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Watch Tower Society presidency dispute (1917)
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Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
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John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
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by country
v ·
t ·
e
A dispute developed in 1917 within the leadership of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society following the death of society president Charles Taze Russell and election of legal counsel Joseph Franklin Rutherford as his successor. An acrimonious battle ensued between Rutherford and four of the society's seven directors, who accused him of autocratic behavior and sought to reduce his powers. Rutherford claimed the dissident directors had formed a conspiracy to seize control of the society and overcame the challenge by gaining a legal opinion that his four opposers had not been legally appointed. He subsequently replaced them with four new sympathetic directors.[1][2] The four ousted directors later gained 12 legal opinions that Rutherford's actions were unlawful. The leadership crisis divided the Bible Student community and helped contribute to the loss of one-seventh of the Watch Tower adherents by 1919.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins of the dispute
2 Rutherford's re-election and aftermath
3 References
4 Bibliography
Origins of the dispute[edit]
Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell died on October 31, 1916, in Pampa, Texas during a cross-country preaching trip. On January 6, 1917, Joseph Rutherford, aged 47, was elected president of the Watch Tower Society, unopposed, at a convention in Pittsburgh. Controversy soon followed. Author Tony Wills claims that nominations were suspended once Rutherford had been nominated, preventing votes for other candidates,[3][4] and within months Rutherford felt the need to defend himself against rumors within the Brooklyn Bethel that he had used "political methods" to secure his election. In the first of a series of pamphlets from opposing sides, Rutherford told Bible Students: "There is no person on earth who can truthfully say that I ever asked them directly or indirectly to vote for me."[5] By June, the dispute surrounding Rutherford's election as president was turning into what he called a "storm"[6] that ruptured the Watch Tower Society for the remainder of 1917.
In January 1917,[7] Bethel pilgrim Paul S. L. Johnson had been sent to England with orders to inspect the management and finances of the Watch Tower Society's London corporation.[8] He dismissed two managers of the corporation, seized its funds and attempted to reorganize the body. Rutherford—who was convinced Johnson was insane and suffering religious delusions—ordered his recall to New York in late February, but Johnson refused and claimed he was answerable only to the full board of directors.[9] When he finally returned to New York and apologized to the Bethel family for his excesses in London,[10] Johnson became caught up in a move against Rutherford by four of the seven Watch Tower Society directors.
Joseph F. Rutherford c. 1910
At issue were new by-laws that had been passed in January by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors, stating that the president would be the executive officer and general manager of the Watch Tower Society, giving him full charge of its affairs worldwide.[11] Opinions on the need for the by-laws were sharply divided. Rutherford maintained that Russell, as president, had always acted as the society's manager, and that the January 6 vote by shareholders to approve the by-laws proved they wanted this process to continue under his successor.[12] He claimed it was a matter of efficiency and said the work of the Watch Tower Society "peculiarly requires the direction of one mind".[13] Bible Student Francis McGee, a lawyer and an assistant to the New Jersey Attorney-General, responded: "This is then the crux of the matter. He says he is that one mind."[14] By June, four board members—Robert H. Hirsh, Alfred I. Ritchie, Isaac F. Hoskins and James D. Wright—had decided they had erred in endorsing Rutherford's powers of management.[15] They claimed Rutherford had become autocratic, refusing to open the Watch Tower Society's books for scrutiny and denying Johnson a fair hearing over his actions in London.[15]
At a board meeting on June 20, Hirsh presented a resolution to rescind the new by-laws and reclaim the powers of management from the president,[16] but a vote was deferred for a month after strenuous objections by Rutherford.[17] A week later, four of the directors requested an immediate board meeting to seek information on the society's finances. Rutherford refused the meeting, later claiming he had by then detected a conspiracy between Johnson and the four directors with the aim of seizing control of the society, as he believed Johnson had attempted in Britain.[18]
Within weeks, Rutherford gained a legal opinion from a Philadelphia corporation lawyer that a clause of the Watch Tower Society charter stipulating that its directors were elected for life was contrary to Pennsylvania law, and that all directors were required by law to be re-elected annually. The legal opinion stated that because the January 6 shareholders' meeting had elected only three men to office—Rutherford, Secretary-Treasurer Van Amburgh and Vice-President Andrew N. Pierson—the remaining four board members, who had joined as early as 1904 and had not faced re-election, had no legal status as directors of the society. Even Hirsh, who had been appointed by the board on March 29, 1917 following the resignation of Henry C. Rockwell, was said to have no legal standing because his appointment had taken place in New York rather than Allegheny, as required by law. Rutherford claimed to have known these facts since 1909 and to have conveyed them to Russell on more than one occasion.[19]
On July 12, Rutherford traveled to Pittsburgh and exercised his right under the society's charter to fill what he claimed were four vacancies on the board, appointing A. H. Macmillan and Pennsylvania Bible Students W. E. Spill, J. A. Bohnet and George H. Fisher as directors.[20] Rutherford called a meeting of the new board on July 17, where the directors passed a resolution expressing "hearty approval" of the actions of their president and affirming him as "the man the Lord has chosen to carry on the work that yet remains to be done."[21] On July 31 he called a meeting of the People's Pulpit Association, a Watch Tower Society subsidiary incorporated in New York, to expel Hirsh and Hoskins as directors on the grounds that they were opposing the work of the Association. When the resolution failed to gain a majority, Rutherford exercised shareholder proxies provided for the annual meeting in New York the previous January to secure their expulsion.[22][23] On August 1 the Watch Tower Society published a 24-page journal, Harvest Siftings, subtitled "The evil one again attempts to disrupt the Society", in which Rutherford stated his version of the events and explained why he had appointed the new board members.
A month later the four ousted directors responded with a self-funded rebuttal of Rutherford's statement. The publication, Light After Darkness, contained a letter by Pierson, dated July 26, in which the vice-president declared he was now siding with the old board. Although he believed both sides of the conflict had displayed "a measure of wrongs", Pierson had decided Rutherford had been wrong to appoint new directors.[24] The ousted directors' publication disputed the legality of their expulsion, stating that the clause in the Pennsylvania law prohibiting life memberships on boards had been only recently introduced and was not retroactive, exempting existing corporations from the statute.[25][26] They also claimed that the Watch Tower Society's charter allowed only directors to be elected as officers, and that therefore the election of Rutherford, Van Amburgh and Pierson as officers was void because none had been directors in January. Their advice from several lawyers, they said, was that Rutherford's course was "wholly unlawful".[25][27]
The ex-directors' publication claimed Rutherford had required all Bethel workers to sign a petition supporting him and condemning the former directors, with the threat of dismissal for any who refused to sign.[28] Some workers complained that they had signed under duress; it was claimed that as many as 35 members of the Bethel family were forced to leave for failing to support Rutherford during his "reign of terror".[10][29][30] Rutherford denied anyone had been forced out for refusing to sign the letter.[31] Despite attempts by Pierson to reconcile the two groups,[31] the former directors left the Brooklyn headquarters on August 8.[32]
Rutherford's re-election and aftermath[edit]
Pamphlets published by opposing sides during the dispute over Rutherford's leadership, 1917.
Publications continued through late 1917, with Rutherford on one side and Johnson and the four expelled directors on the other, each accusing their opponents of gross misrepresentation and trying to usurp authority.[33][34][35] The controversy fractured the harmony of the Bible Student movement and many congregations split into opposing groups loyal to either Rutherford or those he had expelled.[32][36]
The four expelled board members made a final attempt to unseat Rutherford, claiming that although he had the backing of the most powerful shareholders, he lacked the support of the Bible Student movement in general. They therefore called for a democratic vote from all the Bible Students.[37] Rutherford wrote in October, "I did not seek election to the office of President, and I am not seeking re-election. The Lord is able to attend to his own business."[38] Then in December 1918, he outmaneuvered his opponents, organizing a referendum of all Bible Students and Watch Tower subscribers, a month before the annual Pittsburgh convention. Although not binding, votes were counted in more than 800 U.S. congregations, giving Rutherford 95 percent of the vote for president. His opposers ranked 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th on the list of prospective directors, with the highest support given to Rutherford's existing six co-directors.[37] On January 5, 1918, Rutherford was returned to office, receiving 194,106 shareholders' votes. Hirsh received 23,198 votes—the highest among the ex-directors—putting him in 10th place. A resolution was promptly passed to request that Hirsh resign from the editorial committee.[39]
Rutherford stated at the convention that he was aware he had made many mistakes.[39] By mid-1919, about one in seven Bible Students had left rather than accept his leadership,[40] and as many as seventy-five percent by 1928, resulting in the formation of various Bible Student groups such as the Standfast Movement, the Layman's Home Missionary Movement, the Dawn Bible Students Association, the Pastoral Bible Institute, the Elijah Voice Movement, and the Eagle Society.[41] The splinter groups that were independent of the Watch Tower Society remained relatively small. In 1931, the group under Rutherford's leadership became known as Jehovah's witnesses.
A later Watchtower described the outcome of the 1917 leadership dispute as the removal of "a class of insubordinate ones who rebelled against the ways of the Lord" before Christ's inspection and approval of the "faithful and discreet slave class" in 1918.[42][43]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 50
2.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 37
3.Jump up ^ Wills 2007, pp. 115
4.Jump up ^ An essay at the Pastoral Bible Institute website claims Macmillan chaired the meeting; Rutherford in Harvest Siftings II (pg 26) refers to Ritchie as the chairman.
5.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 10.
6.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 28
7.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 31
8.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 2,3
9.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 35,36
10.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 15
11.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 5,6
12.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 31
13.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 10
14.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 19
15.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 4
16.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 12
17.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 6
18.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 22–23
19.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 15
20.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 14,15
21.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 1, 17
22.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 10
23.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 27,28
24.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 8,9
25.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 7
26.Jump up ^ Wills & 2007 95
27.Jump up ^ Legal opinion, Davies, Auerbach & Cornell, New York, July 23, 1917.
28.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 9
29.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 37
30.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 17, 18
31.^ Jump up to: a b Rutherford October 1917, pp. 29
32.^ Jump up to: a b Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1993, pp. 68
33.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 1
34.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 1
35.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 9
36.Jump up ^ Watch Tower publications since 1917 have continued to denounce those who opposed Rutherford. In its account of the events of 1917, the Society's 1993 history book Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom refers to the opposing camps as "those loyal to the Society and those who were easy prey to the smooth talk of the opposers", describing Rutherford's opponents as "disturbers" (pg. 68); The Watchtower of April 1, 1955 described the ousted directors as "ambitious opponents", "rebellious ones" and "anti-society sick ones" and describes those who supported them as "deceived ones"; 1975 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses dismissed the four ousted directors as "rebellious individuals who claimed to be board members" (pg. 87) and men who "ambitiously sought to gain administrative control of the Society" (pg. 92). The 1959 history book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose also claims the legal advice given to the ousted directors confirmed that given to Rutherford.
37.^ Jump up to: a b Rogerson 1969, pp. 38
38.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 32
39.^ Jump up to: a b Rogerson 1969, pp. 39
40.Jump up ^ Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1975, pp. 93–94
41.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 39
42.Jump up ^ "Esther and Mordecai," The Watchtower, June 1, 1931, page 169, "Christ Jesus was placed upon his throne in the autumn season of 1914, and in the third year thereafter, to wit, at the end of 1917, among those consecrated to the Lord there was a class of insubordinate ones who rebelled against the ways of the Lord. Being in line for the kingdom, and becoming offended, insubordinate and rebellious, these were gathered out at the time the judgment of the Lord began at his temple in 1918."
43.Jump up ^ "The Faithful Slave Passes the Test!", The Watchtower, March 1, 2004, pages 13-18.
Bibliography[edit]
Penton, James M. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Constable, London.
Wills, Tony (2006). A People For His Name. Lulu Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-4303-0100-4.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1975). 1975 Yearbook. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1959). Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1993). Jehovah's Witnesses – Proclaimers of God's Kingdom. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Macmillan, A.H. (1957). Faith on the March. Prentice-Hall.
Rutherford, J.F. (August 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings" (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
Rutherford, J.F. (October 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings, Part II" (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
Pierson, A.N. et al. (September 1, 1917). "Light After Darkness" (PDF). Retrieved July 21, 2009.
Johnson, Paul S.L. (November 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings Reviewed" (PDF). Retrieved July 21, 2009.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Tower_Society_presidency_dispute_(1917)
Watch Tower Society presidency dispute (1917)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
A dispute developed in 1917 within the leadership of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society following the death of society president Charles Taze Russell and election of legal counsel Joseph Franklin Rutherford as his successor. An acrimonious battle ensued between Rutherford and four of the society's seven directors, who accused him of autocratic behavior and sought to reduce his powers. Rutherford claimed the dissident directors had formed a conspiracy to seize control of the society and overcame the challenge by gaining a legal opinion that his four opposers had not been legally appointed. He subsequently replaced them with four new sympathetic directors.[1][2] The four ousted directors later gained 12 legal opinions that Rutherford's actions were unlawful. The leadership crisis divided the Bible Student community and helped contribute to the loss of one-seventh of the Watch Tower adherents by 1919.
Contents [hide]
1 Origins of the dispute
2 Rutherford's re-election and aftermath
3 References
4 Bibliography
Origins of the dispute[edit]
Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell died on October 31, 1916, in Pampa, Texas during a cross-country preaching trip. On January 6, 1917, Joseph Rutherford, aged 47, was elected president of the Watch Tower Society, unopposed, at a convention in Pittsburgh. Controversy soon followed. Author Tony Wills claims that nominations were suspended once Rutherford had been nominated, preventing votes for other candidates,[3][4] and within months Rutherford felt the need to defend himself against rumors within the Brooklyn Bethel that he had used "political methods" to secure his election. In the first of a series of pamphlets from opposing sides, Rutherford told Bible Students: "There is no person on earth who can truthfully say that I ever asked them directly or indirectly to vote for me."[5] By June, the dispute surrounding Rutherford's election as president was turning into what he called a "storm"[6] that ruptured the Watch Tower Society for the remainder of 1917.
In January 1917,[7] Bethel pilgrim Paul S. L. Johnson had been sent to England with orders to inspect the management and finances of the Watch Tower Society's London corporation.[8] He dismissed two managers of the corporation, seized its funds and attempted to reorganize the body. Rutherford—who was convinced Johnson was insane and suffering religious delusions—ordered his recall to New York in late February, but Johnson refused and claimed he was answerable only to the full board of directors.[9] When he finally returned to New York and apologized to the Bethel family for his excesses in London,[10] Johnson became caught up in a move against Rutherford by four of the seven Watch Tower Society directors.
Joseph F. Rutherford c. 1910
At issue were new by-laws that had been passed in January by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors, stating that the president would be the executive officer and general manager of the Watch Tower Society, giving him full charge of its affairs worldwide.[11] Opinions on the need for the by-laws were sharply divided. Rutherford maintained that Russell, as president, had always acted as the society's manager, and that the January 6 vote by shareholders to approve the by-laws proved they wanted this process to continue under his successor.[12] He claimed it was a matter of efficiency and said the work of the Watch Tower Society "peculiarly requires the direction of one mind".[13] Bible Student Francis McGee, a lawyer and an assistant to the New Jersey Attorney-General, responded: "This is then the crux of the matter. He says he is that one mind."[14] By June, four board members—Robert H. Hirsh, Alfred I. Ritchie, Isaac F. Hoskins and James D. Wright—had decided they had erred in endorsing Rutherford's powers of management.[15] They claimed Rutherford had become autocratic, refusing to open the Watch Tower Society's books for scrutiny and denying Johnson a fair hearing over his actions in London.[15]
At a board meeting on June 20, Hirsh presented a resolution to rescind the new by-laws and reclaim the powers of management from the president,[16] but a vote was deferred for a month after strenuous objections by Rutherford.[17] A week later, four of the directors requested an immediate board meeting to seek information on the society's finances. Rutherford refused the meeting, later claiming he had by then detected a conspiracy between Johnson and the four directors with the aim of seizing control of the society, as he believed Johnson had attempted in Britain.[18]
Within weeks, Rutherford gained a legal opinion from a Philadelphia corporation lawyer that a clause of the Watch Tower Society charter stipulating that its directors were elected for life was contrary to Pennsylvania law, and that all directors were required by law to be re-elected annually. The legal opinion stated that because the January 6 shareholders' meeting had elected only three men to office—Rutherford, Secretary-Treasurer Van Amburgh and Vice-President Andrew N. Pierson—the remaining four board members, who had joined as early as 1904 and had not faced re-election, had no legal status as directors of the society. Even Hirsh, who had been appointed by the board on March 29, 1917 following the resignation of Henry C. Rockwell, was said to have no legal standing because his appointment had taken place in New York rather than Allegheny, as required by law. Rutherford claimed to have known these facts since 1909 and to have conveyed them to Russell on more than one occasion.[19]
On July 12, Rutherford traveled to Pittsburgh and exercised his right under the society's charter to fill what he claimed were four vacancies on the board, appointing A. H. Macmillan and Pennsylvania Bible Students W. E. Spill, J. A. Bohnet and George H. Fisher as directors.[20] Rutherford called a meeting of the new board on July 17, where the directors passed a resolution expressing "hearty approval" of the actions of their president and affirming him as "the man the Lord has chosen to carry on the work that yet remains to be done."[21] On July 31 he called a meeting of the People's Pulpit Association, a Watch Tower Society subsidiary incorporated in New York, to expel Hirsh and Hoskins as directors on the grounds that they were opposing the work of the Association. When the resolution failed to gain a majority, Rutherford exercised shareholder proxies provided for the annual meeting in New York the previous January to secure their expulsion.[22][23] On August 1 the Watch Tower Society published a 24-page journal, Harvest Siftings, subtitled "The evil one again attempts to disrupt the Society", in which Rutherford stated his version of the events and explained why he had appointed the new board members.
A month later the four ousted directors responded with a self-funded rebuttal of Rutherford's statement. The publication, Light After Darkness, contained a letter by Pierson, dated July 26, in which the vice-president declared he was now siding with the old board. Although he believed both sides of the conflict had displayed "a measure of wrongs", Pierson had decided Rutherford had been wrong to appoint new directors.[24] The ousted directors' publication disputed the legality of their expulsion, stating that the clause in the Pennsylvania law prohibiting life memberships on boards had been only recently introduced and was not retroactive, exempting existing corporations from the statute.[25][26] They also claimed that the Watch Tower Society's charter allowed only directors to be elected as officers, and that therefore the election of Rutherford, Van Amburgh and Pierson as officers was void because none had been directors in January. Their advice from several lawyers, they said, was that Rutherford's course was "wholly unlawful".[25][27]
The ex-directors' publication claimed Rutherford had required all Bethel workers to sign a petition supporting him and condemning the former directors, with the threat of dismissal for any who refused to sign.[28] Some workers complained that they had signed under duress; it was claimed that as many as 35 members of the Bethel family were forced to leave for failing to support Rutherford during his "reign of terror".[10][29][30] Rutherford denied anyone had been forced out for refusing to sign the letter.[31] Despite attempts by Pierson to reconcile the two groups,[31] the former directors left the Brooklyn headquarters on August 8.[32]
Rutherford's re-election and aftermath[edit]
Pamphlets published by opposing sides during the dispute over Rutherford's leadership, 1917.
Publications continued through late 1917, with Rutherford on one side and Johnson and the four expelled directors on the other, each accusing their opponents of gross misrepresentation and trying to usurp authority.[33][34][35] The controversy fractured the harmony of the Bible Student movement and many congregations split into opposing groups loyal to either Rutherford or those he had expelled.[32][36]
The four expelled board members made a final attempt to unseat Rutherford, claiming that although he had the backing of the most powerful shareholders, he lacked the support of the Bible Student movement in general. They therefore called for a democratic vote from all the Bible Students.[37] Rutherford wrote in October, "I did not seek election to the office of President, and I am not seeking re-election. The Lord is able to attend to his own business."[38] Then in December 1918, he outmaneuvered his opponents, organizing a referendum of all Bible Students and Watch Tower subscribers, a month before the annual Pittsburgh convention. Although not binding, votes were counted in more than 800 U.S. congregations, giving Rutherford 95 percent of the vote for president. His opposers ranked 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th on the list of prospective directors, with the highest support given to Rutherford's existing six co-directors.[37] On January 5, 1918, Rutherford was returned to office, receiving 194,106 shareholders' votes. Hirsh received 23,198 votes—the highest among the ex-directors—putting him in 10th place. A resolution was promptly passed to request that Hirsh resign from the editorial committee.[39]
Rutherford stated at the convention that he was aware he had made many mistakes.[39] By mid-1919, about one in seven Bible Students had left rather than accept his leadership,[40] and as many as seventy-five percent by 1928, resulting in the formation of various Bible Student groups such as the Standfast Movement, the Layman's Home Missionary Movement, the Dawn Bible Students Association, the Pastoral Bible Institute, the Elijah Voice Movement, and the Eagle Society.[41] The splinter groups that were independent of the Watch Tower Society remained relatively small. In 1931, the group under Rutherford's leadership became known as Jehovah's witnesses.
A later Watchtower described the outcome of the 1917 leadership dispute as the removal of "a class of insubordinate ones who rebelled against the ways of the Lord" before Christ's inspection and approval of the "faithful and discreet slave class" in 1918.[42][43]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 50
2.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 37
3.Jump up ^ Wills 2007, pp. 115
4.Jump up ^ An essay at the Pastoral Bible Institute website claims Macmillan chaired the meeting; Rutherford in Harvest Siftings II (pg 26) refers to Ritchie as the chairman.
5.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 10.
6.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 28
7.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 31
8.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 2,3
9.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 35,36
10.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 15
11.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 5,6
12.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 31
13.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 10
14.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 19
15.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 4
16.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 12
17.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 6
18.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 22–23
19.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 15
20.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 14,15
21.Jump up ^ Rutherford August 1917, pp. 1, 17
22.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 10
23.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 27,28
24.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 8,9
25.^ Jump up to: a b Pierson et al 1917, pp. 7
26.Jump up ^ Wills & 2007 95
27.Jump up ^ Legal opinion, Davies, Auerbach & Cornell, New York, July 23, 1917.
28.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 9
29.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 37
30.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 17, 18
31.^ Jump up to: a b Rutherford October 1917, pp. 29
32.^ Jump up to: a b Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1993, pp. 68
33.Jump up ^ Pierson et al 1917, pp. 1
34.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 1
35.Jump up ^ Johnson 1917, pp. 9
36.Jump up ^ Watch Tower publications since 1917 have continued to denounce those who opposed Rutherford. In its account of the events of 1917, the Society's 1993 history book Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom refers to the opposing camps as "those loyal to the Society and those who were easy prey to the smooth talk of the opposers", describing Rutherford's opponents as "disturbers" (pg. 68); The Watchtower of April 1, 1955 described the ousted directors as "ambitious opponents", "rebellious ones" and "anti-society sick ones" and describes those who supported them as "deceived ones"; 1975 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses dismissed the four ousted directors as "rebellious individuals who claimed to be board members" (pg. 87) and men who "ambitiously sought to gain administrative control of the Society" (pg. 92). The 1959 history book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose also claims the legal advice given to the ousted directors confirmed that given to Rutherford.
37.^ Jump up to: a b Rogerson 1969, pp. 38
38.Jump up ^ Rutherford October 1917, pp. 32
39.^ Jump up to: a b Rogerson 1969, pp. 39
40.Jump up ^ Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1975, pp. 93–94
41.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, pp. 39
42.Jump up ^ "Esther and Mordecai," The Watchtower, June 1, 1931, page 169, "Christ Jesus was placed upon his throne in the autumn season of 1914, and in the third year thereafter, to wit, at the end of 1917, among those consecrated to the Lord there was a class of insubordinate ones who rebelled against the ways of the Lord. Being in line for the kingdom, and becoming offended, insubordinate and rebellious, these were gathered out at the time the judgment of the Lord began at his temple in 1918."
43.Jump up ^ "The Faithful Slave Passes the Test!", The Watchtower, March 1, 2004, pages 13-18.
Bibliography[edit]
Penton, James M. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die. Constable, London.
Wills, Tony (2006). A People For His Name. Lulu Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-4303-0100-4.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1975). 1975 Yearbook. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1959). Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society (1993). Jehovah's Witnesses – Proclaimers of God's Kingdom. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society.
Macmillan, A.H. (1957). Faith on the March. Prentice-Hall.
Rutherford, J.F. (August 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings" (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
Rutherford, J.F. (October 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings, Part II" (PDF). Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. Retrieved July 19, 2009.
Pierson, A.N. et al. (September 1, 1917). "Light After Darkness" (PDF). Retrieved July 21, 2009.
Johnson, Paul S.L. (November 1, 1917). "Harvest Siftings Reviewed" (PDF). Retrieved July 21, 2009.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Tower_Society_presidency_dispute_(1917)
Jehovah's Witnesses splinter groups
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about groups that separated from Jehovah's Witnesses after their official formation in 1931. For groups that developed from the Bible Student movement, see Bible Student movement.
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
A number of splinter groups have separated from Jehovah's Witnesses since 1931 after members broke affiliation with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Earlier group defections from the Watch Tower Society, most of them between 1917 and 1931, had resulted in a number of religious movements forming under the umbrella term of the Bible Student movement.
After 1931, some isolated groups of Jehovah's Witnesses came to distrust "outside" instruction;[citation needed] some preferred their autonomy even after persecution and isolation abated, such as in Germany following World War II, in Romania following Nicolae Ceauşescu, and in the former USSR following the Cold War. Beginning in the 1990s, other former Witnesses used Internet technologies to group themselves around shared ideas such as numerical analysis of the Bible, or a wish to embrace some but not all Jehovah's Witness beliefs and practices.
Contents [hide]
1 Britain
2 Germany, postwar
3 Romania
4 USSR
5 Internet-era departures
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Britain[edit]
Jesse Hemery was appointed overseer of the Watch Tower Society's British Isles branch office by Russell in 1901,[1] holding that post until 1946.[2] Hemery founded the Goshen Fellowship after he was disfellowshipped by N.H. Knorr in 1951.[2]
Germany, postwar[edit]
During the Nazi regime, scholars estimate that about half of all Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were incarcerated in prison or concentration camps, where they were exposed to "sadism marked by an unending chain of physical and mental tortures, the likes of which no language in the world can express."[3] At the time, they were represented by several geographical Bible Students Associations, each of which considered itself affiliated with the Watch Tower Society despite little contact with their Brooklyn (USA) headquarters. When contact was re-established, a minority of German Jehovah's Witnesses either preferred their autonomy or disagreed with the doctrinal changes that had occurred in the meantime.[citation needed] Some disassociated themselves from the Watch Tower Society and some individual members established contact with non-Jehovah's Witness Bible Student groups.[4]
Romania[edit]
In 1948, the Romanian government imposed a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses that lasted until 1989. Many Witnesses were arrested and sent to prison or labor camps, and members of the religion had limited communication with other Witnesses and studied largely from older books and magazines.[5] In 1962, The Watchtower altered its doctrine on the meaning of the phrase "superior authorities" at Romans 13:1, identifying them as human governmental authorities rather than God and Jesus Christ as formerly thought. Many Witnesses in Romania rejected the change, and some suspected it was a communist fabrication intended to make them subservient to the state.[5] After the Romanian ban was lifted, members and representatives of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses were able to meet thousands of long-separated Romanian Witnesses, but some Romanians still rejected certain changes and preferred their autonomy, forming The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses Association in 1992.[6]
USSR[edit]
When the Watch Tower Society changed its interpretation about the "superior authorities", some Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR suspected that the change came from the KGB instead. This led to formation of the Theocratic Organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which discontinued use of Watch Tower Society publications printed after 1962. The group has a presence in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, and claims to seek contacts with Witnesses in other countries.[7] The group does not publish any statistics regarding numbers of congregations or adherents, and has little or no public presence.
Internet-era departures[edit]
In 1993, mathematician Gordon Ritchie requested baptism by Jehovah's Witnesses and almost immediately began advocating disagreements with their teachings. He claims he was expelled for apostasy in March 1996.[8][9] Ritchie contends that Jehovah's Witnesses constituted true religion until 2004, but that his own group of "Lord's Witnesses" is now the sole form of true worship.[10] The group claims several hundred adherents, and argues that their mathematical analysis of the Bible contains divine revelations that Jehovah's Witnesses have ignored.
In 2007, Jehovah's Witness apologist and author Greg G. Stafford, author of Jehovah's Witnesses Defended (Elihu Books), formally disassociated from the religion, while insisting on describing himself and his followers as "Jehovah's Witnesses".[11] Stafford has published information about Jehovah's Witnesses, defending many of their distinctive, central beliefs, such as nontrinitarian Christology.[12] In 2007 Stafford introduced the term "Christian Witnesses of Jah" to describe individuals who believe many of the same things as Jehovah's Witnesses,[13][14] but who may not embrace the organization or all of its theological teachings.[15]
See also[edit]
##Bible Student movement
##History of Jehovah's Witnesses
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ 1973 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 92, "The British Isles"
2.^ Jump up to: a b Willis, Tony. A People for His Name: A History of Jehovah's Witnesses and an Evaluation. 2007. p. 268.
3.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993), p. 6, citing Karl R.A. Wittig, a plenipotentiary of General Ludendorff, affidavit sworn 13 November 1945
4.Jump up ^ Hesse, Hans (1998). Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi Regime, 1933-1945. New York, US: Berghahn Books. ISBN 3-86108-750-2.
5.^ Jump up to: a b 2006 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 112-116.
6.Jump up ^ "The Association The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses". Retrieved 3 September 2011. archive.org
7.Jump up ^ "The Theocratic Organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ "History of the decoding & Gordon's battle with FDS3". The Lords Witnesses. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
9.Jump up ^ "The cock always crows twice". The True Bible Code. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
10.Jump up ^ Official web site of Lord's Witnesses, Retrieved 2009-05-05
11.Jump up ^ "Watching the Ministry". Retrieved 3 September 2011.
12.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/in_medios/000/000/002/Worth_Another_Look_REVISED.pdf
13.Jump up ^ http://elihubooks.com/images/CWJ_homepage_final.jpg
14.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/lampstand/000/000/007/Why_interested_in_JWs_REVISED.pdf
15.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/in_medios/000/000/015/Christian_Witnesses_of_Jah_REVISED.pdf
External links[edit]
##Bible Student Ministries
##Chicago Bible Students
##Christian Millennial Fellowship
##Dawn Bible Students Association
##Friends of the Nazarene
##Lords' Witnesses
##Pastor-Russell.com
##Pastoral Bible Institute
##The Bible Standard magazine
##The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses Association
Categories: Jehovah's Witnesses
Bible Student movement
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_splinter_groups
Jehovah's Witnesses splinter groups
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about groups that separated from Jehovah's Witnesses after their official formation in 1931. For groups that developed from the Bible Student movement, see Bible Student movement.
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
A number of splinter groups have separated from Jehovah's Witnesses since 1931 after members broke affiliation with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Earlier group defections from the Watch Tower Society, most of them between 1917 and 1931, had resulted in a number of religious movements forming under the umbrella term of the Bible Student movement.
After 1931, some isolated groups of Jehovah's Witnesses came to distrust "outside" instruction;[citation needed] some preferred their autonomy even after persecution and isolation abated, such as in Germany following World War II, in Romania following Nicolae Ceauşescu, and in the former USSR following the Cold War. Beginning in the 1990s, other former Witnesses used Internet technologies to group themselves around shared ideas such as numerical analysis of the Bible, or a wish to embrace some but not all Jehovah's Witness beliefs and practices.
Contents [hide]
1 Britain
2 Germany, postwar
3 Romania
4 USSR
5 Internet-era departures
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
Britain[edit]
Jesse Hemery was appointed overseer of the Watch Tower Society's British Isles branch office by Russell in 1901,[1] holding that post until 1946.[2] Hemery founded the Goshen Fellowship after he was disfellowshipped by N.H. Knorr in 1951.[2]
Germany, postwar[edit]
During the Nazi regime, scholars estimate that about half of all Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany were incarcerated in prison or concentration camps, where they were exposed to "sadism marked by an unending chain of physical and mental tortures, the likes of which no language in the world can express."[3] At the time, they were represented by several geographical Bible Students Associations, each of which considered itself affiliated with the Watch Tower Society despite little contact with their Brooklyn (USA) headquarters. When contact was re-established, a minority of German Jehovah's Witnesses either preferred their autonomy or disagreed with the doctrinal changes that had occurred in the meantime.[citation needed] Some disassociated themselves from the Watch Tower Society and some individual members established contact with non-Jehovah's Witness Bible Student groups.[4]
Romania[edit]
In 1948, the Romanian government imposed a ban on Jehovah's Witnesses that lasted until 1989. Many Witnesses were arrested and sent to prison or labor camps, and members of the religion had limited communication with other Witnesses and studied largely from older books and magazines.[5] In 1962, The Watchtower altered its doctrine on the meaning of the phrase "superior authorities" at Romans 13:1, identifying them as human governmental authorities rather than God and Jesus Christ as formerly thought. Many Witnesses in Romania rejected the change, and some suspected it was a communist fabrication intended to make them subservient to the state.[5] After the Romanian ban was lifted, members and representatives of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses were able to meet thousands of long-separated Romanian Witnesses, but some Romanians still rejected certain changes and preferred their autonomy, forming The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses Association in 1992.[6]
USSR[edit]
When the Watch Tower Society changed its interpretation about the "superior authorities", some Jehovah's Witnesses in the USSR suspected that the change came from the KGB instead. This led to formation of the Theocratic Organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses, which discontinued use of Watch Tower Society publications printed after 1962. The group has a presence in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, and claims to seek contacts with Witnesses in other countries.[7] The group does not publish any statistics regarding numbers of congregations or adherents, and has little or no public presence.
Internet-era departures[edit]
In 1993, mathematician Gordon Ritchie requested baptism by Jehovah's Witnesses and almost immediately began advocating disagreements with their teachings. He claims he was expelled for apostasy in March 1996.[8][9] Ritchie contends that Jehovah's Witnesses constituted true religion until 2004, but that his own group of "Lord's Witnesses" is now the sole form of true worship.[10] The group claims several hundred adherents, and argues that their mathematical analysis of the Bible contains divine revelations that Jehovah's Witnesses have ignored.
In 2007, Jehovah's Witness apologist and author Greg G. Stafford, author of Jehovah's Witnesses Defended (Elihu Books), formally disassociated from the religion, while insisting on describing himself and his followers as "Jehovah's Witnesses".[11] Stafford has published information about Jehovah's Witnesses, defending many of their distinctive, central beliefs, such as nontrinitarian Christology.[12] In 2007 Stafford introduced the term "Christian Witnesses of Jah" to describe individuals who believe many of the same things as Jehovah's Witnesses,[13][14] but who may not embrace the organization or all of its theological teachings.[15]
See also[edit]
##Bible Student movement
##History of Jehovah's Witnesses
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ 1973 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 92, "The British Isles"
2.^ Jump up to: a b Willis, Tony. A People for His Name: A History of Jehovah's Witnesses and an Evaluation. 2007. p. 268.
3.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993), p. 6, citing Karl R.A. Wittig, a plenipotentiary of General Ludendorff, affidavit sworn 13 November 1945
4.Jump up ^ Hesse, Hans (1998). Persecution and Resistance of Jehovah's Witnesses During the Nazi Regime, 1933-1945. New York, US: Berghahn Books. ISBN 3-86108-750-2.
5.^ Jump up to: a b 2006 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, page 112-116.
6.Jump up ^ "The Association The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses". Retrieved 3 September 2011. archive.org
7.Jump up ^ "The Theocratic Organisation of Jehovah's Witnesses". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007.
8.Jump up ^ "History of the decoding & Gordon's battle with FDS3". The Lords Witnesses. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
9.Jump up ^ "The cock always crows twice". The True Bible Code. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
10.Jump up ^ Official web site of Lord's Witnesses, Retrieved 2009-05-05
11.Jump up ^ "Watching the Ministry". Retrieved 3 September 2011.
12.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/in_medios/000/000/002/Worth_Another_Look_REVISED.pdf
13.Jump up ^ http://elihubooks.com/images/CWJ_homepage_final.jpg
14.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/lampstand/000/000/007/Why_interested_in_JWs_REVISED.pdf
15.Jump up ^ http://www.elihubooks.com/data/in_medios/000/000/015/Christian_Witnesses_of_Jah_REVISED.pdf
External links[edit]
##Bible Student Ministries
##Chicago Bible Students
##Christian Millennial Fellowship
##Dawn Bible Students Association
##Friends of the Nazarene
##Lords' Witnesses
##Pastor-Russell.com
##Pastoral Bible Institute
##The Bible Standard magazine
##The True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses Association
Categories: Jehovah's Witnesses
Bible Student movement
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Create account
Log in
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_splinter_groups
Watch Tower Society unfulfilled predictions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society publications have made a series of predictions about Christ's Second Coming and the advent of God's Kingdom, each of which has gone unfulfilled. Almost all the predictions for 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918 and 1925 were later reinterpreted as a confirmation of the eschatological framework of the Bible Student movement and Jehovah's Witnesses, with many of the predicted events viewed as having taken place invisibly. Further expectations were held for the arrival of Armageddon in 1975, but resulted in a later apology to members from the society's leadership.
English researcher George D. Chryssides has argued that although there have been some "unrealized expectations", changes in Watch Tower chronology are attributable more to changed chronological schemes, rather than to failed predictions.[1] The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged errors, which it said helped "sift" the unfaithful from its ranks, but says adherents remained confident that "God's Word" had not failed.
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 1878: End of the harvest
3 1881: A revised end of the harvest
4 1914: The end of human rulership
5 1918: The new terminus
6 1925: Resurrection of the patriarchs
7 1975: The worldwide jubilee 7.1 Aftermath
8 Armageddon to come within 20th century
9 Response to prophetic failure
10 See also
11 References
Background[edit]
Since its formation in the 1870s, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society has claimed that God has chosen the organization from among the churches to fill a special role in the consummation of prophetic history. Charles Taze Russell, a prolific writer and founder of the Bible Student movement, viewed himself as a "mouthpiece" of God and later as the embodiment of the "faithful and wise servant" of the parable of Matthew 24:45-47.[2] The Watch Tower Society is now the legal and administrative arm of Jehovah's Witnesses. Its representatives assert that they have been given insight into the true meaning of the Bible and the unique ability to discern the signs of Christ's second coming.[3]
Former Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell.
The group's early ideology centered on the "Divine Plan of Salvation", a biblically derived outline of humanity's history and destiny, which was believed to be open to fuller understanding in the "last days". The creed incorporated Adam's fall and the entry of sin, evil and death into the world. God was believed to be permitting the world's affairs to run their ruinous course before he implemented his plan to free humanity from evil, suffering and death by means of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and the later establishment of God's kingdom on earth after his Second Coming.[4]
The kingdom would be inaugurated through two phases, one destructive, the other constructive. In the first phase, earthly institutions would be overturned in a tumultuous period known as the "Battle of Armageddon". For several decades the group believed the worldwide disintegration of the social order would take the form of a bloody struggle between the wealthy and laboring classes, resulting in terror and anarchy. This would be followed by an era of grand reconstruction, in which sickness, pain and death would be removed and righteousness would triumph. Prior to the establishment of the kingdom, a chosen "little flock" of 144,000 anointed Christians would undergo physical transformation from physical to spiritual form to achieve immortality.[4] Since 1925 the Society has taught that Armageddon will be a universal war waged by God, resulting in a slaughter of the unfaithful.[5] With that doctrinal change, the focus of the movement's chiliasm changed from awaiting its collective escape from earth to waiting for the impending destruction of the present world order in the Battle of Armageddon.[4]
To clarify its identity, the group, which came to form the Bible Student movement, formulated a body of historical doctrine, including a mythical self-history, which provided a comprehensive symbolic linkage with the past[6][7] but also fortified the movement's expectations for the future.[4]
1878: End of the harvest[edit]
In 1876 Russell adopted the belief promulgated by some Adventist preachers that Jesus' parousia, or presence, had begun in 1874 and that the gathering of the little flock preliminary to the grand climax was already in progress. Using a form of parallel dispensations that incorporated "types" and "antitypes"—historical situations that prefigured corresponding situations later in time[8]—he calculated the harvest would extend only to 1878, at which time the gathered saints would be translated into spirit form.[9][10] The year would also bring the beginning of the "exercise of power" of God's kingdom, with evidence that God's favor was returning to the Jews.[11]
The failure of Russell's prediction did not significantly alter the movement's short-term, date-focused orientation. In early 1881 Russell asserted that 1878 had, indeed, been a milestone year, marking the point at which "the nominal Christian churches were cast off from God's favor".[12]
1881: A revised end of the harvest[edit]
By 1881 Russell had found a biblical basis for extending the harvest to a new date, later that year.[4] He explained:
Coming to the spring of 1878 ... we naturally and not unreasonably expected some change of our condition, and all were more or less disappointed when nothing supernatural occurred. But our disappointment was brief, for we noticed that the Jewish church (and not the Gospel church) was the pattern of ours, and therefore we should not expect parallels to Pentecost or to anything which happened in the beginning of this church.[12]
Russell wrote that "the light upon our pathway still shines and is more and more glorious" and that since 1878 the light had glowed stronger. The timing of their translation to heaven seemed nearer, he wrote: "We know not the day or hour, but expect it during 1881, possibly near the autumn where the parallels show the favor to Zion complete and due to end, the door to the marriage to shut, and the high calling to be the bride of Christ, to cease."[12]
The second failure in 1881 precipitated a more serious crisis in the Bible Student ranks and for several years Russell's followers waited for the belated translation to occur.[4] Russell's chronological timetable had already identified 1914 as the ultimate end of the "time of trouble", and this preserved the commitment of followers who might have been discouraged by their failed expectations for 1881.[13] Yet many members found it inconceivable that their earthly departure might be delayed that long. Russell consoled members with the news that 1881 had still marked the time when "death became a blessing" in the sense that any saint who died would henceforth be instantaneously changed into a spirit being.[14] The revised view provided comfort for early believers who had held the view that the living faithful would never experience a physical death, and yet had seen other members in fact dying while they awaited their upward call. After 1881 physical death was defined as one of the ways in which some of the saints might undergo their translation.[4]
1914: The end of human rulership[edit]
Russell's Studies in the Scriptures series had explicitly identified October 1914 as the "full end of the times of the Gentiles" and consequently the "farthest limit" of human rulership.[15] It would bring the beginning of Christ's millennial reign[1] and all his followers expected the immediate "translation of the saints" to rule with the revealed Christ that year. Following the earth's tribulation and unrest, the Jews would return to God's favor, the "nominal Church" would have fallen, the final battle between Christ and Satan would have ended, the kingdoms of the world would be overthrown, and Christ would have gathered his saints into heaven, where they would reign with him, and when the millennium would begin.[1] The belief was unequivocal, based on his study of the Bible and the Great Pyramid, and satisfied only upon the establishment of an earthly paradise; Russell remarked that by altering the prophecy even one year would destroy the perfect symmetry of its biblical chronology.[16] In the second book of his Studies in the Scriptures series he described it as "an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished at the end of A.D. 1914".[17] The result, he wrote, was that "all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved",[17] along with the destruction of "what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom".[18] In an 1894 Watch Tower, responding to readers who questioned whether—because of recent political upheavals—the world could last until 1914, he wrote:
We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would, They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of the trouble.[19]
As 1914 approached, excitement mounted over the expected "change" of anointed Christians.[4] Early that year some Bible Students, convinced the end of the world had arrived, began distributing their material belongings, abandoning their jobs and eagerly anticipating the future.[20] In May 1914—five months from the expected end—Russell warned followers against succumbing to doubt:
There is absolutely no ground for Bible students to question that the consummation of this Gospel age is now even at the door, and that it will end as the Scriptures foretell in a great time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. We see the participants in this great crisis banding themselves together ... The great crisis, the great clash ... that will consume the ecclestiastical heavens and the social earth, is very near.[21]
But by September, Russell was preparing Watch Tower readers for the possibility that "Armageddon may begin next spring, yet it is purely speculation to attempt to say just when." Yet the evidence, he wrote, still pointed "to the year just before us—particularly the early months".[22]
When again nothing took place, predictions regressed to their earlier short-term orientation. The Watch Tower wrote: "It may be that many of the Lord's people were expecting more than they should have looked for to occur with the opening of the Jewish year 1915, which began with September 21. The human mind seems to have a natural tendency, and one with which we should have sympathy, to expect matters to culminate more rapidly, fulfillments to come more suddenly, than they ever do come ... Studying God's Word, we have measured the 2520 years, the Seven symbolic Times, from that year 606 B.C. and have found that it reached down to October, 1914, as nearly as we were able to reckon. We did not say positively that this would be the year. We merely left every one to look at the facts of history and reckon for himself."[23]
He took that opportunity to remind readers of some cautionary pronouncements he had made several years earlier. In 1912 he had left open the possibility that, if nothing happened in October 1914, it could still happen in October 1915. He also pointed out that the period of transition could run "a good many years".[16]
In a lengthy article of consolation, Russell wrote that it was a testing time for Christ's disciples and that some Bible Students had unreal expectations. He said it was also possible that God's Kingdom on earth would be established gradually.:[13][16]
We find that some have one idea and others another. Some think that just the next hour after midnight would see a great, grand change everywhere—evil blotted out in sixty minutes or in sixty seconds. But would it be a reasonable expectation that the Gentile kingdoms would be snuffed out inside of an hour or inside of a day? If God had said so, it would be different; we know that God has all power to do His will everywhere. But are we in any sense of the word to expect such a sudden transition—that going to bed on the night of September 20, we would find, on the morning of September 21, all the kingdoms of the world destroyed and the Kingdom of Christ set up, the saints in glory, etc. Such would be a lightning change! We do not think that any would have been justified in so thinking. If any had such expectation, it was unwarranted.[23]
Yet on October 2, 1914, he entered the staff dining room at the Watch Tower Society headquarters and declared that the Gentile times had ended and that "their kings have had their day."[1] It signaled that God had withdrawn his benevolent disposition towards the Christian nations.[23] The statement implied that the legitimacy of earthly governments had been downgraded in the eyes of God, which sociologist Joseph Zygmunt suggested may have contributed to the subsequent adoption of bolder tactics in condemning the global political system.[4]
Russell viewed the outbreak of World War I as the beginning of Armageddon, which would soon descend into worldwide revolution[24] and in 1916, shortly before his death, he reaffirmed his conviction that the end was close and the harvest of saints was ongoing:
Some of us were quite strongly convinced that the Harvest would be ended by now, but our expectations must not be allowed to weigh anything as against the facts ... We see no reason for doubting, therefore, that the Times of the Gentiles ended in October 1914; and that a few more years will witness their utter collapse and the full establishment of God's Kingdom in the hands of Messiah.[25]
In posthumous editions of his Studies in the Scriptures, entire sections were rewritten to accommodate the failure of the anticipated events, with 1914 now identified as "the beginning of the end of Gentile times". The outbreak of World War I was taken to be its confirmation. Sociologist James Beckford claimed that Russell's "sometimes ingenious" ex post facto rationalizations of events in 1914 contributed to the survival of the Bible Student movement.[13] Under doctrinal changes introduced by his successor, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, it was later decided that the Millennium would come within the generation of those who saw the events of 1914. The years of 1799 and 1874, until then significant dates in Russell's millennial chronology, were also abandoned.[16]
Yet Chrissides said there was no clear failure of the predictions surrounding 1914. "Although there was clear disappointment at the non-occurrence of certain empirically observable events, a number of the events to which Russell alludes are incapable of disconfirmation. One cannot verify the beginning of Christ's sovereign rule, the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the admission to heaven of those who have experienced the 'high calling'. Even events like the ending of the Gentile times do not have obvious empirical indicators."[1]
1918: The new terminus[edit]
J.F. Rutherford
Russell's final revision of his predictions was to identify 1918 as the new terminus.[4][26] The shift was based on the reasoning that the period of the Jews' favor may have lasted until 73CE (the date of the Zealots' mass suicide at Masada), rather than 70 CE. For the modern-day parallel, the adjustment meant the conclusion of the 40-year "harvest period" was moved from 1914 to the northern spring of 1918.[1][27][28]
Rutherford claimed in 1917 that the testimony of Bible Students themselves confirmed that the harvest was not over: "Many have consecrated and given evidence of spirit-begetting since 1914, which is the best evidence that the harvest is not yet closed."[28] If the new date was reliable, he wrote, "and the evidence is very conclusive that it is true, then we have only a few months in which to labor before the great night settles down when no man can work."[28]
The Finished Mystery, written soon after Russell's death by two prominent Bible Students and published in 1917, made a series of bold statements about the expected demise of "false" Christianity. The spring of 1918, it said, would "bring upon Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than that experienced in the Fall of 1914". God's day of vengeance, the book said, would "break like a furious morning storm in 1918", destroying "the churches wholesale and the church members by millions".[29]
At that time there is every reason to believe the fallen angels will invade the minds of many of the Nominal Church people, driving them to exceedingly unwise conduct and leading to their destruction at the hands of the enraged masses, who will later be dragged to the same fate ... In one short year, 1917-1918, the vast and complicated system of sectarianism reaches its zenith of power, only to be suddenly dashed into oblivion ... One large part of the adherents of ecclesiasticism will die from pestilence and famine.[29]
When 1918 also passed without any sign of fulfillment, the initial reaction was that the harvest had indeed finished and that the full complement of those destined for translation to heaven had been assembled. The further delay in the arrival of the millennium was interpreted in 1919 as a sign that the loyalty and powers of endurance of the "Kingdom class" were being tested, and that God was finding fault with some supposedly sanctified people.[27]
In a 1922 convention address, Rutherford retrospectively defined 1918 as the time when Christ "entered the temple for the purpose of judgment".[30] He later wrote that it was only after 1918, when the Lord came to the temple, that it could be understood that 1914 had also marked the time when the heavenly part of God's kingdom was established and when a "New Nation" was born.[31]
From that time the Bible Student group was able to view itself as more than just an agency for completing the ranks of the 144,000 who would rule with Christ. With the "New Nation" already born, members were given a clear twofold purpose: (1) to recruit and train a "Great Company" who would be carried through Armageddon to live in the earthly kingdom and (2) to expose the machinations of the devil in trying to obstruct the kingdom's earthly establishment.[4]
1925: Resurrection of the patriarchs[edit]
With Rutherford now the movement's chief theologian, another round of prophetic revision ensued, this time focusing on 1925.[4] In his 1920 booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Rutherford wrote that he expected the ancient patriarchs and prophets, "the faithful ones of old", to be resurrected to earthly life in 1925 as a prelude to a general physical resurrection of faithful followers of God destined for everlasting life on earth. He explained:
This is the Golden Age of which the prophets prophesied and of which the Psalmist sang; and it is the privilege of the student of the divine Word today, by the eye of faith, to see that we are standing at the very portals of that blessed time! Let us look up and lift up our heads. Deliverance is at the door![32]
Newspaper advertisement for Rutherford's "Millions" lecture.
Rutherford's belief that the patriarchs' return would occur in 1925 was based on his calculations of the Jewish jubilee, counting forward 3500 years from 1575 BCE.[1][33] As the year advanced, he wrote of the urgency of witnessing in the "few remaining months",[34] though he also provided a caution that not all the expected events might occur.[35] When that prediction failed, the Watch Tower Society suspended the issuing of prophecies centered on a specific date.
Chryssides concluded: "This expectation was too specific and empirical for the date to be adjusted or the expected event spiritualised. At a convention the following year, Rutherford admitted his error, claiming that the 1925 date was 'merely an expressed opinion'."[1] Yet Rutherford did not abandon the prediction. In 1929 the Watch Tower Society bought a piece of land in San Diego, California, where a Spanish mansion was built and named Beth Sarim ("house of the Princes"). As late as 1932 Rutherford was still delivering talks about the nearness of the kingdom: he declared that the preaching work of the Witnesses was "coming to a conclusion", that Armageddon was "only a short time away" and that the end was "much less than the length of a generation".[36] In the late 1930s Rutherford affirmed his intention that Beth Sarim should accommodate at least some of the returning "princes", and that it should stand as a monument to the organization's firm expectation, although no new date was ever assigned to the expected event.[1] The building was sold in 1948 and the doctrine of the return of the prophets dropped in 1950.[37]
1975: The worldwide jubilee[edit]
In 1966 the Watch Tower Society issued the first of what became a sequence of statements on the importance of a new date—1975—that raised the possibility of that year heralding the beginning of Christ's millennial reign and, along with it, doom for unbelievers.[38]
According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975. So six thousand years of man's existence on earth will soon be up, yes, within this generation.
How appropriate it would be for Jehovah God to make of this coming seventh period of a thousand years a Sabbath period of rest and release, a great Jubilee sabbath for the proclaiming of liberty throughout the earth to all its inhabitants! ... It would be according to the loving purpose of Jehovah God for the reign of Jesus Christ, the "Lord of the Sabbath", to run parallel with the seventh millennium of man's existence.[39]
The hope was hinged on the Society's belief that Adam had been created in the northern autumn of 4026 BCE. The society suggested that the close of the first 6000 years of human history could correspond with the end of God's "rest day"—with the transition marked by the Battle of Armageddon. Yet as researcher Richard Singelenberg pointed out, the Society's literature at no point definitively stated that Armageddon would take place in 1975. In fact, as early as 1966 Frederick Franz, then vice-president of the society, was inserting a definite "uncertainty" clause:
Does it mean that God's rest day began in 4026? It could have. The ... book does not say it did not ... You can accept it or reject it ... Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished ... by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could ... But we are not saying.[40]
Expectations for 1975 were also based on the belief that Christ had set up his kingdom in heaven in 1914 and that "this generation [those who were at least 15 years old in 1914, according to a 1968 Awake![41]] would by no means pass away" before the end came.[42] The 1967 book, Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, similarly stated, "We find that the time of our generation, our day, is the one that is identified in the Bible as the 'last days'. In fact, we are actually living in the final part of that time. This can be compared, not just to the last day of a week, but rather, to the last part of that day" [emphasis in original].[43]
Convention badge from circuit assembly, circa 1970
In a 1969 book the Society expanded on its belief in a link between the seventh millennium of human existence and the kingdom's establishment. It said: "In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be 'Lord of the sabbath day,' his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums. Thus it would be a sabbatical reign."[44] Raymond Franz, who became a member of the religion's Governing Body before defecting in 1980, claimed readers were left in no doubt about what was expected in 1975, claiming: "The presentation is no sense indefinite or ambiguous."[45]
The prophecy galvanized the movement and proselytism increased substantially. On the eve of the Millennium in 1974 the number of publishers (Witnesses who submitted their record of preaching) rose by 13.5 percent worldwide and many Witnesses were actively preparing for the dawn of the New Order.
Yet as 1975 drew closer the degree of uncertainty expressed in publications increased. The chances of Armageddon occurring that year were initially described as "feasible", "apparent" or "appropriate", but from the end of 1968 it became a mere "possibility". In 1966 the Society's chronological calculations were "trustworthy"; by 1968 they were considered "reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible)".[46] The basis of the gradual retraction was uncertainty over the elapsed time between the dates of Adam's creation and that of Eve.
