How Did 1975 Affect You? (page 3)

joelbear

I remember when I was about 10 or 11 in the mid 60's sitting at a meeting and counting up on my fingers how old I would be when the end came. I was very afraid of the torture that I would have to undergo for being a witness during the Great Tribulation. I reasoned that at 17 I would be able to withstand the persecution. At age 15 or so, it was clear to me that the things that were supposed to precede Armageddon were not happening. Indeed there is still no indication of "Babylon the Great" falling nor Peace and Security being declared.

Aztec

(((Obi))) Chin up hon!

I was only one but I think it really affected my family for many years to come. My father still defends the society to this day for their stand. I just don't get it. I know it shook my mom up. Here she was so close to Armageddon with one young child and another one on the way...

All I can say is UGH!

~Aztec

High Castle

It looks like the Adult Children are in the house! I was 13 in '75. I have the theory that the level of anticipation of the arrival 0f 1975 was dependent on where you were. ( We lived in the St. Louis, Missouri area at that time) Anyone who was of adult years at that time to confirm or deny? I do remember the buzz, but no extreme behavior in my family or local Kingdom Hall. (Besides that is, my stepfather's burial of Watchtowers sealed in Tupperware in the back yard. That was only one of many things he did that didn't make sense to me then or now). More important to me now is the impact of growing up without a - realistic - future. I left the "Truth' in my teens, unfortunately I didn't acquire a 'future' when I left. I drifted. I found the anarcho-punk milieu of the 80's to be comfortable. "No Future" oh how true. Everything I needed to know I learned from the Talking Heads song "Life During Wartime". It's 2003 and I still don't have my own computer, so I need to sign off.

PS Thanks Craig for the earlier insight.

Gordy

I was first contacted by the JW's in March 1971, baptised January 1972. I was 20 years old.

Throughout the "study" I had in the "Truth Book" 1975 wasn't mentioned. When we did the "Freedom Everlasting" book the "elder" who took my study pointed out the 6000 yrs of man etc.There didn't seem to be any particular emphasis from other JW's about 1975 in the congregation I attended at that time. I think we had a couple of "elders" at the time who had been through such a thing before, one had been a JW since 1920's . But you could sense an underlying feeling that they hoped something would happen..

There was a TV program about the JW's that year. Mainly because a well known footballer Peter Knowles had become a JW and had given up playing. The program did mention that the JW's thought that Armageddon would come in 1975. Think it was the only TV program I had known about JW's until recently.

In 1974 there was a flurry of weddings at the Kingdom Hall, about 12 that year, mine was one of them. My wife and I had our first child in October 1975, he is 28 this weekend. Also remember that no one bought a house until after 1976.

frenchbabyface

Well it affect me because that was the time, my mother gave everything to "god" and forget about her own life and her kids of course ...

Wolfgirl

It affected me tremendously. I was born in 1973...my parents were baptised in 75 because the end was coming. Even afterwards, they were certain it was "soon." They kept me back from school for a year because "Armageddon is coming; why should we put her in school?" So I was almost 6 when I started kindergarten. I can't say for sure, but perhaps without the 75 hype, my parents might not have ever been baptised. I might not have been raised "in the truth" if not for the hype.

RAYZORBLADE

Honestly, I was oblivous to the 1975 debacle.

I started studying, the following year as a disgruntled 13 year old.

I eventually found out more and more, but well....I remembered how inappropriate it was to ask questions about '1975'. I got shut down for that more than once.

So, I figured, it was in Jehover's hands.

Yeah...right!

2075 is coming up too, but I'll bet you, the Jetson's will be here before Arma'getcha's gonna be here.

Pfffft!

Singing Man

Well basically I felt very deceived to say the lest, like I was pawn in someone's sick game.

Hamas

It made me see the WT for what it really is ... a False Prophet !

Although I wasn't in 'the truth' way back then.

Black Sheep

My father got baptised in 1941 when they were saying that armageddon was only months away. I must ask him how it affected him when it didn't happen. He certainly didn't apply Deuteronomy 18:20-22.

I remember my mother shaking her head at the foolishness of young Joey Wits who were getting married in the early 60's.

I've lived with this crap all my life, not ever getting baptised, I was never going to be good enough for that. I just accepted that my loving God Jehovah was going to kill me at Armageddon so I'd better get on with making the best of my short time on earth. The Sunutko tape did the rounds of NZ in the late 60's and the bit about the door being shut before 1975 stuck in my head.

By 1974 I was back studying, doing talks, witnessing etc. but never got baptised. Figured I could get a quick dunking if it really looked like it was going to happen.

By the time I had drifted out in 1976 my wife was in. I never opposed her taking the kids along with her, as I still thought she was probably doing the right thing. I only ever objected when I thought the kids were getting baptised too young.

It is only in the past couple of months that I have learned the truth about 1975, 1941 and all the other rubbish they have fed us, and come to the realisation that it has all been a total load of crap.

And that crap has affected decisions I have made for my whole life. What a cockup. I'm really pissed off.

How Did 1975 Affect You?

Share this