"this is our Armageddon car! It's the last one we'll ever buy!"
I said that about a new car I bought in the last century. I wore it out plus another 2 or 3 since then.
Mom says, "CO says there's only 15 years left!"
by Separation of Powers 54 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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antes8080
great i could go to school become a Doctor practice for several years then pioneer the last 2years before the big A.. -
millie210
great i could go to school become a Doctor practice for several years then pioneer the last 2years before the big A.
Yes you can antes, because we all remember Jesus illustration of the worker that comes in and works half a day being just as worthy as the one there all day!
Anyone else remember that one?
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William Penwell
After I left the "Organization" I started to play cards for fun and profit. Don't judge you learn a lot of about psychology doing that. I think a lot of JWs exhibit what is known as "loss aversion" - aka "chasing your loses". You watch people at the table invest/lose $1000, then they lose $10,000 trying to gain their original, $1000. They can't walk away from their original loss and in a few hours their down $100,000. And because of desperation they play badly and recklessly.
In psychology they refer to, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values. Wikipedia.
What I get out of this is if the new reality contradicts their old beliefs they won't give up their old beliefs, so they keep on having this mental stress that they know their old beliefs were wrong but they don't want to admit it as they have all this time and effort invested in that idea. I know myself it took me years to accept that my own belief system was wrong and that I wasted all those years pursuing a lie. Most people are content to keep believing the lie as they have all this time, money and emotional investment in the lie. To me it is the stronger person that is will to stand up and admit they were wrong and move on with their lives.
Away from my point above, I also recall the day I was DF'd 20 years ago. The elder said to me, "don't play around to long in this old system as it is nearing its end." I know at least two of those elders on my judicial committee are both dead a few years after that.
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William Penwell
This was in the mid 80's, now thirty years ago when my ex father in law gave me a pep talk on playing around in this system and how it can't last much longer. The funny thing is none of my ex in laws are dubs anymore."this is our Armageddon car! It's the last one we'll ever buy!"
I said that about a new car I bought in the last century. I wore it out plus another 2 or 3 since then.
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Juan Viejo2
My family attended the 1953 New York International Convention in Yankee Stadium. We got there by traveling in our 1941 Chevrolet 2-door sedan (on its third engine). Fortunately my father was a Chevy dealer mechanic so he was able to keep it running during our 5 day trip from southern California to New York City. There were 5 of us in the car, including my sister who sang "How much is that doggie in the window?" almost constantly the entire trip.
What I remember most (besides my sister's singing) was the fact that my mom and dad spoke about Armageddon being just around the corner. They both expected to hear Brother Knorr make a big announcement during the main talk on the last day of the 8-freaking day convention in the summer heat in Yankee Stadium.
We became a very active JW family upon our return and that's pretty much it. I was 10 years old.
Five years later we drove to New York again for the 1958 International Convention. This time we went in our 1955 Chevy sedan with a real V-8 engine. But no air conditioning. At least we had four doors and roll down windows in the back seat. That was the car that my father announced would be our last one before Armageddon came.
Oh boy! We just knew that this time we were really going to get the word. In fact, it was either Brother Knorr or maybe Fred Franz who made a point that we would never again be able to meet in one city because our growth had exploded and Armageddon was so very, very close. When we got back home my parents began making plans to move "where the need was greater" - which they did right after the 1963 Convention.
By then I began to make my move away from the organization - although I was still active, on the public speaker rotation, and was serving as a Book Study Conductor. I let a university scholarship opportunity get away from me and instead was working menial jobs. My parents frequently pressured me to bring my wife and kids and come join them in central Nebraska, hoping that if I would join them in the pioneer service there that I would get my head straight and become a more active JW. Almost every phone call during that era was laced with their suggestions that Armageddon was just a year or two away. And this was before the 1975 debacle.
Each time that I was able to talk to or visit my parents, I was reminded that I needed to repent and get back into the organization because Armageddon was "literally just months away."
So here we are, 40 years after the 1975 failed prophecy - and the Watchtower (and rank and file JWs as well) are still pushing the idea that Armageddon is just over the proverbial hill. And yet everything the Watchtower does goes in the opposite direction. New building and expansion plans? The old windowless Kingdom Halls that would provide protection for the JWs during the beginning of Armageddon are now being replaced by building with thin walls and massive amounts of glass???
But reason is not involved in anything that JWs believe. The Watchtower can change its teachings, its policies, and its financial dealings 180 degrees - and the JWs will just follow along as if they had hooks in their jaws. I know because my own family was like that and some of them still are. Sadly, I guess, for them Armageddon did not come in their generation as they had been promised.
JV
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Phizzy
It's what I call the "Chicken Lickin Syndrome", it's sad, but it has worked for about 130 years, so I guess it will go on working.
A JW guy I used to work with stopped for a chat a while ago, and I made it plain that I considered it all first-class shite,he said, "Well, I don't agree with it all, but I stick with it because I just have the feeling "something" is going to happen".
I just shook my head and said "NO, it isn't" and went on my way.
That just shows how deep the " End is near" propaganda goes.
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Simon
I remember the 1975 stuff being on the radio. I don't recall much about it (I was probably about 8?) but the family was all gathered round listening to it and it was about "Jehovahs Witnesses think the end of the world is coming". It was a big deal that "we" were even mentioned and it stuck in my head because everyone obviously believed it was some big deal and there were knowing nods and "see, yes ..." muttered.
What a load of crock.
Some radio guy obviously had a slow day and needed a slot filled and thought "yeah, lets get some cooky end-of-the-world" types in for a laugh.
The strange thing is that all us ex-JWs have vivid memories of it all and yet if you ask current JWs about it they will feign having no recollection whatsoever.
When someone says something about the "15 years" we should write it down and get them to sign it so we can prove to them that YES, you DID say that stuff!!
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Simon
I just had an idea for a website:
You enter your religion, your email and the date you think it is.
On that date the system emails you to remind you that if you're still in it, you're in a cult.
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cantleave
According to my mother It was definitely coming in 1975, then in 1984, before the new millenium, and had to be here before 2014,,,,,,,,,,,,
I was never going to finish primary school, or secondary school......I would never get married ....have kids.....they won't start school .......start secondary school.........My daughter leaves next year!!