Probably been posted before, but thought I'd scan it in and post it anyway. Left the book edges in the scan to show it came from the volumes and is an authentic scan.
Another 1975 Thread (Scans of Oct 15, 1969 WT)
by brinjen 29 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Atlantis
Brinjen:
Thank you! Good work!
N.
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carla
marking, thanks!
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OnTheWayOut
These things are really fascinating from the argument of whether "they" encouraged belief in Armageddon by 1975 or whether it was as they have today's members believe that it was members running too far with the idea.
Para. 37 "The next remarks of the president showed that he expected there to be an America in the first year of that third millenium. But for God-fearing students of the Holy Bible..."
Even though the sentences above do not lead to the inescapable conclusion that there won't be an America, they certainly lead to it in implication. Contrasting what the president expects with what "God-fearing students of the Holy Bible" expect tells the reader to expect something else.
Para. 42 "In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be 'Lord even of the sabbath day,' his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or milleniums. ...Soon now six milleniums of his [Satan's] wicked exploiting of mankind as his slaves will end, within the lifetime of the generation that has witnessed world events since the close of the Gentile Times in 1914 till now, according to the prophetic words of Jesus in Matthew 24:34. Would not, then, the end of six milleniums of mankind's laborious enslavement under Satan the Devil be the fitting time for Jehovah God to usher in a Sabbath millenium for all His human creatures? Yes indeed."
They say it would have to be. Then a reminder that 6 milleniums under Satan will end within a time-frame proclaimed by WTS when the end must come, diffusing that by saying Jesus said it, not WTS. They then declare that it would be the fitting time, YES INDEED, for the start of the Sabbath millenium.
OH, Reniaa and Spike and any others can declare that they didn't say it directly. This is what makes WTS even more dangerous. They said it in a way to excite everyone, but then to set themselves up with a way out when it didn't come. I wasn't there, but I imagine that Russell really believed in 1914, but these guys had already learned from THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment) how to expect things not to happen. I don't believe that Rutherford really believed what he claimed about 1925, but he learned how to boost membership, and WTS repeated that for 1975 in order to finance growth and modernization of the corporation.WTS gained more membership before 1975 than they lost afterward, so the whole debacle was a victory for them. But it did change the corporation into a revolving-door membership as time went by. Also, these spirit-directed men never counted on the internet to make all their words from more than 3 decades ago so readily available to everyone. I think 1975 will be one of their huge downfalls. Yet, they will feel an overwhelming need to try to do it again when membership plummets. 2014 is a bit short-sighted, but I can see them refusing to name that date and trying to keep everyone excited that the end is so so so so close that they can taste/smell/feel it. I imagine when the members tire of that excitement, they will start the 2034 campaign (120 years of the last days to match 120 years set by Jehovah before the flood). They have already laid the groundwork in past articles for such a campaign. They already tell the members to expect strange commands out of the FDS and the need to obey.
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insearchoftruth
Thanks Brinjen, great information!!!
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JeffT
I was baptized in 1973, and passed up a chance to earn my Master's degree all because of the 1975 hype. ALL JW's were talking about it. If, as they say now this was all speculation, why did the society not say or do something to tone it down? We know they didn't because the hype was serving their purposes.
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isaacaustin
Brinjen, may I also add the following quote from "The Approaching peace of a Thousand Years":
This was a 1969 pub....pages 25-6
More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six milleniums of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the seventh millenium from man's creation by Jehovah God would begin within less than ten years.
In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "Lord even of the sabbath day," his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand year periods or milleniums. )Matthew 12:8, AV) Thus it would be a sabbatical reign.
So it had to happen as the WT said it would, if Jesus was truly who he said he would.
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brinjen
Good quote isaacaustin.
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isaacaustin
It was very craftily done, as I can see. There was no unqualified "The end will come in Oct 1975!" They intentionally made assertions which would tell you that the end will come in 1975. Sure, they made their "no one knows" and "don't serve with day in mind" but these were made to only only a bit of wriggle room in not knowing how long after Adam Eve was created. In another quote they said not to toy with Jesus words of no one knowing the day and hour. I guess they felt they knew better, huh?
