All Jehovah’s Witnesses alive as of this writing have had the year 1914 branded into their psyche as a pivotal year, the year Jesus took up rulership of God’s Kingdom in the heavens, which event is said to mark the beginning of “the last days” the culmination of which will be the event of Armageddon.
Prior to 1914 the Watchtower organization predicted that Armageddon would culminate in the year 1914.[1] As we know, Armageddon was a non-event as of 1914. When predictions fail, teachings tend to change. Since the non-Armageddon event of 1914 the Watchtower organization morphed its pivotal date to mean the beginning of the end time rather than the culmination of the end time.
Insiders at Watchtower are concerned about the future of its religious organization because of the upcoming 100-year anniversary of its king-making/endtime-beginning theology. Here is why[2]:
Growth as a percentage of population since 1945
Growth trajectories
What it means
The current 13-year growth trajectory is at 62% of the overall trajectory spanning from 1945 to 2010. In other words, growth of the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses has slowed considerably.
Because of the theological import associated with 1914 and the upcoming 100-year anniversary of the event said to be the beginning-of-the-end, Watchtower feels vulnerable to deterioration the likes of which it has not experienced since the late 1920s when the organization suffered more than an 80% reduction in those associating with it.
The current slow-down together with the upcoming 2014 anniversary has Watchtower’s top leadership praying for something to happen between now and then that will create fervor in the ranks and replenish the soil of potential adherents. If there is no extra-Watchtower event stirring this effect then Watchtower leadership is worried it will have to create fervor by making some dramatic change or changes. This is what Watchtower’s top leadership was forced to do in the early 1930s when it rebranded its religion as “Jehovah’s witnesses”, and this despite onslaught of the Great Depression beginning in 1929.
Short of some world conflagration, experience and exposure lead me to believe:
1. Watchtower will soon organize a new concerted initiative to proselytize via the internet. It is impossible to guess what form this will take. Though such an initiative is inevitable, I think it will come sooner rather than later. The internet is a force too big to ignore and too powerful not to use.
2. Watchtower’s blood taboo is ripe to dislodge. The teaching has taken a beating and Watchtower knows it is indefensible. Watchtower’s leadership no longer believes in the thing anyway. It is just a matter of time before this rafter-in-the-eye of a teaching is removed so that it is no longer such a hindrance to potential converts. Relegating this teaching may be around the corner.
3. Watchtower will expand and organize remote meeting attendance.
Marvin Shilmer
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References:
1. Taught what about 1914?.
2. All statistical presentation is based on data developed and published by Watchtower.
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