by jwcurious 14 Replies latest jw friends
I'm new here, I married a JW and I have just started attending the meetings, and it confuses me alot.
But back to my question, my grandmother once told me that JW's in the 50's proclaimed the end of the world and sold all their personal belongings and went up on a mountian and waited for God, has anyone else heard of this?
sold all their personal belongings and went up on a mountian and waited for God, has anyone else heard of this?
I can't vouch that some individual JWs didn't do this but as a group I think she is thinking of the Millerites back in 1844.
May 1974 Kingdom Ministry
p. 3 How Are You Using Your Life? ***Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world?s end.?1 John 2:17.
Well, I wonder... If Jesus were to come back and get me to Heaven, why should I go to the trouble of selling my belongings? I wouldn't need any money up there, and those left on Earth would not have any use for them...
So the witnesses are a little smarter... as Blondie said: there's still "some little time"... so little that it never ends
Although the Watchtower was popularizing the idea among its members that Armageddon was extremely close in the '50's (and many times before that and after) they never had a day (in the '50s) picked out where JWs would gather at any particular location to be saved, raptured, whatever.
It sounds like your grandma may have confused the JW's with another millenialist group. Here's a list of failed prophecies from a bunch of different religions:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl2.htm
Did you talk over your religious differences with your partner before you got married? There are unique challenges facing you. I, also, am a non-JW married to a Witness.
The 1941 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses says the world already ended in 1914. I heard of several Witnesses who thought the world was going to end in 2000 but they didn't climb any mountains, they went to the mall and waited in the coffee shop. I actually saw them sitting there.
The scenario you describe is too close a match to the 1844 Millerite fiasco to be a coincidence. I think your mother mixed up the stories.
However, William Miller's cockeyed ideas gave rise to several Adventist type religions, including the early influences on the JWs. So, although the story is not specifically accurate, with a few corrections is still pretty significant.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, JWs predicted that Armageddon would come in 1975. As the day approached, they backed off slightly, but there were many followers who took them at their word and adjusted their lives according to their belief in the imminent end. They did things like selling possetions, foregoing education, spending their savings, and even putting off dental work. However, this behavior was mostly individual in nature.
Similarly, there were major disappointments, such as 1925 (when "Millions now living will never die") and 1914, which was the biggest failure of them all.
It wasn't on a mountain this happened....but it did happen. In 1925 they were awaiting for the ancient of worthies to show up on earth such as Issac, Jacob, and the rest of the desert hermits. I believe at one point they had the day down and dressed for the occasion but I cannot remember where it was written.
If you will do some re-search on the Witnesses, you'll find they have an entire history of false predictions and expectations.
I hope your discovering what this religion is really made of does not destroy your new life with your wife.......be careful in how you approach this.
Gumby...btw....welcome to the board
JWcurious, NO! Guest77
Did you talk over your religious differences with your partner before you got married? There are unique challenges facing you. I, also, am a non-JW married to a Witness.
We've been married now for 14 years.