In fact, says Singelenberg, from the end of 1968 Watch Tower Society publications never again explicitly focused on 1975 in a theological context. Though articles continued to remind readers that the "end of 6000 years of human history" was imminent, they increasingly highlighted non-Society sources that forecast a gloomy future with worldwide famine, ecological collapse and oxygen deficiency. The articles, says Singelenberg, were marked with emotional expressions of excitement, hope and urgency, with readers told: "What a time of turmoil is ahead of us! A climax in man's history is imminent!"[38]
Less cautious language, however, was being used in publications distributed only to members of the religion. In a 1968 issue of the monthly bulletin Kingdom Ministry, adherents were encouraged to increase their preaching activities because time was running out rapidly: "Less than a hundred months separate us from the end of 6000 years of man's history. What can you do in that time?"[47] Some Witnesses sold their possessions, postponed surgery or cashed in their insurance policies to prepare for Armageddon[16] and in May 1974 the Watch Tower Society told members: "Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end."[48]
The prophecy was also disseminated at talks at congregation meetings and assemblies. Speakers at some conventions highlighted the phrase, "Stay alive till '75" and urged the audience to maintain their meeting attendance or risk losing their lives at Armageddon.[49] The Dutch branch overseer urged the audience at a "Divine Purpose" district convention in 1974 to "pioneer" (take part in full-time preaching) as the end approached:
Many of us have suffered misery, sickness and death. You don't have to experience that any more. The new order is near ... Sell your house, sell everything you own and say, oh boy, how long can I carry on with my private means. That long? Get rid of things! Pioneer! Plan to shower people with magazines during these last few months of this dying system of things!"[50]
Yet The Watchtower 's public coverage of the same series of conventions was notable for its far more cautious tone. In its summary of the convention talks, the magazine reiterated the teaching that Bible chronology showed 6000 years of human existence would be completed in the mid-1970s, then pointed out: "These publications have never said that the world's end would come then. Nevertheless, there has been considerable individual speculation on the matter." What was certain, the magazine said, was that the end would come within the generation of those who saw the beginning of world tribulations in 1914. "So we can be confident that the end is near; we do not have the slightest doubt that God will bring it about ... we have to wait and see exactly when, in the meantime keeping busy in God's service."[51]
Franz says a 1968 Watchtower article implied that members should be careful about taking too literally Jesus' cautionary words about forecasting the last days. The magazine warned: "This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that 'concerning that day and hour nobody knows ... only the Father'. To the contrary: it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end."[52]
In a 1970 paper, Joseph F. Zygmunt commented on the likely outcome for Jehovah's Witnesses if this prediction, too, failed: "While return to this old strategy would seem to expose the sect once again to prophetic failure, the risks are balanced by the potent ideological reinforcement accruing from this forthright renewal of faith, which thirty-five years of diffuse watchful waiting seem to have made necessary." But he added: "The risks of another prophetic failure actually appear to be minimal. The new prophecy is being phrased in a manner that lends itself to 'confirmation' by the old device of claiming partial supernatural fulfillment."[4] Beckford, too, expected no significant organizational disturbance resulting from the absence of observable effects that year, suggesting in 1975 that Witnesses were being "skilfully prepared for prophetic disconfirmation" to reduce the dangers of disappointment. He noted an increasing frequency of Watch Tower Society warnings about the futility of making precise predictions about events expected for the jubilee year.[53]
Yet Singelenberg, a Dutch social anthropologist, found that amid the conflict of Watch Tower Society statements from the era about what might happen that year, its sense of urgency on a probable apocalyptic event, and later the possibility of a cataclysm, expectations of a significant event in 1975 had a "startling impact" on the proselytizing activities of Jehovah's Witnesses and membership growth. His analysis of Watch Tower Society data showed annual growth of "publishers", which had averaged 2.8 percent annually between 1961 and 1966, leapt to between 10.4 and 12.4 percent from 1967 to 1975, with the number of active Witnesses through the 1970s peaking at almost 28,000 in November 1975. The number of average annual baptisms more than doubled, from 750 to 1851, with the ratio of defections to recruitments plummeting. The percentage of "pioneers" (Witnesses devoting at least 60 hours a month in preaching work) more than tripled from 2.3 percent of members to almost 8 percent in 1974 and 1975. He also found major increases in the number of "back calls" (return visits to interested members of the public who purchased publications) and average hours spent in service by individuals in the same two years.[38]
Aftermath[edit]
The passing of 1975 without incident left the Watch Tower Society open to new claims of prophetic failure. Instead of maintaining the prophetic significance of that year, however, the religion's leaders embarked on a lengthy period of denial and purge, blaming rank and file membership for misreading the organization's interpretations.[16] The Watchtower initially explained that the reason for the failure of Armageddon's arrival was due to the time lapse between the creation of Adam and Eve. Although the Society had earlier argued that the gap was "weeks or months, not years", it now decided the time lapse could, after all, be years.[54] The following year the magazine repeated its explanation, but declared the Witnesses themselves were to blame for their eager expectations about 1975 because they had misread the Bible.[38] "It was not the word of God that failed or deceived [the individual Jehovah's Witness] and brought disappointment, but ... his own understanding was based on wrong premises."[55] In talks at conventions four years later, leading members of the Society finally acknowledged their error in the initial formulation of the prophecy, and in the March 15, 1980 Watchtower the Society said its claims about 1975 were regretted.[38] It assigned no different interpretation to the date and demanded that its members recognize that there never was an explicit prophecy.[16]
Singelenberg's analysis of Jehovah's Witness preaching activity in the Netherlands in the wake of the 1975 prophetic failure showed a drop in the religion's membership from mid-1976, a trend that was not reversed until 1980. It is thought that in the Netherlands about 5000 Witnesses either left the movement, were expelled, or became marginal and inactive members.[38] Singelenberg suggested many of those expelled and shunned in the late 1970s had rebelled against the religion's authority structure out of "post-prophecy frustration"; post-1975 defectors were described to him and American researcher A. J. Brose as "opportunists" who had joined the religion out of fear when the end seemed imminent, yet who lacked genuine commitment. One elder told Singelenberg: "It was good that Armageddon did not take place. It separated the wheat from the chaff."[38] Researcher Mathew N. Schmalz suggested the leadership drew attention from the disconfirmation by requiring an even greater loyalty from members, a demand enforced with the expulsion of almost 30,000 Witnesses in 1978 alone. The insistence on doctrinal orthodoxy reached the highest levels of the organization in 1980, with many in the writing committee disfellowshipped.[16]
In almost every country the annual growth rate of Jehovah's Witnesses fell markedly after the 1975 failure. In the US, the group's growth rate fell from 6 percent to 2 percent; in South Korea it plummeted from 28 percent to 7 percent and the downward trend continued through to 1978. Even among the majority who remained, morale declined: in 1977 and 1978 the average "publisher" spent 140 hours a year proselytizing, compared to 196.8 hours in 1974.[56]
In his ethnographic study of Jehovah's Witnesses, English sociologist Andrew Holden quoted the testimony of a Witness who had been in the movement from the early 1970s, but found it impossible to remain as an active member after the failure of the 1975 prediction. He said he, like many others, had been convinced the end would come in 1975:
I said it from the platform! We told everyone the end was near. When I became a Witness I gave up my insurance policies, I cancelled all my insurance endowments, I never bought a house because I knew I wouldn't need one, we didn't even want to put the kids' names down for school.[57]
Armageddon to come within 20th century[edit]
Question book-new.svg
This section relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (October 2012)
Watch Tower Society literature of the 1970s and 1980s repeatedly claimed that the "end" had to be expected before the turn of the century. The 1971 book The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How? stated: "Shortly, within our twentieth century, the 'battle in the day of Jehovah' will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom."[58] A 1980 Watchtower article described the notion that "the wicked system of this world" would last "until the turn of the century" as "highly improbable in view of world trends and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy" (emphasis added).[59] A similar statement in a 1984 Watchtower article suggested that some members of the 1914 generation "could survive until the end of the century. But there are many indications that 'the end' is much closer than that!"[60] Until its October 22, 1995 issue, Awake! similarly included the statement, "this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away."[61]
In 1989, the notion that the missionary efforts of the Witnesses would culminate before the turn of the century was first reaffirmed, then abandoned. As first published, a Watchtower article of January 1 stated: "The apostle Paul was spearheading the Christian missionary activity. He was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century."[62] (Emphasis added.) Nine months later a more cautiously worded statement appeared in the Watchtower: "We have ample reasons to expect that this preaching will be completed in our time. Does that mean before the turn of a new month, a new year, a new decade, a new century? No human knows" (emphasis added).[63] In later bound volumes of the 1989 Watchtower magazines, the text of the January 1 article was amended to state that Christian missionary work "would be completed in our day" rather than "in our 20th century".
Response to prophetic failure[edit]
According to Joseph Zygmunt, the response to each of the prophetic failures by Watch Tower Society adherents followed a general pattern:
The initial reaction by both rank and file and the movement's leaders was usually a combination of disappointment and puzzlement.
Proselytism declined, but members maintained an attitude of watchful waiting for the predictions to materialize. The doctrinal bases for the prophecies were reexamined and conjectures offered as to why the expected events might have been "delayed".
A fuller realization of the quandary was achieved. The group asserted that the prophecies had, in fact, been partially fulfilled, or that some event of prophetic significance—usually supernatural and hence not open to disconfirmation—had actually transpired on the nominated dates. Belief was sustained that God's plan was continuing to unfold.
Unfulfilled portions of the failed prophecies were projected into the future by issuing re-dated predictions, in association with retrospective reinterpretation of earlier failures.
A selective interpretation of emerging historical events as confirmation of the signs of the approaching end. A pessimistic worldview sensitized the group to perceive almost every social disturbance and natural disaster as an indicator of the impending collapse of the earthly system.
Zygmunt concluded that the group's faith in its own belief system provided a basis for the claim of fulfillment, and the selective perception of global events furnished supportive empirical evidence. "In this sense and to this extent," he wrote, "the prophecies could not 'fail'." Unfulfilled prophecies were converted into partial successes and welcomed as divinely provided lessons revealing God's purposes more fully, yet it was accepted that each of those prophecies would eventually come to pass.[4]
Singelenberg, too, believed a subsequent reinterpretation of failed prophecies was a survival strategy of religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses. Citing Neil Wiser,[64] he commented: "Whatever the outcome, prophecies cannot and do not fail for the committed."[38]
The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged that some of its time calculations and expectations resulted in "serious disappointments", with consequent defections, expulsions and opposition, which it claimed was a process of "sifting" true believers. Yet of those who remained faithful it said: "They certainly did not err in believing that God would without fail do what he had promised ... They recognized that a mistake had been made but that in no respect had God's Word failed."[10] The errors and speculation were attributed to an eagerness to see "the end of this evil system".[65]
Holden concluded: "Simple as it seems, what sceptics regard as failure, the Governing Body regards as a test of faith." Holden said that given the scarcity of reference in Watch Tower Society literature to past predictive failures, it was highly unlikely that those who had joined the religion within the past two decades were even aware of the Society's record. He estimated that more than 60 percent of current Witnesses had joined the movement since 1975, "hence the Governing Body has no reason to discuss with them the failure of its earlier prophecies." Yet he added: "The suppression of the 1975 prophecy failure by those who were active at the time but who have nevertheless remained in membership suggests an unusual degree of complicity." He also concurred with researcher Bryan Wilson's judgment that:
For people whose lives have become dominated by one powerful expectation, and whose activities are dictated by what that belief requires, abandonment of faith because of disappointment about a date would usually be too traumatic an experience to contemplate.[66]
See also[edit]
Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions
Predictions and claims for the Second Coming of Christ
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Chryssides, George D. (2010). "How Prophecy Succeeds: The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Expectations". International Journal for the Study of New Religions 1 (1): 27–48. doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v1i1.27. ISSN 2041-952X.
2.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, pages 68 and 71.
3.Jump up ^ ed. Stone, Jon R. (2000). Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 13–15. ISBN 0-415-92331-X.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Zygmunt, Joseph F. (May 1970). "Prophetic Failure and Chiliastic Identity: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses". American Journal of Sociology 75 (6).
5.Jump up ^ Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. London: Constable. p. 47.
6.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1886). The Divine Plan of the Ages. Studies in the Scriptures 1. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
7.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1891). Thy Kingdom Come. Studies in the Scriptures 3. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
8.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996). Counting the Days to Armageddon. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. pp. 21, 31. ISBN 0-227-67939-3.
9.Jump up ^ N.H. Barbour & C.T. Russell, Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World, Rochester, NY, 1877, pg 36-48, 124.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. 1993. p. 632.
11.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 101, 218.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", Zion's Watch Tower, February 1881.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 19. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
14.Jump up ^ "The Blessed Dying", Zion's Watch Tower, December 1881.
15.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 76, 77.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Schmalz, Mathew N. (October 1994). "When Festinger Fails: Prophecy and the Watchtower". Religion 24 (4): 293–308. doi:10.1006/reli.1994.1025.
17.^ Jump up to: a b Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 98, 99.
18.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1891). Thy Kingdom Come. Studies in the Scriptures 3. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. p. 153.
19.Jump up ^ "Can it be Delayed Until 1914?", Zion's Watch Tower, July 15, 1894.
20.Jump up ^ Garbe, Detlef (2008). Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-299-20794-3.
21.Jump up ^ "Now Is Our Salvation Nearer", The Watch Tower, May 1, 1914.
22.Jump up ^ "The Present Crisis", The Watch Tower, September 1, 1914.
23.^ Jump up to: a b c "Making Ready for the Reign of Righteousness", Watch Tower, November 1914.
24.Jump up ^ "Pseudo-Apostles of the Pressnt Day", Pastor Russell's Sermons, International Bible Students Association, 1917, pg 676, "The present great war in Europe is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures. (Rev. 16:16-20.) It will eventuate in the complete overthrow of all the systems of error which have so long oppressed the people of God and deluded the world. All iniquity of every kind will go down. The glorious Kingdom of Messiah is about to be set up in the earth, for the deliverance of the world and the establishment of permanent righteousness. We believe the present war cannot last much longer until revolution shall break out. The nations are rapidly impoverishing themselves."
25.Jump up ^ "The Harvest is Not Ended", The Watch Tower, September 1, 1916.
26.Jump up ^ "The Harvest is Not Ended", Watch Tower, September 1, 1916.
27.^ Jump up to: a b Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 26. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Concluding Work of the Harvest", The Watch Tower, October 1, 1917, pg 6148-6149.
29.^ Jump up to: a b The Finished Mystery. Studies in the Scriptures 7. Brooklyn, NY: International Bible Students Association. 1917. pp. 81, 128, 285, 398, 485, 582.
30.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1959, page 101.
31.Jump up ^ "Birth of the Nation", The Watch Tower, March 1, 1926, pg 73.
32.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, International Bible Students Association, 1920, pg 105.
33.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, International Bible Students Association, 1920, pg 89,90.
34.Jump up ^ "For the Elect's Sake", The Watch Tower, May 1, 1925, pg. 137, "We are well along in 1925. Let everyone now who really loves the Lord put aside selfishness and, moved by the spirit of a loving devotion to the cause of righteousness, make the few remaining months the greatest witness yet given for the King and his kingdom."
35.Jump up ^ "Work for the Anointed", The Watch Tower, January 1, 1925, pg 3, "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his own people."
36.Jump up ^ Herbert H. Stroup, The Jehovah's Witnesses, Columbia University Press, 1945, pg 55.
37.Jump up ^ Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. London: Constable. p. 48.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Singelenberg, Richard (1989). "It Separated the Wheat From the Chaff: The 1975 Prophecy and its Impact Among Dutch Jehovah's Witnesses". Sociological Analysis 50 (Spring 1989): 23–40. doi:10.2307/3710916.
39.Jump up ^ Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1966, pgs 28,29.
40.Jump up ^ "Rejoicing over God's Sons of Liberty Spiritual Feast", The Watchtower, October 15, 1966, pg 631.
41.Jump up ^ "What Will the 1970s Bring?" Awake!, 8 October 1968.
42.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 63, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
43.Jump up ^ Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1967, pg 161.
44.Jump up ^ The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1969, pg 25,26.
45.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. p. 244. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
46.Jump up ^ Singelenberg compares quotes in The Watchtower (October 15, 1966, May 1, 1968 and August 15, 1968), Awake! (October 8, 1966, October 8, 1968) and Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God.
47.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, February 1968.
48.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, May 1974.
49.Jump up ^ Audio recording of address by district oversser Charles Sunutko at convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, spring, 1967.
50.Jump up ^ Tape recording of "Divine Purpose" district convention, Utrecht, Holland, August 1974, quoted by Singelenberg, 1989.
51.Jump up ^ "Growing in Appreciation for the Divine Purpose", The Watchtower, October 15, 1974, pg. 635.
52.Jump up ^ "Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?", The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, pg. 500.
53.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 220. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
54.Jump up ^ "The End of 6,000 Years of Man-Rule Approaches—What Has Been Accomplished?", The Watchtower, October 1, 1975, pg. 579.
55.Jump up ^ "A Solid Basis for Confidence," The Watchtower, July 15, 1976, pg 441.
56.Jump up ^ Bader, Chris (March 1999). "When prophecy passes unnoticed: New perspectives on failed prophecy". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Society for the Scientific Study of Religion) 38 (No.1): 122—123. JSTOR 1387588.
57.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002). Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. Routledge. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-415-26609-2.
58.Jump up ^ The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How?, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1971, p. 216.
59.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 15, 1980, p. 31.
60.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1984, p. 18-19.
61.Jump up ^ Zoe Knox (June 2011). "Writing Witness History: The Historiography of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania". Journal of Religious History 35 (2).
62.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, p. 12.
63.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 1, 1989, p. 31.
64.Jump up ^ Weiser, Neil (1974). "The Effects of Prophetic Disconfirmation of the Committed". Review of Religious Research (Fall 1974, No.1): 20.
65.Jump up ^ "A Time to Keep Awake”, The Watchtower, November 1, 1994, page 17.
66.Jump up ^ Wilson, Bryan R. (26 January 1978). "When Prophecy Failed". New Society: 183–4.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Tower_Society_unfulfilled_predictions
Watch Tower Society unfulfilled predictions
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Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society publications have made a series of predictions about Christ's Second Coming and the advent of God's Kingdom, each of which has gone unfulfilled. Almost all the predictions for 1878, 1881, 1914, 1918 and 1925 were later reinterpreted as a confirmation of the eschatological framework of the Bible Student movement and Jehovah's Witnesses, with many of the predicted events viewed as having taken place invisibly. Further expectations were held for the arrival of Armageddon in 1975, but resulted in a later apology to members from the society's leadership.
English researcher George D. Chryssides has argued that although there have been some "unrealized expectations", changes in Watch Tower chronology are attributable more to changed chronological schemes, rather than to failed predictions.[1] The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged errors, which it said helped "sift" the unfaithful from its ranks, but says adherents remained confident that "God's Word" had not failed.
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 1878: End of the harvest
3 1881: A revised end of the harvest
4 1914: The end of human rulership
5 1918: The new terminus
6 1925: Resurrection of the patriarchs
7 1975: The worldwide jubilee 7.1 Aftermath
8 Armageddon to come within 20th century
9 Response to prophetic failure
10 See also
11 References
Background[edit]
Since its formation in the 1870s, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society has claimed that God has chosen the organization from among the churches to fill a special role in the consummation of prophetic history. Charles Taze Russell, a prolific writer and founder of the Bible Student movement, viewed himself as a "mouthpiece" of God and later as the embodiment of the "faithful and wise servant" of the parable of Matthew 24:45-47.[2] The Watch Tower Society is now the legal and administrative arm of Jehovah's Witnesses. Its representatives assert that they have been given insight into the true meaning of the Bible and the unique ability to discern the signs of Christ's second coming.[3]
Former Watch Tower Society president Charles Taze Russell.
The group's early ideology centered on the "Divine Plan of Salvation", a biblically derived outline of humanity's history and destiny, which was believed to be open to fuller understanding in the "last days". The creed incorporated Adam's fall and the entry of sin, evil and death into the world. God was believed to be permitting the world's affairs to run their ruinous course before he implemented his plan to free humanity from evil, suffering and death by means of the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ and the later establishment of God's kingdom on earth after his Second Coming.[4]
The kingdom would be inaugurated through two phases, one destructive, the other constructive. In the first phase, earthly institutions would be overturned in a tumultuous period known as the "Battle of Armageddon". For several decades the group believed the worldwide disintegration of the social order would take the form of a bloody struggle between the wealthy and laboring classes, resulting in terror and anarchy. This would be followed by an era of grand reconstruction, in which sickness, pain and death would be removed and righteousness would triumph. Prior to the establishment of the kingdom, a chosen "little flock" of 144,000 anointed Christians would undergo physical transformation from physical to spiritual form to achieve immortality.[4] Since 1925 the Society has taught that Armageddon will be a universal war waged by God, resulting in a slaughter of the unfaithful.[5] With that doctrinal change, the focus of the movement's chiliasm changed from awaiting its collective escape from earth to waiting for the impending destruction of the present world order in the Battle of Armageddon.[4]
To clarify its identity, the group, which came to form the Bible Student movement, formulated a body of historical doctrine, including a mythical self-history, which provided a comprehensive symbolic linkage with the past[6][7] but also fortified the movement's expectations for the future.[4]
1878: End of the harvest[edit]
In 1876 Russell adopted the belief promulgated by some Adventist preachers that Jesus' parousia, or presence, had begun in 1874 and that the gathering of the little flock preliminary to the grand climax was already in progress. Using a form of parallel dispensations that incorporated "types" and "antitypes"—historical situations that prefigured corresponding situations later in time[8]—he calculated the harvest would extend only to 1878, at which time the gathered saints would be translated into spirit form.[9][10] The year would also bring the beginning of the "exercise of power" of God's kingdom, with evidence that God's favor was returning to the Jews.[11]
The failure of Russell's prediction did not significantly alter the movement's short-term, date-focused orientation. In early 1881 Russell asserted that 1878 had, indeed, been a milestone year, marking the point at which "the nominal Christian churches were cast off from God's favor".[12]
1881: A revised end of the harvest[edit]
By 1881 Russell had found a biblical basis for extending the harvest to a new date, later that year.[4] He explained:
Coming to the spring of 1878 ... we naturally and not unreasonably expected some change of our condition, and all were more or less disappointed when nothing supernatural occurred. But our disappointment was brief, for we noticed that the Jewish church (and not the Gospel church) was the pattern of ours, and therefore we should not expect parallels to Pentecost or to anything which happened in the beginning of this church.[12]
Russell wrote that "the light upon our pathway still shines and is more and more glorious" and that since 1878 the light had glowed stronger. The timing of their translation to heaven seemed nearer, he wrote: "We know not the day or hour, but expect it during 1881, possibly near the autumn where the parallels show the favor to Zion complete and due to end, the door to the marriage to shut, and the high calling to be the bride of Christ, to cease."[12]
The second failure in 1881 precipitated a more serious crisis in the Bible Student ranks and for several years Russell's followers waited for the belated translation to occur.[4] Russell's chronological timetable had already identified 1914 as the ultimate end of the "time of trouble", and this preserved the commitment of followers who might have been discouraged by their failed expectations for 1881.[13] Yet many members found it inconceivable that their earthly departure might be delayed that long. Russell consoled members with the news that 1881 had still marked the time when "death became a blessing" in the sense that any saint who died would henceforth be instantaneously changed into a spirit being.[14] The revised view provided comfort for early believers who had held the view that the living faithful would never experience a physical death, and yet had seen other members in fact dying while they awaited their upward call. After 1881 physical death was defined as one of the ways in which some of the saints might undergo their translation.[4]
1914: The end of human rulership[edit]
Russell's Studies in the Scriptures series had explicitly identified October 1914 as the "full end of the times of the Gentiles" and consequently the "farthest limit" of human rulership.[15] It would bring the beginning of Christ's millennial reign[1] and all his followers expected the immediate "translation of the saints" to rule with the revealed Christ that year. Following the earth's tribulation and unrest, the Jews would return to God's favor, the "nominal Church" would have fallen, the final battle between Christ and Satan would have ended, the kingdoms of the world would be overthrown, and Christ would have gathered his saints into heaven, where they would reign with him, and when the millennium would begin.[1] The belief was unequivocal, based on his study of the Bible and the Great Pyramid, and satisfied only upon the establishment of an earthly paradise; Russell remarked that by altering the prophecy even one year would destroy the perfect symmetry of its biblical chronology.[16] In the second book of his Studies in the Scriptures series he described it as "an established truth that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the Kingdom of God, will be accomplished at the end of A.D. 1914".[17] The result, he wrote, was that "all present governments will be overthrown and dissolved",[17] along with the destruction of "what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom".[18] In an 1894 Watch Tower, responding to readers who questioned whether—because of recent political upheavals—the world could last until 1914, he wrote:
We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would, They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of the trouble.[19]
As 1914 approached, excitement mounted over the expected "change" of anointed Christians.[4] Early that year some Bible Students, convinced the end of the world had arrived, began distributing their material belongings, abandoning their jobs and eagerly anticipating the future.[20] In May 1914—five months from the expected end—Russell warned followers against succumbing to doubt:
There is absolutely no ground for Bible students to question that the consummation of this Gospel age is now even at the door, and that it will end as the Scriptures foretell in a great time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. We see the participants in this great crisis banding themselves together ... The great crisis, the great clash ... that will consume the ecclestiastical heavens and the social earth, is very near.[21]
But by September, Russell was preparing Watch Tower readers for the possibility that "Armageddon may begin next spring, yet it is purely speculation to attempt to say just when." Yet the evidence, he wrote, still pointed "to the year just before us—particularly the early months".[22]
When again nothing took place, predictions regressed to their earlier short-term orientation. The Watch Tower wrote: "It may be that many of the Lord's people were expecting more than they should have looked for to occur with the opening of the Jewish year 1915, which began with September 21. The human mind seems to have a natural tendency, and one with which we should have sympathy, to expect matters to culminate more rapidly, fulfillments to come more suddenly, than they ever do come ... Studying God's Word, we have measured the 2520 years, the Seven symbolic Times, from that year 606 B.C. and have found that it reached down to October, 1914, as nearly as we were able to reckon. We did not say positively that this would be the year. We merely left every one to look at the facts of history and reckon for himself."[23]
He took that opportunity to remind readers of some cautionary pronouncements he had made several years earlier. In 1912 he had left open the possibility that, if nothing happened in October 1914, it could still happen in October 1915. He also pointed out that the period of transition could run "a good many years".[16]
In a lengthy article of consolation, Russell wrote that it was a testing time for Christ's disciples and that some Bible Students had unreal expectations. He said it was also possible that God's Kingdom on earth would be established gradually.:[13][16]
We find that some have one idea and others another. Some think that just the next hour after midnight would see a great, grand change everywhere—evil blotted out in sixty minutes or in sixty seconds. But would it be a reasonable expectation that the Gentile kingdoms would be snuffed out inside of an hour or inside of a day? If God had said so, it would be different; we know that God has all power to do His will everywhere. But are we in any sense of the word to expect such a sudden transition—that going to bed on the night of September 20, we would find, on the morning of September 21, all the kingdoms of the world destroyed and the Kingdom of Christ set up, the saints in glory, etc. Such would be a lightning change! We do not think that any would have been justified in so thinking. If any had such expectation, it was unwarranted.[23]
Yet on October 2, 1914, he entered the staff dining room at the Watch Tower Society headquarters and declared that the Gentile times had ended and that "their kings have had their day."[1] It signaled that God had withdrawn his benevolent disposition towards the Christian nations.[23] The statement implied that the legitimacy of earthly governments had been downgraded in the eyes of God, which sociologist Joseph Zygmunt suggested may have contributed to the subsequent adoption of bolder tactics in condemning the global political system.[4]
Russell viewed the outbreak of World War I as the beginning of Armageddon, which would soon descend into worldwide revolution[24] and in 1916, shortly before his death, he reaffirmed his conviction that the end was close and the harvest of saints was ongoing:
Some of us were quite strongly convinced that the Harvest would be ended by now, but our expectations must not be allowed to weigh anything as against the facts ... We see no reason for doubting, therefore, that the Times of the Gentiles ended in October 1914; and that a few more years will witness their utter collapse and the full establishment of God's Kingdom in the hands of Messiah.[25]
In posthumous editions of his Studies in the Scriptures, entire sections were rewritten to accommodate the failure of the anticipated events, with 1914 now identified as "the beginning of the end of Gentile times". The outbreak of World War I was taken to be its confirmation. Sociologist James Beckford claimed that Russell's "sometimes ingenious" ex post facto rationalizations of events in 1914 contributed to the survival of the Bible Student movement.[13] Under doctrinal changes introduced by his successor, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, it was later decided that the Millennium would come within the generation of those who saw the events of 1914. The years of 1799 and 1874, until then significant dates in Russell's millennial chronology, were also abandoned.[16]
Yet Chrissides said there was no clear failure of the predictions surrounding 1914. "Although there was clear disappointment at the non-occurrence of certain empirically observable events, a number of the events to which Russell alludes are incapable of disconfirmation. One cannot verify the beginning of Christ's sovereign rule, the cleansing of the sanctuary, and the admission to heaven of those who have experienced the 'high calling'. Even events like the ending of the Gentile times do not have obvious empirical indicators."[1]
1918: The new terminus[edit]
J.F. Rutherford
Russell's final revision of his predictions was to identify 1918 as the new terminus.[4][26] The shift was based on the reasoning that the period of the Jews' favor may have lasted until 73CE (the date of the Zealots' mass suicide at Masada), rather than 70 CE. For the modern-day parallel, the adjustment meant the conclusion of the 40-year "harvest period" was moved from 1914 to the northern spring of 1918.[1][27][28]
Rutherford claimed in 1917 that the testimony of Bible Students themselves confirmed that the harvest was not over: "Many have consecrated and given evidence of spirit-begetting since 1914, which is the best evidence that the harvest is not yet closed."[28] If the new date was reliable, he wrote, "and the evidence is very conclusive that it is true, then we have only a few months in which to labor before the great night settles down when no man can work."[28]
The Finished Mystery, written soon after Russell's death by two prominent Bible Students and published in 1917, made a series of bold statements about the expected demise of "false" Christianity. The spring of 1918, it said, would "bring upon Christendom a spasm of anguish greater even than that experienced in the Fall of 1914". God's day of vengeance, the book said, would "break like a furious morning storm in 1918", destroying "the churches wholesale and the church members by millions".[29]
At that time there is every reason to believe the fallen angels will invade the minds of many of the Nominal Church people, driving them to exceedingly unwise conduct and leading to their destruction at the hands of the enraged masses, who will later be dragged to the same fate ... In one short year, 1917-1918, the vast and complicated system of sectarianism reaches its zenith of power, only to be suddenly dashed into oblivion ... One large part of the adherents of ecclesiasticism will die from pestilence and famine.[29]
When 1918 also passed without any sign of fulfillment, the initial reaction was that the harvest had indeed finished and that the full complement of those destined for translation to heaven had been assembled. The further delay in the arrival of the millennium was interpreted in 1919 as a sign that the loyalty and powers of endurance of the "Kingdom class" were being tested, and that God was finding fault with some supposedly sanctified people.[27]
In a 1922 convention address, Rutherford retrospectively defined 1918 as the time when Christ "entered the temple for the purpose of judgment".[30] He later wrote that it was only after 1918, when the Lord came to the temple, that it could be understood that 1914 had also marked the time when the heavenly part of God's kingdom was established and when a "New Nation" was born.[31]
From that time the Bible Student group was able to view itself as more than just an agency for completing the ranks of the 144,000 who would rule with Christ. With the "New Nation" already born, members were given a clear twofold purpose: (1) to recruit and train a "Great Company" who would be carried through Armageddon to live in the earthly kingdom and (2) to expose the machinations of the devil in trying to obstruct the kingdom's earthly establishment.[4]
1925: Resurrection of the patriarchs[edit]
With Rutherford now the movement's chief theologian, another round of prophetic revision ensued, this time focusing on 1925.[4] In his 1920 booklet Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Rutherford wrote that he expected the ancient patriarchs and prophets, "the faithful ones of old", to be resurrected to earthly life in 1925 as a prelude to a general physical resurrection of faithful followers of God destined for everlasting life on earth. He explained:
This is the Golden Age of which the prophets prophesied and of which the Psalmist sang; and it is the privilege of the student of the divine Word today, by the eye of faith, to see that we are standing at the very portals of that blessed time! Let us look up and lift up our heads. Deliverance is at the door![32]
Newspaper advertisement for Rutherford's "Millions" lecture.
Rutherford's belief that the patriarchs' return would occur in 1925 was based on his calculations of the Jewish jubilee, counting forward 3500 years from 1575 BCE.[1][33] As the year advanced, he wrote of the urgency of witnessing in the "few remaining months",[34] though he also provided a caution that not all the expected events might occur.[35] When that prediction failed, the Watch Tower Society suspended the issuing of prophecies centered on a specific date.
Chryssides concluded: "This expectation was too specific and empirical for the date to be adjusted or the expected event spiritualised. At a convention the following year, Rutherford admitted his error, claiming that the 1925 date was 'merely an expressed opinion'."[1] Yet Rutherford did not abandon the prediction. In 1929 the Watch Tower Society bought a piece of land in San Diego, California, where a Spanish mansion was built and named Beth Sarim ("house of the Princes"). As late as 1932 Rutherford was still delivering talks about the nearness of the kingdom: he declared that the preaching work of the Witnesses was "coming to a conclusion", that Armageddon was "only a short time away" and that the end was "much less than the length of a generation".[36] In the late 1930s Rutherford affirmed his intention that Beth Sarim should accommodate at least some of the returning "princes", and that it should stand as a monument to the organization's firm expectation, although no new date was ever assigned to the expected event.[1] The building was sold in 1948 and the doctrine of the return of the prophets dropped in 1950.[37]
1975: The worldwide jubilee[edit]
In 1966 the Watch Tower Society issued the first of what became a sequence of statements on the importance of a new date—1975—that raised the possibility of that year heralding the beginning of Christ's millennial reign and, along with it, doom for unbelievers.[38]
According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years from man's creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975. So six thousand years of man's existence on earth will soon be up, yes, within this generation.
How appropriate it would be for Jehovah God to make of this coming seventh period of a thousand years a Sabbath period of rest and release, a great Jubilee sabbath for the proclaiming of liberty throughout the earth to all its inhabitants! ... It would be according to the loving purpose of Jehovah God for the reign of Jesus Christ, the "Lord of the Sabbath", to run parallel with the seventh millennium of man's existence.[39]
The hope was hinged on the Society's belief that Adam had been created in the northern autumn of 4026 BCE. The society suggested that the close of the first 6000 years of human history could correspond with the end of God's "rest day"—with the transition marked by the Battle of Armageddon. Yet as researcher Richard Singelenberg pointed out, the Society's literature at no point definitively stated that Armageddon would take place in 1975. In fact, as early as 1966 Frederick Franz, then vice-president of the society, was inserting a definite "uncertainty" clause:
Does it mean that God's rest day began in 4026? It could have. The ... book does not say it did not ... You can accept it or reject it ... Does it mean that Armageddon is going to be finished ... by 1975? It could! It could! All things are possible with God. Does it mean that Babylon the Great is going to go down by 1975? It could ... But we are not saying.[40]
Expectations for 1975 were also based on the belief that Christ had set up his kingdom in heaven in 1914 and that "this generation [those who were at least 15 years old in 1914, according to a 1968 Awake![41]] would by no means pass away" before the end came.[42] The 1967 book, Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, similarly stated, "We find that the time of our generation, our day, is the one that is identified in the Bible as the 'last days'. In fact, we are actually living in the final part of that time. This can be compared, not just to the last day of a week, but rather, to the last part of that day" [emphasis in original].[43]
Convention badge from circuit assembly, circa 1970
In a 1969 book the Society expanded on its belief in a link between the seventh millennium of human existence and the kingdom's establishment. It said: "In order for the Lord Jesus Christ to be 'Lord of the sabbath day,' his thousand-year reign would have to be the seventh in a series of thousand-year periods or millenniums. Thus it would be a sabbatical reign."[44] Raymond Franz, who became a member of the religion's Governing Body before defecting in 1980, claimed readers were left in no doubt about what was expected in 1975, claiming: "The presentation is no sense indefinite or ambiguous."[45]
The prophecy galvanized the movement and proselytism increased substantially. On the eve of the Millennium in 1974 the number of publishers (Witnesses who submitted their record of preaching) rose by 13.5 percent worldwide and many Witnesses were actively preparing for the dawn of the New Order.
Yet as 1975 drew closer the degree of uncertainty expressed in publications increased. The chances of Armageddon occurring that year were initially described as "feasible", "apparent" or "appropriate", but from the end of 1968 it became a mere "possibility". In 1966 the Society's chronological calculations were "trustworthy"; by 1968 they were considered "reasonably accurate (but admittedly not infallible)".[46] The basis of the gradual retraction was uncertainty over the elapsed time between the dates of Adam's creation and that of Eve.
In fact, says Singelenberg, from the end of 1968 Watch Tower Society publications never again explicitly focused on 1975 in a theological context. Though articles continued to remind readers that the "end of 6000 years of human history" was imminent, they increasingly highlighted non-Society sources that forecast a gloomy future with worldwide famine, ecological collapse and oxygen deficiency. The articles, says Singelenberg, were marked with emotional expressions of excitement, hope and urgency, with readers told: "What a time of turmoil is ahead of us! A climax in man's history is imminent!"[38]
Less cautious language, however, was being used in publications distributed only to members of the religion. In a 1968 issue of the monthly bulletin Kingdom Ministry, adherents were encouraged to increase their preaching activities because time was running out rapidly: "Less than a hundred months separate us from the end of 6000 years of man's history. What can you do in that time?"[47] Some Witnesses sold their possessions, postponed surgery or cashed in their insurance policies to prepare for Armageddon[16] and in May 1974 the Watch Tower Society told members: "Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end."[48]
The prophecy was also disseminated at talks at congregation meetings and assemblies. Speakers at some conventions highlighted the phrase, "Stay alive till '75" and urged the audience to maintain their meeting attendance or risk losing their lives at Armageddon.[49] The Dutch branch overseer urged the audience at a "Divine Purpose" district convention in 1974 to "pioneer" (take part in full-time preaching) as the end approached:
Many of us have suffered misery, sickness and death. You don't have to experience that any more. The new order is near ... Sell your house, sell everything you own and say, oh boy, how long can I carry on with my private means. That long? Get rid of things! Pioneer! Plan to shower people with magazines during these last few months of this dying system of things!"[50]
Yet The Watchtower 's public coverage of the same series of conventions was notable for its far more cautious tone. In its summary of the convention talks, the magazine reiterated the teaching that Bible chronology showed 6000 years of human existence would be completed in the mid-1970s, then pointed out: "These publications have never said that the world's end would come then. Nevertheless, there has been considerable individual speculation on the matter." What was certain, the magazine said, was that the end would come within the generation of those who saw the beginning of world tribulations in 1914. "So we can be confident that the end is near; we do not have the slightest doubt that God will bring it about ... we have to wait and see exactly when, in the meantime keeping busy in God's service."[51]
Franz says a 1968 Watchtower article implied that members should be careful about taking too literally Jesus' cautionary words about forecasting the last days. The magazine warned: "This is not the time to be toying with the words of Jesus that 'concerning that day and hour nobody knows ... only the Father'. To the contrary: it is a time when one should be keenly aware that the end of this system of things is rapidly coming to its violent end."[52]
In a 1970 paper, Joseph F. Zygmunt commented on the likely outcome for Jehovah's Witnesses if this prediction, too, failed: "While return to this old strategy would seem to expose the sect once again to prophetic failure, the risks are balanced by the potent ideological reinforcement accruing from this forthright renewal of faith, which thirty-five years of diffuse watchful waiting seem to have made necessary." But he added: "The risks of another prophetic failure actually appear to be minimal. The new prophecy is being phrased in a manner that lends itself to 'confirmation' by the old device of claiming partial supernatural fulfillment."[4] Beckford, too, expected no significant organizational disturbance resulting from the absence of observable effects that year, suggesting in 1975 that Witnesses were being "skilfully prepared for prophetic disconfirmation" to reduce the dangers of disappointment. He noted an increasing frequency of Watch Tower Society warnings about the futility of making precise predictions about events expected for the jubilee year.[53]
Yet Singelenberg, a Dutch social anthropologist, found that amid the conflict of Watch Tower Society statements from the era about what might happen that year, its sense of urgency on a probable apocalyptic event, and later the possibility of a cataclysm, expectations of a significant event in 1975 had a "startling impact" on the proselytizing activities of Jehovah's Witnesses and membership growth. His analysis of Watch Tower Society data showed annual growth of "publishers", which had averaged 2.8 percent annually between 1961 and 1966, leapt to between 10.4 and 12.4 percent from 1967 to 1975, with the number of active Witnesses through the 1970s peaking at almost 28,000 in November 1975. The number of average annual baptisms more than doubled, from 750 to 1851, with the ratio of defections to recruitments plummeting. The percentage of "pioneers" (Witnesses devoting at least 60 hours a month in preaching work) more than tripled from 2.3 percent of members to almost 8 percent in 1974 and 1975. He also found major increases in the number of "back calls" (return visits to interested members of the public who purchased publications) and average hours spent in service by individuals in the same two years.[38]
Aftermath[edit]
The passing of 1975 without incident left the Watch Tower Society open to new claims of prophetic failure. Instead of maintaining the prophetic significance of that year, however, the religion's leaders embarked on a lengthy period of denial and purge, blaming rank and file membership for misreading the organization's interpretations.[16] The Watchtower initially explained that the reason for the failure of Armageddon's arrival was due to the time lapse between the creation of Adam and Eve. Although the Society had earlier argued that the gap was "weeks or months, not years", it now decided the time lapse could, after all, be years.[54] The following year the magazine repeated its explanation, but declared the Witnesses themselves were to blame for their eager expectations about 1975 because they had misread the Bible.[38] "It was not the word of God that failed or deceived [the individual Jehovah's Witness] and brought disappointment, but ... his own understanding was based on wrong premises."[55] In talks at conventions four years later, leading members of the Society finally acknowledged their error in the initial formulation of the prophecy, and in the March 15, 1980 Watchtower the Society said its claims about 1975 were regretted.[38] It assigned no different interpretation to the date and demanded that its members recognize that there never was an explicit prophecy.[16]
Singelenberg's analysis of Jehovah's Witness preaching activity in the Netherlands in the wake of the 1975 prophetic failure showed a drop in the religion's membership from mid-1976, a trend that was not reversed until 1980. It is thought that in the Netherlands about 5000 Witnesses either left the movement, were expelled, or became marginal and inactive members.[38] Singelenberg suggested many of those expelled and shunned in the late 1970s had rebelled against the religion's authority structure out of "post-prophecy frustration"; post-1975 defectors were described to him and American researcher A. J. Brose as "opportunists" who had joined the religion out of fear when the end seemed imminent, yet who lacked genuine commitment. One elder told Singelenberg: "It was good that Armageddon did not take place. It separated the wheat from the chaff."[38] Researcher Mathew N. Schmalz suggested the leadership drew attention from the disconfirmation by requiring an even greater loyalty from members, a demand enforced with the expulsion of almost 30,000 Witnesses in 1978 alone. The insistence on doctrinal orthodoxy reached the highest levels of the organization in 1980, with many in the writing committee disfellowshipped.[16]
In almost every country the annual growth rate of Jehovah's Witnesses fell markedly after the 1975 failure. In the US, the group's growth rate fell from 6 percent to 2 percent; in South Korea it plummeted from 28 percent to 7 percent and the downward trend continued through to 1978. Even among the majority who remained, morale declined: in 1977 and 1978 the average "publisher" spent 140 hours a year proselytizing, compared to 196.8 hours in 1974.[56]
In his ethnographic study of Jehovah's Witnesses, English sociologist Andrew Holden quoted the testimony of a Witness who had been in the movement from the early 1970s, but found it impossible to remain as an active member after the failure of the 1975 prediction. He said he, like many others, had been convinced the end would come in 1975:
I said it from the platform! We told everyone the end was near. When I became a Witness I gave up my insurance policies, I cancelled all my insurance endowments, I never bought a house because I knew I wouldn't need one, we didn't even want to put the kids' names down for school.[57]
Armageddon to come within 20th century[edit]
Question book-new.svg
This section relies too much on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources. (October 2012)
Watch Tower Society literature of the 1970s and 1980s repeatedly claimed that the "end" had to be expected before the turn of the century. The 1971 book The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How? stated: "Shortly, within our twentieth century, the 'battle in the day of Jehovah' will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom."[58] A 1980 Watchtower article described the notion that "the wicked system of this world" would last "until the turn of the century" as "highly improbable in view of world trends and the fulfillment of Bible prophecy" (emphasis added).[59] A similar statement in a 1984 Watchtower article suggested that some members of the 1914 generation "could survive until the end of the century. But there are many indications that 'the end' is much closer than that!"[60] Until its October 22, 1995 issue, Awake! similarly included the statement, "this magazine builds confidence in the Creator's promise of a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away."[61]
In 1989, the notion that the missionary efforts of the Witnesses would culminate before the turn of the century was first reaffirmed, then abandoned. As first published, a Watchtower article of January 1 stated: "The apostle Paul was spearheading the Christian missionary activity. He was also laying a foundation for a work that would be completed in our 20th century."[62] (Emphasis added.) Nine months later a more cautiously worded statement appeared in the Watchtower: "We have ample reasons to expect that this preaching will be completed in our time. Does that mean before the turn of a new month, a new year, a new decade, a new century? No human knows" (emphasis added).[63] In later bound volumes of the 1989 Watchtower magazines, the text of the January 1 article was amended to state that Christian missionary work "would be completed in our day" rather than "in our 20th century".
Response to prophetic failure[edit]
According to Joseph Zygmunt, the response to each of the prophetic failures by Watch Tower Society adherents followed a general pattern:
The initial reaction by both rank and file and the movement's leaders was usually a combination of disappointment and puzzlement.
Proselytism declined, but members maintained an attitude of watchful waiting for the predictions to materialize. The doctrinal bases for the prophecies were reexamined and conjectures offered as to why the expected events might have been "delayed".
A fuller realization of the quandary was achieved. The group asserted that the prophecies had, in fact, been partially fulfilled, or that some event of prophetic significance—usually supernatural and hence not open to disconfirmation—had actually transpired on the nominated dates. Belief was sustained that God's plan was continuing to unfold.
Unfulfilled portions of the failed prophecies were projected into the future by issuing re-dated predictions, in association with retrospective reinterpretation of earlier failures.
A selective interpretation of emerging historical events as confirmation of the signs of the approaching end. A pessimistic worldview sensitized the group to perceive almost every social disturbance and natural disaster as an indicator of the impending collapse of the earthly system.
Zygmunt concluded that the group's faith in its own belief system provided a basis for the claim of fulfillment, and the selective perception of global events furnished supportive empirical evidence. "In this sense and to this extent," he wrote, "the prophecies could not 'fail'." Unfulfilled prophecies were converted into partial successes and welcomed as divinely provided lessons revealing God's purposes more fully, yet it was accepted that each of those prophecies would eventually come to pass.[4]
Singelenberg, too, believed a subsequent reinterpretation of failed prophecies was a survival strategy of religions such as Jehovah's Witnesses. Citing Neil Wiser,[64] he commented: "Whatever the outcome, prophecies cannot and do not fail for the committed."[38]
The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged that some of its time calculations and expectations resulted in "serious disappointments", with consequent defections, expulsions and opposition, which it claimed was a process of "sifting" true believers. Yet of those who remained faithful it said: "They certainly did not err in believing that God would without fail do what he had promised ... They recognized that a mistake had been made but that in no respect had God's Word failed."[10] The errors and speculation were attributed to an eagerness to see "the end of this evil system".[65]
Holden concluded: "Simple as it seems, what sceptics regard as failure, the Governing Body regards as a test of faith." Holden said that given the scarcity of reference in Watch Tower Society literature to past predictive failures, it was highly unlikely that those who had joined the religion within the past two decades were even aware of the Society's record. He estimated that more than 60 percent of current Witnesses had joined the movement since 1975, "hence the Governing Body has no reason to discuss with them the failure of its earlier prophecies." Yet he added: "The suppression of the 1975 prophecy failure by those who were active at the time but who have nevertheless remained in membership suggests an unusual degree of complicity." He also concurred with researcher Bryan Wilson's judgment that:
For people whose lives have become dominated by one powerful expectation, and whose activities are dictated by what that belief requires, abandonment of faith because of disappointment about a date would usually be too traumatic an experience to contemplate.[66]
See also[edit]
Unfulfilled Christian religious predictions
Predictions and claims for the Second Coming of Christ
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Chryssides, George D. (2010). "How Prophecy Succeeds: The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Expectations". International Journal for the Study of New Religions 1 (1): 27–48. doi:10.1558/ijsnr.v1i1.27. ISSN 2041-952X.
2.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, pages 68 and 71.
3.Jump up ^ ed. Stone, Jon R. (2000). Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings in Failed Prophecy. New York, London: Routledge. pp. 13–15. ISBN 0-415-92331-X.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Zygmunt, Joseph F. (May 1970). "Prophetic Failure and Chiliastic Identity: The Case of Jehovah's Witnesses". American Journal of Sociology 75 (6).
5.Jump up ^ Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. London: Constable. p. 47.
6.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1886). The Divine Plan of the Ages. Studies in the Scriptures 1. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
7.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1891). Thy Kingdom Come. Studies in the Scriptures 3. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
8.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996). Counting the Days to Armageddon. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. pp. 21, 31. ISBN 0-227-67939-3.
9.Jump up ^ N.H. Barbour & C.T. Russell, Three Worlds and the Harvest of This World, Rochester, NY, 1877, pg 36-48, 124.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Jehovah's Witnesses—Proclaimers of God's Kingdom. Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. 1993. p. 632.
11.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 101, 218.
12.^ Jump up to: a b c "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence", Zion's Watch Tower, February 1881.
13.^ Jump up to: a b c Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 19. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
14.Jump up ^ "The Blessed Dying", Zion's Watch Tower, December 1881.
15.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 76, 77.
16.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Schmalz, Mathew N. (October 1994). "When Festinger Fails: Prophecy and the Watchtower". Religion 24 (4): 293–308. doi:10.1006/reli.1994.1025.
17.^ Jump up to: a b Russell, Charles Taze (1889). The Time is At Hand. Studies in the Scriptures 2. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. pp. 98, 99.
18.Jump up ^ Russell, Charles Taze (1891). Thy Kingdom Come. Studies in the Scriptures 3. Allegheny, PA: Tower Publishing Co. p. 153.
19.Jump up ^ "Can it be Delayed Until 1914?", Zion's Watch Tower, July 15, 1894.
20.Jump up ^ Garbe, Detlef (2008). Between Resistance and Martyrdom: Jehovah's Witnesses in the Third Reich. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-299-20794-3.
21.Jump up ^ "Now Is Our Salvation Nearer", The Watch Tower, May 1, 1914.
22.Jump up ^ "The Present Crisis", The Watch Tower, September 1, 1914.
23.^ Jump up to: a b c "Making Ready for the Reign of Righteousness", Watch Tower, November 1914.
24.Jump up ^ "Pseudo-Apostles of the Pressnt Day", Pastor Russell's Sermons, International Bible Students Association, 1917, pg 676, "The present great war in Europe is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures. (Rev. 16:16-20.) It will eventuate in the complete overthrow of all the systems of error which have so long oppressed the people of God and deluded the world. All iniquity of every kind will go down. The glorious Kingdom of Messiah is about to be set up in the earth, for the deliverance of the world and the establishment of permanent righteousness. We believe the present war cannot last much longer until revolution shall break out. The nations are rapidly impoverishing themselves."
25.Jump up ^ "The Harvest is Not Ended", The Watch Tower, September 1, 1916.
26.Jump up ^ "The Harvest is Not Ended", Watch Tower, September 1, 1916.
27.^ Jump up to: a b Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 26. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
28.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Concluding Work of the Harvest", The Watch Tower, October 1, 1917, pg 6148-6149.
29.^ Jump up to: a b The Finished Mystery. Studies in the Scriptures 7. Brooklyn, NY: International Bible Students Association. 1917. pp. 81, 128, 285, 398, 485, 582.
30.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1959, page 101.
31.Jump up ^ "Birth of the Nation", The Watch Tower, March 1, 1926, pg 73.
32.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, International Bible Students Association, 1920, pg 105.
33.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, International Bible Students Association, 1920, pg 89,90.
34.Jump up ^ "For the Elect's Sake", The Watch Tower, May 1, 1925, pg. 137, "We are well along in 1925. Let everyone now who really loves the Lord put aside selfishness and, moved by the spirit of a loving devotion to the cause of righteousness, make the few remaining months the greatest witness yet given for the King and his kingdom."
35.Jump up ^ "Work for the Anointed", The Watch Tower, January 1, 1925, pg 3, "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his own people."
36.Jump up ^ Herbert H. Stroup, The Jehovah's Witnesses, Columbia University Press, 1945, pg 55.
37.Jump up ^ Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. London: Constable. p. 48.
38.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Singelenberg, Richard (1989). "It Separated the Wheat From the Chaff: The 1975 Prophecy and its Impact Among Dutch Jehovah's Witnesses". Sociological Analysis 50 (Spring 1989): 23–40. doi:10.2307/3710916.
39.Jump up ^ Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1966, pgs 28,29.
40.Jump up ^ "Rejoicing over God's Sons of Liberty Spiritual Feast", The Watchtower, October 15, 1966, pg 631.
41.Jump up ^ "What Will the 1970s Bring?" Awake!, 8 October 1968.
42.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 63, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
43.Jump up ^ Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1967, pg 161.
44.Jump up ^ The Approaching Peace of a Thousand Years, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1969, pg 25,26.
45.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. p. 244. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
46.Jump up ^ Singelenberg compares quotes in The Watchtower (October 15, 1966, May 1, 1968 and August 15, 1968), Awake! (October 8, 1966, October 8, 1968) and Life Everlasting—In Freedom of the Sons of God.
47.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, February 1968.
48.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, May 1974.
49.Jump up ^ Audio recording of address by district oversser Charles Sunutko at convention of Jehovah's Witnesses in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, spring, 1967.
50.Jump up ^ Tape recording of "Divine Purpose" district convention, Utrecht, Holland, August 1974, quoted by Singelenberg, 1989.
51.Jump up ^ "Growing in Appreciation for the Divine Purpose", The Watchtower, October 15, 1974, pg. 635.
52.Jump up ^ "Why Are You Looking Forward to 1975?", The Watchtower, August 15, 1968, pg. 500.
53.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975). The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. p. 220. ISBN 0-631-16310-7.
54.Jump up ^ "The End of 6,000 Years of Man-Rule Approaches—What Has Been Accomplished?", The Watchtower, October 1, 1975, pg. 579.
55.Jump up ^ "A Solid Basis for Confidence," The Watchtower, July 15, 1976, pg 441.
56.Jump up ^ Bader, Chris (March 1999). "When prophecy passes unnoticed: New perspectives on failed prophecy". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Society for the Scientific Study of Religion) 38 (No.1): 122—123. JSTOR 1387588.
57.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002). Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. Routledge. pp. 151–152. ISBN 0-415-26609-2.
58.Jump up ^ The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How?, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1971, p. 216.
59.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 15, 1980, p. 31.
60.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1984, p. 18-19.
61.Jump up ^ Zoe Knox (June 2011). "Writing Witness History: The Historiography of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania". Journal of Religious History 35 (2).
62.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, p. 12.
63.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 1, 1989, p. 31.
64.Jump up ^ Weiser, Neil (1974). "The Effects of Prophetic Disconfirmation of the Committed". Review of Religious Research (Fall 1974, No.1): 20.
65.Jump up ^ "A Time to Keep Awake”, The Watchtower, November 1, 1994, page 17.
66.Jump up ^ Wilson, Bryan R. (26 January 1978). "When Prophecy Failed". New Society: 183–4.
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
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Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations
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Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the League of Nations and the United Nations were set up as a counterfeit of God's Kingdom. Joseph F. Rutherford, second president of the Watch Tower Society, condemned politicians, business leaders and clergy in their support of the League of Nations. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the United Nations will soon destroy all other religions, and then turn against Jehovah's Witnesses.
Contents [hide]
1 History of teaching 1.1 Development
1.2 1963 Resolution
2 Current teaching
3 Associate membership to the UN Department of Public Information
4 References
5 External links
History of teaching[edit]
Development[edit]
At a convention of Bible Students held in September 1919, the local press reported J. F. Rutherford's comments on the League of Nations: "He declared a League of Nations formed by the political and economic forces, moved by a desire to better mankind by establishment of peace and plenty would accomplish great good, and then asserted that the Lord's displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League, because the clergy--Catholic and Protestant--have abandoned his plan and endorsed the League of Nations, haling it as the political expression of Christ's kingdom on earth."[1] Rutherford’s view was similarly held by other pre-millennialist expositors of that era.[2]
The Bible Student journal Golden Age referred to the “professional politician” and the “financial powers” and the “clergy” as an “unholy trinity” in support of the League of Nations and predicted its demise: “Since these two classes [politicians and financial] are presumed to be worldly men who never claimed to have made a covenant with God, he might not interfere with them for a time, but chiefly because of the other member of the unholy trinity—the clergy—God indicates that he will not permit the League of Nations and league of churches to endure.”[3] In 1930, Rutherford published the booklet Prohibition and the League of Nations-Born of God or the Devil, Which? The Bible Proof which concluded: “Here is the positive and unqualified statement from Jehovah God that neither the League of Nations nor any other combination of men and governments shall have anything to do with the setting up of his kingdom and establishing peace and righteousness. It is God’s kingdom, and not man’s; and for men to assume to do what God has declared he will do is a gross, presumptuous sin. The nation organization that attempts to run ahead of God and presumptuously attempts to set up a rule or organization and call it God’s kingdom will suffer severe punishment.”[4]
In a speech given on 20 September 1942, Nathan Knorr, the Society's third president, claimed the newly formed United Nations was the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation that would be ridden by the woman "Babylon", which Knorr identified as "the religious organization with headquarters at Vatican City".[5]
1963 Resolution[edit]
In 1963 Jehovah's Witnesses adopted a Resolution establishing the official view of the United Nations. The Resolution was published in the November 15, 1963 issue of Watchtower. At 24 assemblies held throughout the year, a total of 454,977 convention attendees adopted the Resolution.
Regarding the United Nations, paragraph 5 of that resolution states, "the nations further refused the surrender of their sovereignty to God’s Messianic kingdom by setting up ... the United Nations, ....This international organization stands for world sovereignty by political men. For years men without faith in God’s kingdom have endeavored to get all people to worship this international image of human political sovereignty as the best hope for earthly peace and security, in fact, the last hope for humanity. To date 111 nations have given worship to this political image by becoming members of it. However, we, as witnesses of the Sovereign God Jehovah, will continue refusing to engage in such idolatrous worship..."
Current teaching[edit]
The flag of the United Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the United Nations is the "image of the wild beast" referred to in Revelation 13:1-18 and the fulfillment of the "disgusting thing that causes desolation" from Matthew 24:15.[6][7] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jehovah will use the United Nations to destroy "false religion" as an institution, wherein all institutionalized religions except Jehovah's Witnesses will be destroyed. It is expected that the United Nations will then turn against Jehovah's Witnesses to destroy them, but Jehovah will intervene and destroy all political elements. They believe this act of divine intervention will be Armageddon, the final part of the Great Tribulation.[8][9]
In practice, Jehovah's Witnesses "view the United Nations organization as they do other governmental bodies of the world," as "superior authorities" that "exist by God's permission," based on their interpretation of Romans 13:1, 2. They believe "this Scriptural position does not condone any form of disrespect toward governments or their officials," to which they are to "render due respect," and they "obey them as long as such obedience does not require that they sin against God."[7]
Associate membership to the UN Department of Public Information[edit]
The Watchtower Society became an Associate member of the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN/DPI) in February 1992 and maintained this membership until October 2001. According to the United Nations Department of Public Information, the primary purpose of NGO association is, "the redissemination of information in order to increase public understanding of the principles, activities and achievements of the United Nations and its Agencies."[10] The association status was ceased the day after it was made known in the Guardian newspaper.[11][12] In a letter dated March 4, 2004, the UN website explained the association it had with the Watchtower Society: "By accepting association with DPI, the organization agreed to meet criteria for association, including support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and commitment and means to conduct effective information programmes with its constituents and to a broader audience about UN activities."[10] The official UN/DPI Web page explains about associated organizations: “Please note that association of NGOs with DPI does not constitute their incorporation into the United Nations system, nor does it entitle associated organizations or their staff to any kind of privileges, immunities or special status.”[13]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ From the Sandusky, Ohio, Star Journal as quoted in the October 1, 1919 Watch Tower, p. 298
2.Jump up ^ ”Such a League of Nations, for instance, as is proposed to-day as a panacea for national wrongs, not only has been foretold in Scripture as the last resource of international politics, but its failure has likewise been predicted.”-- C.F. Hogg and W.E. Vine, Touching the Coming of the Lord, London 1919, p. 95.
3.Jump up ^ September 9, 1920 ‘’Golden Age’’, p. 722
4.Jump up ^ Prohibition and the League of Nations, p. 52
5.Jump up ^ Knorr, Nathan. "Peace - Can It Last?" (PDF). Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. p. 22. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
6.Jump up ^ The Watchtower 1 May 1999, p. 14
7.^ Jump up to: a b The Watchtower, 1 October 1995, p. 7
8.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand, Chapter 39, page 279: "ARMAGEDDON ... With the desolating of Babylon the Great, the great tribulation will already have started. Then, urged on by Satan, the scarlet-colored wild beast and its ten horns will concentrate their attack on Jehovah’s people."
9.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, 1 October, page 20: "20 In God’s Word, the course of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, is likened to that of “a scarlet-colored wild beast” having seven heads (representing the world powers from which it originates) and ten horns (standing for the governmental powers that now support it)."
10.^ Jump up to: a b "Was the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society ever affiliated with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO)? - Ask DAG". Dag Hammarskjöld Library - Ask DAG!. Dept. of Public Instruction - NGO Section, United Nations. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
11.Jump up ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/oct/08/religion.world
12.Jump up ^ http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/oct/15/religion.unitednations
13.Jump up ^ Non-Governmental Organization/DPI
External links[edit]
NGO-Partnership
Commentary from religioustolerance.org on the Watchtower Society/UN situation
Categories: Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_the_United_Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the League of Nations and the United Nations were set up as a counterfeit of God's Kingdom. Joseph F. Rutherford, second president of the Watch Tower Society, condemned politicians, business leaders and clergy in their support of the League of Nations. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the United Nations will soon destroy all other religions, and then turn against Jehovah's Witnesses.
