by d 278 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
thank you
for posting watchtowers that confirm that though they were enthusiatic about '75 they did not teach that Armageddon would specifically happen then,
What say you about the WT's admittance in publishing information that contributed to the build-up of anticipation and disappointment afterwards? Why would you need to admit responsibility if you weren't responsible?
They got JWs believing there were only a few months to go until Armageddon and praised them for giving up jobs, homes, bank accounts, and everything else in order to promote their hyped date.
Did Jehovah really want them spreading this misunderstanding?
Were their pronouncements "meat in due season" from Jehovah?
Or are they unreliable guides who lead sincere people astray?
!975 was a phenomenon that swept through all of the witnesses because they hoped it would happen when 6000 years of man's existence was marked since Adam. but hope isn't doctrine and the bible doesn't condemn for hope.
False hope is cruel.
But I don't mind the Watchtower speculating on dates.
What I object to is their claiming to be Jehovah's channel of communication and then trying to escape responsibility for the damage they cause by admitting they are just fallible men.
Which is it?
Does our eternal destiny depend on our trust in and obedience to these people or are they just fallible men?
Hope is a doctrine if it is spouted from the platform from your then president mad Freddie "frequenter of male sauna's" Franz in the years up until the big date of 1975, tell me Debator was you in the USA during the late 60's to mid 70's visiting the various CA/DA's that this lunatic spoke to thousands at? I doubt you were, I'd keep you stupid mouth shut then if I were you as there are many on this board who heard the lunatic speak, and then when the failed prophecy failed to come true the lying bastard denied all knowledge of it, if there ever was more evidence of the WTS being a dangerous mind controlling cult this example typifies it.
Come on debator address this please.
Awake,5/22/69,pg15
'If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. .....all evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. ....as a young person you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!'
Q. What year was the article written?
A. It was written in 1969
Q. What was the article telling young people?
A. 'you will never grow old in this present system of things'
Q. What was this 1969 Awake discouraging young people from doing?
A. If you are in high school and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career.
Q. Why was this Awake article discouraging their young readers from pursuing a college education?
A. 'But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!'
Q What was the intention of this article published by the WBTS?
A. To lead to their young followers to the conclusion that four, six or even eight years further education was a waste of time because 'this system of things would at least be on its last legs,..............IF NOT ACTUALLY GONE!
Q. What does this Awake article published by the WBTS lead its readers to expect?
A. That this old system would be gone by at the latest 1977
And if that high school student was 15 in 1969, how old is he or she now?
56.
With no career.
Still waiting.
Still trusting.
Still drinking the Kool-Aid.
My situation was a little bit different from others.
In 1967 I entered Federal Prison. I had been sentenced under the Youth Corrections Act because I was only 20 years old at the time.
My sentence was termed "Indeterminate" and stated as consisting of anywhere from 6 months incarceration to 6 years. Were I an adult the maximum would be 5 years!
I was a Jehovah's Witness during the Viet Nam War when Lyndon Johnson was ramping up the conscription of young men to fight against the Communists.
Jehovah's Witnesses were privately counseled not to serve in any branch of armed forces OR to accept alternate civilian service!
It was strongly cautioned that COMPROMISE on these issue would get you killed at Armageddon.
In my own situation, the District Judge offered me alternate service at a State hospital in lieu of military duty as was provided by law for any Conscientious Objector. I had the One Y draft card designation as a C.O. but I followed the instructions of my congregation elders.
The 4 D classification was only available to Full Time Pioneers, strangely enough. Any brother pioneering 100 hours each month could get the backing of the leadership to stand up and speak on your behalf to a judge so that you would be deferred altogether!
Once I was sentenced to Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas I found that about 40 other JW's were already inside.
Regular meetings were set up in the cafeteria or library with the approval of prison authorities.
By the time 1968 rolled around (my 21st birthday!) I was working full time in prison on the Construction Crew and attending 5 meetings per week.
1968 brought the Truth That Leads to Eternal Life book (the little blue book) and the first rumours of ARMAGEDDON is COMING!!
All the brothers were extremely worried! We were in the clutches of the actual Federal Authority and could not avoid immediate reprisals by inmates if the Great Tribulation suddenly struck!
Sirhan Sirhan had murdered the beloved brother of JFK and Robert Kennedy's death at the hands of---some said--an Ex-Jehovah's Witness could be disastrous for the rest of us! Surely this was the beginning of the end!
All of our internal meetings shifted to discussions about what 1975 really meant for us with wild speculations and constant rumors from the outside leaking in.
An elder from one of the Dalls congregations acted as a self-styled circuit servant for us once each month. He brought with him news from various assemblies about what the FDS was publicly telling the brothers. This was REALLY it! Soon religion would be targeted by governments like we were with imprisonment, tax penalties and ultimate outlawing of worship.
