1914 & Betrayal — Understanding Religious Trauma Syndrome In Jehovah’s Witnesses
In her seminal work, Leaving the Fold — A Guide for Former Fundamentalists & Others Leaving Their Religion¹, human development specialist Marlene Winnel Ph.D. identifies Betrayal Trauma as a compounding factor in Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS).
She explains that “many ex-believers have anger about the abuse of growing up in a world of lies. They feel robbed of a normal childhood, honest information, and the opportunity to develop and thrive. They have rage because they dedicated their lives and gave up everything to serve God. They are angry about losing their families and their friends. They feel enormously betrayed.”¹
Anger, rage, and enormous betrayal; common experiences for a newly-awoken Jehovah’s Witness.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) are encouraged by leadership to live a simple life, reject higher education, and “repudiate ungodliness and worldly desires” (Titus 2:12 NWT²), such as the quest for material success or notoriety in the secular community. Subsequently, it is common for JWs to give up opportunities for university education or a promising career in order to focus their energies on congregation activities. Others sacrifice the possibility for supportive romantic relationships with an outsider (For more about the sexual repression of JWs see my article The Tripple-Facetted Trama of LGBTQ Jehovah’s Witnesses). And many devout women deny their instinctive desire to bear children in order to remain unattached and available to the organization for evangelization, construction, or other forms of volunteer work.
All of these sacrifices are based on the assumption that the only truly meaningful pursuits in life are those associated with the Watch Tower Society’s (WTS) mission. When this illusion evaporates, JWs are faced with the painful realization of everything they have given up.
Of course, long-term value-based goals of any sort come with sacrifices, but one can usually balance personal loss with deep moral conviction in a mission’s ideological soundness. But when the doctrinal underpinnings of a devout JW’s personal sacrifices are no longer sustainable, they may appear to have been made in vain. Such individuals feel that they have been robbed of many opportunities to live a full and meaningful life.
What Does This Have to Do With 1914 C.E.?
JW theology regarding the year 1914 C.E. may appear like an insignificant doctrinal peculiarity to many readers. But not so for JWs. Let me explain:
WTS teaches that JWs alone teach Bible chronology correctly; that they alone preach the cosmic significance of the year 1914 as the beginning of the “last days”³ (although the teaching was surprisingly common in the many sects of America’s mid-19th-century Adventist movement⁴). While flawed at many junctures, the prophetic calculation of Biblical chronology pointing to 1914 C.E. as the year of Christ’s enthronement in the heavens is intellectually stimulating, a source of great pride for JWs, and deeply impactful upon the life decisions of devout members. JWs base all of their biggest life decisions upon the belief that the last days began in 1914 and that the end of the world is coming soon; in their very lifetime.
Proceeding logically from this chronological foundation, JW teenagers reject scholarships, adult JWs reject employment opportunities, and JW mothers forgo childbirth. All of these sacrifices are based upon the understanding that their time is best spent saving as many outsiders as possible before the “great and fear-inspiring” war of Armageddon that will rid the earth of non-believers.
(Forgive me, for I shall now take you for a brief trip down the Biblical chronology rabbit hole)
The whole chronology hinges on what is called a “pivotal date”; a date that appears in both Biblical and secular history and can therefore be correlated to a modern calendar. The pivotal date used to calculate Jesus’ enthronement in 1914 is the date of Jerusalem’s destruction by Babylon. Despite the evidence presented by archeologists and historians for the date 587 B.C.E as the date of Jerusalem’s destruction, WTS stubbornly defends the date 607 B.C.E.⁵ Any admission to the contrary would bring doubt upon the precious 1914 doctrine and the lifestyle choice of over 8 million JWs.
In 1977, a Swedish JW named Carl Olof Johnsson completed a scholarly work called The Gentile Times Reconsidered⁶ that addressed this debate with an exhaustive discussion of the archeological and historical evidence supporting 587 B.C.E as the correct date of the destruction of ancient Babylon. Despite the implications for his personal faith, Olofsson courageously presented his research to the organization. As discussed in the memoir of the de-frocked JW Governing Body member Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience⁷, the board of leaders rejected the research. Johnsson was later disfellowshipped for apostasy. The corroborating accounts from both Johnsson and Franz strongly suggest that the Governing Body examined the new information, deliberately refused to release it to the rank and file, and summarily silenced Johnsson.
Acknowledging Betrayal in Post-Traumatic Recovery
I’ll never forget how I felt when I learned of the deceit surrounding WTS’s dating of this otherwise insignificant historical event.
I trusted the church’s leadership with my entire life. But I had been restricted from accessing legitimate academic research that would have profoundly affected my most important life decisions. They had deliberately obfuscated the facts.
I was heartbroken. I promised myself that I would never trust another human being again.
I offer my personal experience to provide insight into the betrayal trauma faced by disillusioned JWs. For many, the resulting lack of trust in humanity presents real challenges to future social integration, regardless of whether disillusioned members choose to remain in the organization or decide to exit and face shunning from their religious community. Hypervigilance to manipulation and deceit makes establishing supportive connections (be they familial, romantic, professional, or otherwise) extremely difficult for victims of betrayal trauma. Further, any residual reluctance to create a healthy social support system may exacerbate the symptoms of RTS.
It is my desire that psychotherapists and counselors be informed about this compounding factor in the recovery of JWs from the symptoms of RTS. With patience and treatment, I hope that such ones will once again be able to create supportive relationships based on mutual trust.
The above is an excerpt from my upcoming book A Voice From Inside — Notes On Religious Trauma Syndrome In a Captive Organization. To stay informed about the release, drop your email in the form below.
References:
- Winell, M. (2006). Leaving the fold. Marlene Winell Ph. D.
- Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania (2013) New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. Brooklyn, New York. Retrieved from: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014682#h=1:0-26:914
- Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania (2014) Are You Convinced That You Have The Truth? Why? Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. Brooklyn, New York. Retrieved from: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014682#h=1:0-26:914
- Chryssides, G. D. (2016). Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change. Routledge.
- Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania (2011) When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed? — Part One Why it Matters; What the Evidence Shows. Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. Brooklyn, New York. Retrieved from: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2014682#h=1:0-26:914
- Johnsson, Carl Olof (1983). The Gentile Times Reconsidered. Contemporary Press. Atlanta, Georgia.
- Franz, R. (1983). Crisis of conscience (Vol. 11). Atlanta, GA: Commentary Press.
