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You Will Grow Old

For over 150 years, since 1879, Watchtower said its followers would never grow old, but rather shortly walk through Armageddon into an eternal earthly paradise. The reality of this lie hit home when the 2026 jw.org homepage featured an article offering advice on “How to Age Gracefully.”

Watchtower constantly said growing old was not going to happen, such as the following quote from 1969.

“If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things.” Awake! 1969 May 22 p.15

For many decades, it was plainly stated that Armageddon would come whilst the generation of people born prior to 1914 were still alive.

When in Bethel in the early 1990’s, I realised that the religion was not the truth, and that Armageddon was not a real event. That meant the leaders would have to change their teaching and admit the idea that those living in 1914 would all die out.

It was no shock then when in 1995 they changed the generation teaching, and said a generation was not literal. In 2010, they further changed it to say the generation was an overlapping generation that could continue indefinitely.

""Jesus evidently meant that the lives of the anointed ones who were on hand when the sign began to be evident in 1914 would overlap with the lives of the other anointed ones who would see the start of the great tribulation." We do not know the exact length of "this generation," but it includes these two groups whose lives overlap." Watchtower 2010 June 15 p.5

Whilst being a tacit acknowledgement that the Governing Body knew the end was unikely to be soon, if ever, they never openly said their teaching was wrong.

Watchtower is dealing with the issue that its base of followers are rapidly aging. In many countries, kingdom halls are full of mostly retired people. Census data from countries like Australia show the average age is rapidly getting older.

In June 1, 2015, Watchtower released “How to Age Gracefully” and in July 2026, this article was highlighted on jw.org’s home page.

The article does not admit it lied to its followers with promises they would live through Armageddon. Rather, it treats older members as ignorant, providing basic information, such as to be modest, positive, generous, friendly, thankful, and to shower daily.

“I try my best to look smart, wearing clean and fresh clothes,” says Antônio, 73, in Brazil. Regarding personal hygiene, he adds: “I shower and shave daily.”

The Governing Body refuses to admit it has spent 150 years lying to its followers that they will walk through Armageddon into an earthly paradise. Rather, it shows from the changes to the generation teaching, and provision of articles on preparing for old age, that it knows Armageddon is a dream it sold members that it doesn’t actually believe in.

Written July 2026.

   Paul Grundy  2005 - 2026