Why would you want to wake up before the 90s?

by John Aquila 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  John Aquila

  You heard the saying, “Why rock the boat when the sailing is great”

  If you were a JW in the late 70s into the late 80s you might have been one of those brothers or sisters that just happened to be in the right Kingdom Hall and with the right people.

  During that time being a JW wasn’t too bad if you were able to establish the right connections. A person could pioneer for a while and be appointed as a ministerial servant in a year or two and within 5 years you could be an elder in your twenty’s. If you married the right girl and had a decent job then life could be pretty good. You could actually picture yourself having a great life.

  Everyone in the congregation respected you, and sooner or later you would develop close ties with certain families and become close friends and together you would go camping, cookouts, movies and do all sorts of things for entertainment. In the 8o’s the weekend Kingdom hall built took off and it was a great place to associate with friends and be a part of something to talk about for years.

  And to top the whole scenario with icing, you were the generation that would see the End of a Wicked System of Things.

  So why rock the boat with apostate thinking?

  You would hear of stories of many brothers and sisters, including a member of the Governing Body leaving the TRUTH. Who cares, if they want to die and lose out on paradise, it’s their problem.

  Then came the 90s. Out of the blue the WT magazines comes out with an article that the generation of 1914 might not be the last generation.

  The article was not very clear but the implications were earth shaking. “I might grow old and die”

  You see life was great, and I didn’t want it to end. And I was offered a guarantee that my life would not end. But now the guarantee was becoming void. There was no need to rock the boat at first, but now the Watchtower was the one that started rocking the boat.

  The Watchtower boat is now sailing on turbulent waters. Many of the old ones won’t jump because they feel they are too old to swim. But the young ones are jumping ship and swimming as fast as they can.

  But that’s why many today are leaving the organization earlier than in times past. The waters are not as calm in the WT Ocean as they were in the past. And now, you can actually see the storm.
  
• 

  sloppyjoe2

  We were certainly much more "determined" back in the 80s growing up. Field service on holidays, during terrible weather were all done without questioning the sanity of it. We had to after all, the end was so close. As a congregation we very close, always having picnics and socializing. The generations teaching in 1995 was the first time I ever questioned anything. I sat there at the study and realized they ran out of time, there was no new information. Maybe it had something to do with everyone as well because the closeness of the congregation eventually dissipated. I used to have so much fun at assemblies, hanging with friends at the meeting, social events with the congregation, but times changed.
  
• 

  Tazemanian-devil

  Well said. I couldn't agree more.
• 

  James Mixon

  John..You hit the nail on the head, spot on....
• 

  Magnum

  I, too, agree. During that time, I pioneered and did lowly, low-paying, menial work, but it didn't bother me because I thought the system couldn't last beyond 1994 (according to the "generation" doctrine at that time). I thought the world would end literally at any time. I thought my non-JW acquaintances who were pursuing education, careers, financial security, etc. had only a few years at best to enjoy such and that their lives were in immediate danger.

  I was excited and I felt safe. I came home every day and watched Dan Rather on the CBS News to see what was going on in the world and how it fit into Bible prophecy. I especially listened for talk of peace and security.

  JWdom seemed more scholarly and noble and bold and confident and dignified at the time. I was in a congregation that had a number of old-school men and women who knew the Bible and JW doctrine. It was far different then - nothing like the childish, cartoonish, shallow, dumbed down JWdom of today.

  sloppyjoe2: The generations teaching in 1995 was the first time I ever questioned anything. I sat there at the study and realized they ran out of time, there was no new information. Maybe it had something to do with everyone as well because the closeness of the congregation eventually dissipated. I used to have so much fun at assemblies, hanging with friends at the meeting, social events with the congregation, but times changed.

  That applies to me, too. I realized at that point that they were forced to come up with "new light" simply because time ran out on them. The generation died and there was no end in sight. I began to realize at that point that they had no hotline to heaven, that they were just guessing in desperation.

  It is sooooo different now. I know I've said this often, but I'd love for all the now-dead old-schoolers I knew to see the JWdom of today. I'd love to know what they would think. For one thing, I think they'd be shocked that this system is still hear. It's 2015!!! We were supposed to be long-settled in the new world by now. It I had told a JW back in the eighties or early nineties that this system would still be around in 2015, they would have either laughted at me or hanged me; it would have been inconceivable. If those old-schoolers could recover from the shock that the new world is not here, I think they'd be further shocked by the new JWdom - the cheap, plastic, shallow, corny, goody-goody, embarassing, dumbed-down, commercial JWdom.
• 

  done4good

  I agree, the organization changed considerably after 1994.

