got some info from the annual meeting.. unofficially, the 'generation' is now categorized as 2 groups.
the first is 'the 1914 group' and the second is the younger anointed 'contemporaries' who 'actually work for a period of time with those anointed ones'.. the 'generation' is now 'the lifespan of those who actually saw the beginning of the sign and then the lifespan of those who worked with those who saw the beginning of the sign'.. here we go again....
@TD: I'm not sure what to think. At this point, I think some of it applies to our day, but I'm doing a lot of research because, frankly, I'm confused about what to think.
The overlapping generation doesn't make sense to me. I think it does open the way though for them to understand "generation" as what I have proposed: "the generation" to experience all these things, not the ones who saw them start....I could swallow that a lot easier than the overlap idea.
got some info from the annual meeting.. unofficially, the 'generation' is now categorized as 2 groups.
the first is 'the 1914 group' and the second is the younger anointed 'contemporaries' who 'actually work for a period of time with those anointed ones'.. the 'generation' is now 'the lifespan of those who actually saw the beginning of the sign and then the lifespan of those who worked with those who saw the beginning of the sign'.. here we go again....
The other thing I was thinking was that "this generation" that sees "all these things" would not have to necessarily start from the time of the begining of the parousia, but would be the generation that would "experience" all these things. So they would experience the parousia (already in progress) and see all the other things foretold....As the parousia starts, the world experiences food shortages, wars, pestilence, all of which are ongoing events with no definitive end....then they would experience governments turn on religion, and all the other things foretold in this section. Perhaps it is not the generation that sees these things "start to occur", but the "generation" that experiences them all at the same time....
got some info from the annual meeting.. unofficially, the 'generation' is now categorized as 2 groups.
the first is 'the 1914 group' and the second is the younger anointed 'contemporaries' who 'actually work for a period of time with those anointed ones'.. the 'generation' is now 'the lifespan of those who actually saw the beginning of the sign and then the lifespan of those who worked with those who saw the beginning of the sign'.. here we go again....
The more I read Matthew 24:34 and the surrounding verses, and think about how it has always been taught that there were two (2) applications for these verses, the more I think the "generation" verse applied to the first fulfillment, and not to our day ~ much like the instructions given about when they saw the army enter the city, they were to flee to the mountains ~ that, as far as I can tell, doesn't apply to our day, but was part of this set of prophecy. So, perhaps the same is true with the generation.
Any thoughts?
my 76 year old mother and her 94 year old mother (my grandmother) are still regular pioneering.
if anyone should understand helping the less fortunate it should be these life time pioneers.
however, this is a conversation i had with my them yesterday.... me: mom, the girls (my 2 teenage daughters) and i have volunteered to serve breakfast and lunch at the soup kitchen new year's eve.
The fact that Jehovah's Witnesses don't have some sort of organized outreach to the homeless really bothers me. There is so much that could be done. It would seem, that even if you had to lure people in with bread and soup to get them "the truth" it would be worth it. Did Jesus not feed the masses?
march 15, 2010 watchtower, p. 27, par.
16 ("one flock, one shepherd"):.
"paul also helps us to understand that those with an earthly hope do not partake of the memorial emblems.
I'm confused about the arrival. How can someone be present without arriving? I don't get that this was a teleconference or a webinar ~ am I missing something??
march 15, 2010 watchtower, p. 27, par.
16 ("one flock, one shepherd"):.
"paul also helps us to understand that those with an earthly hope do not partake of the memorial emblems.
So, I have a question: Did all of the first century christians partake of the Lord's Evening Meal? Or, did some of them abstain because they were not annointed? Is there any historical evidence either way? Also, was the LEM held yearly at first, then changed to a daily or weekly communion??
march 15, 2010 watchtower, p. 27, par.
16 ("one flock, one shepherd"):.
"paul also helps us to understand that those with an earthly hope do not partake of the memorial emblems.
This post is interesting to me on a couple of points:
1. " until he arrives" I need to do more research on this, but it seems that if Jesus arrived in 1914, then the keeping of the Lord's Evening Meal would end.
2. "I have other sheep which are not of this fold,..." A quick look at Bible translations and commentaries seem to indicate that Jesus was talking about the Gentiles as being the "other sheep" that he would bring. Again, more research is called for on my end. http://bible.cc/john/10-16.htm
Thanks for bringing this up though, makes for a very useful discussion.
dont know if i or anyone else has asked this before, but does anyone know how many annointed were supposedly at the last memorial, it seems to be the hidden #.
does that mean they are now the hidden society (said tongue in cheek).
I was just watching a "Mysteries of the Bible" episode that talked about the lost Gospels. One interesting comment was that it was Constantine who essentially decided what the Bible cannon would contain, and that he is the one who instigated the "structure" of the church.
A few questions came to mind: Should we then really totally disregard writings that were not included in the cannon without first comparing them for harmony with other scriptures of the time? Did the comment "All scripture is inspired of God..." apply to these "scriptures" as well even though they were not included in the cannon?
And finally - it seems that each of the christian congregations were somewhat self-governing and that if problems arised, they would consult the apostles for guidance since they were companions of Jesus. Perhaps the recent movements we are seeing by the WT to disenfranchise the congregations are a move toward a more looser governance ~ at least outwardly.
Anyone have a good reference to read about how the early christians were organized??
DS
dont know if i or anyone else has asked this before, but does anyone know how many annointed were supposedly at the last memorial, it seems to be the hidden #.
does that mean they are now the hidden society (said tongue in cheek).
Yes, I actually just heard that story from a Bethlite I know.
I think the explanation about the 144,000 is that although we have always assumed that all first century christians were annointed, it was never explicitly detailed in that way in the Bible. Although, all of the scriptures speak to the annointed specifically. They are written "to the congregation" which can mean the entire group of people or "the elders" depending on how it is interpreted by context. Maybe the letters "to the congregations" were really only meant for the annointed leaders of the congregations.
just a shot in the dark. who knows at this point.
I have often thought to myself that I am an Agnostic JW ~ the more I think about it, the more I feel that way.
DS
dont know if i or anyone else has asked this before, but does anyone know how many annointed were supposedly at the last memorial, it seems to be the hidden #.
does that mean they are now the hidden society (said tongue in cheek).
There have been a number of articles over the past few years that have made a distinction between "genuine annointed" and "partakers." As far as I can tell, the number recorded in the yearbook is of "partakers" and the feeling is that the number of "genuine annointed" is a much lower number.
DS
