So I was thinking yesterday ... trying to figure out this New-Light TM understanding of the "Overlapping Generations" explanation of Mark 13:30, Matthew 24:34, etc. It can be confusing but I think I finally got it!
I now understand that, in his Great Prophecy about the End of this System of Things, Jesus:
"... evidently meant that the lives of the anointed who were on hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation." - w2010 4/15, pps. 27-29
And I understand that while it SEEMS to any logical, reasonable person that these two different groups are really from two completely different generations, they are in actual fact part of only one great, big happy Overlapping Generation. They are the Overlappers. Any previous misunderstanding of the meaning of the ordinary, common word "generation" was purely a mistake on my part, the fault was of course mine and mine alone. I accept full and complete responsibility for that and now I've got it straight! How happifying.
But there's still a problem. Please help me out here if you can.
What about the lives of the anointed who were on hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 but whose lives did NOT overlap with the lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation? I mean clearly many or even most of them--in fact possibly all but one of them--died before the first person in the second group was born. So what do we call THEM? Because obviously they weren't Overlappers. Should we call them Underlappers? I think that is an appropriate term.
And while we're at it, what about those in the later group--the other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation--but were born AFTER the last anointed one in the first group died? I mean, cleary THEY are not "Overlappers" either! I mean not individually at least. They may be part of the group, but as unique people they don't qualify. Are they also Underlappers? It would seem so.
This brings up a NEW problem. How do we distinguish between the Underlappers in the first group and the Underlappers in the second group? Such a dilemma. I propose that we call them Underlappers I and Underlappers II, the Sequel.
That makes sense, don't you think?
But then what about the Underlappers II that die before Armageddon. They're really under-achievers, don't you think? How should we identify them? It's really a problem!
I do hope the Society publishes some more New Light TM on this very important subject soon. It would help to clarify matters. It's all so very confusing. Wouldn't it be much simpler if they just stuck to teaching us to be better, more loving and compassionate people than trying to reinvent new meanings for ordinary words like "generation"? What would Jesus do?
I'm just sayin' is all!
00DAD