what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Debator
My in-laws have been devout JWs since around 1961. Even they don't tell lies about what really happened in 1975.
In fact, when we visited them recently I couldn't believe my ears when MIL said "they (meaning the Org) have ruined thousand of lives" I nearly fell off my chair. However, at least they are honest JWs which is a rarety.
I think MIL feels guilty for not allowing their two boys to go to grammar school and then on to university. However, she was only following instructions!!
L I
well my mom and i got into a pretty bad argument today over the phone.
it basically came down to the fact that she couldn't handle what i was saying about the organization, etc and all she could come back to me was that i "hated her?
" i guess i just wanted to share and vent a little too....thanks for letting me do so.. .
Gosh, Meangirl you have summed everything up so well.
I cannot believe that anyone Christian would even dream of taking someone else's house, it came as a great shock to me when I heard that sort of thing. It made me see what nasty people they really were, would rather take something that someone else had worked hard for rather than work themselves.
Something else I heard that also shocked me deeply was how in the run up to 1975 some took out larger mortgages on their homes believing that they would never have to repay them. Again, I cannot believe any Christian would dream of doing such a thing. Most people I know who have never been a JW would never stoop as low as to behave like that. How can someone sign a form to say they are going to repay a debt when all along the believed they wouldn't? If I owed anyone money it would bother me until I paid it back, what sort of consciences do they have?
Another JW I know decided after having left school and started work was to give up work and go to university. In the UK at the time the system was that you could get a student loan which she took out. However, when she got her degree and decided to work she never made any attempt to pay the loan back. I know this for a fact as I was doing her wages at the time and I kept asking her about the repayments. She was certainly earning over the amount required to begin the repayments.
To this day she hasn't paid a penny back
hi all.. my story.
it's been a while coming.. i have been lurking around here for 10 months or so.. reading just about everyday.
thank steve jobs for the iphone.. i haven't worked out how to post from the iphone.
Welcome, I too suffered from depression. I am glad to say it has now gone. We gradually faded until we now haven't attended a meeting for almost two years.
You will soon be off those pills!
LI
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Well said Heartofboy, my husband was 17 then, not allowed to even go to grammar school when he was 11 years old, stay on at school at 16 to get qualifications so he could go to uni.
He got a job then had to spend eight years attending college on day release (studying every night and weekend) just to get some qualifications otherwise who knows where he would be now. This meant he was able to attend fewer meetings than if had got qualified straight from school!
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
One day Debator will be on this site apologizing as he/she will have reached the same conclusion as everyone else that the Org cannot keep lying to people and getting away with it.
Thank goodness Jehovah knows who's telling the truth.
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Publications and Witnesses alike admit to this enthusiam as a whole that we all suffered from like chinese whisper it swept through us. but unlike
1914 and definite doctrines we have drawn from the bible this was hope running ahead of itself.
This was not hope running ahead of itself, the RF witnesses would not have reacted in the way they did had it not been for those people on the platforms stating that it would happen in 1975. Where did they get the information? From the Organisation. Why did the Organisation give out false information?
If any other Organisation had behaved in this way they would have had to pick up the pieces, i.e. compensate those that lost thousands over their bad advice. You would have thought God's loving Organisation would have bent over backwards to help those now homeless some of whom had donated the sale proceeds of their house to the Organisation.
Those that did not pioneer full-time were considered weaker in their faith than those that decided to hang onto their jobs. Now those who did pioneer full-time are now considered the weaker ones.
How can they keep changing?
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Imminent means "about to happen"
Therefore, if the Organisation asks the congregation to full-time pioneer they should reply "I will do so imminently" they cannot argue with that, you could keep this one going for years.
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Debator
All the talks and assemblies from around 1967 leading to 1975 all spoke of Armageddon coming in 1975.
Please just answer one question, if you are constantly told something by all the representatives of the Organisation week in week out would you go against them? Not many would as they would be too scared of getting DF.
Whether it is written or not, you must know people get DF for far less serious matters than this. There is one member of this site who was DF for not believing Christ came back invisibly in 1914. It is not written in any WT that if someone doesn't believe this they will get DF but that person still did.
Ask anyone in your congregation who was a witness in 1975 what really happened. If they say people got hyped up over nothing they are not being honest and it is up to them and their conscience to live with that. Jehovah knows the truth and all those that deny it are going against him and will just have to deal with the consequences. Just remember IT IS WRITTEN in the bible to beware of false prophets!!!
My in-laws are devout JWs and have been since 1961 but even they tell the truth over what really happened. I thought witnesses weren't supposed to tell lies!!!
It was written in their publications suggesting people give up their paid work to pioneer full-time, why would they suggest that if Armageddon was more than 35 years away? No-one would have the resources to live that long without income.
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
We give the warning still now! not knowing the time makes it ever more important that we keep ready and on "watch".
Armageddon only has to happen once!
Debator, try reading your bible to get the correct picture.
NO-ONE knows when it will will happen, it will come when NO-ONE is expecting it.
You are EXPECTING it, so it will not happen until everyone stops EXPECTING IT.
Please read your bible it is the most accurate truth.
what was it like to live in the 1950's 1960's and early 70's as a jehovah witness.when they started to push the 1975 date..
Debator
You must know yourself that if, as a witness, you do not do what the Elders and the Organisation say you get DF.
Read WTs and Awakes from the mid sixties to 1975 you will see such statements as suggesting people leave their paid work to pioneer full time. Why would these magazines state this if they thought that Armageddon was mre than 35 years away? How would they think those people who sold their homes, gave up their jobs etc. would survive that long?
If you do nothing else please just check the old magazines, you will see that it is definitely true.
If a JW "runs ahead of the Organisation" and starts saying things that haven't been preached from the platform they get DF even if what the witness thought and was saying suddenly years later becomes what they now believe through new light.
Therefore, why did not all those witnesses who went door to door as they were told preaching about 1975 not get DF for running ahead of the Organisation?
If you are happy in your religion why come on this site telling people who were witnesses in 1975 what happened and what was said when it is clear that you were certainly not a witness in 1975 and probably not even born.
