Overlapping Generation
by pandorasbox1914 126 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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PetrW
Just a note on the "overlapping" generation or group.
I think the focus of Jesus' statement in Matt 24:34 is not just on the generation (and its duration), but on the preceding determination that "surely/in no way/will pass away", this generation. Jesus, in my opinion, is emphasizing that this will occur before(!) the generation that heard this should pass away. JWs have commented many times - as someone here has already stated, on the generation and its expected length, but on the concept of "certainly will not pass away" (generation), I, myself, have not found any detailed analysis by JWs...
If sometime around 30-33 AD (the length of Jesus' preaching itself is an interesting theological question = I think it lasted at least 14 months or took up three Passover feasts, which would correspond to no more than two calendar years, cf. The statement about the high priest Annaniah and Caiaphas) Jesus claimed in answer to the apostles' question about when the "end of the age" would occur, then not only to them but to the other early disciples, whether they were 20 or 30 or 50 years old, it was clear that they would experience some "end of the age" because it would occur before they were to die a natural death. Shortly after Jesus was born, the prophetess Anna (Luke 2:37), who was 84 years old, came to him. So Jesus' listeners had a realistic chance of living to the age of, say, today's European population.
If the little "end of the age" occurred in 70 AD, about 40 years after Jesus spoke it, then it really occurred before the generation of listeners of that time had "passed away." Those 30 year olds, though old, still had a chance to live another year...
If I transpose this reasoning to 1914, then one who was the age of Jesus' listeners in 1914 would have to assume that no later than about 40 years later, the final "end of the ages" would very likely have to occur sometime between 1950 and 1960. The end of the age would simply have to occur before a generation died. Sometime after 1990, there was a definitive break in the chronological speculation of "1914" because the generation passed away, but before(!), no end of the age occurred.
The JW's are forced to create a de facto copy of "apostolic succession", very similar to the Catholic bishops, where one group/generation will pass legitimate power to each other based on close contact with each other - those JW's who are from geographically distant areas are out of luck for the coming century - the history of the papacy, is proof of this...
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DesirousOfChange
One doesn't hear "1914" or "generation" much today. I suspect WT is wishing they would just go away!
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ExBethelitenowPIMA
A few times lately when 1914 was mentioned the publications now say “about 14” or around 1914
so they obviously see the need to distance themselves from this old dogma that was made up by men long since died.
but the problem is if the governing body are who they claim to be then this is from Jehovah himself and if it is wrong then these fat old men are not who they claim to be.
They have painted themselves into a corner and there is no way out.
we are too far away from 1914 already and every year that passes the situation gets worse and worse
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Vanderhoven7
Examine one overlapping generation
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ElderBerry
David Splain made the point that they would have had to have been anointed before those who saw the sign died off. Not born before but actually served long enough to be made anointed
say the last of them died in the 1990s the youngest overlappers would have been at least middle age in the 1990s to have been anointed before those first ones died off.
the older members of the GB were anointed before the 1990s but the new younger members were not.
At least the two new members were not anointed in the 1990s and maybe some of the other younger members of the GB
so if you were anointed after the last of those who saw the sign in 1914 died off then you are not overlapping generations is that right?
this is a big 🚩
if the GB have the correct interpretation and this doctrine is from Jehovah then why are still more becoming anointed after the 1990s when the last of those who saw 1914 died off?
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Diogenesister
the GB have the correct interpretation and this doctrine is from Jehovah then why are still more becoming anointed after the 1990s when the last of those who saw 1914 died off?
Because you can be anointed without necessarily being The Slave or the overlapping generation. You can be one, two or all three. The GB can be anointed and The Slave without being the overlapping generation. That's why they changed the doctrine from the slave being the 144,000, to just simply being the GB. Eventually like - to my certain knowledge - Ken Cook who was not anointed before The Last Of
USthem died off in the 90s, none of the GB would be the slave IF the slave was still of the (overlapping) generation who saw the sign. -
Gorb
Splane is a muppet show character that became a real liife person.
Clown.
G.
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NotFormer
Like all things related to the WT doctrines regarding the 144,000, "the annointed" and the FDS, I'm confused about this "overlapping generation" thing. How does it work? Does it mean that someone who worked in close proximity with someone at Bethel who had been baptised before 1935 could have the annointing passed on to them? If the annointing can skip forward once and the new annointee is genuinely annointed, what's to stop it skipping forward in every subsequent generation?
I suppose it's shorthand for the GB saying that every GB member is annointed because we say so. Diogenesister alludes to something like that above. As she said, eventually only the GB will be the 144,000, the FDS and "the annointed". Will they stop people being allowed to partake at the memorial, eventually? Will the memorial become an annual event wherein the JW congregations of the world get to watch a livestream of the GB partaking?
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Diogenesister
Notty Will the memorial become an annual event wherein the JW congregations of the world get to watch a livestream of the GB partaking?
That's a good point! You're probably right!
How does it work? Does it mean that someone who worked in close proximity with someone at Bethel who had been baptised before 1935 could have the anointing passed on to them?
No anointing is just something you "know". No one can pass it on, or tell anyone else they are. It used to be if you were anointed you were one of the 144,000, the generation AND the slave. Now you're still one of the 144000 but not the slave (unless you're GB). However you're not of "This Generation" unless you were anointed BEFORE the last one of the 1914 generation died off anywhere in the world (probably late 90s/2000?). You don't have to have literally known them (of course that's hard to prove because no one knows when the last one died. Even Watchtower claims not to)