What I remember from 1975

by Big Dog 77 Replies latest jw experiences

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  trevor

  Elders announced that they were selling their homes to go pioneering. Many gave up their jobs to join the crusade. Such heroism was actively encouraged by the Society and such men and women were held up as fine examples. Those who were less brave felt guilty - they were too fond of the things of this world.

  There was a certain magic in the air. The brothers and sisters could sense the nearness of all they had hoped for. We did not worry about trivial matters such as how much money we were making, how our careers were progressing, or what type of house we lived in. All that mattered was studying with new people and sharing our joy while there was still time ? Time ? Time! So much time passed and 1975 came and went, along with many disillusioned Witnesses.
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  GetBusyLiving

  :Its those who have become JW's say in last 10 years or so. That when you mention 1975 they look at you blank. It seems anything pre-1990 just didn't happen.

  Thats the scariest thing about new converts now-a-days. Most of them don't have any idea about any of these false prophecies.. I was one of them, born in 1977. My parents never even talked about it. Fortunetely we have the internet to find this stuff out but otherwise we wouldnt know shit. I never even knew who Ray Franz was till a year ago.
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  willyloman

  Have you listened to Circuit Servant Brother Sunutko's "will you be alive in '75" talk? It's on FREEMINDS.

  The phrase he used was, "Stay alive 'til '75." It was a sub-theme of his talk. It shows clearly that the year was on everyone's mind. Highly respected WT representatives like Sunutko were responsible in large part for keeping this year in the forefront during the late 1960's.

  What this thread shows beautifully is that 1975 really WAS a big deal but as the date got closer, people started hedging their bets. You've read several posters here talk about their experiences in '73 and '74, suggesting that 1975 wasn't that big a deal. It's true that by '74, most JW's were lowering their expectations so if you just came in 'the truth' then, you weren't infected by it nearly as much. In the years following Fred Franz' announcement in '66, however, wow! Expectations soared. Just look at the baptism figures for the years following '66; they went through the roof all the way to '75.

  Like GaryBuss said, it was a brilliant marketing strategy for the Brooklyn publishing company.
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  lilybird

  In 1974, many brothers refered to 1975 as a "marked" year. I think by that way, they were leaving an "out" in case nothing did happen, but if it did... they told you to be ever faithful!!! Also I remember many brothers who had sold their homes prior to 19'75, only to turn around and buy homes again a few years later. Its sad the way the WTS messes with so many ppl's minds..
• 

  willyloman

  But no, they never said in print that 1975 would be the date.

  Dub defenders often use this one.

  But the WTS most certainly did say in print that 1975 would mark the end of 6,000 years of man's existence on earth and went to great lengths (in print) to suggest this would coincide with the end of the system of things, even praising brothers (in print) who sold their homes and businesses, quit their jobs, put off necessary medical and dental care, and pioneered for "the few remaining months" of this system.

  If that's not saying it in print, what is?
• 

  Swan

  But the WTS most certainly did say in print that 1975 would mark the end of 6,000 years of man's existence on earth and went to great lengths (in print) to suggest this would coincide with the end of the system of things, even praising brothers (in print) who sold their homes and businesses, quit their jobs, put off necessary medical and dental care, and pioneered for "the few remaining months" of this system.

  They were masters of not saying things directly in print. They would calculate when the 6000 years were up in 1975, point out that God's Kingdom under Jesus was to abyss Satan for 1000 years, and that a creative day was 7000 years (another belief they have also quietly dropped, I understand). Then they left it up to us to do the math. And we did. Why question it? The WTBTS wouldn't lie to us! They weren't out to mislead us! We trusted them as the divinely inspired representatives of Jehovah here on Earth. I was 17. I dropped out of school thinking the end was almost upon us. I truly believed and fully expected, even though I was out in the service and going to the meetings, I wouldn't measure up and wouldn't be alive to see my 18th birthday.

  After 1975 came and went, I figured it was still coming, but there was some factor that hadn't been figured in that only Jehovah knew about. That was until the WTBTS started denying they said anything about 1975. It sure made me doubt them when they denied it. I knew what I read. Others did too. We knew what their traveling representatives told us too. October or possibly November of 1975. We had talks given by the Circuit Overseer with charts about the chronology. JWs use visual aids so seldom in their talks, so when this chart came out all eyes were focused on it.

  And then we had the tract work. This started about 1972 or 1973 as I recall. There were seven tracts that we were to distribute. We were told they represented the seven days the Israelites marched around Jericho. The book God's Kingdom of 1000 Years Has Approached came out in 1974, I believe. Everything the WTBTS did or said directed our attention to 1975.

  Their revisionist history completely skips 1975 now. Yet it happened. Don't let them tell you it didn't. That's what bothered me the most. Not that they were wrong about 1975, but the fact that they tried to say they never promoted it. It was one of the biggest lies they ever told, and why I started to realize that something was really wrong. So I guess I should thank them for trying to weasel out of it, because that was one of things that led me to start really thinking about that cult and my life in it.

  Tammy
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  Robert K Stock

  Nathan Natas:

  Are you someone I knew when I used to be a Witness? I hope some of my old friends have also escaped the Watchtower.

  I remember the Watchtower paragraphs you provided as well as the Life Everlasting book. After reading these things in 1973 I emphatically told people in field service that these materials only gave a vague maybe and nothing more.

  Other people Armageddon was coming in 1975 but I DID NOT and said so. I did not personally hear any talk from March 1973 to December 1975 that spoke with any certainty about 1975.

