"some were led to believe that the end would come in 1975"

by Sour Grapes 69 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Terry

  My wife in 1975 was about to face a crisis of faith that lead to alcoholism and death by drunk driving. She didn't know it and neither did I.

  She gradually grappled with the dawning realization the Watchtower religion was FALSE.

  She began to deteriorate. She crumbled.

  To say she was grateful that Armageddon had not come is to completely misunderstand what Absolute Belief is all about when it is ruined.

  The bedrock upon which true believers rest their sanity suddenly becomes cracked and fragile.

  JoAnn was left without any world beneath her feet. She plummeted.

  The impact was reached in May of 1983.

  Thanks for nothing, Watchtower know-it-alls who are "guided" by Jehovah's spirit!

  Thanks for leaving our 3 small children crying on the sofa when I had to tell them their mother was dead.

  Yes, "some" were led to believe the end would come in 1975. In JoAnn's case they were off by eight years.
• 

  00DAD

  Wow, Terry. That is so tragic.

  Your experience is one of the more poignant of many here.

  It truly is criminal what the leadership of the WT has done.

  Your comments about what happens to us when we "grapple with the dawning realization the Watchtower religion was FALSE" is so true.

  We all deteriorate. We all crumble. Some, maybe even most, are able to make it through without the tragic end your wife had, but none of us are the same. We are all forever changed. Only someone that's been through it can understand what Absolute Belief is all about when it is ruined.

  I'm not sure what I believe any more, but when I'm thinking that maybe there is a God it's mostly only because I want Him to hold those bastards accountable for what they've done.
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  Poztate

  Wasn't that the same lecture in which he made reference to bestiality? With reference to the time gap between Adam's creation and Eve's creation, and Adam being all alone in the garden with those animals....and he actually used the "bestiality"word

  As early as the Life Everlasting book (1966) the speculation was made that not only would it take time to name the animals but Jehovah would allow him time to see if they was anything he "liked" in the animal world. It may have taken him a number of years to decide yes or no on the sheep alone and that is why Armageddon™ was delayed.

  22 Before God created anything new, a woman,

  God left the man free to determine whether there

  was a suitable companion for him among all the

  lower animals. He did not oblige the man to go

  seeking a companion among them, thus requiring

  the use of much time on the man's part, but Je hovah

  God brought the various beasts of the earth

  and the flying creatures of the heavens before

  the man. God gave the man the freedom to name

  these creatures. But the perfect man, created in

  God’s image and according to God’s likeness

  Was not inclined to bestiality

  pg45
• 

  Pistoff

  My anger at the subject of this thread just turned to sadness at Terry's post. I am sorry for your loss.

  Those who say that the Society never preached 1975 were either never there, or are rank liars.

  I was there when Br Yasko boomed "Stay Alive til '75".

  I was there when Russ Anderson said it was a certainty that 1975 was the end.

  The congregation servant and his assistant (elders came in during the 70's, ya know) BOTH sold their houses, quit very good jobs and pioneered, only later to struggle as they retired.

  I was at the table when Albert Schroeder said the end hadn't come in '75 because of a mighty battle between Satan's forces and Jehovah's.

  I passed on college; why go to college if it is all heading for the tank??
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  I was there when on two separate occasions our CO stated, "We were NOT wrong about 1914, and we WILL NOT be wrong about 1975."
• 

  ScenicViewer

  Terry said,

  "JoAnn was left without any world beneath her feet. She plummeted."

  What a tragic loss Terry. The extent of the destruction caused by false prophets will never be fully known because the fall-out from it just can't be tallied. Your sad experience is just one of how many? No one can possibly know.

  This reminds me of a scripture that warns of the bad effects of failed expectations,

  (Proverbs 13:12, NWT)
  “Expectation postponed is making the heart sick, but the thing desired is a tree of life when it does come.”

  Watchtower has caused untold suffering, altered lives, unfortunate educational and career choices, family divisions, and more because of it's many failed predictions. The "thing desired, the tree of life" has never come, and will never come as a result of Watchtower activity.

  Broken lives will continue to be the only result of following the WTS.
• 

  Finkelstein

  Wts. created 1975 as marketing scheme to spur the distribution of its literature, it was devious, it was corrupt but it

  inevitably was successful in its intentions. Unfortunately to people who perceived that they were being given "The Truth"

  many disastrous personal events occurred, even to the extent of driving some to commit suicide.

  All of this coming from the supposed organization being selectively chosen by god.
• 

  LongHairGal

  SourGrapes:

  If I were a witness to the events prior to 1975 and heard this young elder trying to re-write history, I think I would jump out of my seat and yell and make a commotion in the hall. They would have to escort me out of there!

  I wasn't around for the 1975 fiasco but if I had been and was conscious at any of the meetings, I would definitely remember what was said and the prevailing general attitude. It just so happens that there ARE plenty of people still around who WERE there and would swear on a stack of bibles what happened. If they were sitting there, I don't know how they kept their silence.

  The religion probably wishes that anybody who knows where the proverbial bodies are buried would just disappear. They don't want any living reminders around to tell everybody what really happened.
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  panhandlegirl

  Terry, I am so sorry about your wife. Many of us who spent our life under the illusion that we would never die if only we believed and stayed faithful to the "truth" lost our balance when we had to face the fact that

  we had been duped. As you alluded to, the WtS teaching about the end coming in 1975 was accepted as an Absolute Belief by those of us fully blinded by the so called "truth." We have been left embittered by the

  loss of our youth and the opportunites missed due to the organization's teachings. Your wife's loss of life and your loss of her, and children's loss of a mother is, of course, the ultimat loss. As stated eariler, no one

  who has not experienced this "crisis of faith" can fully understand what happens when you are forced to "grapple with the dawning realization that the Watchtower religion was [is] FALSE." It is devastating

  to realize your whole life has been based on a LIE! And NOW! to learn that the Organization denies what they themselves preached to us continually and put the blame on US for misunderstanding

  is so disgusting and unbelievable. Too bad for them that there is not only written proof of what they said but those of us who remember (How could we forget!) and lived through their debacle who can testify to the

  lies they have told.
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  nicsfreedom

  After listening to the convention audio that referred to the specific date they predicted in 1975 I cannot believe they kept any members. I am trying to not get really pissed off at my parents for being so blind. It just seems like no common sense could have been applied by any JW after this dated failed, again. I a have heard my parents defend it but did they really know how specific the supposed prophesy was predicted?

  Unbelievable!