In large part the date speculation is a reflection of the origin of this religion. It’s a part of who they are. The question is like asking why Catholics continue to believe the Pope is the head of the church or why Mormons continue to believe there is another testament of Jesus Christ.
Charles T. Russell’s movement was heavily influenced by Adventist preachers such as John Aquila Brown and N.H. Barbour (whom he co-published a religious journal with). These men, in turn, were influenced by William Miller. All of these men fashioned their messages around the setting of dates. William Miller in particular achieved great fame by claiming Bible prophecy proved the end of the world would come in 1844. After 1844 came and went without anything happening, the “great disappointment,” other preachers continued Miller’s legacy by tweaking the dates here and there and claiming other “invisible” events had actually occurred.
Charles T. Russell emerged out of this tradition. His pet dates—1799, 1874, 1914—were all borrowed from post-Millerite preachers. Russell slowly severed his connection with Adventist leaders, but the spirit of William Miller remained strong in his ministry. Just as William Miller before him, Russell was able to reel in a great number of followers by claiming that the Bible proved that Armageddon would commence on a certain date. This time the selected year was 1914. This year came and went without any signs of Armageddon, and the same patter repeated itself. Russell’s followers adjusted his beliefs and claimed something invisible had happened that year. After Russell’s death, Joseph Rutherford was able to hang on to a chunk of Russell’s followers as he continued the tradition of date setting. In particular, he claimed great things would happen in 1925. Of course, this date was a disappointment as well. After Rutherford, Fred Franz continued the date-setting legacy well into the latter part of the 20th century. He was behind the 1975 debacle.
Date setting is a part of who the Jehovah’s Witnesses are. Now, that’s not to say they won’t eventually abandon this approach. In fact, they have been very cautious about setting dates ever since the 1975 fiasco. The tweaks to their eschatological structure since then have been to do away with firm dates, not to add any new ones. For instance, they did away with the literal approach to the “generation” that essentially meant that Armageddon would arrive not much later than 1994 (the literal 1914 generation would live to see Armageddon, a literal generation being 70 or 80 years; 80 years after 1914=1994). Most recently they did away with the 1935 date for the sealing of the anointed, opening the door for “new” anointed to pop up at any time. The year 1935 played a crucial role in their doctrine in terms of keeping Armageddon near. It was taught that there were no new anointed after 1935, only “replacements,” and there had to be at least some anointed on the Earth when Armageddon came, so Armageddon couldn’t be too far off.
It remains to be seen, however, whether the lack of any new dates is a result of a shift in JW leadership mindset or whether it reveals a lack of leadership. Personally, I think the governing body is gridlocked. Assuming the 2/3 arrangement Ray Franz talked about in Crisis of Conscience is still in effect, seven of the nine governing body members would have to agree to set any new dates or timetables. Since these men have been led to believe that Jehovah works through them to reveal truths to his people, the likelihood is that most of these men have their own personal pet doctrines that they’d like to push through the governing body. Anyone of those men would have to convince six of the other eight members to side with them to get any new timetables in place. Moreover, there is no one there in the tradition of Fred Franz (who was viewed as chief theologian during his time) to push through major doctrinal changes.
Date setting has been a key characteristic of Jehovah’s Witnesses for their entire history. It helped to cement the revolving door nature of the religion. Desperate people seeking relief from life’s troubles are reeled in as they set their sights on a certain date. The date comes to pass and nothing happens. Those people eventually become disappointed and leave, but an entirely new group of people has been recruited with sights set on an entirely new date, and the cycle repeats itself.
This is a pivotal time in JW history. The JWs must either re-interpret their prophetic framework again and start the cycle over anew, or go in a more mainstream direction. The only other choice is to do nothing and atrophy. They can’t continue to keep people within their oppressive system without a firm date for them to look forward to. Most people can live their lives under the JW system of sacrifice for a few years or decades at most until they burn out. Without a big date on the horizon to usher in Armageddon, their membership on their own will begin to relax their standards. Jehovah’s Witnesses will begin to tire out and become more and more lax about rigidly following the strict rules that are in place. Unfortunately for JW leadership, their current rule-by-committee system does not allow for much change. It encourages stagnation. The results are quite obvious. All we need to do is step foot in a kingdom hall and see row after row of disillusioned faces, kids rejecting their parents’ religion, and hypocritical tyrants basking in the glory of their leadership positions. Time will tell what the future holds in store for this sorry excuse for a religion.
