by d 278 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
My parents were baptized in '70 and '71 in the Los Angeles area (remember when we had the Lamert theater?). I was 9 years old in 1975. I remember my mom used to say thet she was glad she'd "never be forty in this system of things." Now she's in her 70s and her youngest son is 43!
The guy that studied with my dad said "if the end doesn't come in 1975 you can throw the bible in the fireplace!"
Well, they're still "in". And there is no way I can reason them out of their self imposed blindness.
Dunk,
If the WTS comes out with another date, we all ought to demand that JWs put such statements in writing and then confront them with it when the date fails.
It might not get them out, but at least they'd have a lot more difficulty being deniers.
1975 was just one of the pinnacle dates that the WTS. exploited to heighten their literature sales.
It was a deliberate commercial fraud as I mentioned previously.
But who cares if people committed suicide or didn't get an education so they could better jobs
to support themselves or didn't get married and settle down or didn't have children because
they thought it would be better to have children in the new system.
This is the kind of shit the was all around me back in those days and made me sick and disturbed.
And people wonder why I made an exit a few years after.
The most maddening thing that finally was the last straw was when they ( GB ) shrugged
the whole dating calculation on to ones who were just being overly zealous.
They wouldn't take an ounce of responsibility and not surprisingly since they self proclaimed themselves as god's only
true witness and voice on earth.
I have given up on the idea that any kind of "proof" is going to be effective with so many of those still "in". It's not there's a lack of info/evidence. They are so invested in their beliefs, and for some like my folks - they are responsible for so many either becoming JWs or reinforcing false beliefs - it simply is too much for them to fathom that they are part of the deceit.
Dunk,
In 1971-1973 I was working in the Pacific Telephone Central Office that was just across and to the east of Leimert Park. The JWs had recently purchased the old movie theater and changed it into an assembly hall, one of the first of its kind in the USA. I was inside a couple of times supervising some telephone work, but never saw the main auditorium, only the utility boxes and wiring closets at the rear of the building.
I was 23 years old and married in 1966 when all the talk about 1975 began. I was disfellowshipped and was no longer going at that time, but my wife was still a JW and went to the West Hollywood KH on Melrose Avenue. In the 1967-1970 time period our marriage was under constant strain because of that teaching. The Congregation Servant and other servants in that KH were pressuring my wife to get me to repent and return. They told her that the "sins of the father would be visited upon his children," and since we had three daughters who were all very young this possibility terrified her.
If there is anyone who claims that the Watchtower never promoted 1975 as being the beginning of Armageddon, I can assure you that they did. They did it at every meeting, every assembly, and almost every WT and Aw! magazines that came out at the time. I wish I could have taped some of the heated conversations between my wife and me at the time. I refused to go back and made it clear that I did not want her to allow our daughters to be baptized until they were old enough (like more than 15) to make that decision for themselves. Our marriage ended in 1971 for many reasons, but the stress of the 1975 teaching was a major part of our problems. She stopped going to the Kingdom Hall herself around 1975-76 when the end failed to come as promised.
In 1972-73 I was a telephone field supervisor in the Leimert Park / Crenshaw area (it was the "Axminster" exchange). The telephone company was under a lot of pressure at the time to promote African-American men and women of all ethnicities in order to meet a federal court order. At that time, even though the population of the Crenshaw area was primarily African-American, with a few Korean and Japanese families, all of the supervisors and managers at the phone company were white. In the central office we had a couple of minority supervisors, but I think they were mixed race.
As supervisors, we were told to look out for any minority employees who might qualify for supervisory training and could be put on a fast track for future management. I had one young African-American installation tech who had high quality work, was there every day, and had excellent employee evaluations. One day I road along with him as he did his daily work orders. While we were out in the field, I brought up the possibility of a future promotion and offered to coach him on supervisory techniques.
I was flabbergasted to hear him turn down any suggestion of a promotion. He told me that he was a JW and that he was looking forward to Armageddon coming by 1975. Taking a promotion now would interfere with his meetings and door-to-door witnessing work. When I told him that he should reconsider and think of the financial benefits to his family, he became quite agitated. I finally told him that my ex-wife was JW and that I had been raised a JW and knew about the teachings of JWs and their 1975 prediction. When he asked me if I had been disfellowshipped, I admitted that I had, but that was many years ago and had nothing to do with my being his supervisor.
The next day when I arrived at work, I was met by my boss and the local union steward. They asked me what happened the previous day. I told them exactly what happened. Both of them looked at me like I was the crazy one. They actually asked me to swear that my conversation was not directed toward his religion, but rather to assist in his promotion. "He wants to go to another crew," the steward stated.
"I don't want to lose him. He is very good and I would like for him to stay. I promise that I will never bring up the subject again," I replied.
