For those of you that can remember.... did you really believe that Armageddon was going to come in 1975? I was a child of the 60s, in my teens in the 70s and can honestly say that I never bought into it. I saw brothers and sisters selling their homes and moving into rented property. Going pioneering etc. Fortunately my parents didn't sell up. I did go pioneering after school but it wasn't because I believed the end was near, it was just something I thought I should do. When 1975 came and went I was actually pleased nothing happened. Though it did start me wondering what else they had got wrong. When I look back, I realise there was a lot of things I didn't buy into but you don't really think at the time that it's because it's a cult and they've got your mind trapped. For me, the key to the lock was Raymond Franz's book CoC. It opened the door to my mind and everything came tumbling out that I'd had stored in there for years. I think 1975 coming and going was probably one of the first things that I had stored in that cupboard....
Did you ever buy into 1975?
by tornapart 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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sir82
I was just a kid so I believed pretty much whatever anyone in authority told me.
But to the extent that my pre-teen mind could register it, yeah I guess I bought into it.
Although I was more concerned about my favorite baseball team making the playoffs, and finishing the book report that was due.
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truth_b_known
I was an infant at the time. Prior to my mother finding out she was pregnant, my parents lived a simple life and were pioneers. They rented a loft in some old lady's house and cleaned banks after hours to pay the bills. They were getting ready to be missionaries when my mother, who was told by her doctor that she would never have children, found out she was pregnant.
A buddy of mine was about 5 when 1975 hit. His dad was whatever they called elder before the elder arrangement was made. His dad was an uber-dub who could literally place everything in his book bag in one morning of field service. December 1975 my buddy remembers his Dad bringing home a Christmas Tree. Soon after his parents split.
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galaxie
No I'm sure I did not buy into it, it has always puzzled me why that was. I was baptised early 60s @ 13 yrs old was a very zealous jw field service, ministry school, talks from the platform, but when this emphasis on 75 in conjunction with creative days....6000 yrs from Adams creation the allowance (or buying time) from Eves creation in fact the whole setting of time limit culminating in the start of the millennium from 75 did not sit well with me. I got married spring of 75 in the. K' hall and have never set foot in one since. As 75 came and went, although I knew there was no chance of the big 'a' it just confirmed to me that the watchtower was full of bull...sht!!
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Pistoff
Lock, stock and barrel.
All of the people I knew and respected were all in; elders, pioneers that sold their homes, quit their jobs, pioneered, till the end would come.
I skipped college, even shortened my senior year in HS to pioneer.
When it didn't come, we all just knew it was still 'so close'.
About 5 years ago, my BIL told me it was 'so close, so close'.
We were just your average rubes, taken in by average charlatans who knew it wasn't really coming.
P
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ttdtt
My mom got baptized in 74 because of the fear instilled in her about 75 and that if she wasn't her kids would die too.
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punkofnice
I was a teenager. My Dad was an elder or whatever they were in those days. He told the family that 1975 was just a 'marked' year and probably wasn't the end. Good old Dad (RIP).
1975 was a good year for me. I was young and discovering great music. I also bought my first motorbike that year too.
I remember looking at the calendar at work and it was October 1975. I was convinced nothing was going to happen. I don't remember anything much happening. It was a big let down but still I carried on.
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dozy
I was just a child then , but my parents ( like so many ) bought into it hook , line and sinker. My father gave up his well paid job , we sold our lovely big house and moved hundreds of miles away as "need greaters" into a damp , crappy rented property in early 1974 awaiting Armageddon. I remember coming home crying form school as I was really struggling to make friends and my mother comforting me , telling me that I wouldn't be in that school for many more months anyway as the end was coming soon. ( ie - 41 years ago ) Years later my father showed me a notebook where he had meticulously worked out how long the family savings from selling the house would last out ( he had it to the end of 1976 , after Franz's article in the Watchtower where he allowed a bit of wiggle room. )
It really angers me in the video touching on this debacle in the current JW convention program where the couple who believed in 1975 are seen as unspiritual and moving ahead of the organisation. The reality back then was actually the polar opposite - to be a bit distrustful of 1975 at that time was the mark of a critical person in the organisation.
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tornapart
Some great answers!
Yes Dozy, it doesn't make sense that they are trying to blame the R&F for being taken in... by what was clearly a teaching from the top at the time. Trying to hoodwink the younger generations no doubt. Even my own hubby thinks anyone who believed it shouldn't have done... yet there's no waking him up!
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EverApostate
During 1975, I was a School going happy kid raised by loving protestant parents and never even heard about this JW cult during that time. Lucky me !!