1975

by musky 24 Replies latest jw friends

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  musky

  There has been much said about the watchtower saying that the end would come in 1975. I have never seen any evidence that the watchtower said the end would definitely come in 1975. If there was such evidence, there would certainly be little or no witnesses left today, I believe. I do not believe that excuses the FACT that they definitely put that idea in peoples heads. I was 10 years old then. I probably wasn't paying much attention at meetings. I asked my mom once if she thought that the general feeling at that time was that the end was definitly coming in 1975. She said of course not.

  My question is, how many of you thought that the watchtower actually taught that the end was coming in 1975?

  I have a feeling that each congregation probably made its own ideas up. The watchtower certainly should have taken notice of how some were believing this, and printed a article which absolutely cleared up the fact that this was only a guess that 1975 would be the end. (before 1975 of course). Instead the watchtower just let people keep right on believing this right up until that year.
• 

  AlanF

  : There has been much said about the watchtower saying that the end would come in 1975. I have never seen any evidence that the watchtower said the end would definitely come in 1975.

  That's only because it's hard to find. Check out the information in the following links and then tell me if you still think so.

  http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/1975.htm
  http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/pro3.htm

  : If there was such evidence, there would certainly be little or no witnesses left today, I believe.

  I disagree. The JW community exists not because it or the Watchtower Society are concerned with truth, facts and so forth, but because the Society offers a seemingly solid place of refuge that satisfies certain hungers in certain types of people. Individual JWs are rarely concerned with truth. They are almost entirely concerned with belonging to a community that merely tells them that they have the truth. The details are irrelevant. The basic doctrine is simple: JW leaders speak for God. All else is up for grabs.

  : I do not believe that excuses the FACT that they definitely put that idea in peoples heads. I was 10 years old then. I probably wasn't paying much attention at meetings. I asked my mom once if she thought that the general feeling at that time was that the end was definitly coming in 1975. She said of course not.

  If that is true of your mom in 1975, then she was probably in the majority. Much before 1975 and she would have been in the minority. The fact is that in the years leading up to 1975, it became painfully evident that nothing the Society had predicted or speculated about was happening. Thus, JWs who were intelligent saw clearly that putting faith in non-occurring predictions was stupid. But in the usual manner of Orwellian cults, they also convinced themselves that nothing was amiss. For to acknowledge that something was awry in Brooklyn would be to jettison one's social framework. That was frightening to plenty of JWs, including me, who was a mere 24 years old in 1975.

  : My question is, how many of you thought that the watchtower actually taught that the end was coming in 1975?

  From 1968 through about 1973, I certainly did. Every major decision in life took that belief into account. After 1973 I personally didn't believe it.

  : I have a feeling that each congregation probably made its own ideas up.

  Not really. It was the Society's traveling representatives -- Circuit and District Servants -- who fanned the flames following the Society's clear instructions. A good deal of this was communicated privately only to these special representatives, so that very little of the Society's dogmatism about 1975 ever made its way into print.

  : The watchtower certainly should have taken notice of how some were believing this, and printed a article which absolutely cleared up the fact that this was only a guess that 1975 would be the end. (before 1975 of course). Instead the watchtower just let people keep right on believing this right up until that year.

  Precisely. They were two-faced and double-tongued. I have absolutely no doubt that Fred Franz, who was cynically behind all of it, knew exactly what he was doing and played the JW community like a flute. He was interested in making a name for himself in the internal JW community, and he succeeded.

  AlanF
• 

  seedy3

  Hi Musky

  You are correct in saying they never said it was "For sure coming in fall of 1975". But there are a few things you have to consider.

  First off, they encouraged it and even pressed it to the R/F JW's. They told people to not get a higher education becasue time was too short and it would be better off spent preaching the "Good News" rather then learing a carrier. The encouraged people to sell their belingings and spend the rest of the "Old System", again, Preaching the "Good News". At the assemblies, and in the publications they actually put on the aires of a fervor of how short the time was. With titles like "Why are looking forward to 1975?" and such, building up the heated movement to look to that date.

  If you actually go back in time and listen to the talks given at the District Assemblies on the subject, the enthusiasm and promotion they did to that date was a real build up, not just a sugestion.

  People I remember were either selling their properties and going where "The need was greater" or pioneering, or they were buying up things because they KNEW they would not have to pay for them, because the end was so near.

  If the WTS did not beleive it to be true, then they caught a ride on the fervor and used it ot their advantage, I fell it was actually both. They made a suggestion, that sounded good and rode it out all the way to the end encouraging it all the way. Then turned around and blamed everyone else for getting to caught up in the date.

