Look at this amazing generation overlap. The oldest one probably saw the events of 1914 from her crib.
A question about the contemporary generation teaching following a conversation with a JW apologist
by Giles Gray 77 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Diogenesister
😢🥺That video made me tearful. What a lucky, Lucky family ♥️♥️ I give anything for that. Worth more than a billion pounds...true riches.
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Fisherman
amazing generation overlap.
As a preschooler back in the 60’s, I remember a lot of people from the 1800’s. My great great grandparents were alive at the time born in the 1850’s who knew people that lived in the 1700’s, so I talked to people that talked to people from the 1700’s.
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Vanderhoven7
Perhaps the oldest mother will be around when the Armageddon starts and so make true the Awake declaration that God promised to bring about a secure new system before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away. Evidently just about anything is possible when generations overlap.
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Disillusioned JW
If biblically speaking Christ became king right after his ascension, then biblically speaking when does Satan get thrown into the abyss, and thus when does the 1,000 year period of Christ's kingdom start?
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Fisherman
Evidently just about anything is possible when generations overlap.
By definition generations overlap. The puzzle is what did Jesus mean by generation when applying it to his parousia. We at JW have tried to apply every possible definition (given JC parousia began in 1914 and JW theology ) So if 1914 is correct Jesus words must come true. That is to say, the expected gt. It is overdue. It seems to be delaying.
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redvip2000
Personally I think you could just about argue that 120 years is a generation, at an absolute stretch, because it is the outer limit of a human lifespan. This would correspond with the 120 years as “days of Noah” and bring us up to 2034.
I suspect that the Org would scramble to find a way to extend the generation. Perhaps they would ask for a very old Jdub volunteer to be permanent connected to life support machines for 50 years in order to say that actually the generation is still alive.
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ThomasMore
Redvip2000 - you may be onto something. Perhaps a cryo facility will accept a JW and it can be said that the person is not truly dead but in stasis. You cracked it !!!
The overlapping generation teaching is so nutty (and unscriptural) that I am still amazed that anyone sound in mind would consider it a serious teaching.
In 1994, WTC was backed into a corner on the generation teaching and needed a filler teaching until they could wind the old one down and out of memory. Eventually they settled on the Overlapping Generation teaching after many whiteboard/dartboard sessions.
The Bible is not ambiguous. Matthew 1:17 says "So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations."
That is 42 generations. Abraham was thought to have been born around 2056 - 1996 BC. (Estimates vary so lets take the earliest to get the greatest years why don't we)
2056 years divided by 42 generations equals 48.9 years. This would be an average that one could use as supported by the Bible.
Of course generations do overlap (since fathers don't die as soon as their sons are born) but the Bible never mentions that as a consideration for determining the meaning of Jesus words.
Jesus prophesied in 33 CE - the Jewish system of his day ended in 70 CE - well within the lifetime of the generation he spoke to - only 37 years. You may not believe he existed and prophesied, but WTC does.
Any attempts to twist the meaning is to support an unscriptural narrative.
The generation of 1914 passed away long ago. Are there individuals alive who are at least 109 years old? A small number - yes. But in no way does a small group of elderly ones represent an entire generation. Some refer to them as outliers. Understanding Jesus words require intellectual honesty - something that WTC lacks in large degree.