It was tense time--let me tell you!
But, I was finally parolled in 1969 and attended my local Kingdom Hall for my first real meeting since 1967.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE in attitude awaited me!!!
Everybody was laid back, casual and ho-hum about 1975!
What the heck was going on?
Turns out there were a lot of older people in our congregation who had been through this sort of thing many times before! One or two sisters remembered 1925 and the expectation of a resurrection of the faithful "worthies" of old which never happened.
This was treated with a smile and a shrug. No big deal!
It was sort of like an expected eruption from an earthquake zone. Just get use to it. No biggie!
The others (younger members) had a different attitude. They had never been through an Armageddon warning like this before.
They WANTED IT!
All in all, it was sort of like being superstitious more than anything else. You BELIEVED in bad luck if your broke a mirror--but--you weren't all that convinced. It could go either way.
The preaching activity ramped up considerably.
I began Full Time Pioneer work at my Overseers behest. (His son had nobody to go out with and I was an easy mark!)
But, there just weren't that many people in the Poly Congregation who thought Pioneering was necessary above and beyond the expected 10 hour per month quota and the large chart on the wall that fully exposed who was doing what clearly demonstrated it. (Yes, we actually had that.)
I got married that year, 1969, and had one helluva time raising a family, working and pioneering. I had to let go of the preaching frenzy and concentrate on paying rent and buying groceries.
By 1974 I was earning so little money (and had 3 children!) I moved my family to California for a better career opportunity.
Once I arrived and began a career in the Art business I discovered that REAL LIFE trumped religious speculations. My wife, however, was rabidly pursuing the 6,000 years of Human Existence scenario with a vengence.
She kept warning me that the END was coming and my art career would mean nothing!
I pointed out that nothing was exactly what I was earning back in Texas working as a janitor!
Then, a strange thing happend round about the end of 1975. My wife started drinking, skipping meetings, going out to discos to dance as well as requesting kinky things in the bedroom!!
What the hell was going on here?
I've had many years to consider this transition and the changes in her and others.
I believe she lost her faith that she was a part of the ONLY TRUE RELIGION. It hit her very hard.
She would not discuss it with me nor would I have brought it up.
She became more erratic and drank heavily. We divorced. I was disfellowshipped (not her, however....).
She died in a drunk driving accident and I raised our 3 kids---well outside the influence of the Kingdom Hall and Jehovah's Witnesses.
My old best friend who was my wife's brother--still spoke to me now and then. He took a hard line. "The Society never said 1975 was Armageddon." He insisted it was a big nothing and continued to live in denial.
Others started retelling the story with altered facts by playing down their own enthusiasm and belief and concentrating on what "a few others" did in extremes.
Recently I was a party to a conversation with a lady who was in a bible study with JWs who came to her house once a week.
"No, they never predicted 1975. That's just a lie false religion spreads to make them look bad", the sincere lady said.
I opened my mouth to reply and stopped.
Nothing I could say would change her mind.
I settled for this.
"Ma'am, find the oldest Jehovah's Witness you can possibly find and ask them privately about what 1975 really was all about. You might just change your mind then."
She blinked and gave a half-hearted fake smile and left.
The entire episode from start to finish should never be forgotten and not a day should go by that we don't shove down the throats of active JW's everywhere.
1975's "importance" has never been mentioned by the Society since that non-event came and went.
If it was worth constant preaching warnings, books, magazines and convention attention---why is it a big zero now?
What 1975 really is--is this: FALSIFICATION of the premise of the Faithful and Discreet Slave and the validity of their Governing Body!
NEVER FORGET THAT.
What we have here is someone being dishonestly disingenuous with themselves and every poster here.
We've posted videos of the GB giving speeches at Assemblies, we've pulled unaltered quotes direct from
the WT. and AW magazines. We've presented eye witness accounts of what was happening at the congregations.
I've even personally re-expressed an experience of a JW teen that I knew who killing himself in 1974 pent up full of anxiety and stress.
What has all this going back to a very unpleasant point in are lives, absolutely nothing.
We were the old exploitive class of the Watchtower Publishing Corporation.
Debator is the new exploited class of the Watchtower Publishing Corporation.
So in the words of Nathan Knorr the once President of the Watchtower Corporation said - " Stay Alive Till 75 "....... Debator
Debator/Reniaa..
Nothing happens in Watchtower World,without WBT$ Approval..
NOTHING!!..
Millions of JW`s believed and preached "Armageddon by 1975",for over a decade..
It could never have been done without WBT$ Approval..
You would have everyone believe..
The WBT$ lost control of Jehovah`s Witness`s for over a Decade..
And..
There was nothing the WBT$ could to do about it..
?..
Your an Idiot..
....................... 
...OUTLAW
