Older ones here, what do you remember being told about 1975 ???

by run dont walk 63 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Lady Lee

  Shamus really? this surprises you? I guess I haven't talked to too many people who came in after 75.

  In my congregation everyone believed the end was coming. We had been cautioned to not go overbord and stock up as someone said earlier. We were to trust in Jehovah. But we did know of some brothers who were stocking up. They were seen as weak because they were not trusting Jehovah.

  I remember going to the special meeting in Oct. Many of us thought that would be a perfect time for God to start the end. All his faithful people would be gathered together in safe places. Those who wouldn't go to the special meeting would die because they didn't get to the meeting.

  Many of us walked in expecting to walk out and the world be falling apart. We walked out believing we were mistaken and it was our own fault but still had a short time that equaled the time between Adam being created and the end of the 6th creative day

  28 years later....

  I think "mass amnesia" is perfect
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  czarofmischief

  maybe it did happen, and God's kingdom just sucks as hard as all the governments before it.

  CZAR
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  jimbob

  I was only 8 at the time. But my mother used to tell me how at assemblies, they would tell all the mothers in the audience how their children would never have to finish school. And just think, in just over 3 more years, I'll be attending my 20 year high school reunion...

  I have had a few conversations with my JW mom about 1975, and she agrees that the Society put it in everyone's head that the end was coming. But she just views it as re-adjusted thinking and they were just over zealous about the end. People of my generation that are still JWs really have no idea what happened back then, and they will never research it cause it happened so long ago and they think it's irrelevant anyway cause new light has flashed forth and there's new understanding. If only they could take their blinders off and see how they've been lied to.....but we all know that won't ever happen under the gestapo rule of the Society.
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  SanFranciscoJim

  In my congregation, the air was so thick with anticipation you could cut it with a knife. I do not remember one single brother or sister questioning the date. We were absolutely convinced Armageddon was coming in 1975. I saw an elderly sister refuse medical treatment because she was convinced of the imminence of the Great Tribulation. A brother in our congregation deferred dental treatment for the same reason. One of the elders in our congregation, who was college-educated, was offered a high-paying job and turned it down in favor of working part-time in a department store so he could devote more time to pioneering.

  Here is an interesting link to actual scans of WTBTS publications that made us believe that 1975 was the "Day of Reckoning": http://jamaat.net/comp/jw/1975.html
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  pamkw

  I was 13 in 1975. I was forced to be baptized. An elder convinced my mom that me and my sister who was 16 would die if we were not dunked. He said we were too old to go through on my mom's account. She was scared to death. I was scared of the elder that I had to do the questions with. An mean old man. I remember not having any idea what I was doing. This same elder even convinced my step father (the child molester) to get baptized that same year. Many years later the elders met with my sisters and my mother and me to talk about what was happening in family at that time. It was decided not to df this man for molesting me and my older sister, but to just void his baptism and say he never should have been a jw. Pissed me off, I was df at 19 for having sex, but he was not for hurting me. If they had to df him, maybe my mom would have divorced him years ago. 1975 was all too real.

  Pam
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  JeffT

  I was baptized in 1973. Everybody was talking about 1975, the end was coming any day now etc. I know one guy who sold his farm and went where the need was greater. I heard later that he had a nervous breakdown, when he realized the money was gone and the new system wasn't here yet. Lots of witness kids were told that college was a waste of time. At no time was there any hint that we were "running ahead of the organization" or "reading things into what was being said" - the excuses they later used to cover up their own conduct.
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  Sassy

  I was babtized in 74 and graduated in 77 so I remember that time period well. I never expected to graduate high school. I remember when I did graduate in 77, one of my favorate teachers signed in my yearbook something about me still being here after 75. She had tried to encourage me to take some business classes but of course those things weren't important just moments before the end in 75 and I had explained to her why and about Armegeddon coming in 75.
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  core

  One brother decorated his house in '74 and said ".thats the last time that this house gets decorated in this system...." he's still living there but has had several new carpets, paint jobs etc - we were told 1975 was IT - it was no speculation - COs gave special talks to witnesses only on the Saturday evening of the visit and explained the "absolute" chronology. Near hysteria reigned as every new magazine was scanned for further news - biggest let down was the complete lack on any recognition by the Society that we were still in this system in 1976, 1977 oh and still here in 2003.
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  mizpah

  The articles that were published were far more restrained than the representatives sent out by the Watchtower Society. But the articles did provide fuel for the fire. It was obvious to all what the thinking at the headquarters was. The district and circuit overseers were the messengers that carried the word to the congregations.

  I remember during one talk the speaker ( DO or CO) said something like this: "Brothers, we no longer count the "end" in years. But we now count the months, days and hours that remain."

  Another used the illustration of Joshua marching around Jericho. He said: "Brothers, we aren't marching around Jericho for the first time. Rather, we are marching around for the seventh time and will see the walls of this old system come tumbling down."

  One can not really appreciate how much Jehovah's Witnesses really anticipated "the end" unless they experienced these times. And the only reason for the expectations was solely from the Watchtower headquarters and its leadership.
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  blondie

  You might want to listen to some sound bites from Charles Sinutko at this site re 1975:

  http://www.freeminds.org/wav/wav.htm