Diner
You may want to save this info for your archieves- but this along with all the talks created that False HOPE - i was there my mom cried when she found out she was going to have my brother in 1974 WOE TO THE PREGNANT WOMAN was what she was told from the platform and directly by a sister that it was going to be hard running with that baby
my mom cried so i don't need no active JW trying to tell me some BullSh!t i was there I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TODAY MY BRO 27 AND HAS HAS A 4 YR OLD HIMSELF
***************
Statements Concerning 1975
--------------------------
By the mid-1960s the Society had apparently forgotten much of what it had
learned about setting dates. The book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the
Sons of God, 1966, said on pages 26-30:
The time is fast drawing near for the reality that was foreshadowed by
the Jubilee of liberty to be proclaimed throughout the earth to all
mankind.... Most certainly the near future would be the most appropriate
time for it. God's own written Word indicates that it is the appointed
time for it.... 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.
According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from
man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand
years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E..... So in not
many years within our own generation we are reaching what Jehovah God
could view as the seventh day of man's existence.
How appropriate it would be for Jehovah God to make of this coming
seventh period of a thousand years a sabbath period of rest and release,
a great Jubilee sabbath for the proclaiming of liberty throughout the
earth to all its inhabitants! This would be most timely for mankind.
It would also be most fitting on God's part, for, remember, mankind has
yet ahead of it what the last book of the Holy Bible speaks of as the
reign of Jesus Christ over earth for a thousand years, the millennial
reign of Christ.... It would not be by mere chance or accident but
would be according to the loving purpose of Jehovah God for the reign of
Jesus Christ, the "Lord of the sabbath," to run parallel with the
seventh millennium of man's existence.
Although the writer had not said flat out that 1975 would see the start of
the millennium, he certainly intimated it. It would seem reasonable that if
he said that it was "fitting" for God to do certain things, then he must
have a good measure of certainty. If he was not certain then he was
presumptuous. By saying "it would be according to the loving purpose of
God" that the two millennia would coincide, does he not assure the reader
of its certainty? Especially since all the suggestions of the "faithful and
discreet slave" are to be accorded great weight?
The October 8, 1966 Awake! carried an article entitled "How Much Longer
Will It Be?" and under the subheading "6,000 Years Completed in 1975," it
too reasoned that the millennium would be the last 1000 years of a
7000-year rest day of God. Abandoning some of the caution shown in the
above it said on page 19-20:
Hence, the fact that we are nearing the end of the first 6,000 years of
man's existence is of great significance.
Does God's rest day parallel the time man has been on earth since his
creation? Apparently so. From the most reliable investigations of
Bible chronology, harmonizing with many accepted dates of secular
history, we find that Adam was created in the autumn of the year 4026
B.C.E. Sometime in that year Eve could well have been created, directly
after which God's rest day commenced. In what year, then, would the
first 6,000 years of man's existence and also the first 6,000 years of
God's rest day come to an end? The year 1975. This is worthy of notice,
particularly in view of the fact that the "last days" began in 1914, and
that the physical facts of our day in fulfillment of prophecy mark this
as the last generation of this wicked world. So we can expect the
immediate future to be filled with thrilling events for those who rest
their faith in God and his promises. It means that within relatively
few years we will witness the fulfillment of the remaining prophecies
that have to do with the "time of the end."
I can remember being electrified, as a teenager, by the announcement to the
congregation in 1968, by a visiting circuit servant, that there were only
88 months left before the end of 6000 years of human history. "Brothers,
do you know what that means?" he warned.
The May 1, 1968 Watchtower continued this stimulation of anticipation.
Using much the same argument as the above article, it said on page 272:
The immediate future is certain to be filled with climactic events, for
this old system is nearing its complete end. Within a few years at most
the final parts of Bible prophecy relative to these "last days" will
undergo fulfillment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind
into Christ's glorious 1,000-year reign. What difficult days, but, at
the same time, what grand days are just ahead!
Similarly, the October 8, 1968 Awake!, on page 13, emphasized the shortness
of the time:
The fact that fifty-four years of the period called the "last days" have
already gone by is highly significant. It means that only a few years,
at most, remain before the corrupt system of things dominating the earth
is destroyed by God.
In 1992, twenty four years later, we may ask, What does the phrase "the
immediate future" mean? How many years are "a few years at most"?
The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, spoke at length about the significance of
1975 on pages 488-501. In the article "The Book of Truthful Historical
Dates" it said on page 488:
Do we know that the seventh year from now will conclude the 6,000th year
since Adam was created? And if we live to that year 1975, what should
we expect to happen?
