Children of 1975

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.

I was young when 1975 came.  My mother heard about 1975 from her JW sister-in-law and Mom joined the "end-of-the-world" bandwagon and got baptized because of 1975.  My dad lost her to the religion, so he sought out other women and then attempted a reconciliation after the divorce but before 1975 was concluded. 

Well, drunken Dad called Mom on January 1st, 1976 sometime in the wee hour of the morning and said, "We are still here."  That ended any reconciliation. 

Mom got DF'ed in 1976 over "smoking" but really actually left the religion because the end didn't come.  That would be the end of my involvement, if not for the fact that she went back a few years later, missing the way the religion made every decision in her life for her.

I am sorry that doesn't really answer your question.  I was not really exposed to the frenzy of the end-of-the-world because Dad wouldn't allow it- he had rights.  But 1975 profoundly changed my life by grabbing my mother.  I believe it was all a recruiting effort to expand the cult.  It seemed to work.

I was one of those children.  I've linked to this several times recently as there seems to be a lot of interest about 1975 in here lately.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/186676/1/1975-For-Deniers

Farkel

There was a higher rate then of the JW teenagers dropping out of high school to pioneer.

For those of us who lived through the 1975 hysteria, it's hard to believe the level of denial inside the organization about how the Society hyped and promoted this date.

It was all JWs could talk about!

From 1966-1974, if you had said you didn't think 1975 was anything special in Bible prophecy, you'd have been DFd for apostasy.

After 1975, the Society blamed individual JWs and congregations for expecting too much in 1975.

Since about 1980, if you point out what the WTS really said about 1975, you're in danger of being DFd for apostasy.

JWs who had the integrity to point out that this didn't pass the smell test were DFd for disloyalty to Jehovah.

I was born at the end of 73..... while I don't have 'strong' memories I do remember bits and pieces...

What I remember most though is the after effects of R&F keeping vigilant and then starting to question.

Majority of my 'formative' years were spent during that period and it shaped me immensely (from the expectation of being cast into some Nazi like hell to being an adult as the New System was ushered in no later than  Oct 2000)

Damn now I am feeling cheated! Where is my pet lion!!!

I was one of those people who went round knocking on doors telling this LIE
made 10 people believe it ,some died believing it????Iwas df before they died
so they wouldnt let me tell them I had been under mind control when i told them that
Because the WT told them I was now the DEVIL....
Yes they ( elders,Circuit Servants) DID teach it was to be ended by 1975.
That is why we must not listen to others beliefs ..God gave us a brain to THINK
& Listen but not copy any one else ........Only my thoughts
I preached this lie in Montreal ,we had a very hard time as JW because Duplessis
knew we were a CULT!!!!! had us arrested

I was born in '76.  When I finally found out the truth about what the society was saying prior to '75, I realised why a lot of my peer group was the same age or slightly younger, or at least 3 years older.  I hardly knew any JWs born between '73-'75. 

I remember my mum was confident that the system would end in 75. I would never go to secondary school, never work or get married in this rotten old system.

I remember going out in service in 76 and being made fun of because of the failure of 1975.

My mum is still sure the end is just around the corner - I'm 44 in two weeks she's in her 70's, it's been a bloody long corner..

A while back, when I first started having my doubts about the organization, I talked to my mom about 75. She said that the society never said anything that could be construed as a false prophecy. She said that it was everyone else in the congs that let the gossip about it carry them away.

She, though, wasn't a witness until 1980. So she asked a brother in her hall that was a teenager in 75. He said that it was only the weak ones that really believed in it. He told her it wasn't really a big deal.

Gee...something doesn't add up when you look at everything the society wrote about it and listened to the even more explicit talks their representatives gave at conventions!

I don't know if this guy was just a liar, or if time just faded the memory of it away. I've been SOOOOO tempted to send her the Charles Suntko (sp?) clips. Even he said the "Faithful SLave" couldn't be more explicit about what 1975 means.

See my brief story of that time here:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/141232/3/was-there-a-1975-scare

and if you think it was "all in the minds of weak ones in the congregation", just listen to Sinutko's talk on the subject or Floyd Kite's "Earthquake" talk.  I don't have the links handy, but they are easy to find.

Sinutko excerpts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqN2XsVhL3Q

Kite talks:

http://www.centralprint.net/talks/SpecialTalks/Kite%20Floyd%20-%20The%20Coming%20Great%20Earthquake.mp3

http://www.centralprint.net/talks/SpecialTalks/Kite%20Floyd%20-%20Are%20You%20Marked%20for%20Survival.mp3

I was so scared! My parents had prepared my siblings and me for a VERY GREAT and SCARY TRIBULATION. All weak JW's and worldy people would turn against me. We would probably be seperated from our parents and siblings and thrown in prison. There would not be enough food to eat, hence we would probably be eating my cat 'Nicki' and it went on and on.....

I prayed constantly to survive 1975. It is hard to believe, but I did survive it!

