I think we can be fairly certain that the governing body do not read any of the letters that are addressed to them. Nobody has anything to say that they could be in the least bit interested in. They don't care for fawning praise, or deep gratitude; they are not interested in insightful observations on the scriptures, and they certainly couldn't care less about the views of any disillusioned congregation members.
I am quite convinced that there must be a bank of secretaries who are charged solely with the task of opening and scanning any and all correspondence. They are, of course, primarily looking for donations, with a secondary interest in requests for literature or a bible study. The merest hint of anything which could in any way be considered contrarian, let alone outright "apostate," and the letter will be fed directly in to the shredder.
E-mail will fare no better. Any message containing blacklisted terms such as, "Russell," "Rutherford," "Watchtower," "Awake!" "1925," "1975," will be flagged and filtered through to the trash and deleted post-haste.
There was a time when I still harboured the dying embers of hope that a passionately worded missive might find its way to a compassionate member of the governing body...
Not bleedin' likely.
All the same, this is what I wrote:
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Dear Brothers,
Genesis Chapter 3 speaks of the human condition. In his book, The Old Testament In Dialogue With Modern Man, James D. Smart describes it as, “a marvelously accurate picture of how evil finds its way into human life. The trouble begins with a questioning of God’s commands. The voice of the serpent asks whether the limitation on man’s freedom, the line that God has drawn, should be taken quite so seriously as it is.”
For keenly interested bible students, one question is, “Is it really so that God said to you, ‘It does not belong to you to get to know times or seasons which the father has placed in his own jurisdiction?’”
In the section under “False Prophets”, the book Reasoning From The Scriptures makes reference to “wrong expectations” and “mistakes” without giving any explanation as to what these have been.
When faced with the question, “Is it really so that God said to you, ‘It does not belong to you to get to know times or seasons which the father has placed in his own jurisdiction?’” it is a matter of public record how the Watchtower Society reasoned. Although the scriptural reference is different, the sentiment and intention remain the same:
One thing is absolutely certain, Bible chronology reinforced with fulfilled Bible prophecy shows that six thousand years of man’s existence will soon be up, yes, within this generation! (Matt. 24:34) This is, therefore, no time to be indifferent and complacent. This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that “concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matt. 24:36) To the contrary, it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end. Make no mistake, it is sufficient that the Father himself knows both the “day and hour”! (wt68 500)
When 1975 came and went, God’s voice asked, “What is this you have done?” The reply amounted to, “We didn’t do anything, they read too much into it.”
It may be that some who have been serving God have planned their lives according to a mistaken view of just what was to happen on a certain date or in a certain year. They may have, for this reason, put off or neglected things that they otherwise would have cared for. But they have missed the point of the Bible’s warnings concerning the end of this system of things, thinking that Bible chronology reveals the specific date. (wt76 440)
And, when some left, disillusioned by the record of “mistakes” and “wrong expectations” they were roundly slandered, labeled, accused among many other things of having a “lack of faith”, a “spirit of independence”, of showing “ingratitude and presumption.” (wt80 8/1 Remain Solid In The Faith) Here is Cain retorting, “Am I my brother's keeper?”
One can only guess how Joseph Rutherford reasoned on the question, “Is it really so that God said to you, ‘It does not belong to you to get to know times or seasons which the father has placed in his own jurisdiction?'” Perhaps he was only following the lead set by Charles Taze Russell. When speculating on the “translation or change from the natural to the spiritual condition, due this side or by the fall of our year 1881,” in Zion’s Watch Tower of January 1881, page 180, Russell concluded, “Aside from any direct proof that our change is near, the fact that the manner of the change can now be understood is evidence that we are near the time of the change, for truth is ‘meat in due season’, and understood only as due.” Whatever the case, in 1922, with the release of the booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Rutherford saw himself free to claim,
Based upon the argument heretofore set forth, then, that the old order of things, the old world, is ending and is therefore passing away, and that the new order is coming in, and that 1925 shall mark the resurrection of the faithful worthies of old and the beginning of reconstruction, it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will be still on the earth in 1925. Then, based upon the promises set forth in the divine Word, we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die. (page 97)
When 1925 came and went, and the Lord asked, “What is this you have done?” it seemed that Rutherford had caught a glimpse of shame. “I made an ass of myself,” he was heard to declare. (wt84 10/1 24 footnote) Subsequent years, however, have proved that his concern can only have been for himself. Updated versions of The Finished Mystery made slight amendments to the 1917 edition’s claim that God would “destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by millions,” in 1918, and completely expunged the claim that, “Even the republics will disappear in the fall of 1920.” By the 1930s, when he continued to be plagued with the question, “What is this you have done?” he became hot with anger and judgmental of others:
God's faithful people on the earth emphasized the importance of the dates 1914 and 1918 and 1925. They had much to say about these dates and what would come to pass, but all they predicted did not come to pass. The predictions as to the dates were correct, but what came to pass could not be fully seen in advance. The failure to come to pass of some of the things predicted has afforded Satan's agents in Christendom, particularly the clergy and the "man of sin", an opportunity to ridicule and reproach the faithful servants of the Lord and to say of and concerning them and their predictions: 'All their visions and predictions have failed; and such proves that they are all wrong, and that all their predictions for the future must fail.' This the clergy use to turn the people away from God and his truth. (Vindication Vol. 1 pages 146, 147)
It could be said that Joseph Rutherford and Frederick Franz were only following a precedent that had been set by the Watchtower society’s first president. For forty years Charles Taze Russell claimed that 1914 would see, not the start of the last days - they had already begun in 1799 - but the end of the present system. For more than forty years it was declared that Christ's presence began in 1874, the resurrection in 1878, along with the judgment that began with the House of God, and the fall of Babylon the Great. When 1914 came and went, and with it all the other predictions Russell had made, including the expectation that the “Lord’s saints might be with him in glory,” the question ringing out was, “What is this you have done?” The man who had already claimed to be God’s “mouthpiece” had no real option but to offer,
The author acknowledges that in this book he presents the thought that the Lord's saints might expect to be with Him in glory at the ending of the Gentile Times. This was a natural mistake to fall into, but the Lord overruled it for the blessing of His people. The thought that the Church would all be gathered to glory before October, 1914, certainly did have a very stimulating and sanctifying effect upon thousands, all of whom accordingly can praise the Lord - even for the mistake. Many, indeed, can express themselves as being thankful to the Lord that the culmination of the Church's hopes was not reached at the time we expected; and that we, as the Lord's people, have further opportunities of perfecting holiness and of being participators with our Master in the further presentation of His, Message to His people. (Editor's Forward, The Time Is At Hand, 1916 edition.)