Contents [hide]
1 History of teaching 1.1 Development
1.2 1963 Resolution
2 Current teaching
3 Associate membership to the UN Department of Public Information
4 References
5 External links
History of teaching[edit]
Development[edit]
At a convention of Bible Students held in September 1919, the local press reported J. F. Rutherford's comments on the League of Nations: "He declared a League of Nations formed by the political and economic forces, moved by a desire to better mankind by establishment of peace and plenty would accomplish great good, and then asserted that the Lord's displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League, because the clergy--Catholic and Protestant--have abandoned his plan and endorsed the League of Nations, haling it as the political expression of Christ's kingdom on earth."[1] Rutherford’s view was similarly held by other pre-millennialist expositors of that era.[2]
The Bible Student journal Golden Age referred to the “professional politician” and the “financial powers” and the “clergy” as an “unholy trinity” in support of the League of Nations and predicted its demise: “Since these two classes [politicians and financial] are presumed to be worldly men who never claimed to have made a covenant with God, he might not interfere with them for a time, but chiefly because of the other member of the unholy trinity—the clergy—God indicates that he will not permit the League of Nations and league of churches to endure.”[3] In 1930, Rutherford published the booklet Prohibition and the League of Nations-Born of God or the Devil, Which? The Bible Proof which concluded: “Here is the positive and unqualified statement from Jehovah God that neither the League of Nations nor any other combination of men and governments shall have anything to do with the setting up of his kingdom and establishing peace and righteousness. It is God’s kingdom, and not man’s; and for men to assume to do what God has declared he will do is a gross, presumptuous sin. The nation organization that attempts to run ahead of God and presumptuously attempts to set up a rule or organization and call it God’s kingdom will suffer severe punishment.”[4]
In a speech given on 20 September 1942, Nathan Knorr, the Society's third president, claimed the newly formed United Nations was the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation that would be ridden by the woman "Babylon", which Knorr identified as "the religious organization with headquarters at Vatican City".[5]
1963 Resolution[edit]
In 1963 Jehovah's Witnesses adopted a Resolution establishing the official view of the United Nations. The Resolution was published in the November 15, 1963 issue of Watchtower. At 24 assemblies held throughout the year, a total of 454,977 convention attendees adopted the Resolution.
Regarding the United Nations, paragraph 5 of that resolution states, "the nations further refused the surrender of their sovereignty to God’s Messianic kingdom by setting up ... the United Nations, ....This international organization stands for world sovereignty by political men. For years men without faith in God’s kingdom have endeavored to get all people to worship this international image of human political sovereignty as the best hope for earthly peace and security, in fact, the last hope for humanity. To date 111 nations have given worship to this political image by becoming members of it. However, we, as witnesses of the Sovereign God Jehovah, will continue refusing to engage in such idolatrous worship..."
Current teaching[edit]
The flag of the United Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the United Nations is the "image of the wild beast" referred to in Revelation 13:1-18 and the fulfillment of the "disgusting thing that causes desolation" from Matthew 24:15.[6][7] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jehovah will use the United Nations to destroy "false religion" as an institution, wherein all institutionalized religions except Jehovah's Witnesses will be destroyed. It is expected that the United Nations will then turn against Jehovah's Witnesses to destroy them, but Jehovah will intervene and destroy all political elements. They believe this act of divine intervention will be Armageddon, the final part of the Great Tribulation.[8][9]
In practice, Jehovah's Witnesses "view the United Nations organization as they do other governmental bodies of the world," as "superior authorities" that "exist by God's permission," based on their interpretation of Romans 13:1, 2. They believe "this Scriptural position does not condone any form of disrespect toward governments or their officials," to which they are to "render due respect," and they "obey them as long as such obedience does not require that they sin against God."[7]
Associate membership to the UN Department of Public Information[edit]
The Watchtower Society became an Associate member of the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN/DPI) in February 1992 and maintained this membership until October 2001. According to the United Nations Department of Public Information, the primary purpose of NGO association is, "the redissemination of information in order to increase public understanding of the principles, activities and achievements of the United Nations and its Agencies."[10] The association status was ceased the day after it was made known in the Guardian newspaper.[11][12] In a letter dated March 4, 2004, the UN website explained the association it had with the Watchtower Society: "By accepting association with DPI, the organization agreed to meet criteria for association, including support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and commitment and means to conduct effective information programmes with its constituents and to a broader audience about UN activities."[10] The official UN/DPI Web page explains about associated organizations: “Please note that association of NGOs with DPI does not constitute their incorporation into the United Nations system, nor does it entitle associated organizations or their staff to any kind of privileges, immunities or special status.”[13]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ From the Sandusky, Ohio, Star Journal as quoted in the October 1, 1919 Watch Tower, p. 298
2.Jump up ^ ”Such a League of Nations, for instance, as is proposed to-day as a panacea for national wrongs, not only has been foretold in Scripture as the last resource of international politics, but its failure has likewise been predicted.”-- C.F. Hogg and W.E. Vine, Touching the Coming of the Lord, London 1919, p. 95.
3.Jump up ^ September 9, 1920 ‘’Golden Age’’, p. 722
4.Jump up ^ Prohibition and the League of Nations, p. 52
5.Jump up ^ Knorr, Nathan. "Peace - Can It Last?" (PDF). Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. p. 22. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
6.Jump up ^ The Watchtower 1 May 1999, p. 14
7.^ Jump up to: a b The Watchtower, 1 October 1995, p. 7
8.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand, Chapter 39, page 279: "ARMAGEDDON ... With the desolating of Babylon the Great, the great tribulation will already have started. Then, urged on by Satan, the scarlet-colored wild beast and its ten horns will concentrate their attack on Jehovah’s people."
9.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, 1 October, page 20: "20 In God’s Word, the course of the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations, is likened to that of “a scarlet-colored wild beast” having seven heads (representing the world powers from which it originates) and ten horns (standing for the governmental powers that now support it)."
10.^ Jump up to: a b "Was the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society ever affiliated with the United Nations as a non-governmental organization (NGO)? - Ask DAG". Dag Hammarskjöld Library - Ask DAG!. Dept. of Public Instruction - NGO Section, United Nations. Archived from the original on 5 February 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
11.Jump up ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/oct/08/religion.world
12.Jump up ^ http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/oct/15/religion.unitednations
13.Jump up ^ Non-Governmental Organization/DPI
External links[edit]
NGO-Partnership
Commentary from religioustolerance.org on the Watchtower Society/UN situation
Categories: Beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Navigation menu
Create account
Log in
Article
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This page was last modified on 24 May 2015, at 13:51.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_and_the_United_Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses' handling of child sex abuse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
As with other religious organizations, Jehovah's Witnesses have been obliged in recent years to develop child protection policies to deal with cases of child sexual abuse in their congregations. Jehovah's Witnesses strongly denounce all kinds of sexual abuse, and according to a 2009 study there were no more documented cases of sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses than among society in general.[1] The Watch Tower Society states that incidence of this crime among Jehovah’s Witnesses is rare.[2]
Details of the Society's child abuse policies have been published in Jehovah's Witnesses' publications, although more specific guidelines are only made available to elders, or on request. Press releases issued by the Watch Tower Society's Office of Public Information confirm that if a person accused of molestation repeatedly denies the charges of his victim, and there is no other witness to the incident, "the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time", but would report to authorities if required by local laws.[3][4]
Critics have accused Jehovah's Witnesses of employing organizational policies that make the reporting of sexual abuse difficult for members.[5][6][7][8] Some victims of sexual abuse have asserted that they were ordered by certain local elders to maintain silence so as to avoid embarrassment to both the accused and the organization.[5][6][7][8] Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that they have no policy of silence, and that elders are directed to report abuse to authorities when there is evidence of abuse, and when required to by law. In 1997, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information published their policy for elders to report allegations of child abuse to the authorities where required by law to do so, even if there was only one witness.[9] Individuals known to have sexually abused a child are generally prohibited from holding any position of responsibility inside the organization.[10] Unless considered by the congregation elders to demonstrate repentance, such a person is typically disfellowshipped.[11]
In June 2012, the Superior Court of Alameda, California, ordered the Watchtower Society to pay $21 million in punitive damages, in addition to compensatory damages, after finding that the Society's policy to not disclose child abuse history of a member to parents in the congregation or to report abuse to authorities contributed to the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl.[12] In April 2015, the appeal court partially upheld the trial court's verdict, ordering that the Watch Tower Society pay compensatory damages amounting to $2.8 million, but concluded that the congregation had no duty to warn the parents or members about the child abuse history of other members.
Contents [hide]
1 Policies 1.1 Advice to members
1.2 'Two Witness Rule'
1.3 Questioning the victim
1.4 Discipline 1.4.1 Reproof and restrictions
1.4.2 Positions of responsibility
2 Reporting to civil authorities 2.1 Cover-up allegations
2.2 2014 investigations in the United Kingdom
3 Lawsuits
4 See also
5 References
6 External links 6.1 Critical
6.2 Supportive
Policies[edit]
Advice to members[edit]
The Watch Tower Society has published information on how to protect children from sexual molestation, such as the articles, Protect Your Children in the October 8, 1993 edition of Awake!, Help Your Children to Thrive in Awake! of August 8, 1997, the series, Keep Your Children Safe, in the November 2007 edition of Awake!, and in the book, Learn from the Great Teacher. These articles focus on prevention, and do not specifically state that a child or its parents should contact the police in the event of molestation. They also suggest that, in some countries, "the legal system may offer little hope of successful prosecution." Whether or not a victim seeks professional treatment from psychiatrists, psychologists or therapists is suggested as being the personal decision of the victim (or the parents), but such ones are warned to "make sure that any such professional will respect your religious views."[13]
In 1995, The Watchtower stated that repressed memories are unreliable, and that members who recall being abused as a child "should personally approach the accused about the matter." It explained that congregation elders would not act in these instances, but that "the question of his guilt or innocence can be safely left in Jehovah’s hands."[14]
'Two Witness Rule'[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses' congregational judicial policies require the testimony of two material witnesses to establish a perpetrator's serious sin in the absence of confession.[3][15] The organization considers this policy to be a protection against malicious accusations of sexual assault. The Society maintains that this two-witness policy is applied solely to congregational discipline and has no bearing on whether a crime is reported to the authorities in countries where this is mandatory.[15][16]
The Society states that it is not necessary for both witnesses to have observed the same instance of child molestation to establish guilt. Since 1991, statements by two victims of separate incidents by the same perpetrator may be deemed sufficient to take action and impose internal sanctions.[3][15] However, critics[17] argue that such an approach to determining guilt overlooks the seriousness of the initial abuse, and effectively allows a pedophile to go unpunished until he or she abuses a second child. DNA evidence, medical reports, or information from forensic experts or police that proves sexual abuse is also accepted as a valid "second witness", however critics[17] argue that, without mandatory reporting for all accusations of abuse regardless of the local laws, such evidence could remain undetected.[17]
In cases where there is only one eye-witness—the victim—to an allegation of child abuse, elders may monitor the accused individual closely,[15] or even suspend any conspicuous congregation duties—but only if there is evidence based on the testimony of more than one witness to suggest that the alleged perpetrator has abused children.[18] In some instances where there is only one Witness to molestation, elders may discreetly inform parents in a congregation not to allow their children to spend time with someone accused of child abuse provided such a person has been deemed a "predator" by the local branch office based on the elders' observations.[15][19]
Questioning the victim[edit]
In instances of a child reporting abuse, elders are instructed to not ask probing or intimate questions,[15] with elders' immediate concern to do what they reasonably can to protect children from further abuse.[15] Elders are instructed that, however surprising the allegations, they should not indicate disbelief, nor should they criticize the complainant, as elders are regarded as 'spiritual shepherds' only, and have no professional training to investigate or evaluate allegations of child abuse.[15]
Testimony based on repressed memories is not considered reliable enough to form the basis for internal action. Elders are encouraged to treat persons reporting this type of memory with kindness, but not to pursue the case unless further proof is found. Abuse victims may be required to face their abuser to make an accusation, as stated on the Society's official website: "If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him and the victim to restate their position in each other’s presence, with elders also there."[3]
Discipline[edit]
If allegations of child abuse satisfy the organization's religious tenets, an internal judicial committee is formed, and the accused individual may potentially be relieved of positions of responsibility in the congregation. Anyone found to have sexually molested a child and failing to demonstrate repentance is to be disfellowshipped from the congregation.[20]
Reproof and restrictions[edit]
An abuser who is judged repentant by a committee of elders is given a 'public reproof', wherein it is announced to the congregation that the named individual "has been reproved", though the nature of their crime is not stated.[20] Such a person is automatically debarred from serving in any appointed position in the congregation, however privileges can be restored in the future depending on whether he or she is deemed by the branch office to be a "known molester".[21] Some time later, a talk may be given to the congregation, discussing the type of sin and the need to be on guard against it, but the reproved individual is not named in connection with this talk.[22] When reprimanded, sex offenders may not offer public prayers, read paragraphs during congregation studies, or be given even minor responsibilities in the congregation, such as handling microphones or distributing literature in the Kingdom Hall.
Sex offenders are still permitted to participate in the congregation's house-to-house preaching. According to the Watch Tower Society's spokesperson, J. R. Brown, such ones are only allowed to preach when accompanied by a responsible adult.[23]
For a considerable period of time, a reproved individual is not permitted to participate in meetings by commenting in group discussions or making presentations from the platform.[24] A 1997 issue of The Watchtower article stated: "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer or serve in any other special, full-time service."[3][25] Elders are advised to give "kindly cautions" to the abuser in regards to "not [being] alone with children," "refrain[ing] from holding children or displaying other forms of affection for them," and "not allowing children (other than his own) to spend the night in his home, not working in field service with a child, not cultivating friendships with children, and the like."
Former child molesters, including those who molested children before becoming Jehovah's Witnesses, those eventually reinstated into the congregation after being disfellowshipped, and those who were deemed repentant, are subject to a number of restrictions. Commenting on the effect of these restrictions, Jehovah's Witnesses' legal representative, Mario Moreno, stated that these restrictions alert members that the individual "lacks spiritual maturity."[26] 'Privileges' may be restored to known child sex offenders if "considerable time has passed," at the discretion of local elders.[27]
If a former child abuser moves to another congregation, elders from the previous congregation must send a letter to the body of elders in the new congregation, outlining the offender's background[28] and whether the abuser is still subject to 'restricted privileges'.
Positions of responsibility[edit]
The January 1, 1997 issue of The Watchtower stated, "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer or serve in any other special, full-time service."[25] Whether or not a child abuser is deemed a "known molester" is left to the discretion of the local branch. The October 1, 2012 letter to elders states, "the branch office, not the local body of elders, determines whether one who has sexually abused a child is considered a known child molester" and adds, "It cannot be said in every case that one who has sexually abused a child could never qualify for privileges of service in the congregation."[21]
Reporting to civil authorities[edit]
Cases of alleged abuse are reported to secular authorities if required by local laws or as instructed by the local branch office. A press release issued in 2003 by Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information stated: "In addition to making a report to the branch office, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. If so, the elders receive proper legal direction to ensure that they comply with the law."[3] The Watchtower has outlined the following policy: "Depending on the law of the land where he lives, the molester may well have to serve a prison term or face other sanctions from the State. The congregation will not protect him from this."[25] A 2002 memo to all congregations stated: "Our position is that secular authorities deal with crime while elders deal with sin."[4] Even where there is no mandatory reporting requirement, victims or others having knowledge of an incident of sexual abuse must not be discouraged from reporting it.[29]
The New York Times commented:[30]
The shape of the scandal [in Jehovah's Witnesses] is far different than in the Catholic church, where most of the people accused of abuse are priests and a vast majority of the victims were boys and young men. In the Jehovah's Witnesses, where congregations are often collections of extended families and church elders are chosen from among the laypeople, some of those accused are elders, but most are congregation members. The victims who have stepped forward are mostly girls and young women, and many accusations involve incest.
In 2008, the Watch Tower Society of Britain, in discussions with the UK Charities Commission, undertook to produce a Child Protection Policy and update its procedures to bring them into line with other religious and secular bodies.[31]
Cover-up allegations[edit]
Critics claim that in many cases, members of Jehovah's Witnesses have been prevented from reporting child molestation to civil authorities[32] Particularly since around 2000, the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has been accused of covering up cases of child molestation committed by its members. In February 2001, Christianity Today—an evangelical journal that disagrees with the theological perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses—printed an article reporting allegations that Jehovah's Witnesses' policies made reporting sexual abuse difficult for members, and did not conform to typical treatment of such cases. The article also included a response by representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses.[33]
The BBC reported allegations of a cover-up in July 2002, in an episode of Panorama entitled "Suffer the Little Children".[34] The report revealed that the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watch Tower Society, requires all congregations to submit details of child abuse allegations and maintains an internal database on all cases of child abuse reported to them.[35] It described one case where a child came forward to the elders of her congregation to report sexual abuse by her father, but was sent home, despite their having known for three years that her father was an abuser. When the girl eventually went to the police, her father was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.[34]
According to Witness spokesman J. R. Brown, Jehovah's Witnesses are not required to report crimes to elders before calling civil authorities. Victims and their families are free to call police, he said, although some don't choose to.[36] The Watch Tower Society maintains a policy with no explicit requirement for elders to report all child abuse cases where such is not required by law. Elders are instructed to "leave matters in Jehovah's hands" if an abuser denies the accusations and there is no second witness available.[33] [32]
2014 investigations in the United Kingdom[edit]
In 2013 at the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation of Moston, Manchester, England, church elder and convicted paedophile Jonathan Rose, following his completion of a nine-month jail sentence for paedophile offences, was allowed in a series of a public meetings the people to cross-examine the children he had molested.[37][38] Rose was finally ‘disfellowshipped’ after complaints to the police and the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[37]
In a separate incident, prior to the trial and conviction for rape and sexual assault in June 2014 of Mark Sewell, an elder of the congregation in Barry, Wales, the church conducted an internal investigation of the allegations, where the women and children had to face their alleged abuser in “judicial committee” hearings organised by their church.[39] A child victim, for whom Sewell was later convicted of rape, alleged that she was questioned closely by church elders when she came forward years after the attack, and was required to describe the incident to them in intimate detail, with Sewell present, but her claims were dismissed by the committee and not taken to the police for further investigation.[40][41] In June Sewell was jailed for fourteen years for the rape and sexual abuse of parishioners, including children.[42][43] All but one of Sewell's fellow elders who investigated claims against him, declined to give evidence in his Crown Court trial. They also provided no assistance to police and prosecutors in their investigation, despite “dis-fellowshipping” Sewell 20 years previously, and destroyed evidence showing claims against Sewell dating back more than 20 years.[44] In June 2014, Sewell was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for eight sex offenses; in December 2014 he appealed unsuccessfully for reduction of his sentence.[45]
In June and July 2014, the Charity Commission for England and Wales announced that it was formally investigating both the Moston[37] and Barry[46][47] congregations over their child protection policies, to be conducted independently of two statutory inquiries opened the previous month into Jehovah’s Witnesses charities in relation to issues including child protection.[48][49] The Charity Commission noted that it had "serious concerns" about the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, having most recently opened a case into it in December 2013.[50][37] The Watch Tower Society subsequently sought judicial review of the Charity Commission's enquiry; this was denied on 12 December 2014, on the grounds that the Charities Act 2011 required all other legal avenues to be exhausted prior to application for judicial review.[51] Subsequent appeals against the investigation by the New Moston Congregation and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain to the Charity Commission's tribunal were rejected in April 2015.[52]
In two separate cases in England in December 2014, Jehovah's Witnesses elders in Bournemouth and Plymouth were convicted and sentenced for the sexual abuse of children.[53][54]
Lawsuits[edit]
In a press release dated November 21, 2007, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information stated:[55]
In the United States, over 80,000 elders currently serve in over 12,300 congregations … During the last 100 years, only eleven elders have been sued for child abuse in thirteen lawsuits filed in the United States; In seven of these lawsuits against the elders, accusations against the Watchtower Society itself were dismissed by the courts.
In 2004, a Canadian court awarded CAD$5000 to a plaintiff for the negligence of an elder who failed to follow the official policy of the church. However, the court dismissed charges against the Watch Tower Society, and directed the plaintiff to pay the Watch Tower Society's legal fees amounting to CAD$142,000.[56][57]
In 2007 during a trial motion in the Napa, California court against the Watchtower Society, victims' lawyers convinced the court that 'ecclesiastical privilege' does not supersede the legal obligation of clergy to report child sex abuse to secular authorities. The Watchtower Society paid an undisclosed amount without admitting wrongdoing in an out-of-court settlement with 16 unnamed victims of alleged sexual abuse within the religion. According to court documents obtained by NBC News, one plaintiff was awarded over US$780,000.[58][59] The Press-Enterprise newspaper reported in 2008 that subpoenaed elders declined to testify against accused penitents, citing the confidentiality of penitent-clergy privilege.[60] However elders did not object to testifying once a specific matter of penitent-clergy privilege had been adjudicated.[61]
In June 2012, a California court ordered the Watchtower Society to pay more than US$20 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a woman who, as a child, was allegedly abused by a member. The court found that congregation elders, following the policies of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, contributed to the abuse. The court stated that the elders as agents of the Watch Tower Society failed to disclose to other parents regarding the confession of the molester who inappropriately touched his step daughter, adding that the degree of reprehensibility was of "medium range". Based on the ratio between the compensatory and punitive damages, the court subsequently reduced the Watch Tower Society's total liability to US$10 million,[62] Lawyers for the Society appealed the ruling, calling the decision "unprecedented" and denying responsibility for abuse.[63][64] In April 2015, the appeal court concluded that the Watchtower Society was negligent in preventing the abuse and upheld the trial court's decision of compensatory damages amounting to $7 million, of which $2.8 million is to be paid by the Watchtower Society and the congregation. However, the court found that the Watchtower Society did not have a duty to warn members of the congregation.[65]
In October 2014, a case was heard in San Diego, California. When he was seven years old, Jose Lopez was abused by Gonzalo Campos. Witness elders were aware that Campos had previously abused at least one other child, but assigned Campos to instruct Lopez. Campos later confessed to abusing at least eight children between 1982 and 1995, and subsequently fled to Mexico. For failing to protect Lopez from a known offender and for its subsequent refusal to co-operate with the court, the Watch Tower Society was ordered to pay $13.5 million to the plaintiff. The Watch Tower Society appealed the ruling.[66][67] The law firm representing Lopez has filed similar cases in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Vermont,[68] and in California, Oregon and New Mexico.[69]
See also[edit]
Child sexual abuse
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Religious abuse
Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
Scouting sex abuse cases
Silentlambs
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Ringnes, Hege Kristin; Sødal, Helje Kringlebotn (2009), Jehovas vitner — en flerfaglig studie (in Norwegian), Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, p. 101, ISBN 978-82-15-01453-1
2.Jump up ^ Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse November 21, 2007
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Our Families, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Child Protection". Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Website. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Letter to All Congregations in Britain, July 11, 2002[unreliable source?]
5.^ Jump up to: a b Bootie Cosgrove-Mather (4 April 2003). "Another Church Sex Scandal". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Corrie Cutrer (5 March 2001). "Sex Abuse: Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters". christianitytoday.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Jana Wendt (27 November 2005). "Cover Stories: The Year in Review". paddington.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 2013-05-03. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b "Secret database protects paedophiles". news.bbc.co.uk/. July 12, 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
9.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection". Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Web Site. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. 1997. Retrieved 2010-03-13. See to confirm date.
10.Jump up ^ "Let Us ABHOR What Is Wicked". The Watchtower: 27–29. 1997-01-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
11.Jump up ^ "Imitate Jehovah—Exercise Justice and Righteousness", The Watchtower, August 1, 1998, page 16.
12.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses Told to Pay in Abuse Case". New York Times. 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
13.Jump up ^ Awake!, October 8, 1991, page 9
14.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, pages 25–29
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Watchtower (October 1, 2012). "Child Abuse" (Letter to All Bodies Of Elders).
16.Jump up ^ Kristine Hirsti and Kathrine Hammerstad (12 December 2012): Tidligere ledere: – Jehovas vitner dysser ned overgrep mot barn (Norwegian) NRK. Retrieved 23 September 2013
17.^ Jump up to: a b c "New Evidence in Jehovah’s Witness allegations". nbcnews.com/. 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
18.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, page 28
19.Jump up ^ Letter to All Bodies of Elders, October 1, 2012, par. 12
20.^ Jump up to: a b n/a (2005). Organized to do Jehovah's Will. Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. pp. 152–153.
21.^ Jump up to: a b "To All Bodies of Elders", October 1, 2012 par. 15 and 22
22.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, December 1, 1976, page 735
23.Jump up ^ Louisville Courier-Journal, 1-4-01.
24.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 1, 1981, page 27
25.^ Jump up to: a b c "Let Us ABHOR What Is Wicked". The Watchtower: 27–29. 1997-01-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
26.Jump up ^ Paducah Sun, January 28, 2001
27.Jump up ^ "To All Bodies of Elders", October 1, 2012 par. 23
28.Jump up ^ Our Kingdom Ministry, October 1999, page 7
29.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, August 1, 2005, page 14
30.Jump up ^ Laurie Goodstein, Ousted Members Say Jehovah's Witnesses' Policy on Abuse Hides Offenses, The New York Times, August 11, 2002.
31.Jump up ^ "Work of the Charity Commission in 2008-09", Minutes of Evidence Taken Before Public Administrative Committee (House of Commons), Thursday 10 December 2009, Retrieved 2014-12-23
32.^ Jump up to: a b French, First2=Allison, Rose; Hoffman (May 11, 2007). "Jehovah's Witnesses Settle Abuse Cases". Associated Press (News Channel 5). Retrieved 2008-12-25.
33.^ Jump up to: a b "Sex Abuse: Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters" by Corrie Cutrer, Christianity Today, March 5, 2001, As Retrieved 2010-04-15
34.^ Jump up to: a b "Betsan Powys (July 14, 2002). "Suffer the Little Children". BBC News. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
35.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles", BBC News, July 12, 2002
36.Jump up ^ Tubbs, Sharon (Aug. 22, 2002), "Spiritual shunning", St. Petersburg Times.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Jehovah's Witness abuse victims ‘quizzed by their attacker’ at church". The Independent. 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
38.Jump up ^ "Convicted paedophile allowed to grill his victims at Jehovah's Witness meeting". Manchester Evening News. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
39.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness church leader facing jail after being convicted of rape". Daily Mirror. 2014-06-28. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
40.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses criticised over handling of sex abuse". BBC News. 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
41.Jump up ^ "'There were 12 elders and not one of them stood up – not one': Victim of Jehovah's Witness rapist describes torment". Western Mail. 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
42.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness Mark Sewell jailed for abusing girls". BBC News. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
43.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness elder jailed for raping a fellow worshipper and sexually abusing vulnerable schoolgirls". Western Mail. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
44.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses destroyed documents showing child abuse allegations against church elder". Western Mail. 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
45.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness church elder who was jailed for 14 years for eight sex offences fails to get his sentence cut". Western Mail. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
46.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness elder guilty of sex abuse: Now charity watchdog launches investigation". Western Mail. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
47.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness Elder Mark Sewell Jailed for 14 years for Sex Crimes". International Business Times. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
48.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission opens case on Jehovah's Witnesses congregation after member found guilty of sex offences". Third Sector. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
49.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission opens statutory inquiries into Jehovah's Witnesses governing body and congregation". Third Sector. 2014-06-10. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
50.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission investigates Jehovah's Witnesses charities". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
51.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses, and judicial review being a last resort". UK Human Rights Blog. 17 December 2014.
52.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission to continue statutory inquiry into Jehovah's Witnesses congregation". Third Sector. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
53.Jump up ^ Will Frampton (22 December 2014). "UPDATE: Jehovah's Witness jailed for five years for indecently assaulting young girls". Bournemouth Echo.
54.Jump up ^ "Mother reveals torment as Jehovah's Witness is jailed for sexually abusing her daughter". Plymouth Herald. 22 December 2014.
55.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse". Jehovah’s Witnesses. 21 November 2007. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007.
56.Jump up ^ "Woman who won $5,000 in a sex abuse suit against church must pay legal costs". Religion News Blog. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
57.Jump up ^ "Landmark U.S. verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses may prompt Canadian sex abuse lawsuits". Toronto Star. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
58.Jump up ^ Lisa Myers and Richard Greenberg (21 November 2007). "New evidence in Jehovah's Witness allegations". NBC Nightly News. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
59.Jump up ^ NBC Jehovah's Witnesses child sexual abuse on YouTube
60.Jump up ^ "Convicted molester sentenced to 45 years to life". The Press-Enterprise. 27 June 2008. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. "Elders John Vaughn and Andrew Sinay balked at testifying against Simental, when subpoenaed by Strunsky. They cited the confidentiality afforded by the penitent-clergy privilege."
61.Jump up ^ California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District (10 August 2009). "The People vs Simental". fearnotlaw.com. Retrieved 16 November 2014. "the elders in this case felt they had no duty to keep the confession confidential"
62.Jump up ^ "Alameda district court document".[dead link]
63.Jump up ^ alameda.courts.ca.gov[dead link]
64.Jump up ^ "Jane Doe v. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc. et al.". First Appellate Court, California Court of Appeal. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
65.Jump up ^ "CANDACE CONTI v. WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC. et al." (PDF). California Courts of Appeal for first district. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-14. See court opinion.
66.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses to pay $13.5 million in California sex abuse ruling". Reuters. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
67.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Ordered to Pay $13.5M to Bible Teacher's Alleged Victim". NBC 7 San Diego NBC San Diego. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
68.Jump up ^ "Siblings Sue Jehovah's Witnesses Over Alleged Child Sex Abuse". Hartford Courant. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
69.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses under fire from former congregants who say child sex abuse was hushed". The Oregonian. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
External links[edit]
Critical[edit]
Article of Erica Rodriguez's suit
Transcript of an interview with an abuse victim
Supportive[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses' Official Media Web Site:
"Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse" (November 21, 2007)
"Our Families: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Child Protection"
"Inquiries on Child Abuse—Our Response" (video)
"Dealing with Child Abuse—Our Policy" (video)
Letter from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia to all bodies of elders re child abuse, October 1, 2012. Submitted to Victoria Parliament Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations, April 9, 2013.
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Child sexual abuse in religious groups
Sexual abuse cover-ups
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses%27_handling_of_child_sex_abuse
Jehovah's Witnesses' handling of child sex abuse
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As with other religious organizations, Jehovah's Witnesses have been obliged in recent years to develop child protection policies to deal with cases of child sexual abuse in their congregations. Jehovah's Witnesses strongly denounce all kinds of sexual abuse, and according to a 2009 study there were no more documented cases of sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses than among society in general.[1] The Watch Tower Society states that incidence of this crime among Jehovah’s Witnesses is rare.[2]
Details of the Society's child abuse policies have been published in Jehovah's Witnesses' publications, although more specific guidelines are only made available to elders, or on request. Press releases issued by the Watch Tower Society's Office of Public Information confirm that if a person accused of molestation repeatedly denies the charges of his victim, and there is no other witness to the incident, "the elders cannot take action within the congregation at that time", but would report to authorities if required by local laws.[3][4]
Critics have accused Jehovah's Witnesses of employing organizational policies that make the reporting of sexual abuse difficult for members.[5][6][7][8] Some victims of sexual abuse have asserted that they were ordered by certain local elders to maintain silence so as to avoid embarrassment to both the accused and the organization.[5][6][7][8] Jehovah's Witnesses maintain that they have no policy of silence, and that elders are directed to report abuse to authorities when there is evidence of abuse, and when required to by law. In 1997, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information published their policy for elders to report allegations of child abuse to the authorities where required by law to do so, even if there was only one witness.[9] Individuals known to have sexually abused a child are generally prohibited from holding any position of responsibility inside the organization.[10] Unless considered by the congregation elders to demonstrate repentance, such a person is typically disfellowshipped.[11]
In June 2012, the Superior Court of Alameda, California, ordered the Watchtower Society to pay $21 million in punitive damages, in addition to compensatory damages, after finding that the Society's policy to not disclose child abuse history of a member to parents in the congregation or to report abuse to authorities contributed to the sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl.[12] In April 2015, the appeal court partially upheld the trial court's verdict, ordering that the Watch Tower Society pay compensatory damages amounting to $2.8 million, but concluded that the congregation had no duty to warn the parents or members about the child abuse history of other members.
Contents [hide]
1 Policies 1.1 Advice to members
1.2 'Two Witness Rule'
1.3 Questioning the victim
1.4 Discipline 1.4.1 Reproof and restrictions
1.4.2 Positions of responsibility
2 Reporting to civil authorities 2.1 Cover-up allegations
2.2 2014 investigations in the United Kingdom
3 Lawsuits
4 See also
5 References
6 External links 6.1 Critical
6.2 Supportive
Policies[edit]
Advice to members[edit]
The Watch Tower Society has published information on how to protect children from sexual molestation, such as the articles, Protect Your Children in the October 8, 1993 edition of Awake!, Help Your Children to Thrive in Awake! of August 8, 1997, the series, Keep Your Children Safe, in the November 2007 edition of Awake!, and in the book, Learn from the Great Teacher. These articles focus on prevention, and do not specifically state that a child or its parents should contact the police in the event of molestation. They also suggest that, in some countries, "the legal system may offer little hope of successful prosecution." Whether or not a victim seeks professional treatment from psychiatrists, psychologists or therapists is suggested as being the personal decision of the victim (or the parents), but such ones are warned to "make sure that any such professional will respect your religious views."[13]
In 1995, The Watchtower stated that repressed memories are unreliable, and that members who recall being abused as a child "should personally approach the accused about the matter." It explained that congregation elders would not act in these instances, but that "the question of his guilt or innocence can be safely left in Jehovah’s hands."[14]
'Two Witness Rule'[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses' congregational judicial policies require the testimony of two material witnesses to establish a perpetrator's serious sin in the absence of confession.[3][15] The organization considers this policy to be a protection against malicious accusations of sexual assault. The Society maintains that this two-witness policy is applied solely to congregational discipline and has no bearing on whether a crime is reported to the authorities in countries where this is mandatory.[15][16]
The Society states that it is not necessary for both witnesses to have observed the same instance of child molestation to establish guilt. Since 1991, statements by two victims of separate incidents by the same perpetrator may be deemed sufficient to take action and impose internal sanctions.[3][15] However, critics[17] argue that such an approach to determining guilt overlooks the seriousness of the initial abuse, and effectively allows a pedophile to go unpunished until he or she abuses a second child. DNA evidence, medical reports, or information from forensic experts or police that proves sexual abuse is also accepted as a valid "second witness", however critics[17] argue that, without mandatory reporting for all accusations of abuse regardless of the local laws, such evidence could remain undetected.[17]
In cases where there is only one eye-witness—the victim—to an allegation of child abuse, elders may monitor the accused individual closely,[15] or even suspend any conspicuous congregation duties—but only if there is evidence based on the testimony of more than one witness to suggest that the alleged perpetrator has abused children.[18] In some instances where there is only one Witness to molestation, elders may discreetly inform parents in a congregation not to allow their children to spend time with someone accused of child abuse provided such a person has been deemed a "predator" by the local branch office based on the elders' observations.[15][19]
Questioning the victim[edit]
In instances of a child reporting abuse, elders are instructed to not ask probing or intimate questions,[15] with elders' immediate concern to do what they reasonably can to protect children from further abuse.[15] Elders are instructed that, however surprising the allegations, they should not indicate disbelief, nor should they criticize the complainant, as elders are regarded as 'spiritual shepherds' only, and have no professional training to investigate or evaluate allegations of child abuse.[15]
Testimony based on repressed memories is not considered reliable enough to form the basis for internal action. Elders are encouraged to treat persons reporting this type of memory with kindness, but not to pursue the case unless further proof is found. Abuse victims may be required to face their abuser to make an accusation, as stated on the Society's official website: "If the accused denies the charge, the two elders may arrange for him and the victim to restate their position in each other’s presence, with elders also there."[3]
Discipline[edit]
If allegations of child abuse satisfy the organization's religious tenets, an internal judicial committee is formed, and the accused individual may potentially be relieved of positions of responsibility in the congregation. Anyone found to have sexually molested a child and failing to demonstrate repentance is to be disfellowshipped from the congregation.[20]
Reproof and restrictions[edit]
An abuser who is judged repentant by a committee of elders is given a 'public reproof', wherein it is announced to the congregation that the named individual "has been reproved", though the nature of their crime is not stated.[20] Such a person is automatically debarred from serving in any appointed position in the congregation, however privileges can be restored in the future depending on whether he or she is deemed by the branch office to be a "known molester".[21] Some time later, a talk may be given to the congregation, discussing the type of sin and the need to be on guard against it, but the reproved individual is not named in connection with this talk.[22] When reprimanded, sex offenders may not offer public prayers, read paragraphs during congregation studies, or be given even minor responsibilities in the congregation, such as handling microphones or distributing literature in the Kingdom Hall.
Sex offenders are still permitted to participate in the congregation's house-to-house preaching. According to the Watch Tower Society's spokesperson, J. R. Brown, such ones are only allowed to preach when accompanied by a responsible adult.[23]
For a considerable period of time, a reproved individual is not permitted to participate in meetings by commenting in group discussions or making presentations from the platform.[24] A 1997 issue of The Watchtower article stated: "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer or serve in any other special, full-time service."[3][25] Elders are advised to give "kindly cautions" to the abuser in regards to "not [being] alone with children," "refrain[ing] from holding children or displaying other forms of affection for them," and "not allowing children (other than his own) to spend the night in his home, not working in field service with a child, not cultivating friendships with children, and the like."
Former child molesters, including those who molested children before becoming Jehovah's Witnesses, those eventually reinstated into the congregation after being disfellowshipped, and those who were deemed repentant, are subject to a number of restrictions. Commenting on the effect of these restrictions, Jehovah's Witnesses' legal representative, Mario Moreno, stated that these restrictions alert members that the individual "lacks spiritual maturity."[26] 'Privileges' may be restored to known child sex offenders if "considerable time has passed," at the discretion of local elders.[27]
If a former child abuser moves to another congregation, elders from the previous congregation must send a letter to the body of elders in the new congregation, outlining the offender's background[28] and whether the abuser is still subject to 'restricted privileges'.
Positions of responsibility[edit]
The January 1, 1997 issue of The Watchtower stated, "For the protection of our children, a man known to have been a child molester does not qualify for a responsible position in the congregation. Moreover, he cannot be a pioneer or serve in any other special, full-time service."[25] Whether or not a child abuser is deemed a "known molester" is left to the discretion of the local branch. The October 1, 2012 letter to elders states, "the branch office, not the local body of elders, determines whether one who has sexually abused a child is considered a known child molester" and adds, "It cannot be said in every case that one who has sexually abused a child could never qualify for privileges of service in the congregation."[21]
Reporting to civil authorities[edit]
Cases of alleged abuse are reported to secular authorities if required by local laws or as instructed by the local branch office. A press release issued in 2003 by Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information stated: "In addition to making a report to the branch office, the elders may be required by law to report even uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations to the authorities. If so, the elders receive proper legal direction to ensure that they comply with the law."[3] The Watchtower has outlined the following policy: "Depending on the law of the land where he lives, the molester may well have to serve a prison term or face other sanctions from the State. The congregation will not protect him from this."[25] A 2002 memo to all congregations stated: "Our position is that secular authorities deal with crime while elders deal with sin."[4] Even where there is no mandatory reporting requirement, victims or others having knowledge of an incident of sexual abuse must not be discouraged from reporting it.[29]
The New York Times commented:[30]
The shape of the scandal [in Jehovah's Witnesses] is far different than in the Catholic church, where most of the people accused of abuse are priests and a vast majority of the victims were boys and young men. In the Jehovah's Witnesses, where congregations are often collections of extended families and church elders are chosen from among the laypeople, some of those accused are elders, but most are congregation members. The victims who have stepped forward are mostly girls and young women, and many accusations involve incest.
In 2008, the Watch Tower Society of Britain, in discussions with the UK Charities Commission, undertook to produce a Child Protection Policy and update its procedures to bring them into line with other religious and secular bodies.[31]
Cover-up allegations[edit]
Critics claim that in many cases, members of Jehovah's Witnesses have been prevented from reporting child molestation to civil authorities[32] Particularly since around 2000, the Jehovah's Witnesses organization has been accused of covering up cases of child molestation committed by its members. In February 2001, Christianity Today—an evangelical journal that disagrees with the theological perspective of Jehovah's Witnesses—printed an article reporting allegations that Jehovah's Witnesses' policies made reporting sexual abuse difficult for members, and did not conform to typical treatment of such cases. The article also included a response by representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses.[33]
The BBC reported allegations of a cover-up in July 2002, in an episode of Panorama entitled "Suffer the Little Children".[34] The report revealed that the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses, the Watch Tower Society, requires all congregations to submit details of child abuse allegations and maintains an internal database on all cases of child abuse reported to them.[35] It described one case where a child came forward to the elders of her congregation to report sexual abuse by her father, but was sent home, despite their having known for three years that her father was an abuser. When the girl eventually went to the police, her father was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.[34]
According to Witness spokesman J. R. Brown, Jehovah's Witnesses are not required to report crimes to elders before calling civil authorities. Victims and their families are free to call police, he said, although some don't choose to.[36] The Watch Tower Society maintains a policy with no explicit requirement for elders to report all child abuse cases where such is not required by law. Elders are instructed to "leave matters in Jehovah's hands" if an abuser denies the accusations and there is no second witness available.[33] [32]
2014 investigations in the United Kingdom[edit]
In 2013 at the Jehovah's Witnesses congregation of Moston, Manchester, England, church elder and convicted paedophile Jonathan Rose, following his completion of a nine-month jail sentence for paedophile offences, was allowed in a series of a public meetings the people to cross-examine the children he had molested.[37][38] Rose was finally ‘disfellowshipped’ after complaints to the police and the Charity Commission for England and Wales.[37]
In a separate incident, prior to the trial and conviction for rape and sexual assault in June 2014 of Mark Sewell, an elder of the congregation in Barry, Wales, the church conducted an internal investigation of the allegations, where the women and children had to face their alleged abuser in “judicial committee” hearings organised by their church.[39] A child victim, for whom Sewell was later convicted of rape, alleged that she was questioned closely by church elders when she came forward years after the attack, and was required to describe the incident to them in intimate detail, with Sewell present, but her claims were dismissed by the committee and not taken to the police for further investigation.[40][41] In June Sewell was jailed for fourteen years for the rape and sexual abuse of parishioners, including children.[42][43] All but one of Sewell's fellow elders who investigated claims against him, declined to give evidence in his Crown Court trial. They also provided no assistance to police and prosecutors in their investigation, despite “dis-fellowshipping” Sewell 20 years previously, and destroyed evidence showing claims against Sewell dating back more than 20 years.[44] In June 2014, Sewell was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for eight sex offenses; in December 2014 he appealed unsuccessfully for reduction of his sentence.[45]
In June and July 2014, the Charity Commission for England and Wales announced that it was formally investigating both the Moston[37] and Barry[46][47] congregations over their child protection policies, to be conducted independently of two statutory inquiries opened the previous month into Jehovah’s Witnesses charities in relation to issues including child protection.[48][49] The Charity Commission noted that it had "serious concerns" about the Manchester New Moston Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, having most recently opened a case into it in December 2013.[50][37] The Watch Tower Society subsequently sought judicial review of the Charity Commission's enquiry; this was denied on 12 December 2014, on the grounds that the Charities Act 2011 required all other legal avenues to be exhausted prior to application for judicial review.[51] Subsequent appeals against the investigation by the New Moston Congregation and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain to the Charity Commission's tribunal were rejected in April 2015.[52]
In two separate cases in England in December 2014, Jehovah's Witnesses elders in Bournemouth and Plymouth were convicted and sentenced for the sexual abuse of children.[53][54]
Lawsuits[edit]
In a press release dated November 21, 2007, Jehovah's Witnesses' Office of Public Information stated:[55]
In the United States, over 80,000 elders currently serve in over 12,300 congregations … During the last 100 years, only eleven elders have been sued for child abuse in thirteen lawsuits filed in the United States; In seven of these lawsuits against the elders, accusations against the Watchtower Society itself were dismissed by the courts.
In 2004, a Canadian court awarded CAD$5000 to a plaintiff for the negligence of an elder who failed to follow the official policy of the church. However, the court dismissed charges against the Watch Tower Society, and directed the plaintiff to pay the Watch Tower Society's legal fees amounting to CAD$142,000.[56][57]
In 2007 during a trial motion in the Napa, California court against the Watchtower Society, victims' lawyers convinced the court that 'ecclesiastical privilege' does not supersede the legal obligation of clergy to report child sex abuse to secular authorities. The Watchtower Society paid an undisclosed amount without admitting wrongdoing in an out-of-court settlement with 16 unnamed victims of alleged sexual abuse within the religion. According to court documents obtained by NBC News, one plaintiff was awarded over US$780,000.[58][59] The Press-Enterprise newspaper reported in 2008 that subpoenaed elders declined to testify against accused penitents, citing the confidentiality of penitent-clergy privilege.[60] However elders did not object to testifying once a specific matter of penitent-clergy privilege had been adjudicated.[61]
In June 2012, a California court ordered the Watchtower Society to pay more than US$20 million in compensatory and punitive damages to a woman who, as a child, was allegedly abused by a member. The court found that congregation elders, following the policies of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, contributed to the abuse. The court stated that the elders as agents of the Watch Tower Society failed to disclose to other parents regarding the confession of the molester who inappropriately touched his step daughter, adding that the degree of reprehensibility was of "medium range". Based on the ratio between the compensatory and punitive damages, the court subsequently reduced the Watch Tower Society's total liability to US$10 million,[62] Lawyers for the Society appealed the ruling, calling the decision "unprecedented" and denying responsibility for abuse.[63][64] In April 2015, the appeal court concluded that the Watchtower Society was negligent in preventing the abuse and upheld the trial court's decision of compensatory damages amounting to $7 million, of which $2.8 million is to be paid by the Watchtower Society and the congregation. However, the court found that the Watchtower Society did not have a duty to warn members of the congregation.[65]
In October 2014, a case was heard in San Diego, California. When he was seven years old, Jose Lopez was abused by Gonzalo Campos. Witness elders were aware that Campos had previously abused at least one other child, but assigned Campos to instruct Lopez. Campos later confessed to abusing at least eight children between 1982 and 1995, and subsequently fled to Mexico. For failing to protect Lopez from a known offender and for its subsequent refusal to co-operate with the court, the Watch Tower Society was ordered to pay $13.5 million to the plaintiff. The Watch Tower Society appealed the ruling.[66][67] The law firm representing Lopez has filed similar cases in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Vermont,[68] and in California, Oregon and New Mexico.[69]
See also[edit]
Child sexual abuse
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Religious abuse
Roman Catholic sex abuse cases
Scouting sex abuse cases
Silentlambs
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Ringnes, Hege Kristin; Sødal, Helje Kringlebotn (2009), Jehovas vitner — en flerfaglig studie (in Norwegian), Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, p. 101, ISBN 978-82-15-01453-1
2.Jump up ^ Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse November 21, 2007
3.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Our Families, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Child Protection". Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Website. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Letter to All Congregations in Britain, July 11, 2002[unreliable source?]
5.^ Jump up to: a b Bootie Cosgrove-Mather (4 April 2003). "Another Church Sex Scandal". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Corrie Cutrer (5 March 2001). "Sex Abuse: Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters". christianitytoday.com. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Jana Wendt (27 November 2005). "Cover Stories: The Year in Review". paddington.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 2013-05-03. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
8.^ Jump up to: a b "Secret database protects paedophiles". news.bbc.co.uk/. July 12, 2002. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
9.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection". Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Web Site. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. 1997. Retrieved 2010-03-13. See to confirm date.
10.Jump up ^ "Let Us ABHOR What Is Wicked". The Watchtower: 27–29. 1997-01-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
11.Jump up ^ "Imitate Jehovah—Exercise Justice and Righteousness", The Watchtower, August 1, 1998, page 16.
12.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses Told to Pay in Abuse Case". New York Times. 2012-06-17. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
13.Jump up ^ Awake!, October 8, 1991, page 9
14.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, pages 25–29
15.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Watchtower (October 1, 2012). "Child Abuse" (Letter to All Bodies Of Elders).
16.Jump up ^ Kristine Hirsti and Kathrine Hammerstad (12 December 2012): Tidligere ledere: – Jehovas vitner dysser ned overgrep mot barn (Norwegian) NRK. Retrieved 23 September 2013
17.^ Jump up to: a b c "New Evidence in Jehovah’s Witness allegations". nbcnews.com/. 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
18.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, page 28
19.Jump up ^ Letter to All Bodies of Elders, October 1, 2012, par. 12
20.^ Jump up to: a b n/a (2005). Organized to do Jehovah's Will. Brooklyn, New York: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York. pp. 152–153.
21.^ Jump up to: a b "To All Bodies of Elders", October 1, 2012 par. 15 and 22
22.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, December 1, 1976, page 735
23.Jump up ^ Louisville Courier-Journal, 1-4-01.
24.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 1, 1981, page 27
25.^ Jump up to: a b c "Let Us ABHOR What Is Wicked". The Watchtower: 27–29. 1997-01-01. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
26.Jump up ^ Paducah Sun, January 28, 2001
27.Jump up ^ "To All Bodies of Elders", October 1, 2012 par. 23
28.Jump up ^ Our Kingdom Ministry, October 1999, page 7
29.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, August 1, 2005, page 14
30.Jump up ^ Laurie Goodstein, Ousted Members Say Jehovah's Witnesses' Policy on Abuse Hides Offenses, The New York Times, August 11, 2002.
31.Jump up ^ "Work of the Charity Commission in 2008-09", Minutes of Evidence Taken Before Public Administrative Committee (House of Commons), Thursday 10 December 2009, Retrieved 2014-12-23
32.^ Jump up to: a b French, First2=Allison, Rose; Hoffman (May 11, 2007). "Jehovah's Witnesses Settle Abuse Cases". Associated Press (News Channel 5). Retrieved 2008-12-25.
33.^ Jump up to: a b "Sex Abuse: Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters" by Corrie Cutrer, Christianity Today, March 5, 2001, As Retrieved 2010-04-15
34.^ Jump up to: a b "Betsan Powys (July 14, 2002). "Suffer the Little Children". BBC News. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
35.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles", BBC News, July 12, 2002
36.Jump up ^ Tubbs, Sharon (Aug. 22, 2002), "Spiritual shunning", St. Petersburg Times.
37.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Jehovah's Witness abuse victims ‘quizzed by their attacker’ at church". The Independent. 2014-05-22. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
38.Jump up ^ "Convicted paedophile allowed to grill his victims at Jehovah's Witness meeting". Manchester Evening News. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
39.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness church leader facing jail after being convicted of rape". Daily Mirror. 2014-06-28. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
40.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses criticised over handling of sex abuse". BBC News. 2014-07-03. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
41.Jump up ^ "'There were 12 elders and not one of them stood up – not one': Victim of Jehovah's Witness rapist describes torment". Western Mail. 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
42.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness Mark Sewell jailed for abusing girls". BBC News. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
43.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness elder jailed for raping a fellow worshipper and sexually abusing vulnerable schoolgirls". Western Mail. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
44.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses destroyed documents showing child abuse allegations against church elder". Western Mail. 2014-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
45.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness church elder who was jailed for 14 years for eight sex offences fails to get his sentence cut". Western Mail. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
46.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness elder guilty of sex abuse: Now charity watchdog launches investigation". Western Mail. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
47.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witness Elder Mark Sewell Jailed for 14 years for Sex Crimes". International Business Times. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
48.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission opens case on Jehovah's Witnesses congregation after member found guilty of sex offences". Third Sector. 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
49.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission opens statutory inquiries into Jehovah's Witnesses governing body and congregation". Third Sector. 2014-06-10. Retrieved 2014-07-03.
50.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission investigates Jehovah's Witnesses charities". Charity Commission for England and Wales. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
51.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses, and judicial review being a last resort". UK Human Rights Blog. 17 December 2014.
52.Jump up ^ "Charity Commission to continue statutory inquiry into Jehovah's Witnesses congregation". Third Sector. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
53.Jump up ^ Will Frampton (22 December 2014). "UPDATE: Jehovah's Witness jailed for five years for indecently assaulting young girls". Bournemouth Echo.
54.Jump up ^ "Mother reveals torment as Jehovah's Witness is jailed for sexually abusing her daughter". Plymouth Herald. 22 December 2014.
55.Jump up ^ "Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse". Jehovah’s Witnesses. 21 November 2007. Archived from the original on 24 November 2007.
56.Jump up ^ "Woman who won $5,000 in a sex abuse suit against church must pay legal costs". Religion News Blog. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
57.Jump up ^ "Landmark U.S. verdict against Jehovah’s Witnesses may prompt Canadian sex abuse lawsuits". Toronto Star. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
58.Jump up ^ Lisa Myers and Richard Greenberg (21 November 2007). "New evidence in Jehovah's Witness allegations". NBC Nightly News. Retrieved 16 November 2007.
59.Jump up ^ NBC Jehovah's Witnesses child sexual abuse on YouTube
60.Jump up ^ "Convicted molester sentenced to 45 years to life". The Press-Enterprise. 27 June 2008. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. "Elders John Vaughn and Andrew Sinay balked at testifying against Simental, when subpoenaed by Strunsky. They cited the confidentiality afforded by the penitent-clergy privilege."
61.Jump up ^ California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District (10 August 2009). "The People vs Simental". fearnotlaw.com. Retrieved 16 November 2014. "the elders in this case felt they had no duty to keep the confession confidential"
62.Jump up ^ "Alameda district court document".[dead link]
63.Jump up ^ alameda.courts.ca.gov[dead link]
64.Jump up ^ "Jane Doe v. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York Inc. et al.". First Appellate Court, California Court of Appeal. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
65.Jump up ^ "CANDACE CONTI v. WATCHTOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, INC. et al." (PDF). California Courts of Appeal for first district. 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-14. See court opinion.
66.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses to pay $13.5 million in California sex abuse ruling". Reuters. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
67.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Ordered to Pay $13.5M to Bible Teacher's Alleged Victim". NBC 7 San Diego NBC San Diego. 3 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
68.Jump up ^ "Siblings Sue Jehovah's Witnesses Over Alleged Child Sex Abuse". Hartford Courant. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
69.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses under fire from former congregants who say child sex abuse was hushed". The Oregonian. 1 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
External links[edit]
Critical[edit]
Article of Erica Rodriguez's suit
Transcript of an interview with an abuse victim
Supportive[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses' Official Media Web Site:
"Jehovah’s Witnesses care for victims of child abuse" (November 21, 2007)
"Our Families: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Child Protection"
"Inquiries on Child Abuse—Our Response" (video)
"Dealing with Child Abuse—Our Policy" (video)
Letter from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Australia to all bodies of elders re child abuse, October 1, 2012. Submitted to Victoria Parliament Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Organisations, April 9, 2013.
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Child sexual abuse in religious groups
Sexual abuse cover-ups
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Personal Freedom Outreach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Logo of Personal Freedom Outreach
Personal Freedom Outreach (PFO) is an Evangelical organization that serves to "educate Christians about the dangers and heretical doctrines of religious cults, to use the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach members of those cults and to warn Christians of unbiblical teachings within the church itself."[1] PFO operates its ministry from three separate post office boxes, with the main office located in St. Louis, Missouri. PFO consists of seven directors. It has a board of reference, which includes Jay E. Adams, Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Focus
2 Standards and credentials
3 References
4 External links
Focus[edit]
PFO was founded by M. Kurt Goedelman and his wife Angela in 1975. PFO publishes tracts and other materials that biblically critique the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, The Way International, the Unification Church, Christian Science, Christadelphians, and other new religious movements.
PFO publishes the Quarterly Journal since 1981 (since 1988 under that name). It has included articles on Protestant teachers and organizations which it considers marginal such as Benny Hinn, Rebecca Brown, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Bill Gothard, Joyce Meyer, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as groups which it considers cultic or theologically aberrant.[2]
In 1996, PFO began hosting its biennial discernment conferences which deals with what it perceives as challenges to sound doctrine and a biblical worldview which face the Christian church today.
Standards and credentials[edit]
PFO is a member of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions and has cosponsored a conference where they adopted a comprehensive manual, establishing guidelines in theology and ethical conduct for member organizations of the Christian countercult network. The standards are inspired by the Lausanne Congress in 1974.[3][4]
Bud Press of the Christian Research Service has endorsed PFO for their "well-written and researched articles, editorials, news updates, and book reviews."[5]
They have also been laudably evaluated in scholarly literature. Everett Shrophire and John Morehead note the wealth of information possessed by organisations as PFO and envisions a central place for them in the coming challenges to Christian mission.[6] Paul Carden makes much the same observation.[7]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Personal Freedom Outreach About Personal Freedom Outreach (accessed 6/7/06)
2.Jump up ^ Quarterly Journal Index Complete index of articles.
3.Jump up ^ Judith Lynn Howard: Cult Watchers Adopt Guidelines Christianity Today, October 28, 1996.
4.Jump up ^ The document Manual of Ethical and Doctrinal Standards for EMNR Committee on Ethics, EMNR, 1997.
5.Jump up ^ Bud Press: 'The Subtle Error of Beth Moore' Christian Research Service, 2007.
6.Jump up ^ Everett Shrophire and John Morehead: "Hidden in Plain Sight: The Mission Challenge of New Religious Movements" International Journal of Frontier Missions Vol. 15:3, July–September 1998.
7.Jump up ^ Paul Carden: "The Threat of the Cults on the Mission Fields of the World" International Journal of Frontier Missions Vol. 15:3, July–September, 1998.
External links[edit]
Personal Freedom Outreach official Website
[hide]
v ·
t ·
e
Opposition to new religious movements
Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
Cult Awareness Network ·
International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
Cult Information Centre
Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
Steven Hassan ·
Galen Kelly ·
Michael Langone ·
Ted Patrick ·
Rick Ross ·
Tom Sackville ·
Jim Siegelman ·
Margaret Singer ·
Louis Jolyon West ·
Cyril Vosper ·
Lawrence Wollersheim
Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
Christian Research Institute ·
Dialog Center International ·
Personal Freedom Outreach ·
Watchman Fellowship ·
New England Institute of Religious Research ·
Midwest Christian Outreach ·
Institute for Religious Research ·
Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
Alexander Dvorkin ·
Ronald Enroth ·
Hank Hanegraaff ·
Paul R. Martin ·
Walter Ralston Martin ·
Robert Passantino
Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
MIVILUDES ·
Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
Concepts
Cult ·
NRM apologist ·
Deprogramming ·
Freedom of religion ·
Heresy ·
Mind control ·
New religious movement
Historical events
About-Picard law ·
Governmental lists of cults and sects ·
Persecution of Bahá'ís ·
Persecution of Falun Gong ·
Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses ·
Anti-Mormonism ·
Scientology in Germany
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Critics of Mormonism
Critics of the Unification Church
Evangelical parachurch organisations
Religious organizations established in 1975
1975 establishments in Missouri
Christian countercult organizations
Evangelical Ministries to New Religions
Persecution by Christians
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This page was last modified on 19 March 2015, at 02:35.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Freedom_Outreach
Personal Freedom Outreach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Logo of Personal Freedom Outreach
Personal Freedom Outreach (PFO) is an Evangelical organization that serves to "educate Christians about the dangers and heretical doctrines of religious cults, to use the Gospel of Jesus Christ to reach members of those cults and to warn Christians of unbiblical teachings within the church itself."[1] PFO operates its ministry from three separate post office boxes, with the main office located in St. Louis, Missouri. PFO consists of seven directors. It has a board of reference, which includes Jay E. Adams, Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes.[1]
Contents [hide]
1 Focus
2 Standards and credentials
3 References
4 External links
Focus[edit]
PFO was founded by M. Kurt Goedelman and his wife Angela in 1975. PFO publishes tracts and other materials that biblically critique the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, The Way International, the Unification Church, Christian Science, Christadelphians, and other new religious movements.
