Hi, I'm interested in learning more about 1975 only from a Jehovah Witnesses. I understand it was thought to be the "end of the world" by us JWs but it didn't happen. Why?
NonJWs need not comment. Thanks.
Tell Me More About 1975
by Diner 29 Replies latest jw friends
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stephenw20
http://www.freeminds.org/history/list.htm
scroll down to 1975........you ll need some time...and mind you ..this is direct from the presses
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trevor
Throughout the 1960's the anticipation slowly built to a crescendo. Armageddon was due at any time but for some years now no date had been given. The Society had learned from past mistakes not to be too specific. It had adopted a way of using innuendo and then leaving the rest to the over-excited imagination of the membership.
Then in 1966 the new book, "Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" suggested a new date for Armageddon. Complete with charts, the Society claimed they were able to work out when the first man Adam was created. Working from this date they counted forward to produce another specific date. They declared:
"According to this trustworthy Bible chronology 6,000 years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E.…it would not be by mere chance or accident but would be according to the loving purpose of Jehovah God for the reign of Jesus Christ, the "Lord of the Sabbath," to run parallel with the seventh millennium of man's existence." (Pages 29,30)
The Watchtower and Awake! magazines continued to fan the flames of expectation:
"The immediate future is certain to be filled with climactic events, for this old system is nearing its complete end. Within a few years at most the final part of Bible prophecy relative to these "last days" will undergo fulfilment, resulting in the liberation of surviving mankind into Christ's 1,000-year reign. What difficult days, but at the same time, what grand days are just ahead." (Watchtower 1.5.1968 - Page 272)"The fact that fifty-four years of the period called the "last days" have already gone by is highly significant. It means that only a few years at most, remain before the corrupt system of things dominating the earth is destroyed by God." (Awake! - 8 October 1968 - Page 13)
The Society were to later claim that they never actually said 1975 would bring the end of the system. True, it was only suggested. The Witnesses around the world arrived at the idea that 1975 would be the year, all by themselves! Naturally the Society did not discourage the excitement that swept through the movement. Far be it for the Society to tell its members what to think.
The fervour that followed had to be experienced to be believed. At a series of conventions around the world in the summer of 1968 a new book was introduced, "The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life." It has since sold over one hundred million copies.
I sat transfixed in the London assembly at Twickenham Stadium, as the speaker explained the reason for the book's release. This small book had been designed so that a weekly study of just one hour covering one chapter a week would complete the book in six months. All other Society books used in Bible studies with interested people were to be put aside.
This was now the book to use. If those we studied with did not show definite signs of getting baptised after six months we were to forget them and move on. Why? Because time was running out - so many people to save and so little time! We were told that the end was now so close that there was no time to waste.
The atmosphere was electrified. The inspired talks that followed brought the stadium to its feet in unanimous applause. Men fought to hold back tears. We were on the brink of entering "The New World." These wonderful men who, we believed, had direct communication with Jehovah God himself, were standing there before us and assuring us that all we had hoped and prayed for was almost here. I can honestly say that I have never experienced such euphoria before and I doubt I ever will again.
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Farkel
1975 never happened. It was all a lie started. Hell, 1975 wasn't even a YEAR. It went straight from 1974 to 1976. If you don't believe me, look at "Significant Dates" in the WTS publications. You won't find 1975 anywhere. 1925 never happened, either. Neither did 1914, 1918, or 1919. They were all illusions trumped up by people willing to destroy the good name and reputation of Jehovah's People(tm).
"Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God" wasn't a book. It was never published. Apostate lies. "The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life" wasn't a book. Apostate lies. There were no charts that pointed to 1975 in any of the publications of Jehovah's people. None. There was no mandatory program of six month Bible studies and no slogans put out by District Overseers like "Stay Alive 'Till '75" and "Make Do 'Til '72." None of that ever happened. Satan made people make all of that up. No Kingdom Ministry even mentioned what a "fine" thing it was to do to sell everything one had worked so hard for and pioneer in the few short months remaining before Armageddon in that era. There were no apologetics after the fact about how long Adam could have been around before Eve was made, either.
