1975 - After 26 years isn't it time to move on?

by digderidoo 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  digderidoo

  I'm relatively new on this site...but one subject i've noticed that seems to create alot of interest is that of 1975.

  Our family became witnesses it 1983 so I wasn't around at the time. Forgive me if i do not understand why many were so angry with the WTS at the time.

  I understand the point that the society blamed individual witnesses and didn't take any responsibility themselves. I can see how witnesses got angry over that.

  But, what i do not understand is why many still research into what the society said, or didn't say, or insinuated. Isn't it time to move on? It is now 2001, isn't it time to accept that we are never going to agree with the WTS on this subject?

  Yours dig

  Try to add life to your days, not days to your life.
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  Pathofthorns

  I think that people like you who came into the organization well after 1975 and people like me who were too young to remember are precisely the reason for the subject constantly coming up.

  It's something nearly every Witness who has been in "the truth" for some length of time has heard about, but it's a subject that is treated with the utmost uncomfortableness. Answers are vague and frequently the answer is "we never said 1975".

  1975 is important because how they handled that mistake is EXACTLY how they handled their false hopes raised about 1925. It highlights how this organization blames the MEMBERS for mistakes made by the LEADERS.

  Don't ever underestimate just how important knowing what really happened is. And that the subject keeps coming up on forums like this, is simply due to "new ones" asking "what really happened?" It's one of those suppressed questions all younger or relatively younger Witnesses have in the back of their minds.. And they deserve honest answers.

  Path
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  trevor

  Digderidoo -
  Think what you are asking is a As Witnesses are regularly told not to serve with a date in mind, one could ask whether these failed prophecies matter that much to the membership? The real difficulty facing Jehovah's Witnesses today is not the challenge of picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and starting all over again. It is whether they are unanimous in the belief that their God is really directing the Watchtower Society.

  After more than a century of false prophecy and broken promises it is clear that someone has got it all dreadfully wrong. Either the Watchtower Society does have the world's only special line of communication with God, or they have been guessing. Have they proved themselves to be "faithful and discreet?" In their own words :

  "Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a prophet of God. It is another thing to prove it. The only way that this can be done is to review the record. What does it show?" (Watchtower - 1 April 1992 - Page 197)

  Their record can answer for them - but will the membership accept answers that don't tickle their ears?

  Trevor
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  JT

  it has often been said that a man who doesn't know his history/where he came from -- has no idea as to where he is going--

  the reason 75 is often raised is to help persons like yourself see that the claim of the wt despite being lofty is incorrect

  we have no desire to AGREE with the WT, why--- why would anyone want to agree with someone who is WRONG

  JUST MY 2

  JAMES
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  JT

  tREVOR SAYS:

  After more than a century of false prophecy and broken promises it is clear that someone has got it all dreadfully wrong. Either the Watchtower Society does have the world's only special line of communication with God, or they have been guessing.

  **********

  AND THIS POST is the bottom line- new jw have to answer address this issue in light of what the evidence show

  to say that they MEANT WELL will not cut it for the person who does Critical Thinking- for if that is the case any religion could say

  WE MEANT WELL and let's wait till the Lord sees fit to change things

  what this new poster will be challenged with it to exmaine the DOUBLE STANDARD by which wt deals with other faiths who go out on the limb as it were in god's name and how they want to be treated when they do the exact same thing

  we welcome you and PLEASE DO THE RESEARCH YOU WILL FIND IT VERY ENLIGHTENING

  JAMES
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  Tina

  Dig,
  "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" Santayana,
  An apropos quote,given the topic,Tina
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  digderidoo

  I take the points of these comments. Yes, i know we have to look at the history, we have to research and find out the honest answers, we have to remember the past.

  But my point is, do we have to live in the past? From posts that i have read it seems that many do intense research, to prove the WTS wrong.

  All i seem to see, is a regurgatation of the same old stuff. That being that yes the WTS did influence witnesses, yet denies this after 1975.

  I guess what i'm trying to say is that, is it worth continuing with indepth research to try to find that one paragraph, where the WTS says clearly 'Armaggeddon will happen in 1975'?

  Accept yes, the WTS has made big mistakes, still do, but for me, to carry on researh in this area is only to live in the past and not move on to more positive aspects of my life.

