Looking Back In Retrospect To 1975...

by titch 128 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  paladin1

  My wife says to me that the WTS never wrote that 1975 was definite about the big 'A'. Well the publications and talks say different since the summer of 1966 starting with assemblies at that time. I remember waiting through September and October 1975 and thinking what happened to the Great Tribulation and now no big 'A'. I knew then we had been duped. It was the World Wide Web and this site that really woke me up back in early 2010.
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  TheListener

  The WTS literature strongly hinted that 1975 was it and hyped people up. It was that hyping along with the talks that really pushed it over the edge. The talks were much more direct. As with most dub things once it is decided that spiritual people do this or that and believe this or that then it's a sign of spiritual weakness to not believe.

  I think the literature started the fire of 1975 and the talks fanned the flames. Individual publishers took away the thoughts that the WTS wanted them to and pushed their activity to new heights. All while headquarters enjoyed unprecedented growth, for a time.
• 

  Ding

  The only thing that stands out to me is the mass amnesia afterwards.

  "1975? Who said anything about 1975?"

  One elder told me, "My service to Jehovah isn't tied to a date." (This after years of talking about 1914, 1975 and the end of this system of things.)
• 

  Bungi Bill

  The third felt like both men were full of crap because no one could know the day and hour hence the whole discussion was speculative, including the part about 1975 potentially seeing Armageddon.

  He was a very brave man to be voicing such opinions during those years. The WTS thought they had that one covered (i.e. "nobody knows the day or hour" bit) in the same 1968 Watchtower that asked "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" . This article stressed that it was "no time to be hiding behind" that scripture about no one knowing the day or the hour.

  Those expressing contrary opinions were typically written off as - to use that JW swear word of the time - "immature".

  Bill.
• 

  Splash

  - In Spring 1967 Charles Sinutko gave a talk at the Sheboygon Circuit Assembly and said

  "It almost seems as though Jehovah has provided meat in due season because he has held up before all of us a new goal, a new year, something to reach out for and it just seems it's given us so much more energy and power in this final burst of speed to the finish line. And that's the year 1975."

  " What does the year 1975 mean for humankind? The end of 6,000 years of human existence and possibly the time when God executes the wicked and starts off a 1,000 year reign under his son Jesus Christ "

  "There's only one thing that's going to count when that time comes and that's that we are 'inside', and we hope that all of us here tonight are going to listen to the Society's implorings. We're going to listen to their agonizing entreaties "Brothers get in" because they know what's coming. And it's coming fast and don't wait until '75. The door's going to be shut before then."

  - In November 1968 District Overseer 'Duggan' gave a talk at the Pampas, Texas convention and said

  " This Good News must be preached first, before Armageddon. There is, will be now a remaining few months. Not really a full 83 months remains [6 years, 11 months - takes you to Oct 1975], so let's be faithful and confident and we will be alive beyond the war of Babylon; we will be alive beyond the war of Armageddon. Yes, brothers and sisters, by doing this, having plenty to do, we will be alive in God's new system of things, to live and to share and to work for a thousand years, and there will be plenty to do for the next 1,000 years."

  - On April 15 19752 at the Lakeworth, Florida convention, Ulysses V Glass said

  " the end will come when the witnessing has been completed in all the earth. And so they worry a lot about things; "What are you going to do with China, how are you going to get into China, how will you have reached all those people there, how are we ever going to reach them by 1975?, for example.

  ...It's His word and He knows what He's going to do before He brings the end on this system of things."

  - In May 1972 Floyd Kite gave the talk "Are You Marked For Survival" and said

  " There are a dozen inexorable forces at work right now that are converging together inside of this decade that will spell disaster for this system of things, and there is nothing that no human can do to prevent it."

  - In 1972 at the Divine Rulership district assmebly Bother Reese's closing remarks included

  " We had that advice about 1975, Not changing a thing! Not changing a thing!... We have stronger reason to see that the middle 70's are going to see the complete change in earths affairs."

  - And Fred Franz himself said, in an audio lecture in early 1975

  " But the big questions is this "Is this year, 1975, the final year, the last year for the ingathering of the other sheep? Now we're all interested in that.... We found that just like you here, [other brothers] also were interested in this current year of 1975. What does it signify for Gods people? Is it the year, the final year, the last year for the ingathering of the other sheep before the great tribulation breaks and reaches its climax in the battle of the great day of God the almighty at Armageddon? Is this the year which will lead right on into the establishment of the day of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, how are we to view this year?"

  " We know it's a critical year, we know we're near something, but we're not saying ."

