How Have Watchtower Teachings Changed?

Jehovah’s Witnesses have published dates and rules, and later publications have said those expectations did not come about or that the rule no longer binds the congregation. The record is their own wording: 1925, 1975, who “this generation” is, and whether an organ transplant is cannibalism. A later sentence is not a verdict on anyone’s honesty. It is the next thing the same publisher printed.

Key points

• J. F. Rutherford’s 1920 booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die! says “we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old,” and that “millions now living will never die.” (1)
• The Watch Tower article “1925—One Hundred Years Ago” quotes The Watch Tower of January 1, 1925, on the great expectation for that year, and says that as the year progressed and the hopes did not materialize, some became disappointed. (2)
• “Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?” says that in the fall of 1975 it will be 6,000 years since Adam’s creation, and asks whether Armageddon will be over by that autumn. The answer on the page is “Possibly,” and the chronology is called “reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible).” (3)
• In September 1975 the article “The End of 6,000 Years of Man-Rule Approaches” says mankind then completed 6,000 years, and also says the Bible provides no way to fix the date of the millennial reign, so “it does us no good to speculate.” (4)
• On Matthew 24:34, successive Watchtower articles move “this generation” from people alive in 1914, to the contemporaneous generation of unbelieving Jews in the initial fulfillment, to anointed Christians whose lives overlap from 1914 to the great tribulation.
• A Questions From Readers article calls organ transplants cannibalistic. A later one says the congregation judicial committee would not take disciplinary action if someone accepted an organ transplant.

1925

Rutherford’s booklet, copyrighted 1920 by the International Bible Students Association, Brooklyn, calculates seventy jubilees to the fall of 1925 and then says what should be expected. (1)

Seventy jubilees of fifty years each would be a total of 3500 years. That period of time beginning 1575 before A. D. 1 of necessity would end in the fall of the year 1925, at which time the type ends and the great antitype must begin.

The same pages say we may expect 1925 to witness the return of these faithful men of Israel from the condition of death, resurrected and restored to perfect humanity as the visible representatives of the new order. The next pages say: “Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews chapter eleven, to the condition of human perfection.” Later the booklet says it is reasonable to conclude that millions of people now on the earth will still be on the earth in 1925, and then: “we must reach the positive and indisputable conclusion that millions now living will never die.”

A century later, the Watch Tower’s own retrospective quotes the January 1, 1925 Watch Tower: “WITH great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year,” and the caution that Christians should not be so concerned about what may transpire that they fail to do what the Lord would have them do. Albert Schroeder, later on the Governing Body, is quoted: it was thought that the remnant of the anointed would go to heaven and that faithful men of old, such as Abraham and David, would be resurrected as princes. “As the year progressed and their hopes did not materialize, some understandably became disappointed.” (2)

The same article says the March 1, 1925 Watch Tower article “Birth of the Nation” explained that God’s Kingdom had been born in 1914 and that Satan was cast to the earth. The 1920 booklet’s “confidently expect” and “positive and indisputable conclusion” are still in the booklet. The 2025 article says the hopes did not materialize.

1975

“Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?” dates its arithmetic with the figure 1,968 and with “a little over seven years from now.” (3) It says that come this autumn, 5,993 years have passed since Adam’s creation, so that in the fall of 1975 it will be 6,000 years since the creation of Adam. Paragraph 30 asks the question the interest raised:

Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then? Possibly, but we wait to see how closely the seventh thousand-year period of man’s existence coincides with the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ. If these two periods run parallel with each other as to the calendar year, it will not be by mere chance or accident but will be according to Jehovah’s loving and timely purposes. Our chronology, however, which is reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible), at the best only points to the autumn of 1975 as the end of 6,000 years of man’s existence on earth. It does not necessarily mean that 1975 marks the end of the first 6,000 years of Jehovah’s seventh creative “day.”

“Possibly” and “does not necessarily mean” are on the page beside the date that kindled the interest. The page does not print a magazine name or an issue day in the header that was opened. The body is what dates the writing to 1968.

In 1975 the article “The End of 6,000 Years of Man-Rule Approaches” says a new Jewish lunar year began in September 1975 and that, according to the Bible’s count of time, mankind then completed 6,000 years of existence on earth. It then denies that the millennial reign is thereby dated from that September, because of an unknown gap between Adam and Eve. The article says: “The Bible provides us no way to fix the date, and so it does us no good to speculate when that date may be.” (4)

The next sentence still says the Bible’s time clock indicates that 6,000 years of human history end in this year 1975. The article holds both: the 6,000 years are dated, and the reign is not to be dated from them. A later acknowledgment that some statements were “more definite than advisable,” often cited from The Watchtower of March 15, 1980, was not opened for this page, so it is not quoted here.

The generation of 1914

Matthew 24:34CloseVerily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.Matthew 24:34 · King James VersionOpen source (14) says this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Watchtower explanations of who that generation is have been rewritten.

A Questions From Readers article says the publications point out that Armageddon will come in this generation, and that this generation began A.D. 1914. It then says: “Some persons living A.D. 1914 when the series of foretold events began will also be living when the series ends with Armageddon.” (5) The page does not print an issue date in the header.

