Who was to blame for the blunder of 1975?

by trykkleif 23 Replies latest jw friends

  • trykkleif
    trykkleif

    Harmageddon was supposed to occur in the fall of 1975, but nothing happened. Who should have taken the blame? The GB? The ordinary witnesses or even the devil?

    trykkleif

  • metatron
    metatron

    start with Fred Franz and work your way down the
    ladder

    metatron

  • proplog2
    proplog2

    A member of the governing body told a group of us at dinner one night that they were razzing Fred Franz in the Summer of 1975 - asking him if he still thought the end was going to come that year. Franz made it clear that they should wait until October.

    This is why those who would like to say that the Watchtower wasn't squarely behind that date are simply ignorant of the facts.

  • Julie
    Julie

    The way I hear it, it was "Brother Some"

    Julie

  • BERNARD
    BERNARD

    To get the answer go too the horses mouth. If you refer
    too the august 15,1968 Watchtower in the bound volume on
    page 494 you will see the Title "WHY ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD
    TO 1975 ? READ IT AND DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION, OF THE FALSE
    PROPHET THAT THE WATCHTOWER IS. SORRY UNABLE TO SCAN IT.

  • chester
    chester

    I posted this in another thread but no one commented on it.
    .. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=20536&site=3#254833
    I thought it was interesting that Lloyd Barry did not apply for his social security card until 1975.

    WILLIAM L BARRY Request Information

    SSN 059-56-5008 Residence: 11201 Brooklyn, Kings, NY
    Born 20 Dec 1916 Last Benefit:
    Died 2 Jul 1999 Issued: NY (1975)

    The link for the social security site is listed below
    http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/vital/ssdi/main.htm

  • DakotaRed
    DakotaRed

    Great subject for my one hundrenth post and welcome to the fracas.

    I have read many sites discussing the Watchtower and 1975. I have seen both sides of the issue manuever around and try to lay blame. I wasn't a JW at the time, still was on active duty in the Army, so I have read accounts keenly trying to figure out what happened all around.

    One thing that has always disappointed me is when exJWs resort to trickery to drive home a point on this date. Case in point, the May 1974 KM quote that permeates the internet and combines two separate paragraphs into one giving the impression that it was written that way. Before you all accuse me of defending the WT, let me say that there is enough evidence out there for this additional debacle of the WTs to not have to resort to such chicanery. Let the Org do that and call them on it.

    Now, it is evident that the WT made a fuss of this date and kept speaking of it for some 7 years before it passed. True, they never flatly stated that it was going to happen, but they sure did "suggest" that it was.

    One thing that I have always found to be very cowardly about it is that they never came out and admitted to making a wrong prediction, but placed the blame on elders and rank and file members for teaching the end would come. However, if they really felt the end was not likely to be, how could they allow the congregations to continue teaching the date? I mainly fault the Watchtower for not stepping in and squelching the elders teaching the date, if they truly were not predicting the date. Allowing them to continu teaching what was going to happen shows me they did in fact believe it to be a true prediction.

    But, since they were burned so many times before (I believe) they made it such a manner as to slide out from underneath the prediction when it never happened. Very crafty, I think. If it had in fact happened, then they puff up their chests and brag about making the prediction. Since it didn't happen, they shirk away from the responsibility of making it in the first place and lay the blame on others. A win win situation, or so they thought.

    Ultimately, the Watchtower, as the parent corporation and the ones who made the intial mention and fuss about the date, have to bear the responsibility as well as the blame for a false prediction.

    Elders, who are supposedly "spiritually qualified" should also accept some of the blame, although not the majority of it. As "spiritual leaders" and "teachers," they should have been aware of the scriptures where Jesus stated that "No one knows the date, not even the Son, but only the Father!" If nothing else, it should have opened their eyes to true nature of the Watchtower as a manmade organization, full of faults and misgivings and not the Heavenly Blessed org they claim to be.

    But ultimately, the blame should placed squarely on the shoulders of the Watchtowers Governing Body for making the prediction in the first place and not stating plainly, over the seven year period, that they didn't think it was going to happen.

    Provided, of course, that they are being truthful about not actually thinking it was going to happen in 1975. As to their truthfulness, I have strong doubts.

    If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?

  • Farkel
    Farkel

    Of course, Lloyd Barry died giving the talk, "Fighters Against Jehovah Will Not Prevail" only a few years ago. How poetic.

    His SSI card was not much comfort for him at THAT event and his most timely demise. He was also responsible for the signing on to UN fiasco. May Lloyd Barry rot in a worse hell than he created for all of his true believers.

    To all of my detractors: "bite me!"

    Farkel

    "I didn't mean what I meant."

  • Francois
    Francois

    One thing is absolutely certain: the prediction of Armageddon in 1975 DID NOT come from the rank and file JW. JWs after all, have been taught NOT to "think" NOT "to run ahead of Jehovah's organization" for a century. For those bastards to attempt to blame the victim is as predictable as it is disgusting, indefensible, and abusive. These are not characteristics one would expect to find in God, whom they claim to represent.

  • JT
    JT

    THE COMMENT WAS MADE BY A POSTER_DakotaRed_

    "I wasn't a JW at the time"

    and sad to say this is really the key needed to understand wt dogma
    it is best understood in the context of that time--
    this post was not at the district convention, he didn't attend the elders meetings and hear the THRUST of so many talks, comments, articles, demo on the assemblies,

    my dear friend it is NOT ONE OR TWO COMMENTS that make this issue

    it is the entire MINDSET THAT PERMEATED THE ENTIRE ORG at that time

    and sad to say that mindset unless you were there can't be recreaed
    the closest thing i can think of that would give you some semblencd of the time is

    9-11 if you are born 25 yrs from today- unless you were in your call or watching the tv the day it happened you can NEVER NEVER NEVER
    recreate the fear and shock that the world and esp here in the states that was exp-

    not to dog you , but unless you were there and walked in the shoes of so many of us you will never really know

    and it is nothing against you per-say , but that is merely a fact

    and much like any other issue- there are some things in life that unless you go thru it and exp the full brunt you will never know

    like a woman having a baby , as a man i will never know the true pain that many women exp or like being a black man- as a white man you will never fully understand- or those who were in the concentration camps sure you can come to DC and see the museum, or some films but unless you were there and smelled the flesh of 1000's burning everyday for 2yrs you and i have no real idea of what it was like

    and this applies to so many other exp that took place thru out history

    you have merely read a couple of lines in an old wt- WE MADE LIFE CHOICES-

    JUST MY 2

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