I would like to ask the ex-JWs on this site to put their ‘apologists hat’ back on for a moment, so that I can go through the overlapping generation teaching in an attempt to make sense of it. I apologise if these points have already been addressed on this site.
A quick background for the reason for my request… having never confronted a JW apologist on the topic, I recently engaged with a JW regarding the official understanding of a ‘generation’ and unfortunately he didn’t have an answer to the points I was making. I was left a little confused as to what the official JW response would/should be.
So I was hoping that my thoughts below might be considered from an apologist’s perspective.
The point in question relates to this section of the Watchtower article below from 2008, as well as the JW.org video explanation of the overlapping generation:-
--:w08 2/15
[Box on page 25] Can We Calculate the Length of “This Generation”?
The word “generation” usually refers to people of various ages whose lives overlap during a particular time period or event. For example, Exodus 1:6 tells us: “Eventually Joseph died, and also all his brothers and all that generation.” Joseph and his brothers varied in age, but they shared a common experience during the same time period. Included in “that generation” were some of Joseph’s brothers who were born before him. Some of these outlived Joseph. (Gen. 50:24) Others of “that generation,” such as Benjamin, were born after Joseph was born and may have lived on after he died.
So when the term “generation” is used with reference to people living at a particular time, the exact length of that time cannot be stated except that it does have an end and would not be excessively long. Therefore, by using the term “this generation,” as recorded at Matthew 24:34, Jesus did not give his disciples a formula to enable them to determine when “the last days” would end. Rather, Jesus went on to emphasize that they would not know “that day and hour.”—2 Tim. 3:1; Matt. 24:36. :--
If I understand the quote above and the video correctly, the Governing Body made the argument that Joseph and his ‘contemporaries’ who all moved to Egypt are to be considered as the biblical example of an ‘overlapping generation’ (as described in Exodus 1:1).
According to Exodus 1:1-5, this would include Jacob, his 12 sons and all of their ‘households’, which totalled 70 individuals in all.
For the sake of clarity of the points below, the extent of the overlapping generation that entered Egypt, mentioned Exodus chapter 1 and cited by the Watchtower, consisted of, in part (1) Jacob, (2) his sons Judah and/or Joseph, and (3) Judah’s son Pe’rez.
This was the point (or should I say, an expanded version of the point) I made to the JW apologist,:-
The ‘particular time period or event’ according to Exodus 1:1 was the period when Jacob and his descendants ‘came into’ Egypt. Those who were alive at that time are considered to be the ‘overlapping generation’ referred to in Exodus 1:6.
This overlapping generation WOULD NOT include Jacob’s father Isaac, owing to the fact that he had died the year before Joseph became prime minister of Egypt.
However, according to the Watchtower’s version of a generation, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph would be considered their own overlapping generation, but one that existed before the generation mentioned in Exodus 1:1-6.
The other family descendant that would be excluded from being considered as the overlapping generation of Exodus 1:1 would be Pe’rez’s son, Hez’ron. Hez’ron would have been born after the period that Jacob’s descendants entered Egypt. Therefore, according to the bible, he WOULD NOT be considered part of Joseph’s generation. Hez’ron would be considered part of the generation mentioned at Exodus 1:7.
Despite the fact that the Watchtower article uses Exodus 1:6 as an example of an overlapping generation, I find it difficult to ignore the glaring false equivalence when those verses are contrasted with the Watchtower‘s application of those scriptures.
The chart in the Watchtower’s video commences from the lifetime of Franz. What I don’t understand is why the chart only focuses on Fred Franz. The other members of the anointed who were alive in 1914, even though they are mentioned in the video, their lives are not in any way considered. The entire 1914 generation are only represented by the duration of Franz’s lifespan.