Heck, it just COULDN'T have been like that: that was 26 years ago and obviously nothing happened. Jehovah's people do not lie. They didn't lie about ANY of the dates they never set.
Farkel
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Englishman
Diner,
I remember it well! In '66, I was still living at home when the 1975 date was first promulgated. You had to be around to appreciate the excitement that was being generated. This is what was doing the rounds back then, I witnessed it for myself:
"Only time for 9 more visits to each home in our territory, brothers."
This from a CO: "Give us a year either way. If armageddon isn`t here by autumn '76, I shall buy a packet of Woodbines and smoke 'em".
From every PO, CO, Do: "Stay alive till '75!"
Just out of interest, I was gone in '72, but when the Great British Drought of '76 occurred (It didn't rain for 6 months - in England! - from April until October), many dubs thought that this was Armageddon starting in installments.
Englishman
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Thirdson
I was still in high school in 1975 and was one of three JW's (2 baptized, one my friend, would get baptized later).
I didn't say much about being a JW and was glad I went to a hall with little territory in my school district. However, I remember the jibes about 1975 when kids found out we were JW's. Of course I used to say that it was all speculation and "we" never said it "would be" just "could be". However, the community at large well knew that JW's were going around telling people that 1975 would be the end of the world. There were a few famous people who became JW's and made comments about 1975. (Peter Knowls the footballer {soccer} being one of them).
If you weren't a JW then, weren't born then or had little contact with JW's then you might not know much about the 1975 speculation. But a look at the published figures from the WTS will show you the 1975 spike. There was rapid Witness growth from the mid 60's to 1975 followed by a big dip in the late 70's before a smaller growth rate emerges in the 80's. The Proclaimers book hides the dip by widely spacing the scale (P 242) or by starting the graph at 1976...clever hey?
Thirdson
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
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stephenw20
Farkel,
"well ya know thes are all Imperfect men" I have heard this so many time s I wanna puke.....
yes they are..but they HAVE GODS HOLY SPIRIT....so they say......
the SPIRIT of TRUTH................
"but these are imperfect men"
ah yes and so were those fellas that wrote those 66 books we call the bible!
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Fredhall
Let me tell you more about 1975, it was 26 years ago.
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waiting
Let me tell you more about 1975, it was 26 years ago.
And that was the total significance of that year - it happened. Period.
The WTBTS built up false hope in its' followers and then said they were the ones in the wrong for that false hope.
waiting
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somebody
These are some of the quotes from the "society's" publications that lead up to the 1975 deal. These are only from watchtowers. the were plenty more in the Truth That leads to Eternal Life book too. Not to mention what was said to all at assemblies back then to contribute to Witnesses preparing for the end of the "old system", and the "new system" to arrive.
Watchtower 10/15/66
"Only a liberated people can preach a release to captives, conventioners were told in the speech "Preach a Release to the Captives," which thrilled them with its hopeful outlook. "Jehovah, the God of freedom and liberty, has freed his people from Babylonish bondage and has given them a work of liberation to do. That work of liberation and salvation must go on to the finish! To give aid today in this critical time to prospective sons of God," announced President Knorr, "a new book in English, entitled 'Life Everlasting-in Freedom of the Sons of God,' has been published." At all assembly points where it was released, the book was received enthusiastically. Crowds gathered around stands and soon supplies of the book were depleted. Immediately its contents were examined. It did not take the brothers very long to find the chart beginning on page 31, showing that 6,000 years of man's existence end in 1975. Discussion of 1975 overshadowed about everything else. "The new book compels us to realize that Armageddon is, in fact, very close indeed," said a conventioner. Surely it was one of the outstanding blessings to be carried home!"
Watchtower 1/1/67
(This article titled Have You Read Your Copy? it was encouraging people to read their copy of their Life Everlasting-in Freedom of the Sons of God! book yet...)
"But, without a doubt, nothing has created more interest in this textbook than the first chapter with its chart and fine information regarding the 7,000 years of God's rest day. The observation that 1975 may well mark the beginning of mankind's great Jubilee has intrigued many."
