"Overlapping generation" explanation - TRANSCRIBED EXTRACT from Friday's talk (DC 2011-12) (page 7)

truthlover

Donny:

where can I find the info about 1874...

and where they recognized Jesus came in 1914 - that it wasn't recognized until the early 1940's??

Thanks

traveb

I know a lot of JW's were happy with it but did it make sense to you? How so?

Well to clarify, I wasn't trying to say that it made complete sense, but it seemed more logical then how generation is defined now. I'm referring specifically to how generation used to be defined as a group of contemporary people who live during a certain period of time. Basically, they got away from linking "this generation" to 1914 which removed a sense of urgency from many JW's which was the point I was trying to make.

Now, they have this new overlap theory which is designed to whip people into a frenzy again. Pre-1995, the thinking was, "Oh wow, look at how old the annointed generation is. The end can come at any time!" Now, the thinking is, "Oh wow, look at how old Group #2 of the annointed generation is. The end can come at any time!"

In the short term I think this will be good for the WTS, in that it will boost numbers. Perhaps they're hoping they can replicate the growth rates from the 80's and early 90's. It's my opinion that people secretly love being told dates, otherwise motivation dries up. Of course, once Phase #2 of the annointed all die off, then they'll have to backpedal yet again. But hey, that will be someone else's problem, right?

AnnOMaly

where can I find the info about 1874...

There are a few places.

You can try HERE (flip to p. 30 and read from there; and then I'm sure you'll want to read the whole article!), and THIS SITE will give you ample quotes.

and where they recognized Jesus came in 1914 - that it wasn't recognized until the early 1940's??

1874 as the year Jesus became invisibly present was officially and completely dead when the 1943 book The Truth Shall Make You Free came out with its revised chronology.

TD

One thing that continues to floor me about these adjustments to the interpretation of Matthew 24:34 is how active JW's can fail to realize that other teachings are tied to the pre-95 understanding.

Take the "Great Crowd" doctrine for example. In JW theology, John didn't see a group of people hoping to survive. He saw a group of people that already had survived. They're waving palm branches and praising God and the Lamb for their salvation. Right?

Therefore the most you could possibly say about anyone on this side of the Great Tribulation is that they're a "prospective" member of the Great Crowd. But since you have absolutely, positively zero prospect of surviving an event that you will never live to see, you can't even be a prospective member of the "Great Crowd" if the end does not occur in your lifetime. Right?

Hasn't JW literature openly stated as much?

"God's infallible Word depicts this group as 'coming out of the great tribulation,' being survivors of it, living right on into God's New Order without ever having to die. The early members of this group are now in their 60's or 70's or older. Jehovah did not allow the ingathering of this group to begin too soon." (Survival Into A New Earth p. 185)

Or take Ezekiel's man with the "Secretary's Inkhorn" for example. Don't JW's teach that this man pictures the "Anointed Remnant" who mark the "Great Crowd" for survival? Why would you mark people for survival if they're going to die long before the event they're marked to survive? What's the point?

The chronological understanding of a Generation still permeates JW theology through and through. The whole concept of the preaching work is based on it. What in the bloody hell would be the point of warning people about an event they will never live to see? For that matter, what would be the point in even becoming a JW?

A JW could say that "Nobody knows that day and hour" but surely God who is ostensibly directing the preaching work does. (?)

How can active JW's not see this? Are they really that blind?

MrFreeze

Hey if you say something enough it becomes true.

DagothUr

We might think of it this way. While we were in school, we were contemporaries with children of other ages who were also going through school. Even though our ages differed, we were collectively known as 'school age children.' We were all part of the same generation of students. Obviously the older ones finished their course, even while the younger ones were just starting out.

This is a stupid ilustration. They compare an 8th grade pupil and a 1st grader (7 years is the max difference) with an old person who was born before 1914 and a child that was born when the old person was 90 years old, for example (difference is 90 years). And they say they are the same generation because they "overlapped"! I'm the same generation as my grandpa because he was not yet dead when I was born! This is outrageous!

I was contemporary with grandpa's death, but not with him. He was born in 1922 and fought in WW2, 40 years before I was born.

AnnOMaly

Right on the nail, TD!

By the by, the whole 'great crowd of other sheep' doctrine that came about in 1935 also (partly) relies on the now obsolete understanding about Jesus sitting down on his Judgment Throne in 1918 to separate the sheep from the goats.

Mary

The bottom line is, no matter how they try to dust it off, fill it with formaldehyde and prop it up on a pedestal, their excuses and interpretations about what Jesus meant by "this generation" are getting more pathetic and embarassing all the time. There is absolutey no scriptural evidence whatsoever that Jesus was referring to 'two generations' that overlapped. When he told his disciples that "this generation will not pass away", he was speaking to those who were alive at the time and who would be around when Jerusalem was sacked by the Romans 40 years later, end of story.

Ask any Witness to show some scriptural evidence of an 'overlapping generation' and watch what happens.

Ding

@Truthlover,

Check out www.jwfacts.org.

@TD,

How can active JW's not see this? Are they really that blind?

Sadly, yes.

"Overlapping generation" explanation - TRANSCRIBED EXTRACT from Friday's talk (DC 2011-12)

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