by Justice-One 48 Replies latest jw friends
What the publications don't convey is the discussion in the public talks, from the platform at the KH and conventions, the private discussion among the rank and file and how little was done to end it from above.
Blondie
You are so right on target Blondie. We KNOW what we were told and heard. And they ain't tellin' the whole truth!!
Juni
Stay Alive 'till 75",was a regular talk give throughout the early 1970's.
Fortunately we were living behind the Iron Curtain then!
fokyc
Sounds like an old Bee Gee's song, "Stayin Alive".
Juni
What the publications don't convey is the discussion in the public talks, from the platform at the KH and conventions, the private discussion among the rank and file and how little was done to end it from above
That's exactly right, blondie. Even if the gb didn't quite print anything that said the end was coming in 1975, they knew it was being preached, and did nothing do dispel the rumours. Therefore, they are guilty by association - they allowed people to sell their homes and businesses to pioneer,and commended them for it, advised kids not to go to college and married couples not to have kids etc.
When I joined in 1981, I did ask about 1975, and was told it was the fault of a few brothers running ahead of the org, Everyone in the cong seemed to agree with this, so I didn't question it. It seems that the wts was able to give those around in 1975 a dose of collective amnesia, as none of them appear to remember the events building up to it.
Yah they must have put the gag order on immediately after '75 because just after that was my first encounter with the dubbys and I never heard a thing about '75 except one time vaguely remember a mention of the world ending invisibly a second time ............. I guess since the gays were coming out of the closet , it was a sure sign for some freak ....LOL
I take it the elder wasn't around then.
I was. So I know better. Sure, it can be argued that the Society never printed such a claim directly, but that is dishonest reasoning. As some have already demonstrated with quotes, what was printed was certainly highly suggestive that the end would come in 1975 and the talks which were given from 1967 through 1975 were certainly designed to make it clear that the rank and file were to consider the date as engraved in stone. I can't imagine that talks like the famous "stay alive 'till seventy-five" district assembly talk, which explicitly stated that the end would come in 1975. could possibly have been "running ahead of the organization" since those talks were reviewed ahead of time and approved all the way up the chain to Franz and Knorr as it was the policy at the time to do.
So the Witnesses are just engaging in some Orwellian historical revisionism. Unfortunately, many of those who so strongly ape the message weren't around back then and don't know any different. so they can get away with it.
Forscher
The wife of our district overseer was quite bitter over the 1975 thing. They'd stayed childless, pioneered, gone into the traveling work and basically sacrificed a lot. There was a small paragraph somewhere-might have been a km- that she took as an apology from the wts for their mistake. When '75 was over, her concern was they not die before the end because resurrected ones wouldn't marry. She wanted a family. They're probably no longer alive; they were of Knorr's generation, knew him well.
her concern was they not die before the end because resurrected ones wouldn't marry
The dogma on this is not flawless either. Jesus said in the kingdom of the heavens there would be no marriage and people would be sexless like the angels but the bible does mention children playing over a cobras nest in the paradise earth .I am quite convinced at this time that there is a distinct difference between being in paradise earth and being in the kingdom of the heavens . The millenial reign takes place in the city of new jerusalem until what time the earth is safe to support life and then just like noahs ark people are let out .
I know some ex-JW that were in during the 1975 thing. They said they heard it repeated over and ove that the end was coming then, and to plan for it.
I really have to agree with blondie I was there in 75 and even though it never came from above that the new system would be here by then nothing was done to stop the rumors and even some telling non jws door to door we would be in the new world by 75
With the Witnesses, history is a teaching, not a fact.
Bingo!
