1975 - A weak argument?

by Christ Alone 89 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Finkelstein

  1975 - A weak argument?

  Not exactly, upon making a close evaluation of them coming to this proclaiming conclusion since

  the said calculation the WTS. created ( via Fred Franz ) to come to October 1975 of mankind's existence

  of 6000 years was indeed a grandiose lie for it is imposable by using the bible as a chronological timetable

  to make that assertive calculation.

  It was an underhanded devious marketing ploy by these men plain and simple, maybe even done so to divert attention from the fact

  that nothing had happened concerning those ones who witnessed the events of 1914 . ( remember that one ? )
• 

  Christ Alone

  I would like to ask a Jehovah's Witness this: What would the Watchtower have to say for it to be a false prophecy? How could they be guilty of falsely prophecying?

  Or perhaps first ask: What is a false prophecy? What other religions been guilty of it? How?

  See if it matches up to what the WT has done before you show that the WT has done the very things they are talking about...
• 

  Finkelstein

  To be precisely accurate, the WTS has been a commercially inspired false prophet/profit and has been since day one.

  It could and should be seen as an expression of the freedom of religion in America.

  There's " The Truth " that most JWs have a hard time accepting.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  They had a huge recruitment drive because the end of the world was virtually almost-definitely probably coming by the end of 1975.

  They did this to drive up their membership and pay for modernization in Brooklyn.

  It was backed off of toward the due date. Basically, they got what they needed out of it and switched to retention. They knew the end of the world wasn't likely to happen in 1975.

  It was a wink-wink thing- they indicated their assuredness while winking when they said "not definitely." It's very similar to them saying only God judges the worldly people so they cannot say that none of them will survive Armageddon. "Wink-wink."

  If they are just guessing at things, then they don't know anything. Even the FDS, Jesus didn't choose the Watchtower people in 1919, but will appoint someone over his belongings in the near future. So what the hell do we need these people for? They aren't inspired. They make mistakes.
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  eva luna

  Greetings Christ Alone

  In my area, at the circuit assembly we had a "Bethelite" speaker, and he did say armagedon was coming in 1975. He screamed it like an old fashioned Baptist preacher.

  Many things were said at that time, sort of 'off the record' , by C.O.s., etc. Combining this with what was printed, everyone I knew at the time, belived it. I remember sitting at the dinner table and asking my mom , so am I ever going to finish school, drive a car, get married? Many things . In fact she said Jehovah would straighten my teeth, so no braces.

  I've brought this up recently , my mom denies it all and gets very defensive. My dad doesnt say to much other than it was true and the speaker at the assembly was counseled. What ever that means. Well thanks for letting me know . I was a scared teen and belived we were all going to go to concentation camps and have our fingernails pulled out.

  You just had to be there at that time to feel the fear and frenzy.
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  jgnat

  I think the problem with the 1975 argument is that it is loaded with cognitive dissonance. Anyone who was fooled feels like a fool, and is unlikely to admit it. Any modern fool would deny they would have been sucked in.

  I think the best use of this embarrassing bit of history is if the WTS tries anything similar today. I would comment that I would not be so foolish as those people in 1975, and comment on similarities. If the person denies that the situations are similar, but later prove I was right, what can they say?
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  cobaltcupcake

  I was 16 years old in 1975. They sure as hell promoted that date as "the end." My mother used to say we had made it "just under the wire" because my folks were baptized in 1972. My frantic father, realizing my brother and I were "of the age of reason" pushed us to get baptized, which we did in January of 1974.

  To say it was implied, alluded to, but never actually said is incorrect. It was trumpeted from the rooftops while at the same time they kept saying, "but nobody knows the day or the hour." I even told my father, "Well, if every Witness picked a day and hour between now (1973) and October of 1975, somebody would get it right." Every JW believed it absolutely. Absolutely.

  WTS is peopled with fiends.
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  panhandlegirl

  marked
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  MrFreeze

  Yeah they never said specifically but it is implied. Like when they say from the platform at the conventions, "Aren't we happy to be here brothers and sisters?" Then it makes the brainwashed person think "Oh yeah, I am happy to be here!" Then you applaud. They never told you to be happy, they just made you cognizant of how you were SUPPOSED to feel.

  Their shifty words allow them to have their cake and eat it too.
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  144001

  <<<< I think taking the 1975 approach with a JW is...weak. Was it wrong (and false prophetic) of them? Absolutely. But technically the didn't actually say "Armageddon will come by 1975". The elluded to it. The did everything BUT say it. But the fact remains, they didn't say it WOULD happen. >>>>

  Under the legal theory of "respondeat superior," the words of the elders, spoken from the platform, are attributed to the WTBTS corporations.

  At our hall, the elders not only said Armageddon WOULD occur in October of 1975; they also gave a specific date in October of that year on which this happily anticipated destruction of mankind as we know it would occur.

  At our hall, they didn't say it was "possible," or "probable." They said it would definitely occur. Because of their doomsday predictions, several families in our hall sold their houses so that they could live off the money and pioneer to the end. At least one of those families is no longer a witness family.

  I was a kid at the time but I remember it vividly. It scared the hell out of me because I wasn't sure I was going to make it into the "New System" since I had a big stash of Playboy magazines hidden in the garage.