How significant was the 1995 bombshell

jambon1

I was wondering what effect the article on the generation change had on most people here?

For years, the trump card on the ministry when replying to the "It will never come in my day" objection to armageddon, was the doctrine of the generation. Many JW`s probobly held back from making important financial comitments. Held back from building their businesses and so on.

I noticed that after this article came out, many JW`s who had small businesses suddenly expanded. People became more materialistic, looking for a more comfy life. Pioneer numbers fell (hour requirement adjusted in 1999 as a result). People started participating in things which they fomerly would not have even considered.

I heard a few brothers who had left the truth had been saying that for the 1st time in the org they had felt 'deceived' regarding the change in the generation doctrine.

Was it just me or did you notice trends/attitudes changing after 1995?

OnTheWayOut

The 1995 bombshell was my major "stumbling block." I carried it with me up until this year, so ten years,
until that and 1975 pushed me to look outside the box for the truth.

I thought there were only a handful of people out there who felt the same. That's the great thing about
the internet- it showed me that there are MANY out there. While in the congregation, I talked about
THIS GENERATION, but most JW's are ignorant of the significance or are in denial that the WTS
could be wrong.

Balsam

Like so much of the stuff the WTS says in magazines it was confusing to me. I remember talking about it to my then JW husband and asking if he understood it. Well he didn't understand it entirely either. He said we just have the trust the Society and I just sort of stared at him and said well how do we do that if we don't understand exactly what they mean?

With the generation pushed past 1914 it opened the way for them to push the end ahead and the 1975 date explained away without them ever taking responsiblity for their 1975 predictions. I didn't leave till 2001 but I had strong doubts those remaining years I was in.

Ruth

Nowman

I had left the org 3 years prior to this change, but when my mom and I started talking again in 2000, I did ask her how she and my father felt about this, and my mom said she just went along with it and her and my dad did not discuss it. Interesting.

Nikki

serendipity

I thought "it's about time" and figured that's as close as the WTS would come to admitting they didn't know.

dedpoet

Looking back, that was the first thing that made me wonder a little, though not necessarily doubt. It kind of said that the times maybe weren't so urgent after all, armageddon was'nt right in front of us anymore, because the generation of 1914 didn't have to be around when it came. It was probably the catalyst for the doubts that came later, as when I started researching jw doctrine independent of wts publications, and saw all the previous doctrinal flip - flops, I realised that the generation change was merely the latest in a long line forced of changes, as time ran out on yet another prophecy, that the wts had had to make.

moshe

I never bothered to check anything that was printed in a WT magazine for until about 1980. The more I checked the more my doubts grew. I like how they put out their evolution magazine and don't footnote anything, either.

I should write a note to the elders in my old Cong. and remind them that I predicted the end of the 1914 generation back in 1985 .Of course the Elders and CO told me to keep my statistics to myself.

JH

I was wondering what effect the article on the generation change had on most people here?

I was very deceived. I felt that the end wasn't close anymore, and I felt that they lied to me all the time. People of that generation were only 80 years old at the time, so I didn't understand why they didn't wait 10 or 15 more years to change their generation definition.

Afterall, on the Awake Magazine, they published for years that the living generation of 1914 wouldn't pass away.

They lied once again.

stillajwexelder

VERY -not so much for me personally, but I remember my shepherding load going right up as I was an elder at the time

AK - Jeff

I was particularly bothered by the lack of response to the doctrinal shift. I remember trying to get publishers and pio's in the car groups to talk about this change - for it was disturbing to me. Most seemed completely willing to accept whatever changes occured with little concern. The mindset of those witnesses was unsettling.

We did not leave based on the changes - but it was the first crack in the armour in some ways. I was bothered that I had been used to lie to the people at the doors for 25 years. It didn't seem like 'new light' to me - but like a cover up, as indeed it proved to be.

Jeff

How significant was the 1995 bombshell - generation?