by musky 24 Replies latest jw friends
Hoo-hah,
You are correct. Any any group that encourages you to look to a date can only be false prophets.
For all the people who "don't remember it," guess what. There is this thing called "Selective memory." Why on earth would they WANT to admit it? Then they'd have to explain why the hell they didn't leave the JWs in 1975.
Click on this link to a great thread by E-man. "So you're a Seventy-fiver, then, are you?
* http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=4975&site=3#59697
Lisa
hi
I went along the 1975 end date along with the majority of JWs at that time. The ones who were not true believers must have been swept up in the hype somehow otherwise one could not sit through all the fervent buildup. OMG that reminds me, do you remember the Watchtower study explaining just how JWs are zealots NOT fanatics around that time?
It's still surprising the measures a few JWs took to prepare for the end. I also knew families that sold their homes to move to where the need was greater. I knew families that stored up large amounts of food and did not enroll their children in school. I was warned in 1968-9 that Armaggedon might come while I was visiting my nonJW mother during summer vacation.
I like to see this topic appear, here and on other websites. Don't let 1975 die and become like 1914 Armageddon date, forgotten or a doctored memory.
Thanks for all your replies.
to liberty,
I believe you missed the point of my post. Did you read all of it?
I said in my post that I was 10 years old in 1975, and that I probably wasn't paying much attention at the meetings. You said in your reply " you apparently were/ are just plain ill-informed or are too young to remembert it clearly."
If you had read my post you should have known that your comment was not necessary.
My grandparents were jw's , and I was raised a JW, so I have an excellent idea of what they are all about.
My point about the individual congregations was that the attitudes are very different in each one. I went to various congregations and found totally different atmospheres in each. Some treated me very kindly and warm, others were cold. I remember one i went too. I must have went there for over a year, and they never said anything to me. Cold as ice. I feel that those types of differences can also be applied to the understanding of what those watchtower articles were saying about 1975. I can see some congregations getting all excited and others that could care less. At any rate, Something should have been done by the society when they noticed a good number of followers believing that 1975 was going to be the end. By there taking no action and not denying anything, they basically DID say that 1975 was going to be the end.
Why did you question if I was ever a real JW?? as opposed to What? a fake one? I did not deny the date promotions as you suggested.
Your reply seems to be pretty arrogant. I have no use for arrogance
Hi again Musky,
We have argued continuously here and on the old H2O site with real Watchtower defenders and trolls about 1975. My post was strongly worded because I can't believe a real JW could really believe that individuals or congregations could promote an idea as important as 1975 unless it was approved by the Society. I granted you the fact that you may have been too young to understand what was going on back then but yet you still insist on saying that the 1975 big A promotion was congregationally divergent. You know this cannot be true after living as a JW after this event and getting older since people are DFed for just BELIEVING in minor doctrinal differences let alone actively promoting something this radical. So yes, this is why I questioned whether you were a real JW. If you are/were a JW then my point was that their brainwashing is very effective because you are able to ignor reality and create the myth that each congregation was allowed to promote the idea as they saw fit without feeling the wrath of the Society. The Society did not just passively allow individuals or congregations to come to their own understanding on this or any matter but actively WAS the source of the idea and its promotion.
I would conceed that as 1975 came and went without any significant world events occuring (it failed miserably as even a "marked" date unlike 1914 which at least had the "lucky" coincidence of a World War)certain congregations swept it under the rug faster than others. Perhaps this is what you meant or felt since you were too young to really remember the excitment of pre-1975 years. My goal was not to attack you as a person but rather I was frankly shocked into anger by your theory since such diversity of opinion is not allowed in the Watchtower Society and I figured you should know that as a real JW. The explaination you offered became the official denial of the Society as 75 receeded uneventfully into the past, that is, blaming it on "overzealous brothers". I'm sure some brain washed JWs accepted this lie so it is possible to believe this excuse but you were smart enough to post here in the first place so how could you believe it?
That was my only real point beyond clarifying the reality of 1975 for any lurkers. I have had my feelings hurt on this board before too. I stayed off for months because of how someone replied to one of my posts. So I understand your anger. We shoot of our replies here with more vigour than if we had to face each other in person so I should keep this in mind. I do feel that my points were valid and logical however, and my intention was not to be arrogant. Welcome to the debate. Freedom is sometimes painful and we get our feelings hurt but the information is mostly very good here.
Hi Musky, I suppose you know that the Society has also set other dates prior to the 1975 date.
Think about this: if a weather man forecasted that a tornado was headed to your town that day, and would destroy the whole town, but nothing happened that day or the next. In fact, during the next ten years nothing happened – no tornado, what would you think? He would look like a fool and lose credibility. Don’t you think that he would be especially careful with his forecasts in the future? (that is if he still had a job)
The Society was this imprudent weatherman, they looked like fools when their 1874 & 1925 dates did not come to fruition, so they were more careful with their prediction of the 1975 date (although they still looked like fools) & how they worded their prediction (so they could more easily slide out of another sticky situation, if nothing occurred.)
They had learned their lesson, not about no longer setting any more dates - because the dates brought in a great increase of publishers. But they were more careful about how they worded the prediction.
I think the Society set other dates as well. Can anyone list anymore?
Here is a quote from “The Divine Plan of the Ages”
Notice how direct this quote is: “Between 1872-6 he discovered that the Scriptures clearly teach that the Lord would not return in a body of flesh, but would return as a spirit being, invisible to human eyes, and that his second presence WAS DUE IN THE AUTUMN OF 1874. This led to the publishing of a booklet entitled, The Object and Manner of Our Lord’s Return, which has a phenomenal circulation.”
As you can see, very blunt with that date.
BTW, I was five years old in 1975. I remember comments being made over the years that 1975 was "The Great Cleaning Out" of the organization.
Edited to say that my Divine Plan of the Ages book was published in 1926, the quote is from the Biography of Pastor Russell pg. 4.
