Recent mentions of "This Generation"

by Nosferatu 13 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Nosferatu

  I was just reading the thread "questions on the generation teaching", and someone mentioned the 1995 Watchtower article where is said this:

  Rather than provide a rule for measuring time, the term "generation" as used by Jesus refers principally to contemporary people of a certain historical period, with their identifying characteristics.

  What I'm wondering is, has the WTS mentioned the word "generation" since this article? Are they sticking to this explanation in any way, shape, or form? Or have they completely abandoned any description of the word "generation"? Is it now a completely abandoned scripture that is no longer mentioned?
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  Elsewhere

  Good questions... but judging by their definition of "generation" I'd say that that generation has long since passed away. Have you ever watched the old moves about the 1910's and1920's? I don't see anybody anywhere that are still like that. That entire culture, or generation, has passed away a long time ago. We are now in an entirely different world... or generation.
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  wannaexit

  I hear very little talk about the generation anymore. They still talk about the "composite sign" of the last days but never is the generation mentioned.

  Most Jw's haven't even noticed the change and those that have chalk it up to Jehovah's ever moving organization and new light.

  wannaexit
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  minimus

  Ask Blondie.
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  eyeslice

  I believe not.

  This generation isn't being spoken about any more.

  Neither is the UN being the image of the wild beast who will destroy all false religion.

  Neither is avoidance of blood being a safety measure (i.e. allow boold fractions from 'large pools of donors').

  Doctrinally, they are extremely weak - no theologians more (if ever there were any).

  eyeslice
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  ChristianObserver

  *** w97 6/1 p. 28 Questions From Readers ***

  Questions From Readers

  "The Watchtower" of November 1, 1995, focused on what Jesus said about "this generation," as we read at Matthew 24:34. Does this mean that there is some question about whether God?s Kingdom was set up in heaven in 1914?That discussion in The Watchtower offered no change at all in our fundamental teaching about 1914. Jesus set out the sign to mark his presence in Kingdom power. We have ample evidence that this sign has been in course of fulfillment since 1914. The facts about wars, famines, plagues, earthquakes, and other evidences bear out that since 1914, Jesus has been active as King of God?s Kingdom. This indicates that since then we have been in the conclusion of the system of things.

  What, then, was The Watchtower clarifying? Well, the key was the sense in which Jesus used the word "generation" at Matthew 24:34. That passage reads: "Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." What did Jesus mean by "generation," both in his day and in ours?

  Many scriptures confirm that Jesus did not use "generation" with regard to some small or distinct group, meaning only the Jewish leaders or only his loyal disciples. Rather, he used "generation" in condemning the masses of Jews who rejected him. Happily, though, individuals could do what the apostle Peter urged on the day of Pentecost, repent and "get saved from this crooked generation."?Acts 2:40.

  In that statement, Peter was clearly not being precise as to any fixed age or length of time, nor was he tying the "generation" to any certain date. He did not say that people should get saved from the generation that was born in the same year Jesus was or the generation that was born in 29 C.E. Peter was speaking about the unbelieving Jews of that period?some perhaps being rather young, others being older?who had been exposed to Jesus? teaching, had seen or heard of his miracles, and had not accepted him as Messiah.

  That evidently is how Peter understood Jesus? use of "generation" when he and three other apostles were with Jesus on the Mount of Olives. According to Jesus? prophetic statement, Jews of that period?basically, Jesus? contemporaries?were going to experience or hear of wars, earthquakes, famines, and other evidences that the end of the Jewish system was near. In fact, that generation did not pass before the end came in 70 C.E.?Matthew 24:3-14, 34.

  It must be acknowledged that we have not always taken Jesus? words in that sense. There is a tendency for imperfect humans to want to be specific about the date when the end will come. Recall that even the apostles sought more specifics, asking: "Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?"?Acts 1:6.

  With similar sincere intentions, God?s servants in modern times have tried to derive from what Jesus said about "generation" some clear time element calculated from 1914. For instance, one line of reasoning has been that a generation can be 70 or 80 years, made up of people old enough to grasp the significance of the first world war and other developments; thus we can calculate more or less how near the end is.

  However well-meaning such thinking was, did it comply with the advice Jesus went on to give? Jesus said: "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. . . . Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming."?Matthew 24:36-42.

  So the recent information in The Watchtower about "this generation" did not change our understanding of what occurred in 1914. But it did give us a clearer grasp of Jesus? use of the term "generation," helping us to see that his usage was no basis for calculating?counting from 1914?how close to the end we are.

  Does that help?
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  Elsewhere

  That evidently is how Peter understood Jesus? use of "generation"

  Ahhh yes.... EVIDENTLY that is how Peter understood this.

  Translation: They pulled that conclusion out of their a$$. They have absolutly NO biblical proof to back it up.

