Ray Franz was blamed for everything just as George W. Bush is.
Ray Franz blamed for 1975 false prophecy
by EndofMysteries 33 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Bungi Bill
They started touting 1975 in 1966, with the realease of the book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God. (The offending words may be found on page 29 of that book. ) This happened at least five years before Raymond Franz was appointed to the GB.
No, the 1975 debacle originated with his uncle, the WTS's resident madman theologian , Frederick Franz. (FW Franz wrote all their books in those years. This showed up in his writing style, as well as in his kooky ideas!)
When 1975 proved to be a non-event, the WTS then tried to blame it on just about everbody but the actual culprit.
All this reminds me of the typical six stages of a project:
1) Wild enthusiasm
2) Deep despair
3) Panic
4) Search for the guilty
5) Punishment of the innocent
6) Promotion for those not involved.
Although this saying was intended to be presented in a tongue in cheek manner only, I still do believe we saw all six stages happen amongst the JWs over the matter of 1975!
Bill.
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minimus
BB, yes just like Obamacare.
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westiebilly11
don't blame Ray Franz....he was well aware of premature speculation....the blame for false dates etc lie partly with old Freddie Franz ...crisis of conscience book explains he mechanics very well....
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JeffT
The semi-official verson is that everybody got excited over some "possibility" regarding 1975, they blame us for reading too much into statements in the literature. Saying that Ray was responsible contradicts that narrative. Which is?
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Ding
How would Ray sneak that into Freddy's books and magazines without Freddy knowing about it or stopping it?
What do they think Freddy was doing from 1968-1975?
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EndofMysteries
A lot have misunderstood what I meant. I don't think at all Ray Franz was the one who came up with the 1975 idea and there is absolutely nothing ever published that hints towards that either, for example NO WT ever mentioned 1975 and apostates who had reached high ranks, etc.
I am just wondering if what I had been told is a circulated rumor/slander about him among JW's or was it somebody in my own family who came to that conclusion when I had been told it.
Ray Franz was NOT kicked out for 1975 and didn't start it, but PRIOR to any of you learning TTATT or prior to reading COS, had you ever been told that him and others in Bethel were the ones responsible for 1975?
Because if everybody thought that, then if they found out his leaving/removed/etc from the governing body had nothing to do with 1975, then they might wonder what happened then. It was a story told to me which gave me no reason to wonder about 1975 or why he had left.
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Terry
The official way of describing the event of 1975 was this:
"The End of Six-Thousand years of Human History".
This is a code phrase intended to signal the beginning of the thousand year reign of Christ.
How does all this fit together in the stream of Watchtower false prophetic history?
Gather around the campfire, kiddies.
1. The Society taught each creative day (as in, Genesis) was 7,000 years in length.
2.Jehovah rested on the 7th day. (The 7th day would also be 7,000 years in length.)
3.During the 7th day man would "exist" in sin and death until the last thousand of those 7,000 years.
4.The last thousand years of the 7th day it would be "fitting" if Jehovah set that day aside as the restoration of Jesus' reign.
5.What was needed was an ironclad chronology chart (hey--somebody wake up Freddy and assign him!)
6.Freddy dusted off an old idea and cooked the books on a "new" chronology.
1872
SIX THOUSAND YEARS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE END (The Time Is At Hand, p. 54).7.From the time of Adam's creation (4026) until the 2nd Adam's restoration of mankind(1975) is described in these publications:
"According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation will end in 1975...." The seventh millennium is to "...begin in the fall of 1975 C.E." And the "reign of Jesus Christ ... to run parallel with the seventh millennium..." (1966:Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, pp. 29-30).
"According to reliable Bible chronology, Adam was created in the year 4026 B.C.E.... 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....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." Following its calculations the Watchtower declares "...the autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's seventh day, his rest day.... Hence, when Christians note from God's timetable the approaching end of 6,000 years of human history, it fills them with anticipation" (Watchtower, May 1, 1968, p. 271).
8. Rutherford made the same error from 1917 through 1925 (Rutherford: 'I made an ass of myself.")
Conclusion: This so-called Apostate false prophecy had been around from Russell's time through Rutherford and then Nathn Knorr and Fred Franz's time.
Ray Franz could hardly be put at the scene of all those crimes!
Q.E.D. The Watch Tower has always been full of false prophets.
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Old Goat
I did not like Ray Franz. The reasons are personal. But, he is the only one of the Governing Body to have apolgized immediately after the event. For that, I had huge respect for him. I wish I still had the tape. He spoke to a large gathering in the Pacific Northwest in 1977 as I recall.
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rebel8
So silly. They don't believe the ragazines and books are written by a single individual, but are reviewed by an entire committee and approved by the GB. I don't think they believe a few people acting with a single apostate GB member are authorized to approve articles themselves.