A Baker's Baker's Dozen--Approximately

One of the other major beliefs of JWs is that only a select few are going to heaven, and everyone else stays here on Earth which will then be transformed into a Paradise. Not as cool as having your own planet. But it appealed to people like my mother, who thinks it's going to be cool to walk the earth forever and learn the names of every plant and animal. La-di-da. Whatever.

The other people going up to heaven number exactly 144,000. They take that literally from a scripture in Revelation. They read everything else as symbollic but that. Contradiction, thy name is Jehovah. If someone screws up and "falls away," someone else takes their place. People like the Apostles in the Bible are in this number. "Magic Bean" I-got-my-pyramid-doctrine-from-Satan Russell is in this number. But the count doesn't start until after Jesus died. So Abraham & Moses and those folks are out. Stuck here on Earth. My mother can't wait to meet them.

These people are set to go to heaven right after or during Armageddon. So the timing of this event is naturally pretty important to those who are privileged like this. What hinges it all for them is the portion of the scripture in Matthew 24:34 that says, "This generation shall not pass away until all these things have happened." In other words, they'll be around to see it. How they get to heaven if they live through Armageddon is undetermined, because JW's do not believe in the rapture--although I can't think of another logical (snort) way the living would rise to heaven.

So first, these folks are going up during the year 1914, according to the 1908 book Thy Kingdom Come, volume 1:

That the deliverance of the saints must take place some time before 1914 is manifest, since the deliverance of fleshly Israel, as we shall see, is appointed to take place at that time, and the angry nations will then be authoritatively commanded to be still, and will be made to recognize the power of Jehovah's Anointed.

So now, the old codgers who lived past World War I have to wait a bit. But they don't give up! From a 1922 WatchTower:

The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914.

But in Volume 3 of Thy Kingdom Come (which hasn't yet), coming out inconveniently in 1937, it says this:

That the deliverance of the saints will take place some time after 1914 is manifest, since the deliverance of fleshly Israel, as we shall see, is appointed to take place thereafter, and the angry nations will then be authoritatively commanded to be still, and will be made to recognize the power of Jehovah's Anointed.

Two words have been changed. I dare you to find them. I'll even give you a hint: it's the same word twice! Some thought that maybe Jesus was being figurative with the use of the word "generation." But the Society put a swift end to that thought in a 1962 Awake magazine:

The "generation" of Matthew 24:34 includes persons alive at the time that the war in heaven began in 1914. All who were living or who came on the scene around that time are part of that generation. Members of that generation will see the end of this world.

My grandmother was born in 1914. She would've been around 48 years old when that magazine came out. But that doesn't count. At least not yet. The caveat established by the JW's in 1968 was as follows:

Jesus had just referred to persons who would "see all these things." "These things" are the events that have taken place since 1914 and those yet to occur down to the end of this wicked system. (Matthew 24:33) Persons born even as much as fifty years ago could not see "all these things." They came on the scene after the foretold events were already under way. But there are people still living who were alive in 1914 and saw what was happening then and who were old enough that they still remember those events. This generation is getting up in years now.

Sorry, grammy, that ain't you.

We-ell, around 1995, when my Grandma would've been around 81 years old, and logically (perish the word!) the "generation" is even older than her and have probably all kicked the bucket by now, the JW's have to replace some of the bulbs in their philosophy. You've got it: brighter light.

Eager to see the end of this evil system, Jehovah's people have at times speculated about the time when the "great tribulation" would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914. However, we "bring a heart of wisdom in," not by speculating about how many years or days make up a generation, but by thinking about how we "count our days" in bringing joyful praise to Jehovah. (Psalm 90:12) 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.

A complete 180 degree turn. How interesting. So you should probably convert now. Who knows--you may still be able to get in on that "generation" stuff! What? You're not convinced yet? Well, stay tuned...more to come.

--Virgil