  I am not saying that others are wrong. I am giving my personal experience from 73-75 in Ventura, California.
• 

  Robert K Stock

  Seattleniceguy:

  I agree with you that the Watchtower would use doublespeak. I remember being told that if the Society gave a "suggestion" we were supposed to know it was a command with no wiggle room for personal thought.

  That was my biggest problem with the Elders. They hated that I had the gall to read something and actually think I could decide the meaning of the words on the page.
• 

  AlanF

  I don't appreciate anyone who claims that the Watchtower Society didn't actively promote the teaching that 1975 would bring Armageddon. I know what they said. I was there, and I made a number of bad decisions based on their lies. I didn't go to college after finishing high school in 1969, and I didn't try to get a decent job. I heard not one cautionary word from any of the elders or other Watchtower representatives. Everyone I knew who cared to comment said that the few cautionary words from the Society were just so much ass-coverning.

  Watchtower publications themselves contain virtually direct statements that 1975 would bring Armageddon. Proof is presented below. Any JW who didn't buy into the teaching back then was looked on by the others as weak or immature. Of course, by about 1973, nothing even remotely resembling pre-Armageddon events had occurred, and so a lot of JWs, myself included, lost enthusiasm for the teaching.

  Now for some proof:

  The Watchtower of August 15, 1968 contained several articles on 1975. The most significant was one titled "Why Are You Looking Forward To 1975?" Its purpose was to raise a good deal of anticipation about the date. Note carefully what the title says. It doesn't simply wonder if there's good reason to look forward to 1975. On the contrary, it asks "WHY are you looking forward to 1975?" All good JWs know that when the Society asks a leading question like this, it's telling them that they should be in line with the question asked. So, far from being an innocent question, this was telling all JWs that they should indeed be looking forward to 1975.

  The Watchtower of May 1, 1968, stated on page 271, paragraph 4:

  Thus, Adam's naming of the animals and his realizing that he needed a counterpart would have occupied only a brief time after his creation. Since it was also Jehovah's purpose for man to multiply and fill the earth, it is logical that he would create Eve soon after Adam, perhaps just a few weeks or months later in the same year, 4026 B.C.E. After her creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately followed.

  The important point is that the Society was dogmatic that 1975 was to be the 6,000th year after Adam's creation, and that 6,000 years from Eve's creation must bring Armageddon. In line with this, the study question for the paragraph asked, "When were Adam and Eve created?" Paragraphs 5 and 6 then said:

  After [Eve's] creation, God's rest day, the seventh period, immediately followed. Therefore, God's seventh day and the time man has been on earth apparently run parallel. To calculate where man is in the stream of time relative to God's seventh day of 7,000 years, we need to determine how long a time has elapsed from the year of Adam and Eve's creation in 4026 B.C.E. . .

  The seventh day of the Jewish week, the sabbath, would well picture the final 1,000-year reign of God's kingdom under Christ when mankind would be uplifted from 6,000 years of sin and death. (Rev. 20:6) Hence, when Christians note from God's timetable the approaching end of 6,000 years of human history, it fills them with anticipation. Particularly is this true because the great sign of the "last days" has been in the course of fulfillment since the beginning of the "time of the end" in 1914.

  If these aren't direct statements that Armageddon would come in 1975, I don't know what are.

  That a number of Watchtower writers fully bought into the above-cited arguments is proved by the statement in the October 8, 1968 Awake!, which said on page 14:

  According to reliable Bible chronology Adam and Eve were created in 4026 B.C.E.

  Also, the 1969 book Aid to Bible Understanding indicated that Adam and Eve were created in the same year. On page 333, under the subject "Chronology," it said that the time from Adam's creation to the birth of Seth was 130 years, and on page 538, under the subject "Eve," it said that at the age of 130 Eve gave birth to Seth. Since this book was published as an authoritative, encyclopedia-like reference, these comments again assured the reader that the Society was certain that Adam and Eve were created in the same year, and implied that it was certain that "everything would be over" by 1975.

  The 1969 booklet The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years was also definite about 1975. On pages 25-26 it said:

  More recently earnest researchers of the Holy Bible have made a recheck of its chronology. According to their calculations the six millenniums of mankind's life on earth would end in the mid-seventies. Thus the seventh millennium from man's creation by Jehovah God would begin within less than ten years. . .

  In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be "Lord even of the sabbath day," his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums.

  An exhaustive look at what the Watchtower Society said about 1975 can be found at the following links:

  http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/pro3.htm#a1975

  http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/1975.htm

  The first contains virtually everything I could find in regular WTS publications; the second is a compilation of what the WTS said in the Kingdom Ministry tracts.

  AlanF
• 

  startingover

  I was 21 in 1975. It's only been a couple of years since I realized I was a closet athiest as long as I can remember. It's taken this long to realize it and freely admit it, mainly because of my upbringing and continued association with the org. Sitting through the meetings growing up were never something I wanted to do, but I had to. I never studied for the meetings, I was just a body in a seat thinking about all the other stuff I wished I could be doing.

  But never underestimate the power of the subliminal. I had interest in being an architect. When I found out how long the schooling took, which would have been past 1975, I never pursued it. Even though all my "worldly" friends were making plans for college, I just found myself affected by the things I heard at the meetings, even though I'm sure I wasn't listening all the much. I was sure the end was coming and I was going to die at Armageddon anyway so why waste time on school. Why not just party and have a good time.

  Circumstances allowed me to make a big move across the country by myself in mid 1975. Out of my parents house and surrounded by new bunch of fun kids (even though they were dubs) caused me to completely forget the fears I had. It came and went without me even thinking any more about it. I often wonder if I had not made the move where I would be, how the date coming and going would have affected me. I will never know. But I do know that I never got those ideas from any study I did. The only place it could have come from was sitting through the meetings.