generation teaching reconsidered

by inbetween 55 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Mary

  The main question is, What is a generation?

  A "generation" is a cohort of people who were born in the same date range, end of story. My generation is not the same as my parents' generation nor of the 'younger' generation that say, are in high school right now. It is your contemporaries-----those that are similar in age to you. As even the Borg has confirmed thousands of times in the pages of their literture, a biblical generation is 70 or 80 years.

  By the bizarre logic that they are trying to use to weasle their way out of an obvious false doctrine of theirs, they have come up with a completely crazy theory; that Jesus was "evidently" talking about an "overlapping generation"----an idea that appears nowhere in the bible and is based on absolutely nothing.

  My grandmother was born in 1891 (she was in her mid 40s when she had my dad) and she died over 35 years ago. I was very young when she died, but I remember her. Now lets say I live for another 40 years which would bring us to the year 2050. By the WTS's "logic", a "generation" could now mean 160 years if you "overlap" it. That, of course, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and there is nothing to back up such a ridiculous theory. There is a reason it's referred to as "this generation". Jesus was referring to a group of people who were alive when he foretold his prophecy and who lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem. End of story.

  But because the Borg has invested so much into 1914 (and were not prepared for what they might do if events failed to unfold the way they foretold), they've been reduced to lame-brained, embarassing "noo lite" which gets crazier and more ridiculous every time they open their mouth.

  So sorry inbetween-----your theory as to 'how it could work' makes no sense.
• 

  Mad Sweeney

  1914 CLEARLY wasn't the beginning of SQUAT that is soon to end; whatever 1914 started, IT'S OVER. How many WWI veterans are still alive? Somewhere between 3 and 6, depending on how you count a veteran.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_veterans_of_World_War_I

  Yes, the word generation can be twisted into various different meanings but SO CAN ANY WORD.

  "What did Jesus mean when he said "this generation will by no means pass away?" Evidently Jesus was speaking of the anointed here when participating in the Memorial of his death. None of Christ's brothers would by ANY means "pass away" the plate or the cup without eating and drinking from it. By partaking of the emblems at the Memorial, this present day generation of anointed ones ensure their place in the Kingdom and in so doing, will literally never "pass away" as they are taken up to heaven "in the twinkling of an eye" to rule with Christ...blah blah blah, etc."

  See? It's so easy a caveman could do it. Just pick a word and screw around with it using the logic of Vizzini.
• 

  Room 215

  In general usage, what comes to mind when people refer to "The Greatest Generation," the "Baby Boomer Generation", "Gen X", etc. .... are these all overlapping or melding it one massive "generation" or do they connote a specificity to a group of people born, and likely to die, within a relatively short span?
• 

  transhuman68

  One of the strengths of the Witnesses in the past was that they could 'prove' everything they taught by using scriptures from the Bible. With this 'Nu-lite' of contemperaries of the annointed they are grasping at straws. How could you explain that to a bible study? I have just been reading the April 15 Watchtower, and it is pure comedy.
• 

  undercover

  I can appreciate your trying to wrap your brain around their logic so as to try to "debate" with any dubs willing to but you don't really need to. All you need to remember is what transhuman said:

  The "generation that would by no means pass away" has passed away. That's it. You can't change something as fundemental as that, and still have any credibility or integrity left. End of story.

  For 40 some years they plainly stated that the generation of 1914 would not pass away. They did not imply it, they didn't hint at it, they didn't leave any room to wiggle out of it. And now we know they were wrong...flat out wrong. There's no reason to try to reason on this new overlapping bullshit. What they promised failed to happen. The prophecy they pushed was false.

  Trying to reason on their new teaching is only giving them some credibility...as if to say that their new teaching is worthy of discussion or debate. It's like trying to understand how warp drive systems work on a Federation starship so you can debate Star Trek story lines with Trekkie nerds. You're arguing about fiction...fiction that has no basis in the real world. All it does is distract you from things that are real.
• 

  PSacramento

  It doesn't matter what a generation is because Jesus said THIS generation and that goes for the WT too, they said THE generation that will not pass away.

  You can't play loosey-goosey with things and NOT have it come to bite you in the ass.

  Jesus was either speaking about the fall of Jerusalem, which happened, or some other event that didn't happen, you choose.
• 

  Heaven

  Why the Watchtower feels the necessity to re-invent the definition of generation is beyond me (other than for control purposes... but it doesn't seem to be working in their favour). At any rate, below, is the definition of 'generation'. The ONLY possible correlation to what Christ was speaking about is number 4b. It has nothing to do with JWs specifically.

  gen·er·a·tionn. 1. All of the offspring that are at the same stage of descent from a common ancestor: Mother and daughters represent two generations. 2. Biology A form or stage in the life cycle of an organism: asexual generation of a fern. 3. The average interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring. 4.a. A group of individuals born and living about the same time. b. A group of generally contemporaneous individuals regarded as having common cultural or social characteristics and attitudes: "They're the television generation" (Roger Enrico). 5.a. A stage or period of sequential technological development and innovation. b. A class of objects derived from a preceding class: a new generation of computers. 6. The formation of a line or geometric figure by the movement of a point or line. 7. The act or process of generating; origination, production, or procreation.
• 

  sir82

  How about this for a definition of "generation":

  A group of contemporaries that experience the same events from roughly the same point of reference.

  "The generation that fought in World War II" for example, would have experienced the great depression as children, the effects of war as young adults, the postwar economic boom as middle-agers, etc.

  Of course their lives overlapped with people born in the 50's 60's & 70's. But in what sense could someone born in 1970 be considered of the "same generation" as that WWII vet? He experienced virtually nothing of what the vet did, despite a few years, or even a few decades, of overlap.

  And what experiences they did share would have been from a completely different point of reference. The younger guy experienced the Reagan years, for example, as a high schooler, while the WWII vet experienced them as a senior citizen.

  The society's definition is just desperate hand-waving and obfuscation.
• 

  sacolton

  PSacramento, the only problem with it being the generation of A.D. 70 because the fulfillment of Matthew 24:29-31 did not take place.

  29 “Immediately after the distress of those days

  “ ‘the sun will be darkened,

  and the moon will not give its light;

  the stars will fall from the sky,

  and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ c

  30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
• 

  man in black

  Generation teaching in a nutshell :

  Old version :

  1 + 1 = 2

  OK , I can stomach this.

  New revised belief :

  1 + 1 x 607 + 1914 - 70 x 1975 + AD 70 = 2

  Does not make sense

  You can't put a square peg in a round hole.