From the starting point of Franz, who already overlaps with Russell (who was conspicuously left out of the video, in spite of the fact that he personally witnessed 1914 and was one of the anointed) and Rutherford, they then continue to extend the contemporary generation to include Tony Morris. They even extend it as far as all the people who lived during Franz’s lifetime. Therefore, anyone who was alive up to and including 1992 is considered part of the overlapping generation. I hope that I’ve understood the video correctly.
I pointed out to the apologist this (potential) flaw in the Watchtower’s thinking. Why does the overlapping generation commence from the lifespan of Franz? Franz was himself part of an overlapping generation that experienced 1914, in the same manner that Pe’rez experienced moving to Egypt with his extended family. (Exodus 1:1)
In 1914, Russell, Rutherford and Franz overlapped as the generation who saw those events. The ‘particular time period or event’, is the year 1914. Therefore, a true parallel to the scripture the Watchtower uses to explain the overlapping generation is already covered by Franz and his contemporaries, i.e. Russell and Rutherford, who lived during the period of 1914.
This is what I went on to explain to this apologist.
Using the ancestry in Matthew chapter 1, if we consider:-
Abraham to be the equivalent of William Miller,
Isaac to be the equivalent of Nelson Barbour,
Jacob to be the equivalent of C. T. Russell,
Judah to be the equivalent of J.F. Rutherford,
Pe’rez to be the equivalent of F. W. Franz,
Hez’ron to be the equivalent of M. Henschel
Ram to be the equivalent of Anthony Morris…
…the contemporary generation equivalent of Exodus 1:1 has long passed away.
If we transpose the people listed above, the scenario fits perfectly to the scripture in Exodus 1:1-6.
Entering Egypt is the equivalent period to 1914.
Russell died not long after 1914, similar to Jacob dying not long after entering Egypt.
Russell is old enough to be the father of Rutherford.
Rutherford is old enough to be the father of Franz.
Franz is old enough to be the grandfather of Tony Morris.
Comparing the contemporary generation of Exodus chapter 1 to the contemporary generation of anointed in 1914, the only person in the list above who doesn’t fit into the 1914 overlapping generation is Tony Morris. Morris is in the same position as Ram in relation to Exodus 1:7. Ram didn’t witness entering into Egypt the same as Tony Morris didn’t witness 1914.
However, both of them would have lived during the lifetime of some of the generation who did witness the ‘particular time period or event’. In spite of this, both Ram and Tony Morris cannot be considered as belonging to the contemporary generation that came before them.
Apart from Tony Morris, all of the other people mentioned in the transposed list above fit perfectly into the scenario of the generation described in Exodus 1:6.
I also pointed out to this apologist how long the Watchtower’s generation actually is. According to the chart in their video, Franz was born in 1893. If Morris lives as long as Franz, he will live to the year 2050 (approximately). A generation, according to that way of thinking, is 157 years.
If we add Russell’s lifespan to the equation, a generation is 198 years.
If we then add the people who lived within Franz’s lifetime (those born up to and including 1992, as is suggested in the video), if they live to 100, a generation would be 240 years.
This would mean that there have only been 8.5 generations since the birth of Christ… with Christ being part of the first generation.
The other point I made was the fact that Nelson Barbour was also a contemporary of Russell, Rutherford and Franz. If the society are to extend the overlapping time forward to include Tony Morris (who didn’t personally witness 1914 but lived during Franz’s lifetime), why does the chart in the video not extend backwards in time to included those who died before 1914 but who lived within Franz’s lifetime? According to the video, shouldn’t this age group also qualify under the society’s definition?
With the inclusion of people who were the same age as Barbour, a generation is 268 years. That is according to the official JW.org video.
There is such a ridiculous and glaring false equivalence in the definition of the generation of Joseph and his brothers mentioned in Exodus, when it’s contrasted with the over stretched 1914 contemporary generation suggested by the Watchtower. The comparison of the ‘contemporary generation’ in Exodus 1:6 to the ‘contemporary generation’ depicted in the Watchtower can only be described as an equivocation fallacy.