1995 The Year That Saw A Turning Point (page 4)

JH

The Watchtower stabbed me in the back in 1995, with that generation change, just like you posted. It was my turning point.

Right away, I knew the extent of that change, while others didn't make much of a fuss.

done4good

JW's making a comeback?
Well, I know some couples in the "TRUTH", that are specifically avoiding having children....atleast in this, "system".
I totally forgot that. 1995 was almost 12 years ago, so many couples realized that they had time to
have children in "this system of things." That makes those children 11 years old and slightly less.
That's prime time for baptizing them nowadays. They used to wait, but these kids will start getting
baptized (if not already) and there could be some positive numbers for the next 2 years.

Excellent point NotaNess and OTWO. I always thought it was just me who noticed that more jws were having children starting in the late '90s or so. It would make sense that as these approach baptism age, that at least some are getting dunked today.

j

The wanderer

"... Jehovah’s people have at times speculated about the time when the “great tribulation”
would break out, even tying this to calculations of what is the lifetime of a generation since 1914.
However, we “bring a heart of wisdom in,” not by speculating about how many years or days make
up a generation, ... " - The Watchtower 11/1/95

You see people, the Society was right it was your fault for speculating.

Respectfully,

The Wanderer

willyloman

To paraphrase a popular saying: '95 is the new '75.

As for "where the 2% is coming from," the poster is correct when he answers his own question: It's coming from kids of dubs. At every assembly and convention for the past 10 years, the vast majority of the baptizees are children. In additon, as was pointed out, the "15-minute rule" created an instant 2% increase in publishers who weren't previously counted. And as the dub population grows, these percentages can be expected to climb.

In some congregations in the U.S., there are 10-20-30 people "attending" meetings by phone because they are too infirm (or say they are) to get to the KH. You can bet that almost all of them are counted as publishers even though they never get out in FS. I haven't been active for more than 3 years so I can only guess, but my experience suggests that the 15-minute rule has probably led to a more liberal count across the board. If a secretary is calling people he never sees and talking them into reporting time in 15-minute increments, you can bet he is also attributing time to more visible dubs who don't turn in reports - either by arbitrarily assigning them some random hours, or by calling and whining, "You must have talked to somebody! Think, man!" This strategy will always result in adding more dubbies to the active list.

The WTS is in full proactive mode on increasing all their numbers. When I served as an attendant at large conventions, I was involved in taking the count. Our overseer was adamant that we count everyone, including any who might be in the bathroom. so we counted any empty seats that had people seated on either side of them, assuming those seats represented somebody who was in the loo or walking around. Of course, another attendant was also counting people who were walking around and, for all I know, those in the rest room. The point is, the emphasis was on getting the highest possible count. This numbers game was, and continues to be, very important to the Society. When Mother says "get those numbers up," you can be sure the sheep get the message. They make a game out of it and there are plenty people willing to play.

Tuesday

Hey you can believe there's a push to get numbers up in some congregations. I know my old congregation split and I'm now included as a unbaptized publisher in the new congregation which I never attended. At least that's what I'm told. I was never there mentally and was counted, this isn't much of a jump.

OUTLAW

Wanderer..I was raised in this Cult..I have seen many turning points,depending on the generation..The problem is your average JW takes no notice of them..Some like SlimBoyFat,think thier making a come back..LOL!!.....No Armageddon in 1975 was a big deal.If I remember correctly,25% of Jehovah`s Witness`s walked away from the WBT$ because of it.....The WBT$ association with the United Nations was shocking.Thier explanation of why they joined was an outright lie..Even more shocking,anyone who made a big deal of the association was disfellowshipped.....The Generation Change was a mind blower.Seeker4 helped me understand what the Generation Change meant a few months ago..It was the friggin "Generation of 1914"!!..I could not believe what I was reading.....How many active Jehovah`s Witness`s take notice of any of this?..Not many..How many active JW`s even care about all of this?..Even less......With a track record like this,the WBT$ can do pretty much as they please.Your average JW won`t notice.In a few years they won`t even remember it happened.....Jehovah`s Witness`s gave up thier ability to funtion as healthy human beings long ago.They are dead.They just haven`t been buried yet...OUTLAW

Toshiro Mifune

I can remember a 1982 article in Time magazine interviewing Raymond Franz about his recent departure from the WT's Brooklyn headquarters and the governing body. Franz commented that the WT Society would soon have to change their definition of "this Generation" -- the generation that experienced 1914.

Even though, having survived the whole disingenuous 1975 Gordian knot, I stupidly thought, "Well, that's sad, he'll learn it the hard way." After all, wasn't the affirmation that the 1914 generation would be alive when the End would happen, printed along with the masthead of each Awake! magazine? Hadn't I used that simple quote in the door-to-door work?

The 1980s seemed a period of draconian scrutiny by the society. Witch hunts for the "hated" apostates, unquestioning obedience, suspicion, blind loyalty to the WTS, no independent studying by witnesses, etc. Since I had not heard of R. Franz's leaving the Governing Body at that time, I mentioned the Time article to a few fellow elders. They were startled! Didn't I know not to read or believe anything regarding the Society unless it came directly from the WTS!

Well, I said, here, look, see, it's in Time magazine and it has direct quotes from Franz. They acted like I had handed them Satan's rank, tumescent genitals. Wanting to snuff out any apocryphal gossip, they immediately called the Society and they were told, yes, it was true.

Sure enough, in 1995, R. Franz's prophecy came true. The "1914 generation" transmuted with new light. At that point, for me, it merely underscored what I had learned about the teachings and control of the WTS -- life-altering truth one day and forgotten "dust" the next.

TM

anewme

For me, the morning of 9/11 made me snap. I got into a huge fight with my then husband over his response to the news. He just looked up and his face lit up and he said "the great tribulation is near!" or some odd statement like that. I slapped his face, he called his mother and his mom called the police.
I moved out the next day.

I realized on that morning what their beloved Harmageddon was going to be like. Indiscriminate murder of billions of sweet people. I couldnt look forward to that! I couldnt preach that!!! I had to get away from all this religious madness.

Here is sit now in my little quiet cabin by the creek..............(sigh of relief)

AK - Jeff

Excellent point NotaNess and OTWO. I always thought it was just me who noticed that more jws were having children starting in the late '90s or so. It would make sense that as these approach baptism age, that at least some are getting dunked today.
j

Which in turn, binds the parents even tighter to the organization, doesn't it? Now they will lose their children if they allow the doubts room to sprout into full-blown rejection of the Watchtower. I think of some people in the congregation here, with good minds, who have children at about that age [12-14]. I don't know if they got 'em dunked yet [likely], but if so, they are not likely to be on this board until the kids grow, the nest empties, and they allow themselves to rewind all the doubts and play them back. That is prob what happened to me.

So 1995, might be a turning year for the WTS also. It may be an anchor to hold some in, perhaps and likely more than it ran out.

Jeff

abbagail

I was a long-gone'r for five years by then, but I remember reading about the 1995 generation change here at JWD in later years, and exactly as someone else said, the WT's "explanation" was "unexplainable," lol. I remember thinking it was the most lame coccamamee explanation I'd ever heard.

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So I'm curious, what happened to the King of the North? I don't recall hearing about that one. Did they boot him out the Tower window or what?

And that the "separating work" had not even started yet? When did they slide that change in? (I hate to say it, but they are RIGHT about that.)

/ag

1995 The Year That Saw A Turning Point

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