In the hall that I used to attend, the 1975 generation is almost gone. The last time I checked with someone in 'the know' there were about 96 publishers in the congregation. I just counted up everyone I knew from that generation and there are 13 publishers, the youngest being 51. My mother and all the old die hards are dead. That would mean that about 86% of the publishers in my old hall are of the post 1975 generation. The year 1975 - OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND! ( lucky for the current Governing Body(tm) )
The 1975 Generation---are they still around?
by minimus 47 Replies latest jw friends
-
sparky1
-
prologos
any long-time witness over 55 would remember it, the over 65 year olds could have been a driving force in that lemming - like lunacy. If still in, they could be of the of the "defender of the doctrine" type, feeling that "jehovah" really likes stubborn stoics, and be puzzled at the easy-going, who cares about specific doctrine new generation. If you live in a retirement area, Florida, the Pacific northwest, there would be a lot of them in the 80 to 90+ range.
-
Magwitch
I remember the fervor very well. My father (almost 90) vehemently denies to this day that the society ever put any emphasis on '75....... it was the publishers that came up with all the excitement.
My parents and their elderly siblings still going strong
My 5 siblings and 39 first cousins ..... ALL OUT
-
ZAPPA-ESQUE
19 Yrs old in 1975 - Baptized in Dec 74 [Just in case it did happen right ? ] - Out !
Wife - 16 yrs old - baptized at 13 yrs - Most of her JW peers have died.
My kids are Out
-
OnTheWayOut
My mother is still an active JW. But she seems to be at a point where, even though she is very familiar with the doctrine, she is discouraged to even attempt to recruit people.
-
steve2
That's the convenient thing about the passage of time: Those who went through some instructive event die and the "lessons" die with them. Who alive today heard Rutherford's predictions for 1925 (Millions Now Living Will Never Die)? No one. Yet the organization prospered for decades after that failure.
And time moves on. But the JW organization growth heyday appears over.
I remember my grandparents confidently warning anyone who listened that people from
the generation who were old enough to comprehend the start of Wotld War One would still be alive when the end of this system occurred.
-
BluesBrother
Around here the K/Halls are full of them ! As you know , I do attend some with Sis Blues and at Circuit Assemblies we meet up with old friends (yes I would still call them friends) We reminisce about the old days and how great it was back then.
It saddens me to see them as old men and women . I guess they say the same about me ! . The babies are now corpulent middle agers with their families.
Why have they not reasoned out ,as I did, that something is seriously the matter if we are still here in this world. They do not seem to care about that....just keep going..
Like Boxer in "Animal Farm" whose motto always was "I will work harder" when faced with a problem, they will be worked until death and given a Witness funeral . Not exactly "everlasting life" , is it?
-
undercover
I was a teenager in 75, but i remember the late 60s to 75 - all the speculation of Armageddon. I remember that it wasn't written in stone, there was some wriggle room, as far as it might not happen in 75, but it was harped on so much that it 'might' happen that the first half of the 70s decade was nothing but anxiousness for the average JW.
My parents stayed faithful post-75, dragging us kids along (I wasn't rebellious enough to question theirs or the WT's authority - as I should have done) for the ride. They really weren't affected by the failure.
My mother is still as faithful and zealous as she was in 74. Doesn't blink an eye at changes in doctrine or failed predictions. She defends the WTS to the hilt. She'll die a faithful JW, and I don't even discuss it with her anymore. If it makes her happy in her last few years, then who am I to rob of her happiness...
-
La Capra
I was barely 7 in 1975, but vividly remember "stay alive for '75." My mom is in her late 70's and still in, but none of her children are. In that regard she was a fabulous mother, but a lousy witness. Her unbelieving mate's quiet rejection was louder and more powerful than her heavy-duty attempts at brainwashing. Despite the failure of the Great Tribulation to manifest itself in the 70s or 80s, the doctrinal generation change in the 90s, my mother STILL believes that it's gonna happen, any second. When she has to get new tires for her car-those will be the last she ever needs to get. When she has to get new eye-glasses, she is certain those are the last she will ever need to get. She has lived this way for 50 years, converting, on that promise, the displaced and disenfranchised fringies she manages to find in every nook and cranny of her goings-on. Of course Great Britain's vote to leave the European Union is the latest sign that the GT is imminent. When I was a kid in the late 70s and early 80s, the publisher count was always well above 100 in the congregation. Now it's only about 47. As my mother says, without any sadness, they are dying off.
-
Finkelstein
1975 Is now just a distant memory for a few remaining older JWS today, the younger ones aren't even knowing of it.
Its also starting to look like 1914 is soon to be on the chopping block which will be another core expressed doctrines wiped off the statue of corruptly devised false doctrines by god's supposed chosen organization.