  May be i feel this way because i wasn't around at the time, i don't know.

  Yours dig

  Try to add life to your days, not days to your life.
• 

  JT

  Digderidoo says

  *****Accept yes, the WTS has made big mistakes, still do,*****

  quick question --do you think that thier mistakes disqualify them as being the mouthpc of God as they claim?

  *** but for me, to carry on researh in this area is only to live in the past and not move on to more positive aspects of my life.****

  you appear to be confusing providing folks with info that many don't know or they fail to understand the CONTEXT with having no life

  many of us have left Wt and and indeed moved on with our lives

  my wife and i have returned to college, we have started our own IT biz here in the Washington DC are , moved inton a 3700sq foot custom built home that all the jw view as being materialist and trying to carve Nich in this old system.

  yet we have the empathy and feeling and desire to assist anyone who wants to know that they are working for a Corp based out of NY that has promised millions of folks something that they can't deliver

  each one deals with their pain and hurt of being Bamboozled and Hoodwinked by WT in different ways

  as far as research is concerned - today with the NET with the /click of a mouse it has all been done for you

  i had to do little if any real research for it was all layed out here on the net by others.

  many times cancer victims or rape victims enjoy working with others who exp what they did since they can relate to the pain and suffering

  well the same with wt - as a black man i was told no education was needed the end was around the corner and i beleived thaYT well it turnde out that i along with millions of kids from the 60's 70' 80's didnt go to college well some 20+yrs later we are getting the shaft in the real world due to followin what we were told was FOOD FROM GOD but it utrnedout to me no more than the OPINIONS OF THE BOYS IN WRITNG

  like many jw are finding out each day-

  if the wt had stayed with bible commmetary they would in my opinion have been just fine

  but they didn't instead they moved from merely a student of the word to the VERY MOUTH PC OF GOD HIMSELF-

  just wondering what is your current status

  but rest assured we have indeed moved on with our lives my life has never been better like this AM no meeting and no more selling of worthless books wasting my entire weekends for some 30yrs

  how sad

  just my 2

  james
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  Thirdson

  G'day Didgy,

  1975 was a key year and the years leading up contained an element of excitement that the WTS has never been able to duplicate. The lines "the world is about to end" and "its going to happen in 1975" were quite effective at bringing in new converts.

  That period of time had long lasting effects on JW's particularly young ones. Some of my siblings and I left school in the 1970's and the attitude that the world will end soon influenced our decisions about education or the lack of it. Those attitudes continued on into the 80's when my youngest brother left school and went pioneering.

  So not only did the WTS get it wrong, make excuses that the timing was slightly out (my belief after 1975) but got it totally wrong, dropped the "generation" of 1914 teaching, are likely to drop more of their prophetic teachings including the FDS and the annointed.

  So they got a few things wrong, you say. But what about the 100,000's who made career and education decisions based on the WTS's fervour? Whose fault is that?

  Of the six siblings I am the only one to get any formal education after high school. I spent 4 years at technical college rather than a proper University. My older brothers drifted between jobs until both ended up as programmers and advanced from there. One (a JW no longer) owns his own software/consulting company. I held steady jobs in mechanical engineering and the machine tool industry before retraining as a programmer too. My sister is finishing a computer science course at college and might turn that in to a full degree. She has not worked full time since she started a family.

  My youngest brother (now mid 30's), who left school with higher honors than any of us lives with his wife in a tiny 2 bedroom flat (apartment) and works in retail. At least he enjoys the perks of his wife's job (cheap airline tickets). He has suffered the most from the WTS failings and has yet to see the light.

  The siblings that are no longer JW's are working hard at jobs, businesses and further education. But I often wonder what my two JW brothers think now. The oldest, an elder to boot, recuits college graduates for his company. What does he think about the WTS ban on higher education? How does that effect what he advises his own kids to do after school? Seeing the success (at least relative success) of his other siblings, how does my youngest brother feel? Does he think that the years he spent pioneering (less than 6) were a waste or a good foundation? I don't know.

  1975 was 26 years ago but for some of us that year continues to have a major impact on our lives.

  My thoughts,

  Thirdson

  'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
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  JT

  3rdson

  you have spoken for millions of us

  james