I was born in 1984 so was only 9yo in 1995. I read on various posts on here and on other websites about false expectations about 1975 and 1995. I'm aware of the 1975 failure but what was said in 1995?
What happened in 1995?
by pale.emperor 26 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
pale.emperor
-
Anders Andersen
They changed the understanding of 'this generation' from 'those who witnessed the events in 1914' to 'every person alive during the time of the end'.
Which meant that effectively Dubs could not longer calculate 1914 + ~80/90 years and think about how close Armageddon was (again).Basically the whole idea of 'it will happen within the 20th century' was dumped.
Apparently a lot were disappointed about Armageddon being delayed yet again? -
Crazyguy
Yes they lied once again!
-
Gorbatchov
And the rank and file got the blame. "Some witness thought that" and "some witness expected that...".
G.
-
Gorbatchov
For me the beginning of the end, start of fade...
G.
-
sir82
That was the first time when the "generation" of Matthew 24:34 was defined to mean something other than "people born (or at an age of understanding) in 1914 or earlier".
For many decades prior to 1995, the length of a human lifespan tied to the year 1914 had set an outer bound for when Armageddon would come. The Watchtower in 1995 removed that outer bound, pushing Armageddon off into the indefinite future.
The WTS has never fully recovered.Baptisms peaked at around 370,000 per year just prior to that WT study article, and have since dropped to about 70% of that rate.
They have since tried to cram the toothpaste back into the tube, diddling about with "overlapping groups comprising a single generation" and "that second group is getting old!" but no one that I've ever talked to really buys it.
-
mentalclarity
So as a "born-in" I'd always heard that "this generation" will not pass without seeing the end, so we figured even someone who was born in 1914 itself was getting pretty old and "the end" was super super close- ( I mean what's the average lifespan of a person, right?) Then this article comes out. It was slipped in so subtly that i really didn't even realize this huge change until people were talking about it afterwards. It's so ridiculous.....
-
Diogenesister
Armageddon delayed......again.
-
LongHairGal
PALE.EMPEROR:
This 1995 changed teaching on Generation was what prompted me to start my "fade". I was also offended by how they didn't warn anybody that there was a major change to a linchpin teaching...They just very nicely slipped it into the study article.
I should have just walked out of the Kingdom Hall right then and there but was reeling from the shock. Maybe people didn't leave right away but after a while when it all sank in they made other plans. I certainly did. Others maybe didn't leave at all but they certainly knew they had to save for the future and their retirement.
It was a delayed reaction but I believe the religion lost many people within the next several years after this teaching.
The religion should have hung it up as far as I was concerned.
-
Gorbatchov
It was a big issue then in our congregations in the western part of Holland. Some JW's had a from the US faxed magazine, because it was not yet simultanious in print. They new it earlier then the CO and elders. 😁
Those were the times. Since then the change went continue to the now mainstream broadcasting religion.
G.