1975
Watch Tower expectations for 1975
Well documented Prediction was later revised End TimesBiblical NumerologyDate SettingJehovah's WitnessesModern PredictionsFailed Predictions
Quick facts
- Predicted date
- 1975
- Who predicted it
- Watch Tower Society
- When announced
- 1966
- Reasoning
- A 6,000-year count from the creation of Adam, using the organization's chronology.
- What happened
- 1975 passed without the expected change.
- Historical status
- Well documented. The prediction and its date appear in primary or reliable secondary sources.
- Outcome label
- Prediction was later revised
- Editorial certainty
- Medium: reliable secondary sources
- Editorial review
- Pending. This entry has not yet been checked line by line against its sources. Treat details as provisional.
Prediction
What did Watch Tower Society predict?
A 1966 Watch Tower book calculated that 6,000 years of human history would end in 1975. The organization later said it had not made a firm prediction and that some members had read too much into the date.
Interpretation by the author
Why did they believe it?
Using a chronology that placed Adam's creation in 4026 BC, the count of 6,000 years of human existence ended in 1975. Writers suggested that the seventh thousand-year period would match the sabbath-like reign of Christ.
Publications of 1966 to 1975 used cautious language, but the date was heavily emphasized in talks and in the organization's magazines.
Scripture as used by the author
Biblical basis cited
Genesis 1 and 2 (the creation week and the sabbath), read alongside 2 Peter 3:8 and Revelation 20.
Method
How the date was calculated
A 6,000-year count from the creation of Adam, using the organization's chronology.
Historical record
Historical context
The book Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God (1966) first tied the count to 1975. Later articles, including a 1968 issue of Awake!, noted that it "could" be the start of a new period while also cautioning that no date was guaranteed. Former member Raymond Franz and historian M. James Penton describe the period as one of widespread personal decisions based on the expectation.
Historical record
What happened when the date passed?
1975 passed without the expected change.
Historical record
What happened afterward
In 1976 and again in 1980 The Watchtower said that expectations around 1975 had been misplaced, and that the organization had not claimed that 1975 was certain. Penton and others document a drop in baptisms and active membership after 1975 in some regions.
Scripture
Passages cited
-
2 Peter 3:8 (KJV)
"Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
Excerpts are from the King James Version (public domain). Listing a verse here does not mean this site agrees with how the author used it.
Sources
Sources and further reading
- Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. 1966. Primary source The book that introduced the 6,000-year argument.
- Raymond Franz. Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. 1983. Secondary source A memoir by a former member of the organization's governing body. It is a participant's account.
- M. James Penton. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. 1985. Academic
Found an error or a better source? Send a correction. See also the methodology.