by drew sagan 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
A LOT of JWs believed it right before 1975.
They sold property, put off medical treatment, gave up jobs to pioneer and the like.
Maybe we should be asking JWs to put their money where their mouth is -- pick an outside date for the big A and deed us their property as of the day after to prove how much they believe what they are saying. After all, if they are right, these deeds won't do any of us any good and won't be enforceable.
Watch them backtrack.
Here is the attitude promoted in the lead up to 1975:
*** w67 2/15 pp. 118-119 par. 26 “From a Weak State . . . Made Powerful” ***
There is a pioneer brother, still serving in the south of New Zealand at eighty-seven years of age, and his faithful pioneer wife is even a few years older. He sold his business in 1914, so that he could enjoy at least a few months of “colporteur” pioneer service before the expected big crash came in the autumn of that year. He is fond of quoting Jeremiah 20:7: “You have fooled me, O Jehovah, so that I was fooled.” For though he had expected his pioneer service on earth to be for a brief season only, it has stretched out through more than fifty rewarding years, together with trials and reproaches. And at last reports, he is still going “strong,” like Samson. Would he have had it any different? No! Moreover, he encourages young people to have the same viewpoint that he had back there in 1914. Make the most of the golden opportunity of pioneering the good news NOW!
Kingdom Ministry, 3/68, p. 4, "Just think, brothers, there are only about ninety months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed. Do you remember what we learned at the assemblies last summer? The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then. So now, more than ever, it is vital not to ignore that spirit of wanting to do more."
Kingdom Ministry, 6/69, p. 3, "Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end."
KM 6/69?
- I think you will find that these superlative words of guidance were uttered in the Kingdom Ministry sometime during mid-1974 (May of 1974, I seem to remember).
Anyway, many publishers were frantically selling off property, then using the proceeds to "pioneer", during that year before 1975. Not surprisingly, though, few of those same individuals were still in the pioneer service two years later (when I was). In fact, many of them were no longer "In the Truth" by then. (A lot crashed spectacularly - getting DF'd for the Trifecta of smoking, drinking and sexual immorality- this according to the then Branch Overseer).
After this particular Kingdom Ministry praised these persons for selling everything and plunging into full time service, an article in a 1976 Watchtower article severely criticised them for what they had done. That WT article was all about "Serving with Eternity in View" - not serving until a date.
Maybe that is why the present day JWs are not all special pioneers - i.e. they are just following the WTS's counsel to "Serve with Eternity in View."
(Says Bill, with his tongue deeply embedded in his cheek!)
I think many still believe but that belief is not what it once was. The urgency is not there as it used to be. The orginizations recent renewal of its war against higher education shows that many are turning that way because we are in fact still here. The recent effort to encourage the friends to strengthen thier loyalty to the org is also evident that the belief in the end is waining.
Armeggedon is on the horizon. Or around the corner. Or whatever euphomisim is de rigur now. SSDD!
JK
Banner from a recent convention...
@Alfred Something's definitely wrong with that software. Most of us know when to quit when something is stuck loading for more than a day. Unfortunately, most Witnesses are prepared to stare at their frozen computer screen for the rest of their lives.
