1975 end prediction

by FL_Panthers 83 Replies latest jw friends

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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  If the whole 1975 thing was just the musings of a few JWs, as WT claimed, and not the result of fervor whipped up by WT itself, then why did 10% of JWs leave the Org. after the failure?

  .

  Steve2: Panthers has the ideal mentality for survival in JW-land. Lots of seemingly searching questions "backed up" with a low tolerance for making the effort to find the answers.

  .

  Exactly. It would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. It's amazing how those who claim to be in the "Truth" have so little interest in actually learning the truth. The level of intellectual sloth defies imagination.
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  DesirousOfChange

  Unsurprisingly, Panthers has the ideal mentality for survival in JW-land. Lots of seemingly searching questions "backed up" with a low tolerance for making the effort to find the answers.

  That's how the JWs converted him/her.

  Doc
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  UN informed

  Panthers,

  I lived it.

  the closest statement they made in writing was in the publication, "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God", pages 29 and 30.

  There was a chronological chart and on this chart it said, "1975-2975--1000 year reign of Christ."

  on the adjacent pages, quoting from memory it said, "It would not be by chance or accident, but would be according to Gods Purpose for the 7th One thousand period of human history to run concurrently with the 1000 year reign of Christ"

  please understand that I am quoting from memory, and could have a word or two wrong, but the context is spot on.

  i am sure that some here have the exact quote.

  i memorized that in prison in 1967-1968.

  believe me, all the traveling overseers and all the assemblies were emphasizing 1975.

  by the way, in 1981 they finally apologized for teaching 1975 at a district Assy and later about august or so of that year there was a one sentence apology in the WT.

  Panthers, there is a hell of a lot more reasons to leave than a 40 year old false prediction of the end of the world. Get your head in the game.

  Brant
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  Splash

  And if nothing was meant regarding 1975, why make changes to cover it up afterwards:

  Two instances of the 'Truth' book trying to conceal '1975' between being written in 1968 and revised in 1981:

  Instance 1:

  The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life (book) 1968 pg.9 ch.1 Grand Blessings from God Near at Hand! [As published in original 1968 edition]

  Also, as reported back in 1960, a former United States Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, declared that our time is "a period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence." And he warned: "I know enough of what is going on to assure you that, in fifteen years from today[i.e. in 1975], this world is going to be too dangerous to live in."

  ---

  The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life (book) 1981 pg.9 ch.1 Grand Blessings from God Near at Hand! [As published in 1981 edition]

  Also, as reported back in 1960, a former United States Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, declared that our time is "a period of unequaled instability, unequaled violence." Based on what he knew was then going on in the world, it was his conclusion that soon[original quote removed!] "this world is going to be too dangerous to live in."

  .

  Instance 2:

  The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life (book) 1968
  p.88-89 ch.10 God's Kingdom Comes to Power in the Midst of Its Enemies
  [As published in original 1968 edition]

  More recently, the book entitled "Famine-1975!" [by W. & P. Paddock, 1967, pp. 52, 55, 61.] said concerning today's food shortages:

  "Hunger is rampant throughout country after country, continent after continent around the undeveloped belt of the tropics and subtropics. Today's crisis can move in only one direction - toward catastrophe. Today hungry nations; tomorrow starving nations.

  By 1975 civil disorder, anarchy, military dictatorships, runaway inflation, transportation breakdowns and chaotic unrest will be the order of the day in many of the hungry nations."

  ---

  The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life (book) 1981
  p.88-89 ch.10 God's Kingdom Comes to Power in the Midst of Its Enemies
  [As published in 1981 edition]

  More recent reports have shown that a constant lack of adequate food, resulting in chronic malnutrition, has become the "major world hunger problem today." The London Times reported:

  "There have always been famines, but the scale and ubiquity of hunger today is on a totally new scale. . . . Today malnutrition is said to affect more than a thousand million people; perhaps as many as 400 million live constantly on the brink of starvation."-June 3, 1980.
• 

  tim hooper

  Will this do?

  Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin
  against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom. (Know Jehovah, 1971, p. 216)
• 

  Decided

  I was at the convention in NY when Franz first gave us this idea that 1975 was the end of 6,000 years. I believed the end might come then but not really thought it was without some mistake in time.

  Ken P.
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  Splash

  Few more teasers:

  'What about the year 1975? What is it going to mean, dear friends?' asked Brother Franz. 'Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished, with Satan bound, by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could.'

  Kingdom Ministry, 3/68, p. 4 "...there are only about ninety months left before 6000 years of man's existence on earth is completed.... The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then."

  Kingdom Ministry, 6/69, p. 3 "In view of the short time left, a decision to pursue a career in this system of things is not only unwise but extremely dangerous."

  The Nations Shall Know that I am Jehovah—How? 1971 p.216. “Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom."

  .

  Then there was the change to having a six-month study with interested persons, since any more than that was a waste of the ever decreasing time left:

  *** w69 5/15 p. 312 Have You Been Studying for Six Months? ***
  In view of the short time left in which to do their work, Jehovah’s witnesses do not continue to study the Bible with any who fail to respond to its urgent message within six months. The nearness of this system’s end compels them to use their time in the most effective way possible. So they feel obligated to spend their time calling on someone else who might respond by attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall and by speaking to others about the Bible truths learned. Thus it may be that if you have not as yet responded by even becoming a regular attender at some of the congregation meetings, the one who is studying the Bible with you may cancel that study arrangement in order to give his time to someone else. This arrangement is not meant to be harsh, but the urgency of the times in which we live demands it.
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  FL_Panthers

  You guys have really been helpful!

  thanks!

  keep the posts coming :-)
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  Splash

  The Proclaimers book tells part of the story:

  *** jv chap. 28 p. 633 Testing and Sifting From Within ***

  This later led to the idea—sometimes stated as a possibility, sometimes more firmly—that since the seventh millennium of human history would begin in 1975, events associated with the beginning of Christ’s Millennial Reign might start to take place then.

  Did the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses on these matters prove to be correct? Some of their time calculations and the expectations that they associated with these gave rise to serious disappointments.

  *** jv chap. 28 p. 633 Testing and Sifting From Within ***

  Again, in 1975, there was disappointment when expectations regarding the start of the Millennium failed to materialize. As a result, some withdrew from the organization. Others, because they sought to subvert the faith of associates, were disfellowshipped. No doubt, disappointment over the date was a factor...

  And an apology!! :

  *** yb80 pp. 30-31 1980 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses ***

  The brothers also appreciated the candor of this same talk, which acknowledged the Society’s responsibility for some of the disappointment a number felt regarding 1975.
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  Splash

  More:

  1966 "Discussion of 1975 overshadowed about everything else. 'The new book compels us to realise that Armageddon is, in fact, very close indeed,' said a conventioneer." (Watchtower 10/15/1966, p 629)

  1966 "In this twentieth century an independent study has been carried on that does not blindly follow some traditional chronological calculations of Christendom, and the published timetable resulting from this independent study gives the date of man's creation as 4026 B.C.E. So six thousand years of man's existence on earth will soon be up, yes, within this generation." (Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, p29, 1966 [Note: 4026 BC to 1975 AD = 6000 years])

  1953 "After almost six thousand years of human sorrow, suffering and death, at last permanent relief is near at hand and will be realized within this generation." (New Heavens And A New Earth; 1953; p. 7)

  1995 Bible Students, known since 1931 as Jehovah's Witnesses, also expected that the year 1925 would see the fulfillment of marvelous Bible prophecies. ... More recently, many Witnesses conjectured that events associated with the beginning of Christ's Millennial Reign might start to take place in 1975. Their anticipation was based on the understanding that the seventh millennium of human history would begin then. (Awake, June 22, 1995 p. 9)