In this Watchtower, the article "Why Are You Looking Forward To 1975?"
raised a good deal of anticipation when it said on page 494:
What about all this talk concerning the year 1975? Lively discussions,
some based on speculation, have burst into flame during recent months
among serious students of the Bible. [which students, and who started
the fire?] Their interest has been kindled by the belief that 1975 will
mark the end of 6,000 years of human history since Adam's creation. The
nearness of such an important date indeed fires the imagination and
presents unlimited possibilities for discussion.
.... of what benefit is this information to us today?.... why should we
be any more interested in the date of Adam's creation than in the birth
of King Tut?.... in the fall of the year 1975, a little over seven
years from now.... it will be 6,000 years since the creation of Adam.
Note the sense of urgency, and the implication that 6000 years is a figure
of special significance. Continuing on page 499:
Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be
all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year
reign of Christ will begin by then? Possibly, but we wait to see how
closely the seventh thousand-year period of man's existence coincides
with the sabbathlike thousand-year reign of Christ. If these two
periods run parallel with each other as to the calendar year, it will
not be by mere chance or accident but will be according to Jehovah's
loving and timely purposes. [What can we say of this from the
perspective of 1992?] Our chronology, however, which is reasonably
accurate (but admittedly not infallible), at the best only points to the
autumn of 1975 as the end of 6,000 years of man's existence on earth.
It does not necessarily mean that 1975 marks the end of the first 6,000
years of Jehovah's seventh creative "day." Why not? Because after his
creation Adam lived some time during the "sixth day," which unknown
amount of time would need to be subtracted from Adam's 930 years, to
determine when the sixth seven-thousand-year period or "day" ended, and
how long Adam lived into the "seventh day." And yet the end of that
sixth creative "day" could end within the same Gregorian calendar year
of Adam's creation. It may involve only a difference of weeks or
months, not years.
Note how this reasoning produces a sense of urgency in the reader. It also
ignores the express statement in Genesis 2:23 "This is at last bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh." Why would the Bible use the term "at last" if
only a short period of less than one year were involved? The Society is
well aware of this; Fred Franz did most of the translating of the Hebrew
Scriptures and he wrote Life Everlasting In Freedom of the Sons of God, in
which this reckoning was first emphasized. Also, there is no scriptural
justification for requiring that Eve's creation marked the end of the sixth
creative day. There is plenty of room for extra time, as the events since
1975 have borne out.
Actually there is no scriptural justification whatsoever for Fred Franz's
continual strong emphasis that the 6000 or 7000 year figures mean anything
at all. C. T. Russell placed the acceptance of the 6000 year prophetic
scheme in proper perspective when he wrote, in The Time Is At Hand, 1889,
page 39:
And though the Bible contains no direct statement that the seventh
thousand will be the epoch of Christ's reign, the great Sabbath Day of
restitution to the world, yet the venerable tradition is not without
reasonable foundation.
One of the people Russell got many ideas from was a Lutheran minister from
Philadelphia named Joseph A. Seiss. For many years Seiss was the editor of
a magazine called The Prophetic Times. In the January, 1870 issue, Vol.
VIII No. 1, pages 12-3, Seiss discussed his ideas on Bible chronology,
giving figures that he said were evidence that "1870 brings us to the
commencement of the Seventh Thousand of the years since the present world
began." In contrast with Barbour and Russell, Seiss was not dogmatic about
these figures: "We lay no great stress upon the arithmetic of prophecy;
because the starting-points, as well as many of the integers of the
calculations, lack in certainty."
As for the "Great Sabbath Day" tradition, he wrote:
It has been a very old, and a very widely accredited theory, that the
world, of which Adam was the beginning, is to continue 6000 years in its
secular, ailing and toiling condition; and that the seventh thousand is
to be one of glorious sabbatic rest, ushered in by the winding up of
this present age or dispensation.
The idea is indeed a venerable tradition. It may ultimately be based on an
old tradition that the seventh creative day of Genesis is itself 7000 years
long, and that the Messiah would reign during the final 1000 years of it. A
very early source, quite possibly 1st century A.D., is the New Testament
apocryphal book called "The Epistle of Barnabas." There exist a number of
early Christian writings sometimes referred to as the apocrypha of the New
Testament, which were at one time or another considered for membership in
the New Testament canon. From the 1979 reprint of a 1926 English
translation of these, called The Lost Books of the Bible, here are the
relevant passages:
Furthermore it is written concerning the sabbath, in the Ten
Commandments, which God spake in the Mount Sinai to Moses, face to face;
Sanctify the sabbath of the Lord with pure hands, and with a clean
heart. And elsewhere he saith; If thy children shall keep my sabbaths,
then will I put my mercy upon them. And even in the beginning of the
creation he makes mention of the sabbath. And God made in six days the
works of his hands; and he finished them on the seventh day, and he
rested the seventh day, and sanctified it.
