1914" time frame?
  

  I also know that they changed the meaning of generation several times.

  First, a person had to have been at least 15 in order to have seen the events of 1914 with understanding of what was happening.

  I think they lowered that to 10 and then finally it was anyone who was alive in 1914.

  Of course, now the generation overlaps.

  Does anyone know someone where all these WT teachings are set out chronologically (preferably with citations to the literature)?

  Thanks in advance.
  
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  btlc

  The Watchtower 1951, July 1, page 404:

  

  For the rest of "teachings", check:

  main-qimg-ef9e54f54e7b44b24b2affdb6eade0c0 (602×1258) (quoracdn.net)
  
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  Chevelle

  I expect career trolls Scholar and Fisherman will chime in any second with some "Nu-Lite" on this ridiculously concocted theology.

  This complete nonsense originated way before Russell when John Aquila Brown stretched the limits of his imagination and then wrote the booklet "The Even Tide" in 1823. Russell read it 50 years later and then plagiarized most of it to come up with 1914.

  When 1914 didn't pan out as expected, Russell (then Rutherford) were forced to buy more time.
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  Disillusioned JW

  I notice that a number of posts make the claim that Russell plagiarized the works of others, but it should be kept in mind that under law if the copyrights on the works have expired then those works are in the public domain, and there is thus no legal requirement for any attribution to be made to those earlier works when using their ideas and words or even when using their entire content. In the time that Russell lived copyrights had a far shorter duration than modern works now have.
  
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  road to nowhere

  The problem is plagiarized ideas put forth as if they came directly from heaven to the " only" true religion
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  Ding

  Thanks!
  
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  Disillusioned JW

  The page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_doctrine might be of some interest to you .
  
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  nowwhat?

  Up until the late twenties they still believed Christ's presence began in 1874. So when the end didn't come in 1914 it appears 1914 was a non issue until they came up with the 1914 generation teaching.
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  TonusOH

  In Crisis of Conscience, Ray Franz claims that WT publications had been using the 'generations' teaching since the 1940s, though he does not present any specific examples.

  He does mention an issue that arose in 1978, when it appears that GB member Albert Schroeder had suggested to people that Mattew 24:34 applied to the generation of anointed JWs, and that as long as any of them were alive the "generation" would not technically have "passed away." It's interesting, in light of the recent change which introduced the concept of 'overlapping generations.' Looks like it may have been an old idea that was finally made official.
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  slimboyfat

  Paul Grundy’s page is good on this too

  https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/generation.php