I downloaded this. I remember the assembly, but I attended at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Thanks for uploading this!
PDF documentation regarding 1975 prediction in WT publications
by cabasilas 48 Replies latest watchtower bible
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watson
James "Give 'em Hell" Durrell. Must be in his mid eighties now, living in Sacramento area. Would love to hear his Windy Night talk.
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Tatiana
Great work!! Saved for debates!
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AlphaOmega
I've just found out that the small file that I uploaded was Zenke.
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Mary
Excellent! Thanks so much for putting that up there......Does anyone know if there' an audio of the talk in 1976 where Freddie Franz told the audience that Armageddon didn't come because WE were expecting it?? I think the moron also said in the same talk that "anyone who's disappointed that Armageddon didn't come, should just go sit under a tree and cry" or something along those lines.....
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leavingwt
Here is a graphic that I really like, pertaining to this subject.
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AlphaOmega
Mary, do you know the name of that talk?
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cabasilas
BTT, for the name of that talk, if anyone knows?
Also, does anyone have audio of lectures from the mid-70s where the excuse is given that the delay between Adam and Eve's creation explains why Armageddon didn't begin in 1975?
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dannyboy
As one of many around here who was an active Witness during those days, may I emphasize these points:
1. Watchtower publications encouraged the rank and file to think the end was coming in 1975. The written record is there for anyone to observe, as posts above have shown [and despite "wiggling" by them later]
But there was SO MUCH MORE to the 1975 thing:
2. Talks at Circuit and District Conventions encouraged the "1975 will be the end" thing.
3. Elders returning from Kingdom Ministry School (a multi-week course in those days for individual elders, not the whole body at one time for a weekend) echoed the same sentiments. Picture the situation: Elders having returned from a two-week course, spending day after day with reps of the "Society" surely would have the "latest scoop" on the end coming. Who could fail to be caught up in the 1975 thing if elders with those credentials came back to their local congregations and reinforced the "group think" on this???
4. Circuit and District overseers knew FULL WELL the "buzz" in the congregations was looking to the end in 1975 and ACTIVELY encouraged it. How could they not fail to hear what the "rank and file" were thinking/talking about, making plans, etc. To deny this is ridiculous.
5. Demonstrations at Circuit and District Conventions also reinforced the thinking by commending those who had sold homes/quit lucrative jobs so as to give "their all" to the final years/days of the work.... This is very persuasive for a Witness to see/hear. Still is a major way JW's are influenced today....
These "non-published" encouragements for the "group think" were just as powerful, perhaps even more so than published items, given the way the typical congregation functioned in those days.
The result was that most [vast majority, but certainly not ALL] in the congregations were absolutely CONVINCED that the end was coming in 1975, and more or less adjusted their congregational and secular life to this concept. Some in those days were heard to say [almost a brag]..."I'd jump off a building if I knew I wouldn't hit the ground until after 1975" and similar minded remarks. Another example: Some "brothers" were making financial deals involving "balloon payments" that they wouldn't be able to pay and the like that were to come due after 1975, they thought they were SO SMART and SMUG and kind of "beat the system".......they were in for a surprise for sure!
So, it irks me to no end to hear "newer" dubs minimize the thinking of those days, and especially gripes me to hear those who were present in the years leading up to 1976 to deny the extent of the culpability of both the "organization" and its representatives in this 1975 business.
Like the revisionist history that was said to be a part of Soviet history, so too, JW apolgists have revised their understanding and memory of what went on in those days, but it doesn't change the reprehensible FACTS.
My two cents 'cause I was there!
-----Dannyboy