  " Now our enquiries around the world of the brothers as to what they're expecting to occur between now and the end of 1975 has revealed that some are very sanguine about matters in the near future, and they're expecting the great tribulation to occur, and the destruction of Babylon the Great, and the annihilation of all the political systems of this world, and then the binding Satan and his demons and their abyssing, to occur before this year is ended, this year 1975."

  I know all these things were said because I have the recordings of each one.

  If anyone tries to paper over this mad fervour or deny the worldwide excitement that swept hundreds of thousands to their baptisms, then their deceit is no different to the deceit of Satan, the father of the lie.
• 

  Fisherman

  The creation of Eve was the unknown variable when discussing 1975 " as the end of the 6000 years.." Nevertheless, a lot of people hoped that 1975 would be "the end," and the farther away from Kings County, the more people believed in their minds that 1975 would be "the end." 1975 also converged with an 80 year old generation. But when the end did not come in 1975, it was because of the age of Eve. How many more years: 1, 2 ,5,10, 40? Less than 2 years later, quite a number of people left the ftw. But a lot of other people were also coming into the JW despite 1975, and many others entered the ftw, and everyone waited for Eve to be created, until the focus was taken from Eve and given to generation. It was circa 1976 that RF was the eloquent speaker of the GB, presiding 90 percent of the time at MW and other occasions. It was his voice that was heard. If you look at WT Bible chronology today, 1975 still marks 6000 years from the creation of Adam, but the the end of God's 6th creative day did not end with the creation of Adam. The WT still teaches that after Adam was created, God created Eve and continued to create other forms of animal life. There is no way to formulate how many years Adam was a bachelor and exactly when did God begin to rest (7th creative day.)
  
• 

  TheListener

  There is a WT article that discusses the whole 'how many years after Adam was Eve created' thing. It's in print and as far as I know has never been revisited or new lighted. I don't have the library so I can't search for the reference.
• 

  Fisherman

  'how many years after Adam was Eve created'

  I posted about this in another thread similar to this one. The 1963? version of the WT "all scriptures inspired" book discusses this in detail.
  
• 

  Splash

  HOW LONG AFTER ADAM WAS CREATED WAS EVE CREATED?

  QUITE SOME TIME - w55 2/1 p. 95 Questions From Readers
  Why, it must have taken Adam quite some time to name all the animals, as he was commissioned to do... It was not until after Adam completed this assignment of work that his helpmate Eve was created.

  WE CANNOT KNOW - 1963 All Scripture Inspired
  Whatever time elapsed between Adam’s creation and the end of the ‘sixth day’ must be subtracted from the 5,988 years in order to give the actual length of time from the beginning of the ‘seventh day’ until [1963]. It does no good to use Bible chronology for speculating on dates that are still future in the stream of time.
  

  A SHORT TIME - w68 5/1 p. 271 par. 4 Making Wise Use of the Remaining Time
  it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year,

  WE DON'T KNOW - w76 7/15 p. 437 par. 25 Keeping a Balanced View of Time
  We do not know whether it was a brief time such as a month or a few months, a year or even more.

  SOME TIME - w81 9/15 p. 26 par. 1 If a Relative Is Disfellowshiped
  After Adam had been alone for some time, God said: "It is not good for the man to continue by himself." Then He created Eve.

  So in 1968, soon after the WT started the whole 1975 buzz, the WT taught that Eve was logically created within a year of Adam. Despite having no proof, this conveniently supported their date setting.
  Then in 1976 when it had all gone wrong for them, Eve's creation was conveniently pushed back by a year or more.
  

  Watchtower's teachings are based, not on what the Bible teaches, but on what is most convenient for them at any particular time.
• 

  Fisherman

  “Does this mean, then, that by 1963 we had progressed 5,988 years into the ‘day’ on which Jehovah ‘has been resting from all his work’? (Gen. 2:3) No, for the creation of Adam does not correspond with the beginning of Jehovah’s rest day. Following Adam’s creation, and still within the sixth creative day, Jehovah appears to have been forming further animal and bird creations. Also, he had Adam name the animals, which would take some time, and he proceeded to create Eve. (Gen. 2:18-22; see also NW, 1953 Ed., footnote on vs. 19) Whatever time elapsed between Adam’s creation and the end of the ‘sixth day’ must be subtracted from the 5,988 years in order to give the actual length of time from the beginning of the ‘seventh day’ until [1963]. It does no good to use Bible chronology for speculating on dates that are still future in the stream of time.—Matt. 24:36.” Copyright Watchtower All Scriptures Inspired of God and Beneficial.