Did The Generation Change Silence Apostates?

Englishman

Here is a paragraph from the1997 August 1st.Watchtower re the “Generation change”:

"Recently, 'the faithful and discreet slave' has helped us to refine our understanding of the term 'generation' used at Matthew 24:34 and of the timing of the judgment of 'the sheep' and 'the goats' mentioned at Matthew 25:31-46, as well as of our view toward certain types of civilian service. No doubt some apostates would have been delighted if many of Jehovah's Witnesses had stuck rigidly to the previous understanding of such subjects and refused to progress. Nothing of the kind has happened. Why? Jehovah's people are loyal." –

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what is actually meant here? Why would apostates be delighted if no change was made? How does making this change stop apostates from feeling delight?

Surely, the abandonment of such a key tenet of Jehovah’s witnesses is far more likely to cause apostates to chuckle in delight at another amazing WT gaff?

Englishman.

Bring on the dancing girls!

garybuss

They are shadow boxing . . .

gb

Bodhisattva

Eman -

I seem to remember having the same reaction to this when it came out as I do now. It is meant to convey the thought, 'if you haven't accepted this change yet, then the terrorists win.'

Nothing terrorizes the rank and file more than the concept of apostates. While real apostates are sweet and cuddly, the apostates that the Society creates in the minds of Witnesses in recent years are fire-breathing demon-possessed maniacal lunatics.

To some 'apostates,' whether "this generation" means within one lifetime or sometime real soon is about as important as whether the fairies in your garden are wearing blue or green stockings. It is a debate about something completely artificial.

As you suggest, however, the change is beneficial to real 'apostates.' It is an in for criticizing the Society's ever-changing new light, a prime example that is hard to deny ever happened. And in fact it caused many of us here either to start questioning, or to justify our questioning, even if it was not the final cause of our leaving.

Bodhisattva

Justin

What they're getting at is that, if they had not changed on the generation, and as 1914 receded into the past and the generation died off, they would have been discredited. Of course, anyone who knows the story about JWs realizes they had to change the generation eventually - everyone was expecting them to change except their own R&F's!

Their "apostates" realize that this change is merely part of a larger picture - that their whole history has been a succession of false prophecies and date changes. The only thing that will satisfy "apostates" is if the WT stops claiming to have the authority to control the lives of its people.

Justin

gumby

Refuse to progress?
What they mean is......refuse to believe more crap, lies, wrong conclusions.
Refined understanding? How can something wrong be refined.
Refined makes something good, better dosen't it? Was their wrong understanding ever good?
And.....how can they say no one has been upset by all these false beliefs they had but rather they have stayed loyal? Thats a lie!
Thousand leave over these drastic changes. When they leave...then they are called apostates while those who stay are LOYAL.

Loyal to who? The FDS?

Yes ....that article was a winner!

DB

Gumby, I agree, it does appear indeed that the loyalty referred to hear is to the FDS, although they, of course, would have jws believe that the loyalty is to God.

And in the 5 yrs since that article was published, what has occured? The figures show decreases in many lands now. Many jws have been missing meetings on a regular basis. Many are still confused over the whole generation teaching in the first place and know that the "refinement" was simply a ruse to make the FDS appear progressive in its understanding of the Bible when indeed it was simply wrong, period. Many jws feel, I am sure, that in effect, the rug was pulled out under them, since they were taught for so many years to believe that the end would arrive within a certain time frame. They built their lives around such teachings, and then, oops! it turns out that "refinement" was needed.

Seeker

There are two general accusations "apostates" make against the Society, accusations that while different complement each other:

1. They need to make more changes (i.e. blood, child molestation)

2. They change too much (i.e. ever-wavering doctrines that contradict each other over time).

It is the latter general accusation that is being targeted in that article.

cornish

A fine example of diverting attention away from the the real problem,the article tries to paint the Society in such a flexible and reasonable light and portray dissenters as the opposite when in reality it was the Watchtower that was rigid and uncompromising in demanding its old understanding beyond dispute as truth and anyone who tried to be flexible in their understanding of the term generation would be summarly charged with apostacy for not sticking rigidly to the Watchtowers uncompomising stand,so now they are trying to claim credit for a dilema they put themselves in due to their own stubborn dogma and inflexibility in the first place,and they did not change because thet have had heart to a new flexible and progresive approach,but the simple fact that they had run out of time and the old understanding looked stupid as too much time had elapsed with the essential need to abandon a sinking ship.

RunningMan

Allow me to re-write the paragraph:

"Our previous understanding of the generation doctrine had gone so badly astray that it was painfully obvious to onlookers that we were idiots. If we had held on to it any longer, we would have looked even stupider. Quick, let's change the subject to apostates, so that you readers will associate mistakes with apostates! Yeah, that's right, it's their fault. And, since they're bad, we must be really good."

openminded

Runningman- excellent re-write. So true and yet so sad. om

Did The Generation Change Silence Apostates?

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