"This Generation" - What's wrong with this picture?

[JW Insider]

(Matthew 24:34) . . .Truly I say to you that this generation will by no means pass away until all these things happen.

(Matthew 24:1-3) . . .Now as Jesus was departing from the temple, his disciples approached to show him the buildings of the temple. 2 In response he said to them: “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, by no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.” 3 While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: “Tell us, when will these things be. . .

(Mark 13:1-4) . . .As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him: “Teacher, see! what wonderful stones and buildings!” 2 However, Jesus said to him: “Do you see these great buildings? By no means will a stone be left here upon a stone and not be thrown down.” 3 As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives with the temple in view, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately: 4 “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are to come to a conclusion?”

(Luke 21:5-7) 5 Later, when some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with fine stones and dedicated things, 6 he said: “As for these things that you now see, the days will come when not a stone will be left upon a stone and not be thrown down.” 7 Then they questioned him, saying: “Teacher, when will these things actually be, and what will be the sign when these things are to occur?”

 

 

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

WOW!

 

 

 

.... now what?

 

Finding Nemo - Now what_!.mp4

[Bubba Johnson Jr]

it is a fake

[Matthew9969]

You have to overlap your brain to believe this o.l.g. nonsense.

 

[John Houston]

Where is that picture found? So much time and effort is taken to discredit the explanation about the generation of our time and how the slave has botch it over and over again. It truly is quite simple when one uses common sense. Jesus spoke to his disciples about the things that would occur, would they indeed speak to others would be anointed? In 40 CE? 50 CE? Even in 60CE? These would be contemporaries of the apostles still alive. There are anointe who KNOW about 1914 today still alive. Ones are still being chosen by Jehovah, the sealing is not complete. We confuse that there is a 'remnant' here on earth as if the number needed has been completeted. That is not true. Jehovah is choosing and since ones could still fall away, the number needed will never be complete until they are called before Armageddon. The complete number which is spoken of only twice in scripture is when they are in heaven, never while any are still on earth. We gave that confusion. Only 144000, that's all. Not some herr and some there. We don't know how many are here. Jehovah are still choosing some to rule with his Son. It did not stop at 1935. It only began at 33 CE.  That is what scripture teaches!

[JW Insider]

28 minutes ago, John Houston said:

Where is that picture found?

The "God's Kingdom Rules" book. From the chart on page 12. Of course, the actual chart only shows the following portion:

I added the 33 C.E. to 70 C.E. portion to begin a discussion on the topic.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

 

 

One day while out in Service with probably the smartest, most well educated Brother and Elder I have ever met .... he was driving, I was shotgun, and there were two in the back seat ... I mentioned to him that even though I had tried to understand it, I just could not understand the "Overlapping Generations" explanation ... and I asked him if he understood it, and could explain it to me..

He got real quiet, thought for about 15 seconds and said "I think they are trying to do the best they can ...."

I have talked to several Elders, asking about that, and NONE could give me an explanation, and did not even want to talk about it ... and I did not push it any further.

It makes no sense whatsoever .... it's almost like a test, to see if they can say the sky is bright red, filled with flying elephants, and see if everybody will believe it.

AND BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE IT, THEY ALSO WILL SEE IT!

I realize they are grasping at straws, trying to defend the totally indefensible .... that they were 100% wrong for over a hundred years ... but do they so transparently have to publicly play all of us for complete delusional fools?

 

 

[Evacuated]

6 hours ago, JW Insider said:

I added the 33 C.E. to 70 C.E. portion to begin a discussion on the topic.

Do you think Timothy was part of that "generation"? Or Eutychus?

[Anna]

6 hours ago, JW Insider said:

portion to begin a discussion on the topic

I don't know, is there anything to discuss? All I know is my experience has been similar to that of JTR. The friends I talked with find it quite unimportant. It still baffles me why this subject (in broadcasting) was even raised. It seems odd that Br. Splane didn't begin the topic with something like "many of our friends have been wondering what Jesus's generation really means" OR "we have received letters asking about the generation" which he surely would have done had it been the case. It would have been the perfect introduction to start this subject.  Is it possible that no one really wondered about it? Then why bother trying to speculate on the matter if it isn't crystal clear already? It makes me wonder whether this isn't a little carrot on the end of a stick....

