Did You Know? (Having Children)

…Jehovah’s Witnesses were told not to have children?

As far back as 1938 the Watchtower was urging Jehovah’s Witnesses not to marry and rear children because of the “urgency” of the witnessing work. Hence, many Witnesses from that era did not marry or have children. (The Watchtower, November 1, 1938.)

Less than 40 years later a 1974 Awake! magazine clearly stated on page 11 that since the evidence that destruction of this entire system of things was “now imminent,” many couples are remaining “childless so that they would be less encumbered to carry out the instructions of Jesus Christ to preach the good news of God’s kingdom earth wide before the end of this system comes.” (Awake!, November 8, 1974)

Once again, during the 1987 District Assemblies of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a lecture was given entitled, “Responsible Child-bearing in This Time of the End.” Watchtower speakers encouraged young brothers and sisters to stay single and married couples to remain childless because of “the nearness of Armageddon.”

In the provided audio presentation below you can hear exactly what the attendees heard on Day 2 of those conventions during the summer of 1987. Watchtower district and circuit overseers read the exact, word-for-word talk to audiences in the United States and Canada. Similar talks were given to international audiences of Jehovah’s Witnesses that same summer and later that year. Most of what those speakers presented in the following talk was reinforced by articles published in The Watchtower for January 15, 1988 and the Awake! for January 22, 1988.

 [Click on Play/Pause button to listen to audio presentation…]