Gaslighting older JW couples to avoid BLAME

by raymond frantz 9 Replies latest jw experiences

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  raymond frantz

  https://youtu.be/kVDqTOOkSCU?si=FuQhj44cOkMdzKT7
  

  One of the greatest issues facing the organization today is couples that sacrificed family life or businesses opportunity in order to preach the many dates the Watchtower set in the

  Past only to be betrayed in recent years as the Watchtower is moving away from date setting. Who's fault was that? As you will see from this video in typical Governing body fashion they blame the rank and file and they refuse to acknowledge the problem or even apologise.
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  slimboyfat

  The only specific date that was set in the lifetime of anyone now alive was 1975 and that was a long time ago. It’s misleading to say anyone around now gave up opportunities to “preach the many dates the Watchtower set”.
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  raymond frantz

  In my lifetime and I'm in my 50's I saw many leaving in the early 90's when the Watchtower walked away from the generation that will see the End teaching, and later the overlapping generation. Not to mention the favor around the end of the century. See how the gb member is warning about the expectation around the setting of dates, something they admit to indirectly
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  LongHairGal

  RAYMOND FRANTZ:

  I also walked away because of the 1995 generation teaching.

  The organization hasn’t just moved away from date setting but got rid of a crucial teaching at their 2023 annual meeting.. They said it’s no longer necessary to count hours and turn in a time slip.. But, what about those JWs who did this for years? Even if it wasn’t full time, their time could have been spent in a decent job. I’m glad I never listened! ..I worked full time.

  I watched the video and the gist I got was that it’s ‘not their fault’ about the choices people made. I guess they are trying to keep even more disgruntled and disappointed older people from leaving.
  
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  slimboyfat

  The generation failure was huge, perhaps an even bigger deal than 1975, in my opinion. It wasn’t a specific date but it was a massive disappointment. I think the graph below shows it had a bigger impact on JW growth in Britain than 1975 did. You can see there was a temporary dip after 1975, but there was a much more prolonged decline and stagnation following the revision of the generation teaching in 1995.

  
  
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  raymond frantz

  Very interesting graph slimboyfat
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  Rivergang

  SBF,

  They were a bit more cunning after 1975.

  Without actually even mentioning a specific year, there was much hype about "The Generation" meaning 70 years, and:

  - 1914 plus 70 years equals what year? (Go figure!)

  The thought was definitely left hanging there, and many fell for it.

  Where I was living during those years of the 1980s, the school leaving age was only 15, and many Witness kids dropped out of school the day they reached that age - all to partake "In the Ministry".

  Earlier to 1975, there had been widespread speculation that "The Generation" was possibly 40 years in length, making the years 1953/54 a possible time for the end. Persons affected by that would now be of advanced age, but still possibly alive,

  One of the greatest issues facing the organization today is couples that sacrificed family life or businesses opportunity in order to preach the many dates the Watchtower set in the past.

  Consequently, I would not be too hard on Raymond Frantz,
  
  
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  slimboyfat

  I was there. I remember working out that 80 years after 1914 was 1994 and that Armageddon simply had to come by 1995.

  On the other hand, I don’t remember any fuss around the year 1999/2000 among Witnesses I knew, and I was at my most active in this period.

  I did know one older JW who said Armageddon would come in 1999 because that was 120 years after the first publication of The Watchtower magazine and Noah had 120 to preach before the flood. She was very much an outlier and arrived at this opinion on her own steam. She was baptised in 1941 and rejected various Watchtower updates along the way, for example she insisted that the old teaching about the Great Tribulation starting in 1914 was correct and that we are still living in an interlude before the Great Tribulation resumes.
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  TonusOH

  I think that 1975 taught the GB that setting a hard date was a very bad idea. Even in the runup to 1975, they often tried to hedge their bets by claiming that they weren't making any such prediction. I guess that they understood that they would need to point to those claims if things did not happen as expected.

  I think that they switched to pointing at 'signs.' Like 1986, when the UN proclaimed that year to be the year of peace and security. For the WTS, that was a clear reference to Paul's letter stating that the cry of peace and security would be the catalyst for the end. But, like any other signs that they pointed to, nothing happened. If there were more natural disasters than usual, they would remark about it. If there was political upheaval, they would point it out.

  Sign after sign after sign that we were at the very end... and nothing would happen. I don't even recall noticing the 1995 change, but by then the doubts had accumulated enough that I was beginning to fade even though I didn't want it or even realize it.
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  truthlover123

  1973-74 saw hundreds if not thousands who left their jobs, sold their homes, went pioneering cause 1975 was the end- the 7000 year was starting, Jesus was coming back. Many brothers and sisters were duped, those who had invested in businesses sold them. Elders preached at assemblies that the end was nigh. Yet since then, no saying "we were wrong" instead it's the fault of those who choose to believe, to have faith in these men who say they are driven by holy spirit. The Holy Spirit does not make mistakes and those who speak as though they are online with it are in trouble. False prophets they are. With the generation change, it was one change of several in that particular word, in thinking, once again, they are right. All they did was extend the "end times" by allowing the anointed to increase as they older boys die off, extending the end times to forever down the line. Now they have changed the second baptism question again. Constant changes under the guise of "Jehovahs chariot is on the move". Crap!