  I started college, in 1991 when it was still considered taboo, (yes, I started before the new light of 1992). Apart from a couple of close friends that encouraged me to go, (and even helped), most people, (sometimes even myself), thought why bother, we are only two or three years from the "generation" being 80 years on. While I am extremely appreciative for that assistance today, I think some of those that lived through the 1975 fiasco already had different ideas by then, and were hedging their bets. My close friends that helped me get my education, I believe were of that mindset.

  After 1994, that mindset became the norm for those that remained. Unfortunately, what I see is that many of those folks are quite comfortable today as JWs, and as a result sense no need to make any changes in their lives. Many have good careers, take nice vacations, have nice homes, etc. They see this as god is blessing them in some manner, rather than their success being the exact product of their disregard for the organization's rule making. This always bothered me, even as I was once one of them.

  The recent changes however, are beginning to really make the organization look foolish, and my hope is that some of these folks will finally see it and walk away. Too many of them are just too intelligent and educated not to. I don't even recognize the organization I left 10 years ago.

  d4g
  
• 

  steve2

  Depends on your age, John. I recall even in the late sixties the Watchtower had more than one study article attempting to reassure older brothers and sisters (i.e., those who had slaved hard in the organization from before and after World War One) that Jehovah's Day had not delayed. It carried the usual judgemental toned words like, "Some have started to lose faith that Jehovah will ever bring an end to this wicked system of things in their lifetime" etc.

  My then elderly maternal grandparents were perceptibly physically (and I'd suggest, spiritually) worn out as the 1960s progressed, having raised their children in the organization since the mid-1920s, first as Bible Students then rebranded as Jehovah's Witnesses. If I could have read their minds, I know at some level they would have been saying, "We sacrificed so much for the truth on the understanding the end was just around the corner. We really didn't expect to live to this age in this old system of things!"

  Sure, there is now a more palpable disquiet in the organization about the "delay" and convoluted (non)explanations. But, really, the organization's history is peppered with examples of the rank and file's difficulties maintaining faith in an organization that keeps saying the end is 'close, so very close'. Look at the disappointment Chuck Russell's followers felt when 1914 did not bring the end of this system of things - but look also at the clever re-wording after 1914 (i.e., it is not the end but the beginning of the end) - manipulating the dependent masses into ongoing servitude. All now long dead and gone.
• 

  CloseTheDoor

  the organization's history is peppered with examples of the rank and file's difficulties maintaining faith in an organization that keeps saying the end is 'close, so very close'.

  Steve2, my parents were Bible Students, and at first they had a difficult time with the redefining of the "new covenant" by Russell and the 1914 failure (not the end, but now the beginning), but they eventually accepted it as truth.

  Later as things continued to change, they remained in the Organization (by then it was under Rutherford) but they began losing faith in Rutherford as being a servant of God.

  So much has changed since I was a kid. The change about Jews being regathered to their land, the multiple changes regarding those who will/won't be resurrected... so many. The change regarding the 1914 generation affected my wife and I, along with the "refined" teaching about the FDS, but at our age, it would be extremely difficult to leave the Org. with so many family members still remaining.

  I happen to be one of those "millions now living", but I'm sure it won't last as was promised back in '25.
  
• 

  Magnum

  steve2, I agree with you. I think the situation is cyclic. I believe that the late eighties / early nineties were part of one cycle; it was the high part when there was excitement and hopes were up. But then after 94/95, the low of the cycle came; the hope and excitement started to wane.

  I think there was a similar cycle around the 1975 excitement, and there were other similar cycles prior to that - like the one(s) that affected your grandparents.

  I agree with John Aquila about the particular cycle he was referring to. I was part of that one.
• 

  prologos

  Pioneering in the 50, 60s was about idealism. The end of the world was near, Armageddon or not. did not even think about paradise. The HMS "wtBtS" has been re-named (no Champagne broken on the bow) "jWorg". the hot air of doctrine is at a lull, yet the ship is tacking vigorously as ever, now the crew are required to man the oars more vigorously or via pledged "contributions" fuel the hopeless voyage, with no destiny on the horizon. The sea of humanity was actually a better, natural place and still is.