1975 Marketing

by lambsbottom 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  sarahsmile

  Here what I recall, the generation of 1914 who were teenagers were getting ready to die off. It was some strange sign that we were getting close to the last generation that Jesus mentioned.

  No one ever worried about the end drawing near. We did not think about it! But when we had the gas rashing and there was a shortage. Bky we thought itvwas a sign. Gas was .50 a gallon and we were in gas lines for about 45 minutes.

  Other than that it was as every day conversation and gossip. I had to help get the house ready for the meetings and out in service. No one thought twice about end times un folding or armageddon around the corner.

  Actually it was one of the better times to be a JW because we had get together and park pot lucks. Swimming parties. I threw peace signs to my friends at the KH. I was well liked.

  No one cared about end times in 1975 it came and gone without anyone recognizing it.

  Rebel - I hated calculating that 6,000 years of man's existence to prove we were the last generation. I think it was 80 years of life.

  It started when I was about 12 years old! I asked the visiting Overseer," How does anyone know we are living in that last generation?"

  It was one bible studies after another until I was baptized pre 1975.

  Everyone looked forward to Fred Franz talks.
• 

  sarahsmile

  Yeah Rebel gee thanks for the reminder! That brought back memories! I did feel very special and sorry for the world! But never believed in Armageddon right around tge corner. I think I was marked at an early age. I was kind of joking all the time and wanting every one to live in harmony. It was the times!

  Imagine all the people, it is easy if you try!
• 

  Magnum

  1975 was a huge deal among JWs where I lived. My non-JW dad was told a few years before '75 that I'd never drive or graduate high school. The JWs I knew believed it was all going to over in '75.
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  rebel8

  No one thought twice about end times un folding or armageddon around the corner.

  No one cared about end times in 1975 it came and gone without anyone recognizing it.

  I'm trying to remember if I've ever heard a jw or ex-jw say anything remotely like that.
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  OUTLAW

  Can anyone tell me exactly how the JWs advertised the '75 being the end of the world? How were they soooo effective?

  ..........Advertising within the WBT$ JW Cult was Effective because..

  ..........................You had No other Choice than to Believe..

  ......................

  .............................

  ........................................................................................... ...OUTLAW
• 

  smiddy

  If someone came to my door and told me the end of the world would be in x year, I would tell them I was sooooo sorry for their parents.

  Of course you would and so would have I , with that scenario ,though its not quite as simple as that.

  The possability of 1975 bringing in the new world and the destruction / Armageddon, of this system of things was a gradual process over many years , probably starting about the year 1968 with the book released in that year " Life Everlasting In freedom Of The Sons of God" if I remember rightly .

  Outlining the supposed 6000 years of human history coming to an end in 1975 , and the appropiateness of Jesus Christs 1000 year reign beginning then.

  This all tying in with the beleif that was held back then that a creative day was 7000 years long .

  And dont forget that decades previously JW`s are constantly told that Armageddon is imminent, just around the corner , the new world is at hand .

  These people have been indoctrinated / brainwashed with this hype for decades , thats why they accepted the year "1975" as the end & the beginning .

  smiddy
• 

  Heartofaboy

  In the UK we had petrol rationing because of the 1973 oil crisis & 3 day working because of the resulting power shortage. No street lighting, stores open but no power & factories having to close their doors.

  We could almost 'taste' Armageddon in the air...........it all seemed to add up.

  Blood transfusion was far more of an issue back then as well, no HLC's....... the JW's had to fight the fight on their own & as mentioned above some decided to put off surgery because the 'New World' would be here.
• 

  designs

  The potential for Nuclear War was a big part of growing up and the US was engaged in the expanding Vietnam War with the potential to become a wider war with Russia and China.

  The Evangelicals had their Late Great Planet Earth. We had The Truth book. It was all pretty spooky for a bunch of uneducated dummies, which we were.
• 

  Still Totally ADD

  Don't forget the world looked like it was on it's last leg. Viet. war for the U.S., riots, assasination for prominent leaders, pollution, crime, space flight to the moon. All this going on and then more. As a child in the cult I could not get past that the Wt. was right. That chart at the time looked very accurate to me. But I was a kid I knew nothing else. I had no way of disproving it. Now I can see through all of it. I just shows you how strong mind control is. They misled many but at the same time was able to get past it and become even more powerful. That is what cluts are good at. Still Totally ADD
• 

  sir82

  As noted above, the late 60's / early 70's was a period of huge transition.

  Transition is scary.

  A group that comes along and offers what appears to be, at least superficially, a reasonable explanation of why things are changing so rapidly, and a promise that things will get better "soon", will have a degree of success.

  Keep in mind that even with all of that going for them, JWs were only able to convince a few hundred thousand, out of billions on the earth, that they were right.