“1914—The Generation That Will Not Pass Away” says that if the word is applied to 1914, the babies of that generation are now 70 years old or older, and that some of them “will by no means pass away until all things occur.” It inserts the year into Jesus’ sentence: “This generation [of 1914] will by no means pass away until all things occur.” (6)

A later Questions From Readers article says that in the initial fulfillment, “this generation” evidently meant the contemporaneous generation of unbelieving Jews, and that in the larger fulfillment it would logically also be the contemporaneous people. It cites Peter’s “Get saved from this crooked generation.” (7) “Christ’s Presence—What Does It Mean to You?” says this journal previously explained the first-century “this generation” as that contemporaneous generation of unbelieving Jews, and a footnote cites The Watchtower, November 1, 1995. The article then moves the modern generation to the anointed: “This suggests that some who are Christ’s anointed brothers will still be alive on earth when the foretold great tribulation begins.” (8)

“Holy Spirit’s Role in the Outworking of Jehovah’s Purpose” says Jesus “evidently meant that the lives of the anointed who were on hand when the sign began to become evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation.” A footnote cites The Watchtower, February 15, 2008. (9)

The study chapter “Let Your Kingdom Come” says the generation consists of two overlapping groups of anointed ones. The first saw the beginning of the sign in 1914. The second were contemporaries of the first group. “At least some of those in the second group will live to see the beginning of the coming tribulation.” (10) “Let Your Kingdom Come—But When?” adds that the first group “were spirit-anointed as sons of God in or before that year,” and that “not every anointed person today is included” in “this generation.” (11)

The sentence in Matthew is one sentence. The publications have said it was people alive in 1914, then the contemporaneous people of the first century with a larger fulfillment of the same kind, then anointed Christians in two overlapping groups. Each article states the view it holds at the time. Who is the faithful and discreet slave? is the Society’s account of the channel that publishes these explanations. How do you read Watchtower language? stays with “suggests” and “evidently.”

Organ transplants

A Questions From Readers article asks whether there is any Scriptural objection to accepting organs for transplant. It says those who submit to such operations are living off the flesh of another human. (12)

That is cannibalistic. However, in allowing man to eat animal flesh Jehovah God did not grant permission for humans to try to perpetuate their lives by cannibalistically taking into their bodies human flesh, whether chewed or in the form of whole organs or body parts taken from others.

A later Questions From Readers article asks whether congregation action should be taken if a baptized Christian accepts a human organ transplant. It says transplantation “is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses.” Some might still feel it is cannibalistic. Others “may feel that the Bible does not definitely rule out medical transplants of human organs.” (13)

The article then says that while the Bible specifically forbids consuming blood, there is no Biblical command pointedly forbidding the taking in of other human tissue, and that the congregation judicial committee would not take disciplinary action if someone accepted an organ transplant.

Neither page prints a month and day in the header that was opened. The two articles are both on Watchtower Online Library. One calls the operation cannibalistic. The later one says the judicial committee would not discipline a person who accepted a transplant, and it distinguishes that decision from the command against blood. Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses take blood? is the blood teaching, which the later article says still stands.

What a revision shows

The publisher printed the expectation, and the publisher printed the disappointment, the hedge, or the new rule. Rutherford’s “positive and indisputable conclusion” is in the 1920 booklet. The 2025 article says the hopes did not materialize. The 1975 article says “Possibly” and “not infallible,” and the September 1975 article says not to speculate about the date of the reign while still dating 6,000 years to that year. The generation articles replace one identification of “this generation” with another. The transplant articles replace a cannibalism ruling with a personal decision the congregation will not discipline.

None of that is a claim that a writer meant to deceive. It is the wording, in order. The Watch Tower and Scripture asks what the Bible’s role is when one publication and a later publication differ. Acts 17:11CloseThese were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.Acts 17:11 · King James VersionOpen source praises examining the Scriptures to see whether what was heard is so.

Frequently asked questions

Did the January 1, 1925 Watch Tower already soften the 1920 booklet? The 2025 retrospective quotes that issue: great expectation for the year, and a warning not to be so concerned about what may transpire that the work is left undone. The booklet’s “confidently expect” and “indisputable conclusion” are still the 1920 sentences. The retrospective says the hopes did not materialize.

Does “Possibly” mean no one was told that 1975 might be the end? The article asks whether Armageddon will be over by the autumn of 1975 and the thousand-year reign begun by then, and it answers “Possibly.” It also says the chronology does not necessarily mean that 1975 marks the end of the first 6,000 years of the seventh creative day. Both sentences are in paragraph 30.

Is the generation teaching one view that was only clarified? The articles name the earlier view and then state a different one. People living in 1914; the contemporaneous generation of unbelieving Jews for the initial fulfillment; two overlapping groups of anointed Christians. The word “suggests” and the word “evidently” are in the later articles. The verse is Matthew 24:34CloseVerily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.Matthew 24:34 · King James VersionOpen source.

Keep reading

• The Watch Tower and Scripture
• Who is the faithful and discreet slave?
• How do you read Watchtower language?
• Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses take blood?
• How reliable is the New World Translation?