Children of 1975

by d 278 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  d

  What was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a Jehovah Witness.When they started to push the 1975 date.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I was young when 1975 came. My mother heard about 1975 from her JW sister-in-law and Mom joined the "end-of-the-world" bandwagon and got baptized because of 1975. My dad lost her to the religion, so he sought out other women and then attempted a reconciliation after the divorce but before 1975 was concluded.

  Well, drunken Dad called Mom on January 1st, 1976 sometime in the wee hour of the morning and said, "We are still here." That ended any reconciliation.

  Mom got DF'ed in 1976 over "smoking" but really actually left the religion because the end didn't come. That would be the end of my involvement, if not for the fact that she went back a few years later, missing the way the religion made every decision in her life for her.

  I am sorry that doesn't really answer your question. I was not really exposed to the frenzy of the end-of-the-world because Dad wouldn't allow it- he had rights. But 1975 profoundly changed my life by grabbing my mother. I believe it was all a recruiting effort to expand the cult. It seemed to work.
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  Farkel

  I was one of those children. I've linked to this several times recently as there seems to be a lot of interest about 1975 in here lately.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/186676/1/1975-For-Deniers

  Farkel
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  Gayle

  There was a higher rate then of the JW teenagers dropping out of high school to pioneer.
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  Ding

  For those of us who lived through the 1975 hysteria, it's hard to believe the level of denial inside the organization about how the Society hyped and promoted this date.

  It was all JWs could talk about!

  From 1966-1974, if you had said you didn't think 1975 was anything special in Bible prophecy, you'd have been DFd for apostasy.

  After 1975, the Society blamed individual JWs and congregations for expecting too much in 1975.

  Since about 1980, if you point out what the WTS really said about 1975, you're in danger of being DFd for apostasy.

  JWs who had the integrity to point out that this didn't pass the smell test were DFd for disloyalty to Jehovah.
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  yknot

  I was born at the end of 73..... while I don't have 'strong' memories I do remember bits and pieces...

  What I remember most though is the after effects of R&F keeping vigilant and then starting to question.

  Majority of my 'formative' years were spent during that period and it shaped me immensely (from the expectation of being cast into some Nazi like hell to being an adult as the New System was ushered in no later than Oct 2000)

  Damn now I am feeling cheated! Where is my pet lion!!!
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  funnyface

  I was one of those people who went round knocking on doors telling this LIE
  made 10 people believe it ,some died believing it????Iwas df before they died
  so they wouldnt let me tell them I had been under mind control when i told them that
  Because the WT told them I was now the DEVIL....
  Yes they ( elders,Circuit Servants) DID teach it was to be ended by 1975.
  That is why we must not listen to others beliefs ..God gave us a brain to THINK
  & Listen but not copy any one else ........Only my thoughts
  I preached this lie in Montreal ,we had a very hard time as JW because Duplessis
  knew we were a CULT!!!!! had us arrested
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  Mickey mouse

  I was born in '76. When I finally found out the truth about what the society was saying prior to '75, I realised why a lot of my peer group was the same age or slightly younger, or at least 3 years older. I hardly knew any JWs born between '73-'75.
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  cantleave

  I remember my mum was confident that the system would end in 75. I would never go to secondary school, never work or get married in this rotten old system.

  I remember going out in service in 76 and being made fun of because of the failure of 1975.

  My mum is still sure the end is just around the corner - I'm 44 in two weeks she's in her 70's, it's been a bloody long corner..
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  brotherdan

  A while back, when I first started having my doubts about the organization, I talked to my mom about 75. She said that the society never said anything that could be construed as a false prophecy. She said that it was everyone else in the congs that let the gossip about it carry them away.

  She, though, wasn't a witness until 1980. So she asked a brother in her hall that was a teenager in 75. He said that it was only the weak ones that really believed in it. He told her it wasn't really a big deal.

  Gee...something doesn't add up when you look at everything the society wrote about it and listened to the even more explicit talks their representatives gave at conventions!

  I don't know if this guy was just a liar, or if time just faded the memory of it away. I've been SOOOOO tempted to send her the Charles Suntko (sp?) clips. Even he said the "Faithful SLave" couldn't be more explicit about what 1975 means.