One elder mentioned something to me. Wants to quit his job and start pioneering. He has a lot of book smarts - but sometimes not very strong in the common sense department. He mentioned October 2014 and the 100 year anniversary. I said "what's significant about 100 years? What is the biblical significance of a hundred?" He said "there's no Biblical significance, but men like the number."
I haven't talked to any other Witnesses so I don't know what they're thinking.
LennaB: People have been saying these things since 1960? This amazes me that the older ones don't know better by now
I am amazed, too, that older ones aren't at least questioning/doubting a little bit. I have often told my wife that I'd love to talk to some of the smarter old-timers who were around when I was young - the ones who were excited about 1975 and the old generation doctrine. Problem is that all but two are dead, and I don't live in the area anymore. There are zero smart old-timers in any of the congregations in my area; in fact, I can't think of a single one in the whole circuit.
The org benefits by the fact that generations of JWs die off and take certain knowledge with them - knowledge that current JWs are largely unaware of. And now with most of the info coming from JW.ORG, the org can erase mistakes and other embarassing stuff. New converts will know nothing of 1975, the old generation doctrines, etc. The org is trying to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Just think, a twenty-year-old who was baptized this year was one year old in 1995 when the first big generation doctrine change came. That twenty-year-old would know nothing of all the hype about the generation supposedly reaching its limit in 1994. That twenty-year-old would know nothing about the 1975 hype unless he talked with some who were around at the time, and most of them have either left or are brain-dead zombies.