[Evacuated]

13 minutes ago, Anna said:

It makes me wonder whether this isn't a little carrot on the end of a stick....

To what end? And if the donkey doesn't see the carrot..................?

Or maybe less facetiously, are you saying this is an illustration to placate "end of this system" oriented Christians to keep plodding on? How many of them do you think there are?

[Anna]

35 minutes ago, Outta Here said:

are you saying this is an illustration to placate "end of this system" oriented Christians to keep plodding on? How many of them do you think there are?

Yes, I could be wrong, but it does seem like that to me. Not sure what you mean by your second question, about how many do I think there are....that need placating? 

I don't think we need placating to keep plodding on. And I think it can be dangerous to do it this way, and could back fire!

[JW Insider]

•                         33CE            70CE
•   [ Great-Grand Parents ]                         
•          [  Grand-Parents        ]        
•                  [     Parents         ]   
•                          [   "This Generation"  ]
•                                  [        Children     ]
•                                        [     Grand-Children   ]
•                                                [ Great-Grand-Children ]

In 33 CE, it's easy to assume that Jesus addressed people from 15 to 55, with younger exceptions and older exceptions. But it seems likely that only persons in a 30-to-40-year range of ages could reasonably identify themselves with the generation he was addressing. More specifically we know that Jesus was primarily addressing his own apostles, assumed to be men of his own age group, as if his own "brothers" in the same generation.

We know from the context of Exodus 1:6 that the term generation was often used in a sense similar to the chart above, where a person along with his brothers (and sisters) constituted a typical generation. (The LXX translates the Hebrew word in Exodus 1:6 the same as Matthew's Greek term for generation.)

• (Exodus 1:1-6) . . .Now these are the names of Israel’s [Jacob's] sons who came into Egypt with Jacob, each man who came with his household: 2 Reuʹben, Simʹe·on, Leʹvi, and Judah; 3 Isʹsa·char, Zebʹu·lun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphʹta·li; Gad and Ashʹer. 5 And all those who were born to Jacob were 70 people, but Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Joseph eventually died, and also all his brothers and all that generation.

In fact, we know that this is exactly how generation had just been used just a few verses earlier in the final verses of Genesis.

• 23 Joseph saw the third generation of Eʹphra·im’s sons, also the sons of Maʹchir, Ma·nasʹseh’s son. They were born upon Joseph’s knees. 24 At length Joseph said to his brothers: “I am dying, but God will without fail turn his attention to you, and he will certainly bring you up out of this land to the land about which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 So Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying: “God will without fail turn his attention to you. You must take my bones up out of here.” 26 And Joseph died at the age of 110, and they had him embalmed, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

So, "that generation" in Exodus 1:6 refers to the generation of Joseph's brothers. It does not include his father Jacob's generation, nor his own sons Ephraim and Manasseh, nor their sons or grandsons (the third generation). I notice that Brother Splane (who refers to Exodus 1:6) would never refer to these verses that lead up to it. But even on its own, Exodus 1 already makes clear that this is one generation of brothers, and that you don't include someone's children and grandchildren and great grandchildren in that same generation.

If a typical lifespan in Jesus' day was 60 years, then just like now, people would sometimes live long enough to see, not just their grandchildren, but also their great-grandchildren. Joseph lived to be nearly twice that age, and would therefore potentially see a third or even fourth generation. But the fourth generation is not the same as the first generation.

It's also the way Matthew uses the term generation:

(Matthew 1:17) 17 All the generations, then, from Abraham until David were 14 generations; from David until the deportation to Babylon, 14 generations; from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ, 14 generations.

And it's the way we today use the term generation:

*** w98 9/1 p. 28 I Learned to Rely on Jehovah ***
My health is no longer very good, so the brothers drive me to the Kingdom Hall. I find pleasure in being there and enjoy giving comments at the Watchtower Study. I am especially happy to see representatives of three generations of my family serving Jehovah, including several of the grandchildren.