2014 means nothing

by konceptual99 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  konceptual99

  I know there have been many comments over the recent past about 2014 being potentially a key point in time for the WTS as it's 100 years since 1914 but my view is that it means absolutely nothing.

  People are people and history shows the psychological hold that organisations like the WTS has just carries on captivating people. The org survived the 1975 debacle and they will potter on for years to come regardless of things like 100 years since 1914, especially since this is something the WTS are simply not talking about. It means nothing to anyone other than people looking for something to bash the WTS with.

  It's not mentioned in the literature and is unlikely to be anytime soon - why the heck would the WTS want to remind people of the length of time?

  2013 is 99 years since 1914. 2015 is 101 years. So what? If the time frame was enough to spark a mass exodus then people would be leaving in droves now.

  The truth is that, whilst I have heard some chatter about it from those in the org, nobody really cares. They are all too busy trying sucking up the rehtoric, trying to be good sheeples and deluding themselves it will all be alright in the end. If a few people give up and disappear then they are simply collateral damage - there are enough new recruits around the world to keep the rest of them convinced it's God's only true org.

  I'd love to be wrong but anyone who has spent anytime in this org knows that ignoring what is is starting you in the face is the one thing 99.9% of dubs are able to do on a daily basis without batting an eyelid.
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  hoser

  they survived 1925
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  MrFreeze

  I've been saying it since people have been talking about 2014 being a big deal. JW's will not care. If they would care about something like that, they would have cared about all of the past crap the WT has spouted off. The WT will acknowledge it and say how close we must be. They will mention it being 100 years at assemblies and talk about how close to the end we are. Business as usual.
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  mrsjones5

  Yep, 2014 and 2015 will come and go without so much as a peep from the rank and file jws. If the GB/fds doesn't say anything about it the r&f won't think about it either.
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  yadda yadda 2

  I think you're absolutely right, but the JW's overall do have a predilection for emphasizing dates and their time-based eschatology, meaning of 'generation', etc, so many JW's are quite attuned to this. Human nature also tends to view time and take stock of things in tidy rounded off numbers like decades, centuries, etc. Something about human psychology tends to put more significance, usually imagined, on events associated with the turn of a century or millennium. We have seen this in the past with religious fervour escalating as the end of a century or millennium approaches. A similar phenomenon and disconfirmation affect might occur in the JW world post-2014, but probably negligibly.
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  konceptual99

  Good points yy2 but I think we all know that there is bugger all chance of large numbers of dubs chucking the towel in next year just because the date looks pretty.
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  yadda yadda 2

  I totally agree konceptual, but I think it will definitely have a disconfirmation/discouragement affect on some.
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  konceptual99

  To be sure it will. It's just a shame that the captivation of the mind means even fewer will be able to really do anything about it.
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  exwhyzee

  Little JW children will still be told they can look forward to having a pet lion someday. 2014 will come and go without any significance to them as they weren't around when all the previous dates failed. They will continue to trust that the all adults in the limited JW circle that their parents associate with, know what they are talking about.

  Teen and young adult JW's will continue to secretly hope the end doesn't come just yet because life and it's newfound freedom is still fresh and fun. They have one foot in the idealistic world of the very young, where childhood notions and adult realities haven't quite clashed yet. 2014 will come and go and will mean little to them, just as 1925 meant little to us who saw 1975 come and go in our own youth.

  Older JW's , mostly out of habit, will still carry the hope that the end will come before they die. Even though they've spent decades convincing themselves it will happen, on some level they've known all along it may well be just a fantasy. At this point in their lives, they are too tired to care or change. 2014 will come and go but they'll ignore the voice in their head that is telling them they may have been duped. To some this may be a relief since they no longer have the energy anymore to keep up the urgency of the times routine. Facing this reality is not something they can easily walk up to and wrestle to the ground. They'll continue on as they have and rationalize it all by saying "oh well, at least it was a good way to live if nothing else".
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  5go

  I do agree a lot won't even realize what it is about but it's going to be a huge wake up to a lot of fence sitting JWs when the 100th anniversary of the First World War is celebrated. I think by then you will start to see a bit of a drop off in spirit if nothing else.