After reading a topic critical of our poking fun at the Watchtower Society's ancient Governing Body I could not help but be reminded of the stupid pronouncments that this aged state induces when the GB claim to be "spirit directed" by God. Most of the goofy "The End is Near" disappointments which have ruined so many lives over the years among the Watchtower's cult members are due to the desire of those in charge to see their "End Time Hopes" fulfilled before they died.
Russel was an old man near death as he pushed hard that the End must be in 1914. Rutherford was dying of cancer in the 1940's as he pushed hard for WWII being the sure sign of Armageddon's start. Fred Franz pushed 1975 for the same reasons knowing that his own time was limited. These all powerful Watchtower Gurus began to believe that they could will Armageddon into starting if they just pushed hard enough and convinced their gullable followers that they were right. My main point being that these clowns took it upon themselves that they were God's inspired messengers for years and years making their predictions and interpretations and fooling their followers into believing it too. When they were younger they all pushed their beliefs strongly and handled their dozens of failures but as old age crept up on them they became crazed in their quest for fulfillment in their own life times and their fear and power got the best of them and they threw all caution to the wind "knowing" that the End must finally be near because God couldn't let them die without fulfilling His promises to them. When someone is all powerful and unaccountable, like the Watchtower leaders are, old age can be a dangerous thing because it inspires a desperatness and a lack of caring for the future because those near death don't think about the consequences for those who must go on living in the world without them or their fevered pipedreams. As Hitler neared his death he gave crazy orders to destroy everything since his dreams would not come true. He could not see a future for his people without him so he assumed they didn't want a future. Some of this selfishness is evident in the bad advice given by Rutherford, Fred Franz, and todays old farts on the GB who fail to realize that young folks will be left to cleanup the mess left by these old geezers and their fantasies.
All of us get old, hopefully we will have good advice and experiances to pass on to the younger folks from our life times of learning but few of us weild or claim for ourselves the kind of power that the JW's Governing Body does so we will not be in a position to ruin lives and cause the pain that these guys have. That is why it is ok to make fun of them for their age because we need to know how dangerous they are and diminish their status and power as much as possible. If they claim to speak for God then they must take on the criticisms which go with such grandeous claims. Worldly politicians must face more criticism than my retired humble Grandpa for the same kinds of reasons. If you think you are a big shot you must also accept that you will be the subject of ridicule and criticism. I have NO sympathy for the self proclaimed "princes" who will rule with Christ on the GB because they better be open to criticism equal to their claims of greatness. This isn't agism or cruelty but simple fairness. Finally, I'd need to see some evidence that these guys deserve my respect. So far, I've seen nothing from them which indicates that God is working through them, unless God is a complete liar and baffoon. The GB deserves all the guff they get and more.