Expert: Andrew - 6/30/2006

Question
If the witnesses are spirit directed and represent God how come they have changed their understanding of 1914 so many times? Is their interpretation of 1914 a fallacy?Is it just a concocted thing?

Answer
Dear Zack,

I see what you mean. My personal belief is that organizations of men are not spirit directed any more than individual men are. So since we can each receive inspiration, we do not need an organization to receive spirit direction.

Of course such beliefs are personal, so mine are mine, and they may or may not resonate for you. It is not our place to convince each other of what is spiritually "right", because spirituality cannot be proven intellectually and it is misguided to try to do so.

The Witnesses, on the other hand, believe that individuals do not receive inspiration, and that God only works through organizations, and "directs" the organization, but when pressed for an answer about how God does so, they eventually admit He does not. It's a case of creating an environment of expectation without direct statements, so the official statement seems plausible, but the environment of expectation denies the official statement. Such a duality of mind is only possible with a great degree of mental gymnastics, but that's what cults are good at.

This teaching (that God only works through organizations) of course supports their efforts to control. But I don't think they control maliciously. I think they really believe what they teach, even at the highest levels of the organization; and that when they control and manipulate individuals, they really believe they are doing so for their own good.

It is all completely unnecessary (and turns out to be abusive); however, since God inspires individuals, not organizations.

All eschatological cults set dates for future events as a means of creating a sense of urgency and cohesiveness in their organizations. When there is a great cataclysm looming just around the corner, that is a very powerful motivator to keep people in line and motivate them to spread the organization's message.

However, since there is no special spirit direction upon such organizations, these prophesied dates have always come and gone without anything special happening. It has happened dozens of times with the Witnesses. These dozen or so failed prophetic dates which were once highlighted in their literature, are of course glossed over in later literature when the prophecy fails to come true.

The most reprehensible aspect of this is when a cult organization teaches a prophecy, then it fails to come true, then the cult blames the followership for misinterpreting the teaching, as if "we never really taught that" or blames the followership for not having enough faith, as in "now God has decided not to reward us because you have not been faithful enough". These are deceptive ways which cult organizations use to cover up their failures and maintain power over their flock.

I think Witness leadership does not do this maliciously, but feels the need to maintain power because they believe they are helping their flock stay on the straight and narrow road leading to life; and if their teachings were to be proven wrong (even if they really were wrong), knowing that could damage the faith of the followership, thereby threatening their eternal life. So through a convoluted way of thinking, I think the Witness leadership actually believes they are doing the right thing. Again, the ethic that the end justifies the means comes into play.

I think even the highest levels of Witness leadership suffer from cult mind control. I don't think there is any board of directors who sits fully aware of the research about how cult mind control works, deciding maliciously how to implement the tactics for personal gain. Rather, I think cults evolve organically. Over time, through trial and error, they find what works. Since there is only one orchestrated system which works to control minds, they all end up implementing the same orchestrated system of tactics; not because they went to cult-leader school in advance and set out to build an empire, but because through trial and error they all eventually stumbled upon the tactics that work and gradually refined their policies over time to exploit those tactics because they themselves believe they are doing the right thing.

After making dozens of prophesies, the law of averages suggests that sooner or later, something significant will happen that will seem to fulfill a prophecy. The Witnesses have always played up 1914 as an important year because it was the year they got lucky with their prophecies. They had predicted some 40 years earlier that something great would happen in 1914, and sure enough, it was the start of World War I.

Of course, in Witness teaching, it was supposed to be Armageddon and rapture and so on, not just a great war that the majority would survive. So they did have to retrospectively change the nature of their prediction; but since it was the year they got lucky, they have maintained that one as a marked year in their idealogy, becaue the dozens of other prophecies they made over the past 132 years all fell flat.

After 1914, when it did not turn out to be the end of the world, they modified their timeline, and then began to teach that 1914 was the "beginning" of the end. This way their prophecy could still be framed as correct, and their credibility and authority could be preserved.

For most of the mid-20th century, they taught that the people who were alive to observe and old enough to understand "the events of 1914" (meaning people who were about 12 years old or more in 1914, therefore born about 1902) would live to see Armageddon. That is, that Armageddon would come within the physical lifetime of these individuals. This made the prophecy finite and measurable, even though they did not mention a specific endpoint year.

Well about 1995, those people were either dead or 93 years of age or more. This meant that in the real world, "the generation who saw the events of 1914" had either died out or were almost completely gone, since few people live to the age of 93.

So in that year, 1995, quite predictably, when it was becoming more and more apparent that that latest prophecy had failed, the Witnesses changed their teaching to protect their credibility and authority. This time, they redefined the meaning of the word "generation". Now they say a generation does not mean a literal human lifespan after all, but a more ambiguous period of time, still akin to a human lifespan, which means Armageddon is still imminent. It will always be just around the corner for the Witnesses. That is how it has been for 132 years and counting.

As in previous cases, in 1995, they did blame the followership for having developed a mistaken expectation, even though that mistaken expectation was the direct result of a mistaken teaching. This was one of the great doubts that eventually lead to my escape from this cult.

I remember sinking down in my seat at the Kingdom Hall one Sunday in 1995, upon hearing their redefinition of the word "generation" and thinking to myself, "Oh my God, you've got to be kidding!" I might have even said it quietly so people around me could hear, not sure. I was SO disgusted.

Up until that moment, I believed in the truthfulness of the organization. I believed that one of the things that made the organization special is that the leaders were self-effacing like Moses; in other words that they would rather admit their own failings and make themselves look bad than dishonor God. To me, this was an indicator of how their claim to represent God was legitimate.

However, when I found out first hand in 1995 how they cover up their mistakes when their prophecies fail, I no longer believed the leaders were self-effacing like Moses. It took a couple of years after that before I actually ceased attending meetings, but this was one of the key doubts leading up to my escape.

If you ask a Witness why they think 1914 was special in bible prophecy, they will get out charts and read verses and think they proved their point solidly.

But for people who are still able to use their natural critical thinking faculties, it is fair to ask what you asked: "Is their 1914 prophecy just a concocted thing?" Yes, I think that's a fair assessment.

Best wishes,
Andrew