Consider, my children, what that signifies, he finished them in six
days. The meaning of it is this; that in six thousand years the Lord
God will bring all things to an end. For with him one day is a thousand
years; as himself testifieth, saying, Behold this day shall be as a
thousand years. Therefore, children, in six days, that is, in six
thousand years, shall all things be accomplished. And what is that he
saith, And he rested the seventh day: he meaneth this; that when his Son
shall come, and abolish the season of the Wicked One, and judge the
ungodly; and shall change the sun and the moon, and the stars; then he
shall gloriously rest in that seventh day. [The Lost Books of the
Bible, p. 160-2; Chap. 13, The Epistle of Barnabas]
I wrote a letter to the Society in the early 1970s, expressing my
misgivings about the 6000 and 7000 years as exact numbers. Their reply
said, essentially, that rounding off the numbers is an assumption, i.e.,
since we are near the 6000 year mark already, and the end is so close, the
round number 6000 looks awfully nice.
Another point is that if 6000 years, as an exact number, has any meaning,
and if Jesus was actually the one through whom God created everything else,
and if angels were witnesses to all that creative activity, as Job 38:7
seems to indicate, then Jesus and the angels would have been able to figure
out when the final end of the world would come. But Jesus said explicitly:
"Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the
heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." Therefore the 6000 year round
number assumption must be incorrect.
Ignoring these considerations, the August 13, 1968 Watchtower article
continues, on page 500:
This time between Adam's creation and the beginning of the seventh day,
the day of rest, let it be noted, need not have been a long time. It
could have been a rather short one. The naming of the animals by Adam,
and his discovery that there was no complement for himself, required no
great length of time.
Note how definite the writer is on this point, producing a sense of
urgency. Continuing on pages 500-501:
One thing is absolutely certain, Bible chronology reinforced with
fulfilled Bible prophecy shows that six thousand years of man's
existence will soon be up, yes, within this generation! (Matt. 24:34)
This is, therefore, no time to be indifferent and complacent.
The article even implies that one should be careful about putting too much
weight on Jesus' own cautionary words:
This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that
"concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the
heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." To the contrary, it is a time
when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is
rapidly coming to its violent end. Make no mistake, it is sufficient
that the Father himself knows both the "day and hour."
The article even justifies producing a sense of urgency:
There was a ring of alarm and a cry of urgency in all their [the
apostles] writings.... And rightly so. If they had delayed or
dilly-dallied and had been complacent with the idea the end was was some
thousands of years off they would never have finished running the race
set before them.
As if the apostles needed to be kept in the dark or they would have slacked
off. This speaks volumes as to the Society's attitude toward those in its
care.
The Watchtower, May 1, 1968, abandoned all caution when it said on page
271, paragraph 4:
Thus, Adam's naming of the animals and his realizing that he needed a
counterpart would have occupied only a brief time after his creation.
Since it was also Jehovah's purpose for man to multiply and fill the
earth, it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps
just a few weeks or months later in the same year, 4026 B.C.E. After
her creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately followed.
The study question for this paragraph then asked, "When were Adam and Eve
created?" Paragraphs 5 and 6 then said:
After [Eve's] creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately
followed. Therefore, God's seventh day and the time man has been on
earth apparently run parallel. To calculate where man is in the stream
of time relative to God's seventh day of 7,000 years, we need to
determine how long a time has elapsed from the year of Adam and Eve's
creation in 4026 B.C.E.....
The seventh day of the Jewish week, the sabbath, would well picture the
final 1,000-year reign of God's kingdom under Christ when mankind would
be uplifted from 6,000 years of sin and death. (Rev. 20:6) Hence, when
Christians note from God's timetable the approaching end of 6,000 years
of human history, it fills them with anticipation. Particularly is this
true because the great sign of the "last days" has been in the course of
fulfillment since the beginning of the "time of the end" in 1914.
Compare this with what Russell had said in The Time Is At Hand (see above)
-- the idea the sabbath day pictures the 7th 1000 year period was a
venerable tradition even in his day.
The Watchtower article added a cautionary note on page 272:
Does this mean that the year 1975 will bring the battle of Armageddon?
