rather than just rely on the Watchtower's latest opinions..
Are you ready?
1) Please read this article:
www.americanvision.org/7618/exegetical-this-generation-matthew-24/
2) If you are offended by the article's title, read this page for an explanation of what the phrase means, then go back and read it:
www.gotquestions.org/kick-against-the-pricks.html
3) When you have finished reading the article, please read Matthew chapter 24.
www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/matthew/24/
Verses 1-3 tell you the context for what Jesus is about to tell his disciples.
Ask yourself:
* What are the disciples referring to in verse 1?
* What destruction did Jesus refer to in verse 2?
* What are 'these things' that the disciples ask about in verse 3? (Hint: The context shows that they must be asking about what Jesus said would happen in verse 2)
Benson Commentary
Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? —
These seem to be only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem..
the disciples supposing that when the destruction of Jerusalem should take place, then would be the coming of Christ and the end of the world.. or, the conclusion of the age, as συντελεια του αιωνος should rather be translated here, and often signifies. See especially Hebrews 9:36; and 1 Corinthians 10:11.
Accordingly, in the parallel place of Mark 13:4, their question is expressed thus, 'When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?'
And in that of Luke 21:7, 'When shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?'
The disciples therefore inquire concerning two things; 1st, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and, 2nd, the signs of it.
4) Please read Mark chapter 13.
www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/mark/13/
The wording in this account, verses 1-4, makes the context even more clear, in this parallel account of Matthew 24.
5) Please read Luke 21 (verse 5 onwards)
www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/luke/21/
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So, does the meaning of 'This Generation' now seem any clearer to you?
Take note of the context, the situation, who Jesus was talking to.
Let's just put on one side, for a moment, what the Governing Body has told you that the Bible says. Or what your parents have told you that it says.
Which meaning do you think has clear support within the Bible itself? (That is, after all, what you want to study.. what the Scriptures themselves actually say?)
Was 'this generation' that Jesus spoke of in Matthew, Mark, and Luke:
Two groups of people whose lives would overlap, almost two thousand years later.. an overlapping generation made up of people who are still, to this day, changing their minds on what Jesus meant by this simple statement?
Or was Jesus speaking to the people alive with Jesus back then, the people he was explaining these things to, and clearly directing every comment towards them?
Count the number of times in those scriptures I've mentioned, when Jesus uses the words 'You' or 'your'.
Put that Watchtower down, and read Gods Word. Look at the verses themselves. What is your conclusion? (I hope that you are not too afraid to think..)
I will leave you with these comments, if you wish to read them.
D. A. Carson (1984): “[This generation] can only with the greatest difficulty be made to mean anything other than the generation living when Jesus spoke.”
Jack P. Lewis (1976): “The meaning of generation (genea) is crucial to the interpretation of the entire chapter... Others have argued that genea means the final generation; that is, once the signs have started, all these happenings would transpire in one generation (cf. 23:36). But elsewhere in Matthew genea means the people alive at one time and usually at the time of Jesus (1:17; 11:16; 12:39,41,45; 23:36; Mark 8:38; Luke 11:50f.; 17:25), and it doubtlessly means the same here...
“Christ’s use of the words ‘immediately after’ [in Matthew 24:29] does not leave room for a long delay (2,000 years or more before his literal second coming occurs), neither does the explicit time-scale given in Matthew 24:34. The word ‘parousia’ does not occur in this section but is prominently reintroduced in the new paragraph which begins at Matthew 24:36, where its unknown time is contrasted with the clear statement that the events of this paragraph will take place within ‘this generation” (Matthew 24:36). This section is therefore in direct continuity with what has gone before, the account of the siege of Jerusalem. Here we reach its climax.
F. F. Bruce (1983): “The phrase ‘this generation’ is found too often on Jesus’ lips in this literal sense for us to suppose that it suddenly takes on a different meaning in the saying we are now examining. Moreover, if the generation of the end-time had been intended, ‘that generation’ would have been a more natural way of referring to it than ‘this generation'.
R. T. France (2007): “‘This generation’ has been used frequently in this gospel for Jesus’ contemporaries, especially in a context of God’s impending judgment; see 11:16; 12:39, 41–42, 45; 16:4; 17:17, and especially 23:36, where God’s judgment on ‘this generation’ leads up to Jesus’ first prediction of the devastation of the temple in 23:38.
Grant R. Osborne (2010): “‘[T]his generation’ (ἡ γενεὰ αὕτη) in the gospels always means the people of Jesus’ own time (Matthew 11:16; 12:41–42; 23:36) not, as some have proposed, the generation of the last days in history..
Even with all this evidence, there are still those who try their best to make “this generation” into any generation but the generation of Jesus’ day. They are “kicking against the exegetical pricks.”
www.americanvision.org/7618/exegetical-this-generation-matthew-24/