But what I say to you, I say to all: Keep on the watch.” (Mark 13:37)
In a talk given at the 2021 annual meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses, governing body member Anthony Morris addresses the question “Why Keep on the Watch?”
The talk lasted for 19 minutes. During that time he shared two scriptures, Jesus words about keeping on the watch in Mark 13:32-37 and Isaiah 48:17 which mentions Jehovah teaching the Israelites to benefit themselves.
“Concerning that day or the hour nobody knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but the Father. 33 Keep looking, keep awake, for you do not know when the appointed time is. 34 It is like a man traveling abroad who left his house and gave the authority to his slaves, to each one his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep on the watch. 35 Keep on the watch, therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether late in the day or at midnight or before dawn or early in the morning, 36 in order that when he comes suddenly, he does not find you sleeping. 37 But what I say to you, I say to all: Keep on the watch.” (Mark 13:32-37)
This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: “I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself, The One guiding you in the way you should walk. (Isaiah 48:17)
Beyond that his talk was mostly anecdotal. He concluded with reading the statements of two long time servants at Bethel, personal friends of his that serve as examples of the attitude the governing body would like to see displayed among all witnesses:
I would like you to compare his thoughts in that talk with the thoughts of former member of the governing body Raymond V. Franz. This by no means should be viewed as an appeal to Ray as an authority due to his being on the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In fact, he is viewed by all current members of the religion as a wicked apostate Christian and anything he has to say certainly would be discarded by them. All I am asking is for you to examine whether or not his reasoning is sound and in harmony with the Bible versus the line of reasoning of Morris, a current approved governing body member.
The following is taken from his book “In Search of Christian Freedom”:
“Truth is consistent with itself and is therefore something stable and reliable. A major sign of fallacious argumentation therefore is inconsistency, particularly if the inconsistency in a later position as compared with an earlier one is not openly acknowledged or is made to appear as something other than what it actually is—the correction of an error.
This is the case with the Watch Tower organization’s effort to create a sense of “urgency” based on the claim to know that the “final end” is due to occur within a particular time period. Crisis of Conscience documents the way in which a whole series of dates was eventually discarded, and the predictions tied to these dates were transferred to another, later, series of dates.[1] The evidence is also there presented showing the manner in which Watch Tower predictions relating to 1914, 1918, 1920, 1925, the early 1940s, and finally 1975, all proved without substance. One Watchtower issue endeavored to justify all this and at the same time place its readers on the defensive in this matter. In its December 1, 1984, issue, several articles on “Christian Watchfulness” highlighted the many Scriptural exhortations to “keep on the watch” as regards Christ’s promised return and then related historical evidence of a general relaxation of spiritual alertness, both in the past and in the present. The article proceeded to justify the strong emphasis on chronological calculations to determine the nearness of the end as practiced by the Watch Tower organization by essentially saying that “It is better to be wrong by such miscalculations than to be spiritually drowsy and apathetic about Christ’s coming.” The whole thrust of the series of articles is to make it appear that unless one thinks in terms of some particular time period and focuses strong attention on visible conditions as a sign, he falls automatically into the other camp, that of the spiritually apathetic who have lost interest in Christ’s return.
The material exemplifies many forms of false reasoning. Much of the justification for the Watch Tower’s wrong expectations is based on the fact that others in the past, including servants of God in pre-Christian and Christian times, also had wrong ideas about the time for God to act in certain areas of his purpose. This is a variation of the reasoning that “two wrongs make a right,” namely, that “common practice” somehow provides justification for what one does. Actually, if the Watch Tower Society is aware of the errors of the past on the part of persons attempting to fix a time period for the end to occur, this makes them not less but more responsible for making misleading predictions. They should have demonstrated that they had learned something from such examples of wrong thinking and should have held back from following in the same mistaken path. The saying is that, “Experience is a hard school, but fools will learn in no other,” and a “faithful and discreet slave” should not be in that class. Men in the Bible committed all sorts of mistakes and the record of these serves as “warnings to us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come,” not as any justification for making similar mistakes.[2]
Mainly, however, the articles would place readers on the horns of a false dilemma. They endeavor to create the idea that either a person follows the course of the Watch Tower organization in fixing a certain time frame for the end’s coming, utilizing chronological calculations and assessments of certain world conditions to do so, or else he or she falls into the class of those who simply don’t care when Christ comes, who are apathetic, sluggish and probably “apostate.” The fact is, however, that one is not faced with just these two options and need not place himself or herself in either of these classes. Christ Jesus foretold those who would come saying, “The due time has approached,” and said of these, “Do not go after them.”[3] Neither Christ Jesus nor his apostles encouraged in any way the use of chronological calculations to determine the time frame for his return. To the contrary, Christ’s urgings to “keep on the watch” contained in their context an equal stressing of the fact that it was impossible for his followers to foreknow or predict the time of the Master’s return. That very fact of the uncertainty and unexpectedness of the time was what actually made watchfulness so critical.[4]
This rules against the view that ‘being watchful’ meant watching the news media or other sources for some visible evidence— in the form of world events or conditions—that Christ’s return was about to take place and that the “end was at hand.” His own words show that his followers were watchful in being on guard against the attractions of a materialistic world, the distracting anxieties of life, and hence manifesting a steady and diligent concern for maintaining spiritual strength and health, and above all for maintaining a right relationship with God and Christ, so that when, without any previous warning, the time of judgment did break, they might be found “standing before the Son of man” as approved persons.[5] Peter, also, in discussing God’s day of judgment makes clear that the evidence of one’s keeping that time “close in mind” is by “holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion,” not by putting faith in chronological speculation or becoming excited about certain world events or conditions.[6] As Christians, they should never lose from sight that such time of judgment is certain, unavoidable, should let that consciousness guide them in all their decisions and course of action, thus living each day as if it might be the day in which that time of settling accounts will come.
At one point the Watchtower article (page 18) states: “Have apostates who claim that ‘the last days’ began at Pentecost and cover the entire Christian Era promoted Christian alertness? Have they not, rather, induced spiritual sleepiness?” No evidence is advanced to show that that understanding of the “last days” must result or has resulted in such “spiritual sleepiness,” and a reduction of “Christian alertness.” A question the articles never address is what the evidence shows as to the effect of the Watchtower’s numerous false predictions. Have these—and similar predictions by other religious groups—actually strengthened people’s confidence in the Bible promises regarding Christ’s return? Have they enhanced appreciation of the Scriptures or have they served to make these appear as a source of false expectations?” (In Search of Christian Freedom pgs. 473-475)
So, what do you think? Which one do you believe is in harmony with the spirit of Jesus counsel for Christians to keep on the watch?
[1] See Crisis of Conscience, pages 175-184, 237, 238.
[2] 1 Corinthians 10:11, NIV
[3] Luke 21:8
[4] Compare Matthew 24:42-44; 25:13; Mark 13:33-37; Luke 12:40
[5] Luke 21:36
[6] 2 Peter 3:10-12