No one can say with certainty what any particular year will bring.
However, this cautionary note was bound to be lost in view of the strong
previous statements. That some Watchtower writers lost their caution is
further emphasized by the statement in the October 8, 1968 Watchtower,
which said on page 14:
According to reliable Bible chronology Adam and Eve were created in 4026
B.C.E.
The 1969 book Aid to Bible Understanding indicated that Adam and Eve were
created in the same year. On page 333, under the subject "Chronology," it
showed the time from Adam's creation to the birth of Seth as 130 years, and
on page 538, under the subject "Eve," it said that at the age of 130 Eve
gave birth to Seth.
The 1969 booklet The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years was also quite
definite about 1975. On pages 25-26 it said:
More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck
of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums
of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the
seventh millennium from man's creation by Jehovah God would begin within
less than ten years....
In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "Lord even of the sabbath day,"
his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of
thousand-year periods or millenniums.
The above material is remarkably similar in spirit to the admittedly
asinine claims made by J. F. Rutherford in Millions Now Living Will Never
Die.
Some emphatic statements about 1975 came from the Kingdom Ministry. The
March, 1968 issue urged getting into pioneer service, saying:
In view of the short period of time left, we want to do this as often as
circumstances permit. Just think, brothers, there are only about ninety
months left before 6,000 years of man's existence on earth is completed.
The Kingdom Ministry of June 1969 mentioned approvingly that some were
turning down scholarships and employment in the spirit of increased
service.
The May, 1974 Kingdom Ministry, having referred to the "short time left,"
said:
Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and
planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the
pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time
remaining before the wicked world's end.
I know a number of Witnesses who were married during the early 1970s, and
have since expressed their amazement at having had their children grow to
the same age they were when they were married.
The Watchtower, May 1, 1975, said of a Watchtower Bible School of Gilead
graduation held on March 2, 1975:
Another speaker, F. W. Franz, the Society's vice-president, forcefully
impressed on the audience the urgency of the Christian preaching work.
He stressed that, according to dependable Bible chronology, 6,000 years
of human history will end this coming September according to the lunar
calendar. This coincides with a time when "the human species [is] about
to starve itself to death," as well as its being faced with poisoning by
pollution and destruction by nuclear weapons. Franz added: "There's no
basis for believing that mankind, faced with what it now faces, can
exist for the seventh thousand-year period" under the present system of
things.
Does this mean that we know exactly when God will destroy this old
system and establish a new one? Franz showed that we do not, for we do
not know how short was the time interval between Adam's creation and the
creation of Eve, at which point God's rest day of seven thousand years
began. (Heb. 4:3,4) But, he pointed out, "we should not think that
this year of 1975 is of no significance to us," for the Bible proves
that Jehovah is "the greatest chronologist" and "we have the anchor
date, 1914, marking the end of the Gentile Times." So, he continued,
"we are filled with anticipation for the near future, for our
generation."
If this is not building anticipation without quite saying specifically what
the anticipation should be based on, I don't know what is.
The Society was even more direct in its private communications with its own
officials. The following excerpt is taken from a letter from the Society
to a district overseer Lester Duggan, apparently sometime in 1975, in
answer to a question regarding the subheading on page 51 in the "Eternal
Purpose" book.
While the beginning of the "seventh day" is admittedly tentative, the
end of the six thousand years of man's history in the fall of 1975 is
not tentative, but is accepted as a certain date. So in good faith and
with right motive to enhance Bible education, the date 1975 has been
presented with confidence, as one of considerable significance. While
some outsiders have come to be quick in denouncing the Society, yet we
calmly wait for the completion of this Biblical year of 1975, as we
continue to strengthen ourselves spiritually. From Jehovah's viewpoint
and his eternal purpose for the earth, the completion of six thousand
years of man's residence on this earth is bound to be important.
Even the year texts for the early 1970s reflected the sense of urgency the
Society was building.
1974: "Although the fig tree itself may not blossom,.... I will exult
in Jehovah himself." -- Hab. 3:17, 18.
1975: "I will say to Jehovah: 'You are my refuge and my stronghold'"
-- Ps. 91:2
By early 1976 it had become evident that the Society's expectations for
1975 would not be realized, just as they had not been for 1914 and 1925.
