WT June 2025: We Are Not Blind We Just Don't Know
by raymond frantz 26 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Journeyman
Personally, I am glad that they are now admitting that they do not know. It is better than making things up.
That's true, but it's going to come with an enormous backlash in payback (which is already starting). You can't string "generations" of people along for a lifetime then say "sorry, we were wrong" without expecting serious repercussions.
The error was in the arrogance of claiming to have "secret" knowledge of dates and times in the first place, and assuming YOU were right, even if the previous guy wasn't, time and again, despite the fact that the Bible itself warns against that very thing.
That, coupled with the R&F being encouraged to put their hope in the wrong thing (ie: imminent "salvation" and quick "rewards", rather than on service to God and Jesus for the long term as a "net good" in its own right)
One of the main reasons why I have never felt as badly let down as many others who have associated with JWs for decades - including many who were "exemplary" for years - is that I never believed the "it's just around the corner" thing, with all the comments like "oh, you'll never leave school in this system", "you'll never retire in this system", etc, etc. I always felt that, when you look back at the sweep of history, even just since the days of the Millennial movement, Barbour, Russell and all that lot - people had come and gone believing the end was "imminent" and it wasn't then, so why right now? It seems the height of arrogance to assume YOU and YOUR era will be the ones, when many have gone before who were mistaken (no offence intended to any ex-JWs who sincerely believed that in the past - I mean from the point of view of those teaching that idea.)
I've always felt that when God decides it's time, he will do it. Just because 1914 was a massively significant year from the perspective of human history, does not mean it has the actual meaning the JWs think it has. But for all the things they have changed recently, they are still adamantly insisting they have nothing even SLIGHTLY wrong with the teaching on what happened in heaven in 1914.
And Listener is right that they are still doubling down on the message "well, we are still God's only channel, so although we were wrong in the past and we can't claim to be infallible now, you should still listen to us exclusively and obey what we say". That way lies madness, and guaranteed failure.
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LongHairGal
JOURNEYMAN:
I agree with your post very much.
The religion has strung along generations of people for a lifetime with arrogant claims of ‘dates and times’.. The tragedy is that the people in the religion who made these claims have gone to their graves after living a cushy life - meanwhile those gullible individuals who based their whole lives on this are left holding the bag!
Like you, I never believed the ‘it’s just around the corner’ hype and held onto my job. I also was raised Catholic and had my father’s wisdom. Even though I’m long ‘Faded’ from the JWs I will never forget how badly I was viewed because I wouldn’t follow absurd advice.
Let the religion keep doubling down on their message. Makes no difference to me since I am long Out.. In my opinion, it is to placate the older Witnesses there who gave up so much for the religion and are angry the ‘new system’ isn’t here!
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Gordon
Its not the future you need to know, it's the truth about being a Christian and then having the faith to walk with Jesus everyday.
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Gman2001
"We are blind.....but you still must follow us "
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NotFormer
"We are blind.....but you still must follow us "
Reminds me of Jim Hacker in "Yes, Minister": "I am their leader; I must follow them!"
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aqwsed12345
In a recent article, the Watchtower leadership has taken a surprising turn—not by offering new insight, but by confessing, almost meekly, that they simply don’t know. After over a century of setting and resetting prophetic clocks, they now encourage their followers to “modestly accept what [they] do not know.” It’s a rhetorical shift that deserves far more scrutiny than reverence, especially from those who have built their lives around promises that the organization once claimed were unshakably certain.
For decades, the organization insisted that it held privileged access to divine timetables. 1914, 1925, 1975—these were not vague impressions or speculative musings but hard dates confidently proclaimed as spiritually significant. They were offered not as possibilities but as assurances—declarations so certain that followers were urged to make life-altering decisions: forgo education, delay careers, avoid children, invest in door-to-door ministry because the end was “just around the corner.” Now, with this latest publication, that tone of prophetic certainty has been rebranded as humble ignorance. And instead of repentance for the generations misled, we are served a sanctimonious appeal to “modesty.”
But there is nothing modest about what this organization has historically claimed. To announce oneself as the exclusive “channel of communication” for the Almighty, to call for total loyalty and unquestioning obedience, and then retreat into theological obscurity when predictions fail—this is not modesty. It’s spiritual gaslighting. You were wrong, but the blame is placed on the sheep for being discouraged, for growing weary, for asking questions. They call it “waiting on Jehovah,” but what they truly demand is submission without clarity, loyalty without understanding.
And let’s not forget the theological sleight of hand. They point to Matthew 24:36 to remind us that “no one knows the day or the hour.” Yet the same group who now clings to that verse as an excuse for ignorance once used it as a platform for declaring with confidence that “the generation of 1914 will not pass away.” If they are invoking that passage just now, they must also be held accountable for why they ignored it then. This isn’t just doctrinal inconsistency; it is a profound failure in spiritual stewardship.
They now appeal to the uncertainty itself as a virtue. They claim that not knowing builds faith. But Christ gave his followers clear signs and seasons—not so they would wander blindly, but so they could prepare with hope and discernment. Faith is not contrary to understanding. Real faith seeks truth, not evasions. There is a chasm between trusting in God’s providence and following an institution that absolves itself from accountability while still demanding absolute trust.
Even more disconcerting is how this narrative manipulates emotion. The article acknowledges the fatigue of believers, the ridicule they endure, and the sorrow of waiting endlessly. But instead of recognizing that these burdens stem from the organization’s own false expectations, it implies that the fault lies in the believer’s patience, or lack thereof. You’re not tired because you were misled—you’re tired because you don’t trust enough. This is not spiritual care; it is psychological manipulation.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the continued insistence on 1914 as a prophetic cornerstone. They “do not know” the end, but they “do know” that the “last days began in 1914.” This teaching hinges on a creative reimagining of history, where the timing of Satan’s expulsion from heaven somehow coincides precisely with the outbreak of World War I—despite the war beginning months before their alleged heavenly battle even concluded. The only way to maintain this illusion is to double down on a fragile system of chronology and hope that no one examines it too closely.
But more and more are examining it—and more are leaving. Not out of rebellion, but because they can no longer abide by a theology that cloaks uncertainty in the language of divine insight. They are tired of waiting in a spiritual waiting room with magazines in hand, hoping the receptionist will one day call their name. The “Great Timekeeper” narrative has worn thin. It once promised revelation. Now it delivers delay.
What then remains? The Gospel of Christ. The actual one—not the speculative timelines or apocalyptic graphs, but the enduring call to trust, follow, and hope in the Person of Jesus. The Christian walk is not built on countdowns but on communion; not on watchtowers but on witness. Christ did not ask for loyalty to an institution that revises its teachings every decade. He asked for faithfulness to Himself—who does not change.
So let them admit they do not know. Let them confess that they’ve lost the plot they claimed to have written. But let us also remember that in the Church, in the Body that Christ established and continues to guide, there is continuity, there is clarity, and above all—there is Truth. Not always spelled out in dates and hours, but rooted in the unchanging faith handed down from the apostles and preserved across the ages. That truth was never in flux. That hope never needed a reset. And that faith does not need to apologize for being sure.