  Here is a copy of one talk I remember being given by a District Overseer about the date of 1975, he does not say "The End will come" but listen to the enthusiasm in his voice when he recommends that it might.
  Click on the link you will need RealPlayer to listen to this talk.
  it is not just a portion of the talk, it is the talk in it entirety http://www.watchtowernews.org/wav/sunutko75.html

  The only thing he says for sure with a full definate is that the 6,000 years of mankind ends in 1975, but also how great it will be that maybe god will end every thing at the same time.

  So you are correct to a point, but they did want that date to stand out and pushed it as though it was "The End".

  Seedy
• 

  plmkrzy

  The most important passage "Let the reader use discernment."

  AlanF, I went to the links you provided.

  I was there. I remember it all. I still have the WT's and Awakes from way past.
  I'm not trying to make any excuses for what was printed. I've always thought it was wrong. Scripturally Wrong at that. I thought so then and still do. But what is the point in re-living this date over and over and over? 30 years later?

  I couldn’t find a better word for “Scripturally

  
  

  No matter how thin you slice it there are always two sides
• 

  musky

  Thanks for the info Alan F. This quoted portion from your link says a lot.

  QUOTE:
  well have been created, directly after which God's rest day commenced. In what year, then, would the first 6,000 years of man's existence and also the first 6,000 years of God's rest day come to an end? The year 1975. This is worthy of notice, particularly in view of the fact that the "last days" began in 1914, and that the physical facts of our day in fulfillment of prophecy mark this as the last generation of this wicked world. So we can expect the immediate future to be filled with thrilling events for those who rest their faith in God and his promises. It means that within relatively few years we will witness the fulfillment of the remaining prophecies that have to do with the "time of the end." UNQUOTE
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  animal

  I would guess that many bring up the 1975 year because of the impact it had on so many people that did believe it, esp kids (kids in the 70's). When I ask my mother about it, she denies it was ever said.

  It is interesting tho, following the posts thru this board. Many are out of the JW's yet still seem to defend some teachings, others hate JW's (like me), others are in but dont wannabee, and yet others seem to have found a place to stir the mud and push peoples buttons. Aint Amerika great?

  Animal
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  Elsewhere

  Here's another one:

  "Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then? POSSIBLY...It may involve only a differrnce of weeks or months, NOT years."
  truth from the WT [8/15/1968,p.499]

  "As every one knows, there are mistakes in the Bible" - The Watchtower, April 15, 1928, p. 126
  Believe in yourself, not mythology.
  <x ><
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  Nathan Natas

  Hi Animal,

  Just a couple of weeks ago a link was posted to an audio file of the ONE and ONLY Fred Franz going on about how Jehovah "certainly could" accomplish all that had to happen to bring the end in 1975. I suppose that's an example of the ONLY time Franz said something that WAS NOT "inspired" - I'll bet your brother would really enjoy explaining how Franz was one of the misled group called "SOME."

  Expose! EXPOSE! EXPOSE the "king" and his "kingdom"!
  - Nathan Natas, UADNA
  (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America)
• 

  hoo

  I think we shouldn't planned for a specific date, we should planned with an evarlasting life in view. Concerning the day of great tribulation, it is not our business to know. It is all in the bible, isn't it?

  Regards,
  Hoo of Malaysia
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  DazedAndConfused

  1968 "Thus, Adam's naming of the animals and his realizing that he needed a counterpart would have occupied only a brief time after his creation. Since it was also Jehovah's purpose for man to multiply and fill the earth, it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year, 4026 B.C.E. After her creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately followed. 'When were Adam and Eve created?' .. After [Eve's] creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately followed. Therefore, God's seventh day and the time man has been on earth apparently run parallel. To calculate where man is in the stream of time relative to God's seventh day of 7,000 years, we need to determine how long a time has elapsed from the year of Adam and Eve's creation in 4026 B.C.E.. The seventh day of the Jewish week, the sabbath, would well picture the final 1,000-year reign of God's kingdom under Christ when mankind would be uplifted from 6,000 years of sin and death. (Rev. 20:6) Hence, when Christians note from God's timetable the approaching end of 6,000 years of human history, it fills them with anticipation. Particularly is this true because the great sign of the "last days" has been in the course of fulfillment since the beginning of the "time of the end" in 1914... eight years remain to account for a full 6,000 years of the seventh day. Eight years from the autumn of 1967 would bring us to the autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's seventh day, his rest day. The immediate future is certain to be filled with climatic events, for this old system is nearing its complete end. Within a few years at most the final parts of Bible prophecy relative to these 'last days' will undergo fulfillment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind into Christ's glorious 1,000-year reign!" {WT May 1 1968 271-3}