Watchtower 4/15/67
According to a more recent calculation of the Bible timetable, six thousand years of man's existence will end in the latter half of the year 1975, which is well within this century.
Watchtower 5/1/67
"Interestingly, the autumn of the year 1975 marks the end of 6,000 years of human experience. This is ascertainable from reliable chronology preserved in the Bible itself. What will that year mean for humankind? Will it be the time when God executes the wicked and starts off the thousand-year reign of his Son Jesus Christ? It very well could, but we will have to wait to see. Yet of this we can be certain: the generation that Jesus said would witness those events is nearing its close. The time is close at hand. On God's "timetable" we are in the closing days of a wicked system of things that will soon be gone forever. A glorious new order is immediately before us."
Watchtower 5/1/68
5 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. From the autumn of that year to the autumn of 1 B.C.E., there would be 4,025 years. From the autumn of 1 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1 C.E. is one year (there was no zero year). From the autumn of 1 C.E. to the autumn of 1967 is a total of 1,966 years. Adding 4,025 and 1 and 1,966, we get 5,992 years from the autumn of 4026 B.C.E. to the autumn of 1967. Thus, 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.
Watchtower 8/15/68
"29 After much of the mathematics and genealogies, really, of what benefit is this information to us today? Is it not all dead history, as uninteresting and profitless as walking through a cemetery copying old dates off tombstones? After all, why should we be any more interested in the date of Adam's creation than in the birth of King Tut? Well, for one thing, if 4,026 is added to 1,968 (allowing for the lack of a zero year between C.E. and B.C.E.) one gets a total of 5,993 years, come this autumn, since Adam's creation. That means, in the fall of the year 1975, a little over seven years from now (and not in 1997 as would be the case if Ussher's figures were correct), it will be 6,000 years since the creation of Adam, the father of all mankind!"
Watchtower 5/1/70
"However, Bible chronology which indicates that Adam was created in the fall of the year 4026 B.C.E. would bring us down to the year 1975 C.E. as the date marking 6,000 years of human history with yet 1,000 years to come for Christ's Kingdom rule. So whatever the date for the end of this system, it is clear that the time left is reduced, with only approximately six years left until the end of 6,000 years of human history.(1 Cor. 7:29) "
Watchtower 12/15/74
"To advertise the divine name still further, on March 1, 1939, some months before World War II broke out, the official magazine of the Witnesses came forth with the new legend, "The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom." And now, as the critical year of 1975 enters, it may well be asked: Has the Most High God of prophecy made a name for himself? The answer is self-evident, Yes! By whom? Not by Christendom or by Jewry, but by Jehovah's Christian witnesses!"
"And now, as the year 1975 opens up, some thousands of the anointed remnant, still alive on this earth, look ahead to realizing that joyful prospect. The increasing "great crowd" of their sheeplike companions look forward with them to entering the New Order without interruption of life."
Watchtower 7/15/76
"11 It may be that some who have been serving God have planned their lives according to a mistaken view of just what was to happen on a certain date or in a certain year. "
"15 But it is not advisable for us to set our sights on a certain date, neglecting everyday things we would ordinarily care for as Christians, such as things that we and our families really need. We may be forgetting that, when the "day" comes, it will not change the principle that Christians must at all times take care of all their responsibilities. If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises."
Watchtower 3/15/80
"If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises." In saying "anyone," The Watchtower included all disappointed ones of Jehovah's Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centered on that date."
the end of quotes..........
Farkelshmarkel,
There was no mandatory program of six month Bible studies
Care to elaborate on that? I don't remember that. I'm getting old!
Englishman,
Just out of interest, I was gone in '72, but when the Great British Drought of '76 occurred (It didn't rain for 6 months - in England! - from April until October), many dubs thought that this was Armageddon starting in installments.
I remember thinking that armageddon was here everytime we had a thunder and lightening storm at night. I'd lay in bed thinking I was going to die now. makes me wonder how many JWs believe that they are going to die in armageddon. I bet there are very few who think they'll live through it, being sinners and all, like the rest of the human race.
peace,
somebody