PFO publishes the Quarterly Journal since 1981 (since 1988 under that name). It has included articles on Protestant teachers and organizations which it considers marginal such as Benny Hinn, Rebecca Brown, Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, Bill Gothard, Joyce Meyer, and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as groups which it considers cultic or theologically aberrant.[2]
In 1996, PFO began hosting its biennial discernment conferences which deals with what it perceives as challenges to sound doctrine and a biblical worldview which face the Christian church today.
Standards and credentials[edit]
PFO is a member of Evangelical Ministries to New Religions and has cosponsored a conference where they adopted a comprehensive manual, establishing guidelines in theology and ethical conduct for member organizations of the Christian countercult network. The standards are inspired by the Lausanne Congress in 1974.[3][4]
Bud Press of the Christian Research Service has endorsed PFO for their "well-written and researched articles, editorials, news updates, and book reviews."[5]
They have also been laudably evaluated in scholarly literature. Everett Shrophire and John Morehead note the wealth of information possessed by organisations as PFO and envisions a central place for them in the coming challenges to Christian mission.[6] Paul Carden makes much the same observation.[7]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Personal Freedom Outreach About Personal Freedom Outreach (accessed 6/7/06)
2.Jump up ^ Quarterly Journal Index Complete index of articles.
3.Jump up ^ Judith Lynn Howard: Cult Watchers Adopt Guidelines Christianity Today, October 28, 1996.
4.Jump up ^ The document Manual of Ethical and Doctrinal Standards for EMNR Committee on Ethics, EMNR, 1997.
5.Jump up ^ Bud Press: 'The Subtle Error of Beth Moore' Christian Research Service, 2007.
6.Jump up ^ Everett Shrophire and John Morehead: "Hidden in Plain Sight: The Mission Challenge of New Religious Movements" International Journal of Frontier Missions Vol. 15:3, July–September 1998.
7.Jump up ^ Paul Carden: "The Threat of the Cults on the Mission Fields of the World" International Journal of Frontier Missions Vol. 15:3, July–September, 1998.
External links[edit]
Personal Freedom Outreach official Website
[hide]
v ·
t ·
e
Opposition to new religious movements
Secular groups
APA Task Force on Deceptive and Indirect Methods of Persuasion and Control ·
Cult Awareness Network ·
International Cultic Studies Association - ICSA (Formerly: the AFF, American Family Foundation) ·
The Family Survival Trust - TFST (Formerly: FAIR - Family Action Information and Rescue) ·
Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network ·
Cult Information Centre
Secular individuals
Carol Giambalvo ·
Steven Hassan ·
Galen Kelly ·
Michael Langone ·
Ted Patrick ·
Rick Ross ·
Tom Sackville ·
Jim Siegelman ·
Margaret Singer ·
Louis Jolyon West ·
Cyril Vosper ·
Lawrence Wollersheim
Religious groups
Reachout Trust ·
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry ·
Christian Research Institute ·
Dialog Center International ·
Personal Freedom Outreach ·
Watchman Fellowship ·
New England Institute of Religious Research ·
Midwest Christian Outreach ·
Institute for Religious Research ·
Spiritual Counterfeits Project ·
Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center
Religious individuals
Johannes Aagaard ·
Alexander Dvorkin ·
Ronald Enroth ·
Hank Hanegraaff ·
Paul R. Martin ·
Walter Ralston Martin ·
Robert Passantino
Governmental organizations
European Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Sectarianism ·
Centre contre les manipulations mentales ·
Union nationale des associations de défense des familles et de l'individu ·
MIVILUDES ·
Parliamentary Commission on Cults in France
Individuals in government
Catherine Picard
Concepts
Cult ·
NRM apologist ·
Deprogramming ·
Freedom of religion ·
Heresy ·
Mind control ·
New religious movement
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Silentlambs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Silentlambs
Founded
2000[1]
Founder
William Bowen
Type
Non-profit (501 C3)
Focus
Child sexual abuse
Location
Calvert City, Kentucky, USA
Method
Legal assistance and education.
Website
http://www.silentlambs.org/
Silentlambs is a United States based non-profit organization, founded by William Bowen, that assists victims of child sexual abuse experienced within the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.[2][3][4] Silentlambs' stated purpose is to help educate the public and Jehovah's Witnesses about child sexual abuse, and to assist abuse survivors who have been molested as children and silenced from speaking out or seeking proper assistance as directed by religious authority.[5][6] The group states that it has received reports from more than 5000 Jehovah's Witnesses contending that the church mishandled cases of child sexual abuse.[7]
In 2012, an attorney for the Watch Tower Society claimed that the Silentlambs website airs the personal grievances of its owner towards his former religious associates and lacks scholarly research.[8][9]
Contents [hide]
1 Founder
2 Watch Tower Society database
3 Lawsuits
4 See also
5 References
Founder[edit]
Silentlambs was founded in 2001 by William H. Bowen, a second generation Jehovah’s Witness. Bowen served as an elder for approximately 15 years, and worked in the printing factory at the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1977 until 1979. According to Bowen, he was removed as an elder in July 1992 for refusing to back down on a matter involving the appointment of a child molester. He was reappointed as an elder in 1994, but resigned the position in December 2000 over concerns about new allegations of child abuse and continued disagreement with Jehovah's Witnesses' policies for reporting child sex abuse.[7][10] According to Bowen, he was disfellowshipped in 2002 for actions considered to constitute "causing divisions" and tantamount to "apostasy". Bowen claims to be an expert in comparative religions including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Catholic Church and the Mormons regarding child sex abuse policies, and provides services as a consultant for attorneys who file civil cases against Jehovah's Witnesses. He has stated that he is not an expert regarding investigations of sex abuse allegations, nor an expert regarding the historical standards of care and detection of child abuse. Bowen has self-published two books, and states that he is an expert in child custody and taxation policies of Jehovah's Witnesses.[9][11]
Watch Tower Society database[edit]
Bowen claims that the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, maintains a database with the names of over twenty thousand abusers; he claims the list has not been released because it would hurt the public image of the church.[12]
The Watch Tower Society states that the number of names in its records is "considerably lower", but does not specify an actual number. It stated that the purpose of the database is not to protect child molesters, but for legal reasons and to prevent molesters from being appointed in position of authority. It also states that the number includes individuals who are not necessarily Jehovah's Witnesses, but who are "associated with" them.[7][13] The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged that its handling of abuse cases has not been perfect, but claims its policies were exemplary and superior to those of other religions.[7] According to some former members, Jehovah's Witnesses may discipline or excommunicate members who have molested children, without turning the offender over to police.[14][15][16][17][18]
Lawsuits[edit]
In September 2002, Bowen organized and participated in a demonstration in front of the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York.[9] In the spring of the same year, Silentlambs assisted in bringing the first series of major civil lawsuits against the Watch Tower Society over the mishandling of child abuse.[10][19] These and other subsequent cases were settled out of court with the details kept confidential.[20]
In 2012, the Watch Tower Society's attorney stated in a court memorandum that no courts in the United States had previously found its conduct or policy regarding sex-abuse to be unlawful.[21] The attorney also stated that the Silentlambs website is a vehicle for Bowen to "air his personal grievances against his former religious associates",[8] and that Bowen's comments lack scholarly research and are consistently accusatory of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses.[9]
See also[edit]
Child sexual abuse
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses and child sex abuse
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ silentlambs marks ten years of work
2.Jump up ^ "William H. Bowen - Profile". International Cultic Studies Association. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
3.Jump up ^ "Witness to shame", Newsweek, June 24, 2002.
4.Jump up ^ "Watchtower Ousts Victims, Whistle-Blowers", Christianity Today, July 8, 2002.
5.Jump up ^ Silentlambs' web site
6.Jump up ^ "Vigil to call attention to 3 slain children". The Charlotte Observer (ReligionNewsBlog). September 1, 2004. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Ousted Members Contend Jehovah's Witnesses' Abuse Policy Hides Offenses". The New York Times. August 11, 2002. Retrieved February 7, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)[dead link]
8.^ Jump up to: a b Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Bowen, William. "The History of Silentlambs". Silentlambs. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
11.Jump up ^ Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
12.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 12, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
13.Jump up ^ Fax from J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, to Betsan Powys, dated May 9, 2002.
14.Jump up ^ "New Allegations Of A Church Keeping Quiet About Child Sexual Abuse". Komo News. September 5, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
15.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse policy". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 12, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
16.Jump up ^ "Suffer the little children". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 7, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
17.Jump up ^ "Sex abuse victims target Jehovah’s Witness in civil suit". Napa Valley Register (ReligionNewsBlog). April 14, 2004. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
18.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses member accused of 1970s sex assaults". The Standard Times. January 3, 2003. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
19.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Settle Abuse Cases". Associated Press (News Channel 5). May 11, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
20.Jump up ^ "New evidence in Jehovah's Witness allegations". NBC News Investigative Unit. November 21, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
21.Jump up ^ "Alameda district court document".
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
2000 establishments in Kentucky
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silentlambs
Silentlambs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Silentlambs
Founded
2000[1]
Founder
William Bowen
Type
Non-profit (501 C3)
Focus
Child sexual abuse
Location
Calvert City, Kentucky, USA
Method
Legal assistance and education.
Website
http://www.silentlambs.org/
Silentlambs is a United States based non-profit organization, founded by William Bowen, that assists victims of child sexual abuse experienced within the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses.[2][3][4] Silentlambs' stated purpose is to help educate the public and Jehovah's Witnesses about child sexual abuse, and to assist abuse survivors who have been molested as children and silenced from speaking out or seeking proper assistance as directed by religious authority.[5][6] The group states that it has received reports from more than 5000 Jehovah's Witnesses contending that the church mishandled cases of child sexual abuse.[7]
In 2012, an attorney for the Watch Tower Society claimed that the Silentlambs website airs the personal grievances of its owner towards his former religious associates and lacks scholarly research.[8][9]
Contents [hide]
1 Founder
2 Watch Tower Society database
3 Lawsuits
4 See also
5 References
Founder[edit]
Silentlambs was founded in 2001 by William H. Bowen, a second generation Jehovah’s Witness. Bowen served as an elder for approximately 15 years, and worked in the printing factory at the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses from 1977 until 1979. According to Bowen, he was removed as an elder in July 1992 for refusing to back down on a matter involving the appointment of a child molester. He was reappointed as an elder in 1994, but resigned the position in December 2000 over concerns about new allegations of child abuse and continued disagreement with Jehovah's Witnesses' policies for reporting child sex abuse.[7][10] According to Bowen, he was disfellowshipped in 2002 for actions considered to constitute "causing divisions" and tantamount to "apostasy". Bowen claims to be an expert in comparative religions including Jehovah's Witnesses, the Catholic Church and the Mormons regarding child sex abuse policies, and provides services as a consultant for attorneys who file civil cases against Jehovah's Witnesses. He has stated that he is not an expert regarding investigations of sex abuse allegations, nor an expert regarding the historical standards of care and detection of child abuse. Bowen has self-published two books, and states that he is an expert in child custody and taxation policies of Jehovah's Witnesses.[9][11]
Watch Tower Society database[edit]
Bowen claims that the Jehovah's Witnesses' headquarters, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, maintains a database with the names of over twenty thousand abusers; he claims the list has not been released because it would hurt the public image of the church.[12]
The Watch Tower Society states that the number of names in its records is "considerably lower", but does not specify an actual number. It stated that the purpose of the database is not to protect child molesters, but for legal reasons and to prevent molesters from being appointed in position of authority. It also states that the number includes individuals who are not necessarily Jehovah's Witnesses, but who are "associated with" them.[7][13] The Watch Tower Society has acknowledged that its handling of abuse cases has not been perfect, but claims its policies were exemplary and superior to those of other religions.[7] According to some former members, Jehovah's Witnesses may discipline or excommunicate members who have molested children, without turning the offender over to police.[14][15][16][17][18]
Lawsuits[edit]
In September 2002, Bowen organized and participated in a demonstration in front of the headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York.[9] In the spring of the same year, Silentlambs assisted in bringing the first series of major civil lawsuits against the Watch Tower Society over the mishandling of child abuse.[10][19] These and other subsequent cases were settled out of court with the details kept confidential.[20]
In 2012, the Watch Tower Society's attorney stated in a court memorandum that no courts in the United States had previously found its conduct or policy regarding sex-abuse to be unlawful.[21] The attorney also stated that the Silentlambs website is a vehicle for Bowen to "air his personal grievances against his former religious associates",[8] and that Bowen's comments lack scholarly research and are consistently accusatory of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses.[9]
See also[edit]
Child sexual abuse
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses and child sex abuse
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ silentlambs marks ten years of work
2.Jump up ^ "William H. Bowen - Profile". International Cultic Studies Association. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
3.Jump up ^ "Witness to shame", Newsweek, June 24, 2002.
4.Jump up ^ "Watchtower Ousts Victims, Whistle-Blowers", Christianity Today, July 8, 2002.
5.Jump up ^ Silentlambs' web site
6.Jump up ^ "Vigil to call attention to 3 slain children". The Charlotte Observer (ReligionNewsBlog). September 1, 2004. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
7.^ Jump up to: a b c d "Ousted Members Contend Jehovah's Witnesses' Abuse Policy Hides Offenses". The New York Times. August 11, 2002. Retrieved February 7, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)[dead link]
8.^ Jump up to: a b Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c d Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
10.^ Jump up to: a b Bowen, William. "The History of Silentlambs". Silentlambs. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
11.Jump up ^ Bowen, William. "Court document". Alameda court of California. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
12.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 12, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
13.Jump up ^ Fax from J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, to Betsan Powys, dated May 9, 2002.
14.Jump up ^ "New Allegations Of A Church Keeping Quiet About Child Sexual Abuse". Komo News. September 5, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
15.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses child abuse policy". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 12, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
16.Jump up ^ "Suffer the little children". BBC News (Panorama TV series). July 7, 2002. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
17.Jump up ^ "Sex abuse victims target Jehovah’s Witness in civil suit". Napa Valley Register (ReligionNewsBlog). April 14, 2004. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
18.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses member accused of 1970s sex assaults". The Standard Times. January 3, 2003. Retrieved February 6, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
19.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Settle Abuse Cases". Associated Press (News Channel 5). May 11, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
20.Jump up ^ "New evidence in Jehovah's Witness allegations". NBC News Investigative Unit. November 21, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
21.Jump up ^ "Alameda district court document".
Categories: Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
2000 establishments in Kentucky
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Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Barbara Harrison redirects here. For the Brookside character, see List of Brookside characters.
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (14 September 1934 – 24 April 2002) was an American journalist, essayist and memoirist. She is best known for her autobiographical work, particularly her account of growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and for her travel writing.[1]
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
BarbaraGrizzutiHarrison ca1980.png
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison in 1980s
Born
September 14, 1934
Queens, NYC, New York, U.S.
Died
April 24, 2002 (aged 67)
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 First publications
3 Journalism, travel writing and fiction
4 Final years
5 Books
6 References
Early life[edit]
Barbara Grizzuti was born in Queens, New York City, on 14 September 1934. Her parents were first-generation Americans; her grandparents were immigrants from Calabria in Southern Italy. She later described her childhood as deeply troubled. Her mother, who apparently suffered from mental illness, was emotionally distant and insisted on describing herself as "Barbara's relative", not her mother. Near the end of her life Harrison also revealed that her father had sexually abused her. The turmoil of her childhood would have a strong influence on her writing.
When Harrison was 9, she and her mother were converted by a Jehovah's Witness missionary who visited the family. Harrison's father and brother did not convert, and this caused a rift in the household. Harrison's mother immersed herself totally in her new faith, even making a pact with a Witness man to marry after Harrison's father had perished in the last judgement. Harrison later said that the Witnesses' bloody visions of apocalypse both stimulated her imagination and made her frightened to use it.
A precocious student, Harrison skipped several grades in school. As a teenager at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, Harrison fell in love with Arnold Horowitz, an English teacher who was among the first to encourage her writing talent. He apparently returned her feelings, and although their relationship remained platonic, they continued to see each other and to correspond until Horowitz's death in the late 1960s.
After graduating from high school, Harrison, who had been forbidden to attend university, went to live and work at the Watchtower headquarters of Bethel. However, her friendship with Horowitz scandalised her colleagues. Nathan H. Knorr, then head of the Watchtower Society, told Harrison to stop seeing Horowitz, but she was unable to do so.
The relationship was but one symptom of a growing conflict between Harrison's faith and her artistic sensibilities, which eventually led to a nervous breakdown. At age 22, Harrison left Bethel, and very shortly afterward she renounced her faith altogether.
Harrison found work as a publisher's secretary and became involved in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village. She had a turbulent three-year affair with an African-American jazz trumpeter whom she never publicly named. Through him, Harrison associated with many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, including Ben Webster, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. "Jazzman", as Harrison called her lover in her autobiography, would come back into her life nearly 40 years later; the two would resume their affair with undiminished passion and conflict until a second, and final, break-up.
In 1960 Barbara Grizzuti married W. Dale Harrison, an aid worker for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE). The couple spent the eight years of their marriage living in Tripoli, Mumbai, Hyderabad, India, and Chichicastenango. The Harrisons had a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Anna. They divorced in 1968, and Barbara returned to New York with the children.
First publications[edit]
By now Harrison had become involved with the women's movement, and she began writing on feminist themes for various publications. Her first book, Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School, was published in 1969. Harrison was one of the first contributors to Ms. magazine.
Harrison became nationally known in 1978 when she published Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses, which combined childhood memoirs with a history of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Although Harrison expressed admiration for individual Witnesses and wrote sympathetically of their persecution, she portrayed the faith itself as harsh and tyrannical, racist and sexist.[2][3]
Harrison was an agnostic when she began Visions of Glory, but while writing it she experienced a spiritual epiphany and converted to Catholicism. Her conversion became the subject of the book's last chapter. Harrison drew much of her spirituality from the Catholic Worker Movement and from the medieval female mystics.
Journalism, travel writing and fiction[edit]
Harrison wrote for many of the leading periodicals of her time, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Nation, Ladies' Home Journal and Mother Jones magazine. Among the people she interviewed were Red Barber, Mario Cuomo, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Francis Ford Coppola, Nadia Comăneci, Alessandra Mussolini and Barbara Bush. Because of her background, Harrison was often asked to write about movements that were perceived to be cults; she described families affected by the Unification Church and the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, and reported on the U.S. government's deadly standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.
Harrison published two collections of her essays and interviews: Off Center (1980) and The Astonishing World (1992). Her 1992 Harper's essay "P.C. on the Grill", which lampooned the "philosophy" of popular TV chef The Frugal Gourmet, was included in the 1993 edition of Best American Essays.
Harrison also wrote numerous travel articles covering destinations all over the world. She published two books about her travels in Italy, Italian Days (1989) and The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (1991).
In 1984 Harrison published a novel, Foreign Bodies. She won an O. Henry Award for short fiction in 1989.
Final years[edit]
In 1994 Harrison, who had been a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During her illness she completed her last book, An Accidental Autobiography. As the title implied, the book was less a straightforward memoir than a stream-of-consciousness collection of memories and reflections, loosely organised by theme.
Harrison wrote little afterwards as her illness progressed. She died on 24 April 2002 in a hospice in Manhattan.
Books[edit]
Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School (Liveright, 1969)
Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses (Simon & Schuster, 1978)
Off Center (The Dial Press, 1980)
Foreign Bodies (Doubleday, 1984)
Italian Days (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989)
The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (Ticknor & Fields, 1991)
The Astonishing World (Ticknor & Fields, 1992)
An Accidental Autobiography (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ New York Times obituary, April 26, 2002.
2.Jump up ^ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Visions of Glory, Simon & Schuster, 1978, chapter 1.
3.Jump up ^ Los Angeles Times obituary, April 27, 2002.
Authority control
VIAF: 15580999 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 8200 5147
Categories: 1934 births
2002 deaths
American essayists
American women journalists
American women novelists
20th-century American novelists
American Roman Catholics
American travel writers
American people of Calabrian descent
Converts to Roman Catholicism
Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
Former Jehovah's Witnesses
American people of Italian descent
People from Queens, New York
Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses
People of Calabrian descent
Writers from New York City
Women travel writers
Women essayists
20th-century women writers
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Grizzuti_Harrison
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Barbara Harrison redirects here. For the Brookside character, see List of Brookside characters.
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (14 September 1934 – 24 April 2002) was an American journalist, essayist and memoirist. She is best known for her autobiographical work, particularly her account of growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and for her travel writing.[1]
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
BarbaraGrizzutiHarrison ca1980.png
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison in 1980s
Born
September 14, 1934
Queens, NYC, New York, U.S.
Died
April 24, 2002 (aged 67)
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 First publications
3 Journalism, travel writing and fiction
4 Final years
5 Books
6 References
Early life[edit]
Barbara Grizzuti was born in Queens, New York City, on 14 September 1934. Her parents were first-generation Americans; her grandparents were immigrants from Calabria in Southern Italy. She later described her childhood as deeply troubled. Her mother, who apparently suffered from mental illness, was emotionally distant and insisted on describing herself as "Barbara's relative", not her mother. Near the end of her life Harrison also revealed that her father had sexually abused her. The turmoil of her childhood would have a strong influence on her writing.
When Harrison was 9, she and her mother were converted by a Jehovah's Witness missionary who visited the family. Harrison's father and brother did not convert, and this caused a rift in the household. Harrison's mother immersed herself totally in her new faith, even making a pact with a Witness man to marry after Harrison's father had perished in the last judgement. Harrison later said that the Witnesses' bloody visions of apocalypse both stimulated her imagination and made her frightened to use it.
A precocious student, Harrison skipped several grades in school. As a teenager at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn, Harrison fell in love with Arnold Horowitz, an English teacher who was among the first to encourage her writing talent. He apparently returned her feelings, and although their relationship remained platonic, they continued to see each other and to correspond until Horowitz's death in the late 1960s.
After graduating from high school, Harrison, who had been forbidden to attend university, went to live and work at the Watchtower headquarters of Bethel. However, her friendship with Horowitz scandalised her colleagues. Nathan H. Knorr, then head of the Watchtower Society, told Harrison to stop seeing Horowitz, but she was unable to do so.
The relationship was but one symptom of a growing conflict between Harrison's faith and her artistic sensibilities, which eventually led to a nervous breakdown. At age 22, Harrison left Bethel, and very shortly afterward she renounced her faith altogether.
Harrison found work as a publisher's secretary and became involved in the bohemian life of Greenwich Village. She had a turbulent three-year affair with an African-American jazz trumpeter whom she never publicly named. Through him, Harrison associated with many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, including Ben Webster, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. "Jazzman", as Harrison called her lover in her autobiography, would come back into her life nearly 40 years later; the two would resume their affair with undiminished passion and conflict until a second, and final, break-up.
In 1960 Barbara Grizzuti married W. Dale Harrison, an aid worker for Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE). The couple spent the eight years of their marriage living in Tripoli, Mumbai, Hyderabad, India, and Chichicastenango. The Harrisons had a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Anna. They divorced in 1968, and Barbara returned to New York with the children.
First publications[edit]
By now Harrison had become involved with the women's movement, and she began writing on feminist themes for various publications. Her first book, Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School, was published in 1969. Harrison was one of the first contributors to Ms. magazine.
Harrison became nationally known in 1978 when she published Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses, which combined childhood memoirs with a history of the Jehovah's Witness movement. Although Harrison expressed admiration for individual Witnesses and wrote sympathetically of their persecution, she portrayed the faith itself as harsh and tyrannical, racist and sexist.[2][3]
Harrison was an agnostic when she began Visions of Glory, but while writing it she experienced a spiritual epiphany and converted to Catholicism. Her conversion became the subject of the book's last chapter. Harrison drew much of her spirituality from the Catholic Worker Movement and from the medieval female mystics.
Journalism, travel writing and fiction[edit]
Harrison wrote for many of the leading periodicals of her time, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Nation, Ladies' Home Journal and Mother Jones magazine. Among the people she interviewed were Red Barber, Mario Cuomo, Jane Fonda, Gore Vidal, Joan Didion, Francis Ford Coppola, Nadia Comăneci, Alessandra Mussolini and Barbara Bush. Because of her background, Harrison was often asked to write about movements that were perceived to be cults; she described families affected by the Unification Church and the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, and reported on the U.S. government's deadly standoff with the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas.
Harrison published two collections of her essays and interviews: Off Center (1980) and The Astonishing World (1992). Her 1992 Harper's essay "P.C. on the Grill", which lampooned the "philosophy" of popular TV chef The Frugal Gourmet, was included in the 1993 edition of Best American Essays.
Harrison also wrote numerous travel articles covering destinations all over the world. She published two books about her travels in Italy, Italian Days (1989) and The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (1991).
In 1984 Harrison published a novel, Foreign Bodies. She won an O. Henry Award for short fiction in 1989.
Final years[edit]
In 1994 Harrison, who had been a heavy smoker for most of her adult life, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. During her illness she completed her last book, An Accidental Autobiography. As the title implied, the book was less a straightforward memoir than a stream-of-consciousness collection of memories and reflections, loosely organised by theme.
Harrison wrote little afterwards as her illness progressed. She died on 24 April 2002 in a hospice in Manhattan.
Books[edit]
Unlearning the Lie: Sexism in School (Liveright, 1969)
Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses (Simon & Schuster, 1978)
Off Center (The Dial Press, 1980)
Foreign Bodies (Doubleday, 1984)
Italian Days (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989)
The Islands of Italy: Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aeolian Islands (Ticknor & Fields, 1991)
The Astonishing World (Ticknor & Fields, 1992)
An Accidental Autobiography (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ New York Times obituary, April 26, 2002.
2.Jump up ^ Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Visions of Glory, Simon & Schuster, 1978, chapter 1.
3.Jump up ^ Los Angeles Times obituary, April 27, 2002.
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Jan Groenveld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
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(September 2014)
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Jan Groenveld
Jan Groenveld.jpg
Born
1945
Australia
Died
October 22, 2002 (aged 57)
Queensland, Australia
Occupation
Founder,
Cult Awareness and Information Centre
Spouse(s)
Simon Groenveld
Children
7
Jan Groenveld (1945 – 22 October 2002) was a member of the LDS Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses.[1] She spent fifteen years in these and other organisations before leaving them in 1975 and resolving to make more information about what she saw as "cults" available to the general public.[1][2]
Contents [hide]
1 Freedom in Christ Ministry
2 Cited as "cult expert"
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Freedom in Christ Ministry[edit]
Groenveld first began providing information about groups she referred to as cults to the public and counselling affected individuals in 1979.[1] In 1980, she founded the Freedom in Christ ministry, whose purpose was to counsel former members of controversial groups, and provide information about coercive religious sects.[2]
Jan founded the Cult Awareness and Information Centre (CAIC), in 1990.[1][2] Groenveld's CAIC website was started in 1991.[3]
Groenveld first met Steven Hassan in 1993, when she brought him to Brisbane, Australia from the United States for a seminar. Hassan educated Groenveld as to the "serious potential for doubt and lack of veracity in satanic ritual abuse stories".[2]
Cited as "cult expert"[edit]
In 1999 a Brisbane tabloid, the Sunday Mail interviewed Groenveld on the likelihood that more destructive cults would show up in Australia during 1999 before the new Millennium. The publication titled Groenveld a "cult specialist"[4] two other Australian publications, the Courier Mail, a Brisbane tabloid, and the The Mercury a tabloid in Hobart titled her a "cult expert."[5][6] She warned the publication about a cult called the Twelve Tribes Mission, believing them to possess militant tendencies. She warned: "There are people out there all over the place who would like to be another Jim Jones", referring to the Peoples Temple suicides.[4]
Groenveld's work has also been cited in Snow's Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers.[7]
Death[edit]
Jan Groenveld died in October 2002, and was survived by her husband, 3 sons, 2 daughters and 2 foster daughters.[8]
See also[edit]
Christian countercult movement
Anti-cult movement
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Groenveld, Jan. "About Jan". Cult Awareness and Information Centre. Retrieved 8 May 2015.[self-published source]
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d Guilliatt, Richard (1996). Talk of the devil : repressed memory & the ritual abuse witch-hunt. Melbourne, Australia: Text Publishing. ISBN 9781875847297.
3.Jump up ^ Groenveld, Jan. "Who on Earth is the Cult Awareness & Information Centre??". Cult Awareness & Information Centre. Archived from the original on 2009-10-25.[self-published source]
4.^ Jump up to: a b Griffith, C. (10 January 1999) "Doom Cults Aussie Alert", Sunday Mail Brisbane, Australia, pages 1, 4.
However, Queensland cult specialist Jan Groenveld said the doomsday merchants were more likely to come to Australia. "If it's a biblical cult, they may go to Israel, but eastern, Nostradamus-based and UFO-based cults believe the southern hemisphere, in particular Australia, may suffer less or later damage as the end approaches."
5.Jump up ^ Twelve Tribes Café in Australia, Griffith, Chris; Watt, Amanda (26 December 2001), Courier Mail, Australia, page 7.
Brisbane cult expert Jan Groenveld said that the group's commercial operations may look benign, but that the public should be wary if approached by cult members with invitations to visit their community.
6.Jump up ^ Binet, Harriet (2 November 2000) "Cult Alert", The Mercury, (Australia), page 1.
A Brisbane cult expert Jan Groenveld has worked with the families of members involved with Infinity. She described it as a cult which used subtle mind control to manipulate people for financial gain. "They cut off their family if there is any opposition," Mrs Groenveld said. "People become separated from families and become totally absorbed. "They really get hooked on the leader. No one that's in a cult knows that it's a cult. "It's not until you start to see that things are wrong that you can see what you're in." Mrs Groenveld, who has counselled victims and families of cults for more than 20 years, said isolating people from their family and urging them to "stay away from unbelief" was a common tactic.
7.Jump up ^ Snow, Robert L. (2003). Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 196. ISBN 0-275-98052-9.
8.Jump up ^ Randy Watters (2002-11-02). "In Memory of Jan Groenveld". freeminds.org. Retrieved 2015-05-08.[self-published source]
External links[edit]
Cult Awareness and Information Centre Main page.
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Categories: Australian educators
Australian Pentecostals
Former Latter Day Saints
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Groenveld
Jan Groenveld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
[hide]This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies.
(September 2014)
This article may contain improper references to self-published sources. (September 2014)
Jan Groenveld
Jan Groenveld.jpg
Born
1945
Australia
Died
October 22, 2002 (aged 57)
Queensland, Australia
Occupation
Founder,
Cult Awareness and Information Centre
Spouse(s)
Simon Groenveld
Children
7
Jan Groenveld (1945 – 22 October 2002) was a member of the LDS Church and the Jehovah's Witnesses.[1] She spent fifteen years in these and other organisations before leaving them in 1975 and resolving to make more information about what she saw as "cults" available to the general public.[1][2]
Contents [hide]
1 Freedom in Christ Ministry
2 Cited as "cult expert"
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
Freedom in Christ Ministry[edit]
Groenveld first began providing information about groups she referred to as cults to the public and counselling affected individuals in 1979.[1] In 1980, she founded the Freedom in Christ ministry, whose purpose was to counsel former members of controversial groups, and provide information about coercive religious sects.[2]
Jan founded the Cult Awareness and Information Centre (CAIC), in 1990.[1][2] Groenveld's CAIC website was started in 1991.[3]
Groenveld first met Steven Hassan in 1993, when she brought him to Brisbane, Australia from the United States for a seminar. Hassan educated Groenveld as to the "serious potential for doubt and lack of veracity in satanic ritual abuse stories".[2]
Cited as "cult expert"[edit]
In 1999 a Brisbane tabloid, the Sunday Mail interviewed Groenveld on the likelihood that more destructive cults would show up in Australia during 1999 before the new Millennium. The publication titled Groenveld a "cult specialist"[4] two other Australian publications, the Courier Mail, a Brisbane tabloid, and the The Mercury a tabloid in Hobart titled her a "cult expert."[5][6] She warned the publication about a cult called the Twelve Tribes Mission, believing them to possess militant tendencies. She warned: "There are people out there all over the place who would like to be another Jim Jones", referring to the Peoples Temple suicides.[4]
Groenveld's work has also been cited in Snow's Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers.[7]
Death[edit]
Jan Groenveld died in October 2002, and was survived by her husband, 3 sons, 2 daughters and 2 foster daughters.[8]
See also[edit]
Christian countercult movement
Anti-cult movement
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b c d Groenveld, Jan. "About Jan". Cult Awareness and Information Centre. Retrieved 8 May 2015.[self-published source]
2.^ Jump up to: a b c d Guilliatt, Richard (1996). Talk of the devil : repressed memory & the ritual abuse witch-hunt. Melbourne, Australia: Text Publishing. ISBN 9781875847297.
3.Jump up ^ Groenveld, Jan. "Who on Earth is the Cult Awareness & Information Centre??". Cult Awareness & Information Centre. Archived from the original on 2009-10-25.[self-published source]
4.^ Jump up to: a b Griffith, C. (10 January 1999) "Doom Cults Aussie Alert", Sunday Mail Brisbane, Australia, pages 1, 4.
However, Queensland cult specialist Jan Groenveld said the doomsday merchants were more likely to come to Australia. "If it's a biblical cult, they may go to Israel, but eastern, Nostradamus-based and UFO-based cults believe the southern hemisphere, in particular Australia, may suffer less or later damage as the end approaches."
5.Jump up ^ Twelve Tribes Café in Australia, Griffith, Chris; Watt, Amanda (26 December 2001), Courier Mail, Australia, page 7.
Brisbane cult expert Jan Groenveld said that the group's commercial operations may look benign, but that the public should be wary if approached by cult members with invitations to visit their community.
6.Jump up ^ Binet, Harriet (2 November 2000) "Cult Alert", The Mercury, (Australia), page 1.
A Brisbane cult expert Jan Groenveld has worked with the families of members involved with Infinity. She described it as a cult which used subtle mind control to manipulate people for financial gain. "They cut off their family if there is any opposition," Mrs Groenveld said. "People become separated from families and become totally absorbed. "They really get hooked on the leader. No one that's in a cult knows that it's a cult. "It's not until you start to see that things are wrong that you can see what you're in." Mrs Groenveld, who has counselled victims and families of cults for more than 20 years, said isolating people from their family and urging them to "stay away from unbelief" was a common tactic.
7.Jump up ^ Snow, Robert L. (2003). Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers. Praeger/Greenwood. p. 196. ISBN 0-275-98052-9.
8.Jump up ^ Randy Watters (2002-11-02). "In Memory of Jan Groenveld". freeminds.org. Retrieved 2015-05-08.[self-published source]
External links[edit]
Cult Awareness and Information Centre Main page.
[show]
v ·
t ·
e
Opposition to new religious movements
Categories: Australian educators
Australian Pentecostals
Former Latter Day Saints
Exit counselors
Former Jehovah's Witnesses
2002 deaths
1945 births
Critics of Mormonism
Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses
Anti-cult organizations and individuals
Former members of New Religious Movements
Christian countercult movement
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Groenveld
Olin R. Moyle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
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Governing Body
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and Tract Society
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History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
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Salvation ·
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The 144,000
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J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
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Henry Grew
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John Nelson Darby
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Olin Moyle
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Olin Richmond Moyle (1887–1966) was legal counsel for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society[1] from 1935 to 1939. He helped represent Jehovah's Witnesses in two cases before the United States Supreme Court, which set new precedents on First Amendment freedoms.[2] A dispute with Watch Tower Society president J. F. Rutherford led to Moyle's expulsion from the religion.[3] Moyle later sued the Watch Tower Society for libel over an article in its magazine, The Watchtower. In his later years, he became one of the leaders of the United Israel World Union, a movement that sought to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower Society association
2 Resignation
3 Libel lawsuit
4 Later life
5 References
6 External links
Watch Tower Society association[edit]
Moyle began associating with Charles Taze Russell's Bible Students group about 1910.[citation needed] In 1935 Moyle, his wife and son left their home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and moved into the Brooklyn, New York headquarters of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to serve as its legal counsel, heading its newly formed Legal Department. The department had been established by Rutherford to help Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the US mount court cases to defend themselves amid increasing opposition to their preaching and stance on flag salute.[4] Rutherford and Moyle jointly represented the Watch Tower Society in various lawsuits.[5] In 1938, Moyle won the Lovell v. City of Griffin case before the Supreme Court of the United States[6] and the same year sent a letter to President Roosevelt condemning his support of "Fascist" Catholicism.[7]
Resignation[edit]
On July 21, 1939, Moyle wrote an open letter of resignation to Rutherford, protesting over conditions at "Bethel", the Watch Tower Society's Brooklyn headquarters, including what he described as ill treatment of workers, discrimination by Rutherford, the use and encouragement of "filthy and vulgar language" and a "glorification" of alcohol.[8] Moyle said that Rutherford had "many many homes, to wit, Bethel, Staten Island, California" and deplored "the difference between the accommodations furnished to you, and your personal attendants, compared with those furnished to some of your brethren".[9]
Moyle had been handling the famous Minersville School District v. Gobitis case, and had won at the trial court level as well as at the appellate level. However, after Moyle's removal from the case, the Minersville School District appealed the Gobitis case to the Supreme Court. Rutherford himself argued the case before the Supreme Court in 1940, and the Court ruled against Jehovah's Witnesses by a vote of 8-1. This ruling triggered a nationwide wave of violence against Jehovah's Witnesses that lasted for the next several months.[citation needed] Three years later the Supreme Court overruled this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), argued by Moyle's successor, Hayden Covington.
Libel lawsuit[edit]
Although Moyle had advised his resignation would take effect on September 1, the Watch Tower board dismissed him immediately and he returned to his home congregation in Wisconsin. On October 15, 1939 the directors responded in the pages of The Watchtower,[10] stating that "every paragraph of that letter is false, filled with lies, and is a wicked slander and a libel".[11] The article compared his actions with those of Judas Iscariot.
For four years past the writer of that letter has been entrusted with the confidential matters of the Society. It now appears that the writer of that letter, without excuse, libels the family of God at Bethel, and identifies himself as one who speaks evil against the Lord's organization, and who is a murmurer and complainer, even as the scriptures have foretold. (Jude 4-16; 1Cor. 4:3; Rom 14:4) The members of the board of directors hereby resent the unjust criticism appearing in that letter, disapprove of the writer and his actions, and recommend the president of the Society immediately terminate the relationship of O. R. Moyle to the Society as legal counsel and as a member of the Bethel family.
— Joseph F. Rutherford, The Watchtower, 1939-10-15
Moyle was disfellowshipped by his congregation,[4] which wrote a letter to The Watchtower stating that they had not read Moyle's letter, but disapproved of his actions and "never listen to accusations against Brother Rutherford".[4][12] In 1940, Moyle sued the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York over the response in The Watchtower. Rutherford presented a public resolution at a 1941 convention against Moyle, with reference to the September 15, 1941 issue of The Watchtower.[13] Moyle won his suit, and the court awarded him $30,000 in damages, which was reduced to $15,000 on appeal in 1944.[14]
The initial jury verdict was affirmed twice on appeal; first by the five member Appellate Division, 2nd Department (3-2); and second, unanimously, by the seven members of the state's highest court, The Court of Appeals, in the capitol at Albany.[15]
Later life[edit]
Moyle later served as the vice president of the Jefferson County Bar Association in Wisconsin,[16] and was recognized by Rand McNally in its national list of "bank recommended attorneys".[17]
Moyle became involved with David Horowitz and the work of the United Israel World Union, formed in 1944 to "preach a universal Hebraic faith for all humankind".[18] The 1978 edition of The Encyclopedia of American Religions describes "former Jehovah's Witness Olin Moyle" as having been "[a]mong the leaders" of the movement, "a vigorous missionary program to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism".[19]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Master List of Special Collections in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections", Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, As Retrieved 2013-11-30, "Moyle, Olin R. (Olin Richmond), 1887-1966, Olin R. Moyle Papers, Consists of works, correspondence, three diaries (1931-1951), a scrapbook, printed matter, and newspaper clippings of Moyle, an attorney for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The collection contains a typed manuscript with corrections of Moyle's unpublished book Christ's Glorious Church and descriptions of various legal proceedings, particularly those of Joseph F. Rutherford, in which Moyle was one of the society's attorneys."
2.Jump up ^ "Schneider v. New Jersey". See also Lovell v. City of Griffin
3.Jump up ^ Herbert W. Stroup, The Jehovah's Witnesses, Columbia University Press, 1945, page 26.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Wills, Tony (2006). A People For His Name. Lulu Enterprises. pp. 21–224. ISBN 978-1-4303-0100-4.
5.Jump up ^ FindLaw, U.S. Supreme Court SCHNEIDER v. NEW JERSEY, 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
6.Jump up ^ "Correspondence from Rutherford to Moyle re: the Griffin case".
7.Jump up ^ "1938 letter to Roosevelt" (PDF).
8.Jump up ^ "Moyle's open letter to Rutherford".
9.Jump up ^ Olin R. Moyle's Letter to J. F. Rutherford
10.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 15, 1939, pages 316, 317. Wills reproduces the article in A People For His Name, pages 202-203.
11.Jump up ^ Blizard, Paul. "Watch the Tower website". Archived from the original on 2009-10-28.
12.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 1, 1940, page 207.
13.Jump up ^ "1941 Watchtower Resolution against Moyle" (PDF). September 15, 1941. p. 285.
14.Jump up ^ December 20, 1944 Consolation, p. 21
15.Jump up ^ Moyle v. Rutherford et al., 261 App. Div. 968; 26 N.Y.S. 2d 860; Moyle v. Franz et al., 267 App. Div. 423; 46 N.Y.S. 2d 607; Moyle v. Franz et al., 47 N.Y.S. 484.
16.Jump up ^ The Wisconsin Bar Bulletin, Volume 23, ©1950 University of California, page 33
17.Jump up ^ Rand McNally List of Bank-recommended Attorneys, ©1952, Rand McNally & Co., page 575
18.Jump up ^ "David Horowitz: A Life Remembered", UnitedIsrael.org, official web site of United Israel World Union, Retrieved 2010-08-16, "David Horowitz had a sharp break with Moses Guibbory and in 1944 formed his own organization which he called the United Israel World Union. The purpose of the organization was to preach a universal Hebraic faith for all humankind based on the Decalogue and the other universal commandments of the Torah."
19.Jump up ^ The Encyclopedia of American Religions, Volume 2 by J. Gordon Melton, McGrath Pub. Co., 1978, page 327
External links[edit]
PDF of Olin R. Moyle v. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, New York Supreme Court, 1940
UnitedIsrael.org – Official web site of United Israel World Union
Categories: Former Jehovah's Witnesses
1887 births
1966 deaths
Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olin_R._Moyle
Olin R. Moyle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Olin Richmond Moyle (1887–1966) was legal counsel for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society[1] from 1935 to 1939. He helped represent Jehovah's Witnesses in two cases before the United States Supreme Court, which set new precedents on First Amendment freedoms.[2] A dispute with Watch Tower Society president J. F. Rutherford led to Moyle's expulsion from the religion.[3] Moyle later sued the Watch Tower Society for libel over an article in its magazine, The Watchtower. In his later years, he became one of the leaders of the United Israel World Union, a movement that sought to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower Society association
2 Resignation
3 Libel lawsuit
4 Later life
5 References
6 External links
Watch Tower Society association[edit]
Moyle began associating with Charles Taze Russell's Bible Students group about 1910.[citation needed] In 1935 Moyle, his wife and son left their home in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and moved into the Brooklyn, New York headquarters of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to serve as its legal counsel, heading its newly formed Legal Department. The department had been established by Rutherford to help Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the US mount court cases to defend themselves amid increasing opposition to their preaching and stance on flag salute.[4] Rutherford and Moyle jointly represented the Watch Tower Society in various lawsuits.[5] In 1938, Moyle won the Lovell v. City of Griffin case before the Supreme Court of the United States[6] and the same year sent a letter to President Roosevelt condemning his support of "Fascist" Catholicism.[7]
Resignation[edit]
On July 21, 1939, Moyle wrote an open letter of resignation to Rutherford, protesting over conditions at "Bethel", the Watch Tower Society's Brooklyn headquarters, including what he described as ill treatment of workers, discrimination by Rutherford, the use and encouragement of "filthy and vulgar language" and a "glorification" of alcohol.[8] Moyle said that Rutherford had "many many homes, to wit, Bethel, Staten Island, California" and deplored "the difference between the accommodations furnished to you, and your personal attendants, compared with those furnished to some of your brethren".[9]
Moyle had been handling the famous Minersville School District v. Gobitis case, and had won at the trial court level as well as at the appellate level. However, after Moyle's removal from the case, the Minersville School District appealed the Gobitis case to the Supreme Court. Rutherford himself argued the case before the Supreme Court in 1940, and the Court ruled against Jehovah's Witnesses by a vote of 8-1. This ruling triggered a nationwide wave of violence against Jehovah's Witnesses that lasted for the next several months.[citation needed] Three years later the Supreme Court overruled this decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), argued by Moyle's successor, Hayden Covington.
Libel lawsuit[edit]
Although Moyle had advised his resignation would take effect on September 1, the Watch Tower board dismissed him immediately and he returned to his home congregation in Wisconsin. On October 15, 1939 the directors responded in the pages of The Watchtower,[10] stating that "every paragraph of that letter is false, filled with lies, and is a wicked slander and a libel".[11] The article compared his actions with those of Judas Iscariot.
For four years past the writer of that letter has been entrusted with the confidential matters of the Society. It now appears that the writer of that letter, without excuse, libels the family of God at Bethel, and identifies himself as one who speaks evil against the Lord's organization, and who is a murmurer and complainer, even as the scriptures have foretold. (Jude 4-16; 1Cor. 4:3; Rom 14:4) The members of the board of directors hereby resent the unjust criticism appearing in that letter, disapprove of the writer and his actions, and recommend the president of the Society immediately terminate the relationship of O. R. Moyle to the Society as legal counsel and as a member of the Bethel family.
— Joseph F. Rutherford, The Watchtower, 1939-10-15
Moyle was disfellowshipped by his congregation,[4] which wrote a letter to The Watchtower stating that they had not read Moyle's letter, but disapproved of his actions and "never listen to accusations against Brother Rutherford".[4][12] In 1940, Moyle sued the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York over the response in The Watchtower. Rutherford presented a public resolution at a 1941 convention against Moyle, with reference to the September 15, 1941 issue of The Watchtower.[13] Moyle won his suit, and the court awarded him $30,000 in damages, which was reduced to $15,000 on appeal in 1944.[14]
The initial jury verdict was affirmed twice on appeal; first by the five member Appellate Division, 2nd Department (3-2); and second, unanimously, by the seven members of the state's highest court, The Court of Appeals, in the capitol at Albany.[15]
Later life[edit]
Moyle later served as the vice president of the Jefferson County Bar Association in Wisconsin,[16] and was recognized by Rand McNally in its national list of "bank recommended attorneys".[17]
Moyle became involved with David Horowitz and the work of the United Israel World Union, formed in 1944 to "preach a universal Hebraic faith for all humankind".[18] The 1978 edition of The Encyclopedia of American Religions describes "former Jehovah's Witness Olin Moyle" as having been "[a]mong the leaders" of the movement, "a vigorous missionary program to convert people, particularly Christians, to Judaism".[19]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Master List of Special Collections in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections", Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, As Retrieved 2013-11-30, "Moyle, Olin R. (Olin Richmond), 1887-1966, Olin R. Moyle Papers, Consists of works, correspondence, three diaries (1931-1951), a scrapbook, printed matter, and newspaper clippings of Moyle, an attorney for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The collection contains a typed manuscript with corrections of Moyle's unpublished book Christ's Glorious Church and descriptions of various legal proceedings, particularly those of Joseph F. Rutherford, in which Moyle was one of the society's attorneys."
2.Jump up ^ "Schneider v. New Jersey". See also Lovell v. City of Griffin
3.Jump up ^ Herbert W. Stroup, The Jehovah's Witnesses, Columbia University Press, 1945, page 26.
4.^ Jump up to: a b c Wills, Tony (2006). A People For His Name. Lulu Enterprises. pp. 21–224. ISBN 978-1-4303-0100-4.
5.Jump up ^ FindLaw, U.S. Supreme Court SCHNEIDER v. NEW JERSEY, 308 U.S. 147 (1939)
6.Jump up ^ "Correspondence from Rutherford to Moyle re: the Griffin case".
7.Jump up ^ "1938 letter to Roosevelt" (PDF).
8.Jump up ^ "Moyle's open letter to Rutherford".
9.Jump up ^ Olin R. Moyle's Letter to J. F. Rutherford
10.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, October 15, 1939, pages 316, 317. Wills reproduces the article in A People For His Name, pages 202-203.
11.Jump up ^ Blizard, Paul. "Watch the Tower website". Archived from the original on 2009-10-28.
12.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 1, 1940, page 207.
13.Jump up ^ "1941 Watchtower Resolution against Moyle" (PDF). September 15, 1941. p. 285.
14.Jump up ^ December 20, 1944 Consolation, p. 21
15.Jump up ^ Moyle v. Rutherford et al., 261 App. Div. 968; 26 N.Y.S. 2d 860; Moyle v. Franz et al., 267 App. Div. 423; 46 N.Y.S. 2d 607; Moyle v. Franz et al., 47 N.Y.S. 484.
16.Jump up ^ The Wisconsin Bar Bulletin, Volume 23, ©1950 University of California, page 33
17.Jump up ^ Rand McNally List of Bank-recommended Attorneys, ©1952, Rand McNally & Co., page 575
18.Jump up ^ "David Horowitz: A Life Remembered", UnitedIsrael.org, official web site of United Israel World Union, Retrieved 2010-08-16, "David Horowitz had a sharp break with Moses Guibbory and in 1944 formed his own organization which he called the United Israel World Union. The purpose of the organization was to preach a universal Hebraic faith for all humankind based on the Decalogue and the other universal commandments of the Torah."
19.Jump up ^ The Encyclopedia of American Religions, Volume 2 by J. Gordon Melton, McGrath Pub. Co., 1978, page 327
External links[edit]
PDF of Olin R. Moyle v. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, New York Supreme Court, 1940
UnitedIsrael.org – Official web site of United Israel World Union
Categories: Former Jehovah's Witnesses
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olin_R._Moyle
Raymond Franz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For those of a similar name, see Ray Franz (disambiguation).
Raymond Victor Franz
RaymondVFranz-ca1981cropofphoto.png
Ray Franz, early 1980s
Born
May 8, 1922
Cincinnati, Ohio
Died
June 2, 2010 (aged 88)
Winston, Georgia
Cause of death
brain hemorrhage
Nationality
American
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971 until his removal on May 22, 1980,[1][2] and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy.[3][not in citation given (See discussion.)] Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower career
2 Expulsion
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Watch Tower career[edit]
Franz was born in 1922. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the religion's development, practices and doctrines.[4] His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. Raymond joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939.[5]
In 1944 Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries,[6] and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo.[7] At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.[8]
According to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 20, 1971 he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body.[9] In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad:
I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was those final years that were the crucial period for me. Illusions there met up with reality. I have since come to appreciate the rightness of a quotation I recently read, one made by a statesman, now dead, who said: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." I now began to realize how large a measure of what I had based my entire adult life course on was just that, a myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.[10]
Frustrated by what he viewed as the Governing Body's dogmatism and overemphasis on traditional views rather than reliance on the Bible in reaching doctrinal decisions, Franz and his wife decided in late 1979 they would leave the international headquarters.[11]
Expulsion[edit]
In March 1980, Franz and his wife took a leave of absence from the world headquarters for health reasons and moved to Alabama, where he took up laboring work on a property owned by a fellow Witness. The following month, a committee of the Governing Body raised concerns about "wrong teachings" being spread by headquarters staff and began questioning staff about their beliefs. Staff were also questioned about comments Franz had made that may have contradicted Watch Tower doctrine.[12][13] The March 15, 1980 issue of The Watchtower issued a statement of regret that its assertions of probability of Armageddon arriving before 1975 had "apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of expectation already initiated."[14] It told disappointed Jehovah's Witnesses, "including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centred on that date" to "concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint".[15] This statement, which placed blame for the disappointment about 1975 on Raymond Franz as the former chairman of the writing committee, precipitated a purge of that committee.[16] On May 8, 1980, Franz was told that he had been implicated as an apostate.[17] He was called back to Brooklyn on May 20 for two days of questioning[18] by the Chairman's Committee. According to Franz, the discussion involved allegations that some Witnesses were meeting privately to discuss various teachings of the Watch Tower Society that may have constituted apostasy.
On May 21, 1980, Franz was called to a Governing Body session where he was questioned for three hours about his biblical viewpoints and commitment to Watch Tower doctrines.[2][19] Consequently, he agreed to a request to resign from the Governing Body and headquarters staff. Franz refused the Watch Tower Society's offer of a monthly stipend as a member of the "Infirm Special Pioneers".[20] The Governing Body investigation resulted in the disfellowshipping of several other headquarters staff.[21][22][23]
On September 1, 1980, the Governing Body distributed a letter to all Circuit and District overseers stating that apostates need not be promoting doctrines to be disfellowshipped. The letter stated that individuals who persisted in "believing other doctrine despite scriptural reproof" were also apostatizing and therefore warranted "appropriate judicial action".[18][24]
On March 18, 1981 Franz' employer in Alabama submitted a letter of disassociation from Jehovah's Witnesses. The September 15, 1981 issue of The Watchtower announced a change of policy on disassociation, directing that those who formally withdrew from the religion were to be shunned by Witnesses in the same manner as those who have been disfellowshipped.[25] Franz, who continued to socialize with his employer, was summoned to a judicial hearing on November 25 and disfellowshipped for disobeying the edict.[2][26][27] Determined to present his point of view, not only with respect to his having been disfellowshipped, but with respect to broader doctrinal issues, in 1982 he sent Heather and Gary Botting proofs of his book Crisis of Conscience so that they could chronicle the more widespread discord within the Watch Tower Society.[28] They wrote regarding Franz' contribution to their exposé on the Witnesses that his recommendations "undoubtedly strengthened the veracity of the text; we were impressed by his insistence on both fairness and frankness with respect to representing the view of the Watch Tower Society."[29] After he was disfellowshipped, Franz published two books—Crisis of Conscience (1983) and In Search of Christian Freedom (1991)—presenting detailed accounts of his experiences as a Jehovah's Witness, a Governing Body member, and his experiences throughout various levels of the organization.
Death[edit]
On May 30, 2010, at age 88, Franz fell and suffered a brain hemorrhage.[30] He died on June 2, 2010.[30]
See also[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Announcements", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, page 2, "This is a notification that Raymond Victor Franz is no longer a member of the Governing Body and of the Brooklyn Bethel family as of May 22, 1980."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Ostling, Richard. "Witness Under Prosecution". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
3.Jump up ^ Dart, John. "Church Told to Break Privacy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
4.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 66
5.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 11
6.Jump up ^ "Gilead’s 61st Graduation a Spiritual Treat", The Watchtower, November 1, 1976, page 671.
7.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 16
8.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 19, 20
9.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 31
10.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 273
11.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 274,275
12.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 119–121
13.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 298,299
14.Jump up ^ p. 17
15.Jump up ^ pp. 17-18
16.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 48-49, 158-163
17.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 312, 313
18.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley 1986, p. 71
19.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 331
20.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 332
21.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, p. 121
22.Jump up ^ Botting & Botting 1984, p. 161
23.Jump up ^ "Branch Letter", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, "We are saddened to report at this time that five members of the Bethel family, and a few others in the New York city area have recently been disfellowshiped. There has been some apostasy against the organization and the promoting of sectarian divisions in some of the congregations of God’s people. (Titus 3:9-11) Living as we are in times difficult to deal with, it should not be surprising that such things occur. The first-century congregation also experienced deviations as we well know from our reading of the Holy Scriptures.—1 Tim. 1:20; 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 1 Cor. 15:12, 13; Acts 20:29, 30."
24.Jump up ^ Protecting the Flock, Watch Tower Society letter to district and circuit overseers, September 1, 1980, part 1. Protecting the Flock, Part 2.
25.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping — How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23, "One who has been a true Christian might renounce the way of the truth, stating that he no longer considers himself to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or wants to be known as one. When this rare event occurs, the person is renouncing his standing as a Christian, deliberately disassociating himself from the congregation ... Persons who make themselves 'not of our sort' by deliberately rejecting the faith and beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses should appropriately be viewed and treated as are those who have been disfellowshiped for wrongdoing."
26.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 357–369
27.Jump up ^ "Expelled Witnesses Claim Group is Ingrown", Miami News, March 19, 1983.
28.Jump up ^ the Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 161-63
29.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses,p. xxiii
30.^ Jump up to: a b "Obituary". Legacy.com.
Bibliography[edit]
Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
Botting, Heather; Botting, Gary (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
Franz, Raymond (2002). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Constable & Co, London. ISBN 0-0945-5940-6.
External links[edit]
Richard N. Ostling (February 22, 1982), "Religion: Witness Under Prosecution", Time magazine.
Raymond Franz at Find a Grave
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Franz
Raymond Franz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For those of a similar name, see Ray Franz (disambiguation).
Raymond Victor Franz
RaymondVFranz-ca1981cropofphoto.png
Ray Franz, early 1980s
Born
May 8, 1922
Cincinnati, Ohio
Died
June 2, 2010 (aged 88)
Winston, Georgia
Cause of death
brain hemorrhage
Nationality
American
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971 until his removal on May 22, 1980,[1][2] and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy.[3][not in citation given (See discussion.)] Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower career
2 Expulsion
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Watch Tower career[edit]
Franz was born in 1922. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the religion's development, practices and doctrines.[4] His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. Raymond joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939.[5]
In 1944 Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries,[6] and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo.[7] At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.[8]
According to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 20, 1971 he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body.[9] In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad:
I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was those final years that were the crucial period for me. Illusions there met up with reality. I have since come to appreciate the rightness of a quotation I recently read, one made by a statesman, now dead, who said: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." I now began to realize how large a measure of what I had based my entire adult life course on was just that, a myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.[10]
Frustrated by what he viewed as the Governing Body's dogmatism and overemphasis on traditional views rather than reliance on the Bible in reaching doctrinal decisions, Franz and his wife decided in late 1979 they would leave the international headquarters.[11]
Expulsion[edit]
In March 1980, Franz and his wife took a leave of absence from the world headquarters for health reasons and moved to Alabama, where he took up laboring work on a property owned by a fellow Witness. The following month, a committee of the Governing Body raised concerns about "wrong teachings" being spread by headquarters staff and began questioning staff about their beliefs. Staff were also questioned about comments Franz had made that may have contradicted Watch Tower doctrine.[12][13] The March 15, 1980 issue of The Watchtower issued a statement of regret that its assertions of probability of Armageddon arriving before 1975 had "apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of expectation already initiated."[14] It told disappointed Jehovah's Witnesses, "including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centred on that date" to "concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint".[15] This statement, which placed blame for the disappointment about 1975 on Raymond Franz as the former chairman of the writing committee, precipitated a purge of that committee.[16] On May 8, 1980, Franz was told that he had been implicated as an apostate.[17] He was called back to Brooklyn on May 20 for two days of questioning[18] by the Chairman's Committee. According to Franz, the discussion involved allegations that some Witnesses were meeting privately to discuss various teachings of the Watch Tower Society that may have constituted apostasy.
