9/11
Thankfully it wasn't too much longer after that I realized that there was something very, very wrong with the picture that the jw's displayed.
btw i love your avatar pic Arthur.
BSoM
Which Event Made You Think That Armageddon Was Around The Corner?
by Arthur 24 Replies latest jw experiences
-
-
DesertRat
Though I was quite young at the time, I do remember the buzz over 1975 & the mad rush of some people to get rid of cars & homes since Armageddon was 'just around the corner.' When it was all over, my father & other elders had to visit couples with marital & financial problems since they had lost almost everything in their efforts to 'put the Kingdom first' in these 'last few MONTHS before the Old System ends...'
Personally, the one event which got me a little worried (especially since I was newly inactive at the time) was undoubtedly Nine-Eleven. Nobody could work that day & they called us all in to the employee cafeteria to watch the drama unfold in NYC (the fall of the Twin Towers, etc.) on a big-screen TV, before sending us home early. Not far from my neighborhood is a military base which was put on 'lockdown,' & traffic for miles around was at an absolute standstill. My usual fifteen-minute drive home took an hour-and-a-half.
I learned something else interesting that day--some 'Witnesses' may be more afraid of Armageddon than they would like others to believe. My mother, still an active Witness, invited me for dinner that night & kept getting up during the live TV coverage to pace back & forth like a scared rabbit. "The end is here...the end is here...the end is here." My initial concern was replaced with a calm tranquillity & I simply responded with, "Cool! The sooner I am put out of my misery, the better!" She just looked at me like I was crazy (which I undoubtedly am...).
Obviously that day is now behind us & we are all alive & well today.
-
Leolaia
Bearing in mind the fact that I was very young, I would have to say it was the nuclear arms race and the paranoia about Russia in the early Reagan years, e.g. 1981-1984. In fact, our congregation was one of those that talked about 1984 as being a date for Armageddon, so I picture myself not finishing my first year of high school.
-
Finally-Free
The scripture at 1 Cor. 1:27 where it says "but God chose the foolish things of the world, ..."
I thought that scripture was being fulfilled in Jehovah's Witnesses.
W
-
james_woods
There was a super buzz that Friday night after the JFK shooting. Everybody thought this was IT!!! Then, by the Sunday afternoon meetings, with the Oswald shooting, we were just sure of it!!! And in a little sick note, many were using this door to door to spell out the doom message.
It all died down in about two weeks.
I do not remember any buzz at all over the RFK assasination.
But, believe it or not - a lot of people were freaked out by the Apollo landing on the moon in 1969! There was going to be "blood on the moon" -
We were at a big assembly in the ball park in St. Louis Missouri and it even got mentioned from the platform.
This also died down after a week or two.
James
PS - I am going to start another thread on a side thought I had on this issue (which is a little off topic for this one).
-
Warlock
For me, all those events just reinforced my idea that we were living in the "last days".
The cry of "Peace and Security" is what I was looking for. It was supposed to be a very clear and unmistakable sign, like the Roman armies withdrawing from Jerusalem and coming back, which I have forgotten the details of. Was it 64 A.D. and returning in 70 A.D.?
Anyway, the 1986 International Year of Peace thing didn't mean anything to me, because I was sure that wasn't the sign. I don't even think it made the front page of the paper.
The thing that killed me, among a few other things, was the 1914 generation change. It took a few years to sink in, but when it did, I realized I was just going to get old and die in this system.
Could it still happen? Yes, but I keep remembering the scripture about someone with special mightiness living until 70 or 80, so someone even born in 1914 has been dead since 1994, right?
Also, the scripture that Blondie brought up about the end coming when you do not expect it, has always bothered me since I read it. Seems like everyone is expecting the end, even Christendom.
Warlock
-
Poztate
What are your thoughts? What about those of you who are old enough to remember events like the Cuban Missile Crisis or even those of you who remember World War II? Did you get caught up in the mania of heightened expectations? Were you disappointed? Disillusioned?
I remember there being some hype when JFK became president. He was Catholic after all and the feeling was he would be an influnce in causing persecution for the J dubs just before the end. Was this a Canadian thing or what?? I can't see it getting much mileage in the states.
9/11...My wife seemed a little twichy but I never though even for a moment that that was the big "A"
I am sure that all the boys in NY thought the real target was THEM and the terrorists had just missed and hit the WTC by mistake......Hang on... There is the World Trade Centre and then the Watch Tower Society.......OMG....They were right..
The terrorists missed the target by one letter...Too bad...
-
Fleshybirdfodder
I remember 1986, but 9/11 was my wake up call. I saw the flaming towers and thought, "holy sh*t! This thing is actually gonna happen!" After nothing did, I really started having huge doubts and looked at history from a much larger perspective.
FBF
-
Mysterious
For me it wasn't a big event but any time that a US president or UN secretary would talk about bringing peace and security to the middle east. That used to scare the hell out of me. I was out by 9/11 but still struggling with the fear factor, it's all behind me now though.
-
Apostate Kate
There were so many but I remember pre 1975 when president Nixon was declaring "Peace and Security"..I was pretty young, not sure when he said that. hmmmm maybe I'll go look it up...anyway there was some WT campaign saying that the world would declare "peace and secirity and then the end will come"
I see where folks have mentioned the one in the 80ies, anyone else remember the 60ies?
maaan I'm ooooold.....