Do old time present day active JW`s genuinely believe in overlapping generations ?

by smiddy3 70 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Tenacious

  The generation that Jesus spoke of has probably already been born. Jesus said that during that specific generation because of the increase in lawlessness the love of the majority of people would cool.

  If we look at crime historically around the world even as recent as the 70s people were friendlier and more loving. People could travel around the world even into the Middle East and never have a problem. In this country you could hitchhike without having to worry about getting robbed or killed. I recently watched a documentary of people living during the 20s and 30s where they would travel and instead of a hotel they would simply knock on a strangers door and the family would give them shelter and food.

  The point is the world has clearly taken a turn for the worst with some things that Jesus described back then are happening today. Just like the fig tree illustration he used.

  Jesus said that when that specific generation saw all of these things that it would signal the beginning of the end.

  I used Matthew chapter 24.
• 

  sir82

  So according to the overlapping doctrine what is the longest period until this doctrine comes false??

  25 years by now??

  Sanderson, the youngest GBer, is around 52 or 53. He is officially counted as part of "this generation" (his anointing overlapped Freddy Franz's lifetime).
  

  Given the cushy top-dog Bethel lifestyle, if he manages to keep his gut from expanding at its current pace, he could easily live another 30-35 years. But if he continues barreling down the road toward morbid obesity, then 25 years is probably the outer edge.

  All the other guys range in age from early 60's to mid-80s, so yeah 25 years is probably the limit.

  But determining the next kluge to cover over last century's failed prophecies is the job of GB Version 3.0. Meanwhile, there's bagels to eat and branch office dedications in the South Pacific to fly out to.
  
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  smiddy3

  And don`t forget the 12 bottles of scotch that was only picked up on one Sunday it could very well be a regular Sunday shop at the bottle shop. What is it ? 8 GB members ? That`s just over 1 bottle per GB member per week

  You might ask whats wrong with that ? No big deal .

  If that was genuinely the case then do the sums , $ 800 every week by 52 weeks in a year comes to more than $40, ,600 spent on top shelf Whiskey by the Governing Body ,so now we know where they get their Holy Spirits from .
• 

  Finkelstein

  The generation that Jesus spoke of has probably already been born.

  Yes 2000 years ago, he was speaking to the people at the time he was living.

  He said many of you will not experience death.

  Oops
  

  The bible writers screwed up.
  
• 

  lastmanstanding

  Ask a dub, “Has the generation of 1914 passed away”?

  Watch them lock up. It’s amusing...
• 

  cofty

  Tenacious - Despite all the world's woes we are living in the best time in human history.

  Even allowing for the two world wars there has never been a safer or more peaceful time to be alive. By every possible measure of crime, conflict, disease, education, freedom, poverty, famine etc etc things have never been better.

  Please name the decade in which you would have preferred to live.

  This sense of angst is the sine qua non of the religious mindset.
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  stillin

  "Generation" is a stretchy word. Like when somebody says "back in the day." Then there's the thing about a day with Jehovah being a thousand years. Unless it's a Creative Day." Those seem to be longer days. And sometimes you have to do the "year for a day" calculation to make things work out to your preferred timetable.
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  Room 215

  This convoluted, indigestible mess has all the fingerprints of the insufferable David Splane all over it. It seems he's arrogated to himself the moth-bitten mantle of Fred Franz as WT oracle..
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  Sea Breeze

  Yes.... and no. It's called cognitive dissonance.

  JW's start with a belief paradigm. This is their worldview, their lens by which they interpret all data they experience:

  1. They alone have the truth

  2. Their experts have it all figured out

  3. Jesus already returned invisibly

  4. The church age (Gentile Times) has already ended; and with that so has the offer for immortality by faith alone. Now, everyone has to work for it by accepting the framework worked out by the F&DS asks.
  
  This is their worldview that they would have to give up if they admit that the Generation Doctrine is nonsense. It is just psychologically too much to ask for many of them. The idea that they might have to live with Baptists, Methodists and bible believing Catholics forever is beyond their ability to accept. They don't want it under those circumstances.
  
  This is not just a small doctrine at stake here. This is a worldview which has their identity intertwined in it. Change it, and they would have to contemplate a whole new identity.

  I have noticed a similar phenomenon in the secular world that denies special creation. The now common discovery of soft dinosaur tissue, blood vessels, blood cells and proteins going back as far as the Juriassic Periond 145 million years ago, should have proved that the long ages attributed to these animals are extremely unlikely, if not impossible. It creates for Creation Deniers their very own Generation Doctrine.

  People's identities are tied up with the worldview they have adopted, making it very resistant to change.
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  Rattigan350

  I don't understand why it eve matters what Jesus said. It was just a phrase he once used. If he wanted it to mean something he would have explained it. Like the "in the name of the father, son holy spirit'. If Jesus said that (which I don't believe he did), he would have explained it. But are people making more of that than the generation?