Pre 1975 if you said the system would still be here in 2012...........

karter

Would they have D.Fed as an Apostate????

Early on in 1975, say February, a MS in our Congregation gave a talk in which he cast doubt upon 1975 as being significant, his theme, I still remember it, was something like "Serve for Eternity, not for a date", he explained that serving Jehovah was forever, and when Armageddon came was not relevant to the Witness with the right attitude, it would just be a hiccup in his service.

Around the middle of the year this young guy told me he had started his private pension ! He certainly was not impressed by the 1975 rubbish, I think he got a bit of mild flack for the talk from the Elders as it was not the WT line at the time of course, but he continued to serve as an MS for years afterward.

I guess he could have said "I told you so" but I never heard him do that.

Aussie Oz

I don't know about pre 75, but if you gave a aired your opinion that ''we would still be waiting in the year 2052'' you would be castagated for lack of faith and unsettling the sheeples i am sure.

Oz

cantleave

I was told in no uncertain terms when I was a kid that we WOULD be in paradise by 2000AD, noone doubted it.

moshe

The WT pre-1975, said--

Don't rain on my parade!!

King Solomon

Interesting challenge the WTBTS faces, as they need it to be eminent, without actually setting a specific date. So Armageddon lives on in perma-eminence, as a future event without an actual date, defying all logic. "No one knows the day or hour" covers a multiple of lies.

Armageddon is a bit like the National debt, another massive issue that only gets larger each year, but people have gotten so used to ignoring and deferring dealing with it (whistling past the graveyard whenever it's mentioned) that it means it won't ever have to be dealt with....

OnTheWayOut

If you said with confidence that we would still be "in this system" you would be asked to stop speculating or lose privileges (assuming you had some). It may havebeen okay to not get fully onboard with 1975, especially as thedate approached, but "the slave" insisted that the 1914 generation would live to see the end in the 20th century.

Heartofaboy

It is strange how many JW's that were around in the mid to late 1960's now reckon they never believed the year 1975 would be of any significance.

However, to not go along with the fervor whipped up at that time by the WT org through their representatives the District & Circuit Overseers would have cast you in a very unfavourable light. In fact the Circuit overseers in the early 70's said the latest news from Bethel was that the society couldn't see the old system lasting out until 1975! They were even thinking Armageddon would come before 1975!!!

The JW's I knew certainly didn't seem to have any misgivings regarding this 'food at the proper time' issueing forth from the 'faithfull & discreet slave'.

No it was exactly as it is now, the borg would not tolerate anyone having a differing viewpoint than that promulgated by themselves.

Beware, the Watchtower Organisation will ensure of its existence no matter how many brothers & sisters fall at the wayside. They will ALWAYS shift blame on to the sheeples for 'misunderstanding' what was being taught.

The Governing Body of the Watchtower Organisation is too stiff necked & proud to admit to doing any wrong.

They weigh the brothers & sisters down with a heavy workload & ever increasing demands for obedience, threatening them with eternal destruction at the hands of their god Jehovah should they have the gall to think for themselves.

Fifty years of being associated with the Watchtower Organisation has taught me this much at least.

Ding

WT date cycle:

Step 1: The WTS set a date

Step 2: The WT had articles like, "Can This World System Possibly Hold Out Until [date]?

Step 3: The WT kept hyping the date -- wars, earthquakes, crime statistics.

Step 4: As the year arrived, the WT started hedging: "This year may see the end of this system of things; it may not."

Step 5: When the end didn't come some excuse was given: "We don't know how long a time occurred between Adam's creation and Eve's."

Step 6: The date was no longer mentioned.

Step 7: When critics raised the issue: "Some brothers ran ahead of Jehovah and taught that [date] would bring Armageddon, but Jehovah never said this..."

Step 8: Mantra: "My service to Jehovah isn't tied to a date."

Step 9: WT set a new date. (In the internet era, the GB hasn't been able to announce a new date; too much attention.)

Rob Crompton

I can recall way back in the sixties, before the 1975 nonsense, I said in private conversation with a friend (and nobody else present) that it would not matter if armageddon were still a very long time away. He was so disturbed by this that he told his congregation overseer. The CO in turn write to the London Branch Office (I was a special pio, after all) and London wrote to my cong overseer. I got called in to account for what I had said. It was not very long afterwards that I cut loose altogether.