Good point dgp!
1975 For Deniers
by Farkel 107 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Gregor
They are old hands at manipulating willing followers. Remember, 1914 was never predicted by Russell to be the year Jesus would take the throne and cast Satan down to earth. That was 'explained' years later.
By the way, I predict Ohio State will win yesterdays Rose Bowl. Bow down, you little people!
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AllTimeJeff
I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for 1975.
In piecing together how my parents got married and *boom!* there I was, I learned some interesting facts. (dad was 25, mom almost 19 at the time of their marriage)
Dad led a rather hellish and abused childhood although he never talked much about it. His past is still a big blob of mystery to me in many respects. I do know that he ran away at 16, became a hippie, lived in many cities as a hippie all through the 60's. He was contacted by an elder in Tennessee in 68 or 69, and after 2 weeks of being convinced hellfire didn't exist (he was a Southern Baptist), he was baptized at the Astrodome in Houston Texas in 1969. He still smoked (they pulled the rug out from under him on that in a couple of years) and was most definitely caught up in the 75 rush. He admitted as much smoking a cigerette as he was contemplating getting reinstated around 1984. (the year, not the book).
My maternal grandmother died in 1967 suddenly, due to a misdiagnosis at a hospital, and Mom was never the same. (she was in her early teens at the time) She went through her teen years lost and without much love or guidance. So when Dad started courting her (I know, you roll your eyes, but it was the the South, and it was JW's, and you dated that young....) well, it was a match made in JW hell. My Mom and Dad, two lost souls that no one wanted to care for found each other in the contructs of a cult and decided to get married in 1973.
In 1975, my younger brother was conceived. In 1976, my brother was born, Dad started smoking again and went inactive and was lost. He wrote a letter disassociating himself in 1979 because he was smoking. (I guess he kept it hidden for a while. Wonder why Bill Hutter?)
Due to Mom and Dad wanting to be a happy family with my brother and I, Dad got reinstated in 1986, after being turned down the first time by the asshole elders in Tennessee. (I will name one. How ya doing Bill Hutter? You mercinary idiot of an elder!)
My point is, truth is stranger then fiction. 2 emotionally broke people tried to fix themselves in the wake of a cults last bold attempt at prophecy. 1975 came and went, and everyone involved was never the same.
If it weren't for that, Mom and Dad I am sure wouldn't have been married, and the random pieces of DNA that became me would have never made me a growing zygote.
I was born in 1974, so I obviously know nothing of the build up. I am just reporting the aftermath, and the occasional times both my parents let their guard down enough to say that 1975 was real.
Btw, Dad is still in I guess. Mom's out. I wish she would read here sometimes.... Maybe she does... Hi Mom!
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restrangled
Wow Jeff, I thought you were much older....always read your posts and enjoy them.....Hey, I'm way old enough to be your Mom......you are quite a guy!!!!!
r.
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thetrueone
Quite a story Jeff, yes they were some interesting times, full of fear and anxiety and the occasional suicide.
There was a lot propagating fear around those days, that essentially put people into controlled submission.
When I left in around 1978, I knew there wouldn't be much an apology come out of Brooklyn.
It was blatant scam to sell more literature, thats all and in those days there was a set price on magazines and books.
Spiritual food my ass, your father sounds like many of the JWS who dropped out after the 1975 fiasco.
I did and never returned even though all of my family were still in.
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pirata
Other interesting points Brother Franz mentioned in his 1975 convention talk:
- Now is not the time to get married, have kids, or go to university to be a civil or electrical engineer
- After repeatedly explaining the chronology and rhetorically asking if this was when armageddon and the great tribulation are going to happen: Some may insist on their opinion that all these events are going to start in 1975. But they are in danger of becoming False Prophets!
- September, 1975 marks 6000 years since Adam's creation, but the events may not start until 6000 years after eve was created, and we don't know when that was.
- "Something" momentous will happen in 1975
Made me think of dangling a carrot in front of a horse's mouth, but blaming the horse for eating it.
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JWoods
but the events may not start until 6000 years after eve was created, and we don't know when that was.
Strange that this little thing about Eve was never mentioned until nearly the last minute. It was a cynical way for Freddie to milk a few more years out of the false prophetic date, but the rank & file did not buy it.
The big pulling away happened right after 1975, and nobody at the time (or today) put any credence to the Eve creation angle.
Many elders at the time questioned what possible scriptural basis the "creation of Eve" could have had.
I can tell you that in my circle at the time - more of the elders feared that nothing would happen and they would get embarrased than feared the coming of the end.
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pirata
Thanks JWoods! I missed the whole 1975 situation, so appreciate the details of what really happened.
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Scarred for life
This is a GREAT thread. I will also put my 2 cents in. I was there in this 1966-73 period. My parents and sister remained in until about 1977. Everything that has been talked about on this thread is absolutely true. I heard the "Stay Alive til 75" talk in 1968 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. It began the frenzy and near hysteria that continued for 8 years. I didn't hear Fred Franz but my family and extended maternal family did. That September 6, 1975 date is the date that our congregation zeroed in on as THE date that Armageddon would happen. I had left the JWs in 1973. I was in college. I remember that day, though. I got drunk. But as the day turned into evening I realized that I had been right and nothing was going to happen. I cried and I laughed in my drunken relief. My parents never said a word. I had been listening to that doomsday prophecy all of my life but especially those last 8 years. That was the day that I knew for certain that my parents, my extended maternal family, and all those many , many talk givers had been lying to me all my life. I've never been the same. But I am so thankful that my children have not been brought up in that horrible, scary, negative cult.
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Aussie Oz
I remember it well, we kids laughed at our father for going to chiropractor college in 1974... why, gods gunna kill him next year! (he is now retired!)
Absolutlely they pushed 75 as the end. How can they deny it?
What about the Awake! Oct 8 1966? (unfortunatly i dont have a hard copy and its not on the lib cd... i got the quote somewhere on here!)
‘We are nearing the end of the first six thousand years of man’s existence.
If the date of the creation of man (4026 B.C) is also the date of the beginning
of the seventh creative day or sabbath, it is therefore calculated that the end of the first 6,000 years of this 7,000-year-long day will take place in the year 1975. Since the last thousand years of this seventh day are to be occupied entirely by the millennial reign of Christ, it follows that the year 1975 will witness the Battle of Armageddon and the ushering in of the long awaited new world under the King Jesus Christ.The article continued:
‘So, we can expect the immediate future to be filled with thrilling events for those who rest their faith on God and his promises’. (P20)
"IF....... (4026 B.C) is the date.........1975 will witness the battle of Armageddon"Perhaps i may be taking it out of context but i dont think so, 4026 was seen and still is seen as the date of Adams creation, used to make the calculations. I have no doubt that the WBTS meant exactly what it said too. They saw the "IF" as a definite.
oz