"Nope. Not good enough. He says that you are possessed by demons and the Devil is in control of you. He can't work with you anymore."
My boss finally decided to settle everything quickly and agreed to swap him from my crew with a technician from another crew. That young man never spoke to me again although we worked in the same garage together for several months. Within a few months he left the security of working for the telephone company. I don't know for sure, but someone who knew him told me that he moved to some small town in the desert to become a full-time minister.
Every time I think of the damage done to so many good families by the Watchtower's teaching of 1975, I think of him. I've often wondered whatever happened to him and how long he stayed a Jehovah's Witness.
So don't believe anyone who denies the facts behind the constant promotion of 1975 by the Watchtower Society at both the headquarters' level and within local Kingdom Halls.
I am wondering at the exageration on here? I remember 1975 as a time that many knew only ones running ahead of themselves truly thought it was Armageddon. We are always getting talks that the end is near from before that day to this. That being said I think those that wanted the reward rather than having a true Faith in Jehovah's promises were weeded out in 1975 for them it was a case of "Armageddon or else I'm leaving" which is very telling.
Debator,
I have to take exception to your comment. There is no exaggeration here at all about the WT's constant promotion of 1975 as "the promised end of this system of things."
My parents were also JWs who had left California to go where the need was greater. They called me several times and told me that 1975 was definitely the date. Like my wife, they wanted me to repent and return the JWs. My dad was concerned that our family would all be in the New World except for me and my brother. He sent me Watchtowers with paragraphs highlighted and other WT books that discussed the teaching.
In 1976 or '77, my dad called me and offered me a weak apology for his shunning of me and my brother between 1973-75. He told me that he was sorry and was now afraid that I'd never come back. He made the statement that "the Watchtower Society never really said that Armageddon was going to come in 1975. We just had that hope. We ran ahead of Jehovah and the brothers at Bethel. Please forgive us for our misunderstanding of what 1975 was all about and Mom and I want you to communicate with us again."
I'd kept the letter he wrote me and the magazines he'd sent. There was no "running ahead of Jehovah" on his part - everything was right there in black and white in the Watchtower publications. And yet he and my mother had been convinced that they had imagined the whole thing, along with millions of other rank and file JWs who were active at that time.
I also take issue with your comment that "in 1975 for them it was a case of 'Armageddon or else I'm leaving' which is very telling." For most JWs of the time, they went along with what the WT had told them both before and after 1975. Many did leave the JWs in the 5 to 8 years after 1975, but by far the majority, being the sheep they were, just kept on going on - never giving the fiasco a second thought. They bought the Watchtower's story hook, line and sinker - and just continued on. But their kids and many who had been studying to prepare for 1975 left as soon as they realized that they had been lied to.
Hi Juan
You say watchtowers and awakes talk about it but none of them have 1975 in as a date for Armageddon in them. They do warn of impending Armageddon which they have from 1900's till now so You are wrong there.
I accept many people (including elders, congregation members and bethel workers etc) got caught up by the 1975 year because it marked something like 6000 years since Adam but there was no official teaching that 1975 was the date for Armageddon.
When a date like 1914 is found using Biblical Chronology we have no problem putting it continuously in our magazines as a definite date. You can probs find mention of 1914 in magazines from nearly every year we've published watchtowers so if 1975 was an official teaching we would have no problem putting it in our magazines but we didn't it is referenced only slightly.
I am a Witness and we know official teachings are written down very definitely and extremely frequently. We are not afraid of writing things down that is not something anyone could accuse us of. What we believe is there for anyone to read. Hense why you get people on here quoting watchtower after watchtower but never on this subject because none exists.
There was an added urgency in those decades because of the "generation" teaching that needed refining since time itself had highlighted the error.
1975 was hopeful thinking by a lot of witnesses and it is sad that many left because of this mistake by men in their enthusiasm but it doesn't negate Jehovah at all he will still bring Armageddon when he deems it the right time.
Debator, I wasn't a JW in 1975 but my husband and his family all were.
I, like you, thought that people has misunderstood 1975 and have questioned my husband tirelessly over it. He was aged 16 in 1975 and therefore of an age when his memory was good.
At assemblies people were encouraged to give up their jobs and told that there was no finer way of spending their last days. Lots of people did this believing it was the right thing to do. Fortunately, my husband's family didn't though they did stock up plenty on food.
I have always believed that no-one should serve with a date in mind, one should live a good Christian life simply because they want to and certainly not for any reward. Doing it for a reward negates everything about Christianity.
My in-laws have all their old Watchtowers and Awakes dating back prior to 1975 and it is my husband's intention to go through these.
However, there is one well known book called "Millions now living will never Die", perhaps you can explain this.
Also, how old were you in 1975?
Thank you.
