Do JWs ever doubt that the end is really coming?

dogon

As a former Dubber I had many occasions to doubt that the end was coming. I was told it was OK to doubt but not to think about it too much and wait on Jehovah. That bull shit lasted until they changed the meaning of Generation in 95 and that was the end of that bull shit for me. I was otta there like a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs. I can remember talking with an elder I used to work with that was dogmatic follower. I used to ask him if he were 75 and the end was not here would he second guess that the society was right. He said he would be disappointing but not to the point of doubting the cult. Well that is easier said then done. I don't know what he thinks today, I was drummed out due to not believing. I kept enough distance that they never could get enough rope to hang me, now I really don't give a crap, my family that was in the cult are all passed on so I don' t give a fuck what those assholes do. But I now live in Florida and I was from Michigan. So they don't have any contact with me to DF my ass. I wonder though with things never happening like the cult predicts do many doubt the validity of the cult?

DesirousOfChange

Even when they were only doubts, many of us were smart enough not to say anything out loud. Does that spoke up or seen as troublemakers at best, apostates at worst

Doc

JW_Rogue

I think everyone has doubts sometimes, most JWs simply suppress those doubts with a facade of confidence and thought stopping WT phrases. Since they are always around other JWs the group reinforces the belief that the end is...soon.

TheLiberator

Some (even hard core), are conscious that the end could come, but it is not there focus. They do not run with all the 1914/generation crap. Some are in it just to serve Jehovah and the Watchtower is just the vehicle.

I was one of those. Back in 1988, I wrote to the society, asking if 1914 generation teaching was similar to the trinity or hellfire, in that we will receive no new light. I never seen the letter, but the elders received it and sent the secretary to talk with me. He said: "TheLiberator, we serve Jehovah forever."

I said, "but the generation of 1914.....

Secretary: "We serve Jehovah forever"

I said, "but...

Secretary: "TheLiberator, we serve Jehovah forever."

That conversation made me happy. Nobody wants to get there hopes up. I knew then that things will change. Timetables always bothered me. I wrote that letter because I was working rural territory and I had mentioned that I don't have to worry about many things since I would never get that old. And the presiding overseer's wife said, "that's what we all said" with a sarcastic laugh. My mother in law made the same comment a few years ago. So I believe many don't feel it is coming in there life. Younger ones might, since they feel life is this long, long journey. Not.

Introvert 2

I know an elder out west we share a hobby and are FB friends, he recently mentioned that he hopes top be in as good a shape as a 75 years old I posted about on an FB group page when he gets to be that age. We are both early fifties.. I too thought I wouldn't grow old got in in my late thirties lasted ten years at best until I tuckered out.

Londo111

Of course, every JW contends with doubts and cognitive dissonance. I suspect every JW’s has doubts that wax and wane, but never fully goes away. But the barrier of undue influence is steep and keeps them from making a real examination of things like 607, 1914, whether world conditions have been getting worse since 1914, the organization’s many failed predictions…

Until there is such a real examination or reality testing, doubt can easily go both ways. If a JW comes to the conclusion that the end is not around the corner, they might have fearful doubts about that conclusion. “What if it is?”

To some extent, I believe many JWs, while to some extent do believe it, have an authentic corner of their identity that does not fully buy in to the full implications to the teaching that the Armageddon is very close and that most of their non-JW acquaintances, family, coworkers, neighbors, and seven billion others are about to be murdered for all eternity. Of course, this might include inactive and irregular JW, and to some extent, those who were active and could’ve arranged their circumstances to preach more. Otherwise, they would do as the Org prescribed and pioneer, or sell their homes and move to where the “need was greater”, or try to get into Bethel.

Many do live practical lives with day jobs, having a place to live and making plans for the near future to some extent. Of course, Armageddon does still loom in their minds and effects their decisions. They seem caught between fear and the practical. That tension is not easy.

Simon Templar

In my congregation, almost all of the people that have been involved over 30 years+ (and there are many) have great doubts about the end coming before they die, if at all. Some no longer care, and have told me that. Most are so old, they can't get out. It is ingrained in them, or they are connected in too many ways (marriage, family, friends, landlord, etc).

konceptual99

There are three consistent messages that are being sent out time and time again by the organisation:

1 - "the end is really, really, really close. Look at this video showing people just like you hiding out in basements. Look at this video of someone dressed just like you are greeting their resurrected family member"

2 - "Don't try and put a time scale to the time of the end. Look at all the elderly who still are faithful. Make sure your faith is strong for the long term."

3 - "Jehovah already knows when the end will be. It's scheduled. It's not late because it's always been scheduled for the future."

Most Witnesses placate themselves by picking one of these in rotation to block the cognitive dissonance.

Doubtfully Yours

With so many fails, very few behave as if the end is really near.

This doomsday religion is wrong in this regard. Some earlier than others, ultimately, we will all die.

DY

Giordano

When I was pioneering where the need is great back in the early 1960's I took a lunch break and parked near a school and the children were out running around having a recess.

It struck me that most of them were not going to make it through Armageddon and two things hit me one was why in the hell would a god need to kill innocent children as well as their parents and why in hell did I think anything the Society said was true?

Just that quick and it all unraveled for me. My wife and I started a fade and moved we were permanently out. They didn't shun you back then if you no longer associated. Anyway we were in the wind.

Do JWs ever doubt that the end is really coming?

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