The Society and 1975.

by Lost in the fog 46 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  stan livedeath

  thinking back--i have to laugh about all the 1975 hype.

  i had quit 3 years before..but the elders had assigned one of them to try to get me interested again. He was totally sold on it. Then he mentioned he was buying a car on credit--because he would never have to pay for it. That killed it stone dead for me. That idiot went on to be a circuit servant !

  what i did do in the summer of 75--was to get my wife pregnant. We had our first son in april 76. She totally shuns him now--as he was d/f 10 years ago.
• 

  Overrated

  I was a very young child when the whole 75 thing took place. I know there there was so much hype and growth and then the disappointment when it didn't happened. People where stuck. I feel bad that Wt played this off on people. They are the blame. Yet they go on as if nothing is wrong and there is people who continue to buy their crap. I'm glad I think about what Wt does( slot of holes) can't buy it.
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  DATA-DOG

  I remember being in the second grade and I didn’t understand why one of my teachers was mean to me and my Mom....

  I can still remember sitting in my Mom’s Station Wagon, and hearing her say, “They like to say the Organization said the world was ending in 1975, so our beliefs aren’t true.”

  Wow... It’s crazy the things we forget until the right stimulus comes along...

  DD
• 

  titch

  Thinking back to 1975...If you were a Witness back then, and thinking about the 6 or 7 months that lead up to October 1975. Say, around March, April, May of 1975. Was there anything---ANYTHING---that was happening on the global scene, that would have lead you to believe, that Hey, yeah, the Society is right. The "Great Tribulation" is going to be here very soon, and after that has ended, Armageddon! And, then, the "New System" Was there anything happening that would have made you believe that? Best Regards, all...

  Titch.
  
• 

  waton

  Was there anything---ANYTHING---that was happening on the global scene, that would have--- believe--" T

  no, but it was my turn to be rotated into the Presiding overseer role in the BOE. so, I decided to drown the waiting by work, pioneered for the year.

  A great silence fell among the greatest boasters, It reminded me of germany after the war, there were no Nazis, Hitler was never mentioned.

  1975 too, was silenced to death.
  
  
• 

  smiddy3

  Fink ,I remember a publication called "The plain Truth" that was given out free at a newsagents around the 70`s and that spoke about Armageddon and was well illustrated .Actually it was a far superior in quality compared to the WT & Awake mags.

  The Adventists also believed in Armageddon in their publications and "World Tomorrow" also preached about the big "A" though I don`t think they put a date to it.

  Just saying.

  I`m sorry to hear stan that your wife still shuns her son ,just shows the power of indoctrination , so tragic and evil.
• 

  Finkelstein

  There must of been a money making scheme behind the 75 thing

  It was a literature proliferation scheme intent and endeavored to further enhancing the literature the WTS published, in others words it was blatant corruption by men such as F Franz and H Knorr.

  A lot shit happened to people because those men and their propagating corruption.

  An extended amount of Power and Money in the hands of men can turn them to devious apathetic assholes.
  
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  mickbobcat

  Personally I don't believe for a min, that the society did not believe or knew they were wrong on the dates set. If it was a pure Joel Osteen scam they would have set the dates past their sell by dates. they did not. In many cases it was only a few years in the future. Franze and Russell I think were total believers in their own ideology. Rutherford I believe also believed in his 1925 dates. It just makes no sense to put the dates so close and know its gong to fail. I believe that this is a good example of the leaders drinking the same koolaid they are giving the rank and file.
  
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  Rivergang

  In his 1956 work 30 Years a Watchtower Slave, W.Schnell claims that Rutherford knew all along he was telling stories. Schnell maintains that he was once witness to a conversation between Joseph Rutherford and another high-ranking official of the WTS. In this conversation, Rutherford readily admitted that the date of 1925 was pure nonsense, and only introduced for publicity purposes. Furthermore, this beloved president of the Watchtower Society insisted that it really did not matter too much; he reckoned the rank and file could be kept so busy "selling literature" that they would fail to notice they had been conned.

  If Schnell is to be believed, the only thing Judge Joseph Boozerford deluded himself about was into believing he could get away with it!

  PS: The date 1925 was not plucked entirely out of thin air. As with 1975, there was enough chronological data available in the Bible from which to concoct a story from - a story convincing enough to excite a lot of people. Never underestimate the effectiveness of the half-truth as a propaganda tool!
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  Finkelstein

  It reminded me of Germany after the war, there were no Nazis, Hitler was never mentioned.

  good analogy