On May 21, 1980, Franz was called to a Governing Body session where he was questioned for three hours about his biblical viewpoints and commitment to Watch Tower doctrines.[2][19] Consequently, he agreed to a request to resign from the Governing Body and headquarters staff. Franz refused the Watch Tower Society's offer of a monthly stipend as a member of the "Infirm Special Pioneers".[20] The Governing Body investigation resulted in the disfellowshipping of several other headquarters staff.[21][22][23]
On September 1, 1980, the Governing Body distributed a letter to all Circuit and District overseers stating that apostates need not be promoting doctrines to be disfellowshipped. The letter stated that individuals who persisted in "believing other doctrine despite scriptural reproof" were also apostatizing and therefore warranted "appropriate judicial action".[18][24]
On March 18, 1981 Franz' employer in Alabama submitted a letter of disassociation from Jehovah's Witnesses. The September 15, 1981 issue of The Watchtower announced a change of policy on disassociation, directing that those who formally withdrew from the religion were to be shunned by Witnesses in the same manner as those who have been disfellowshipped.[25] Franz, who continued to socialize with his employer, was summoned to a judicial hearing on November 25 and disfellowshipped for disobeying the edict.[2][26][27] Determined to present his point of view, not only with respect to his having been disfellowshipped, but with respect to broader doctrinal issues, in 1982 he sent Heather and Gary Botting proofs of his book Crisis of Conscience so that they could chronicle the more widespread discord within the Watch Tower Society.[28] They wrote regarding Franz' contribution to their exposé on the Witnesses that his recommendations "undoubtedly strengthened the veracity of the text; we were impressed by his insistence on both fairness and frankness with respect to representing the view of the Watch Tower Society."[29] After he was disfellowshipped, Franz published two books—Crisis of Conscience (1983) and In Search of Christian Freedom (1991)—presenting detailed accounts of his experiences as a Jehovah's Witness, a Governing Body member, and his experiences throughout various levels of the organization.
Death[edit]
On May 30, 2010, at age 88, Franz fell and suffered a brain hemorrhage.[30] He died on June 2, 2010.[30]
See also[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Announcements", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, page 2, "This is a notification that Raymond Victor Franz is no longer a member of the Governing Body and of the Brooklyn Bethel family as of May 22, 1980."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Ostling, Richard. "Witness Under Prosecution". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
3.Jump up ^ Dart, John. "Church Told to Break Privacy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
4.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 66
5.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 11
6.Jump up ^ "Gilead’s 61st Graduation a Spiritual Treat", The Watchtower, November 1, 1976, page 671.
7.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 16
8.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 19, 20
9.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 31
10.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 273
11.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 274,275
12.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 119–121
13.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 298,299
14.Jump up ^ p. 17
15.Jump up ^ pp. 17-18
16.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 48-49, 158-163
17.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 312, 313
18.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley 1986, p. 71
19.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 331
20.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 332
21.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, p. 121
22.Jump up ^ Botting & Botting 1984, p. 161
23.Jump up ^ "Branch Letter", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, "We are saddened to report at this time that five members of the Bethel family, and a few others in the New York city area have recently been disfellowshiped. There has been some apostasy against the organization and the promoting of sectarian divisions in some of the congregations of God’s people. (Titus 3:9-11) Living as we are in times difficult to deal with, it should not be surprising that such things occur. The first-century congregation also experienced deviations as we well know from our reading of the Holy Scriptures.—1 Tim. 1:20; 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 1 Cor. 15:12, 13; Acts 20:29, 30."
24.Jump up ^ Protecting the Flock, Watch Tower Society letter to district and circuit overseers, September 1, 1980, part 1. Protecting the Flock, Part 2.
25.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping — How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23, "One who has been a true Christian might renounce the way of the truth, stating that he no longer considers himself to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or wants to be known as one. When this rare event occurs, the person is renouncing his standing as a Christian, deliberately disassociating himself from the congregation ... Persons who make themselves 'not of our sort' by deliberately rejecting the faith and beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses should appropriately be viewed and treated as are those who have been disfellowshiped for wrongdoing."
26.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 357–369
27.Jump up ^ "Expelled Witnesses Claim Group is Ingrown", Miami News, March 19, 1983.
28.Jump up ^ the Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 161-63
29.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses,p. xxiii
30.^ Jump up to: a b "Obituary". Legacy.com.
Bibliography[edit]
Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
Botting, Heather; Botting, Gary (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
Franz, Raymond (2002). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Constable & Co, London. ISBN 0-0945-5940-6.
External links[edit]
Richard N. Ostling (February 22, 1982), "Religion: Witness Under Prosecution", Time magazine.
Raymond Franz at Find a Grave
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Anthony A. Hoekema
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Anthony Andrew Hoekema (1913, in Drachten – 17 October 1988) was a Calvinist minister and theologian who served as professor of Systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, for twenty-one years.
Biography[edit]
Hoekema was born in the Netherlands but immigrated to the United States in 1923. He attended Calvin College (A.B.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.B.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.D., 1953). After pastoring several Christian Reformed churches (1944–56) he became Associate Professor of Bible at Calvin College (1956–58). From 1958 to 1979, when he retired, he was Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Professor Hoekema spent two sabbatical years in Cambridge, England (1965–66, 1973–74).[1]
Publications[edit]
Among his best-known works are:
The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism (1963, ISBN 0-8028-0445-4)
What about Tongue-Speaking? (1966)
Holy Spirit Baptism (1972)
Amillennialism (1977)
The Bible and the Future (1979)
Created in God's Image (1986)
Saved by Grace (1989)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Elwell, Walter A. (1993). Handbook of Evangelical theologians. Baker Books. pp. 276–289. ISBN 978-0-8010-3212-7.
Authority control
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ISNI: 0000 0000 8275 5888 ·
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Anthony A. Hoekema
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Anthony Andrew Hoekema (1913, in Drachten – 17 October 1988) was a Calvinist minister and theologian who served as professor of Systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, for twenty-one years.
Biography[edit]
Hoekema was born in the Netherlands but immigrated to the United States in 1923. He attended Calvin College (A.B.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.B.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.D., 1953). After pastoring several Christian Reformed churches (1944–56) he became Associate Professor of Bible at Calvin College (1956–58). From 1958 to 1979, when he retired, he was Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Professor Hoekema spent two sabbatical years in Cambridge, England (1965–66, 1973–74).[1]
Publications[edit]
Among his best-known works are:
The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism (1963, ISBN 0-8028-0445-4)
What about Tongue-Speaking? (1966)
Holy Spirit Baptism (1972)
Amillennialism (1977)
The Bible and the Future (1979)
Created in God's Image (1986)
Saved by Grace (1989)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Elwell, Walter A. (1993). Handbook of Evangelical theologians. Baker Books. pp. 276–289. ISBN 978-0-8010-3212-7.
Authority control
VIAF: 85167346 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 8275 5888 ·
SUDOC: 086258036
Stub icon This biography of an American theology academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Flag of NetherlandsBiography icon This biographical article about a Dutch academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Categories: 1913 births
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Anthony A. Hoekema
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Anthony Andrew Hoekema (1913, in Drachten – 17 October 1988) was a Calvinist minister and theologian who served as professor of Systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, for twenty-one years.
Biography[edit]
Hoekema was born in the Netherlands but immigrated to the United States in 1923. He attended Calvin College (A.B.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.B.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.D., 1953). After pastoring several Christian Reformed churches (1944–56) he became Associate Professor of Bible at Calvin College (1956–58). From 1958 to 1979, when he retired, he was Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Professor Hoekema spent two sabbatical years in Cambridge, England (1965–66, 1973–74).[1]
Publications[edit]
Among his best-known works are:
The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism (1963, ISBN 0-8028-0445-4)
What about Tongue-Speaking? (1966)
Holy Spirit Baptism (1972)
Amillennialism (1977)
The Bible and the Future (1979)
Created in God's Image (1986)
Saved by Grace (1989)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Elwell, Walter A. (1993). Handbook of Evangelical theologians. Baker Books. pp. 276–289. ISBN 978-0-8010-3212-7.
Authority control
VIAF: 85167346 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 8275 5888 ·
SUDOC: 086258036
Stub icon This biography of an American theology academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Flag of NetherlandsBiography icon This biographical article about a Dutch academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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Stub icon This Calvinism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Categories: 1913 births
1988 deaths
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_A._Hoekema
Anthony A. Hoekema
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Anthony Andrew Hoekema (1913, in Drachten – 17 October 1988) was a Calvinist minister and theologian who served as professor of Systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, for twenty-one years.
Biography[edit]
Hoekema was born in the Netherlands but immigrated to the United States in 1923. He attended Calvin College (A.B.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.B.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.D., 1953). After pastoring several Christian Reformed churches (1944–56) he became Associate Professor of Bible at Calvin College (1956–58). From 1958 to 1979, when he retired, he was Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Professor Hoekema spent two sabbatical years in Cambridge, England (1965–66, 1973–74).[1]
Publications[edit]
Among his best-known works are:
The Four Major Cults: Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, Seventh-Day Adventism (1963, ISBN 0-8028-0445-4)
What about Tongue-Speaking? (1966)
Holy Spirit Baptism (1972)
Amillennialism (1977)
The Bible and the Future (1979)
Created in God's Image (1986)
Saved by Grace (1989)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Elwell, Walter A. (1993). Handbook of Evangelical theologians. Baker Books. pp. 276–289. ISBN 978-0-8010-3212-7.
Authority control
VIAF: 85167346 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 8275 5888 ·
SUDOC: 086258036
Stub icon This biography of an American theology academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Flag of NetherlandsBiography icon This biographical article about a Dutch academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Stub icon This article about a Christian theologian is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Stub icon This Calvinism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Categories: 1913 births
1988 deaths
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Heather Botting
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Heather Denise Botting, née Harden, born 21 September 1948, is a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The original high priestess of Coven Celeste, she is a founding elder of the Canadian Aquarian Tabernacle Church[1] and was the first recognized Wiccan chaplain in a public university.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses
3 University of Victoria
4 Coven Celeste
5 Aquarian Tabernacle Church
6 Private life
7 References
Early life[edit]
Heather Harden was born in Newmarket, Ontario of mixed Assiniboine-Sioux and English-Canadian heritage; her paternal grandmother was a Quaker. She was brought up a Jehovah's Witness, living on a small farm on the outskirts of Newmarket, where her parents raised chickens, pigs and ponies. She was heavily involved in 4-H projects and showed the neighbor's Ayrshire cattle. At 14 she was involved in a near-fatal car accident, an experience which was to shape her future university research interests. At 15, she met her future husband, Gary Botting, at a cousin's wedding.[3] Conforming to the instructions of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the controlling corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses, at high school she opted for the "special commercial" (as opposed to academic) program.[4] Since their potential union suffered the disapprobation of their respective parents, Heather and Gary eloped in October, 1966—only to discover that nobody had noticed, and it became inconvenient to tell anyone. As a result, they got married a second time, this time publicly, on 1 April 1967 when they realized that "April Fool's Day" fell on a Saturday, thereby generating a self-perpetuating April Fool's joke.[5][6] Only then did Heather return to high school, intent on eventually enrolling in university.
The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses[edit]
Heather Botting attended Memorial University of Newfoundland and Trent University, majoring in anthropology. At the University of Alberta, she received the highest marks in the entire university, guaranteeing her a prestigious Killam Scholarship for graduate studies.[7] She completed her Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in the anthropology of religion with research on Jehovah's Witnesses—the religion she had left behind. Her dissertation "The Power and the Glory: The Symbolic Vision and Social Dynamic of Jehovah's Witnesses"[8] is an analysis of the power relations operative within Jehovah's Witnesses, focusing on a specific microsociety of individuals within the movement, "showing the levels of involvement, commitment, and status achieved within the sect by each person in the microsociety."[9] The raw research data for her dissertation was collected over a nine-year period from 1973 to 1982, and continued to be collected until she and Gary published The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses through University of Toronto Press in 1984.[10] The book is an exposé of "Witness history, beliefs, and social imperatives,"[11] but more importantly focuses on the shifting doctrines and "mental regulating" of Witnesses through isolationism and dogma, comparing the Watch Tower Society's closed social paradigms with the thought control depicted by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four.[12] Debbie Morgan of the United Church Observer called it a "warning against the way religious doctrine can be created and used to enslave rather than to free."[13] Carl Rapkins of the New York Tribune described it as "excellent and sophisticated—a rare treat."[14] The book sold out its first edition of 5000 copies within weeks of its release.[15] Shunned by her many Jehovah's Witness relatives, Botting focused her attention on developing a spiritual religion based on the paganism that her relatives so abhorred.
University of Victoria[edit]
Botting received a second Master of Arts Degree in Religious Studies with a thesis on near death experiences from the University of Calgary before moving with her lawyer husband, Gary Botting, to Victoria, where she joined the faculty of University of Victoria as an anthropology professor,[16] teaching folklore, anthropology of religion and social justice.[17] Shortly after joining the faculty of University of Victoria, she was appointed as chaplain—the first recognized Wiccan university chaplain in North America.[18][19]
Coven Celeste[edit]
In the summer of 1966, Heather Harden met her fiance's maternal grandmother, Lysbeth Turner (née Rendle), the younger sister of Thomas Edward Rendle VC the first infantryman to receive the Victoria Cross in the First World War. After answering the "call to arms" of Gerald Gardner (Wiccan) in 1940—when witches from across the south of England met in the New Forest for the purpose of casting a protective charm over England and a spell on Hitler's nefarious designs—Lysbeth Turner had become Gardner's London-based High Priestess. She had introduced Gary Botting to Gardner in 1953.[20] Realizing that most of her Canadian family had become committed Jehovah's Witnesses, in 1966 Lysbeth expressed concern to Heather that her tradition of the "Old Religion" (i.e. Wicca) would be lost forever. Heather had empathy for this situation, since she had grown up in Ontario in the 1950s, when it was not fashionable to admit one's First Nations heritage (in her case, Assiniboine-Sioux). Despite her being a Jehovah's Witness, Heather rose to the challenge, abandoned the faith of her youth and was initiated into Witchcraft. Once they were married later that year, Gary and Heather Botting established Coven Celeste in Peterborough, Ontario - the first Wiccan coven in Canada. However because of the severe social strictures placed upon them by Jehovah's Witnesses, including fear of being disfellowshipped, they stayed in the "broom closet" for years—the "gestation period" of Coven Celeste—discussing their new faith only with fellow pagans.[21]
The coven came to full development in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, from where it "hived," with different members of the coven moving away, taking its traditions with them. Over the next 40 years it went through several permutations, spreading from Ontario east to Newfoundland and west to British Columbia, north to the Northwest Territories, and south as far as Corpus Christi, Texas. In keeping with the matrilineal tradition explained to Heather by Lysbeth Turner, Coven Celeste has been passed on to Heather's granddaughters, Phaydra and Ariadne.[22]
Aquarian Tabernacle Church[edit]
Michele Favarger attended Coven Celeste rituals in Alberta in 1982 and subsequently formed the Canadian Aquarian Tabernacle Church ("ATC") on Vancouver Island, inviting Heather Botting (as "Lady Aurora") and Gary Botting (as "Lord Pan") to become founding elders. The Bottings and Favarger, along with Favarger's partner and high priest Erik Lindblad, successfully campaigned the Province of British Columbia to recognize Wiccan weddings.[23] By 1995 Coven Celeste had become one of the mainstay covens of Temple of the Lady in Victoria, BC, and the ATC was conducting a prison ministry and most pagan weddings in the province—mostly led by Arch-Priestess Michele Favarger and High Priestess Lady Aurora.[24] Heather Botting is currently High Priestess of Circle of the Wolfsong, the Victoria branch of the ATC. Her husband, Denis O'Brien, is the coven's high priest.[25]
Private life[edit]
Heather and Gary Botting have four children, Tanya (born 1970), Trent (born 1975), Thomas (born 1979) and Tharian (born 1983).[26] They were divorced in 1999. In 2000, Heather married social worker Denis O'Brien, a Wiccan of mixed Mohawk and Irish ancestry. They live in greater Victoria.[27]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
2.Jump up ^ Douglas Todd, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals," Vancouver Sun, 16 December 2010, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/12/16/pagans-celebrate-solstice-with-yule-rituals/
3.Jump up ^ Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984), p. xx
4.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xx
5.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxi
6.Jump up ^ Tihemme Gagnon, "Introduction" to Streaking! The Collected Poems of Gary Botting, Miami: Strategic, 2014
7.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxiv
8.Jump up ^ University of Alberta, Ph.D. diss. 1982
9.Jump up ^ Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984) p. xxi
10.Jump up ^ Bob Bettson, "Witnesses risk future with book", Calgary Herald, Wednesday 23 May 1984
11.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxi
12.Jump up ^ Dwayne Janke, "Book fights JW 'Big Brother ways'", Calgary Herald, 15 May 1984, p. A8; Stephen Weatherbe, "Theocracy girded for the end: An Alberta book says the Jehovah's Witnesses are Orwellian", Alberta Report, 4 June 1984, pp. 34-38
13.Jump up ^ The Observer, January 1985, pp. 62-63
14.Jump up ^ "Former Members of Jehovah's Witness Say Sect Hard To Quit". Ocala Star-Banner. 1984-05-23. Retrieved 2013-01-12.;Norman Sigurdson, "Nothing sinister here despite charges of thought control", Winnipeg Free Press (Saturday 12 May 1984) pp. 54-55; David E. Reid, "Two new books remove part of mystery around Jehovah's Witnesses movement", The Birmingham News, Friday 22 June 1984, p. 2B
15.Jump up ^ "Author meets with Witness president", Lethbridge Herald (Thursday 14 June 1984) p. C8
16.Jump up ^ http://anthropology.uvic.ca/people/faculty/botting.php
17.Jump up ^ http://anthropology.uvic.ca/people/faculty/
18.Jump up ^ Todd, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/12/16/pagans-celebrate-solstice-with-yule-rituals/
19.Jump up ^ http://www.atccanada.org/services/wiccan-chaplaincy/
20.Jump up ^ Coven Celeste, Wicca, Aquarian Tabernacle Church
21.Jump up ^ Coven Celeste
22.Jump up ^ Heather Botting
23.Jump up ^ Douglas Todd, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals," Vancouver Sun, 16 December 2010
24.Jump up ^ Todd; http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Apl/NeoPgn.htm
25.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
26.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxiv
27.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
Categories: 1948 births
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Botting
Heather Botting
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Heather Denise Botting, née Harden, born 21 September 1948, is a professor of anthropology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The original high priestess of Coven Celeste, she is a founding elder of the Canadian Aquarian Tabernacle Church[1] and was the first recognized Wiccan chaplain in a public university.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses
3 University of Victoria
4 Coven Celeste
5 Aquarian Tabernacle Church
6 Private life
7 References
Early life[edit]
Heather Harden was born in Newmarket, Ontario of mixed Assiniboine-Sioux and English-Canadian heritage; her paternal grandmother was a Quaker. She was brought up a Jehovah's Witness, living on a small farm on the outskirts of Newmarket, where her parents raised chickens, pigs and ponies. She was heavily involved in 4-H projects and showed the neighbor's Ayrshire cattle. At 14 she was involved in a near-fatal car accident, an experience which was to shape her future university research interests. At 15, she met her future husband, Gary Botting, at a cousin's wedding.[3] Conforming to the instructions of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the controlling corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses, at high school she opted for the "special commercial" (as opposed to academic) program.[4] Since their potential union suffered the disapprobation of their respective parents, Heather and Gary eloped in October, 1966—only to discover that nobody had noticed, and it became inconvenient to tell anyone. As a result, they got married a second time, this time publicly, on 1 April 1967 when they realized that "April Fool's Day" fell on a Saturday, thereby generating a self-perpetuating April Fool's joke.[5][6] Only then did Heather return to high school, intent on eventually enrolling in university.
The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses[edit]
Heather Botting attended Memorial University of Newfoundland and Trent University, majoring in anthropology. At the University of Alberta, she received the highest marks in the entire university, guaranteeing her a prestigious Killam Scholarship for graduate studies.[7] She completed her Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in the anthropology of religion with research on Jehovah's Witnesses—the religion she had left behind. Her dissertation "The Power and the Glory: The Symbolic Vision and Social Dynamic of Jehovah's Witnesses"[8] is an analysis of the power relations operative within Jehovah's Witnesses, focusing on a specific microsociety of individuals within the movement, "showing the levels of involvement, commitment, and status achieved within the sect by each person in the microsociety."[9] The raw research data for her dissertation was collected over a nine-year period from 1973 to 1982, and continued to be collected until she and Gary published The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses through University of Toronto Press in 1984.[10] The book is an exposé of "Witness history, beliefs, and social imperatives,"[11] but more importantly focuses on the shifting doctrines and "mental regulating" of Witnesses through isolationism and dogma, comparing the Watch Tower Society's closed social paradigms with the thought control depicted by George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four.[12] Debbie Morgan of the United Church Observer called it a "warning against the way religious doctrine can be created and used to enslave rather than to free."[13] Carl Rapkins of the New York Tribune described it as "excellent and sophisticated—a rare treat."[14] The book sold out its first edition of 5000 copies within weeks of its release.[15] Shunned by her many Jehovah's Witness relatives, Botting focused her attention on developing a spiritual religion based on the paganism that her relatives so abhorred.
University of Victoria[edit]
Botting received a second Master of Arts Degree in Religious Studies with a thesis on near death experiences from the University of Calgary before moving with her lawyer husband, Gary Botting, to Victoria, where she joined the faculty of University of Victoria as an anthropology professor,[16] teaching folklore, anthropology of religion and social justice.[17] Shortly after joining the faculty of University of Victoria, she was appointed as chaplain—the first recognized Wiccan university chaplain in North America.[18][19]
Coven Celeste[edit]
In the summer of 1966, Heather Harden met her fiance's maternal grandmother, Lysbeth Turner (née Rendle), the younger sister of Thomas Edward Rendle VC the first infantryman to receive the Victoria Cross in the First World War. After answering the "call to arms" of Gerald Gardner (Wiccan) in 1940—when witches from across the south of England met in the New Forest for the purpose of casting a protective charm over England and a spell on Hitler's nefarious designs—Lysbeth Turner had become Gardner's London-based High Priestess. She had introduced Gary Botting to Gardner in 1953.[20] Realizing that most of her Canadian family had become committed Jehovah's Witnesses, in 1966 Lysbeth expressed concern to Heather that her tradition of the "Old Religion" (i.e. Wicca) would be lost forever. Heather had empathy for this situation, since she had grown up in Ontario in the 1950s, when it was not fashionable to admit one's First Nations heritage (in her case, Assiniboine-Sioux). Despite her being a Jehovah's Witness, Heather rose to the challenge, abandoned the faith of her youth and was initiated into Witchcraft. Once they were married later that year, Gary and Heather Botting established Coven Celeste in Peterborough, Ontario - the first Wiccan coven in Canada. However because of the severe social strictures placed upon them by Jehovah's Witnesses, including fear of being disfellowshipped, they stayed in the "broom closet" for years—the "gestation period" of Coven Celeste—discussing their new faith only with fellow pagans.[21]
The coven came to full development in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, from where it "hived," with different members of the coven moving away, taking its traditions with them. Over the next 40 years it went through several permutations, spreading from Ontario east to Newfoundland and west to British Columbia, north to the Northwest Territories, and south as far as Corpus Christi, Texas. In keeping with the matrilineal tradition explained to Heather by Lysbeth Turner, Coven Celeste has been passed on to Heather's granddaughters, Phaydra and Ariadne.[22]
Aquarian Tabernacle Church[edit]
Michele Favarger attended Coven Celeste rituals in Alberta in 1982 and subsequently formed the Canadian Aquarian Tabernacle Church ("ATC") on Vancouver Island, inviting Heather Botting (as "Lady Aurora") and Gary Botting (as "Lord Pan") to become founding elders. The Bottings and Favarger, along with Favarger's partner and high priest Erik Lindblad, successfully campaigned the Province of British Columbia to recognize Wiccan weddings.[23] By 1995 Coven Celeste had become one of the mainstay covens of Temple of the Lady in Victoria, BC, and the ATC was conducting a prison ministry and most pagan weddings in the province—mostly led by Arch-Priestess Michele Favarger and High Priestess Lady Aurora.[24] Heather Botting is currently High Priestess of Circle of the Wolfsong, the Victoria branch of the ATC. Her husband, Denis O'Brien, is the coven's high priest.[25]
Private life[edit]
Heather and Gary Botting have four children, Tanya (born 1970), Trent (born 1975), Thomas (born 1979) and Tharian (born 1983).[26] They were divorced in 1999. In 2000, Heather married social worker Denis O'Brien, a Wiccan of mixed Mohawk and Irish ancestry. They live in greater Victoria.[27]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
2.Jump up ^ Douglas Todd, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals," Vancouver Sun, 16 December 2010, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/12/16/pagans-celebrate-solstice-with-yule-rituals/
3.Jump up ^ Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984), p. xx
4.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xx
5.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxi
6.Jump up ^ Tihemme Gagnon, "Introduction" to Streaking! The Collected Poems of Gary Botting, Miami: Strategic, 2014
7.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxiv
8.Jump up ^ University of Alberta, Ph.D. diss. 1982
9.Jump up ^ Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984) p. xxi
10.Jump up ^ Bob Bettson, "Witnesses risk future with book", Calgary Herald, Wednesday 23 May 1984
11.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxi
12.Jump up ^ Dwayne Janke, "Book fights JW 'Big Brother ways'", Calgary Herald, 15 May 1984, p. A8; Stephen Weatherbe, "Theocracy girded for the end: An Alberta book says the Jehovah's Witnesses are Orwellian", Alberta Report, 4 June 1984, pp. 34-38
13.Jump up ^ The Observer, January 1985, pp. 62-63
14.Jump up ^ "Former Members of Jehovah's Witness Say Sect Hard To Quit". Ocala Star-Banner. 1984-05-23. Retrieved 2013-01-12.;Norman Sigurdson, "Nothing sinister here despite charges of thought control", Winnipeg Free Press (Saturday 12 May 1984) pp. 54-55; David E. Reid, "Two new books remove part of mystery around Jehovah's Witnesses movement", The Birmingham News, Friday 22 June 1984, p. 2B
15.Jump up ^ "Author meets with Witness president", Lethbridge Herald (Thursday 14 June 1984) p. C8
16.Jump up ^ http://anthropology.uvic.ca/people/faculty/botting.php
17.Jump up ^ http://anthropology.uvic.ca/people/faculty/
18.Jump up ^ Todd, http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2010/12/16/pagans-celebrate-solstice-with-yule-rituals/
19.Jump up ^ http://www.atccanada.org/services/wiccan-chaplaincy/
20.Jump up ^ Coven Celeste, Wicca, Aquarian Tabernacle Church
21.Jump up ^ Coven Celeste
22.Jump up ^ Heather Botting
23.Jump up ^ Douglas Todd, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals," Vancouver Sun, 16 December 2010
24.Jump up ^ Todd; http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Apl/NeoPgn.htm
25.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
26.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World, p. xxiv
27.Jump up ^ http://www.aquariantabernaclechurch.org/atc-affiliates-canada
Categories: 1948 births
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Crisis of Conscience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Crisis of Conscience
Franzcrisis.jpg
Author
Raymond Franz
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Religion
Publisher
Commentary Press
Publication date
1983
Media type
Pages
440
ISBN
0-914675-23-0
Followed by
In Search of Christian Freedom
Crisis of Conscience is a biographical book by Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, written in 1983, three years after his expulsion from the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. The book is a major study and exposé of the internal workings of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society during the 1960s and 1970s.[1][2] The book was updated and revised four times, with the final revisions made in 2004.[3] It was translated into Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
Franz spent 43 years as a Jehovah's Witness, serving as a full-time preacher in the United States and a missionary in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In 1965 he became a member of the religion's headquarters staff in Brooklyn, New York, where he was assigned to help research and write the Bible encyclopedia Aid to Bible Understanding[4] and in 1971 appointed as a member of the religion's Governing Body. He left the Governing Body in 1980 after a high-level inquiry was launched into allegations that several headquarters staff including Franz were spreading "wrong teachings". He moved to Alabama where he took up farm laboring work and was expelled from the religion in November 1981 for breaching an edict that Witnesses shun individuals who have formally resigned from the religion.[5]
His expulsion was reported by Time magazine in February 1982. Franz claimed he declined repeated requests over the next two years for further media interviews about the workings of the Watch Tower Society, but in 1983 decided to end his silence after a number of Watchtower articles criticised the motives, character and conduct of former Witnesses who conscientiously disagreed with the organization. One article described dissidents as being "like ... Satan," "independent, faultfinding," "stubborn," "reviling," "haughty," "apostate" and "lawless".[6][7]
Franz claimed that many Jehovah's Witnesses who choose to leave because they cannot "honestly agree with all the organization's teachings or policies" are subsequently disfellowshipped, or formally expelled, and shunned as "apostates". He wrote that he hoped his book might prompt Witnesses to consider the conscientious stand of defectors with a more open mind. He hoped that a discussion of deliberations and decisions of the Governing Body during his term would illustrate fundamental problems and serious issues within the organization: "They demonstrate the extremes to which 'loyalty to an organization' can lead, how it is that basically kind, well-intentioned persons can be led to make decisions and take actions that are both unkind and unjust, even cruel."[8]
The book provided a critical view of Watch Tower Society leadership and its requirements of members, gave Franz's perspective on failed expectations among the Witness community that Armageddon would take place in 1975 and his views on fundamental Witness teachings on the significance of 1914 and continued expectations of Armageddon. It also gave his account of the events surrounding his expulsion from the religion.[9] Former Witness James Penton, who included the book in the bibliography of his 1985 history of the Witness movement, described the book as "remarkably informative" and "thoroughly documented" and noted it was "written more in a tone of sadness than of anger".[1] English sociologist Andrew Holden described the book as one of the most compelling biographical works on defection from Jehovah's Witnesses.[10]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. James (1985). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 149, 401. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
2.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996). Counting the Days to Armageddon. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. p. 8. ISBN 0-227-67939-3.
3.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. p. 408. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
4.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
5.Jump up ^ "Witness Under Prosecution", Richard H. Ostling, Anne Constable, Time Magazine, February 22, 1982.
6.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. pp. 32–35. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
7.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, August 15, 1981, page 25, “From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah’s people those who, like the original Satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude. They do not want to serve “shoulder to shoulder” with the worldwide brotherhood. (Compare Ephesians 2:19-22.) Rather, they present a “stubborn shoulder” to Jehovah’s words. (Zech. 7:11, 12) Reviling the pattern of the “pure language” that Jehovah has so graciously taught his people over the past century, these haughty ones try to draw the “sheep” away from the one international “flock” that Jesus has gathered in the earth. (John 10:7-10, 16) They try to sow doubts and to separate unsuspecting ones from the bounteous “table” of spiritual food spread at the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where truly there is ‘nothing lacking.’ (Ps. 23:1-6) They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago, and some have even returned to celebrating Christendom’s festivals again, such as the Roman Saturnalia of December 25! Jesus and his apostles warned against such lawless ones.—Matt. 24:11-13; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Pet. 2:1, 22.”
8.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. pp. 37–40. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
9.Jump up ^ Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Welch. p. 71. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
10.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002). Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. London: Routledge. pp. 150, 182. ISBN 0-415-26609-2.
Categories: 1983 books
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Crisis of Conscience
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Crisis of Conscience
Franzcrisis.jpg
Author
Raymond Franz
Country
United States
Language
English
Subject
Religion
Publisher
Commentary Press
Publication date
1983
Media type
Pages
440
ISBN
0-914675-23-0
Followed by
In Search of Christian Freedom
Crisis of Conscience is a biographical book by Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, written in 1983, three years after his expulsion from the Jehovah's Witnesses religion. The book is a major study and exposé of the internal workings of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society during the 1960s and 1970s.[1][2] The book was updated and revised four times, with the final revisions made in 2004.[3] It was translated into Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
Franz spent 43 years as a Jehovah's Witness, serving as a full-time preacher in the United States and a missionary in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In 1965 he became a member of the religion's headquarters staff in Brooklyn, New York, where he was assigned to help research and write the Bible encyclopedia Aid to Bible Understanding[4] and in 1971 appointed as a member of the religion's Governing Body. He left the Governing Body in 1980 after a high-level inquiry was launched into allegations that several headquarters staff including Franz were spreading "wrong teachings". He moved to Alabama where he took up farm laboring work and was expelled from the religion in November 1981 for breaching an edict that Witnesses shun individuals who have formally resigned from the religion.[5]
His expulsion was reported by Time magazine in February 1982. Franz claimed he declined repeated requests over the next two years for further media interviews about the workings of the Watch Tower Society, but in 1983 decided to end his silence after a number of Watchtower articles criticised the motives, character and conduct of former Witnesses who conscientiously disagreed with the organization. One article described dissidents as being "like ... Satan," "independent, faultfinding," "stubborn," "reviling," "haughty," "apostate" and "lawless".[6][7]
Franz claimed that many Jehovah's Witnesses who choose to leave because they cannot "honestly agree with all the organization's teachings or policies" are subsequently disfellowshipped, or formally expelled, and shunned as "apostates". He wrote that he hoped his book might prompt Witnesses to consider the conscientious stand of defectors with a more open mind. He hoped that a discussion of deliberations and decisions of the Governing Body during his term would illustrate fundamental problems and serious issues within the organization: "They demonstrate the extremes to which 'loyalty to an organization' can lead, how it is that basically kind, well-intentioned persons can be led to make decisions and take actions that are both unkind and unjust, even cruel."[8]
The book provided a critical view of Watch Tower Society leadership and its requirements of members, gave Franz's perspective on failed expectations among the Witness community that Armageddon would take place in 1975 and his views on fundamental Witness teachings on the significance of 1914 and continued expectations of Armageddon. It also gave his account of the events surrounding his expulsion from the religion.[9] Former Witness James Penton, who included the book in the bibliography of his 1985 history of the Witness movement, described the book as "remarkably informative" and "thoroughly documented" and noted it was "written more in a tone of sadness than of anger".[1] English sociologist Andrew Holden described the book as one of the most compelling biographical works on defection from Jehovah's Witnesses.[10]
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. James (1985). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. pp. 149, 401. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
2.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996). Counting the Days to Armageddon. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co. p. 8. ISBN 0-227-67939-3.
3.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. p. 408. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
4.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 49. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
5.Jump up ^ "Witness Under Prosecution", Richard H. Ostling, Anne Constable, Time Magazine, February 22, 1982.
6.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. pp. 32–35. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
7.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, August 15, 1981, page 25, “From time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of Jehovah’s people those who, like the original Satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude. They do not want to serve “shoulder to shoulder” with the worldwide brotherhood. (Compare Ephesians 2:19-22.) Rather, they present a “stubborn shoulder” to Jehovah’s words. (Zech. 7:11, 12) Reviling the pattern of the “pure language” that Jehovah has so graciously taught his people over the past century, these haughty ones try to draw the “sheep” away from the one international “flock” that Jesus has gathered in the earth. (John 10:7-10, 16) They try to sow doubts and to separate unsuspecting ones from the bounteous “table” of spiritual food spread at the Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses, where truly there is ‘nothing lacking.’ (Ps. 23:1-6) They say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago, and some have even returned to celebrating Christendom’s festivals again, such as the Roman Saturnalia of December 25! Jesus and his apostles warned against such lawless ones.—Matt. 24:11-13; Acts 20:28-30; 2 Pet. 2:1, 22.”
8.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2004). Crisis of Conscience. Atlanta, Georgia: Commentary Press. pp. 37–40. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
9.Jump up ^ Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Welch. p. 71. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
10.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002). Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement. London: Routledge. pp. 150, 182. ISBN 0-415-26609-2.
Categories: 1983 books
Books critical of Jehovah's Witnesses
Navigation menu
Create account
Log in
Article
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Read
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This page was last modified on 20 October 2014, at 13:35.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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Raymond Franz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For those of a similar name, see Ray Franz (disambiguation).
Raymond Victor Franz
RaymondVFranz-ca1981cropofphoto.png
Ray Franz, early 1980s
Born
May 8, 1922
Cincinnati, Ohio
Died
June 2, 2010 (aged 88)
Winston, Georgia
Cause of death
brain hemorrhage
Nationality
American
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Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971 until his removal on May 22, 1980,[1][2] and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy.[3][not in citation given (See discussion.)] Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower career
2 Expulsion
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Watch Tower career[edit]
Franz was born in 1922. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the religion's development, practices and doctrines.[4] His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. Raymond joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939.[5]
In 1944 Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries,[6] and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo.[7] At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.[8]
According to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 20, 1971 he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body.[9] In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad:
I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was those final years that were the crucial period for me. Illusions there met up with reality. I have since come to appreciate the rightness of a quotation I recently read, one made by a statesman, now dead, who said: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." I now began to realize how large a measure of what I had based my entire adult life course on was just that, a myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.[10]
Frustrated by what he viewed as the Governing Body's dogmatism and overemphasis on traditional views rather than reliance on the Bible in reaching doctrinal decisions, Franz and his wife decided in late 1979 they would leave the international headquarters.[11]
Expulsion[edit]
In March 1980, Franz and his wife took a leave of absence from the world headquarters for health reasons and moved to Alabama, where he took up laboring work on a property owned by a fellow Witness. The following month, a committee of the Governing Body raised concerns about "wrong teachings" being spread by headquarters staff and began questioning staff about their beliefs. Staff were also questioned about comments Franz had made that may have contradicted Watch Tower doctrine.[12][13] The March 15, 1980 issue of The Watchtower issued a statement of regret that its assertions of probability of Armageddon arriving before 1975 had "apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of expectation already initiated."[14] It told disappointed Jehovah's Witnesses, "including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centred on that date" to "concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint".[15] This statement, which placed blame for the disappointment about 1975 on Raymond Franz as the former chairman of the writing committee, precipitated a purge of that committee.[16] On May 8, 1980, Franz was told that he had been implicated as an apostate.[17] He was called back to Brooklyn on May 20 for two days of questioning[18] by the Chairman's Committee. According to Franz, the discussion involved allegations that some Witnesses were meeting privately to discuss various teachings of the Watch Tower Society that may have constituted apostasy.
On May 21, 1980, Franz was called to a Governing Body session where he was questioned for three hours about his biblical viewpoints and commitment to Watch Tower doctrines.[2][19] Consequently, he agreed to a request to resign from the Governing Body and headquarters staff. Franz refused the Watch Tower Society's offer of a monthly stipend as a member of the "Infirm Special Pioneers".[20] The Governing Body investigation resulted in the disfellowshipping of several other headquarters staff.[21][22][23]
On September 1, 1980, the Governing Body distributed a letter to all Circuit and District overseers stating that apostates need not be promoting doctrines to be disfellowshipped. The letter stated that individuals who persisted in "believing other doctrine despite scriptural reproof" were also apostatizing and therefore warranted "appropriate judicial action".[18][24]
On March 18, 1981 Franz' employer in Alabama submitted a letter of disassociation from Jehovah's Witnesses. The September 15, 1981 issue of The Watchtower announced a change of policy on disassociation, directing that those who formally withdrew from the religion were to be shunned by Witnesses in the same manner as those who have been disfellowshipped.[25] Franz, who continued to socialize with his employer, was summoned to a judicial hearing on November 25 and disfellowshipped for disobeying the edict.[2][26][27] Determined to present his point of view, not only with respect to his having been disfellowshipped, but with respect to broader doctrinal issues, in 1982 he sent Heather and Gary Botting proofs of his book Crisis of Conscience so that they could chronicle the more widespread discord within the Watch Tower Society.[28] They wrote regarding Franz' contribution to their exposé on the Witnesses that his recommendations "undoubtedly strengthened the veracity of the text; we were impressed by his insistence on both fairness and frankness with respect to representing the view of the Watch Tower Society."[29] After he was disfellowshipped, Franz published two books—Crisis of Conscience (1983) and In Search of Christian Freedom (1991)—presenting detailed accounts of his experiences as a Jehovah's Witness, a Governing Body member, and his experiences throughout various levels of the organization.
Death[edit]
On May 30, 2010, at age 88, Franz fell and suffered a brain hemorrhage.[30] He died on June 2, 2010.[30]
See also[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Announcements", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, page 2, "This is a notification that Raymond Victor Franz is no longer a member of the Governing Body and of the Brooklyn Bethel family as of May 22, 1980."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Ostling, Richard. "Witness Under Prosecution". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
3.Jump up ^ Dart, John. "Church Told to Break Privacy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
4.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 66
5.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 11
6.Jump up ^ "Gilead’s 61st Graduation a Spiritual Treat", The Watchtower, November 1, 1976, page 671.
7.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 16
8.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 19, 20
9.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 31
10.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 273
11.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 274,275
12.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 119–121
13.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 298,299
14.Jump up ^ p. 17
15.Jump up ^ pp. 17-18
16.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 48-49, 158-163
17.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 312, 313
18.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley 1986, p. 71
19.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 331
20.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 332
21.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, p. 121
22.Jump up ^ Botting & Botting 1984, p. 161
23.Jump up ^ "Branch Letter", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, "We are saddened to report at this time that five members of the Bethel family, and a few others in the New York city area have recently been disfellowshiped. There has been some apostasy against the organization and the promoting of sectarian divisions in some of the congregations of God’s people. (Titus 3:9-11) Living as we are in times difficult to deal with, it should not be surprising that such things occur. The first-century congregation also experienced deviations as we well know from our reading of the Holy Scriptures.—1 Tim. 1:20; 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 1 Cor. 15:12, 13; Acts 20:29, 30."
24.Jump up ^ Protecting the Flock, Watch Tower Society letter to district and circuit overseers, September 1, 1980, part 1. Protecting the Flock, Part 2.
25.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping — How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23, "One who has been a true Christian might renounce the way of the truth, stating that he no longer considers himself to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or wants to be known as one. When this rare event occurs, the person is renouncing his standing as a Christian, deliberately disassociating himself from the congregation ... Persons who make themselves 'not of our sort' by deliberately rejecting the faith and beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses should appropriately be viewed and treated as are those who have been disfellowshiped for wrongdoing."
26.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 357–369
27.Jump up ^ "Expelled Witnesses Claim Group is Ingrown", Miami News, March 19, 1983.
28.Jump up ^ the Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 161-63
29.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses,p. xxiii
30.^ Jump up to: a b "Obituary". Legacy.com.
Bibliography[edit]
Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
Botting, Heather; Botting, Gary (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
Franz, Raymond (2002). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Constable & Co, London. ISBN 0-0945-5940-6.
External links[edit]
Richard N. Ostling (February 22, 1982), "Religion: Witness Under Prosecution", Time magazine.
Raymond Franz at Find a Grave
Authority control
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Franz
Raymond Franz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For those of a similar name, see Ray Franz (disambiguation).
Raymond Victor Franz
RaymondVFranz-ca1981cropofphoto.png
Ray Franz, early 1980s
Born
May 8, 1922
Cincinnati, Ohio
Died
June 2, 2010 (aged 88)
Winston, Georgia
Cause of death
brain hemorrhage
Nationality
American
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Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971 until his removal on May 22, 1980,[1][2] and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy.[3][not in citation given (See discussion.)] Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings.
Contents [hide]
1 Watch Tower career
2 Expulsion
3 Death
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links
Watch Tower career[edit]
Franz was born in 1922. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the religion's development, practices and doctrines.[4] His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. Raymond joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939.[5]
In 1944 Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries,[6] and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo.[7] At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York.[8]
According to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 20, 1971 he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body.[9] In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad:
I had spent nearly forty years as a full time representative, serving at every level of the organizational structure. The last fifteen years I had spent at the international headquarters, and the final nine of those as a member of the worldwide Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses. It was those final years that were the crucial period for me. Illusions there met up with reality. I have since come to appreciate the rightness of a quotation I recently read, one made by a statesman, now dead, who said: "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic." I now began to realize how large a measure of what I had based my entire adult life course on was just that, a myth—persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.[10]
Frustrated by what he viewed as the Governing Body's dogmatism and overemphasis on traditional views rather than reliance on the Bible in reaching doctrinal decisions, Franz and his wife decided in late 1979 they would leave the international headquarters.[11]
Expulsion[edit]
In March 1980, Franz and his wife took a leave of absence from the world headquarters for health reasons and moved to Alabama, where he took up laboring work on a property owned by a fellow Witness. The following month, a committee of the Governing Body raised concerns about "wrong teachings" being spread by headquarters staff and began questioning staff about their beliefs. Staff were also questioned about comments Franz had made that may have contradicted Watch Tower doctrine.[12][13] The March 15, 1980 issue of The Watchtower issued a statement of regret that its assertions of probability of Armageddon arriving before 1975 had "apparently overshadowed the cautionary ones and contributed to a buildup of expectation already initiated."[14] It told disappointed Jehovah's Witnesses, "including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centred on that date" to "concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint".[15] This statement, which placed blame for the disappointment about 1975 on Raymond Franz as the former chairman of the writing committee, precipitated a purge of that committee.[16] On May 8, 1980, Franz was told that he had been implicated as an apostate.[17] He was called back to Brooklyn on May 20 for two days of questioning[18] by the Chairman's Committee. According to Franz, the discussion involved allegations that some Witnesses were meeting privately to discuss various teachings of the Watch Tower Society that may have constituted apostasy.
On May 21, 1980, Franz was called to a Governing Body session where he was questioned for three hours about his biblical viewpoints and commitment to Watch Tower doctrines.[2][19] Consequently, he agreed to a request to resign from the Governing Body and headquarters staff. Franz refused the Watch Tower Society's offer of a monthly stipend as a member of the "Infirm Special Pioneers".[20] The Governing Body investigation resulted in the disfellowshipping of several other headquarters staff.[21][22][23]
On September 1, 1980, the Governing Body distributed a letter to all Circuit and District overseers stating that apostates need not be promoting doctrines to be disfellowshipped. The letter stated that individuals who persisted in "believing other doctrine despite scriptural reproof" were also apostatizing and therefore warranted "appropriate judicial action".[18][24]
On March 18, 1981 Franz' employer in Alabama submitted a letter of disassociation from Jehovah's Witnesses. The September 15, 1981 issue of The Watchtower announced a change of policy on disassociation, directing that those who formally withdrew from the religion were to be shunned by Witnesses in the same manner as those who have been disfellowshipped.[25] Franz, who continued to socialize with his employer, was summoned to a judicial hearing on November 25 and disfellowshipped for disobeying the edict.[2][26][27] Determined to present his point of view, not only with respect to his having been disfellowshipped, but with respect to broader doctrinal issues, in 1982 he sent Heather and Gary Botting proofs of his book Crisis of Conscience so that they could chronicle the more widespread discord within the Watch Tower Society.[28] They wrote regarding Franz' contribution to their exposé on the Witnesses that his recommendations "undoubtedly strengthened the veracity of the text; we were impressed by his insistence on both fairness and frankness with respect to representing the view of the Watch Tower Society."[29] After he was disfellowshipped, Franz published two books—Crisis of Conscience (1983) and In Search of Christian Freedom (1991)—presenting detailed accounts of his experiences as a Jehovah's Witness, a Governing Body member, and his experiences throughout various levels of the organization.
Death[edit]
On May 30, 2010, at age 88, Franz fell and suffered a brain hemorrhage.[30] He died on June 2, 2010.[30]
See also[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Announcements", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, page 2, "This is a notification that Raymond Victor Franz is no longer a member of the Governing Body and of the Brooklyn Bethel family as of May 22, 1980."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Ostling, Richard. "Witness Under Prosecution". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
3.Jump up ^ Dart, John. "Church Told to Break Privacy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
4.Jump up ^ Rogerson 1969, p. 66
5.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 11
6.Jump up ^ "Gilead’s 61st Graduation a Spiritual Treat", The Watchtower, November 1, 1976, page 671.
7.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 16
8.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 19, 20
9.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 31
10.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 273
11.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 274,275
12.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, pp. 119–121
13.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 298,299
14.Jump up ^ p. 17
15.Jump up ^ pp. 17-18
16.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 48-49, 158-163
17.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 312, 313
18.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley 1986, p. 71
19.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 331
20.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, p. 332
21.Jump up ^ Penton 1997, p. 121
22.Jump up ^ Botting & Botting 1984, p. 161
23.Jump up ^ "Branch Letter", Our Kingdom Ministry, August 1980, "We are saddened to report at this time that five members of the Bethel family, and a few others in the New York city area have recently been disfellowshiped. There has been some apostasy against the organization and the promoting of sectarian divisions in some of the congregations of God’s people. (Titus 3:9-11) Living as we are in times difficult to deal with, it should not be surprising that such things occur. The first-century congregation also experienced deviations as we well know from our reading of the Holy Scriptures.—1 Tim. 1:20; 4:1; 2 Tim. 2:17, 18; 1 Cor. 15:12, 13; Acts 20:29, 30."
24.Jump up ^ Protecting the Flock, Watch Tower Society letter to district and circuit overseers, September 1, 1980, part 1. Protecting the Flock, Part 2.
25.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping — How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23, "One who has been a true Christian might renounce the way of the truth, stating that he no longer considers himself to be one of Jehovah’s Witnesses or wants to be known as one. When this rare event occurs, the person is renouncing his standing as a Christian, deliberately disassociating himself from the congregation ... Persons who make themselves 'not of our sort' by deliberately rejecting the faith and beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses should appropriately be viewed and treated as are those who have been disfellowshiped for wrongdoing."
26.Jump up ^ Franz 2002, pp. 357–369
27.Jump up ^ "Expelled Witnesses Claim Group is Ingrown", Miami News, March 19, 1983.
28.Jump up ^ the Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 161-63
29.Jump up ^ The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses,p. xxiii
30.^ Jump up to: a b "Obituary". Legacy.com.
Bibliography[edit]
Beverley, James A. (1986). Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
Botting, Heather; Botting, Gary (1984). The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-6545-7.
Franz, Raymond (2002). Crisis of Conscience. Commentary Press. ISBN 0-914675-23-0.
Penton, M. J. (1997). Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3.
Rogerson, Alan (1969). Millions Now Living Will Never Die: A Study of Jehovah's Witnesses. Constable & Co, London. ISBN 0-0945-5940-6.
External links[edit]
Richard N. Ostling (February 22, 1982), "Religion: Witness Under Prosecution", Time magazine.
Raymond Franz at Find a Grave
Authority control
VIAF: 72031533 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 8152 5626 ·
GND: 111930839 ·
NDL: 00838757
Categories: 1922 births
2010 deaths
People disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses
Members of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses
Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Franz
Maureen Mwanawasa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)
Maureen with Husband Levy Mwanawasa and American First Lady Laura Bush in June 2007
Maureen Mwanawasa is the widow of former Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa and former First Lady of Zambia.
Biography[edit]
As early as 2006, Mwanawasa was seen as a potential candidate for president of the country,[1] but following her husband's death, did not file as a potential candidate to represent her husband's party in the election. She, however, did suddenly clash against Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front when he came to pay respects to her at her husband's funeral, resulting in Sata being forced off the premises.[2][3]
She is the immediate past president of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, and founded the Maureen Mwanawasa Community Initiative (MMCI) in 2002. She was also the joint owner of Mwanawasa & Company, her husband's law firm, until he entered into politics and left his private practice.
Mwanawasa was a Jehovah's Witness, but in 2001 she was excommunicated for being actively involved in politics.[4]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Mumba, Brainwave R. (November 26, 2007). "How The G Factor May Help The MMD Should Maureen Mwanawasa Run". The Zambian Chronicle. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
2.Jump up ^ Shacinda, Shapi (August 26, 2008). "First lady chases Sata from funeral …". The Zambian Chronicle (source: Reuters). Retrieved 4 November 2010.
3.Jump up ^ "Zambia's mourning turns political". BBC Online. BBC News. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
4.Jump up ^ "Zambia: Jehovah's Witnesses Excommunicate Maureen Mwanawasa", allafrica.com, 2001-12-18.
Stub icon This article about a Zambian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Categories: Living people
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Mwanawasa
Maureen Mwanawasa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)
Maureen with Husband Levy Mwanawasa and American First Lady Laura Bush in June 2007
Maureen Mwanawasa is the widow of former Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa and former First Lady of Zambia.
Biography[edit]
As early as 2006, Mwanawasa was seen as a potential candidate for president of the country,[1] but following her husband's death, did not file as a potential candidate to represent her husband's party in the election. She, however, did suddenly clash against Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front when he came to pay respects to her at her husband's funeral, resulting in Sata being forced off the premises.[2][3]
She is the immediate past president of the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, and founded the Maureen Mwanawasa Community Initiative (MMCI) in 2002. She was also the joint owner of Mwanawasa & Company, her husband's law firm, until he entered into politics and left his private practice.
Mwanawasa was a Jehovah's Witness, but in 2001 she was excommunicated for being actively involved in politics.[4]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Mumba, Brainwave R. (November 26, 2007). "How The G Factor May Help The MMD Should Maureen Mwanawasa Run". The Zambian Chronicle. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
2.Jump up ^ Shacinda, Shapi (August 26, 2008). "First lady chases Sata from funeral …". The Zambian Chronicle (source: Reuters). Retrieved 4 November 2010.
3.Jump up ^ "Zambia's mourning turns political". BBC Online. BBC News. 26 August 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
4.Jump up ^ "Zambia: Jehovah's Witnesses Excommunicate Maureen Mwanawasa", allafrica.com, 2001-12-18.
Stub icon This article about a Zambian politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maureen_Mwanawasa
James Penton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
M. James Penton
Born
April 27, 1932 (age 83)
Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality
Canadian
Education
University of Arizona (B.A., 1956); University of Iowa (M.A., 1959); University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1965)
Occupation
Historian, author
Known for
Former Jehovah's Witness
Spouse(s)
Marilyn
Children
David, John, Anne
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Marvin James Penton[1] is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and the author of three books on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses. Although raised in the religion, he was expelled in 1981 on the grounds of apostasy after criticizing some of the teachings and conduct of the religion's leadership. His expulsion gained national media attention and prompted one of several schisms that year among Jehovah's Witnesses.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Dissent
3 Books
4 Published works
5 References
Background[edit]
Born in April 1932, Penton was raised as a fourth-generation Jehovah's Witnesses, experiencing as a child Canadian government restrictions on the religion's activities.[3] He was baptized in June 1948 and was sent by his parents to Arizona because of ill health. Penton attended Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Arizona. He married Marilyn Mae Kling when they were both 19 (circa 1951). In 1953-1956 he attended the University of Arizona majoring in history with minors in German and Spanish. He received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1956. In 1956-1959 he attended the University of Iowa, studying Medieval History and serving as a research and teaching assistant. He received his Master of Arts (M.A.) in European History in 1959. In 1965, he received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Latin American History with a minor in Religious Studies, from the University of Iowa.
Over the years, Penton served in various capacities in Jehovah's Witness congregations in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada while pursuing an academic career, before moving to Alberta in 1965.[4] Penton claimed to be an anointed Christian, and therefore one of the religion's faithful and discreet slave class, which is said to be collectively used by Jesus Christ to "feed" his followers with scriptural instruction.
Dissent[edit]
While serving as an elder in his Lethbridge congregation in the late 1970s he developed concerns over the Watch Tower Society’s emphasis on the requirement for Witnesses to engage in public preaching work and what he saw as a growing harshness and intolerance in the treatment of members of the religion by those in authority.[5]
On August 10, 1979 he sent an eight-page letter to the society detailing his concerns. He opened the letter by saying he would “write lovingly but candidly about what I believe to be the central problem in our organization – the thing which has sickened it and for which the Governing Body as such must take much direct responsibility”.
... It is the Society’s misplaced, unscriptural overemphasis on the preaching work which has sickened, is sickening and will continue to sicken the organization until it is placed in its proper perspective. Although it is a necessary aspect of the Christian congregation’s testimony to the world, it is no important than any other Christian works outlined in the Scriptures ... many are tired to the point of spiritual death itself by the super-pietism and work-righteousness pervading the organization.[6]
Penton gave examples of what he claimed were distortions of New Testament texts to support Watch Tower Society teachings on house-to-house preaching, criticized the appointment of elders chiefly on the basis of field service records and described circuit overseer visits as “military inspections”. He also sought a re-emphasis on justification by faith.[2]
The letter, which was distributed among some Witnesses in Lethbridge, prompted accusations from within the organization's hierarchy that Penton was denigrating and opposed to the preaching work and resulted in pointed talks by the circuit and district overseers in Lethbridge warning that anyone who suggested the religion’s Governing Body had made "lots of mistakes" about the issue was lying, "blaspheming the organization" and trying to destroy it. One overseer told an assembly: "Woe betide the man that would speak evil against the representatives of God. He may become like Miriam and stricken with leprosy and he might lose his life." Another overseer said those who suggested the Governing Body were wrong were "unrighteous people" who would die at God's judgment day. Author James Beverley observed: "It is not often that preachers use the threat of leprosy to keep the flock in line." He said most informed Witnesses in Lethbridge would have guessed that the comments were directed chiefly against Penton.[7]
Penton resigned as an elder in December 1979, but a day later withdrew the resignation. He received a one-page reply to his letter from the society's headquarters in January 1980 that urged him to adjust his viewpoint or remain silent.
Despite his protests that he was the subject of a witch hunt and injustice[4] because of expressing his view about a religion he had once hailed as a "champion of free speech", Penton was disfellowshipped, or expelled, from Jehovah's Witnesses on the grounds of apostasy in February 1981.[8] His expulsion triggered a schism among Lethbridge Witnesses, as 80 supporters–about a quarter of all local members–severed ties or were expelled from the religion.[2][9] The events surrounding his expulsion gained widespread media attention including national television coverage[10] and were the subject of a 1986 book, Crisis of Allegiance, by James A. Beverley, an assistant professor at Atlantic Baptist College in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Books[edit]
While still a member, he wrote Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada: Champions of Freedom of Speech and Worship (1976), a history of the religion's struggle for religious freedom under Canadian law, in which he claimed that much of the political and theological attacks on the Watch Tower Society had been grossly unfair. He subsequently appeared on a national current affairs television program in Canada defending the religion's doctrines and denying its leaders were guilty of false prophecy.[11] The book gained brief mentions in the society's magazine The Watchtower (quoting a Toronto Star review) and three years later in a Yearbook article about the Witnesses' history in Canada, although Penton later wrote that he found it curious that the society refused to quote directly from it or otherwise mention it in publications or conventions. "As a result," he wrote, "some Witnesses manifested direct hostility towards it. On occasions I was openly criticized by particularly narrow Witnesses with 'trying to make money on the brothers' or 'trying to make a big fellow out of myself'."[12]
He began work on Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses soon afterwards, but halted his research and writing in 1979 after developing concerns over what he viewed as a growing punitive response of the religion's leadership to doctrinal dissent from within its ranks.[3] He resumed work on the book after his expulsion and it was published in 1985. In 2004 he published Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution, which highlights what he claims are discrepancies between the religion's official history of its opposition to Nazism during World War II and documented facts. Historian Detlef Garbe, director at the Neuengamme (Hamburg) Memorial, criticized Penton's "new theory" that in the 1930s the Watch Tower Society had "adapted" to National Socialism's anti-semitic aggression. Garbe suggested Penton's interpretation reflected a "deep-seated aversion" against his former religion and that "from a historiographic viewpoint Penton's writings perhaps show a lack of scientific objectivity".[13][14]
Penton has also edited two journals, written five articles about Jehovah's Witnesses and also wrote the Canadian Encyclopedia's entry about the religion.[15]
Published works[edit]
(1976) Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada: Champions of Freedom of Speech and Worship. (Macmillan, Toronto). ISBN 0-7705-1340-9.
Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732.