Did the Society follow the excellent example of Bible writers and own up to
the error? Did it show show same candor as the Bible writers? No. Instead
it followed exactly the same course J. F. Rutherford had followed after the
1925 failure, and blamed the disappointment on Jehovah's Witnesses
themselves. The July 15, 1976 Watchtower, on page 441, approached the
problem sideways. Without actually mentioning 1975 it said:
.... it is not advisable for us to set our sights on a certain date,
neglecting everyday things we would ordinarily care for as Christians,
such as things that we and our families really need. We may be
forgetting that, when the "day" comes, it will not change the principle
that Christians must at all times take care of all their
responsibilities. If anyone has been disappointed through not following
this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his
viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or
deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding
was based on wrong premises.
How cynical can you get? Who was it that provided the "wrong premises"?
Did each one of Jehovah's Witnesses, individually, conclude that 1975 was
to be the end of 6000 years of human history, that "we should not think
that this year of 1975 is of no significance to us," that "according to
reliable Bible chronology Adam and Eve were created in 4026 B.C.E.," that
"the seventh millennium from man's creation by Jehovah God would begin
within less than ten years," that Jesus' "thousand-year reign would have to
be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums," and
that "God's seventh day and the time man has been on earth apparently run
parallel"? I know I never thought of such things on my own. Nor would I
have been permitted to express or act on them if I had.
By 1979 it became evident that the 1975 failure had produced a serious
credibility gap. Even worse, the years 1977 and 1978 had shown a drop in
the worldwide number of publishers for the first time in decades. So in
early 1980 the Society finally admitted it had been wrong, that it had had
at least some part in building up the false hopes for 1975.
The March 15, 1980 Watchtower article "Choosing the Best Way of Life"
contains, on page 17, the acknowledgment that the Society misled people by
its promotion of the 1975 date. That it came at all is surprising; I
remember my own reaction upon reading it when it first came out. That it
came more than four years after the failure of the 1975 prediction became
evident is inexcusable. The article said:
In modern times such eagerness, commendable in itself, has led to
attempts at setting dates for the desired liberation from the suffering
and troubles that are the lot of persons throughout the earth. With the
appearance of the book Life Everlasting -- in Freedom of the Sons of
God, and its comments as to how appropriate it would be for the
millennial reign of Christ to parallel the seventh millennium of man's
existence, considerable expectation was aroused regarding the year 1975.
There were statements made then, and thereafter, stressing that this was
only a possibility. Unfortunately, however, along with such cautionary
information, there were other statements published that implied that
such realization of hopes by that year was more of a probability than a
mere possibility. It is to be regretted that these latter statements
apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup
of the expectation already initiated.
In its issue of July 15, 1976, The Watchtower, commenting on the
inadvisability of setting our sights on a certain date, stated: "If
anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought,
he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was
not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought
disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong
premises." In saying "anyone," The Watchtower included all disappointed
ones of Jehovah's Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with
the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of
hopes centered on that date.
Note how even this admission is buried in an article about something else,
"choosing the best way of life." It does not candidly admit that the
Society had some responsibility for what happened. Rather, it uses the
passive voice to shift responsibility into outer space: "it is to be
regretted" that these things happened. Again, how cynical!
As for the fact that the statements of urgency overshadowed the cautionary
ones, was that not the intention from the very start? Why else would such
information be emphasized? What other result could possibly have been
expected? Especially since the Society has published many statements on
how it expects Jehovah's Witnesses to view what it publishes, such as:
Do we truly appreciate how Jehovah is directing his visible
organization?
When we appreciatively accept the spiritual provisions that come through
the "slave" class and its Governing body, for whom are we showing
respect?
Their duties include receiving and passing on to all of Jehovah's
earthly servants spiritual food at the proper time.
How vital it is for everyone in God's family to submit loyally to the
teachings and arrangements of the Great Theocrat, Jehovah, and his
King-Son, Christ Jesus, as transmitted through the "faithful slave" on
earth!
The Society did candidly acknowledge some responsibility for the hopes it
raised by the 1975 prediction, but it was not for general public
consumption. The 1980 Yearbook, on pages 30-31, spoke of a talk given at
the 1979 conventions, called by the title of the above Watchtower article,
"Choosing the Best Way of Life." The talk acknowledged the Society's
responsibility for some of the disappointment a number felt regarding 1975.
Today, all the decade-long buildup of hopes centered on 1975 is discounted
as being of any particular importance. Many people who became Jehovah's
Witnesses since 1975 have little idea of the sense of urgency that was in
the air. The essence of Russell's words in 1916 is again expressed by the
organization: It "certainly did have a very stimulating and sanctifying
effect upon thousands, all of whom can praise the Lord -- even for the
mistake.
