by Dune 11 Replies latest jw friends
When i was 13, i remember an 18 year old "brother" telling me that he and his friends were part of some pact called the "Armageddon Club".
The object of this club/pact was to stay single(unmarried) until Armaggedon. The last person to stay single would win something like a sum of money or bragging rights i guess. Anyone else heard of these?
sounds like gambling?
Interesting. I'd think the prize would need to be a pretty good one since whoever is the "winner" would be giving up sex and a family.
I have heard of these around 1968 to 1975. Actually, a lot of young JWs got married around 1973/1974 because of a rumor going around that there would not be any marriage in the new system; due partly to how the WTS marriage vows are worded.
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w52 6/15 p. 363 The Marriage Ceremony ***The minister will then ask the man to repeat after him:
"I, ________, take you, ________, to be my wedded wife, to love and to cherish in accordance with the divine law as set forth in the Holy Scriptures for Christian husbands, for as long as we both shall live or until the divine termination of the marital arrangement."
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w52 8/1 p. 478 Questions from Readers ***The expression is used merely to cover a possibility, to allow for any future termination that may come about through the divine providence. When the mandate to fill the earth is fulfilled, when childbearing ceases, the marriage partners may continue their association together as life companions, or they may not, depending upon the divine will at that future, distant time. We cannot say at this time what divine providence will arrange in the distant future in the new world. So this expression merely allows for some future action on the part of God that may terminate the marital arrangement, but it does not mean that such a divine termination will actually take place. We leave that entirely with the Lord for his future action, and the expression is included to show that if such future action is ever taken then all couples will gladly comply with the divine will as it is revealed at that distant time.
blondie, such wild speculation. Always amused me that all that stuff was in there, yet it didn't stop me from saying it myself when I took my vows.
That "Armageddon Club" sounds a lot like these abstinence pacts that evangelicals are getting kids to make these days.
I had not known of such "clubs" but there was a sort of fad around taking "personal vows" back in the 70s -
For example, vowing to pioneer after working full time a certain number of years, couples vowing to not have children, and the like.
As I recall it, even in the literature and within the CO's visiting remarks, there was a lot of strict talk about how important it was to take these self-imposed vows very seriously and not break them. Pioneering itself was sort of vow, like being John the Baptist, they said.
I thought at the time - what kind idiot would take a voluntary vow in this repressive culture in the first place? As if we didn't already have enough unconfortable or unlivable rules...and - if you did, why tell somebody. But, obviously, some may have thought this made them look holy, sort of like a Nazarite...
Ca.1979 Wilmot Flat New Hampshire usa Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses had a short lived "Staying Alive till 1985" club with a theme song composed by Bill L.
I remember making a pack like that with other young pioneers bros in our circuit arround 1973 (dumb brainwashed kids).
Danny's "survive till '85 rings a bell too. I think COs were responsible for speading much of this rubbish.
This phrase was always seen by me as a sort of joke, not a serious vow or goal. It was usually those who were unable to find someone interested in thier butt ugly face. It was a great excuse for forced singleness, "For the Kinggom's sake." Lame.Moslty it was Pioneers who were hardcore and ...physically unattractive.
W.Once
LOL
