Switch it up, switch it up... WT just changes the lingo when necessary, look what they said in 1980, "you have to be 10 to remember".... they later changed that too!
*** w80 10/15 p. 31 Questions
From Readers *** Made 2
04 14
Questions From
Readers
● In speaking of “the sign
of [his] presence and of the conclusion
of the system of things,” Jesus said
to his disciples: “Truly I say to
you that this generation will by no
means pass away until all these things
occur.” (Matt. 24:3, 34) How are we
to understand this?
This prophecy,
uttered in the year 33 C.E., had a notable typical fulfillment up until the year 70 C.E., (do the math, less than 40 years!) when the
Jewish system of things was destroyed, and Jerusalem’s temple was thrown down,
‘not a stone being left upon a stone.’ In Jerusalem alone 1,100,000 Jews
perished, according to the historian Josephus. Although many of Jesus’ early disciples had died in
the persecutions up until that time, some of the generation that had been with Jesus and had witnessed his mighty works
remained also to see the end of that “conclusion of the system of
things.” (Matt. 24:2, 3) They
were persons of Jesus’ generation, his contemporaries.
However, from
Jesus’ prophecy we understand that his words are to have a later, major
fulfillment, culminating in “great tribulation such as has not occurred since
the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” This “great tribulation”
is to embrace not just a Jewish “system of things” but the entire world
of mankind, yes, “all the nations” to whom Jehovah’s
Witnesses must ‘preach this good news of the kingdom before the end comes.’ The
“pangs of distress” that began to afflict this earth, starting with World War
I, show that Jesus’ “sign” is having its great antitypical fulfillment from
1914 onward.—Matt. 24:3-8, 14, 21. (Hmmm it's 104 years from 1914)
What, then, is the “generation” that “will by no
means pass away until all these things occur”? It does not refer to a period of
time, which some have tried to interpret as 30, 40, 70 or even 120 years, but,
rather, it refers to
people, the people living at the “beginning of pangs of distress” for
this condemned world system. It is the generation of people who saw the catastrophic events that broke
forth in connection with World War I from 1914 onward.
As indicated by an
article on page 56 of U.S. News & World
Report of January 14, 1980, “If you assume that 10 is the age at which an event creates a lasting impression on a
person’s memory,” then there are today more than 13 million Americans who have
a “recollection of World War I.”
And if the wicked system of this world
survived until the turn of the century, which is highly improbable in view of
world trends and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, there would still be
survivors of the World War I generation. However, the fact that their number is
dwindling is one more indication that “the conclusion of the system of things”
is moving fast toward its end.
In this connection,
the magazine The Economist of March 15,
1980, gave an interesting review of a book entitled “The Generation of 1914” by
Robert Wohl. It made this significant remark: “Eventually Mr. Wohl
voices his own opinions about the generation of 1914. In a terse and condensed
last chapter he suggests that
generations are not mathematically definable in terms of numbers of years, but
cluster around major historical crises, of which the first world war is the
supreme example.” This
lines up very well with the Scriptural viewpoint that Jehovah’s Witnesses take
on “the generation of 1914.”
Yes, there was a generation of people that was living in
1914, and that saw
the major historical changes
from an era of comparative tranquillity to the present era of war, lawlessness
and ruination. Many who are now Jehovah’s Witnesses were among them. Truly,
1914 marked “the supreme example” of change, for that year set in motion the
foretold “beginning of pangs of distress” among the nations. Many persons are still alive who
can tell us how catastrophically conditions on earth changed in the year
1914. And the world continues to plunge into worse and worse trouble. We can be happy, therefore, for
Jesus’ assurance that there will be survivors of “the generation of 1914”—that
this generation will not have completely passed away—when the “great
tribulation” rings down the curtain on this wicked world system.
g71 10/8 pg 26,27
"The
generation living in 1914 when ‘these things started to occur’ has now grown
old. In the more than half a century that has passed, that generation’s numbers
have considerably diminished. Yet the “all things” foretold by Jesus for our
day must occur fully before ‘this generation passes completely away.’ That
means that the due time
for their full occurrence must be near at hand, very close.
All the other
features of Jesus’ prophecy have now come true with startling accuracy. We need not doubt that he spoke inspired
truth when he said that the generation seeing the start of this
“time of the end” will also see its windup. That will mean the end of the
present unsatisfying, selfish, oppressive old order and the introduction of
God’s righteous, refreshing new order."
