Hi Rick,
You said:
Do they REALLY believe in Armaggeddon?
I thought I would kick of my prescence here by starting a thread!
Do the Governing Body really believe that Armaggeddon is just around the corner? The r&f will accept any old rubbish the Watchtower prints, but at the very top of the org, are they really convinced in their belief that the end is coming?
I think some of them are but some aren’t. They have used their life to perpetuate and maintain the monster, the organization that was built by Rutherford and refined by Knorr. Already with Rutherford, it was the survival and well being of the Watchtower organization that became their Raison D’être. As soon as that’ is established, the leaders of such organisations do whatever they have to do to serve and protect it. That is in my opinion the reason we see such things as the cover up of child abuse and all such matter, everything is done to protect the Watchtower organization. No evil deed, no subterfuge is too much in order to protect and care for that organization.
I’m interested in all your views on this but allow me to elucidate my thinking.
The most recent example of a date “going wrong” was the 1975 farce. The r&f swallowed the reasoning without a seconds hesitation that the end was coming that year. But I wonder what the thoughts of the GB were in the mid 60’s when the information came out. Did they truly think this was “new light” as revealed by God or did they rub their collective hands in anticipation of a decade worth of hysteria ahead which would rake in millions in book and magazine sales. IMO I think the latter.
The driving force behind the 1975 fiasco was Fred Franz, he had lived through the organization in the shadow of Rutherford and had been “brought up” with Rutherford’s insane approach to the Bible, so it was only natural for him to come up with some insane drivel as the 1975 date. Of course this caught on and the frenzy gained such a momentum that the few critical voices was drowned completely. Some of them believed it but some didn’t, but who could argue with success? The literature was flowing out and the suckers kept pouring in, in larger numbers then ever before, the “snake oil” business was booming.
Ray Franz documents clearly in “Crisis of Conscience” the disagreement in the GB in the 70’s regarding time prophecies particularly 1975 and “the far more fundamental date of 1914”. So clearly if the absolute top of the org. do not even believe in their own doctrine how much longer do they think the r&f will last until they realise it’s a sham.
As far as I can remember Knorr privately aired his doubts about 1914, but he didn’t do anything about it. Others apparently believe in the date and still do.
Those who don’t believe in the 1914 date seem to cling to the ludicrous idea that despite its faults and shortcomings it is still Jehovah’s organization. The “theology” of the Watchtower Society has always been a jumbled mess, today it is worse than ever before, what with the end of the “1914 generation”. Which was their last fixed measuring “device” for the arrival of the “end”.
Therefore IMO the Governing Body not only don’t really believe that Armaggeddon is coming but are conciously aware of the fact. Furthermore they realise the absolute importance of keeping Armaggeddon as a carrot dangling in front of the ordinary JW’s to prevent the steady stream of people leaving becoming a major flood.
I think some of them still hope for Armageddon to come soon. It is extremely difficult for an organization which have built their very existence on shouting “wolf” and ranting incessantly about “having a sense of urgency” and such senseless drivel, to stop it. It will take a long time for them to sort things out and set a new course. They lost their carrot with the 1914 generation, all that is left now is the stick and the numbingly stupid shouting, “the end is near”.
Which brings me to another point, will the GB have to set another tentative date in the (relatively) near future as the likely start for “the end”? It seems to me either they must or the entire faith will fall apart within a couple of decades.
So do they really believe in it? What do you think? Rick
I doubt very much that they will risk any new date setting. The information about their totally hopeless “chronology” has reached a staggering amount on the Internet.
Their history in this particular case is extremely embarrassing. The Watchtower Society has always tried to “eat their cake and keep it”. So they will have to make a system where they can maintain the end time frenzy without committing themselves to a new date. As we can observe, they haven’t had any success so far. When Fred Franz died, their last “visionary” was gone, after that they have hardly turned out any “new” literature at all. It is mostly recycled and whitewashed cut and paste material from the past.
The organization is also plagued by an internal power struggle between the ossified hard liners and those who see the need for reform. All of them do however struggle under the yoke of this “larger then life” monster, the Watchtower organization, “Jehovah’s Organization”, which for all intent and purpose in reality is their evil and bloodthirsty God.
I think they will stagger on for many years to come, and I don’t know what the Watchtower Society will develop into. As long as there is such an endless supply of people so willing to accept almost anything no matter how ludicrous and superstitious on the mere say so of others, such entities and the Watchtower Society will continue to prosper and thrive in some form or another.
Norm.
