Hanging by a Thread

It has been many years since Witness publications have explicitly set a date for the end, yet their chronology does have an implicit terminus ad quem. Their religion will be shown to be false if this “system of things” persists past the end of this century, at least according to their present chronology. In fact, we can be even more specific than that. 

According to Witness theology, “this generation” will not pass away until at least a little while after the beginning of the Great Tribulation, which will take place just prior to Armageddon. What is “this generation?” It is a composite of two overlapping groups (some would say two or more generations): (a) those who were anointed in or before 1914 and perceived the significance of that year and (b) those who were anointed while the first group was still alive. “At least some of those in the second group will live to see the beginning of the coming tribulation.” (God’s Kingdom Rules!, pp. 11-12)

While Watchtower probably does not know when the last member of Group A died, we will assume that it was Fredrick Franz (1893-1993). Having reached the age of ninety-nine, he was unusually long-lived. Moreover, in explaining the concept of overlapping-groups comprising one generation David Splane, a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, uses Fredrick Franz as an example. He said, “Now do you know many who were of the Anointed in 1914 and who outlived Brother Franz? There may have been some, but not many.” For this reason, he uses Franz, at least tentatively, as the last living member of Group A. So we do not believe that it is prejudicial to the Witness position to use him as the last surviving member of Group A. So, for our purposes, anyone who is part of Group B must have been anointed no later than December 22, 1992.

Let us call the youngest member of Group B “Ray.” What can Ray tell us about the latest that the Great Tribulation must begin by? First, we must determine how old he was when he was anointed. It is not uncommon for those raised as Witnesses to be baptized in their teens or early twenties. Twenty is a nice round number that we suspect is close to the average age for someone who was raised as a Witness to be baptized. And, while Witness theology does not require that one who is Anointed to receive the heavenly calling at the time of his baptism, there is nothing that prevents this from taking place that early in his life. So we will assume that when Ray was baptized he also received the heavenly call. He is now fifty-three years old. If he will be as long-lived as Fredrick Franz was, then the Great Tribulation must begin no later than 2071. So it would probably be safe to say that by 2080 Christ’s thousand-year reign must begin. And for fun we will suppose that Armageddon will take place in 1975 – I mean 2075.

These assumptions can be tweaked. But they are not endlessly malleable. Facts of biology and limited populations cannot be ignored. And far before the technical limit of their definition of “this generation” is reached the just as vital limit of plausibility will have been overshot. Consider the following. As far as the definition of “this generation” offered by Witness leaders goes, there is nothing unreasonable with the following hypothetical situation. Anointed Brother Charles was born in 1908, baptized and anointed in 1914, and died in 2008. Anointed Brother Joseph was born in 2002, baptized and anointed in 2008, and will die in 2102. But to actually accept that an overlap of a mere six years of age and a few months as Anointed Witnesses suffices to make two men whose births were separated by ninety-four years part of the same generation is impossible. The closest that Witnesses can get to Brother Charles is Fredrick Franz. And of the 25,000 who are currently partaking of the Witness’ version of Communion (i.e., who consider themselves to be Anointed), we suspect that they will not find someone who is now just shy of forty and who has been partaking since 1992. The best that can be reasonably hoped for, we think, is our hypothetical Ray.

Needless to say, we have been overly generous to the present Witness chronology with our example of Fredrick Franz and Ray. While their lives overlapped by twenty years and their time as anointed Witnesses upon the earth overlapped by about a year, their births are separated by almost eighty years.[1] As far as age is concerned, Ray could easily be the great-great-grandson of Franz. To say that they belong to the same generation is only slightly less absurd than saying that Charles and Joseph are part of the same generation.

Witnesses are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The more plausible they make their claim about overlapping groups belonging to the same generation, the less time their chronology has before it will have to be abandoned. If Ray in our example was already sixty in 1992, then the Great Tribulation will have to begin by 2032 even if he lives to be a hundred years of age. On the other hand, they purchase more breathing room for their chronology only by sacrificing any semblance of plausibility with their two-groups-as-one-generation view, as was seen most clearly in the example of Charles and Joseph. 

If a Witness is able to say with a straight face that a man and his great-great-grandson could be part of the same generation, that is a tremendous feat. But we are not obliged to believe him. And if we do not, we must find the present Witness chronological scheme totally bankrupt. And with that a key would-be justification for their organization’s legitimacy is dashed to pieces.

[1] The absurdity is underscored if the only overlap that matters is their earthly tenure as anointed Witnesses (not time on earth as such). The aforementioned Witness book seems to make such an overlap the key thing in the following quotation. “The two groups form one generation because their lives as anointed Christians overlapped for a time.” (p. 12)