How many Of You...

Perry

...were between the ages of 10 and 15 in 1975; and looking back on your life how did that effect you?

OnTheWayOut

I will step up there. I was between those ages. Even though I stayed out of the JW's
until I was an adult, my mother tried to get us to be JW's back then.

Let's see- my aunt (and later my uncle) and cousins became JW's because the end
was coming in 1975.

My mother became a JW because the end was coming in 1975.

My Dad divorced my mother over a few issues, but one was that her precious "end"
didn't come in 1975.

My mother was disfellowshipped because the end didn't come in 1975.

Since her reinstatement years later, she is convinced that the end is imminent because
Eve will soon be 6000 years old, and she is stuck in the Fred Franz teachings about
1975.

1975 doctrine of the JW's really wrecked my life. Thanks for asking.

Since my mother was so convinced the end was coming in 1975, she was still a witness
when I needed help beyond what I was getting, and I accepted help from the JW's in the
late 1980's. I guess you could say I am a JW because of 1975.

Gopher

I was 14 that year. I didn't really believe Armageddon would come that year, or maybe I just didn't want it to come.

Still the idea that "the end is near" made me fearful to have normal relationships with my non-JW peers. The feeling about the "end being near" lingered for many years beyond 1975. It made me tentative in all my decisions, because what difference would it make since the end would render any decision moot? I didn't plan for the future, and I adopted a fatalistic attitude -- que sera sera, what will be will be.

Later when it came my time to leave the JW organization, the 1975 debacle helped me understand that the Watchtower had no special connection with any "God" or with "truth". It took me many years past 1975 to leave the Borg, but the pride and arrogance of the organization manifested in the 1975 prophecy (and the later failure to admit it) helped me know I could never go back there.

changeling

I turned 16 in 1975. My parents were zealous witnesses to put it mildly.

However, I can honestly say they did not openly work with 75 in mind, at least not openly.

They were over zealous before and continued to be so after 75.

If they were dissaponted or affected in any way they did not speak of ot with me.

changeling

llbh

I was19 in in 1975 and became a JW then hoping the world would sorted out -it wasn't i moved on . They and their teaching had a profound effect on my life but i blame no one but myself for being gullible. I have moved on.

My life is not bad though because of it, just different No point in looking back - pointless imo. i have 3 lovely children two out one in. and they are amongst other things a source of enjoyment.

llbh

VoidEater

I, too, was 14/15 in '75. The effect it had on me was, "Oh, that's gonna be interesting - another prophecy. Will it be as true as past prophecies, or as impossible to prove (e.g., Christ's presence)?"

I never believed. I felt bad for the people that were getting so psyched up for it, putting important life activities on hold. I felt bad for the people that felt disappointed.

I was very angry that the WTS didn't apologize for getting hopes up, but instead made things worse by explaining things away with the "Eve delay" thing - and then people got back in line again, though some with a glint of suspicion in their eyes.

I felt like I was one of the few people with my feet on the ground in a tide of zealotry - preach! Armageddon! Preach! Last Days! Preach!

Noting the pussyfooting around the issue in PUBLISHED material made me doubtful. Not believing in 1975, I didn't tell people that Armageddon was coming when out in field service. I did say, as I believed, that the world was in bad shape and that no one could fix it but God. Do householders give any credence to a teenage kid on their doorstep telling them about the end of the world?

And every time I was at the Hall there was this grand expectation that finally, it was going to happen.

The 1975 expectation didn't have much impact on my notions of God or the Bible; it was probably one of the big issues in forming my opinion that the WTS was les by a group of crafty, crazy old men, though.

beksbks

I was 14/15 too. I don't remember anything about 1975, other than an assembly that had a ticking clock start one of the talks. I'm pretty sure it was about '75. This was in Southern California, a district assembly I think.

Wasanelder Once

I was a teenager then too. It was the build up that mad it so difficult. Everyone I knew was going to die, my worldly friends, my family and everyone on the street. It was horrible. This knowledge did not cheer me up, it made me paranoid about losing so many loved ones. I became a preaching nutjob. I knew it wasn't coming in 75, but I had to hedge my bets. Those were some lousy days I'll tell you. W.Once

Perry

I turned 12 in the summer of ' 75.The end was strongly suggested up to that time in my family and by my older brothers. I had two older brothers that were "good". I was the mischevous one. In our family the Grace of god was unknown....only judgment. As a result, each year on my birthday I would count on my fingers how many years I had left before I was destroyed.

When it didn't happen, things just got tighter and tighter in my family. I smoked a ridiculously large amount herb in my teenage years to deal with it all.

ex-nj-jw

I was 10/11 remember all the hoopla about the end coming but never gave it much thought. I really didn't give a ratz A$$ about religion, god the bible or anything related to religion. I got in trouble once for telling my mother that if the Big A was coming I wished it would come already and get it over with She wasn't amused!

nj

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