(2004) Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution. (University of Toronto Press, Toronto). ISBN 0-8020-8678-0.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Penton, Marvin James. "About the Author". PentonFamilyOnline.info. Retrieved 2015-04-03. "My name is Marvin James Penton, but I have always been known as James or Jim in order to distinguish me from my father’s only brother."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 440. ISBN 0-664-22259-5.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. "Preface". Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley, James A. (1986). "Appendix, letter 2". Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
5.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, Appendix, p. 29
6.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, Appendix, letter 1
7.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, pp. 21, 33
8.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, pp. 22, 32, 71
9.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 67
10.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 12
11.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 11
12.Jump up ^ Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732. p. 359, footnote 28.
13.Jump up ^ By Detlef Garbe, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dagmar G. Grimm; See Preface for English edition pg. xix, xx (2008). Between Resistance and Martyrdom: See Preface for English edition pg. xix, xx. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299207908.
14.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich, Amazon.com.
15.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses", Canadian Encyclopedia.
Authority control
VIAF: 4968864 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 7358 6891 ·
SUDOC: 094167575
Categories: 1932 births
Living people
People disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses
University of Lethbridge faculty
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Penton
James Penton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
M. James Penton
Born
April 27, 1932 (age 83)
Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality
Canadian
Education
University of Arizona (B.A., 1956); University of Iowa (M.A., 1959); University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1965)
Occupation
Historian, author
Known for
Former Jehovah's Witness
Spouse(s)
Marilyn
Children
David, John, Anne
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Marvin James Penton[1] is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada and the author of three books on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses. Although raised in the religion, he was expelled in 1981 on the grounds of apostasy after criticizing some of the teachings and conduct of the religion's leadership. His expulsion gained national media attention and prompted one of several schisms that year among Jehovah's Witnesses.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Dissent
3 Books
4 Published works
5 References
Background[edit]
Born in April 1932, Penton was raised as a fourth-generation Jehovah's Witnesses, experiencing as a child Canadian government restrictions on the religion's activities.[3] He was baptized in June 1948 and was sent by his parents to Arizona because of ill health. Penton attended Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Arizona. He married Marilyn Mae Kling when they were both 19 (circa 1951). In 1953-1956 he attended the University of Arizona majoring in history with minors in German and Spanish. He received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1956. In 1956-1959 he attended the University of Iowa, studying Medieval History and serving as a research and teaching assistant. He received his Master of Arts (M.A.) in European History in 1959. In 1965, he received his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Latin American History with a minor in Religious Studies, from the University of Iowa.
Over the years, Penton served in various capacities in Jehovah's Witness congregations in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada while pursuing an academic career, before moving to Alberta in 1965.[4] Penton claimed to be an anointed Christian, and therefore one of the religion's faithful and discreet slave class, which is said to be collectively used by Jesus Christ to "feed" his followers with scriptural instruction.
Dissent[edit]
While serving as an elder in his Lethbridge congregation in the late 1970s he developed concerns over the Watch Tower Society’s emphasis on the requirement for Witnesses to engage in public preaching work and what he saw as a growing harshness and intolerance in the treatment of members of the religion by those in authority.[5]
On August 10, 1979 he sent an eight-page letter to the society detailing his concerns. He opened the letter by saying he would “write lovingly but candidly about what I believe to be the central problem in our organization – the thing which has sickened it and for which the Governing Body as such must take much direct responsibility”.
... It is the Society’s misplaced, unscriptural overemphasis on the preaching work which has sickened, is sickening and will continue to sicken the organization until it is placed in its proper perspective. Although it is a necessary aspect of the Christian congregation’s testimony to the world, it is no important than any other Christian works outlined in the Scriptures ... many are tired to the point of spiritual death itself by the super-pietism and work-righteousness pervading the organization.[6]
Penton gave examples of what he claimed were distortions of New Testament texts to support Watch Tower Society teachings on house-to-house preaching, criticized the appointment of elders chiefly on the basis of field service records and described circuit overseer visits as “military inspections”. He also sought a re-emphasis on justification by faith.[2]
The letter, which was distributed among some Witnesses in Lethbridge, prompted accusations from within the organization's hierarchy that Penton was denigrating and opposed to the preaching work and resulted in pointed talks by the circuit and district overseers in Lethbridge warning that anyone who suggested the religion’s Governing Body had made "lots of mistakes" about the issue was lying, "blaspheming the organization" and trying to destroy it. One overseer told an assembly: "Woe betide the man that would speak evil against the representatives of God. He may become like Miriam and stricken with leprosy and he might lose his life." Another overseer said those who suggested the Governing Body were wrong were "unrighteous people" who would die at God's judgment day. Author James Beverley observed: "It is not often that preachers use the threat of leprosy to keep the flock in line." He said most informed Witnesses in Lethbridge would have guessed that the comments were directed chiefly against Penton.[7]
Penton resigned as an elder in December 1979, but a day later withdrew the resignation. He received a one-page reply to his letter from the society's headquarters in January 1980 that urged him to adjust his viewpoint or remain silent.
Despite his protests that he was the subject of a witch hunt and injustice[4] because of expressing his view about a religion he had once hailed as a "champion of free speech", Penton was disfellowshipped, or expelled, from Jehovah's Witnesses on the grounds of apostasy in February 1981.[8] His expulsion triggered a schism among Lethbridge Witnesses, as 80 supporters–about a quarter of all local members–severed ties or were expelled from the religion.[2][9] The events surrounding his expulsion gained widespread media attention including national television coverage[10] and were the subject of a 1986 book, Crisis of Allegiance, by James A. Beverley, an assistant professor at Atlantic Baptist College in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Books[edit]
While still a member, he wrote Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada: Champions of Freedom of Speech and Worship (1976), a history of the religion's struggle for religious freedom under Canadian law, in which he claimed that much of the political and theological attacks on the Watch Tower Society had been grossly unfair. He subsequently appeared on a national current affairs television program in Canada defending the religion's doctrines and denying its leaders were guilty of false prophecy.[11] The book gained brief mentions in the society's magazine The Watchtower (quoting a Toronto Star review) and three years later in a Yearbook article about the Witnesses' history in Canada, although Penton later wrote that he found it curious that the society refused to quote directly from it or otherwise mention it in publications or conventions. "As a result," he wrote, "some Witnesses manifested direct hostility towards it. On occasions I was openly criticized by particularly narrow Witnesses with 'trying to make money on the brothers' or 'trying to make a big fellow out of myself'."[12]
He began work on Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses soon afterwards, but halted his research and writing in 1979 after developing concerns over what he viewed as a growing punitive response of the religion's leadership to doctrinal dissent from within its ranks.[3] He resumed work on the book after his expulsion and it was published in 1985. In 2004 he published Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution, which highlights what he claims are discrepancies between the religion's official history of its opposition to Nazism during World War II and documented facts. Historian Detlef Garbe, director at the Neuengamme (Hamburg) Memorial, criticized Penton's "new theory" that in the 1930s the Watch Tower Society had "adapted" to National Socialism's anti-semitic aggression. Garbe suggested Penton's interpretation reflected a "deep-seated aversion" against his former religion and that "from a historiographic viewpoint Penton's writings perhaps show a lack of scientific objectivity".[13][14]
Penton has also edited two journals, written five articles about Jehovah's Witnesses and also wrote the Canadian Encyclopedia's entry about the religion.[15]
Published works[edit]
(1976) Jehovah’s Witnesses in Canada: Champions of Freedom of Speech and Worship. (Macmillan, Toronto). ISBN 0-7705-1340-9.
Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732.
(2004) Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution. (University of Toronto Press, Toronto). ISBN 0-8020-8678-0.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Penton, Marvin James. "About the Author". PentonFamilyOnline.info. Retrieved 2015-04-03. "My name is Marvin James Penton, but I have always been known as James or Jim in order to distinguish me from my father’s only brother."
2.^ Jump up to: a b c Edwards, Linda (2001). A Brief Guide to Beliefs. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. p. 440. ISBN 0-664-22259-5.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. "Preface". Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732.
4.^ Jump up to: a b Beverley, James A. (1986). "Appendix, letter 2". Crisis of Allegiance. Burlington, Ontario: Welch Publishing Company. ISBN 0-920413-37-4.
5.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, Appendix, p. 29
6.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, Appendix, letter 1
7.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, pp. 21, 33
8.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, pp. 22, 32, 71
9.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 67
10.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 12
11.Jump up ^ Beverley 1986, p. 11
12.Jump up ^ Penton, M. James (1997-08-09) [1985]. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0802079732. p. 359, footnote 28.
13.Jump up ^ By Detlef Garbe, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Dagmar G. Grimm; See Preface for English edition pg. xix, xx (2008). Between Resistance and Martyrdom: See Preface for English edition pg. xix, xx. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299207908.
14.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich, Amazon.com.
15.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses", Canadian Encyclopedia.
Authority control
VIAF: 4968864 ·
ISNI: 0000 0000 7358 6891 ·
SUDOC: 094167575
Categories: 1932 births
Living people
People disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses
University of Lethbridge faculty
Navigation menu
Create account
Log in
Article
Talk
Read
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This page was last modified on 30 April 2015, at 18:49.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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Powered by MediaWiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Penton
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
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Part of a series on
Criticism of religion
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Religious violence
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Christianity ·
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Related topics
Abuse ·
Apostasy ·
Crisis of faith ·
Criticism of atheism ·
Criticism of monotheism ·
Persecution ·
Sexuality ·
Slavery
v ·
t ·
e
Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
Organizational structure
Governing Body
Watch Tower Bible
and Tract Society
Corporations
History
Bible Student movement
Leadership dispute
Splinter groups
Doctrinal development
Unfulfilled predictions
Demographics
By country
Beliefs ·
Practices
Salvation ·
Eschatology
The 144,000
Faithful and discreet slave
Hymns ·
God's name
Blood ·
Discipline
Literature
The Watchtower ·
Awake!
New World Translation
List of publications
Bibliography
Teaching programs
Kingdom Hall ·
Gilead School
People
Watch Tower presidents
W. H. Conley ·
C. T. Russell
J. F. Rutherford ·
N. H. Knorr
F. W. Franz ·
M. G. Henschel
D. A. Adams
Formative influences
William Miller ·
Henry Grew
George Storrs ·
N. H. Barbour
John Nelson Darby
Notable former members
Raymond Franz ·
Olin Moyle
Opposition
Criticism ·
Persecution
Supreme Court cases
by country
v ·
t ·
e
Jehovah's Witnesses have attracted criticism from mainstream Christianity, some members of the medical community, some former members and some commentators over their beliefs and practices. The religion has been accused of doctrinal inconsistency and reversals, failed predictions, mistranslation of the Bible, harsh treatment of former members and autocratic and coercive leadership. Criticism has also focused on their rejection of blood transfusions, particularly in life-threatening medical situations, and claims that they have failed to report cases of sexual abuse to the authorities. Many of the claims are denied by Jehovah's Witnesses and some have also been disputed by courts and religious scholars.
Contents [hide]
1 Doctrinal criticisms 1.1 Failed predictions
1.2 Changes of doctrine
1.3 United Nations association
1.4 Fall of Jerusalem
1.5 Evolution
2 Social criticisms 2.1 Authoritarianism and denial of free speech
2.2 Description as a "cult"
2.3 Coercion
2.4 Shunning
2.5 Blood 2.5.1 Fractions and components
2.5.2 Storing and donation
2.5.3 Legal considerations
2.5.4 Animal blood
2.6 Reporting of sexual abuse
3 Biblical criticisms
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Doctrinal criticisms[edit]
Failed predictions[edit]
Main article: Watch Tower Society unfulfilled predictions
See also: Eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses
The beliefs unique to Jehovah's Witnesses involve their interpretations of the second coming of Christ, the millennium and the kingdom of God. Watch Tower Society publications have made, and continue to make, predictions about world events they believe were prophesied in the Bible.[1] Some of those early predictions were described as "established truth",[2] and 'beyond a doubt'.[3] Witnesses are told to 'be complete in accepting the visible organization's direction in every aspect' and that there is no need to question what God tells them through his Word and organization, since love "believes all things."[4][5][6] If a member advocates views different to what appears in print, they face expulsion.[7][8][9]
Failed predictions that were either explicitly stated or strongly implied, particularly linked to dates in 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975, have led to the alteration or abandonment of some teachings. The Society's publications have at times suggested that members had previously "read into the Watch Tower statements that were never intended"[10] or that the beliefs of members were "based on wrong premises."[11] Critic Edmond Gruss claims that other failed predictions were ignored, and replaced with new predictions; for example, in the book, The Finished Mystery (1917), events were applied to the years 1918 to 1925 that earlier had been held to occur prior to 1914. When the new interpretations also did not transpire, the 1926 edition of the book changed the statements and removed the dates.[12]
Raymond Franz, a critic and former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, has cited publications that claimed God has used Jehovah's Witnesses as a collective prophet.[13] Critics including James A. Beverley have accused the religion of false prophecy for making those predictions, particularly because of assertions in some cases that the predictions were beyond doubt or had been approved by God, but describes its record of telling the future as "pathetic".[14][15][16][17] Beverley says the Watch Tower Society has passed judgment on others who have falsely predicted the end of the world (he cites a 1968 Awake! that says other groups were "guilty of false prophesying" after having "predicted an 'end to the world', even announcing a specific date").[18][19]
The Watch Tower Society rejects accusations that it is a false prophet.[20][21] It says its explanations of Bible prophecy are not infallible[22][23][24] and that its predictions are not claimed explicitly as "the words of Jehovah."[20] It states that some of its expectations have needed adjustment because of eagerness for God's kingdom, but that those adjustments are no reason to "call into question the whole body of truth."[25] Raymond Franz claims that the Watch Tower Society tries to evade its responsibility when citing human fallibility as a defense, adding that the Society represents itself as God's appointed spokesman, and that throughout its history has made many emphatic predictions. Franz adds that the organization's eagerness for the Millennium does not give it license to impugn the motives of those who fail to accept its predictions.[6]
George D. Chryssides has suggested widespread claims that Witnesses "keep changing the dates" are a distortion and misunderstanding of Watch Tower Society chronology. He argues that, although there have been failures in prophetic speculation, the changing views and dates of the Jehovah's Witnesses are more largely attributable to changed understandings of biblical chronology than to failed predictions. Chryssides states, "For the Jehovah’s Witnesses prophecy serves more as a way of discerning a divine plan in human history than a means to predicting the future."[26] In 1904 Zion's Watch Tower stated: "We have in the Scriptures what we think is clear testimony respecting that date [1914], but no particulars or dates for the intervening time. It is not our intention to enter upon the role of prophet to any degree, but merely to give below what seems to us rather likely to be the trend of events." [27]
Predictions (by date of publication) include:
1877: Christ's kingdom would hold full sway over the earth in 1914; the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favor; the "saints" would be carried to heaven.[28]
1891: 1914 would be "the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men."[29]
1904: "World-wide anarchy" would follow the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.[30]
1916: World War I would terminate in Armageddon and the rapture of the "saints".[31]
1917: In 1918, Christendom would go down as a system to oblivion and be succeeded by revolutionary governments. God would "destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions." Church members would "perish by the sword of war, revolution and anarchy." The dead would lie unburied. In 1920 all earthly governments would disappear, with worldwide anarchy prevailing.[32]
1920: Messiah's kingdom would be established in 1925 and bring worldwide peace. God would begin restoring the earth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful patriarchs would be resurrected to perfect human life and be made princes and rulers, the visible representatives of the New Order on earth. Those who showed themselves obedient to God would never die.[33]
1922: The anti-typical "jubilee" that would mark God's intervention in earthly affairs would take place "probably the fall" of 1925.[34]
1924: God's restoration of Earth would begin "shortly after" October 1, 1925. Jerusalem would be made the world's capital. Resurrected "princes" such as Abel, Noah, Moses and John the Baptist would give instructions to their subjects around the world by radio, and airplanes would transport people to and from Jerusalem from all parts of the globe in just "a few hours".[35]
1938: Armageddon was too close for marriage or child bearing.[36]
1941: There were only "months" remaining until Armageddon.[37]
1942: Armageddon was "immediately before us."[38]
1961: Awake! magazine stated that the heavenly kingdom "will, within the twentieth century, cleanse the entire earth of wickedness."[39]
1966: It would be 6000 years since man's creation in the fall of 1975 and it would be "appropriate" for Christ's thousand-year reign to begin at that time.[40] Time was "running out, no question about that."[41] The "immediate future" was "certain to be filled with climactic events ... within a few years at most", the final parts of Bible prophecy relating to the "last days" would undergo fulfillment as Christ's reign began.
1967: The end-time period (beginning in 1914) was claimed to be so far advanced that the time remaining could "be compared, not just to the last day of a week, but rather, to the last part of that day".[42]
1968: No one could say "with certainty" that the battle of Armageddon would begin in 1975, but time was "running out rapidly" with "earthshaking events" soon to take place.[43] In March 1968 there was a "short period of time left", with "only about ninety months left before 6000 years of man's existence on earth is completed".[44]
1969: The existing world order would not last long enough for young people to grow old; the world system would end "in a few years." Young Witnesses were told not to bother pursuing tertiary education for this reason.[45]
1971: The "battle in the day of Jehovah" was described as beginning "[s]hortly, within our twentieth century".[46]
1974: There was just a "short time remaining before the wicked world's end" and Witnesses were commended for selling their homes and property to "finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service."[47]
1984: There were "many indications" that "the end" was closer than the end of the 20th century.[48]
1989: The Watchtower asserted that Christian missionary work begun in the first century would "be completed in our 20th century".[49] When republished in bound volumes, the phrase "in our 20th century" was replaced with the less specific "in our day".
Changes of doctrine[edit]
History of Eschatological Doctrine
Last Days begin
Start of Christ's Presence
Christ made King
Resurrection of 144,000
Judgment of Religion
Separating Sheep & Goats
Great Tribulation
1879–1920 1799 1874 1878 during Millenium 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920
1920–1923 1925
1923–1925 during Christ's presence
1925–1927 1914 1878 1878 within generation of 1914
1927–1930 1918
1930–1933 1919
1933–1966 1914
1966–1975 1975?
1975–1995 within generation of 1914
1995–present during Great Tribulation imminent
See also: Development of Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine
Although Watch Tower Society literature claims the Society's founder, Charles Taze Russell, was directed by God's Holy Spirit, through which he received "flashes of light",[50] it has substantially altered doctrines since its inception and abandoned many of Russell's teachings.[51] Many of the changes have involved biblical chronology that had earlier been claimed as beyond question.[52][53][54][55][56] Watch Tower Society publications state that doctrinal changes result from a process of "progressive revelation", in which God gradually reveals his will.[57][58]
Date of beginning of Christ's kingdom rule. Russell taught that Jesus had become king in April 1878.[59][60] In 1922, Joseph Rutherford altered the date to 1914.[51]
Date of resurrection of anointed Christians. After the failure of predictions that Christ's chosen "saints" would be carried away to heaven in 1878,[61] Russell developed the teaching that those "dying in the Lord" from 1878 forward would have an immediate heavenly resurrection.[62] The Watch Tower confirmed the doctrine in 1925,[63] but two years later asserted this date was wrong[64] and that the beginning of the instant resurrection to heaven for faithful Christians was from 1918.[65]
Great Pyramid as a "stone witness" of God. Russell wrote in 1910 that God had the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt built as a testimony to the truth of the Bible and proof of its chronology identifying the "last days".[66][67] In 1928 Rutherford rejected the doctrine and claimed the Pyramid had been built under the direction of Satan.[68]
Identity of "faithful and wise servant". Russell initially believed the "faithful and wise servant" of Matthew 24:45 was "every member of this body of Christ ... the whole body individually and collectively."[69] By 1886 he had altered his view and began explaining it was a person, not the Christian church.[70] Russell accepted claims by Bible Students that he was that "servant"[71][72][73] and in 1909 described as his "opponents" those who would apply the term "faithful and wise servant" to "all the members of the church of Christ" rather than to an individual.[74] By 1927 the Watch Tower Society was teaching that it was "a collective servant."[75]
Beginning of the "last days". From the earliest issues of the Watch Tower, Russell promoted the belief that the "last days" had begun in 1799 and would end in 1914.[76] As late as 1921 Watch Tower publications were still claiming the last days had begun in 1799.[77] In 1930 that date was abandoned and 1914 was fixed as the beginning of the last days.
Jews' role in God's Kingdom. Russell followed the view of Nelson H. Barbour, who believed that in 1914 Christ's kingdom would take power over all the earth and the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favor.[78] In 1889 Russell wrote that with the completion of the "Gentile Times" in 1914, Israel's "blindness" would subside and they would convert to Christianity.[79] The book Life (1929) noted that the return of Jews to Palestine signaled that the end was very close, because Jews would "have the favors first and thereafter all others who obey the Lord" under God's restoration of his kingdom.[80] In 1932 that belief was abandoned and from that date the Watch Tower Society taught that Witnesses alone were the Israel of God.[81]
Date of Christ's invisible presence. The Watch Tower Society taught for more than 60 years that this began in 1874, insisting in 1922 that the date was "indisputable".[82][83] In 1943 the society moved the event to 1914.[51][84][85]
Identity of the "superior authorities". Russell taught that the "superior authorities" of Romans 13:1, to whom Christians had to show subjection and obedience, were governmental authorities. In 1929 The Watchtower discarded this view, stating that the term referred only to God and Christ, and saying the change of doctrine was evidence of "advancing light" of truth shining forth to God's chosen people.[86] In 1952, The Watchtower stated that the words of Romans 13 "could never have applied to the political powers of Caesar’s world as wrongly claimed by the clergy of Christendom,"[87] and in 1960 The Watchtower described the earlier view as a factor that had caused the Bible Student movement to be "unclean" in God's eyes during the 1914–1918 period. Two years later, in 1962, The Watchtower reverted to Russell's initial doctrine.[86]
Identity and function of the Governing Body. Frequent mentions of the term "Governing Body" began in Watch Tower Society literature in the 1970s.[88] The Governing Body was initially identified as the Watch Tower Society's seven-member board of directors.[89] However, at the time, the board played no role in establishing Watchtower doctrines, and all such decisions since the Society's origins had been made by the Society's president.[90][91] A 1923 Watch Tower noted that Russell alone directed the policy and course of the Society "without regard to any other person on earth"[92] and both his successors, Rutherford and Knorr, also acted alone in establishing Watch Tower doctrines. An organizational change on January 1, 1976, for the first time gave the Governing Body the power to rule on doctrines[93] and become the ruling council of Jehovah's Witnesses.[94] Despite this, The Watchtower in 1971 claimed that a Governing Body of anointed Christians had existed since the 19th century to govern the affairs of God's anointed people.[95]
Treatment of disfellowshipped persons. In the 1950s when disfellowshipping became common, Witnesses were to have nothing to do with expelled members, not conversing with or acknowledging them.[96] Family members of expelled individuals were permitted occasional "contacts absolutely necessary in matters pertaining to family interests," but could not discuss spiritual matters with them.[97] In 1974 The Watchtower, acknowledging some unbalanced Witnesses had displayed unkind, inhumane and possibly cruel attitudes to those expelled,[98] relaxed restrictions on family contact, allowing families to choose for themselves the extent of association,[99] including whether or not to discuss some spiritual matters.[100] In 1981, a reversal of policy occurred, with Witnesses instructed to avoid all spiritual interaction with disfellowshipped ones, including with close relatives.[101] Witnesses were instructed not to greet disfellowshipped persons.[101][102][103] Parents were permitted to care for the physical needs of a disfellowshipped minor child; ill parents or physically or emotionally ill child could be accepted back into the home "for a time". Witnesses were instructed not to eat with disfellowshipped relatives and were warned that emotional influence could soften their resolve.[104] In 1980 the Witnesses' Brooklyn headquarters advised traveling overseers that a person need not be promoting "apostate views" to warrant disfellowshipping; it advised that "appropriate judicial action" be taken against a person who "continues to believe the apostate ideas and rejects what he has been provided" through The Watchtower.[105] The rules on shunning were extended in 1981 to include those who had resigned from the religion voluntarily.[106][107]
Fall of "Babylon the Great". Russell taught that the fall of the "world empire of false religion" had taken place in 1878 and predicted "Babylon's" complete destruction in 1914.[108] Rutherford claimed in 1917 that religion's final destruction would take place in 1918, explaining that God would destroy churches "wholesale" and that "Christendom shall go down as a system to oblivion."[109] In 1988 the Watch Tower Society claimed that release from prison in 1919 of senior Watchtower figures marked the fall of Babylon "as far as having any captive hold on God's people was concerned",[110] with her "final destruction" "into oblivion, never to recover", expected "in the near future."[111]
United Nations association[edit]
Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the United Nations is one of the 'superior authorities' that exist by God's permission, and that it serves a purpose in maintaining order, but do not support it politically and do not consider it to be the means to achieve peace and security. Jehovah's Witnesses also believe that the United Nations is the "image of the wild beast" of Revelation 13:1-18, and the second fulfillment of the "abominable thing that causes desolation" from Matthew 24:15; that it will be the means for the devastation of organized false religion worldwide;[112][113] and that, like all other political powers, it will be destroyed and replaced by God's heavenly kingdom.[114] Jehovah's Witnesses have denounced other religious organizations for having offered political support to the UN.[115]
On October 8, 2001, an article was published in the British Guardian newspaper questioning the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's registration as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the United Nations Department of Public Information and accusing the Watch Tower Society of hypocrisy.[116] Within days of the article's publication, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society submitted a formal request for disassociation, removing all association with the United Nations Department of Public Information,[117] and released a letter stating that the reason for becoming associated with the United Nations Department of Information (DPI) was to access their facilities, and that they had not been aware of the change in language contained in the criteria for NGO association.[118] However, when the Watch Tower Society sought NGO association, "the organization agreed to meet criteria for association, including support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations", acknowledging that the purpose of membership is to "promote knowledge of the principles and activities of the United Nations."[119] The official UN/DPI website states that "association of NGOs with DPI does not constitute their incorporation into the United Nations system."[120]
Fall of Jerusalem[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses assert that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC and completely uninhabited for exactly seventy years. This date is critical to their selection of October 1914 for the arrival of Christ in kingly power—2520 years after October 607 BC.[121][122] Non-Witness scholars do not support 607 BC for the event; most scholars date the destruction of Jerusalem to within a year of 587 BC, twenty years later.[122] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that periods of seventy years mentioned in the books of Jeremiah and Daniel refer to the Babylonian exile of Jews. They also believe that the gathering of Jews in Jerusalem, shortly after their return from Babylon, officially ended the exile in Jewish month of Tishrei (Ezra 3:1). According to the Watch Tower Society, October 607 BC is derived by counting back seventy years from Tishrei of 537 BC, based on their belief that Cyrus' decree to release the Jews during his first regnal year "may have been made in late 538 B.C. or before March 4–5, 537 B.C."[123][124] Non-Witness sources assign the return to either 538 BC or 537 BC.[125][126][127][128][129]
In The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return, Carl O. Jonsson, a former Witness, presents eighteen lines of evidence to support the traditional view of neo-Babylonian chronology. He accuses the Watch Tower Society of deliberately misquoting sources in an effort to bolster their position.[130] The Watch Tower Society claims that biblical chronology is not always compatible with secular sources, and that the Bible is superior. It claims that secular historians make conclusions about 587 BC based on incorrect or inconsistent historical records, but accepts those sources that identify Cyrus' capture of Babylon in 539 BC, claiming it has no evidence of being inconsistent and hence can be used as a pivotal date.[123][131][132]
Rolf Furuli, a Jehovah's Witness and a lecturer in Semitic languages, presents a study of 607 BC in support of the Witnesses' conclusions in Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews.[133] Lester L. Grabbe, professor of theology at the University of Hull, said of Furuli's study: "Once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship. ... F. shows little evidence of having put his theories to the test with specialists in Mesopotamian astronomy and Persian history."[134]
The relative positions of the moon, stars and planets indicated in the Babylonian astronomical diary VAT 4956 are used by secular historians to establish 568 BC as the thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.[135] The Watch Tower Society claims that unnamed researchers have confirmed that the positions of the moon and stars on the tablet are instead consistent with astronomical calculations for 588 BC; the Society claims that the planets mentioned in the tablet cannot be clearly identified.[136] The Watch Tower Society's article cites David Brown as stating, "some of the signs for the names of the planets and their positions are unclear,"[136] however Brown indicates that the Babylonians also had unique names for the known planets;[137] Jonsson confirms that the unique names are those used in VAT 4956.[138] According to the Watch Tower Society, astronomical calculations based on ancient writings are unreliable and prone to error.[139]
Evolution[edit]
Watch Tower Society publications attempt to refute the theory of evolution, in favor of divine creation.[140][141] The Watch Tower Society's views of evolution have met with criticism typical of objections to evolution. Gary Botting described his own difficulty as a Jehovah's Witness to reconcile creation with simple observations of species diversification, especially after discussions with J.B.S. Haldane in India.[142]
The Society's 1985 publication, Life—How Did it Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? is criticized for its dependency on Francis Hitching, who is cited thirteen times. The book presents Hitching—a TV writer and paranormalist with no scientific credentials—as an evolutionary scientist.[143] Richard Dawkins also criticizes the book for implying that "chance" is the only alternative to deliberate design, stating, "[T]he candidate solutions to the riddle of improbability are not, as falsely implied, design and chance. They are design and natural selection."[144]
The Watch Tower Society teaches a form of day-age creationism.[145] It dismisses Young Earth creationism as "unscriptural and unbelievable",[146] and states that Jehovah's Witnesses "are not creationists", based on the more specific definition of believers in a 'young' earth created in six literal days.[147] According to a 1986 article in The Watchtower, "Jehovah's Witnesses reject the unreasonable theories of 'creationism' in favor of what the Bible really teaches about 'creation'."[148]
Social criticisms[edit]
Authoritarianism and denial of free speech[edit]
The religion's leadership has been described as autocratic and totalitarian, with criticism focusing on the Watch Tower Society's demands for the obedience and loyalty of Witnesses,[149][150] its intolerance of dissent or open discussion of doctrines and practices[151] and the practice of expelling and shunning members who cannot conscientiously agree with all the religion's teachings.[152][153][154]
Raymond Franz has accused the religion's Governing Body of resenting, deprecating and seeking to silence differences of viewpoint within the organization[155] and demanding organizational conformity that overrides personal conscience.[156] He claimed the Watch Tower Society confirmed its position when, in a 1954 court case in Scotland, Watch Tower Society legal counsel Hayden C. Covington said of Jehovah's Witnesses: "We must have unity ... unity at all costs".[157] Sociologist James A. Beckford noted that the Watch Tower movement demands uniformity of beliefs from its members;[158] George D. Chryssides has also reported that Witness publications teach that individuals' consciences are unreliable and need to be subordinated to scripture and to the Watch Tower organization.[159]
Sociologist Andrew Holden said that Witnesses are taught their theology in a highly mechanistic fashion, learning almost by rote.[160] Raymond Franz and others have described Jehovah's Witnesses' religious meetings as "catechistical" question-and-answer sessions in which questions and answers are both provided by the organization, placing pressure on members to reiterate its opinions.[161][162] Former Witnesses Heather and Gary Botting claimed Witnesses "are told what they should feel and think"[163] and members who do voice viewpoints different from those expressed in publications and at meetings are said to be viewed with suspicion.[164] Raymond Franz has claimed most Witnesses would be fearful to voice criticism of the organization for fear of being accused of disloyalty.[156] Authors have drawn attention to frequent Watch Tower warnings against the "dangers" and "infection" of "independent thinking", including questioning any of its published statements or teachings,[165][166][167][168] and instructions that members refrain from engaging in independent Bible research.[169][170][171] The Watch Tower Society also directs that members must not read criticism of the organization by "apostates"[172][173] or material published by other religions.[174][175] Heather and Gary Botting declared: "Jehovah's Witnesses will brook no criticism from within, as many concerned members who have attempted to voice alternative opinions regarding the basic doctrine or application of social pressure have discovered to their chagrin."[176] Beckford observed that the Society denies the legitimacy of all criticisms of itself and that the habit of questioning official doctrine is "strenuously combated at all organizational levels".[177] Witnesses are said to be under constant surveillance within the congregation[178] and are subject to a disciplinary system that encourages informers.[179][180]
Heather and Gary Botting argue that the power of the Watch Tower Society to control members is gained through the acceptance of the Society "quite literally as the voice of Jehovah – God's 'mouthpiece'."[163] Franz claims the concept of loyalty to God's organization has no scriptural support and serves only to reinforce the religion's authority structure, with its strong emphasis on human authority.[181] He has claimed The Watchtower has repeatedly blurred discussions of both Jesus Christ's loyalty to God and the apostles' loyalty to Christ to promote the view that Witnesses should be loyal to the Watch Tower organization.[182] Religion professor James A. Beverley describes the belief that organizational loyalty is equal to divine loyalty[183] as the "central myth" of Jehovah's Witnesses employed to ensure complete obedience.[184] Sociologist Andrew Holden has observed that Witnesses see no distinction between loyalty to Jehovah and to the movement itself;[185] Heather and Gary Botting have claimed that challenging the views of those higher in the hierarchy is regarded as tantamount to challenging God himself.[186]
The Society has described its intolerance of dissident and divergent doctrinal views within its ranks as "strict", but claims its stance is based on the scriptural precedent of 2 Timothy 2:17,18 in which the Apostle Paul condemns heretics Hymenaeus and Philetus who denied the resurrection of Jesus. It said: "Following such Scriptural patterns, if a Christian (who claims belief in God, the Bible, and Jesus) unrepentantly promotes false teachings, it may be necessary for him to be expelled from the congregation ... Hence, the true Christian congregation cannot rightly be accused of being harshly dogmatic."[187] Sociologist Rodney Stark says that Jehovah's Witness leaders are "not always very democratic" and members are expected to conform to "rather strict standards," but says enforcement tends to be informal, sustained by close bonds of friendship and that Jehovah's Witnesses see themselves as "part of the power structure rather than subject to it".[188] In a case involving Jehovah's Witnesses' activities in Russia, the European Court of Human Rights stated that the religion's requirements "are not fundamentally different from similar limitations that other religions impose on their followers' private lives" and that charges of "mind control" in that case were "based on conjecture and uncorroborated by fact."[189] Despite the intolerance of dissident views within the organisation, the Watch Tower Society and its affiliates have, through litigation, been instrumental in establishing civil liberties in many countries, including Canada and the United States.[190]
Description as a "cult"[edit]
Authors Anthony A. Hoekema, Ron Rhodes[191] and Alan W. Gomes,[192] claim Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious cult. Hoekema bases his judgment on a range of what he describes as general characteristics of a cult, including the tendency to elevate peripheral teachings (such as door-to-door witnessing) to great prominence, extra-scriptural source of authority (Hoekema highlights Watch Tower teachings that the Bible may be understood only as it is interpreted by the Governing Body), a view of the group as the exclusive community of the saved (Watch Tower publications teach that Witnesses alone are God's people and only they will survive Armageddon) and the group's central role in eschatology (Hoekema says Witness publications claim the group was called into existence by God to fill in a gap in the truth neglected by existing churches, marking the climax of sacred history).[193]
Jehovah's Witnesses state that they are not a cult[194] and say that although individuals need proper guidance from God, they should do their own thinking.[195][196] Witnesses state that they are saved by the ransom sacrifice of God's Son and undeserved kindness, that there is no one that can earn salvation.[197] American religious scholar J. Gordon Melton,[198] cult deprogrammer John Bowen Brown II,[199] and Knocking producer Joel P. Engardio also reject the claims that Witnesses are a cult.[200][201] The two volume encyclopedia Contemporary American Religion stated: "Various critics and ex-members in recent years have wrongly labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses a 'cult.'"[202]
Coercion[edit]
Since 1920 the Watch Tower Society has required all congregation members participating in the preaching work to turn in written reports of the amount of their activity,[203] explaining that the reports help the Society to plan its activities and identify areas of greater need[204] and help congregation elders to identify those who may need assistance.[205] In 1943 the Society imposed personal quotas, requiring all active Witnesses to spend at least 60 hours of door-to-door preaching per month, claiming these were "directions from the Lord".[206] Although these quotas were subsequently removed, Raymond Franz claims "invisible" quotas remained, obliging Witnesses to meet certain levels of preaching work to remain in good standing in the congregation[164] or to qualify for eldership.[156] Franz describes repeated urging for adherents to "put kingdom interests first" and devote increasing amounts of time to door-to-door preaching efforts as coercive pressure. He says many Witnesses constantly feel guilty that they are not doing more in "field activity".[156]
Former Witnesses Heather and Gary Botting, claiming an emphasis on a personal track record would mean that salvation is effectively being "bought" with "good works", observed: "No matter how long a Witness remains an active distributor of literature, the moment he ceases to be active he is regarded by his peers as good as dead in terms of achieving the ultimate goal of life everlasting in an earthly paradise ... Few realize upon entering the movement that the purchase price is open-ended and that the bill can never be paid in full until death or the advent of Armageddon."[163]
The Watchtower, however, noted that although public preaching is necessary, such works do not "save" a Christian and it urged Witnesses to examine their motive for engaging in preaching activity.[207]
Russian religious scholar Sergei Ivanenko, in a dissenting opinion to a report by a panel of experts to Moscow's Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court in 1999, stated, "It would be a serious mistake to represent the Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as a religion whose leadership forces its rank and file believers to engage in one form of activity or another, or place upon them strict restrictions or directives." Ivanenko, who based his view on a study of Watch Tower Society literature, concluded: "Jehovah's Witnesses strive to live in accord with Bible principles on the basis of an individual, voluntary choice ... This also applies in full measure to preaching." [208] James A. Beckford, a professor at the University of Warwick, England, who published a study of English Jehovah's Witnesses in 1975,[209] also told the court: "It is important for each of them to exercise free moral agency in choosing to study the Bible and to live in accordance with their interpretation of its message."[210] On June 10, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) stated in regards to a charge of coercion of family members, that "Quite often, the opposite is true: it is the resistance and unwillingness of non-religious family members to accept and to respect the [Jehovah's Witnesses] religious relative's freedom to manifest and practise his or her religion that is the source of conflict."[211]
Medical and legal commentators have also noted cases claiming that Witness medical patients were coerced to obey the religion's ban on blood transfusions.[212][213][214] In a case involving a review of a Russian district court decision, however, the ECHR found nothing in the judgments to suggest that any form of improper pressure or undue influence was applied. It noted: "On the contrary, it appears that many Jehovah’s Witnesses have made a deliberate choice to refuse blood transfusions in advance, free from time constraints of an emergency situation." The court said: "The freedom to accept or refuse specific medical treatment, or to select an alternative form of treatment, is vital to the principles of self-determination and personal autonomy. A competent adult patient is free to decide ... not to have a blood transfusion. However, for this freedom to be meaningful, patients must have the right to make choices that accord with their own views and values, regardless of how irrational, unwise or imprudent such choices may appear to others."[215]
Shunning[edit]
Main articles: Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline and Shunning
Witnesses practice disfellowshipping of members who unrepentantly engage in "gross sin",[216] (most commonly for breaches of the Witnesses' code of personal morality),[217][218] and "remorseless apostasy".[219] The process of disfellowshipping is said to be carried to uphold God’s standards, preserve the congregation’s spiritual cleanness, and possibly prompt a change of attitude in the wrongdoer.[216] The practice requires that the expelled person be shunned by all members of the religion, including family members who do not live in the same home, unless they qualify for re-admission. A person who dies while disfellowshipped cannot be given a funeral at a Kingdom Hall.[220][221] Members often face difficulties and trauma once expelled because of their previously limited contact with the outside world.[222][223] The Watchtower 's description of those who leave as being "mentally diseased" has drawn criticism from some current and former members; in Britain some have argued that the description may constitute a breach of laws regarding religious hatred.[224][225]
The Watch Tower Society has attracted criticism for disfellowshipping members who decide they cannot conscientiously agree with all the religion's teachings and practices. Sociologist Andrew Holden says that because the religion provides no valid reason for leaving, those who do choose to leave are regarded as traitors.[226] According to Raymond Franz, those who decide they cannot accept Watch Tower teachings and practices often live in a climate of fear, feeling they must constantly be on guard about what they say, do and read. He says those who do express any disagreement, even in a private conversation with friends, risk investigation and trial by a judicial committee as apostates or heretics[227] and classed as "wicked".[228]
Franz argues that the threat of expulsion for expressing disagreement with the Watch Tower Society's teachings is designed to create a sterile atmosphere in which the organization's teachings and policies can circulate without the risk of confronting serious questioning or adverse evidence.[229] The result, according to Holden, is that individuals may spend most of their lives suppressing doubts for fear of losing their relationships with friends and relatives.[230] Penton describes the system of judicial committees and the threat of expulsion as the ultimate control mechanism among the Witnesses;[231] Holden claims that shunning not only rids the community of defilement, but deters others from dissident behavior.[222] Sociologist Ronald Lawson has also noted that the religion allows little room for independence of thought, and no toleration of doctrinal diversity; he says those who deviate from official teachings are readily expelled and shunned.[232]
Watch Tower Society publications defend the practice of expelling and shunning those who "promote false teaching", claiming such individuals must be quarantined to prevent the spread of their "spiritual infection".[233] They have cited a dictionary definition of apostasy ("renunciation of a religious faith, abandonment of a previous loyalty") to rule that an individual who begins affiliating with another religion has disassociated from the Witnesses, warranting their shunning to protect the spiritual cleanness of the Witness congregation on the basis of the reference in 1 John 2:19 that those who leave Christianity are "not of our sort".[234] An individual's acceptance of a blood transfusion is similarly deemed as evidence of disassociation.[235] They say Witnesses also obey the "strong counsel" at 1 Corinthians 5:11 that Christians should "quit mixing in company" with people who unrepentantly reject certain scriptural standards.[236]
The Witnesses' judicial process has also been criticized. Hearings take place in secret,[231] with judicial committees filling the roles of judge, jury and prosecutor.[221] According to Franz, witnesses may present evidence but are not permitted to remain for the discussion[237] Critics Heather and Gary Botting have claimed that Witnesses accused of an offence warranting expulsion are presumed guilty until found innocent. They say the onus is on the accused to prove their innocence and if they make no attempt to do so—by failing to appear at a hearing set by the judicial committee—they are assumed to be guilty and unrepentant.[238]
When a decision is made regarding disfellowshipping or disassociation, an announcement is made that the person is "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses," at which point shunning is immediate. Members are not told whether the person has disassociated or has been disfellowshipped. Neither testimony nor evidence in support of the judicial decision are provided. Congregation members are told to accept the rulings without question and Witnesses who refuse to abide by a judicial committee decision will themselves suffer expulsion.[231] Members are forbidden to talk with the expelled member, removing any opportunity for the person to discuss or explain their actions.[237][239] Penton claims judicial committee members and the Watch Tower Society frequently ignore established procedures when dealing with troublesome individuals, conspiring to have them expelled in violation of Society rules.[240] Critics claim that Witness policies encourage an informer system to report to elders Witnesses suspected of having committed an act that could warrant expulsion, including deviating from organizational policies and teachings.[241][242]
Criticism has also been directed at the 1981 change of policy[243] that directed that persons who disassociate from (formally leave) the religion were to be treated as though they were disfellowshipped.[244][245] Holden says that as a result, those who do leave the religion are seldom allowed a dignified exit.[222] Heather and Gary Botting claim inactive Witnesses are often pressured to either become active or to disassociate themselves by declaring they no longer accept key Watch Tower Society doctrines.[238]
Blood[edit]
Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions
Jehovah's Witnesses reject transfusions of whole allogenic blood and its primary components (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma), and transfusions of stored autologous blood or its primary components. As a doctrine, Jehovah's Witnesses do not reject transfusion of whole autologous blood so long as it is not stored prior to surgery (e.g. peri-operative extraction and transfusion of autologous blood). This religious position is due to their belief that blood is sacred and represents life in God's eyes. Jehovah's Witnesses understand scriptures such as Leviticus 17:10-14 (which speaks of not eating blood) and Acts 15:29 ("abstain from blood") to include taking blood into the body via a transfusion.[246] Controversy has stemmed, however, from what critics state are inconsistencies in Witness policies on blood, claims that Witness patients are coerced into refusing blood and that Watch Tower literature distorts facts about transfusions and fails to provide information that would allow Witnesses to make an informed decision on the issue.[154]
Fractions and components[edit]
In the case of minor fractions derived from blood, each individual is directed to follow their own conscience on whether these are acceptable.[247][248] This is because it is difficult to define at what point blood is no longer blood. As a substance is broken down into smaller and smaller parts it may or may not be considered the original substance. Therefore some of Jehovah's Witnesses personally choose to accept the use of blood fractions and some do not. However, if a fraction "makes up a significant portion of that component" or "carries out the key function of a primary component" it may be objectionable to them.[249]
Such a stance of dividing blood into major components and minor fractions rather than either accepting all blood or requiring all blood components to be poured out onto the ground has led to criticism from organizations such as the Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood.[250] Witnesses respond that blood as the fluid per se is not the real issue. They say the real issue is respect and obedience regarding blood, which they perceive as being God's personal property.[251][252] Members are allowed to eat meat that still contains small traces of blood remaining. Once blood is drained from an animal, the respect has been shown to God and then a person can eat the meat. Jehovah's Witnesses view of meat and blood is therefore different from the Jewish view that goes to great lengths to remove even minor traces of blood.[253][254]
According to lawyer Kerry Louderback-Wood, a former Jehovah's Witness,[255] the Watch Tower Society misrepresents the scope of allowed fractions. If taken together, they "total the entire volume of blood they came from".[256] An example of this can be seen in blood plasma, which consists of 90-96% water. The remaining amount consists mainly of albumin, globulins, fibrinogen and coagulation factors. These four fractions are allowable for use, but only if taken separately. Critics have likened this to banning the eating of a ham and cheese sandwich but allowing the eating of bread, ham and cheese separately.[257]
Storing and donation[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that storing blood violates direction from the Bible to 'pour blood out onto the ground'. They do not donate blood except for uses they have individually pre-approved.[258] However, they are told that acceptance of blood fractions from donated blood is a matter of conscience. A 2006 issue of Jehovah's Witnesses' newsletter Our Kingdom Ministry stated, "Although [Jehovah's Witnesses] do not donate or store their own blood for transfusion purposes, some procedures or tests involving an individual’s blood are not so clearly in conflict with Bible principles. Therefore, each individual should make a conscientious decision" [emphasis added].[259] Critics have challenged these policies because acceptable blood fractions can only be derived from stored blood provided by donors.[260]
Legal considerations[edit]
Regardless of the medical considerations, Jehovah Witnesses advocate that physicians should uphold the right of a patient to choose what treatments they do or do not accept (though a Witness is subject to religious sanctions if they exercise their right to choose a blood transfusion).[261] Accordingly, US courts tend not to hold physicians responsible for adverse health effects that a patient incurred out of his or her own requests.[246] However, the point of view that physicians must, in all circumstances, abide by the religious wishes of the patients is not acknowledged by all jurisdictions, such as was determined in a case involving Jehovah's Witnesses in France.
The situation has been controversial, particularly in the case of children. In the United States, many physicians will agree to explore and exhaust all non-blood alternatives in the treatment of children at the request of their legal guardians. Some state laws require physicians to administer blood-based treatment to minors if it is their professional opinion that it is necessary to prevent immediate death or severe permanent damage.[citation needed]
Kerry Louderback-Wood has claimed that Jehovah's Witnesses' legal corporations are potentially liable to significant claims for compensation if the religion misrepresents the medical risks of blood transfusions. Wood claims that constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion do not remove the legal responsibility that every person or organization has regarding misrepresenting secular fact.[262]
Animal blood[edit]
The Watchtower has stated that "Various medical products have been obtained from biological sources, either animal or human ... Such commercialization of ... blood is hardly tempting for true Christians, who guide their thinking by God's perfect law. Our Creator views blood as sacred, representing God-given life ... blood removed from a creature was to be poured out on the ground, disposed of."[263]
Reporting of sexual abuse[edit]
Main articles: Jehovah's Witnesses and child sex abuse and Silentlambs
Critics such as Silentlambs have accused Jehovah's Witnesses of employing organizational policies that make the reporting of sexual abuse difficult for members.[264][265] Some victims of sexual abuse have asserted that when reporting abuse they were ordered to maintain silence by their local elders to avoid embarrassment to both the accused and the organization.[266][267][268][269]
The religion's official policy on child protection, which discusses the procedures for reporting child sexual abuse, states that elders obey all legal requirements for reporting sex offenders, including reporting uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations where required by law. Elders are to discipline pedophiles in the congregation. Victims are permitted to notify the authorities if they wish to do so.[270]
While a Witness may lose congregation privileges following a single credible accusation of abuse,[271] Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be scripturally obliged to require corroboration ("two witnesses") before applying their severest forms of congregational discipline.[272] If there is not an actual second witness to an incident of abuse, a congregation judicial committee will accept medical or police reports, or a witness to a separate but similar incident as such a second witness against a member accused of sexual abuse.[273]
Biblical criticisms[edit]
The Watch Tower Society has been criticized for its refusal to reveal the names and academic credentials of the translators of its New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT).[274] The Society has claimed members of the NWT's translation committee wished to remain anonymous in order to exalt only the name of God,[275] The Watchtower stating that the educational qualifications of the translators were unimportant and that "the translation itself testifies to their qualifications".[276] Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body, has claimed that of the four men he says constituted the committee, only one—its principal translator, his uncle Frederick Franz—had sufficient knowledge of biblical languages to have attempted the project.[277] Frederick Franz had studied Greek for two years and was self-taught in Hebrew.[278]
Much criticism of the NWT involves the rendering of certain texts considered to be biased towards specific Witness practices and doctrines.[274][279][280][281][282][283] These include the use of "torture stake" instead of "cross" throughout the New Testament;[274] the rendering of John 1:1, with the insertion of the indefinite article ("a") in its rendering to give "the Word was a god";[274][284] Romans 10:10, which uses the term "public declaration", which may reinforce the imperative to engage in public preaching;[274] John 17:3, which used the term "taking in knowledge" rather than "know" to suggest that salvation is dependent on ongoing study,[274] and the placement of the comma in Luke 23:43, which affects the timing of the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to the thief at Calvary.[285]
Also criticized is the NWT's insertion of the name Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament without extant New Testament Greek manuscript evidence that the name existed there.[286][287][288] Watch Tower publications have claimed that the name was "restored" on a sound basis, stating that when New Testament writers quote earlier Old Testament scriptures containing the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), "the translator has the right to render Kyrios ("LORD") as Jehovah."[289] The NWT mentions twenty-seven other translations which have similarly rendered Kyrios as a form of the name Jehovah, stating that there is only one verse where the NWT does so without agreement from other translations.[290]
The Society has claimed its translation "courageously restores God’s name, Jehovah, to its proper place in the Biblical text, is free from the bias of religious traditionalism, and ... gives the literal meaning of God’s Word as accurately as possible."[291] Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, Arizona, compared major translations for accuracy. He wrote that the NWT's introduction of the name "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times was "not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy".[292] BeDuhn also stated that whilst there are "a handful of examples of bias in the [New World Translation (NW)]", that "most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers." He concluded that "the NW and [another translation] are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations ... often better than [the other six translations analyzed]."[293]
See also[edit]
Anti-cult movement
Beth Sarim
Charles Taze Russell controversies
Christian countercult movement
Heresy in Christianity
Heterodoxy
History of Jehovah's Witnesses
Watch Tower Society presidency dispute (1917)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996), Counting the Days to Armageddon, Cambridge: James Clarke & Co, pp. 9, 115, ISBN 0-227-67939-3
2.Jump up ^ The Time is at Hand, Watch Tower Society, 1889, pages 99 "In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth, that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God will be accomplished by A.D. 1914."; cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 193.
3.Jump up ^ In 1892 Zion's Watch Tower stated that God's battle, Armageddon, which was believed to be already under way, would end in October 1914, a date "definitely marked in Scripture," (15 January 1892, page 1355 reprint) and Watch Tower editor Charles Taze Russell declared: "We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours." (The Watchtower, 15 July 1894, page 1677). After comparing "unreliable secular chronology" to reliable "Bible chronology" The Watchtower stated, “It was on this line of reckoning [using the chronology of the Bible as an established fact] that the dates 1874, 1914, and 1918 were located; and the Lord has placed the stamp of his seal upon 1914 and 1918 beyond any possibility of erasure....Using this same measuring line, beginning with the entry...of Israel into Canaan, and counting the full 70 cycles...,as clearly indicated by Jehovah's sending of the Jews into Babylon for the full 70 years, it is an easy matter to locate 1925, probably the fall, for the beginning of the antitypical jubilee. There can be no more question about 1925 than there was about 1914.... Looking back we can now easily see that those dates were clearly indicated in Scripture and doubtless intended by the Lord to encourage his people....That all that some expect to see in 1925 may not transpire that year will not alter the date one whit more than in the other cases.”(The Watch Tower, May 15, 1922, p. 150; Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 224).
4.Jump up ^ "Following Faithful Shepherds with Life in View", The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, page 591, "Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect. We cannot claim to love God, yet deny his Word and channel of communication....Jehovah's visible organization is based firmly on the twelvefold foundation of the apostles of the Lamb with Jesus Christ himself being the foundation cornerstone.(Rev. 21:14,19;Eph 2:20-22) Therefore, in submitting to Jehovah's visible theocratic organization, we must be in full and complete agreement with every feature of its apostolic procedure and requirements."
5.Jump up ^ "The Godly Qualities of Love and Hate", The Watchtower, 15 July 1974: 441, "Christians have implicit trust in their heavenly Father; they do not question what he tells them through his written Word and organization."
6.^ Jump up to: a b Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 174, "No less serious is it when a group of men have divided views on predictions related to a certain date and yet present their adherents an outward appearance of united confidence, encouraging those adherents to place unwavering trust in those predictions."
7.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, p. 629 "people certainly ha[ve] the freedom to believe what they chose. But anyone who publicly or privately advocates views that are divergent from what appears in the publications of an organization, and who does so while claiming to represent that organization, causes division."
8.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Atlanta: Commentary Press, pp. 18–28, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
9.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
10.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, Watch Tower Society, 1959, page 52.
11.Jump up ^ "A Solid Basis for Confidence", The Watchtower, July 15, 1976, page 440.
12.Jump up ^ Gruss, Edmond C. (1972), The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, pp. 87–88, ISBN 0-87552-306-4
13.Jump up ^ In Crisis of Conscience, 2002, pg. 173, Franz quotes from "They Shall Know That a Prophet Was Among Them", (The Watchtower, April 1, 1972,) which states that God had raised Jehovah's Witnesses as "a prophet to help [people], to warn them of dangers and declare things to come". He also cites "Identifying the Right Kind of Messenger" (The Watchtower, May 1, 1997, page 8) which identifies the Witnesses as his "true messengers ... by making the messages he delivers through them come true", in contrast to "false messengers", whose predictions fail. In In Search of Christian Freedom, 2007, he quotes The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah - How? (1971, pg 70, 292) which describes Witnesses as the modern Ezekiel class, "a genuine prophet within our generation". The Watch Tower book noted: "Concerning the message faithfully delivered by the Ezekiel class, Jehovah positively states that it 'must come true' ... those who wait undecided until it does 'come true' will also have to know that a prophet himself had proved to be in the midst of them." He also cites "Execution of the Great Harlot Nears", (The Watchtower, October 15, 1980, pg 17) which claims God gives the Witnesses "special knowledge that others do not have ... advance knowledge about this system's end".
14.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 86-91.
15.Jump up ^ Criticisms of statements, such as those found below, are found in a number of books including Penton, M. James (1997) Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press; Franz, Raymond, In Search of Christian Freedom (2007) Commentary Press; Watters, Randall (2004) Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses, Common Sense Publications; Reed, David A. (1990) Index of Watchtower Errors, 1879 to 1989, Baker Books and at websites including Watchtower Information Service; Quotes-Watchtower.co.uk; Reexamine.Quotes.
16.Jump up ^ Waldeck, Val Jehovah's Witnesses: What do they believe?. Pilgrim Publications SA. ISBN 1-920092-08-0.
17.Jump up ^ Buttrey, John M (2004). Let No One Mislead You. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-30710-8.
18.Jump up ^ Awake!, October 8, 1968, p. 23.
19.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, page 87.
20.^ Jump up to: a b "Why So Many False Alarms?", Awake!, March 22, 1993, pages 3-4, footnote.
21.Jump up ^ Reasoning From the Scriptures, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1989, pg 137.
22.Jump up ^ Revelation - Its Grand Climax, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, page 9.
23.Jump up ^ "Views From the Watchtower", Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, January 1908, "We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises ... We do not even [assert] that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophesy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them."
24.Jump up ^ "Preaching Christ—Through Envy or Goodwill?", The Watchtower, May 15, 1976, p. 297, "Jehovah’s Witnesses as modern-day Christians are working hard to get this good news preached to every individual. They do not claim infallibility or perfection. Neither are they inspired prophets."
25.Jump up ^ "Allow No Place for the Devil!", The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, page 19, "Some opposers claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses are false prophets. These opponents say that dates have been set, but nothing has happened. ... Yes, Jehovah’s people have had to revise expectations from time to time. Because of our eagerness, we have hoped for the new system earlier than Jehovah’s timetable has called for it. But we display our faith in God’s Word and its sure promises by declaring its message to others. Moreover, the need to revise our understanding somewhat does not make us false prophets or change the fact that we are living in 'the last days,' ... How foolish to take the view that expectations needing some adjustment should call into question the whole body of truth! The evidence is clear that Jehovah has used and is continuing to use his one organization."
26.Jump up ^ George Chryssides, They Keep Changing the Dates, A paper presented at the CESNUR 2010 conference in Torino. How Prophecy Succeeds:The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Expectations
27.Jump up ^ March 1, 1904 Zion's Watch Tower p. 67
28.Jump up ^ Charles Taze Russell and Nelson H. Barbour, The Three Worlds (1907) as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pages 21-22.
29.Jump up ^ Charles Taze Russell, The Time Is At Hand (1891) as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 44.
30.Jump up ^ Melvin D. Curry, Jehovah's Witnesses: The Millenarian World of the Watch Tower, Garland, 1992, as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 45.
31.Jump up ^ Penton, James (1997). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0802079732.
32.Jump up ^ The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.
33.Jump up ^ J. F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 212-214.
34.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, May 15, 1922, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 224.
35.Jump up ^ The Way to Paradise booklet, Watch Tower Society, 1924, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 230-232.
36.Jump up ^ Face the Facts, 1938, pp. 46-50
37.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1941, p. 288
38.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, May 1, 1942, p. 139
39.Jump up ^ Awake!, February 22, 1961, p. 7
40.Jump up ^ Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God (PDF), Watch Tower Society, 1966, pp. 29–35, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 238-239.
41.Jump up ^ Talk by F. W. Franz, Baltimore, Maryland 1966, cited by Jehovah's Witnesses – Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, and by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 238-239.
42.Jump up ^ Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1967, pg 161.
43.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, May 1, 1968, page 273
44.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, Watch Tower Society, March 1968, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 246.
45.Jump up ^ Awake!, May 22, 1969, p. 15
46.Jump up ^ The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How?, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1971, pg 216.
47.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, Watch Tower Society, May 1974, page 3.
48.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1984, pp. 18-19
49.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, pg. 12.
50.Jump up ^ "Flashes of Light - Great and Small", The Watchtower, May 15, 1995, page 17.
