This Generation Will Not Pass Away:

[Overcomer]

Jesus talks about the destruction of the temple and signs of the end times in Matt. 24:1-35:

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?� he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.�

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,� they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?�

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.

9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.

22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

29 “Immediately after the distress of those days


“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Verse 34 has been the subject of many a debate. My questions are as follows:

What did Jesus mean when he said "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened?" Who is "this generation"?

[polonius]

It is not merely a 'tribulation so great'. It is a tribulation that has never occurred before and will never occur again.

I have to agree with Tam, Jesus seemed to have indicated the great tribulation would be some thing unprecedented. The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE was terrible but not the most terrible in human history.

JW

RESPONSE: Lets be more reality oriented about what Jesus was supposed to have said. The record is the New Testament. This is a collection of four writings written between 70 and 95 AD after Jesus death by non-witnesses who wrote to make converts.

And yet based on these fundamentalists claim to tell us what Jesus is supposed to have said including his second coming during the lifetime of some of those alive.

Hardly reliable historical evidence!

[shnarkle]

Could you tell me what Zechariah chapter 14 is referring to when it says, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee." Is this Armageddon or the parousia of 1914?

We JW believe Zechariah 14 is prophetic for our time and the "day" being spoken of symbolises the war of Armageddon (which is a future event we believe to be very close). So while certain features of the vision are being fulfilled today, the final destruction being fortold is we believe, yet ahead.

Are you prepared for that day? What I mean by being prepared is in being ready to keep Jehovah's Feast days again. Zechariah is clearly pointing out that those who don't will undergo a good smiting from Jehovah. Here's what he says:

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Notice that even the enemies of God's chosen people are to be smited for neglegting Jehovah's feast day

17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

So it would seem that when Jehovah finally decides to make his will known to all men rather than just his chosen people, he will make sure they know that to neglect his feast days will result in a good smiting, or as Paul or Moses puts it "curses".

It would seem that those who are already keeping Jehovah's feast days have a leg up so to speak, no? Doesn't it make sense that those who already love Jehovah would be the one's celebrating Jehovah's feast days; the one's Jehovah has called?

Jehovah's Feast Days show the grace, mercy, wisdom, and will of His plan of salvation, sanctification, and glorification which makes prophecy child's play for those who are able to receive the wonderful gift of his feast days. Those who don't tend to blunder along with guessing games and false prophecies, no?

[JehovahsWitness]

Could you tell me what Zechariah chapter 14 is referring to when it says, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee." Is this Armageddon or the parousia of 1914?

We JW believe Zechariah 14 is prophetic for our time and the "day" being spoken of symbolises the war of Armageddon (which is a future event we believe to be very close). So while certain features of the vision are being fulfilled today, the final destruction being fortold is we believe, yet ahead.

Are you prepared for that day?

Ah the big question... well, I can only say I am honestly doing my best. I count on His tender mercy for my shortcomings.


Regards,

JW

[shnarkle]

Could you tell me what Zechariah chapter 14 is referring to when it says, "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee." Is this Armageddon or the parousia of 1914?

We JW believe Zechariah 14 is prophetic for our time and the "day" being spoken of symbolises the war of Armageddon (which is a future event we believe to be very close). So while certain features of the vision are being fulfilled today, the final destruction being fortold is we believe, yet ahead.

Are you prepared for that day?

Ah the big question... well, I can only say I am honestly doing my best. I count on His tender mercy for my shortcomings.


Regards,

JW

Intentionally ignoring God's celebrations seems more like open defiant rebellion, no? It isn't like it's a burden as God never puts burdens on people. Evidently, those who rebel against God, but see the light will know enough to get with the program when God starts smiting them. Evidently that's what those who refuse have to look forward to.

[JehovahsWitness]

Intentionally ignoring God's celebrations seems more like open defiant rebellion, no?

Of course, which is why I would never do such a thing. Why do you ask? Do you intend to ignore God's celebrations?

[shnarkle]

Intentionally ignoring God's celebrations seems more like open defiant rebellion, no?

Of course, which is why I would never do such a thing.

Of course you would. Unless Jehovah's Witnesses aren't all in agreement, none keep any of Jehovah's Feast Days. In fact, I was told that all Jehovah's Witnesses are in perfect agreement. Then I was told that not only are none of the Feast Days or commandments that Jehovah prescribed for Israel and the foreign born alike (Exodus 12:49) are kept by Jehovah's Witnesses.

Why do you ask?

It seems like a pertinent question to ask those who may be concerned with Jehovah's will.

Do you intend to ignore God's celebrations?

None of them, but then I don't ascribe to the notion that Jehovah plays favorites or has in any way cast his chosen people away just because some were unfaithful. Their infidelity doesn't negate Jehovah's promises; at least that what Paul says, and he seems to know what he's talking about.

[JehovahsWitness]

Intentionally ignoring God's celebrations seems more like open defiant rebellion, no?

Of course, which is why I would never do such a thing.

Of course you would.

You are not in a position to tell me what I would or would not do. Kindly keep your opinions about how I live my life or what I would do in it to yourself. It might be an idea to return to the topic at hand.


Good day to you,

JW

[polonius]

JW posted:

It might be an idea to return to the topic at hand.

RESPONSE: OK. Lets do that.
Summarizing,

Jesus says he will return. He than says he will return during the lives of “some of those standing here.� He tells his apostles that if they spread his teaching in Israel, they will not have gone through all the towns before he returns. Jesus tells the High priest that he will see Jesus returning in glory evidently during is life time. In 1 Thessalonians Paul too says that Jesus will return during his generation.

But none of this has happened. Jesus was wrong.

[Checkpoint]

JW posted:

It might be an idea to return to the topic at hand.

RESPONSE: OK. Lets do that.
Summarizing,

Jesus says he will return. He than says he will return during the lives of “some of those standing here.� He tells his apostles that if they spread his teaching in Israel, they will not have gone through all the towns before he returns. Jesus tells the High priest that he will see Jesus returning in glory evidently during is life time. In 1 Thessalonians Paul too says that Jesus will return during his generation.

But none of this has happened. Jesus was wrong.

That is your chosen topic, and your take.

However the topic specified for this thread is: who is "this generation?"

[brunumb]

[Replying to post 385 by Checkpoint]

However the topic specified for this thread is: who is "this generation?"

Not to forget this part also:
What did Jesus mean when he said "this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened?"
If the anonymous author(s) attributing those words to Jesus meant anything other than what we understand as a normal generation I think they would have said so. The failure of this forecast has led to creative interpretation in order to somehow legitimise this great faux pas.