It is shocking that Russell manages to offer a veiled apology and simultaneously implicate the Lord himself in the “mistake”! Adam's response cannot be avoided: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me [fruit] from the tree and so I ate.”
All of the above “corrections of viewpoint” have been written off in the Reasoning book as “relatively minor.” Surely the intensity of the claims, or length of time they were declared, cannot be compared to the disciples imagining that “the Kingdom of God was going to display itself instantly,” or asking Jesus directly, “Are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” Furthermore, it was in response to such inquiries that Jesus made the statement, “It does not belong to you to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction.” Jesus was drawing a line for generations to come - a line that ought not to be crossed, rather than a convenient excuse to fall back on.
Russell’s attitude can only continue to be the pattern followed by a collective who claim to be God’s sole channel of communication – his “mouthpiece.” Russell's presumptuous claim is echoed on page 59 of the book The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How? (a book that also stated that “the battle in the day of Jehovah” would begin “within our twentieth century.” (p216)) The changes to administration in the late-70s - governorship being undertaken by a body as opposed to being shouldered more or less by one man - have only served to compound the problem. A faithful and discreet slave “class” absolves any one individual of responsibility. If one among your number hears the whispered question, “What is this you have done?” there is always the danger that he can reply, “It was these men that you gave me to work with.” Or, even more terrible, like Russell before, to insinuate, “What do you mean, ‘What have I done?’ We only go where your spirit leads us,” thereby defiantly throwing the blame at the feet of the Lord.
A brief recap of the various amendments to the doctrine of “this generation” right up to our present time, will show how little has changed in the Watchtower Society's attitude to the question, “Is it really so...?”
1968, Awake! October 8 (pages 13, 14)
Jesus was obviously speaking about those who were old enough to witness with understanding what took place when the “last days” began. Even if we presume that youngsters 15 years of age would be perceptive enough to realise what happened in 1914, it would still make the youngest of “this generation” nearly 70 years old today.
1978, Watchtower, October 1 (page 31)
When it comes to the application in our time, the “generation” logically would not apply to babies born during World War I. It applies to Christ’s followers and others who were able to observe that war and the other things that have occurred in fulfillment of Jesus’ composite “sign.” Some of such persons “will by no means pass away until” all of what Christ prophesied occurs, including the end of the present wicked system.
1980, Watchtower, October 15 (page 31)
As indicated by an article on page 56 of U.S. News & World Report of January 14, 1980, “If you assume that 10 is the age at which an event creates a lasting impression on a person’s memory,” then there are today more than 13 million Americans who have a “recollection of World War I.”
1984, Watchtower, May 15 (page 5)
If Jesus used “generation” in that sense and we apply it to 1914, then the babies of that generation are now 70 years old or older. And others alive in 1914 are in their 80’s or 90’s, a few even having reached a hundred. There are still many millions of that generation alive. Some of them “will by no means pass away until all things occur.”
1995, Watchtower, November 1 (page 19)
Therefore, in the final fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy today, “this generation” apparently refers to the peoples of earth who see the sign of Christ’s presence but fail to mend their ways.
2010, Watchtower, April 15 (page 10)
How, then, are we to understand Jesus’ words about “this generation”? He evidently meant that the lives of the anointed who were on hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation. (in the article Holy Spirit's Role in the Outworking of Jehovah's Purpose.)
These are not changes directed by the holy spirit – to claim so is frightening. They are simply changes rendered unavoidable by the inevitable passing of time. Does it not betray an altogether unrepentant stance?
This is an organisation built on the backs of at least three men who found themselves up against the line that God had drawn - “Is it really so...?” - and reasoned that it did not need to be taken so seriously. That is the spiritual heritage. It is a house built upon sand, for such is the situation of “everyone hearing these sayings of mine and not doing them.” The “mistakes” and “wrong expectations” are part of a history that is little known among the majority of Jehovah's Witnesses. For all intents and purposes it is a secret history, and all who are troubled by it and believe it ought to be uncovered are likely to be labelled “apostates” and expelled from the congregation.
It must be said: Contrary to the belief that this organisation is leading people to God, Jehovah's Witnesses are an organisation on the run from God, hiding behind the trees and covering up their shame. It is of grave concern that unless you face the question, “What is this you have done?” naked and openly exposed, without any minimisation, denial, blame, deflection or righteous indignation, then you will forever be among the many who will say to Jesus in that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?” And the Lord’s confession to you will be, “I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Yours sincerely
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