51.^ Jump up to: a b c Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 184.
52.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 15, 1894: 1677, "We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God’s dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble." Missing or empty |title= (help)
53.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1901: 292, "The culmination of the trouble in October, 1914, is clearly marked in the Scriptures;" Missing or empty |title= (help)
54.Jump up ^ The Time Is at Hand, 1907, p. 101, "The ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced."
55.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1922: 346, "We understand that the jubilee type began to count in 1575 B.C.; and the 3,500 year period embracing the type must end in 1925. It follows, then, that the year 1925 will mark the beginning of the restoration of all things lost by Adam's disobedience." Missing or empty |title= (help)
56.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1922: 333, "Bible prophecy shows that the Lord was due to appear for the second time in 1874. Fulfilled prophecy shows beyond a doubt that he did appear in 1874 ... these facts are indisputable." Missing or empty |title= (help)
57.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 708.
58.Jump up ^ "Impart God’s Progressive Revelation to Mankind", The Watchtower, March 1, 1965, p. 158-159
59.Jump up ^ Studies in the Scriptures Vol. II 1889 p. 239, Studies in the Scriptures Volume III 1891 p. 234, Studies in Scriptures Vol. IV 1897 p. 621.
60.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 632.
61.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, pages 20, 23.
62.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 23.
63.Jump up ^ Watchtower, February 1, 1925, page 371.
64.Jump up ^ Watchtower, May 15, 1927, page 151.
65.Jump up ^ Watchtower, June 1, 1927.
66.Jump up ^ "The Corroborative Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, The Great Pyramid in Egypt", Chapter 10, Thy Kingdom Come, third volume of Studies in the Scriptures, 1910.
67.Jump up ^ Watchtower, June 15, 1922, page 187, as reproduced by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 225, 226.
68.Jump up ^ Watchtower, 1928, pages 339-45, 355-62, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 170.
69.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, October–November 1881, as cited by Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 142.
70.Jump up ^ The Battle of Armageddon by C. T. Russell, 1886, page 613, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, footnote, page 345.
71.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, December 1, 1916, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 34.
72.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, pages 68 and 71, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 63.
73.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 626, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 67.
74.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, October 1, 1909, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 67.
75.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 626.
76.Jump up ^ Thy Kingdom Come, 1891, page 23.
77.Jump up ^ The Harp of God, (1921), 1924 ed., p. 231.
78.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pages 21, 46.
79.Jump up ^ C.T. Russell, The Time Is At Hand (Watch Tower Society, 1889, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 190, 204.
80.Jump up ^ Life, Watch Tower Society, 1929, page 170, as cited by Edmond C. Gruss, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 1972, page 87.
81.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Vindication - Book II, pages 257-258, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 65.
82.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, November 1, 1922, page 333, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 228.
83.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1922, "The indisputable facts, therefore, show that the time of the end began in 1799; that the Lord's second presence began in 1874".
84.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, pages 18-22.
85.Jump up ^ "No Spiritual Energy Crisis for Discreet Ones", The Watchtower, August 15, 1974, page 507, footnote.
86.^ Jump up to: a b Raymond Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, 2007, page 484.
87.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, June 15, 1952, page 376.
88.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 107, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
89.Jump up ^ Qualified To Be Ministers, Watch Tower Society, 1955, page 381, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 74.
90.Jump up ^ Marley Cole, Jehovah's Witnesses - The New World Society, Vantage Press, New York, 1955, pages 86-89, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 74.
91.Jump up ^ Testimony by Fred Franz, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh Transcript, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh, 1954, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 75-76.
92.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, page 68, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 59.
93.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, pages 58-79.
94.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, 1997, page 216.
95.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, December 15, 1971, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 78.
96.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 1, 1963, page 412.
97.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 15, 1963, page 443.
98.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, pages 467, "It is right to hate the wrong committed by the disfellowshiped one, but it is not right to hate the person nor is it right to treat such ones in an inhumane way."
99.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, pages 471-472.
100.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, page 471, par 19.
101.^ Jump up to: a b "If a Relative Is Disfellowshiped", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 28.
102.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 24-25.
103.Jump up ^ "If a Relative Is Disfellowshiped", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 30.
104.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 20-31, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 299-300.
105.Jump up ^ Letter to all circuit and district overseers from Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, September 1, 1980, as reproduced by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 341.
106.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 23, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 299-300.
107.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 357-359.
108.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, June 15, 1911, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 188.
109.Jump up ^ The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, 513 as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.
110.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand!, Watch Tower Society, 1988, page 209.
111.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand!, Watch Tower Society, 1988, pages 266, 269.
112.Jump up ^ "No Calamity Will Befall Us" (Subheading). (Nov. 15, 2001). The Watchtower, p.19
113.Jump up ^ "Let the Reader Use Discernment", (Subheading "A Modern-Day 'Disgusting Thing'"). (May 1, 1999). The Watchtower, p 14
114.Jump up ^ "A World Without War-When?" Oct.1, 1991, pp.5 The Watchtower
115.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, 1 June 1997, p. 17 par. 15: "In the first place, what lies ahead for the world's false religions that have so often been extremely friendly with the UN? They are the offspring of one idolatrous fountainhead, ancient Babylon. Appropriately, they are described at Revelation 17:5 as "Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth". Jeremiah described the doom of this hypocritical conglomerate. Harlotlike, they have seduced earth's politicians, flattering the UN and forming illicit relations with its member political powers."
116.Jump up ^ Bates, Stephen (Oct. 8, 2001) "Jehovah's Witnesses link to UN queried", The Guardian
117.Jump up ^ Bates, Stephen (Oct. 15, 2001) "'Hypocrite' Jehovah's Witnesses abandon secret link with UN", The Guardian
118.Jump up ^ Letter to Editor - The Guardian" (Oct. 22, 2001) Office of Public Information
119.Jump up ^ Letter from United Nations DPI/NGO Resource Centre
120.Jump up ^ UN DPI/NGO
121.Jump up ^ Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy! chap. 6 par. 25-29
122.^ Jump up to: a b Edmond C. Gruss, Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 1972, ISBN 0-87552-306-4 Page 42.
123.^ Jump up to: a b "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part One" The Watchtower, October 1, 2011, page 26
124.Jump up ^ "Evidences of the Year’s Correctness". The Watchtower: 271–2. May 1, 1952. "It was in this first regnal year of Cyrus that he issued his decree to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. (Ezra 1:1) The decree may have been made in late 538 B.C. or before March 4–5, 537 B.C. In either case this would have given sufficient time for the large party of 49,897 Jews to organize their expedition and to make their long four-month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem to get there by September 29–30, 537 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month, to build their altar to Jehovah as recorded at Ezra 3:1-3. Inasmuch as September 29–30, 537 B.C., officially ends the seventy years of desolation as recorded at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21, so the beginning of the desolation of the land must have officially begun to be counted after September 21–22, 607 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month in 607 B.C., which is the beginning point for the counting of the 2,520 years."
125.Jump up ^ [1] "Babylonian Exile." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010.
126.Jump up ^ "Timeline of Judaism after the Babylonian Exile (538 BCE-70 CE)". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
127.Jump up ^ Keller, Werner (1983). The Bible As History. Bantam; 2 Revised edition. p. 352. ISBN 0-553-27943-2.
128.Jump up ^ Dictionary of the Bible: Biographical, Geographical, Historical and Doctrinal by Charles Randall Barnes, Page 247.
129.Jump up ^ Dyer, Charles (2003). Nelson’s Old Testament survey: Discovering essence, Background & Meaning about Every Old Testament book.
130.Jump up ^ The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return by Carl O. Jonsson. ISBN 0-914675-06-0 Publisher: Commentary Press (July, 1998, Fourth edition 2004)
131.Jump up ^ "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part Two" The Watchtower, November 1, 2011, page 22
132.Jump up ^ Insight from scriptures. Vol.2 page 458, "secular chronologers calculate the 16th day of Tashritu (Tishri) as falling on October 11, Julian calendar, and October 5, Gregorian calendar, in the year 539 B.C.E. Since this date is an accepted one, there being no evidence to the contrary, it is usable as a pivotal date in coordinating secular history with Bible history."
133.Jump up ^ Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews (2003) ISBN 82-994633-3-5
134.Jump up ^ Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 28:5 [2004], p. 42-43
135.Jump up ^ Under One Sky: Astronomy and Mathematics in the Ancient Near East, Münster 2002, pp. 423-428, F. R. Stephenson and D. M. Willis.
136.^ Jump up to: a b "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part Two" The Watchtower, November 1, 2011, page 25, 28, footnote 18
137.Jump up ^ Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy–Astrology, David Brown, pages 53–56; 2000
138.Jump up ^ When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed, page 21, Carl O. Jonsson.
139.Jump up ^ Insight from scriptures, Vol. I, Astronomical Calculations, page 454
140.Jump up ^ Life — How Did It Get Here? By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1985
141.Jump up ^ Was Life Created?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 2010
142.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, "Preface" to The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. xiv-xvi
143.Jump up ^ Hitching is first introduced as an "evolutionist" (p. 15). A Hitching quote on page 71 is repeated on page 73, in the latter case presented as the statement of "a scientist". The 1986 Watchtower book The Bible — God's Word or Man's? likewise refers to Hitching as a scientist (p. 106).
144.Jump up ^ Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion, p. 145. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2006. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
145.Jump up ^ Is There a Creator Who Cares About You?. Watch Tower Society. p. 93.
146.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, April 1, 1986, pp. 12-13
147.Jump up ^ Awake!, May 8, 1997, p. 12
148.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 1, 1986, p. 30
149.Jump up ^ "Following Faithful Shepherds with Life in View", The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, page 591, "Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect ... in submitting to Jehovah's visible theocratic organization, we must be in full and complete agreement with every feature of its apostolic procedure and requirements."
150.Jump up ^ "Loyal to Christ and His Faithful Slave", The Watchtower, April 1, 2007, page 24, "When we loyally submit to the direction of the faithful slave and its Governing Body, we are submitting to Christ, the slave's Master."
151.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 89, 95, 103, 120, 204, 221, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
152.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, pp. 22, 32, 150–170, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
153.Jump up ^ Alan Rogerson, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Constable, 1969, page 50.
154.^ Jump up to: a b Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses, part 1", Journal of Medical Ethics, August 1998, Vol 24, Issue 4, page 223-230.
155.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 98–100, 104–107, 113, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
156.^ Jump up to: a b c d R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 6.
157.Jump up ^ Court transcript as cited by Heather & Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1984, page 67-68, also at Pursuer's Proof: Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh Transcript, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh, 1954.
158.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 103, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
159.Jump up ^ Minority Religions, Social Change, and Freedom of Conscience
160.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 67, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
161.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 419–421, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
162.Jump up ^ Stevenson, W.C. (1967), Year of Doom 1975: The Inside Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, London: Hutchinson & Co, pp. 33–35, "The inevitable result of a person's submitting to (the home Bible study) arrangement is that eventually all his own thoughts will be replaced by the thoughts contained in the book he is studying ... if one were able to watch this person's development ... it would be quite obvious that he was gradually losing all individuality of thought and action ... One of the characteristics of Jehovah's Witnesses is the extraordinary unanimity of thinking on almost every aspect of life ... in view of this there seems to be some justification for the charge that their study methods are in fact a subtle form of indoctrination or brainwashing."
163.^ Jump up to: a b c Botting, Heather & Gary (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 153, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
164.^ Jump up to: a b R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 16.
165.Jump up ^ "Exposing the Devil’s Subtle Designs" and "Armed for the Fight Against Wicked Spirits", Watchtower, January 15, 1983, as cited by Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1984, page 92.
166.Jump up ^ "Serving Jehovah Shoulder to Shoulder", The Watchtower, August 15, 1981, page 28, "Jehovah's Theocratic Organization Today", The Watchtower, February 1, 1952, pages 79–81.
167.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 25-26, 101, "For every passage in Society literature that urges members to be bold and courageous in critical pursuits, there are many others that warn about independent thinking and the peril of questioning the organization ... Fear of disobedience to the Governing Body keeps Jehovah's Witnesses from carefully checking into biblical doctrine or allegations concerning false prophecy, faulty scholarship, and injustice. Witnesses are told not to read books like this one."
168.Jump up ^ According to Randall Watters, who in 1981 published a pamphlet, "What happened at the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in the spring of 1980?", cited by Heather and Gary Botting, a former Governing Body member is said to have referred Brooklyn headquarters staff to an organizational handbook containing 1,177 policies and regulations, telling them: "If there are some who feel that they cannot subject themselves to the rules and regulations now in operation, such ones ought to be leaving and not be involved here."
169.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, pp. 107–108, 122, 298.
170.Jump up ^ "Walk With Confidence in Jehovah’s Leadership", The Watchtower, June 1, 1985, page 20, "To turn away from Jehovah and his organization, to spurn the direction of “the faithful and discreet slave,” and to rely simply on personal Bible reading and interpretation is to become like a solitary tree in a parched land."
171.Jump up ^ Question box, Our Kingdom Ministry, September 2007.
172.Jump up ^ "Do not be quickly shaken from your reason", Watchtower, March 15, 1986
173.Jump up ^ "At which table are you feeding?" Watchtower, July 1, 1994
174.Jump up ^ Watchtower, May 1, 1984, page 31, as cited by R. Franz, "In Search of Christian Freedom", chapter 12
175.Jump up ^ "Firmly uphold godly teaching," Watchtower, May 1, 2000, page 9.
176.Jump up ^ Heather & Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, 1984, page 143, 153.
177.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 204, 221, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
178.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 30, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
179.Jump up ^ R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 11.
180.Jump up ^ Muramoto, O. (January 6, 2001), "Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses", BMJ 322 (7277): 37–39, doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7277.37, PMC 1119307, PMID 11141155.
181.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 449–464, ISBN 0-914675-17-6, "Loyalty to the organization becomes the touchstone, the criterion, the "bottom line", when it comes to determining whether one is a faithful Christian or not ... to make any organizational loyalty the criterion for judging anyone's Christianity is, then, clearly a perversion of Scripture ... Read the whole of those Scriptures ... nowhere are we taught to put faith in men or in an earthly organization, unquestioningly following its lead ... the entire Bible record is a continual reminder of the danger inherent in that kind of trust."
182.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, p. 458, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
183.Jump up ^ "You Must Be Holy Because Jehovah Is Holy", The Watchtower, February 15, 1976, page 124, "Would not a failure to respond to direction from God through his organization really indicate a rejection of divine rulership?"
184.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 25-26, 101.
185.Jump up ^ Holden 2002, p. 121.
186.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 156, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
187.Jump up ^ "Questions from readers", Watchtower, April 1, 1986.
188.Jump up ^ Stark and Iannoccone (1997), "Why the Jehovah's Witnesses Grow So Rapidly: A Theoretical Application" (PDF), Journal of Contemporary Religion (PDF), pp. 142–143, retrieved 2008-12-30.
189.Jump up ^ ECHR Point 130, 118
190.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses, (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993.
191.Jump up ^ Rhodes, Ron (2001), The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, pp. 77–103, ISBN 0-310-23217-1
192.Jump up ^ Gomes, Alan W. (1995), Unmasking the Cults, Zondervan, pp. 22, 23, ISBN 0-310-70441-3
193.Jump up ^ Hoekema, Anthony A. (1963), The Four Major Cults, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, pp. 1–8,223–371, 373–388, ISBN 0-8028-3117-6
194.Jump up ^ "Are Jehovah’s Witnesses a Cult?", The Watchtower, February 15, 1994, pages 5-7
195.Jump up ^ "Do Others Do Your Thinking?", Awake!, August 22, 1978, page 4.
196.Jump up ^ "Who Molds Your Thinking?", The Watchtower, April 1, 1999, page 22, "You have free will. Exercising it, you can choose to respond to Jehovah’s molding influence or deliberately reject it. How much better to listen to Jehovah’s voice instead of arrogantly asserting, 'No one tells me what to do'!"
197.Jump up ^ "Salvation", Reasoning on the Scriptures, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, p. 359, "Is anything more than faith needed in order to gain salvation? Eph. 2:8, 9, RS: “By grace [“undeserved kindness,” NW] you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast.” (The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God’s undeserved kindness. There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own, no matter how noble his works are. Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin-atoning value of the sacrifice of his Son.)"
198.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Wish You Would Answer The Door" (PDF). The Grand Rapids Press. 2006.
199.Jump up ^ Brown II, John Bowen (2008-04-16), "Cult Watchdog Organizations and Jehovah’s Witnesses", Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and 'the New Spirituality', London School of Economics, London, UK: Center for Studies on New Religions, retrieved 2010-03-03
200.Jump up ^ Engardio, Joel P. (2007-04-17). "Myths & Realities". PBS Independent Lens. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
201.Jump up ^ Brown II, John B. (2005-06-02), "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Anti-cult Movement: A Human Rights Perspective", Religious Movements, Globalization and Conflict: Transnational Perspectives, Palermo, Sicily: Center for Studies on New Religions
202.Jump up ^ Raschke, Carl A. (2013-07-19), "Contemporary American Religion Volume 1", in Catherine L. Albanese, Randall Balmer, Frederick M. Denny, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Ana Maria Diaz-Stevens, Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, Ellen M. Umansky, Jehovah's Witnesses, New York: Macmillan Reference USA An Imprint of the Gale Group, p. 343, ISBN 0-02-864926-5
203.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, page 96, as cited by R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 4.
204.Jump up ^ Question Box, Our Kingdom Ministry, September 1979, page 4.
205.Jump up ^ "Do You Contribute to an Accurate Report?", Our Kingdom Ministry, December 2002, page 8.
206.Jump up ^ "Righteous requirements", Watchtower, July 1, 1943, pages 204-206, "Jehovah ... has appointed his 'faithful and wise servant, who is his visible mouthpiece ... These expressions of God's will by his King and through his established agency constitute his law or rule of action ... The Lord breaks down our organization instructions further ... He says the requirements for special pioneers shall be 175 hours and 50 back-calls per month ... and for regular pioneers 150 hours ... And for company publishers he says, 'Let us make a quota of 60 hours and 12 back-calls and at least one study a week for each publisher'. These directions come to us from the Lord through his established agency directing what is required of us ... This expression of the Lord's will should be the end of all controversy ... The Lord through his 'faithful and wise servant' now states to us, Let us cover our territory four times in six months. That becomes our organization instructions and has the same binding force on us that his statement to the Logos had when he said, 'Let us make man in our image'. It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it."
207.Jump up ^ "Saved, Not by Works Alone, But by Undeserved Kindness", The Watchtower, June 1, 2005, pages 17-18.
208.Jump up ^ Expert Opinion by S. I. Ivanenko, p. 10, Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court, in the application of the Moscow Northern Administrative District prosecutor to liquidate the Religious Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow
209.Jump up ^ The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, John Wiley and Sons, 1975, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, 1997. Penton describes Beckford's book as "uneven" and marred by errors and a misunderstanding of certain basic Witness doctrines.
210.Jump up ^ Sworn Expert Opinion, prepared by Professor James Beckford, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, November 1998, Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court, in the application of the Moscow Northern Administrative District prosecutor to liquidate the Religious Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow
211.Jump up ^ ECHR Point number 111
212.Jump up ^ “Jehovah's Witnesses case heads to B.C. court”, Vancouver Sun, April 1, 2007
213.Jump up ^ Medical emergencies in children of orthodox Jehovah's Witness families: Three recent legal cases, ethical issues and proposals for management”, by J Guicho and, I Mitchell, Paediatrics & Child Health, Canadian Pediatric Society, December 2006.
214.Jump up ^ "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses, part 2." Journal of Medical Ethics, October 1998, pages 295-301.
215.Jump up ^ ECHR Point number 136, 139
216.^ Jump up to: a b "Always Accept Jehovah’s Discipline", The Watchtower, November 15, 2006, page 26.
217.Jump up ^ "Cultivate Obedience as the End Draws Near", The Watchtower, October 1, 2002, page 21
218.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy, A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 55, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
219.Jump up ^ "Elders, Judge With Righteousness", The Watchtower, July 1, 1992, page 19.
220.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 354, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
221.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 89
222.^ Jump up to: a b c Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 163, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
223.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Recent developments in medical care of Jehovah's Witnesses", Western Journal of Medicine, May 1999, page 298.
224.Jump up ^ Taylor, Jerome (27 September 2011). "War of words breaks out among Jehovah's Witnesses". The Independent.
225.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses church likens defectors to 'contagious, deadly disease'", Sunday Herald Sun, page 39, October 2, 2011.
226.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 150, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
227.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 384, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
228.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 351, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
229.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 359, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
230.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 151, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
231.^ Jump up to: a b c Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 249
232.Jump up ^ Ronald Lawson, "Sect-State Relations: Accounting for the Differing Trajectories of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses," Sociology of Religion, 1995, 56:4, pg 371.
233.Jump up ^ "Maintain Your Faith and Spiritual Health", The Watchtower, October 1, 1989.
234.Jump up ^ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, October 15, 1986, page 31.
235.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses", British Medical Journal, January 6, 2001, page 37.
236.Jump up ^ Donald T. Ridley, "Jehovah's Witnesses' refusal of blood: Obedience to scripture and religious conscience", Journal of Medical Ethics, 1999:25, page 470.
237.^ Jump up to: a b Franz, Raymond (2002), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 38, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
238.^ Jump up to: a b Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 91, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
239.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 371, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
240.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 248
241.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, pages 365-385, citing "A Time to Speak – When?", The Watchtower, September 1, 1987.
242.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Part 1", Journal of Medical Ethics, August 1998.
243.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23.
244.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 319
245.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2002), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 357, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
246.^ Jump up to: a b How Can Blood Save Your Life?. Watch Tower Society. p. 22.
247.Jump up ^ "Be guided by the Living God" (Jun. 15, 2004). The Watchtower
248.Jump up ^ "Questions from readers: Do Jehovah's Witnesses accept any minor fractions of blood?" (Jun. 15, 2000). The Watchtower
249.Jump up ^ Awake! August 2006 box on P. 11
250.Jump up ^ Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood
251.Jump up ^ The Watchtower November 1, 1961, p. 669 Questions From Readers
252.Jump up ^ What Does The Bible Really Teach? 2005 P.128
253.Jump up ^ "OK Kosher Certification — Salting of Meat". Ok.org. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
254.Jump up ^ "Making Meat Kosher: Between Slaughtering and Cooking". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
255.Jump up ^ "Religion Today", New York Times, January 6, 2006
256.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions and the Tort of Misrepresentation, Journal of Church and State Vol 47, Autumn 2005 p. 815
257.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond. "In Search of Christian Freedom" - Chapter Nine. Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1991. ISBN 0-914675-16-8. p.732.
258.Jump up ^ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, October 15, 2000, page 31, "Jehovah’s Witnesses...do not donate blood [without preconditions on its use], nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law. Other procedures or tests involving an individual’s own blood are not so clearly in conflict with God’s stated principles. ...the goal may be to isolate some of a blood component and apply that elsewhere... A Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be handled... Ahead of time, he should obtain from the doctor or technician the facts about what might be done with his blood during the procedure. Then he must decide according to what his conscience permits."
259.Jump up ^ "How Do I View Blood Fractions and Medical Procedures Involving My Own Blood?", Our Kingdom Ministry, November 2006, page 4.
260.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond. "In Search of Christian Freedom" - Chapter Nine. Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1991. Pbk. ISBN 0-914675-16-8. pp.732.
261.Jump up ^ Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs - When Religion and Medicine Collide
262.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions and the Tort of Misrepresentation, Journal of Church and State Vol 47, Autumn 2005
263.Jump up ^ The Watchtower (Feb. 1, 1997) p30
264.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses (WTS) Handling of Child Sexual Abuse Cases", Religious Tolerance.org Retrieved Mar 3, 2006.
265.Jump up ^ Tubbs, Sharon (Aug. 22, 2002), "Spiritual shunning", St. Petersburg Times.
266.Jump up ^ "Another Church Sex Scandal" (Apr. 29, 2003). CBS News.
267.Jump up ^ Cutrer, Corrie (Mar. 5, 2001). "Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters", Christianity Today.
268.Jump up ^ Channel 9 Sunday, November 2005.
269.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles", BBC Panorama, 2003.
270.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection" (2003). Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information.
271.Jump up ^ “Let All Things Take Place for Upbuilding”, Our Kingdom Ministry, July 2000, page 1
272.Jump up ^ "Comfort for Those With a “Stricken Spirit”", The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, page 28, "If the [lone] accusation is denied [by the accused], the elders should explain to the accuser that nothing more can be done in a judicial way. ...The Bible says that there must be two or three witnesses before judicial action can be taken. (2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19)"
273.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information, Press Release "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection," 2003.
274.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, pp. 174–176
275.Jump up ^ "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures", The Watchtower, September 15, 1950, page 320.
276.Jump up ^ Questions from readers, The Watchtower, December 15, 1974, page 767.
277.Jump up ^ In a 1954 court case, Franz was invited to translate a passage of Genesis from English to Hebrew. (Translator's proof, page 102-103). He declined, saying he would not attempt it. Heather and Gary Botting wrongly claim (page 98) he could make no sense of "an elementary passage of Hebrew from Genesis".
278.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 56, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
279.Jump up ^ Robert M. Bowman Jr, Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses, (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1992); Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, 2003, The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, accessible from this site, which quotes a number of scholars regarding theological bias of the New World Translation.
280.Jump up ^ Samuel Haas,Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 74, No. 4, (Dec. 1955), p. 283, "This work indicates a great deal of effort and thought as well as considerable scholarship, it is to be regretted that religious bias was allowed to colour many passages."
281.Jump up ^ See Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, 2003, The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, accessible online
282.Jump up ^ Rhodes R, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response, Zondervan, 2001, p. 94
283.Jump up ^ Bruce M Metzger, "Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ," Theology Today, (April 1953 p. 74); see also Metzger, "The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures," The Bible Translator (July 1964)
284.Jump up ^ C.H. Dodd: "The reason why [the Word was a god] is unacceptable is that it runs counter to the current of Johannine thought, and indeed of Christian thought as a whole." Technical Papers for The Bible Translator, Vol 28, No. 1, January 1977
285.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, pp. 98–101, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
286.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, pp. 494–505, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
287.Jump up ^ G. HÉBERT/EDS, "Jehovah's Witnesses", The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Gale, 20052, Vol. 7, p. 751.
288.Jump up ^ Metzger, Bruce M., The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, The Bible Translator 15/3 (July 1964), pp. 150-153.
289.Jump up ^ "God’s Name and the New Testament", The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1984, pages 23-27
290.Jump up ^ "Appendix 1D The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures", New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References, page 1565
291.Jump up ^ "Your Bible—How It Was Produced", The Watchtower, December 15, 1981, page 15
292.Jump up ^ Jason D. BeDuhn, Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2004, pages 165, 169, 175, 176. BeDuhn compared the King James, the (New) Revised Standard, the New International, the New American Bible, the New American Standard Bible, the Amplified Bible, the Living Bible, Today's English and the NWT versions in Matthew 28:9, Philippians 2:6, Colossians 1:15-20, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, John 8:58, John 1:1.
293.Jump up ^ Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament by Jason BeDuhn, 2004, pages 165, University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-2556-8, ISBN 978-0-7618-2556-2
Further reading[edit]
Botting, Gary and Heather. The Orwellian World of Jehovah`s Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984). ISBN 0-8020-6545-7. The Bottings compare the social, cultural and political paradigms of Jehovah's Witnesses to those set out in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both authors were raised Jehovah's Witnesses and are trained scholars (Heather Botting is a professor of anthropology and Gary Botting is a lawyer and legal scholar). The book is based in part on a doctoral dissertation by Heather Botting. Read selections from: The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Google book search) University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0-8020-6545-2
Botting, Gary. Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993). ISBN 1-895176-06-9. Botting considers the irony of Jehovah's Witness insisting on a closely regulated society while at the same time fighting for freedom of association, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. It is available on-line at http://www.questia.com/library/102111748/fundamental-freedoms-and-jehovah-s-witnesses.
Castro, Joy. The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses, adopted as a baby and raised by a devout Jehovah's Witness family. Read selections from: The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses (Google book search) Published 2005 Arcade Publishing, ISBN 1-55970-787-9
Franz, Raymond. Crisis of Conscience Franz, a former Jehovah's Witness and Governing Body member, and nephew of the fourth president of the Watch Tower Society. This book gives a detailed account of the authority structure, practices, doctrines and decision-making practices Franz experienced while serving on the Governing Body. Sample chapters online: 1, 9, 10, 11, 12. Publisher: Commentary Press. 420 pages. Hardback ISBN 0-914675-24-9. Paperback ISBN 0-914675-23-0. 4th edition (June 2002)
Franz, Raymond. In Search of Christian Freedom. 2nd ed., 2007. ISBN 0-914675-17-6 (Further critique and analysis by this author)
Gruss, Edmond C. Apostles of Denial ISBN 0-87552-305-6 / ISBN 978-0-87552-305-7.
Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti. Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. ISBN 0-7091-8013-6 (An account by an American journalist and essayist of growing up in the JW religion, which she left at age 22)
Hewitt, Joe. I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness Hewitt gives a frank and compelling account of his life as a Jehovah's Witness and his subsequent persecution and excommunication after he decided to leave the Jehovah's Witness movement. Read selections from: I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness (Google book search) Published 1997, Kregel Publications, ISBN 0-8254-2876-9
Jonsson, Carl O. The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return Jonsson considers the origin of the belief that the Gentile Times began in 607 B.C. and examines several lines of evidence and the methodology for deriving it. ISBN 0-914675-06-0 Publisher: Commentary Press (July, 1998, Fourth edition 2004)
King, Robert. Jehovah Himself Has Become King The author considers himself one of Jehovah's Witnesses but was disfellowshipped after publishing his review and criticisms of current Watchtower interpretations related to Bible prophecy, and documentation regarding the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's involvement with the United Nations. He is preparing an updated, second edition. ISBN 1-4208-5498-4 / ISBN 978-1-4208-5498-5 / Publisher: AuthorHouse (September 14, 2005, First Edition) (Available from Amazon.com)
Kostelniuk, James. Wolves Among Sheep. Harpercollins Trade Sales Dept, ISBN 978-0-00-639107-4
Penton, M. James. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2nd ed., 1997. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3 (Scholarly examination of JW history and doctrines)
Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses by M. James Penton. Penton, who is a former Jehovah's Witness and a professor emeritus of history at University of Lethbridge, examines the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, and their doctrines. Read selections from: Apocalypse Delayed: the Story of Jehovah's Witnesses University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3 (Canada, 1998) (Google book search)
Schnell, William J. 30 Years a Watchtower Slave Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1956, 1971, reprinted 2001. ISBN 0-8010-6384-1 (One of the first book-length critiques of the organization to be written by a disaffected former Witness)
Stafford, Greg. Jehovah's Witnesses Defended and Three Dissertations. The author considers himself one of Jehovah's Witnesses but has renounced affiliation with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. He now considers himself a Christian Witness of Jah, or one of Jehovah's Witnesses who rejects beliefs specific to Jehovah's Witnesses. These books review and thoroughly explore some of the most common, and/or prevalent, criticisms made about Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. http://www.elihubooks.com/content/books_media.php
External links[edit]
SupportiveOfficial Jehovah's Witnesses website
Jehovah's Witnesses response to child abuse allegations (video)
Jehovah's Witnesses Official Policy on Child Protection
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
CriticalApologetics index - Criticisms of Jehovah's Witnesses from a mainstream Christian viewpoint.
Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood - A site that promotes reform of the Watch Tower Society's blood doctrine.
Exposé on the Jehovah's Witnesses - From Blue Letter Bible. An examination of the Watch Tower Society. Contains relatively brief explanations of each point.
Free Minds, Inc - the largest Watchtower dissident site
Historical Idealism and Jehovah's Witnesses - Documents the historical development of Jehovah's Witness chronology and the claimed "idealized" history of it by the Watch Tower Society
JW Files--Research on Jehovah's Witnesses - A site "dedicated to research on Jehovah Witnesses".
jwfacts.com - Information about Jehovah's Witnesses
JWRecovery Magazine - An ex-JW community contributed magazine / journal which provides information and support assistance to former Jehovah's Witnesses.
Religious Tolerance.org Jehovah's Witnesses Policies & examples of child sexual abuse.
Silentlambs.org Silentlamb's official web site.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses
Criticism of Jehovah's Witnesses
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Part of a series on
Jehovah's Witnesses
Overview
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and Tract Society
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Leadership dispute
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Jehovah's Witnesses have attracted criticism from mainstream Christianity, some members of the medical community, some former members and some commentators over their beliefs and practices. The religion has been accused of doctrinal inconsistency and reversals, failed predictions, mistranslation of the Bible, harsh treatment of former members and autocratic and coercive leadership. Criticism has also focused on their rejection of blood transfusions, particularly in life-threatening medical situations, and claims that they have failed to report cases of sexual abuse to the authorities. Many of the claims are denied by Jehovah's Witnesses and some have also been disputed by courts and religious scholars.
Contents [hide]
1 Doctrinal criticisms 1.1 Failed predictions
1.2 Changes of doctrine
1.3 United Nations association
1.4 Fall of Jerusalem
1.5 Evolution
2 Social criticisms 2.1 Authoritarianism and denial of free speech
2.2 Description as a "cult"
2.3 Coercion
2.4 Shunning
2.5 Blood 2.5.1 Fractions and components
2.5.2 Storing and donation
2.5.3 Legal considerations
2.5.4 Animal blood
2.6 Reporting of sexual abuse
3 Biblical criticisms
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Doctrinal criticisms[edit]
Failed predictions[edit]
Main article: Watch Tower Society unfulfilled predictions
See also: Eschatology of Jehovah's Witnesses
The beliefs unique to Jehovah's Witnesses involve their interpretations of the second coming of Christ, the millennium and the kingdom of God. Watch Tower Society publications have made, and continue to make, predictions about world events they believe were prophesied in the Bible.[1] Some of those early predictions were described as "established truth",[2] and 'beyond a doubt'.[3] Witnesses are told to 'be complete in accepting the visible organization's direction in every aspect' and that there is no need to question what God tells them through his Word and organization, since love "believes all things."[4][5][6] If a member advocates views different to what appears in print, they face expulsion.[7][8][9]
Failed predictions that were either explicitly stated or strongly implied, particularly linked to dates in 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975, have led to the alteration or abandonment of some teachings. The Society's publications have at times suggested that members had previously "read into the Watch Tower statements that were never intended"[10] or that the beliefs of members were "based on wrong premises."[11] Critic Edmond Gruss claims that other failed predictions were ignored, and replaced with new predictions; for example, in the book, The Finished Mystery (1917), events were applied to the years 1918 to 1925 that earlier had been held to occur prior to 1914. When the new interpretations also did not transpire, the 1926 edition of the book changed the statements and removed the dates.[12]
Raymond Franz, a critic and former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, has cited publications that claimed God has used Jehovah's Witnesses as a collective prophet.[13] Critics including James A. Beverley have accused the religion of false prophecy for making those predictions, particularly because of assertions in some cases that the predictions were beyond doubt or had been approved by God, but describes its record of telling the future as "pathetic".[14][15][16][17] Beverley says the Watch Tower Society has passed judgment on others who have falsely predicted the end of the world (he cites a 1968 Awake! that says other groups were "guilty of false prophesying" after having "predicted an 'end to the world', even announcing a specific date").[18][19]
The Watch Tower Society rejects accusations that it is a false prophet.[20][21] It says its explanations of Bible prophecy are not infallible[22][23][24] and that its predictions are not claimed explicitly as "the words of Jehovah."[20] It states that some of its expectations have needed adjustment because of eagerness for God's kingdom, but that those adjustments are no reason to "call into question the whole body of truth."[25] Raymond Franz claims that the Watch Tower Society tries to evade its responsibility when citing human fallibility as a defense, adding that the Society represents itself as God's appointed spokesman, and that throughout its history has made many emphatic predictions. Franz adds that the organization's eagerness for the Millennium does not give it license to impugn the motives of those who fail to accept its predictions.[6]
George D. Chryssides has suggested widespread claims that Witnesses "keep changing the dates" are a distortion and misunderstanding of Watch Tower Society chronology. He argues that, although there have been failures in prophetic speculation, the changing views and dates of the Jehovah's Witnesses are more largely attributable to changed understandings of biblical chronology than to failed predictions. Chryssides states, "For the Jehovah’s Witnesses prophecy serves more as a way of discerning a divine plan in human history than a means to predicting the future."[26] In 1904 Zion's Watch Tower stated: "We have in the Scriptures what we think is clear testimony respecting that date [1914], but no particulars or dates for the intervening time. It is not our intention to enter upon the role of prophet to any degree, but merely to give below what seems to us rather likely to be the trend of events." [27]
Predictions (by date of publication) include:
1877: Christ's kingdom would hold full sway over the earth in 1914; the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favor; the "saints" would be carried to heaven.[28]
1891: 1914 would be "the farthest limit of the rule of imperfect men."[29]
1904: "World-wide anarchy" would follow the end of the Gentile Times in 1914.[30]
1916: World War I would terminate in Armageddon and the rapture of the "saints".[31]
1917: In 1918, Christendom would go down as a system to oblivion and be succeeded by revolutionary governments. God would "destroy the churches wholesale and the church members by the millions." Church members would "perish by the sword of war, revolution and anarchy." The dead would lie unburied. In 1920 all earthly governments would disappear, with worldwide anarchy prevailing.[32]
1920: Messiah's kingdom would be established in 1925 and bring worldwide peace. God would begin restoring the earth. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other faithful patriarchs would be resurrected to perfect human life and be made princes and rulers, the visible representatives of the New Order on earth. Those who showed themselves obedient to God would never die.[33]
1922: The anti-typical "jubilee" that would mark God's intervention in earthly affairs would take place "probably the fall" of 1925.[34]
1924: God's restoration of Earth would begin "shortly after" October 1, 1925. Jerusalem would be made the world's capital. Resurrected "princes" such as Abel, Noah, Moses and John the Baptist would give instructions to their subjects around the world by radio, and airplanes would transport people to and from Jerusalem from all parts of the globe in just "a few hours".[35]
1938: Armageddon was too close for marriage or child bearing.[36]
1941: There were only "months" remaining until Armageddon.[37]
1942: Armageddon was "immediately before us."[38]
1961: Awake! magazine stated that the heavenly kingdom "will, within the twentieth century, cleanse the entire earth of wickedness."[39]
1966: It would be 6000 years since man's creation in the fall of 1975 and it would be "appropriate" for Christ's thousand-year reign to begin at that time.[40] Time was "running out, no question about that."[41] The "immediate future" was "certain to be filled with climactic events ... within a few years at most", the final parts of Bible prophecy relating to the "last days" would undergo fulfillment as Christ's reign began.
1967: The end-time period (beginning in 1914) was claimed to be so far advanced that the time remaining could "be compared, not just to the last day of a week, but rather, to the last part of that day".[42]
1968: No one could say "with certainty" that the battle of Armageddon would begin in 1975, but time was "running out rapidly" with "earthshaking events" soon to take place.[43] In March 1968 there was a "short period of time left", with "only about ninety months left before 6000 years of man's existence on earth is completed".[44]
1969: The existing world order would not last long enough for young people to grow old; the world system would end "in a few years." Young Witnesses were told not to bother pursuing tertiary education for this reason.[45]
1971: The "battle in the day of Jehovah" was described as beginning "[s]hortly, within our twentieth century".[46]
1974: There was just a "short time remaining before the wicked world's end" and Witnesses were commended for selling their homes and property to "finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service."[47]
1984: There were "many indications" that "the end" was closer than the end of the 20th century.[48]
1989: The Watchtower asserted that Christian missionary work begun in the first century would "be completed in our 20th century".[49] When republished in bound volumes, the phrase "in our 20th century" was replaced with the less specific "in our day".
Changes of doctrine[edit]
History of Eschatological Doctrine
Last Days begin
Start of Christ's Presence
Christ made King
Resurrection of 144,000
Judgment of Religion
Separating Sheep & Goats
Great Tribulation
1879–1920 1799 1874 1878 during Millenium 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920
1920–1923 1925
1923–1925 during Christ's presence
1925–1927 1914 1878 1878 within generation of 1914
1927–1930 1918
1930–1933 1919
1933–1966 1914
1966–1975 1975?
1975–1995 within generation of 1914
1995–present during Great Tribulation imminent
See also: Development of Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine
Although Watch Tower Society literature claims the Society's founder, Charles Taze Russell, was directed by God's Holy Spirit, through which he received "flashes of light",[50] it has substantially altered doctrines since its inception and abandoned many of Russell's teachings.[51] Many of the changes have involved biblical chronology that had earlier been claimed as beyond question.[52][53][54][55][56] Watch Tower Society publications state that doctrinal changes result from a process of "progressive revelation", in which God gradually reveals his will.[57][58]
Date of beginning of Christ's kingdom rule. Russell taught that Jesus had become king in April 1878.[59][60] In 1922, Joseph Rutherford altered the date to 1914.[51]
Date of resurrection of anointed Christians. After the failure of predictions that Christ's chosen "saints" would be carried away to heaven in 1878,[61] Russell developed the teaching that those "dying in the Lord" from 1878 forward would have an immediate heavenly resurrection.[62] The Watch Tower confirmed the doctrine in 1925,[63] but two years later asserted this date was wrong[64] and that the beginning of the instant resurrection to heaven for faithful Christians was from 1918.[65]
Great Pyramid as a "stone witness" of God. Russell wrote in 1910 that God had the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt built as a testimony to the truth of the Bible and proof of its chronology identifying the "last days".[66][67] In 1928 Rutherford rejected the doctrine and claimed the Pyramid had been built under the direction of Satan.[68]
Identity of "faithful and wise servant". Russell initially believed the "faithful and wise servant" of Matthew 24:45 was "every member of this body of Christ ... the whole body individually and collectively."[69] By 1886 he had altered his view and began explaining it was a person, not the Christian church.[70] Russell accepted claims by Bible Students that he was that "servant"[71][72][73] and in 1909 described as his "opponents" those who would apply the term "faithful and wise servant" to "all the members of the church of Christ" rather than to an individual.[74] By 1927 the Watch Tower Society was teaching that it was "a collective servant."[75]
Beginning of the "last days". From the earliest issues of the Watch Tower, Russell promoted the belief that the "last days" had begun in 1799 and would end in 1914.[76] As late as 1921 Watch Tower publications were still claiming the last days had begun in 1799.[77] In 1930 that date was abandoned and 1914 was fixed as the beginning of the last days.
Jews' role in God's Kingdom. Russell followed the view of Nelson H. Barbour, who believed that in 1914 Christ's kingdom would take power over all the earth and the Jews, as a people, would be restored to God's favor.[78] In 1889 Russell wrote that with the completion of the "Gentile Times" in 1914, Israel's "blindness" would subside and they would convert to Christianity.[79] The book Life (1929) noted that the return of Jews to Palestine signaled that the end was very close, because Jews would "have the favors first and thereafter all others who obey the Lord" under God's restoration of his kingdom.[80] In 1932 that belief was abandoned and from that date the Watch Tower Society taught that Witnesses alone were the Israel of God.[81]
Date of Christ's invisible presence. The Watch Tower Society taught for more than 60 years that this began in 1874, insisting in 1922 that the date was "indisputable".[82][83] In 1943 the society moved the event to 1914.[51][84][85]
Identity of the "superior authorities". Russell taught that the "superior authorities" of Romans 13:1, to whom Christians had to show subjection and obedience, were governmental authorities. In 1929 The Watchtower discarded this view, stating that the term referred only to God and Christ, and saying the change of doctrine was evidence of "advancing light" of truth shining forth to God's chosen people.[86] In 1952, The Watchtower stated that the words of Romans 13 "could never have applied to the political powers of Caesar’s world as wrongly claimed by the clergy of Christendom,"[87] and in 1960 The Watchtower described the earlier view as a factor that had caused the Bible Student movement to be "unclean" in God's eyes during the 1914–1918 period. Two years later, in 1962, The Watchtower reverted to Russell's initial doctrine.[86]
Identity and function of the Governing Body. Frequent mentions of the term "Governing Body" began in Watch Tower Society literature in the 1970s.[88] The Governing Body was initially identified as the Watch Tower Society's seven-member board of directors.[89] However, at the time, the board played no role in establishing Watchtower doctrines, and all such decisions since the Society's origins had been made by the Society's president.[90][91] A 1923 Watch Tower noted that Russell alone directed the policy and course of the Society "without regard to any other person on earth"[92] and both his successors, Rutherford and Knorr, also acted alone in establishing Watch Tower doctrines. An organizational change on January 1, 1976, for the first time gave the Governing Body the power to rule on doctrines[93] and become the ruling council of Jehovah's Witnesses.[94] Despite this, The Watchtower in 1971 claimed that a Governing Body of anointed Christians had existed since the 19th century to govern the affairs of God's anointed people.[95]
Treatment of disfellowshipped persons. In the 1950s when disfellowshipping became common, Witnesses were to have nothing to do with expelled members, not conversing with or acknowledging them.[96] Family members of expelled individuals were permitted occasional "contacts absolutely necessary in matters pertaining to family interests," but could not discuss spiritual matters with them.[97] In 1974 The Watchtower, acknowledging some unbalanced Witnesses had displayed unkind, inhumane and possibly cruel attitudes to those expelled,[98] relaxed restrictions on family contact, allowing families to choose for themselves the extent of association,[99] including whether or not to discuss some spiritual matters.[100] In 1981, a reversal of policy occurred, with Witnesses instructed to avoid all spiritual interaction with disfellowshipped ones, including with close relatives.[101] Witnesses were instructed not to greet disfellowshipped persons.[101][102][103] Parents were permitted to care for the physical needs of a disfellowshipped minor child; ill parents or physically or emotionally ill child could be accepted back into the home "for a time". Witnesses were instructed not to eat with disfellowshipped relatives and were warned that emotional influence could soften their resolve.[104] In 1980 the Witnesses' Brooklyn headquarters advised traveling overseers that a person need not be promoting "apostate views" to warrant disfellowshipping; it advised that "appropriate judicial action" be taken against a person who "continues to believe the apostate ideas and rejects what he has been provided" through The Watchtower.[105] The rules on shunning were extended in 1981 to include those who had resigned from the religion voluntarily.[106][107]
Fall of "Babylon the Great". Russell taught that the fall of the "world empire of false religion" had taken place in 1878 and predicted "Babylon's" complete destruction in 1914.[108] Rutherford claimed in 1917 that religion's final destruction would take place in 1918, explaining that God would destroy churches "wholesale" and that "Christendom shall go down as a system to oblivion."[109] In 1988 the Watch Tower Society claimed that release from prison in 1919 of senior Watchtower figures marked the fall of Babylon "as far as having any captive hold on God's people was concerned",[110] with her "final destruction" "into oblivion, never to recover", expected "in the near future."[111]
United Nations association[edit]
Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and the United Nations
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the United Nations is one of the 'superior authorities' that exist by God's permission, and that it serves a purpose in maintaining order, but do not support it politically and do not consider it to be the means to achieve peace and security. Jehovah's Witnesses also believe that the United Nations is the "image of the wild beast" of Revelation 13:1-18, and the second fulfillment of the "abominable thing that causes desolation" from Matthew 24:15; that it will be the means for the devastation of organized false religion worldwide;[112][113] and that, like all other political powers, it will be destroyed and replaced by God's heavenly kingdom.[114] Jehovah's Witnesses have denounced other religious organizations for having offered political support to the UN.[115]
On October 8, 2001, an article was published in the British Guardian newspaper questioning the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's registration as a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the United Nations Department of Public Information and accusing the Watch Tower Society of hypocrisy.[116] Within days of the article's publication, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society submitted a formal request for disassociation, removing all association with the United Nations Department of Public Information,[117] and released a letter stating that the reason for becoming associated with the United Nations Department of Information (DPI) was to access their facilities, and that they had not been aware of the change in language contained in the criteria for NGO association.[118] However, when the Watch Tower Society sought NGO association, "the organization agreed to meet criteria for association, including support and respect of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations", acknowledging that the purpose of membership is to "promote knowledge of the principles and activities of the United Nations."[119] The official UN/DPI website states that "association of NGOs with DPI does not constitute their incorporation into the United Nations system."[120]
Fall of Jerusalem[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses assert that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC and completely uninhabited for exactly seventy years. This date is critical to their selection of October 1914 for the arrival of Christ in kingly power—2520 years after October 607 BC.[121][122] Non-Witness scholars do not support 607 BC for the event; most scholars date the destruction of Jerusalem to within a year of 587 BC, twenty years later.[122] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that periods of seventy years mentioned in the books of Jeremiah and Daniel refer to the Babylonian exile of Jews. They also believe that the gathering of Jews in Jerusalem, shortly after their return from Babylon, officially ended the exile in Jewish month of Tishrei (Ezra 3:1). According to the Watch Tower Society, October 607 BC is derived by counting back seventy years from Tishrei of 537 BC, based on their belief that Cyrus' decree to release the Jews during his first regnal year "may have been made in late 538 B.C. or before March 4–5, 537 B.C."[123][124] Non-Witness sources assign the return to either 538 BC or 537 BC.[125][126][127][128][129]
In The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return, Carl O. Jonsson, a former Witness, presents eighteen lines of evidence to support the traditional view of neo-Babylonian chronology. He accuses the Watch Tower Society of deliberately misquoting sources in an effort to bolster their position.[130] The Watch Tower Society claims that biblical chronology is not always compatible with secular sources, and that the Bible is superior. It claims that secular historians make conclusions about 587 BC based on incorrect or inconsistent historical records, but accepts those sources that identify Cyrus' capture of Babylon in 539 BC, claiming it has no evidence of being inconsistent and hence can be used as a pivotal date.[123][131][132]
Rolf Furuli, a Jehovah's Witness and a lecturer in Semitic languages, presents a study of 607 BC in support of the Witnesses' conclusions in Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews.[133] Lester L. Grabbe, professor of theology at the University of Hull, said of Furuli's study: "Once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship. ... F. shows little evidence of having put his theories to the test with specialists in Mesopotamian astronomy and Persian history."[134]
The relative positions of the moon, stars and planets indicated in the Babylonian astronomical diary VAT 4956 are used by secular historians to establish 568 BC as the thirty-seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.[135] The Watch Tower Society claims that unnamed researchers have confirmed that the positions of the moon and stars on the tablet are instead consistent with astronomical calculations for 588 BC; the Society claims that the planets mentioned in the tablet cannot be clearly identified.[136] The Watch Tower Society's article cites David Brown as stating, "some of the signs for the names of the planets and their positions are unclear,"[136] however Brown indicates that the Babylonians also had unique names for the known planets;[137] Jonsson confirms that the unique names are those used in VAT 4956.[138] According to the Watch Tower Society, astronomical calculations based on ancient writings are unreliable and prone to error.[139]
Evolution[edit]
Watch Tower Society publications attempt to refute the theory of evolution, in favor of divine creation.[140][141] The Watch Tower Society's views of evolution have met with criticism typical of objections to evolution. Gary Botting described his own difficulty as a Jehovah's Witness to reconcile creation with simple observations of species diversification, especially after discussions with J.B.S. Haldane in India.[142]
The Society's 1985 publication, Life—How Did it Get Here? By Evolution or by Creation? is criticized for its dependency on Francis Hitching, who is cited thirteen times. The book presents Hitching—a TV writer and paranormalist with no scientific credentials—as an evolutionary scientist.[143] Richard Dawkins also criticizes the book for implying that "chance" is the only alternative to deliberate design, stating, "[T]he candidate solutions to the riddle of improbability are not, as falsely implied, design and chance. They are design and natural selection."[144]
The Watch Tower Society teaches a form of day-age creationism.[145] It dismisses Young Earth creationism as "unscriptural and unbelievable",[146] and states that Jehovah's Witnesses "are not creationists", based on the more specific definition of believers in a 'young' earth created in six literal days.[147] According to a 1986 article in The Watchtower, "Jehovah's Witnesses reject the unreasonable theories of 'creationism' in favor of what the Bible really teaches about 'creation'."[148]
Social criticisms[edit]
Authoritarianism and denial of free speech[edit]
The religion's leadership has been described as autocratic and totalitarian, with criticism focusing on the Watch Tower Society's demands for the obedience and loyalty of Witnesses,[149][150] its intolerance of dissent or open discussion of doctrines and practices[151] and the practice of expelling and shunning members who cannot conscientiously agree with all the religion's teachings.[152][153][154]
Raymond Franz has accused the religion's Governing Body of resenting, deprecating and seeking to silence differences of viewpoint within the organization[155] and demanding organizational conformity that overrides personal conscience.[156] He claimed the Watch Tower Society confirmed its position when, in a 1954 court case in Scotland, Watch Tower Society legal counsel Hayden C. Covington said of Jehovah's Witnesses: "We must have unity ... unity at all costs".[157] Sociologist James A. Beckford noted that the Watch Tower movement demands uniformity of beliefs from its members;[158] George D. Chryssides has also reported that Witness publications teach that individuals' consciences are unreliable and need to be subordinated to scripture and to the Watch Tower organization.[159]
Sociologist Andrew Holden said that Witnesses are taught their theology in a highly mechanistic fashion, learning almost by rote.[160] Raymond Franz and others have described Jehovah's Witnesses' religious meetings as "catechistical" question-and-answer sessions in which questions and answers are both provided by the organization, placing pressure on members to reiterate its opinions.[161][162] Former Witnesses Heather and Gary Botting claimed Witnesses "are told what they should feel and think"[163] and members who do voice viewpoints different from those expressed in publications and at meetings are said to be viewed with suspicion.[164] Raymond Franz has claimed most Witnesses would be fearful to voice criticism of the organization for fear of being accused of disloyalty.[156] Authors have drawn attention to frequent Watch Tower warnings against the "dangers" and "infection" of "independent thinking", including questioning any of its published statements or teachings,[165][166][167][168] and instructions that members refrain from engaging in independent Bible research.[169][170][171] The Watch Tower Society also directs that members must not read criticism of the organization by "apostates"[172][173] or material published by other religions.[174][175] Heather and Gary Botting declared: "Jehovah's Witnesses will brook no criticism from within, as many concerned members who have attempted to voice alternative opinions regarding the basic doctrine or application of social pressure have discovered to their chagrin."[176] Beckford observed that the Society denies the legitimacy of all criticisms of itself and that the habit of questioning official doctrine is "strenuously combated at all organizational levels".[177] Witnesses are said to be under constant surveillance within the congregation[178] and are subject to a disciplinary system that encourages informers.[179][180]
Heather and Gary Botting argue that the power of the Watch Tower Society to control members is gained through the acceptance of the Society "quite literally as the voice of Jehovah – God's 'mouthpiece'."[163] Franz claims the concept of loyalty to God's organization has no scriptural support and serves only to reinforce the religion's authority structure, with its strong emphasis on human authority.[181] He has claimed The Watchtower has repeatedly blurred discussions of both Jesus Christ's loyalty to God and the apostles' loyalty to Christ to promote the view that Witnesses should be loyal to the Watch Tower organization.[182] Religion professor James A. Beverley describes the belief that organizational loyalty is equal to divine loyalty[183] as the "central myth" of Jehovah's Witnesses employed to ensure complete obedience.[184] Sociologist Andrew Holden has observed that Witnesses see no distinction between loyalty to Jehovah and to the movement itself;[185] Heather and Gary Botting have claimed that challenging the views of those higher in the hierarchy is regarded as tantamount to challenging God himself.[186]
The Society has described its intolerance of dissident and divergent doctrinal views within its ranks as "strict", but claims its stance is based on the scriptural precedent of 2 Timothy 2:17,18 in which the Apostle Paul condemns heretics Hymenaeus and Philetus who denied the resurrection of Jesus. It said: "Following such Scriptural patterns, if a Christian (who claims belief in God, the Bible, and Jesus) unrepentantly promotes false teachings, it may be necessary for him to be expelled from the congregation ... Hence, the true Christian congregation cannot rightly be accused of being harshly dogmatic."[187] Sociologist Rodney Stark says that Jehovah's Witness leaders are "not always very democratic" and members are expected to conform to "rather strict standards," but says enforcement tends to be informal, sustained by close bonds of friendship and that Jehovah's Witnesses see themselves as "part of the power structure rather than subject to it".[188] In a case involving Jehovah's Witnesses' activities in Russia, the European Court of Human Rights stated that the religion's requirements "are not fundamentally different from similar limitations that other religions impose on their followers' private lives" and that charges of "mind control" in that case were "based on conjecture and uncorroborated by fact."[189] Despite the intolerance of dissident views within the organisation, the Watch Tower Society and its affiliates have, through litigation, been instrumental in establishing civil liberties in many countries, including Canada and the United States.[190]
Description as a "cult"[edit]
Authors Anthony A. Hoekema, Ron Rhodes[191] and Alan W. Gomes,[192] claim Jehovah's Witnesses is a religious cult. Hoekema bases his judgment on a range of what he describes as general characteristics of a cult, including the tendency to elevate peripheral teachings (such as door-to-door witnessing) to great prominence, extra-scriptural source of authority (Hoekema highlights Watch Tower teachings that the Bible may be understood only as it is interpreted by the Governing Body), a view of the group as the exclusive community of the saved (Watch Tower publications teach that Witnesses alone are God's people and only they will survive Armageddon) and the group's central role in eschatology (Hoekema says Witness publications claim the group was called into existence by God to fill in a gap in the truth neglected by existing churches, marking the climax of sacred history).[193]
Jehovah's Witnesses state that they are not a cult[194] and say that although individuals need proper guidance from God, they should do their own thinking.[195][196] Witnesses state that they are saved by the ransom sacrifice of God's Son and undeserved kindness, that there is no one that can earn salvation.[197] American religious scholar J. Gordon Melton,[198] cult deprogrammer John Bowen Brown II,[199] and Knocking producer Joel P. Engardio also reject the claims that Witnesses are a cult.[200][201] The two volume encyclopedia Contemporary American Religion stated: "Various critics and ex-members in recent years have wrongly labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses a 'cult.'"[202]
Coercion[edit]
Since 1920 the Watch Tower Society has required all congregation members participating in the preaching work to turn in written reports of the amount of their activity,[203] explaining that the reports help the Society to plan its activities and identify areas of greater need[204] and help congregation elders to identify those who may need assistance.[205] In 1943 the Society imposed personal quotas, requiring all active Witnesses to spend at least 60 hours of door-to-door preaching per month, claiming these were "directions from the Lord".[206] Although these quotas were subsequently removed, Raymond Franz claims "invisible" quotas remained, obliging Witnesses to meet certain levels of preaching work to remain in good standing in the congregation[164] or to qualify for eldership.[156] Franz describes repeated urging for adherents to "put kingdom interests first" and devote increasing amounts of time to door-to-door preaching efforts as coercive pressure. He says many Witnesses constantly feel guilty that they are not doing more in "field activity".[156]
Former Witnesses Heather and Gary Botting, claiming an emphasis on a personal track record would mean that salvation is effectively being "bought" with "good works", observed: "No matter how long a Witness remains an active distributor of literature, the moment he ceases to be active he is regarded by his peers as good as dead in terms of achieving the ultimate goal of life everlasting in an earthly paradise ... Few realize upon entering the movement that the purchase price is open-ended and that the bill can never be paid in full until death or the advent of Armageddon."[163]
The Watchtower, however, noted that although public preaching is necessary, such works do not "save" a Christian and it urged Witnesses to examine their motive for engaging in preaching activity.[207]
Russian religious scholar Sergei Ivanenko, in a dissenting opinion to a report by a panel of experts to Moscow's Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court in 1999, stated, "It would be a serious mistake to represent the Religious Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses as a religion whose leadership forces its rank and file believers to engage in one form of activity or another, or place upon them strict restrictions or directives." Ivanenko, who based his view on a study of Watch Tower Society literature, concluded: "Jehovah's Witnesses strive to live in accord with Bible principles on the basis of an individual, voluntary choice ... This also applies in full measure to preaching." [208] James A. Beckford, a professor at the University of Warwick, England, who published a study of English Jehovah's Witnesses in 1975,[209] also told the court: "It is important for each of them to exercise free moral agency in choosing to study the Bible and to live in accordance with their interpretation of its message."[210] On June 10, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) stated in regards to a charge of coercion of family members, that "Quite often, the opposite is true: it is the resistance and unwillingness of non-religious family members to accept and to respect the [Jehovah's Witnesses] religious relative's freedom to manifest and practise his or her religion that is the source of conflict."[211]
Medical and legal commentators have also noted cases claiming that Witness medical patients were coerced to obey the religion's ban on blood transfusions.[212][213][214] In a case involving a review of a Russian district court decision, however, the ECHR found nothing in the judgments to suggest that any form of improper pressure or undue influence was applied. It noted: "On the contrary, it appears that many Jehovah’s Witnesses have made a deliberate choice to refuse blood transfusions in advance, free from time constraints of an emergency situation." The court said: "The freedom to accept or refuse specific medical treatment, or to select an alternative form of treatment, is vital to the principles of self-determination and personal autonomy. A competent adult patient is free to decide ... not to have a blood transfusion. However, for this freedom to be meaningful, patients must have the right to make choices that accord with their own views and values, regardless of how irrational, unwise or imprudent such choices may appear to others."[215]
Shunning[edit]
Main articles: Jehovah's Witnesses and congregational discipline and Shunning
Witnesses practice disfellowshipping of members who unrepentantly engage in "gross sin",[216] (most commonly for breaches of the Witnesses' code of personal morality),[217][218] and "remorseless apostasy".[219] The process of disfellowshipping is said to be carried to uphold God’s standards, preserve the congregation’s spiritual cleanness, and possibly prompt a change of attitude in the wrongdoer.[216] The practice requires that the expelled person be shunned by all members of the religion, including family members who do not live in the same home, unless they qualify for re-admission. A person who dies while disfellowshipped cannot be given a funeral at a Kingdom Hall.[220][221] Members often face difficulties and trauma once expelled because of their previously limited contact with the outside world.[222][223] The Watchtower 's description of those who leave as being "mentally diseased" has drawn criticism from some current and former members; in Britain some have argued that the description may constitute a breach of laws regarding religious hatred.[224][225]
The Watch Tower Society has attracted criticism for disfellowshipping members who decide they cannot conscientiously agree with all the religion's teachings and practices. Sociologist Andrew Holden says that because the religion provides no valid reason for leaving, those who do choose to leave are regarded as traitors.[226] According to Raymond Franz, those who decide they cannot accept Watch Tower teachings and practices often live in a climate of fear, feeling they must constantly be on guard about what they say, do and read. He says those who do express any disagreement, even in a private conversation with friends, risk investigation and trial by a judicial committee as apostates or heretics[227] and classed as "wicked".[228]
Franz argues that the threat of expulsion for expressing disagreement with the Watch Tower Society's teachings is designed to create a sterile atmosphere in which the organization's teachings and policies can circulate without the risk of confronting serious questioning or adverse evidence.[229] The result, according to Holden, is that individuals may spend most of their lives suppressing doubts for fear of losing their relationships with friends and relatives.[230] Penton describes the system of judicial committees and the threat of expulsion as the ultimate control mechanism among the Witnesses;[231] Holden claims that shunning not only rids the community of defilement, but deters others from dissident behavior.[222] Sociologist Ronald Lawson has also noted that the religion allows little room for independence of thought, and no toleration of doctrinal diversity; he says those who deviate from official teachings are readily expelled and shunned.[232]
Watch Tower Society publications defend the practice of expelling and shunning those who "promote false teaching", claiming such individuals must be quarantined to prevent the spread of their "spiritual infection".[233] They have cited a dictionary definition of apostasy ("renunciation of a religious faith, abandonment of a previous loyalty") to rule that an individual who begins affiliating with another religion has disassociated from the Witnesses, warranting their shunning to protect the spiritual cleanness of the Witness congregation on the basis of the reference in 1 John 2:19 that those who leave Christianity are "not of our sort".[234] An individual's acceptance of a blood transfusion is similarly deemed as evidence of disassociation.[235] They say Witnesses also obey the "strong counsel" at 1 Corinthians 5:11 that Christians should "quit mixing in company" with people who unrepentantly reject certain scriptural standards.[236]
The Witnesses' judicial process has also been criticized. Hearings take place in secret,[231] with judicial committees filling the roles of judge, jury and prosecutor.[221] According to Franz, witnesses may present evidence but are not permitted to remain for the discussion[237] Critics Heather and Gary Botting have claimed that Witnesses accused of an offence warranting expulsion are presumed guilty until found innocent. They say the onus is on the accused to prove their innocence and if they make no attempt to do so—by failing to appear at a hearing set by the judicial committee—they are assumed to be guilty and unrepentant.[238]
When a decision is made regarding disfellowshipping or disassociation, an announcement is made that the person is "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses," at which point shunning is immediate. Members are not told whether the person has disassociated or has been disfellowshipped. Neither testimony nor evidence in support of the judicial decision are provided. Congregation members are told to accept the rulings without question and Witnesses who refuse to abide by a judicial committee decision will themselves suffer expulsion.[231] Members are forbidden to talk with the expelled member, removing any opportunity for the person to discuss or explain their actions.[237][239] Penton claims judicial committee members and the Watch Tower Society frequently ignore established procedures when dealing with troublesome individuals, conspiring to have them expelled in violation of Society rules.[240] Critics claim that Witness policies encourage an informer system to report to elders Witnesses suspected of having committed an act that could warrant expulsion, including deviating from organizational policies and teachings.[241][242]
Criticism has also been directed at the 1981 change of policy[243] that directed that persons who disassociate from (formally leave) the religion were to be treated as though they were disfellowshipped.[244][245] Holden says that as a result, those who do leave the religion are seldom allowed a dignified exit.[222] Heather and Gary Botting claim inactive Witnesses are often pressured to either become active or to disassociate themselves by declaring they no longer accept key Watch Tower Society doctrines.[238]
Blood[edit]
Main article: Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions
Jehovah's Witnesses reject transfusions of whole allogenic blood and its primary components (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma), and transfusions of stored autologous blood or its primary components. As a doctrine, Jehovah's Witnesses do not reject transfusion of whole autologous blood so long as it is not stored prior to surgery (e.g. peri-operative extraction and transfusion of autologous blood). This religious position is due to their belief that blood is sacred and represents life in God's eyes. Jehovah's Witnesses understand scriptures such as Leviticus 17:10-14 (which speaks of not eating blood) and Acts 15:29 ("abstain from blood") to include taking blood into the body via a transfusion.[246] Controversy has stemmed, however, from what critics state are inconsistencies in Witness policies on blood, claims that Witness patients are coerced into refusing blood and that Watch Tower literature distorts facts about transfusions and fails to provide information that would allow Witnesses to make an informed decision on the issue.[154]
Fractions and components[edit]
In the case of minor fractions derived from blood, each individual is directed to follow their own conscience on whether these are acceptable.[247][248] This is because it is difficult to define at what point blood is no longer blood. As a substance is broken down into smaller and smaller parts it may or may not be considered the original substance. Therefore some of Jehovah's Witnesses personally choose to accept the use of blood fractions and some do not. However, if a fraction "makes up a significant portion of that component" or "carries out the key function of a primary component" it may be objectionable to them.[249]
Such a stance of dividing blood into major components and minor fractions rather than either accepting all blood or requiring all blood components to be poured out onto the ground has led to criticism from organizations such as the Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood.[250] Witnesses respond that blood as the fluid per se is not the real issue. They say the real issue is respect and obedience regarding blood, which they perceive as being God's personal property.[251][252] Members are allowed to eat meat that still contains small traces of blood remaining. Once blood is drained from an animal, the respect has been shown to God and then a person can eat the meat. Jehovah's Witnesses view of meat and blood is therefore different from the Jewish view that goes to great lengths to remove even minor traces of blood.[253][254]
According to lawyer Kerry Louderback-Wood, a former Jehovah's Witness,[255] the Watch Tower Society misrepresents the scope of allowed fractions. If taken together, they "total the entire volume of blood they came from".[256] An example of this can be seen in blood plasma, which consists of 90-96% water. The remaining amount consists mainly of albumin, globulins, fibrinogen and coagulation factors. These four fractions are allowable for use, but only if taken separately. Critics have likened this to banning the eating of a ham and cheese sandwich but allowing the eating of bread, ham and cheese separately.[257]
Storing and donation[edit]
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that storing blood violates direction from the Bible to 'pour blood out onto the ground'. They do not donate blood except for uses they have individually pre-approved.[258] However, they are told that acceptance of blood fractions from donated blood is a matter of conscience. A 2006 issue of Jehovah's Witnesses' newsletter Our Kingdom Ministry stated, "Although [Jehovah's Witnesses] do not donate or store their own blood for transfusion purposes, some procedures or tests involving an individual’s blood are not so clearly in conflict with Bible principles. Therefore, each individual should make a conscientious decision" [emphasis added].[259] Critics have challenged these policies because acceptable blood fractions can only be derived from stored blood provided by donors.[260]
Legal considerations[edit]
Regardless of the medical considerations, Jehovah Witnesses advocate that physicians should uphold the right of a patient to choose what treatments they do or do not accept (though a Witness is subject to religious sanctions if they exercise their right to choose a blood transfusion).[261] Accordingly, US courts tend not to hold physicians responsible for adverse health effects that a patient incurred out of his or her own requests.[246] However, the point of view that physicians must, in all circumstances, abide by the religious wishes of the patients is not acknowledged by all jurisdictions, such as was determined in a case involving Jehovah's Witnesses in France.
