JWs and 9-11. What was your reaction when it happened?

kairos

It was shocking.

All these years later, i found myself crying for the dead for the first time.

I Faded Twice

I remember people crying while watching it on TV. I had zero emotions I actually remember laughing a lil. Please don't roast me for it as now I see just how precious life is.

I went about my day at the time though saying at least now they have a hope. I hate that saying now!

Do any of you remember the KHs getting a boost in attendance for a few weeks? I do.
Such urgency.

I guess I wasn't sad at the time, because I was expecting like JWs today, that most would die at Armageddon anyway...

So sick and ashamed to have been a dub...

Do you remember the new field service presentations and words to the JW inactive you came up with?

sir82

Shock and horror. They dismissed us from work in the late morning.

I remember walking all over downtown looking for a bus that would at least get me close to home, finally found one.

It was weird not seeing any planes flying overhead in the weeks afterward. Odd how you miss things when they aren't there.

And yes, there were big attendance bumps at the KHs for a few weeks. We were encouraged to just read "comforting" scriptures in field service, don't even bother to offer "literature".

By November / December, things were back to normal at the congregations.

nowwhat?

Yep as an earnest jdub at the time went out in service the following Saturday. Definitely felt the wheels were now in motion for the beginning of the great tribulation

SnakesInTheTower

If I recall correctly, I was getting ready to go out in field service (ugh). It would have been shortly before 8 am central time US. I had the news on in the background when something caught my attention. At that point the first plane had hit but not the second and no one on the news knew exactly what was going on. By then cameras were trained on the towers live, so I watched as the second plane hit a few minutes later.

At that point I knew I was not going anywhere except watch tv. It looked like a little model airplane because the scale did not make sense. The horror that it was a full size airliner was scary.

I also remember all of those people trapped above where the planes hit, they could go nowhere. But up or out...and some did...and that was surreal. People holding hands as they jumped to their deaths. I have heard they likely died of shock or heart attack on the way down....but who knows.

I also remember 10 years earlier running a tour to bethel. One of the places we went was WTC. I still have a series of pictures taken from the observation deck of the NYC skyline, pieced together manually. A never again to be gotten picture. And as I watched as the towers collapsed, I thought I could have been there and trapped. And this in a day when cell phones were not as ubiquitous as they are now.

I cannot imagine how much video would be out there now, people live streaming on FB before they died... but this was just a few years before that even started.

As for my JW mindset ....I did not think this was the start of the Big A... or anything like that.... I did not know what to think. I never did really believe deep down it was the truth, but that I was supposed to believe it was the truth. I left JW 6 years later..... and glad my mind is free of that.

May the families of those gone and those still suffering health effects have peace in their lives. They will never be the same.

Snakes (Rich)

PS... thank goodness JW dot borg and its broadcasting BS were not around...can you imagine Rubber Face Lett having a fu&king orgasm over that?

EverApostate

Arrived to my new Office 8AM. I had joined there a week before and was still staying in a hotel in Pennsylvania.

9:00 AM a lot of commotion in office, with all my peers watching the tv.

9:30 AM. All Employees told to leave.

When I came out giant Helicopters were flying, possibly towards New york or Washington. Scary to watch.

Came to my hotel and saw the twin towers attacked and colllapsing, on TV, along with the attack on the Pentagon.

Kneeled down and prayed to Jehovah. Felt that Armeggadon was imminent.

After that, I was waiting for the WT to print magazines on 9/11 , which eventually came out as Awakes.

A lot of rumours after that. THat the WT is getting ready for an imminent Armeggadon, work is speeding up and all those cult nonsense.

sir82

Does anyone remember the "new blood cards" that were sent to congregations in I think August 2001, which were supposed to be distributed in January 2002 (this was back when you were supposed to update your "blood card" annually).

The wording on the card was significant - it stated that the holder would not accept "allogeneic" blood transfusions (blood originating from another individual). The clear implication was that "autologous" blood transfusions would be allowed (storing of your own blood, for later use during surgery).

A week or 2 after 9/11, there was a sternly worded letter from the WT to all elders that those cards were to be destroyed immediately. New cards, with the old wording, were sent out shortly thereafter.

My theory, which I think I've seen others on this board indicate they thought the same, was that the WTS was grudgingly going to change their blood policy to officially allow autolgous transfusions (which would have been an enormous changein policy). But, then 9/11 occurred, and "Boss" Jaracz assumed that the planes hitting the WTC were a "shot across the bow" from Jehovah that this proposed change did not have his blessing, so he convinced the rest of the GB to backtrack on the proposed change.

There are images floating around the internet of the "new" blood card that was supposed to be used for 2002 - apparently a few were saved from destruction, then photographed and posted.

Here is a thread from this site with images of the card:

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/48476/breaking-news-on-hemosol-stock-down-65

days of future passed

I was in bed when my sister came and said that a plane had hit the world trade tower. It was all surreal. The next plane came. Surprisingly it seemed to just be absorbed by the building. But I thought of the people above the plane. With strong updrafts from the fire, nothing could land on top of the building to rescue anyone that made it there.

It's hard to encompass that large of a disaster. I imagined how the people on the plane had watched the building come into view and could do nothing. People who had just sipped their morning coffee at their desk - gone in an instant. Jet fuel burning their lungs and body. People panicking to escape. The sad reality of burning alive or jumping.

I didn't really think of Armageddon happening at that moment. Although later, since I didn't think I would survive Armageddon, there was a fear it would come.

Did anyone else see the footage from the french man who had come to do a documentary on the fire department? He was with a crew that went to the scene. They went into the in between building of the towers. People were coming down stairs to exit and the crew started to set up a command station. The building they were in, had a glass roof. All of a sudden, there were crashes from above. The fire chief made the comment, "there are jumpers" That showed how bad the situation was. I don't think it had a repeat showing on TV.

Still Totally ADD

I had just left home depot in my work van and the radio DJ said a plane had just hit the world trade center. I thought so what could a small plane do as far as damage. My next stop was at another supplier they had a tv on showing what was going on. Thats when i saw it was a passenger jet that hit the towers not a small plane. Soon after another one hit the other tower. That's when I knew we were under attack and i feared for my 18 year old son would have to go to jail because war was just around the corner. That didn't happen about going to jail but the world did change and 17 years later this county is still at war. Everyone I knew was kind of in a shock state for serveral weeks. After the planes started to fly again things seem to go back to a strange normal. About a month after that my wife and I flew to Hawaii for vacation. Still Totally ADD

JWs and 9-11. What was your reaction when it happened?

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