Born in 1952 in Canada. Raised strict Roman Catholic. Devout first generation Irish mother and atheist second generation Italian father. Abused in separate school not in the sexual sense but all the others from the nuns and priests. All the changes in the early sixtees when I was just coming of age smelled funny. Eating meat on Friday was no longer a mortal sin, etc. Routinely equated "religion" with "superstition" to everyone and anyone by the time I was 14. Met a nice Anglican girl when I was 19. She was 17. We got married two years later. A year later, 1974, her big brother sees the light and becomes a Jehovah's Witness and starts to talk to the two of us about it. I'm interested, she's not. I start to study under the Witnesses, attend the odd meeting and a couple of assemblies. My wife is more cautious, but is starting to show an interest. 1975 comes along and everyone in the congregation is abuzz with expectation. The summer assembly that year was electric. And then it didn't happen. I figure the WTBTS had more than a hundred thousand students in the queu for baptism in 1975, because the numbers published for that year in the 1976 yearbook were something like 85,000 higher than 1975, but then the 1977 and 1978 yearbooks showed a huge decline in numbers. I started asking questions in my book study and was awarded with anger. In my mind I saw the nuns and priests again and recognised the WTBTS for what it was and I broke it off. 1975 did it for me. My wife was studying by then and she never saw the same thing I did. We're still working that one out.
Were you 'alive in '75' and how was that year for you?
by punkofnice 179 Replies latest jw experiences
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Robdar
OMG, Rebel. How very awful. The longer I live the more I dislike the JWs. I no longer give them the benefit of the doubt that they are sweet yet misguided people.
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Ding
Rebel8,
So sorry to read your story.
It's a great reminder that the prophetic speculations of the WTS coupled with their demand for unquestioning loyalty wreak havoc on many people and families.
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flipper
TOTALLY ADD- I find it interesting that your sons in law ( I imagine they are what ? 25 to 40 yrs.of age possibly ? ) can say that 1975 " was not as big a deal as it was made out to be " . Incredible. Well- they just have been told different by current WT society publications or leaders.
I remember Circuit and District overseers eyes actually popping out of their heads giving emotional talks ( Floyd Kite was one of these ) saying it's " SO CLOSE " that " we can almost taste it ! " About the " end " or " Armageddon ". WT society just keeps perpetuating new lies to each successive generation of JW's. And now that they have an OVERLAPPING generation doctrine - they can milk it for aLL t's worth to keep duping new successive generations of JW's. I do feel sory for your sons in law for being deceived
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Farkel
Being pretty much born into the religion, I had left that piece-of-shit cult in 1975 as an adult in my mid-twenties and woke up fresh-as-a-daisy on January 1, 1976.
I celebrated their idocy on that date and have never looked back with regret.
That was 36 years ago.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Farkel
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thetrueone
I find these animations on Youtube quite funny
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OnTheWayOut
I wasn't born-in, but my mother was a full believer before 1970 because the end was coming in 1975. I was in kindergarden around 1969 and lost my mother's full potential as a mom and a person to the JW cult: The sky was falling and she had to be a part of that. While I was not really a JW until I was a young adult, I still am sure that it was the 1975 thing that captured my mother and her involvement is the main factor that got me into the JW's.
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Violia
Young adult in early 20's with 2 small children. I never believed 75 was the end, but most of the jws I knew did. I did not change one thing about my life nor did it worry me at all. I decided if Jehovah wanted to bring Armageddon about- then great let's start the new system.! Isn't that what we want? I knew it would not happen b/c the Bible said we would not know the day or hour. I knew they were wrong. About 10 yrs later it was part of what helped me to begin questioning the wts.
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meangirl
I was 2 and it would be 11 years before the watchtower hell effected my life. So sorry for all the crap you all had to undergo who were teenagers/young adults during that time. Flipper your story was sad but so funny all at the same time.
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Violia
Flipper's story is not sad- did he not say he had a make out session , topless and the girl did not report him? That is not bad for a 16 yr old in any religion.