Need help understanding the Overlapping Generation teaching

by Jules Saturn 59 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Jules Saturn

  So this is a topic that seriously boggles my mind and please correct me if I'm wrong. To me, the JW definition of the overlapping generation teaching is that the lives of the anointed from 1914 overlap with the lives of the anointed right now. David Splane used the example of Fred Franz and how he finished his "earthly course" in 1992 but while he did, he had a lot of "contemporaries" that outlived him and are currently living today. Makes sense right? I've always thought that JWs could always make something that doesn't make sense sound logically and perfectly sound. And this is one of those teachings for me. In the past I've tried to reason with some that in that scripture in Matthew where Jesus is talking about the generation, he's talking about the generation that would live to see the signs before the second destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Then they'll respond that Jesus wasn't referring to that generation. Can someone sort this out? Why doesn't this teaching make sense? A bit confused here.

  ~Jules
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  _Morpheus

  It dosent make sense because its stupid. Nowhere did jesus indicate anything about overlapping. In fact the end came just as he said he it would.. in one generation, a mere 30 years.

  The org had to come up with a reason the generation that saw 1914 didnt also see the end of the system of things. Overlapping was all they could up with, something the bible never mentioned, never implied and makes absolutely no sense at all.
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  nowwhat?

  In the original wt. Article it mentioned that the 1914 generation READILY discerned Christ presence . which is crap because the bible students thought his presence began in 1874! They believed this until at least 1925.
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  konceptual99

  Good luck understand something that cannot be explained only using the Bible and has zero scriptural backup.

  It's bollocks so don't expect to understand it.
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  NewYork44M

  Ask a JW and you will hear something like: The deep things of the bible are not easily understood.
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  jp1692

  Jules: Can someone sort this out? Why doesn't this teaching make sense?

  No. no one can sort it out because it's nonsense.

  It is a desperate attempt by the WT leadership to cling to 1914 because they cannot ever admit to being wrong. Their self-deceptions and delusions are pathological.
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  Darkknight757

  Don't we all need help understanding it lol?

  It's one of the most bizarre teachings Watchtower has ever come up with. It's not backed by scripture and it makes wild assumptions that make even the most dedicated Jehovah's Witness confused.

  I remeber a long time elder say at a Watchtower study how utterly confusing the teaching was. He said it made no sense. Then he said,"....but we wait on Jehovah to reveal this in time."

  😳
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  Ding

  Wouldn't you have loved to have been able to listen in on the discussions of the GB as they came up with the overlapping generations teaching?

  I wonder if they admitted to each other that it was incomprehensible nonsense but the best they could come up with.

  If not, I wonder if any of them at least admitted that to themselves.
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  Jules Saturn

  That's so weird, because every Witness I know swallows it up and believes it firmly. I know there isn't anything in the scriptures to imply that there is an overlap of some sort but more than the Org trying to look for secondary fulfillment on something that was fulfilled already.
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  Giordano

  The JW dogma is a convenience for the WTBTS that allows them to promote their mistakes.

  Above all they are not secure in the known world so they have invented a world that does not exist. A lot of cults do this like the Mormons, Christian Scientist, Scientology etc. Even worse they train and prepare for this non existent world.

  As Eric Hoffer said in the True Believer " The quality of ideas seems to play a minor role in mass movement leadership. What counts is the arrogant gesture, the complete disregard of the opinion of others, the single handed defiance of the world"

  The Society has had to change almost everything they once taught. There is a reason that Russel's and Rutherford's books are out of print. That the stuff Freddy Franz pulled out of his ass no longer has any meaning.
  That the Society doesn't go back past 1980 in their on line archives.

  The Society never apologizes for all the lives lost because of the misapplication of the Blood Ban, for calling transplants cannibalism. For the two witness rule for children sexually abused. For the reckless levels applied to DFing and shunning. The Bible mentions 5 to 6 reasons the Society has 34 different reasons to shun.

  The overlapping generation is a very weak made up excuse for getting 1914 wrong. They have painted themselves into a corner and have to remain there.