As for speculation, a lot of the elders and ms-es I was around engaged in a lot of it. They'd be like, "Yeah, this is probably speculation, but..." and then go on with their speculations as if that made it ok.
The WT at times encourages sincere questions, at other times discourages speculation and doubts, at yet other times doubts are ok, but go to the elders to discuss them. What a bunch of flip-flopping confusion.