  Reference: Do not go beyond what is written.
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  Hunyadi

  These is the cop-outs the WTBTS has written since 1995:

  wt 1/1/00 p9 A Progressive Cleaning

  18

  As the years pass, Jehovah continues to give us further clarification of truth, including a clearer understanding of his prophetic word. (Proverbs 4:18) In recent years, we have been encouraged to look again with deeper understanding at?among other things?the generation that will not pass away before the end comes, the parable of the sheep and the goats, the disgusting thing and when it will stand in a holy place, the new covenant, the transfiguration, and the temple vision of the book of Ezekiel. It may be difficult at times to understand such updated explanations, but the reasons for them become clear in due course. If a Christian does not fully understand a new explanation of a scripture, he does well humbly to echo the words of the prophet Micah: "I will show a waiting attitude for the God of my salvation."?Micah 7:7.

  New Light, blah blah blah . . . if you don't understand the "updated explanations" just "wait", we will try to make some sense out of it ourselves and when we do we will get back to you . . .

  wt 1/15/00 p11 Ignoring God's Prophets

  8

  As the years passed, some Christians in Jerusalem may have wondered just when Jesus? prophecy was going to be fulfilled. After all, consider the sacrifices some of them had undoubtedly made. Perhaps they had turned down attractive business offers because of their determination to keep on the watch. As time wore on, did they grow weary? Did they conclude that they were wasting their time, reasoning that Jesus? words applied to a future generation, not to their own? In 66 C.E., Jesus? prophecy began to be fulfilled when the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem. Those who kept on the watch recognized the sign, fled the city, and were spared experiencing the desolating of Jerusalem.

  Ok, ok, so now the generation to see Jesus' words fulfilled might not even be the generation of 1914? I, and hundreds of thousands of others wasted our youth for what again???

  wt 5/1/99

  Another

  Fulfillment to Come

  15

  However, that was not the finale. Earlier, Jesus had indicated that after the city was devastated, he would come in Jehovah?s name. (Matthew 23:38, 39; 24:2) He then made this clearer in his prophecy uttered on the Mount of Olives. Having mentioned the coming "great tribulation," he said that afterward false Christs would appear, and Jerusalem would be trampled on by the nations for an extended period. (Matthew 24:21, 23-28; Luke 21:24) Could it be that another, a greater, fulfillment was to come? The facts answer yes. When we compare Revelation 6:2-8 (written after the tribulation on Jerusalem in 70 C.E.) with Matthew 24:6-8 and Luke 21:10, 11, we see that warfare, food shortages, and plague on a greater scale lay ahead. This greater fulfillment of Jesus? words has been occurring since World War I erupted in 1914.

  16

  For decades now, Jehovah?s Witnesses have taught that the current fulfillment of the sign proves that a "great tribulation" is yet to come. The present wicked "generation" will see that tribulation. It seems that there will again be an opening phase (an attack on all false religion), just as Gallus? attack in 66 C.E. opened the tribulation on Jerusalem. Then, after an interval of unspecified length, the end will come?destruction on a worldwide scale, paralleling that in 70 C.E.

  17

  Referring to the tribulation just ahead of us, Jesus said: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days [the destruction of false religion] the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."?Matthew 24:29, 30.

  18

  Hence, Jesus himself says that "after the tribulation of those days," celestial phenomena of some sort will occur. (Compare Joel 2:28-32; 3:15.) This will so startle and shock disobedient humans that they will "beat themselves in lamentation." Many will "become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth." But this will not be the case with true Christians! These ?will lift their heads up, because their deliverance is getting near.??Luke 21:25, 26, 28.

  wt 6/1/99 p6

  Especially since World War I, mankind has experienced appalling changes. It has seen the earth drenched with the blood of millions. Warfare, genocide, terrorism, crime, and lawlessness have erupted worldwide. Famine, disease, and immorality have stalked our globe. All the evidence indicates that we now live among that wicked generation of which Jesus said: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (Matthew 24:34) The world is now filling its "measure of sin." "The clusters of the vine of the earth" are becoming ripe for the harvest.

  Vague and wavering are the recent predictions and phophecies of the WTBTS.
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  bebu

  Especially since World War I, mankind has experienced appalling changes. It has seen the earth drenched with the blood of millions. Warfare, genocide, terrorism, crime, and lawlessness have erupted worldwide. Famine, disease, and immorality have stalked our globe. All the evidence indicates that we now live among that wicked generation of which Jesus said: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur."

  HOGWASH.

  Sorry; carry on.

  bebu
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  A Paduan

  As a whole statement - hogwash (you can baptise swine in it)

  But as for this - All the evidence indicates that we now live among that wicked generation

  That's so true, for them - those born (of spirit) to like parents of the pharisees in Jesus time - their mother was the 'org' as well - nurturing the seed of their father.

  Jesus said, "no sign shall be given to this generation", yet there He was, and performing miracles and wonders in that same time and place.

  You don't need be a rocket scientist to realise that generation is not something physical - it is about being born, of the spirit - Judas remained a child of his mother as well, but they did not have forgiveness for him in all things, but distanced themself from the sinner in fear ("see to that yourself").

  The good news is though that " everyone who leaves father or mother ...." - and that's another story about the org isn't it.