Do A Majority of Those That Bother With Doctrine Reject the Current Teachings?

OnTheWayOut

On another thread, Shadow asked PIMOJW, a newbie still serving in a congregation, "How about the overlapping generation? Do you know anyone who actually believes that?"

Answer was "no i dont! i think everyone doubts that nonsense!"

So that gets me really thinking about that.

My mother tried to tell me that when it was new and I think she confused herself and was only hanging on to it as a last-ditch effort to cling to her much older belief that the end should have come in 1975, but delays because "we don't know when Eve was created." (A long doctrinal explanation- basically saying that Eve is not 6000 years old yet.)

So their big recruitment tools in most of our lifetime has been the 1914 generation seeing the end, then specifically 1975, then the 20th century. After that, we all have a good idea how they got lost in what "generation" means in some secret code beyond what the Bible said.

So I know that my mother doesn't sit well with "overlapping generation." My thought for you on this thread is as the title says. Do you think many (or most even) that try to follow doctrine reject the current teachings from Watchtower? Does saying they are not inspired hurt them even more.

I will grant that most JW's don't keep up with the chariot of doctrine, but some still try.

Finally Left

I had a frustrating conversation with my dad who has been in for over 40 years. When I was waking up I carefully told him a few things about 1914. I was also blown away about the Gutenberg press marking the fall of Babylon. Really??? What scripture says that? I tried to explain to him how that new light completely erases the things we learned in Revelation.

He said he doesn't care, he can't keep up with all that stuff, he is going to do what they say so he can live in paradise. He does not know that I have left. He lives halfway across the country thank goodness. Any conversation I have with him he wants to talk about paradise. I think many are that way, after all it is just around the corner!

Wasanelder Once

Sorry OTWO but I'm not close to anyone who would be in that position and my decades long truce about doctrinal discussions precludes me from asking. I will say that there was an admission about the RC that "They didn't do things right back then." Not doctrinal but a crack in the edifice nonetheless.

scratchme1010

OnTheWayOut, I can only feel sorry for those die-hard JWs that are experiencing the worst kind of BS from the WT. Aside from that, I've been out of that nonsense for far to long to even wonder.

MrRoboto

I can't speak from the POV of anyone but myself. However, I can tell you what my thoughts are on what I see around me (being pimo, I get semi-regular exposure)

In my opinion, most of the JW's cant possibly be actually full-in mentally, believing the things they are told. If they were, the elders would indeed be refreshing and kind, love would abound (and not just "among yourselves" but with "your neighbor" as well) I know there are some who are really sweet and deluded and really try to act like a good Christian and think it's "The Truth" but that's pretty rare. So while I cant take an honest tally at the hall, I would have to say no - most people at the hall are a-holes that A) are just in it for themselves (and family/prominence) and B) dont want to lose their family/friends. As for elders, I know some have a different view of them (and I know that they aren't ALL of them like this) but they are bunch of venomous vipers, much like the pharisees of the Bible. And the GB and helpers have told so many obvious OBVIOUS! lies - even on JW broadcasting.. its appalling.

Take all of that above and blend with a fair amount of double-thought and hypocrisy and brainwashing - for a clearer picture of what's going on.

If there is a loving and just and perfect and powerful creator, now is waaay past due to put mankind out of the misery that is JW .org (and some of the other religions too) (can we remove the auto-URLizing feature PLZ? I had to edit this so as not to help their SEO/backlinks)

Sorry for the bit-o-rant but it may (or may not) be meeting night and cortisol is bad for you at this dose.

stuckinarut2

Good comments above.

I agree. Having tried to have conversations with my father, an elder for decades, and now 70.

He is a smart man in all other aspects of life, but as I shared some points of TTATT, he simply shut it down with "I am NOT going to have someone shake my faith. Your apostasy has gone too far!"

So, logic, facts, reason and proof have NOTHING to do with the mindset of the average witness.

Doctor Who

I still have my feet in the door because of family ties. And I can tell you that I know more of recent "light" than professed believers. When I tried to explain the overlapping generations to my still in cousin, he was appalled by it and turned me into his elders! I wish I could have been there!!!!!

TD

It's funny, because JW's are really a "proof based" rather than a "faith based" religion. (Or at least they used to be)

JW's sneer at the spiritual experiences members of other faiths claim to have had as their personal testimony (e.g. everything from signs to angelic visitation) and don't have anything like that themselves.

If you take away the doctrine what do you have left?

Ding

A JW friend of mine said, "They don't know when the end is coming."

He wasn't just giving me "no one knows the day or hour"; he was saying that the GB doesn't know any more about when the end will come than anyone else does.

Nonetheless, he remains a JW because he thinks all the alternatives are worse and because he wants to remain faithful to the end... just in case it's true.

It used to be so simple -- wrong, but simple.

The 1914 generation would by no means pass away before Armageddon and the new system arrived.

That could be explained to householders with a simple diagram.

Granted, as time went by they had to make several adjustments, such as changing who was in the 1914 generation from teenagers to pre-teens to babies, but the basic principle was the same.

Now, more than 100 years after 1914, they've come up with something that no one understands because it's not just wrong -- it's gibberish.

I wonder how the GB discussions went as they were coming up with it.

I wonder if they think they understand it.

I wonder if they believe their own understanding of it.

I also wonder what Fred Franz would have come up with instead.

In any event, I doubt that many JWs try to make converts nowadays by emphasizing the 1914 date.

I imagine they just focus on every bad thing that happens or might happen and on how that "proves" that the end must be just around the corner.

waton

I ask those going in the "service": are you preaching the overlapping generation? some are not even aware that this is the doctrine they are supposed to front. They are not even aware ( forgotten and buried) that it is a current wt teaching. but are zealous.

Have you noticed that wt teaches now that the generation will pass away, rather than not pass away.? May be they can therefore say in the future that the generation has already passed away?

Do A Majority of Those That Bother With Doctrine Reject the Current Teachings?

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