poppers just told me how to read my e-mails dah!!!
i thought that little enverlope was to log off.
i have slews!
Bob: Hey there, Bill, whassup?
Bill: Became a Jehovah's Witness, Bob.
Bob: No kidding? I could never do that. I enjoy life too much.
Bill: Hey, you'll get to enjoy life more if you do the same! Trust me.
Bob: Naw, it would be too painful to give up my lifestyle, you know?
Bill: Not painful at all! It's wondeful!
Bob: Not painful at all, really?
Bill: Not at all! Well, except for the part where they stick the little tube in your ear and suck out half your brains.
Welcome back, mouthy.
in his book die zukunft einer illusion (the future of an illusion), sigmund freud described belief in god as a collective neurosis.
he wrote that the religious impulse is essentially ineradicable until or unless the human species can conquer its fear of death and its tendency toward wish-thinking.. freud was a smart guy but he postulated a great deal on some things, fear of death in particular.
he was a committed atheist but did see the benefit of belief in god for the jewish people, of which he was a member.. but did he get it right?
Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but I see more behind religion than just death.
Didn't realise you'd answered, CS. Death, or more precisely the avoidance of it, is the key carrot used by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to lure in new converts.
"Millions now living will never die!" .... remember that?
is it not true that the leaders knew that it was a blatant lie when the 1975 teaching was propagated in the 60's?.
Am I the only one who sees the significance of this? Does anyone else remember hearing the 1974 Franz speech Bungi Bill's talking about?
i saw a very long thread on answerbag answering the above question in which there are several jws responding and denyng vehemently what is said in the question.
in some places being quite rude to people.
the dialogue highlighted yellow is me, the text highlighted blue is someone who is agreeing that the jws did preach this.
I would have been 14 when that talk was given, and Dodger Stadium was our assembly point. I've been trying for years to dredge up more details of a talk I vaguely remember hearing at that time. It started with nothing but the very dramatic sound of a clock ticking. I wonder if this was it. It was scary, it was urgent, and it made all the "trappings" of life seem a pointless waste of time.
So, are you saying you heard it too, Berengaria? Memories of a 14 year old can be reliable, but they won't be as generally sharp as an older listener's, who might have been paying more attention than a boy who is really feeling his hormones for the first time (as I clearly remember it was like when I was 14.)
i've recently been involved in a thread in which one of the participants, member of this board since april last year and who has made over 1200 posts, had not been aware of the 1975 failure.
isn't that unusual?
it tells me that this board is inefficient at getting the message out.
I responded to your mailbox, Mythbuster.
i saw a very long thread on answerbag answering the above question in which there are several jws responding and denyng vehemently what is said in the question.
in some places being quite rude to people.
the dialogue highlighted yellow is me, the text highlighted blue is someone who is agreeing that the jws did preach this.
We need a high profile documentary. I've recently been involved in another thread in which one of the participants, member of this board since April last year and who has made over 1200 posts, had not been aware of the 1975 failure. Isn't that unusual? Another poster on the same thread spoke of a 1974 speech made by Freddy Franz that contradicts his 1975 speech. Copies of the latter are widely available but I can't seem to find a copy of the 1974 speech. Anyone have one, or were they all erased by the WTBTS? If they were erased, what motive would the WTBTS have to destroy recordings of what it had said? I remember books of cassette tapes in the Kingdom Hall back in the mid 70's. Was the 1974 speech sent around to the Kingdom Halls? Was it erased? Was there a coverup?
Technology has changed a great deal since the mid 70's. The internet didn't exist. Whatever it is you and I say on this board, whatever is recorded and becomes part of the public domain, should be considered to be a permanent record, because it will never go away. Back in the 70's there was a great deal of potential to cover up information but getting caught at it was devastating. Remember the Watergate scandal? It wasn't the fact that a handful of goons broke into the Democratic party office at the Watergate hotel that brought down the president of the United States but the fact that he tried to cover it up. Did the WTBTS hierarchy try to cover up 1975?
i've recently been involved in a thread in which one of the participants, member of this board since april last year and who has made over 1200 posts, had not been aware of the 1975 failure.
isn't that unusual?
it tells me that this board is inefficient at getting the message out.
I've recently been involved in a thread in which one of the participants, member of this board since April last year and who has made over 1200 posts, had not been aware of the 1975 failure. Isn't that unusual? It tells me that this board is inefficient at getting the message out. If newbies do what is suggested and read the board's top topics then that will do the job, but this appears not to be happening in all cases. I might suggest as part of the sign-in process for newcomers that there be a short introduction that must be read before admission is granted with a mechanism to ensure that the introduction is actually read. There should not be a simple selection of Agree or Disagree at the bottom of the terms and conditions of this board but a significant number of buttons at the bottom - could be lettered, numbered, colored, whatever - only one of which will signify that the registrant has actually read the words and agrees. I am not suggesting that people have to agree with the board's mandate (whatever that is) in order to register. But they should at least be made aware of the key issues being discussed in this board that might help them decide whether or not the WTBTS is what it says it is.
is it not true that the leaders knew that it was a blatant lie when the 1975 teaching was propagated in the 60's?.
Edit: My thoughts lend credibility to the "EVIL" of the organization. If the powers that be knew that it was a business move to push 1975, that is evil.
I think the money is secondary. It will be used to promote growth in the organisation but not for individual material gain. If it can be proven that the GB indulge in a rich lifestyle then your assertion is correct. Otherwise the GB zeal and tactics are purely belief driven. That doesn't make it less evil.
Bungi Bill, what you have identified may be a key chink in the WTBTS armour.
I was surprised above that a relatively long term member of this board hadn't heard about 1975, and I was not aware of the 1974 Franz speech. It would be very nice to find a recorded copy of that speech but I would be pleasanty surprised if any exist, even if hundreds if not thousands were made, given the leadership's propensity to send around recordings to be played at the various Kingdom Halls. Remember those books of cassette tapes? If the WTBTS hierarchy got to be nervous about certain recordings, would they not order them to be erased? One has to wonder if anyone remembers ever being instructed to destroy WT tapes between 1974 and now. Why would the WTBTS hierarchy ever order non-financial Society material to be destroyed except to destroy the evidence of something they didn't want people to know about? Was there a coverup?
If there was a coverup and it could be proven it would be damning evidence. If there is a copy of the 1974 speech and it could be found and parsed with the 1975 recording, that too would be damning evidence. Edit: If both could be proven, devastating evidence.
However, even just knowing that the 1974 speech happened as you describe and then carefully listening to Franz' 1975 speech in its entirety (as painful as that is), listening to his words and the emotion in his voice, it seems patently clear that he really, really believed in his 1975 prophesy. He wasn't faking it. He's pleading with people just to be patient for a little while longer, because the end is very, very near. Does not Ray Franz in CofC also say this in effect? That the GB or its equivalent were shocked and dismayed when the end didn't come as anticipated? I haven't read the book yet, so don't know.
Great contribution, Bungi Bill. You're the one who heard the 1974 speech so may I suggest you start an appropriate thread?
is it not true that the leaders knew that it was a blatant lie when the 1975 teaching was propagated in the 60's?.
Scott77, that you have been on this board for more than a year and a half and have made 1240 posts is more than remarkable. It is astonishing, since you are just now finding out about 1975. It says that this board is inefficient at getting the real truth out.
I think the serious people on this board might want to figure out how to fix that.
hello, this is my first post.
i was a jehovah's witness for 14 years in a couple of hispanic congregations.
(spanish is my native language).
I wish I could communicate in Spanish a tenth as well as you do in English. Bienvenido.
