Before the change:
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prsection7p.27par.16God’sPurposeSoontoBeRealized*** 16
How long a time period would these last days prove to be? Jesus said regarding the era that would experience the "beginning of pangs of distress" from 1914 onward: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (Matthew 24:8, 34-36) Thus, all the features of the last days must take place within the lifetime of one generation, the generation of 1914. So some people who were alive in 1914 will still be alive when this system comes to its end. That generation of people is now very advanced in years, indicating that there is not much time left before God brings this present system of things to an end.
The official change:
***w9511/1p.14par.18SavedFroma"WickedGeneration"***
18
What, then, is the "generation" so frequently referred to by Jesus in the presence of his disciples? What did they understand by his words: "This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur"? Surely, Jesus was not departing from his established use of the term "this generation," which he consistently applied to the contemporary masses with their "blind guides" who together made up the Jewish nation. (Matthew 15:14) "This generation" experienced all the distress foretold by Jesus and then passed away in an unequaled "great tribulation" on Jerusalem.—Matthew 24:21, 34.
After the change:
***w976/1p.28QuestionsFromReaders***
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 TheWatchtower 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.
So for decades they were telling people that armegeddon would come before the people who were alive during 1914 died. Then they change in a few confusing and vauge paragraphs, and everyone forgot about it afterwards... it is not considered a false prophesy to them.
All you have to do is type in the term 'this generation will by no means pass away' in the watchtower library, and you'll see how long they kept on telling people that the end must be near because of that scripture, INCLUDING the reasoning book. Untill it started to become absurd to continue to believe it.
So it's my prediction that soon they will come out with a new reasoning book, and everyone will praise Jehovah and not even notice the change.
(By the way you can't prove that prediction wrong because by 'soon' I acctualy meant 'within the next 200 years')
