The August 1, 1997 issue of the Watchtower magazine contains an article entitled, "Serving Loyally With Jehovah's Organization". The obvious purpose of the article is to encourage JWs to remain loyal to the Watchtower Society, even when the facts may indicate that it has made some serious errors.
To alleviate doubts caused by recent changes in doctrine (i.e., the meaning of the term "generation," the timing of judgement of the sheep and goats, and it's view toward civilian service) the article assures JWs that the "faithful slave" has only helped them "refine their understanding."
Helped them refine their understanding? To accept this "refined understanding," the Society is essentially asking JWs to turn off their brains and ignore the facts. What facts? Let's look at a few related to "this generation":
o In 1968, the Society taught its followers that JWs who were 15 years old in 1914 would be alive when Armageddon occurred. (See the October 8, 1968 Awake!, p. 13.)
o In 1980, the Society changed the age from 15 to 10 to allow for five extra years for a "generation" that was quickly dying out. (See the October 15, 1980 Watchtower, p. 31.)
o In 1984, the Society changed its teaching again. Realizing the 1980 solution didn't solve the problem, the Society now included "babies of that generation." Witnesses were told that some "will by no means pass away until all these things occur." (See the May 15, 1984 Watchtower, p. 5.)
o In 1995, the Society finally took steps to solve a potentially big embarrassment. The term "this generation" was once again re-defined as "the peoples of earth who see the sign of Christ's presence but fail to mend their ways." (See the November 1, 1995 Watchtower, p. 19.) The Society had solved its long-standing problem; they were no longer burdened by a generation's life span.
Obviously, time was running out for the Society, and it needed a quick solution. The generation alive in 1914 was about to die out and "God's channel of truth" would soon be exposed. Sadly, when the new teaching about "this generation" was released, many JWs did just what they had done in previous years: they once again ignored the facts and blindly followed the Society's new teaching.
In Acts 17:11, the apostle Paul commended the Bereans for putting his statements to the test. He didn't accuse them of "independent thinking." Instead, he praised them for "examining" what he said against the Scriptures. He desired that they be firmly established in Scripture, so that they could "test everything" (1 Thess. 5:21). Paul also called on Christians to be loyal, but he insisted they be loyal to Jesus Christ, not to a man-made organization.