by Guest 77 33 Replies latest jw friends
Cat1759, you gave me a good laugh.
SpecialK, yes I've heard of stories of friends selling, etc.
Rocketman, aren't men or boys at that age thinking what you were thinking?
The scriptures tell us that Jehovah's day will come as a thief. 2Pet.3:10 The org. is creating it's own demise.
Guest 77
I was 13....I had gotten baptized at age 12 just to make it to the new system. I wanted to become perfect and live forever. I wanted long beautiful hair, frolick with the lions, tigers, bears and run in the hills....just like all the literature showed.
As the months of 1975 counted down it was like waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square. JWs went on vacations (to see that decadent place that won't exsist after the big A), tried new and dangerous sports (sky diving etc.-won't be able to do this kind of stuff after) and spent money as fast as they could. I do not recall going out in service more. We still did the mandatory 10 hours. No more, no less.
I was in my freshman year of high school. I was sure I would never have to go to school again! Yeah! No more class. No more Plede of Allegiance. No more gym class. No more algebra. Why worry about grades? I'll never graduate!
WRONG!!!!
Big let down. As 1975 came to an end, it was whispered in our KH that *it* would start at the end of the year. I sat watching TV, Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve (I believe ELO was the headliner) and waited for the great tribulation to begin.
The only thing that started was the popping of champagne corks and disco....
I was only 2, but my parents obviously did. The school I was going to go to was going to allow me in at 4 (instead of the required 5) because I could already read and write at the 5th grade level. My parents decided not to put me in school because 'Armageddon was coming any minute now.' Yeah, OK. I graduated 11 years ago.
My parents said they weren't buying the 1975 thing, but they were certainly living their lives as though they did, and lost a lot of money as a result of not investing in either the stock market or a house in Richardson or Plano in 1973. Instead, we moved where "the need was greater" in Corsicana (yeah, that town has a great need -- for ANYTHING!!!) and lived in a rent house for a year, then moved to Lancaster and bought a humble abode (my parents loved living beneath themselves, so they could feel virtuous). And waited for the end. Which so far hasn't come.
I was in my late teens at the time, and just couldn't see how world events were coming together for Armageddon.
Nina
The prevailing wisdom in my area was that Armageddon would probably start a while before 1975, and that the kingdom would likely be fully established by the fall of that year (with the GT and Armageddon completely over - which would take some time).
I believed it when I came into the org in 1969, but by the time 1975 actually rolled around it had become more and more obvious that nothing was gearing up to happen.
Then, after nothing happened in 1975, I found out about all the other dates when nothing happened.
I came in to the borg in 1982. I asked about 1975 and was told the society never directly said the world would end in 75, that over zealous witnesses took it the wrong way. Well I wonder where these over zealous witnesses ever came up with that idea? After all your told to gaurd against independant thinking. When I finaly left the borg. I saw what a bunch of two face liars the WTBTS was. Cover your ass at all costs, protect the borg. and who cares about all the other non-dubs in the world, seems to be the real message they preach.
The only thing that started was the popping of champagne corks and disco....
Well, disco was almost as destructive as Armageddon...
As the responses on this thread clearly show, belief in the end coming in '75 was largely dependent on the congregation you were in. In some cases, whole congregations were divided.
I was just coming into "the truth" in '75, but there was lots of talk about it, especially early in the year. I remember a speaker one Sunday counting down the time until Armageddon; he had it all figured out, so many days, hours, minutes, until Oct. 5-6, or some such date. He told the audience there were only so many days left and they we'd all be in the new order. You could have heard a pin drop. Afterward, I asked one of the elders about it and he told me the speaker was out of line and should not stated his own opinion as fact; he further implied "the brother has been talked to" about the matter. I'd been studying for a few months and this was my second or third meeting. I asked him for more details, and he just said that "some" people had come to this conclusion based on some bible chronology and not to worry about it.
After that I began to notice the members of the congregation fell into two camps. Some wouldn't buy a house or make a doctor's appointment or put their kids in school, because there were "just a matter of months left in this old system." Others pointed out that the Society was purchasing new presses and real estate and took a philosophical approach: Plan ahead but keep living with a sense of urgency.
It's the same today. There are two kinds of witnesses now; those who expect the end to come soon, and those who don't. The former tend to be arch-conservatives and extremely strict in their interpretation of bible doctrine. The latter are much more liberal in their outlook and laissez-faire with respect to "the rules."
I was just barely out of my teens, but i remember it vividly. No, i never for one moment believed it. The bible says u would not know the day or hour. I felt even knowing the year was too close. Even then i was aware that jws were too date oriented. I just lived my life as usual. If it came, so be it. I knew a bro , a friend, who had gotten out of Bethel that year. He was scared sh*tless. My hubby did not believe it either. We kept quiet. To do otherwise would have been dangerous.
weds
i wasn't born yet, but the weird thing is i didnt even know about the 1975 prediciton for YEARS, some worldly person told me about it and i thought it was a lie until i researched it..i was SHOCKED! i was so ready to dismiss it as 'apostate propaganda'! in all my years as a witness i never heard mention of it once.