1975 is the reason I got exposed to this crazy cult.  I had a normal childhood until 7th grade when JW's convinced my mother the end was coming in 1975.  All of a sudden holidays & playing organized sports were the devil.  People kept talking about 1975 being the end of the world, and in talks people used the phrase, "Will you be alive in 1975?".  It was very frightening for some people.  I thought it was true, but as a young teenager I wanted the hell out of that crazy cult.  Got old enough to not be made to go in 73'.  Came back in 79' as a young married man with a child on the way thinking it was the truth and the road to everlasting life for my young family.  Left for good in 95' when it was obvious it was NOT God's org. as self-proclaimed.  Any JW that denies the hysteria of 1975 is lying to protect the nest.

Think About It

It was like the golden years for the WT , with all the long haired hippies and drug culture going on JW's looked very stable and

normal . I think people within the congregations were much more open hearted and generous believing any amount of money now would carry them to the New Order. Even false hope can uplift you until the reality of time bursts the bubble !!

 "The mills of the god's grind exceedingly slow , but also exceedingly well  " .....( time reveals all things with candid truth)

 (unsure who to attribute this quote to )

I was born in '66, so was 8 (and then 9) in '75.  Honestly, I don't remember a thing about it prior to that year.  My dad was (and still professes to be) of the anointed and my mom was very zealous; I was the youngest of four.  Don't recall them ever speaking of a year--although it was very clear during that time that Armageddon was coming at any moment.  However...

For some reason, my father gave up his plum job at Chrysler in Detroit to move wayyy up to northern Michigan "where the need was great," taking a minimum wage job and plunging us (to my mother's chagrin) into virtual poverty.  When exactly was that?  January of '74!

It's clear to me that, considering all the hype over '75, my parents thought they were doing the selfless, organizationally correct thing to chuck it all right before the expected planetary cataclysm.  Would they admit this?

I don't think so.  Sometime a short while after '75, I heard about a former family friend, an elder, who'd left the organization.  My brother-in-law smirkingly said, "He was a seventy-fiver."  When I asked my mom what that meant, she said somthing like, "Ohhh, some people got the wrong idea about some of the things the Society said about 1975.  But they never actually said any of those things."

I also remember my dad saying something similar.  But, when you've submitted to complete indoctrination, you've exposed all of your children and several other family members to this authority structure, and you've moved your once-well-off family into the pit of poverty for its sake...I s'pose it's kinda hard to admit, huh?

There are things that I believe, hold them closely to my heart

I may myself deceive, to keep on feeling smart

As time itself advances, new facts come to the fore

My mind will do its dances, it helps me to ignore

Two conflicting notions, now what to think—oh dear!

My brain sets into motion, says, “Looky over here!”

Beliefs are funny things, they really keep you hopping

When truth brings on its stings, sometimes they need some propping

But if the truth is really—your primary intention

You must avoid those silly—cog-ni-tive inventions

The mind creates a smokescreen, a most deceptive state

It causes you to weigh things—with a ‘faulty set of weights’

If your love for truth is strong, set your pride upon a shelf

Admit you could be wrong, and be honest with yourself

-Confession

I was 19 and got baptized in 1974.  I was the only one in my family that became a jw.  The talk in the congregation flowed with the expectation of the end coming.  I do not remember any in the cong leaving because of 1975.  They all stayed loyal and accepted the idea that they must have understood matters incorrectly.  Now most of the elders and ministerial servants I knew back in 1975 are dead.  The three that are still alive continue to be in the cong.

I was in junior high school.  I remember being scared.  It wasn't a cognizant fear that gripped me constantly but more of a inner anxiety, affecting my school work and my attitude.  If the end was coming what was the point in worrying about school?  But at the same time, there was enough 'cautiousness' in the predictions that my parents expected me to act as if nothing was going to happen and to keep my grades up.  Talk about your cognitive dissonance...

I remember hoping that they were wrong...for my own selfish reasons.  I wanted to get to 16, get my driver's license, get a car, be a normal teenager (yea, like a geek dub kid could be 'normal'), date, have a girlfriend...all that normal stuff that would be put on hold if the damn world ended and I spent the next few years cleaning the earth.  I was relieved when 1976 came and no Armageddon.  The fact that I was so young and under parental authority and still subjected to JW indoctrination, the passing of the year didn't make enough of an impact on me as we continued on with the normal JW life.

Great poem Confession.

My parents deny everything.

They don't remember dragging me down to the hall for a 'special talk' by Sunutko.

They don't remember the CO, Brother Wills, telling us from the platform, "Only 42 weeks to go brothers and sisters, and we all know what that means!"

They don't remember slagging off the girls in our congregation who were getting married so close the the end.

They don't remember that the King of the North was the USSR.

Sometimes I see just a flicker of fear when I do hit something they cannot deny, then the accusations start flying.  There is nothing nice about a fully committed Jehovah's Witness when you give it a wee peek behind the curtain.