If the end is so near as the Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership claims (somehow they must have special insight), why are they building a movie studio that will be finished in 2026?
It’s not the first time something of this nature has happened in the Society’s history. In the late 20th century the Watchtower was proclaiming emphatically that the end was imminent, even commending the members for selling “their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service” whilst at the same time the Watchtower were expanding their printing facilities.
The excuse given was that even after Armageddon, the printing facilities would be needed in order to educate those who are resurrected during the 1,000 years reign of Christ.
I suspect that deep down, the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses doesn’t actually believe that the end is near, and additionally many rank and file Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe that it is near either.
The lack of confidence they hold in their prophetic speculations and eschatology is clearly visible. They have back-pedalled from previously proclaiming with certainty and complete self-assurance that the Kingdom would be here by the end of the last century, to the cautious and cagey manner in which they put forward their prophetic predictions today.
For example, the pre-1995 ‘Generation’ teaching was promoted with full conviction, and was even part of the study aid that Jehovah’s Witnesses used to teach new students and interested people. In those days it was considered a sure sign that the end was near. It was stated with no hint of doubt that the Generation of 1914 “WILL BY NO MEANS pass away” before the end came.
Contrast the confidence of those days to the lack of conviction JWs have in the latest ‘overlapping Generation’ doctrine. I don’t know one Jehovah’s Witness who actually fully believes the current understanding with the same level of conviction that the pre 1995 teaching was believed by members. Apologists now hedge their bets by describing the prophesy as a ‘speculation’. They then attempt to excuse themselves from fully endorsing the overlapping teaching by stating that they don’t claim to be inspired prophets.
The difference in the level of confidence in their convictions from the late 20th century to now is a result of the fact that they have finally been brought to account for all their hubristic prophetic claims of the past. Since the advent of the internet, Jehovah’s Witnesses are no longer in the position of being able to sweep their failed prophesies under the proverbial carpet unnoticed and unaccounted for.
Critics of the religion, who have observed the failure of the Watchtower’s past false predictions, are alert to recognise current falsifiable prophesies that fail, and they now have a platform on which to speak out and expose the falsehoods.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are no longer able to make end time predictions that have a finite timeline, so they are obliged to fall back into the ease of prophetic speculations which cannot be proved untrue, such as the open ended assertion that ‘the end is near’. This assertion can never be disproved and it can be used and abused to keep the faithful followers motivated. The nebulous, non specific nature of the speculation is used as a tool to create fear in anyone who has left the Organisation, manipulating their emotions to coerce them back ‘before it’s too late’.
However, even this open ended unfalsifiable prophetic assertion can be challenged. If we take Jehovah’s Witnesses at their word, i.e. that they are not prophets and have no direct communication with God, it follows that they have no basis on which to make the claim that the ‘end is near’. Even if they point to the bible verses to back up their assertion, they have proved time and again that they cannot justify any claim to have an understanding of bible prophesy.
Every speculation they have made has proved false, including the all-important ‘Gentile Times’ prophesy. As they are not prophets, Jehovah’s Witnesses have no way of knowing whether the Gentile Times prophesy currently believed is correct, especially in view of the fact that it was concocted over a decade after the previous failure. That allowed plenty of time during which a post hoc reinterpretation of the 1914 failure could be fabricated. But it’s important to note that the ‘Gentile Times’ prophesy at the heart of the Watchtower’s theology is pure speculation, even by their own admission. Their entire theological structure is founded on the Governing Body’s best guess as to what the bible says. They have no good evidence whatsoever.
This means that they are not an any position to make prophetic predictions at all. And yet the Governing Body regularly speaks out in their videos and publications with full authority about prophetic passages in the bible. They claim that ‘we are so close to the time of end’ as if they have esoteric knowledge, while at the same time covering their backs and giving themselves a get-out clause by claiming not to be inspired prophets. Such double talk.
‘What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence’. The Governing Body and their followers will no doubt continue with their prophetic scaremongering for as long as they need to, in order to keep their religion alive, because their beliefs alleviate the fear of their own mortality. This is what their religion boils down to... they so desperately need to maintain their addiction to the hope of everlasting life.
Undertaking the long term project of building these studios while simultaneously asserting the ‘end is near’ is the means by which they keep their false hopes and empty promises alive.