The situation has been controversial, particularly in the case of children. In the United States, many physicians will agree to explore and exhaust all non-blood alternatives in the treatment of children at the request of their legal guardians. Some state laws require physicians to administer blood-based treatment to minors if it is their professional opinion that it is necessary to prevent immediate death or severe permanent damage.[citation needed]
Kerry Louderback-Wood has claimed that Jehovah's Witnesses' legal corporations are potentially liable to significant claims for compensation if the religion misrepresents the medical risks of blood transfusions. Wood claims that constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion do not remove the legal responsibility that every person or organization has regarding misrepresenting secular fact.[262]
Animal blood[edit]
The Watchtower has stated that "Various medical products have been obtained from biological sources, either animal or human ... Such commercialization of ... blood is hardly tempting for true Christians, who guide their thinking by God's perfect law. Our Creator views blood as sacred, representing God-given life ... blood removed from a creature was to be poured out on the ground, disposed of."[263]
Reporting of sexual abuse[edit]
Main articles: Jehovah's Witnesses and child sex abuse and Silentlambs
Critics such as Silentlambs have accused Jehovah's Witnesses of employing organizational policies that make the reporting of sexual abuse difficult for members.[264][265] Some victims of sexual abuse have asserted that when reporting abuse they were ordered to maintain silence by their local elders to avoid embarrassment to both the accused and the organization.[266][267][268][269]
The religion's official policy on child protection, which discusses the procedures for reporting child sexual abuse, states that elders obey all legal requirements for reporting sex offenders, including reporting uncorroborated or unsubstantiated allegations where required by law. Elders are to discipline pedophiles in the congregation. Victims are permitted to notify the authorities if they wish to do so.[270]
While a Witness may lose congregation privileges following a single credible accusation of abuse,[271] Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be scripturally obliged to require corroboration ("two witnesses") before applying their severest forms of congregational discipline.[272] If there is not an actual second witness to an incident of abuse, a congregation judicial committee will accept medical or police reports, or a witness to a separate but similar incident as such a second witness against a member accused of sexual abuse.[273]
Biblical criticisms[edit]
The Watch Tower Society has been criticized for its refusal to reveal the names and academic credentials of the translators of its New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT).[274] The Society has claimed members of the NWT's translation committee wished to remain anonymous in order to exalt only the name of God,[275] The Watchtower stating that the educational qualifications of the translators were unimportant and that "the translation itself testifies to their qualifications".[276] Raymond Franz, a former member of the Governing Body, has claimed that of the four men he says constituted the committee, only one—its principal translator, his uncle Frederick Franz—had sufficient knowledge of biblical languages to have attempted the project.[277] Frederick Franz had studied Greek for two years and was self-taught in Hebrew.[278]
Much criticism of the NWT involves the rendering of certain texts considered to be biased towards specific Witness practices and doctrines.[274][279][280][281][282][283] These include the use of "torture stake" instead of "cross" throughout the New Testament;[274] the rendering of John 1:1, with the insertion of the indefinite article ("a") in its rendering to give "the Word was a god";[274][284] Romans 10:10, which uses the term "public declaration", which may reinforce the imperative to engage in public preaching;[274] John 17:3, which used the term "taking in knowledge" rather than "know" to suggest that salvation is dependent on ongoing study,[274] and the placement of the comma in Luke 23:43, which affects the timing of the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to the thief at Calvary.[285]
Also criticized is the NWT's insertion of the name Jehovah 237 times in the New Testament without extant New Testament Greek manuscript evidence that the name existed there.[286][287][288] Watch Tower publications have claimed that the name was "restored" on a sound basis, stating that when New Testament writers quote earlier Old Testament scriptures containing the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), "the translator has the right to render Kyrios ("LORD") as Jehovah."[289] The NWT mentions twenty-seven other translations which have similarly rendered Kyrios as a form of the name Jehovah, stating that there is only one verse where the NWT does so without agreement from other translations.[290]
The Society has claimed its translation "courageously restores God’s name, Jehovah, to its proper place in the Biblical text, is free from the bias of religious traditionalism, and ... gives the literal meaning of God’s Word as accurately as possible."[291] Jason BeDuhn, associate professor of religious studies at Northern Arizona University, in Flagstaff, Arizona, compared major translations for accuracy. He wrote that the NWT's introduction of the name "Jehovah" into the New Testament 237 times was "not accurate translation by the most basic principle of accuracy".[292] BeDuhn also stated that whilst there are "a handful of examples of bias in the [New World Translation (NW)]", that "most of the differences are due to the greater accuracy of the NW as a literal, conservative translation of the original expressions of the New Testament writers." He concluded that "the NW and [another translation] are not bias free, and they are not perfect translations. But they are remarkably good translations ... often better than [the other six translations analyzed]."[293]
See also[edit]
Anti-cult movement
Beth Sarim
Charles Taze Russell controversies
Christian countercult movement
Heresy in Christianity
Heterodoxy
History of Jehovah's Witnesses
Watch Tower Society presidency dispute (1917)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Crompton, Robert (1996), Counting the Days to Armageddon, Cambridge: James Clarke & Co, pp. 9, 115, ISBN 0-227-67939-3
2.Jump up ^ The Time is at Hand, Watch Tower Society, 1889, pages 99 "In view of this strong Bible evidence concerning the Times of the Gentiles, we consider it an established truth, that the final end of the kingdoms of this world, and the full establishment of the kingdom of God will be accomplished by A.D. 1914."; cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 193.
3.Jump up ^ In 1892 Zion's Watch Tower stated that God's battle, Armageddon, which was believed to be already under way, would end in October 1914, a date "definitely marked in Scripture," (15 January 1892, page 1355 reprint) and Watch Tower editor Charles Taze Russell declared: "We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God's dates, not ours." (The Watchtower, 15 July 1894, page 1677). After comparing "unreliable secular chronology" to reliable "Bible chronology" The Watchtower stated, “It was on this line of reckoning [using the chronology of the Bible as an established fact] that the dates 1874, 1914, and 1918 were located; and the Lord has placed the stamp of his seal upon 1914 and 1918 beyond any possibility of erasure....Using this same measuring line, beginning with the entry...of Israel into Canaan, and counting the full 70 cycles...,as clearly indicated by Jehovah's sending of the Jews into Babylon for the full 70 years, it is an easy matter to locate 1925, probably the fall, for the beginning of the antitypical jubilee. There can be no more question about 1925 than there was about 1914.... Looking back we can now easily see that those dates were clearly indicated in Scripture and doubtless intended by the Lord to encourage his people....That all that some expect to see in 1925 may not transpire that year will not alter the date one whit more than in the other cases.”(The Watch Tower, May 15, 1922, p. 150; Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 224).
4.Jump up ^ "Following Faithful Shepherds with Life in View", The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, page 591, "Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect. We cannot claim to love God, yet deny his Word and channel of communication....Jehovah's visible organization is based firmly on the twelvefold foundation of the apostles of the Lamb with Jesus Christ himself being the foundation cornerstone.(Rev. 21:14,19;Eph 2:20-22) Therefore, in submitting to Jehovah's visible theocratic organization, we must be in full and complete agreement with every feature of its apostolic procedure and requirements."
5.Jump up ^ "The Godly Qualities of Love and Hate", The Watchtower, 15 July 1974: 441, "Christians have implicit trust in their heavenly Father; they do not question what he tells them through his written Word and organization."
6.^ Jump up to: a b Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 174, "No less serious is it when a group of men have divided views on predictions related to a certain date and yet present their adherents an outward appearance of united confidence, encouraging those adherents to place unwavering trust in those predictions."
7.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, p. 629 "people certainly ha[ve] the freedom to believe what they chose. But anyone who publicly or privately advocates views that are divergent from what appears in the publications of an organization, and who does so while claiming to represent that organization, causes division."
8.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Atlanta: Commentary Press, pp. 18–28, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
9.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
10.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, Watch Tower Society, 1959, page 52.
11.Jump up ^ "A Solid Basis for Confidence", The Watchtower, July 15, 1976, page 440.
12.Jump up ^ Gruss, Edmond C. (1972), The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, pp. 87–88, ISBN 0-87552-306-4
13.Jump up ^ In Crisis of Conscience, 2002, pg. 173, Franz quotes from "They Shall Know That a Prophet Was Among Them", (The Watchtower, April 1, 1972,) which states that God had raised Jehovah's Witnesses as "a prophet to help [people], to warn them of dangers and declare things to come". He also cites "Identifying the Right Kind of Messenger" (The Watchtower, May 1, 1997, page 8) which identifies the Witnesses as his "true messengers ... by making the messages he delivers through them come true", in contrast to "false messengers", whose predictions fail. In In Search of Christian Freedom, 2007, he quotes The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah - How? (1971, pg 70, 292) which describes Witnesses as the modern Ezekiel class, "a genuine prophet within our generation". The Watch Tower book noted: "Concerning the message faithfully delivered by the Ezekiel class, Jehovah positively states that it 'must come true' ... those who wait undecided until it does 'come true' will also have to know that a prophet himself had proved to be in the midst of them." He also cites "Execution of the Great Harlot Nears", (The Watchtower, October 15, 1980, pg 17) which claims God gives the Witnesses "special knowledge that others do not have ... advance knowledge about this system's end".
14.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 86-91.
15.Jump up ^ Criticisms of statements, such as those found below, are found in a number of books including Penton, M. James (1997) Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press; Franz, Raymond, In Search of Christian Freedom (2007) Commentary Press; Watters, Randall (2004) Thus Saith Jehovah's Witnesses, Common Sense Publications; Reed, David A. (1990) Index of Watchtower Errors, 1879 to 1989, Baker Books and at websites including Watchtower Information Service; Quotes-Watchtower.co.uk; Reexamine.Quotes.
16.Jump up ^ Waldeck, Val Jehovah's Witnesses: What do they believe?. Pilgrim Publications SA. ISBN 1-920092-08-0.
17.Jump up ^ Buttrey, John M (2004). Let No One Mislead You. iUniverse. ISBN 0-595-30710-8.
18.Jump up ^ Awake!, October 8, 1968, p. 23.
19.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, page 87.
20.^ Jump up to: a b "Why So Many False Alarms?", Awake!, March 22, 1993, pages 3-4, footnote.
21.Jump up ^ Reasoning From the Scriptures, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1989, pg 137.
22.Jump up ^ Revelation - Its Grand Climax, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1988, page 9.
23.Jump up ^ "Views From the Watchtower", Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, January 1908, "We are not prophesying; we are merely giving our surmises ... We do not even [assert] that there is no mistake in our interpretation of prophesy and our calculations of chronology. We have merely laid these before you, leaving it for each to exercise his own faith or doubt in respect to them."
24.Jump up ^ "Preaching Christ—Through Envy or Goodwill?", The Watchtower, May 15, 1976, p. 297, "Jehovah’s Witnesses as modern-day Christians are working hard to get this good news preached to every individual. They do not claim infallibility or perfection. Neither are they inspired prophets."
25.Jump up ^ "Allow No Place for the Devil!", The Watchtower, March 15, 1986, page 19, "Some opposers claim that Jehovah’s Witnesses are false prophets. These opponents say that dates have been set, but nothing has happened. ... Yes, Jehovah’s people have had to revise expectations from time to time. Because of our eagerness, we have hoped for the new system earlier than Jehovah’s timetable has called for it. But we display our faith in God’s Word and its sure promises by declaring its message to others. Moreover, the need to revise our understanding somewhat does not make us false prophets or change the fact that we are living in 'the last days,' ... How foolish to take the view that expectations needing some adjustment should call into question the whole body of truth! The evidence is clear that Jehovah has used and is continuing to use his one organization."
26.Jump up ^ George Chryssides, They Keep Changing the Dates, A paper presented at the CESNUR 2010 conference in Torino. How Prophecy Succeeds:The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Expectations
27.Jump up ^ March 1, 1904 Zion's Watch Tower p. 67
28.Jump up ^ Charles Taze Russell and Nelson H. Barbour, The Three Worlds (1907) as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pages 21-22.
29.Jump up ^ Charles Taze Russell, The Time Is At Hand (1891) as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 44.
30.Jump up ^ Melvin D. Curry, Jehovah's Witnesses: The Millenarian World of the Watch Tower, Garland, 1992, as cited by James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 45.
31.Jump up ^ Penton, James (1997). Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. University of Toronto Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0802079732.
32.Jump up ^ The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.
33.Jump up ^ J. F. Rutherford, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 212-214.
34.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, May 15, 1922, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 224.
35.Jump up ^ The Way to Paradise booklet, Watch Tower Society, 1924, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 230-232.
36.Jump up ^ Face the Facts, 1938, pp. 46-50
37.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1941, p. 288
38.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, May 1, 1942, p. 139
39.Jump up ^ Awake!, February 22, 1961, p. 7
40.Jump up ^ Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God (PDF), Watch Tower Society, 1966, pp. 29–35, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 238-239.
41.Jump up ^ Talk by F. W. Franz, Baltimore, Maryland 1966, cited by Jehovah's Witnesses – Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, and by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 238-239.
42.Jump up ^ Did Man Get Here By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1967, pg 161.
43.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, May 1, 1968, page 273
44.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, Watch Tower Society, March 1968, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 246.
45.Jump up ^ Awake!, May 22, 1969, p. 15
46.Jump up ^ The Nations Shall Know That I Am Jehovah – How?, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1971, pg 216.
47.Jump up ^ Kingdom Ministry, Watch Tower Society, May 1974, page 3.
48.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1984, pp. 18-19
49.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, January 1, 1989, pg. 12.
50.Jump up ^ "Flashes of Light - Great and Small", The Watchtower, May 15, 1995, page 17.
51.^ Jump up to: a b c Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 184.
52.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 15, 1894: 1677, "We see no reason for changing the figures—nor could we change them if we would. They are, we believe, God’s dates, not ours. But bear in mind that the end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble." Missing or empty |title= (help)
53.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1901: 292, "The culmination of the trouble in October, 1914, is clearly marked in the Scriptures;" Missing or empty |title= (help)
54.Jump up ^ The Time Is at Hand, 1907, p. 101, "The ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty’ (Rev. 16:14), which will end in A.D. 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth’s present rulership, is already commenced."
55.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1922: 346, "We understand that the jubilee type began to count in 1575 B.C.; and the 3,500 year period embracing the type must end in 1925. It follows, then, that the year 1925 will mark the beginning of the restoration of all things lost by Adam's disobedience." Missing or empty |title= (help)
56.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, November 1, 1922: 333, "Bible prophecy shows that the Lord was due to appear for the second time in 1874. Fulfilled prophecy shows beyond a doubt that he did appear in 1874 ... these facts are indisputable." Missing or empty |title= (help)
57.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 708.
58.Jump up ^ "Impart God’s Progressive Revelation to Mankind", The Watchtower, March 1, 1965, p. 158-159
59.Jump up ^ Studies in the Scriptures Vol. II 1889 p. 239, Studies in the Scriptures Volume III 1891 p. 234, Studies in Scriptures Vol. IV 1897 p. 621.
60.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 632.
61.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, pages 20, 23.
62.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 23.
63.Jump up ^ Watchtower, February 1, 1925, page 371.
64.Jump up ^ Watchtower, May 15, 1927, page 151.
65.Jump up ^ Watchtower, June 1, 1927.
66.Jump up ^ "The Corroborative Testimony of God's Stone Witness and Prophet, The Great Pyramid in Egypt", Chapter 10, Thy Kingdom Come, third volume of Studies in the Scriptures, 1910.
67.Jump up ^ Watchtower, June 15, 1922, page 187, as reproduced by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 225, 226.
68.Jump up ^ Watchtower, 1928, pages 339-45, 355-62, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 170.
69.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, October–November 1881, as cited by Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 142.
70.Jump up ^ The Battle of Armageddon by C. T. Russell, 1886, page 613, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, footnote, page 345.
71.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, December 1, 1916, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 34.
72.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, pages 68 and 71, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 63.
73.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 626, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 67.
74.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, October 1, 1909, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 67.
75.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, Watch Tower Society, 1993, page 626.
76.Jump up ^ Thy Kingdom Come, 1891, page 23.
77.Jump up ^ The Harp of God, (1921), 1924 ed., p. 231.
78.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, pages 21, 46.
79.Jump up ^ C.T. Russell, The Time Is At Hand (Watch Tower Society, 1889, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 190, 204.
80.Jump up ^ Life, Watch Tower Society, 1929, page 170, as cited by Edmond C. Gruss, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 1972, page 87.
81.Jump up ^ J.F. Rutherford, Vindication - Book II, pages 257-258, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, page 65.
82.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, November 1, 1922, page 333, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 228.
83.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, March 1, 1922, "The indisputable facts, therefore, show that the time of the end began in 1799; that the Lord's second presence began in 1874".
84.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, pages 18-22.
85.Jump up ^ "No Spiritual Energy Crisis for Discreet Ones", The Watchtower, August 15, 1974, page 507, footnote.
86.^ Jump up to: a b Raymond Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, 2007, page 484.
87.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, June 15, 1952, page 376.
88.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 107, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
89.Jump up ^ Qualified To Be Ministers, Watch Tower Society, 1955, page 381, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 74.
90.Jump up ^ Marley Cole, Jehovah's Witnesses - The New World Society, Vantage Press, New York, 1955, pages 86-89, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 74.
91.Jump up ^ Testimony by Fred Franz, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh Transcript, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh, 1954, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 75-76.
92.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, March 1, 1923, page 68, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 59.
93.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, pages 58-79.
94.Jump up ^ M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, 1997, page 216.
95.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, December 15, 1971, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, 2007, page 78.
96.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 1, 1963, page 412.
97.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, July 15, 1963, page 443.
98.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, pages 467, "It is right to hate the wrong committed by the disfellowshiped one, but it is not right to hate the person nor is it right to treat such ones in an inhumane way."
99.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, pages 471-472.
100.Jump up ^ "Maintaining a Balanced Viewpoint Toward Disfellowshiped Ones", The Watchtower, August 1, 1974, page 471, par 19.
101.^ Jump up to: a b "If a Relative Is Disfellowshiped", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 28.
102.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 24-25.
103.Jump up ^ "If a Relative Is Disfellowshiped", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 30.
104.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 20-31, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 299-300.
105.Jump up ^ Letter to all circuit and district overseers from Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of New York, September 1, 1980, as reproduced by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 341.
106.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, pages 23, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, page 299-300.
107.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 357-359.
108.Jump up ^ Watch Tower, June 15, 1911, as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, page 188.
109.Jump up ^ The Finished Mystery, 1917, p. 485, 258, 513 as cited by Raymond Franz, Crisis of Conscience, pages 206-211.
110.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand!, Watch Tower Society, 1988, page 209.
111.Jump up ^ Revelation - It's Grand Climax at Hand!, Watch Tower Society, 1988, pages 266, 269.
112.Jump up ^ "No Calamity Will Befall Us" (Subheading). (Nov. 15, 2001). The Watchtower, p.19
113.Jump up ^ "Let the Reader Use Discernment", (Subheading "A Modern-Day 'Disgusting Thing'"). (May 1, 1999). The Watchtower, p 14
114.Jump up ^ "A World Without War-When?" Oct.1, 1991, pp.5 The Watchtower
115.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, 1 June 1997, p. 17 par. 15: "In the first place, what lies ahead for the world's false religions that have so often been extremely friendly with the UN? They are the offspring of one idolatrous fountainhead, ancient Babylon. Appropriately, they are described at Revelation 17:5 as "Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth". Jeremiah described the doom of this hypocritical conglomerate. Harlotlike, they have seduced earth's politicians, flattering the UN and forming illicit relations with its member political powers."
116.Jump up ^ Bates, Stephen (Oct. 8, 2001) "Jehovah's Witnesses link to UN queried", The Guardian
117.Jump up ^ Bates, Stephen (Oct. 15, 2001) "'Hypocrite' Jehovah's Witnesses abandon secret link with UN", The Guardian
118.Jump up ^ Letter to Editor - The Guardian" (Oct. 22, 2001) Office of Public Information
119.Jump up ^ Letter from United Nations DPI/NGO Resource Centre
120.Jump up ^ UN DPI/NGO
121.Jump up ^ Pay Attention to Daniel's Prophecy! chap. 6 par. 25-29
122.^ Jump up to: a b Edmond C. Gruss, Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co, 1972, ISBN 0-87552-306-4 Page 42.
123.^ Jump up to: a b "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part One" The Watchtower, October 1, 2011, page 26
124.Jump up ^ "Evidences of the Year’s Correctness". The Watchtower: 271–2. May 1, 1952. "It was in this first regnal year of Cyrus that he issued his decree to permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. (Ezra 1:1) The decree may have been made in late 538 B.C. or before March 4–5, 537 B.C. In either case this would have given sufficient time for the large party of 49,897 Jews to organize their expedition and to make their long four-month journey from Babylon to Jerusalem to get there by September 29–30, 537 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month, to build their altar to Jehovah as recorded at Ezra 3:1-3. Inasmuch as September 29–30, 537 B.C., officially ends the seventy years of desolation as recorded at 2 Chronicles 36:20, 21, so the beginning of the desolation of the land must have officially begun to be counted after September 21–22, 607 B.C., the first of the seventh Jewish month in 607 B.C., which is the beginning point for the counting of the 2,520 years."
125.Jump up ^ [1] "Babylonian Exile." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010.
126.Jump up ^ "Timeline of Judaism after the Babylonian Exile (538 BCE-70 CE)". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
127.Jump up ^ Keller, Werner (1983). The Bible As History. Bantam; 2 Revised edition. p. 352. ISBN 0-553-27943-2.
128.Jump up ^ Dictionary of the Bible: Biographical, Geographical, Historical and Doctrinal by Charles Randall Barnes, Page 247.
129.Jump up ^ Dyer, Charles (2003). Nelson’s Old Testament survey: Discovering essence, Background & Meaning about Every Old Testament book.
130.Jump up ^ The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return by Carl O. Jonsson. ISBN 0-914675-06-0 Publisher: Commentary Press (July, 1998, Fourth edition 2004)
131.Jump up ^ "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part Two" The Watchtower, November 1, 2011, page 22
132.Jump up ^ Insight from scriptures. Vol.2 page 458, "secular chronologers calculate the 16th day of Tashritu (Tishri) as falling on October 11, Julian calendar, and October 5, Gregorian calendar, in the year 539 B.C.E. Since this date is an accepted one, there being no evidence to the contrary, it is usable as a pivotal date in coordinating secular history with Bible history."
133.Jump up ^ Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews (2003) ISBN 82-994633-3-5
134.Jump up ^ Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 28:5 [2004], p. 42-43
135.Jump up ^ Under One Sky: Astronomy and Mathematics in the Ancient Near East, Münster 2002, pp. 423-428, F. R. Stephenson and D. M. Willis.
136.^ Jump up to: a b "When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed?—Part Two" The Watchtower, November 1, 2011, page 25, 28, footnote 18
137.Jump up ^ Mesopotamian Planetary Astronomy–Astrology, David Brown, pages 53–56; 2000
138.Jump up ^ When Was Ancient Jerusalem Destroyed, page 21, Carl O. Jonsson.
139.Jump up ^ Insight from scriptures, Vol. I, Astronomical Calculations, page 454
140.Jump up ^ Life — How Did It Get Here? By Evolution Or By Creation?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 1985
141.Jump up ^ Was Life Created?, Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, 2010
142.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, "Preface" to The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. xiv-xvi
143.Jump up ^ Hitching is first introduced as an "evolutionist" (p. 15). A Hitching quote on page 71 is repeated on page 73, in the latter case presented as the statement of "a scientist". The 1986 Watchtower book The Bible — God's Word or Man's? likewise refers to Hitching as a scientist (p. 106).
144.Jump up ^ Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion, p. 145. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2006. ISBN 0-618-68000-4.
145.Jump up ^ Is There a Creator Who Cares About You?. Watch Tower Society. p. 93.
146.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, April 1, 1986, pp. 12-13
147.Jump up ^ Awake!, May 8, 1997, p. 12
148.Jump up ^ The Watchtower, September 1, 1986, p. 30
149.Jump up ^ "Following Faithful Shepherds with Life in View", The Watchtower, October 1, 1967, page 591, "Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect ... in submitting to Jehovah's visible theocratic organization, we must be in full and complete agreement with every feature of its apostolic procedure and requirements."
150.Jump up ^ "Loyal to Christ and His Faithful Slave", The Watchtower, April 1, 2007, page 24, "When we loyally submit to the direction of the faithful slave and its Governing Body, we are submitting to Christ, the slave's Master."
151.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 89, 95, 103, 120, 204, 221, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
152.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, pp. 22, 32, 150–170, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
153.Jump up ^ Alan Rogerson, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, Constable, 1969, page 50.
154.^ Jump up to: a b Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses, part 1", Journal of Medical Ethics, August 1998, Vol 24, Issue 4, page 223-230.
155.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 98–100, 104–107, 113, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
156.^ Jump up to: a b c d R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 6.
157.Jump up ^ Court transcript as cited by Heather & Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1984, page 67-68, also at Pursuer's Proof: Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh Transcript, Lord Strachan vs. Douglas Walsh, 1954.
158.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 103, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
159.Jump up ^ Minority Religions, Social Change, and Freedom of Conscience
160.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 67, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
161.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 419–421, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
162.Jump up ^ Stevenson, W.C. (1967), Year of Doom 1975: The Inside Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, London: Hutchinson & Co, pp. 33–35, "The inevitable result of a person's submitting to (the home Bible study) arrangement is that eventually all his own thoughts will be replaced by the thoughts contained in the book he is studying ... if one were able to watch this person's development ... it would be quite obvious that he was gradually losing all individuality of thought and action ... One of the characteristics of Jehovah's Witnesses is the extraordinary unanimity of thinking on almost every aspect of life ... in view of this there seems to be some justification for the charge that their study methods are in fact a subtle form of indoctrination or brainwashing."
163.^ Jump up to: a b c Botting, Heather & Gary (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 153, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
164.^ Jump up to: a b R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 16.
165.Jump up ^ "Exposing the Devil’s Subtle Designs" and "Armed for the Fight Against Wicked Spirits", Watchtower, January 15, 1983, as cited by Heather and Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1984, page 92.
166.Jump up ^ "Serving Jehovah Shoulder to Shoulder", The Watchtower, August 15, 1981, page 28, "Jehovah's Theocratic Organization Today", The Watchtower, February 1, 1952, pages 79–81.
167.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 25-26, 101, "For every passage in Society literature that urges members to be bold and courageous in critical pursuits, there are many others that warn about independent thinking and the peril of questioning the organization ... Fear of disobedience to the Governing Body keeps Jehovah's Witnesses from carefully checking into biblical doctrine or allegations concerning false prophecy, faulty scholarship, and injustice. Witnesses are told not to read books like this one."
168.Jump up ^ According to Randall Watters, who in 1981 published a pamphlet, "What happened at the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in the spring of 1980?", cited by Heather and Gary Botting, a former Governing Body member is said to have referred Brooklyn headquarters staff to an organizational handbook containing 1,177 policies and regulations, telling them: "If there are some who feel that they cannot subject themselves to the rules and regulations now in operation, such ones ought to be leaving and not be involved here."
169.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, pp. 107–108, 122, 298.
170.Jump up ^ "Walk With Confidence in Jehovah’s Leadership", The Watchtower, June 1, 1985, page 20, "To turn away from Jehovah and his organization, to spurn the direction of “the faithful and discreet slave,” and to rely simply on personal Bible reading and interpretation is to become like a solitary tree in a parched land."
171.Jump up ^ Question box, Our Kingdom Ministry, September 2007.
172.Jump up ^ "Do not be quickly shaken from your reason", Watchtower, March 15, 1986
173.Jump up ^ "At which table are you feeding?" Watchtower, July 1, 1994
174.Jump up ^ Watchtower, May 1, 1984, page 31, as cited by R. Franz, "In Search of Christian Freedom", chapter 12
175.Jump up ^ "Firmly uphold godly teaching," Watchtower, May 1, 2000, page 9.
176.Jump up ^ Heather & Gary Botting, The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, 1984, page 143, 153.
177.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, pp. 204, 221, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
178.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 30, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
179.Jump up ^ R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 11.
180.Jump up ^ Muramoto, O. (January 6, 2001), "Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses", BMJ 322 (7277): 37–39, doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7277.37, PMC 1119307, PMID 11141155.
181.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, pp. 449–464, ISBN 0-914675-17-6, "Loyalty to the organization becomes the touchstone, the criterion, the "bottom line", when it comes to determining whether one is a faithful Christian or not ... to make any organizational loyalty the criterion for judging anyone's Christianity is, then, clearly a perversion of Scripture ... Read the whole of those Scriptures ... nowhere are we taught to put faith in men or in an earthly organization, unquestioningly following its lead ... the entire Bible record is a continual reminder of the danger inherent in that kind of trust."
182.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom (2nd ed.), Commentary Press, p. 458, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
183.Jump up ^ "You Must Be Holy Because Jehovah Is Holy", The Watchtower, February 15, 1976, page 124, "Would not a failure to respond to direction from God through his organization really indicate a rejection of divine rulership?"
184.Jump up ^ James A. Beverley, Crisis of Allegiance, Welch Publishing Company, Burlington, Ontario, 1986, ISBN 0-920413-37-4, pages 25-26, 101.
185.Jump up ^ Holden 2002, p. 121.
186.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 156, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
187.Jump up ^ "Questions from readers", Watchtower, April 1, 1986.
188.Jump up ^ Stark and Iannoccone (1997), "Why the Jehovah's Witnesses Grow So Rapidly: A Theoretical Application" (PDF), Journal of Contemporary Religion (PDF), pp. 142–143, retrieved 2008-12-30.
189.Jump up ^ ECHR Point 130, 118
190.Jump up ^ Gary Botting, Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses, (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993.
191.Jump up ^ Rhodes, Ron (2001), The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, pp. 77–103, ISBN 0-310-23217-1
192.Jump up ^ Gomes, Alan W. (1995), Unmasking the Cults, Zondervan, pp. 22, 23, ISBN 0-310-70441-3
193.Jump up ^ Hoekema, Anthony A. (1963), The Four Major Cults, Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, pp. 1–8,223–371, 373–388, ISBN 0-8028-3117-6
194.Jump up ^ "Are Jehovah’s Witnesses a Cult?", The Watchtower, February 15, 1994, pages 5-7
195.Jump up ^ "Do Others Do Your Thinking?", Awake!, August 22, 1978, page 4.
196.Jump up ^ "Who Molds Your Thinking?", The Watchtower, April 1, 1999, page 22, "You have free will. Exercising it, you can choose to respond to Jehovah’s molding influence or deliberately reject it. How much better to listen to Jehovah’s voice instead of arrogantly asserting, 'No one tells me what to do'!"
197.Jump up ^ "Salvation", Reasoning on the Scriptures, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, p. 359, "Is anything more than faith needed in order to gain salvation? Eph. 2:8, 9, RS: “By grace [“undeserved kindness,” NW] you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast.” (The entire provision for salvation is an expression of God’s undeserved kindness. There is no way that a descendant of Adam can gain salvation on his own, no matter how noble his works are. Salvation is a gift from God given to those who put faith in the sin-atoning value of the sacrifice of his Son.)"
198.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Wish You Would Answer The Door" (PDF). The Grand Rapids Press. 2006.
199.Jump up ^ Brown II, John Bowen (2008-04-16), "Cult Watchdog Organizations and Jehovah’s Witnesses", Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and 'the New Spirituality', London School of Economics, London, UK: Center for Studies on New Religions, retrieved 2010-03-03
200.Jump up ^ Engardio, Joel P. (2007-04-17). "Myths & Realities". PBS Independent Lens. Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
201.Jump up ^ Brown II, John B. (2005-06-02), "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Anti-cult Movement: A Human Rights Perspective", Religious Movements, Globalization and Conflict: Transnational Perspectives, Palermo, Sicily: Center for Studies on New Religions
202.Jump up ^ Raschke, Carl A. (2013-07-19), "Contemporary American Religion Volume 1", in Catherine L. Albanese, Randall Balmer, Frederick M. Denny, Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, Ana Maria Diaz-Stevens, Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo, Ellen M. Umansky, Jehovah's Witnesses, New York: Macmillan Reference USA An Imprint of the Gale Group, p. 343, ISBN 0-02-864926-5
203.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose, page 96, as cited by R. Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, chapter 4.
204.Jump up ^ Question Box, Our Kingdom Ministry, September 1979, page 4.
205.Jump up ^ "Do You Contribute to an Accurate Report?", Our Kingdom Ministry, December 2002, page 8.
206.Jump up ^ "Righteous requirements", Watchtower, July 1, 1943, pages 204-206, "Jehovah ... has appointed his 'faithful and wise servant, who is his visible mouthpiece ... These expressions of God's will by his King and through his established agency constitute his law or rule of action ... The Lord breaks down our organization instructions further ... He says the requirements for special pioneers shall be 175 hours and 50 back-calls per month ... and for regular pioneers 150 hours ... And for company publishers he says, 'Let us make a quota of 60 hours and 12 back-calls and at least one study a week for each publisher'. These directions come to us from the Lord through his established agency directing what is required of us ... This expression of the Lord's will should be the end of all controversy ... The Lord through his 'faithful and wise servant' now states to us, Let us cover our territory four times in six months. That becomes our organization instructions and has the same binding force on us that his statement to the Logos had when he said, 'Let us make man in our image'. It is our duty to accept this additional instruction and obey it."
207.Jump up ^ "Saved, Not by Works Alone, But by Undeserved Kindness", The Watchtower, June 1, 2005, pages 17-18.
208.Jump up ^ Expert Opinion by S. I. Ivanenko, p. 10, Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court, in the application of the Moscow Northern Administrative District prosecutor to liquidate the Religious Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow
209.Jump up ^ The Trumpet of Prophecy: A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, John Wiley and Sons, 1975, as cited by M. James Penton, Apocalypse Delayed, University of Toronto Press, 1997. Penton describes Beckford's book as "uneven" and marred by errors and a misunderstanding of certain basic Witness doctrines.
210.Jump up ^ Sworn Expert Opinion, prepared by Professor James Beckford, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, November 1998, Golovinsky Intermunicipal Court, in the application of the Moscow Northern Administrative District prosecutor to liquidate the Religious Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow
211.Jump up ^ ECHR Point number 111
212.Jump up ^ “Jehovah's Witnesses case heads to B.C. court”, Vancouver Sun, April 1, 2007
213.Jump up ^ Medical emergencies in children of orthodox Jehovah's Witness families: Three recent legal cases, ethical issues and proposals for management”, by J Guicho and, I Mitchell, Paediatrics & Child Health, Canadian Pediatric Society, December 2006.
214.Jump up ^ "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses, part 2." Journal of Medical Ethics, October 1998, pages 295-301.
215.Jump up ^ ECHR Point number 136, 139
216.^ Jump up to: a b "Always Accept Jehovah’s Discipline", The Watchtower, November 15, 2006, page 26.
217.Jump up ^ "Cultivate Obedience as the End Draws Near", The Watchtower, October 1, 2002, page 21
218.Jump up ^ Beckford, James A. (1975), The Trumpet of Prophecy, A Sociological Study of Jehovah's Witnesses, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, p. 55, ISBN 0-631-16310-7
219.Jump up ^ "Elders, Judge With Righteousness", The Watchtower, July 1, 1992, page 19.
220.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 354, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
221.^ Jump up to: a b Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 89
222.^ Jump up to: a b c Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 163, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
223.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Recent developments in medical care of Jehovah's Witnesses", Western Journal of Medicine, May 1999, page 298.
224.Jump up ^ Taylor, Jerome (27 September 2011). "War of words breaks out among Jehovah's Witnesses". The Independent.
225.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses church likens defectors to 'contagious, deadly disease'", Sunday Herald Sun, page 39, October 2, 2011.
226.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 150, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
227.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 384, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
228.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 351, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
229.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 359, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
230.Jump up ^ Holden, Andrew (2002), Jehovah's Witnesses: Portrait of a Contemporary Religious Movement, Routledge, p. 151, ISBN 0-415-26609-2
231.^ Jump up to: a b c Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 249
232.Jump up ^ Ronald Lawson, "Sect-State Relations: Accounting for the Differing Trajectories of Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses," Sociology of Religion, 1995, 56:4, pg 371.
233.Jump up ^ "Maintain Your Faith and Spiritual Health", The Watchtower, October 1, 1989.
234.Jump up ^ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, October 15, 1986, page 31.
235.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses", British Medical Journal, January 6, 2001, page 37.
236.Jump up ^ Donald T. Ridley, "Jehovah's Witnesses' refusal of blood: Obedience to scripture and religious conscience", Journal of Medical Ethics, 1999:25, page 470.
237.^ Jump up to: a b Franz, Raymond (2002), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 38, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
238.^ Jump up to: a b Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, p. 91, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
239.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, p. 371, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
240.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 248
241.Jump up ^ Raymond Franz, In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, pages 365-385, citing "A Time to Speak – When?", The Watchtower, September 1, 1987.
242.Jump up ^ Osamu Muramoto, "Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Part 1", Journal of Medical Ethics, August 1998.
243.Jump up ^ "Disfellowshiping—How to View It", The Watchtower, September 15, 1981, page 23.
244.Jump up ^ Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, p. 319
245.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2002), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 357, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
246.^ Jump up to: a b How Can Blood Save Your Life?. Watch Tower Society. p. 22.
247.Jump up ^ "Be guided by the Living God" (Jun. 15, 2004). The Watchtower
248.Jump up ^ "Questions from readers: Do Jehovah's Witnesses accept any minor fractions of blood?" (Jun. 15, 2000). The Watchtower
249.Jump up ^ Awake! August 2006 box on P. 11
250.Jump up ^ Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood
251.Jump up ^ The Watchtower November 1, 1961, p. 669 Questions From Readers
252.Jump up ^ What Does The Bible Really Teach? 2005 P.128
253.Jump up ^ "OK Kosher Certification — Salting of Meat". Ok.org. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
254.Jump up ^ "Making Meat Kosher: Between Slaughtering and Cooking". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
255.Jump up ^ "Religion Today", New York Times, January 6, 2006
256.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions and the Tort of Misrepresentation, Journal of Church and State Vol 47, Autumn 2005 p. 815
257.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond. "In Search of Christian Freedom" - Chapter Nine. Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1991. ISBN 0-914675-16-8. p.732.
258.Jump up ^ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, October 15, 2000, page 31, "Jehovah’s Witnesses...do not donate blood [without preconditions on its use], nor do we store for transfusion our blood that should be ‘poured out.’ That practice conflicts with God’s law. Other procedures or tests involving an individual’s own blood are not so clearly in conflict with God’s stated principles. ...the goal may be to isolate some of a blood component and apply that elsewhere... A Christian must decide for himself how his own blood will be handled... Ahead of time, he should obtain from the doctor or technician the facts about what might be done with his blood during the procedure. Then he must decide according to what his conscience permits."
259.Jump up ^ "How Do I View Blood Fractions and Medical Procedures Involving My Own Blood?", Our Kingdom Ministry, November 2006, page 4.
260.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond. "In Search of Christian Freedom" - Chapter Nine. Atlanta: Commentary Press, 1991. Pbk. ISBN 0-914675-16-8. pp.732.
261.Jump up ^ Ivanhoe's Medical Breakthroughs - When Religion and Medicine Collide
262.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses, Blood Transfusions and the Tort of Misrepresentation, Journal of Church and State Vol 47, Autumn 2005
263.Jump up ^ The Watchtower (Feb. 1, 1997) p30
264.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses (WTS) Handling of Child Sexual Abuse Cases", Religious Tolerance.org Retrieved Mar 3, 2006.
265.Jump up ^ Tubbs, Sharon (Aug. 22, 2002), "Spiritual shunning", St. Petersburg Times.
266.Jump up ^ "Another Church Sex Scandal" (Apr. 29, 2003). CBS News.
267.Jump up ^ Cutrer, Corrie (Mar. 5, 2001). "Witness Leaders Accused of Shielding Molesters", Christianity Today.
268.Jump up ^ Channel 9 Sunday, November 2005.
269.Jump up ^ "Secret database protects paedophiles", BBC Panorama, 2003.
270.Jump up ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection" (2003). Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information.
271.Jump up ^ “Let All Things Take Place for Upbuilding”, Our Kingdom Ministry, July 2000, page 1
272.Jump up ^ "Comfort for Those With a “Stricken Spirit”", The Watchtower, November 1, 1995, page 28, "If the [lone] accusation is denied [by the accused], the elders should explain to the accuser that nothing more can be done in a judicial way. ...The Bible says that there must be two or three witnesses before judicial action can be taken. (2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19)"
273.Jump up ^ Jehovah's Witnesses Office of Public Information, Press Release "Jehovah's Witnesses and Child Protection," 2003.
274.^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Penton, M. J. (1997), Apocalypse Delayed (2nd ed.), University of Toronto Press, pp. 174–176
275.Jump up ^ "New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures", The Watchtower, September 15, 1950, page 320.
276.Jump up ^ Questions from readers, The Watchtower, December 15, 1974, page 767.
277.Jump up ^ In a 1954 court case, Franz was invited to translate a passage of Genesis from English to Hebrew. (Translator's proof, page 102-103). He declined, saying he would not attempt it. Heather and Gary Botting wrongly claim (page 98) he could make no sense of "an elementary passage of Hebrew from Genesis".
278.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), Crisis of Conscience, Commentary Press, p. 56, ISBN 0-914675-23-0
279.Jump up ^ Robert M. Bowman Jr, Understanding Jehovah's Witnesses, (Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1992); Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, 2003, The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, accessible from this site, which quotes a number of scholars regarding theological bias of the New World Translation.
280.Jump up ^ Samuel Haas,Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 74, No. 4, (Dec. 1955), p. 283, "This work indicates a great deal of effort and thought as well as considerable scholarship, it is to be regretted that religious bias was allowed to colour many passages."
281.Jump up ^ See Ankerberg, John and John Weldon, 2003, The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses, accessible online
282.Jump up ^ Rhodes R, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions, The Essential Guide to Their History, Their Doctrine, and Our Response, Zondervan, 2001, p. 94
283.Jump up ^ Bruce M Metzger, "Jehovah's Witnesses and Jesus Christ," Theology Today, (April 1953 p. 74); see also Metzger, "The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures," The Bible Translator (July 1964)
284.Jump up ^ C.H. Dodd: "The reason why [the Word was a god] is unacceptable is that it runs counter to the current of Johannine thought, and indeed of Christian thought as a whole." Technical Papers for The Bible Translator, Vol 28, No. 1, January 1977
285.Jump up ^ Botting, Heather; Gary Botting (1984), The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, University of Toronto Press, pp. 98–101, ISBN 0-8020-6545-7
286.Jump up ^ Franz, Raymond (2007), In Search of Christian Freedom, Commentary Press, pp. 494–505, ISBN 0-914675-17-6
287.Jump up ^ G. HÉBERT/EDS, "Jehovah's Witnesses", The New Catholic Encyclopedia, Gale, 20052, Vol. 7, p. 751.
288.Jump up ^ Metzger, Bruce M., The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, The Bible Translator 15/3 (July 1964), pp. 150-153.
289.Jump up ^ "God’s Name and the New Testament", The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever, Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, 1984, pages 23-27
290.Jump up ^ "Appendix 1D The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures", New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures - With References, page 1565
291.Jump up ^ "Your Bible—How It Was Produced", The Watchtower, December 15, 1981, page 15
292.Jump up ^ Jason D. BeDuhn, Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament, 2004, pages 165, 169, 175, 176. BeDuhn compared the King James, the (New) Revised Standard, the New International, the New American Bible, the New American Standard Bible, the Amplified Bible, the Living Bible, Today's English and the NWT versions in Matthew 28:9, Philippians 2:6, Colossians 1:15-20, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, John 8:58, John 1:1.
293.Jump up ^ Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament by Jason BeDuhn, 2004, pages 165, University Press of America, ISBN 0-7618-2556-8, ISBN 978-0-7618-2556-2
Further reading[edit]
Botting, Gary and Heather. The Orwellian World of Jehovah`s Witnesses (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984). ISBN 0-8020-6545-7. The Bottings compare the social, cultural and political paradigms of Jehovah's Witnesses to those set out in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both authors were raised Jehovah's Witnesses and are trained scholars (Heather Botting is a professor of anthropology and Gary Botting is a lawyer and legal scholar). The book is based in part on a doctoral dissertation by Heather Botting. Read selections from: The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses (Google book search) University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0-8020-6545-2
Botting, Gary. Fundamental Freedoms and Jehovah's Witnesses (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1993). ISBN 1-895176-06-9. Botting considers the irony of Jehovah's Witness insisting on a closely regulated society while at the same time fighting for freedom of association, freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of the press. It is available on-line at http://www.questia.com/library/102111748/fundamental-freedoms-and-jehovah-s-witnesses.
Castro, Joy. The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses, adopted as a baby and raised by a devout Jehovah's Witness family. Read selections from: The Truth Book: Escaping a Childhood of Abuse Among Jehovah's Witnesses (Google book search) Published 2005 Arcade Publishing, ISBN 1-55970-787-9
Franz, Raymond. Crisis of Conscience Franz, a former Jehovah's Witness and Governing Body member, and nephew of the fourth president of the Watch Tower Society. This book gives a detailed account of the authority structure, practices, doctrines and decision-making practices Franz experienced while serving on the Governing Body. Sample chapters online: 1, 9, 10, 11, 12. Publisher: Commentary Press. 420 pages. Hardback ISBN 0-914675-24-9. Paperback ISBN 0-914675-23-0. 4th edition (June 2002)
Franz, Raymond. In Search of Christian Freedom. 2nd ed., 2007. ISBN 0-914675-17-6 (Further critique and analysis by this author)
Gruss, Edmond C. Apostles of Denial ISBN 0-87552-305-6 / ISBN 978-0-87552-305-7.
Harrison, Barbara Grizzuti. Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of Jehovah's Witnesses. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. ISBN 0-7091-8013-6 (An account by an American journalist and essayist of growing up in the JW religion, which she left at age 22)
Hewitt, Joe. I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness Hewitt gives a frank and compelling account of his life as a Jehovah's Witness and his subsequent persecution and excommunication after he decided to leave the Jehovah's Witness movement. Read selections from: I Was Raised a Jehovah's Witness (Google book search) Published 1997, Kregel Publications, ISBN 0-8254-2876-9
Jonsson, Carl O. The Gentile Times Reconsidered: Chronology & Christ's Return Jonsson considers the origin of the belief that the Gentile Times began in 607 B.C. and examines several lines of evidence and the methodology for deriving it. ISBN 0-914675-06-0 Publisher: Commentary Press (July, 1998, Fourth edition 2004)
King, Robert. Jehovah Himself Has Become King The author considers himself one of Jehovah's Witnesses but was disfellowshipped after publishing his review and criticisms of current Watchtower interpretations related to Bible prophecy, and documentation regarding the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's involvement with the United Nations. He is preparing an updated, second edition. ISBN 1-4208-5498-4 / ISBN 978-1-4208-5498-5 / Publisher: AuthorHouse (September 14, 2005, First Edition) (Available from Amazon.com)
Kostelniuk, James. Wolves Among Sheep. Harpercollins Trade Sales Dept, ISBN 978-0-00-639107-4
Penton, M. James. Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2nd ed., 1997. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3 (Scholarly examination of JW history and doctrines)
Apocalypse Delayed: The Story of Jehovah's Witnesses by M. James Penton. Penton, who is a former Jehovah's Witness and a professor emeritus of history at University of Lethbridge, examines the history of Jehovah's Witnesses, and their doctrines. Read selections from: Apocalypse Delayed: the Story of Jehovah's Witnesses University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7973-3 (Canada, 1998) (Google book search)
Schnell, William J. 30 Years a Watchtower Slave Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1956, 1971, reprinted 2001. ISBN 0-8010-6384-1 (One of the first book-length critiques of the organization to be written by a disaffected former Witness)
Stafford, Greg. Jehovah's Witnesses Defended and Three Dissertations. The author considers himself one of Jehovah's Witnesses but has renounced affiliation with the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. He now considers himself a Christian Witness of Jah, or one of Jehovah's Witnesses who rejects beliefs specific to Jehovah's Witnesses. These books review and thoroughly explore some of the most common, and/or prevalent, criticisms made about Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. http://www.elihubooks.com/content/books_media.php
External links[edit]
SupportiveOfficial Jehovah's Witnesses website
Jehovah's Witnesses response to child abuse allegations (video)
Jehovah's Witnesses Official Policy on Child Protection
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
CriticalApologetics index - Criticisms of Jehovah's Witnesses from a mainstream Christian viewpoint.
Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood - A site that promotes reform of the Watch Tower Society's blood doctrine.
Exposé on the Jehovah's Witnesses - From Blue Letter Bible. An examination of the Watch Tower Society. Contains relatively brief explanations of each point.
Free Minds, Inc - the largest Watchtower dissident site
Historical Idealism and Jehovah's Witnesses - Documents the historical development of Jehovah's Witness chronology and the claimed "idealized" history of it by the Watch Tower Society
JW Files--Research on Jehovah's Witnesses - A site "dedicated to research on Jehovah Witnesses".
jwfacts.com - Information about Jehovah's Witnesses
JWRecovery Magazine - An ex-JW community contributed magazine / journal which provides information and support assistance to former Jehovah's Witnesses.
Religious Tolerance.org Jehovah's Witnesses Policies & examples of child sexual abuse.
Silentlambs.org Silentlamb's official web site.
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