Crisis of Conscience Page 9

  It is difficult to explain such fickle, unstable, erratic course. Yet this was supposedly the channel the Lord Jesus Christ had found so worthy of being made his sole means of direction to people on earth.

  In actuality, by 1925 J. F. Rutherford exercised unquestioned direction of the Society and the years that followed only strengthened his control over all organization functions.25

  This included full control of what would be published through the channel of the Watch Tower and other publications used to provide spiritual food for the congregations earthwide. I recall my uncle’s telling me one day in his office of an occasion when Rutherford presented a certain issue, a new viewpoint, to the Bethel Family for discussion.26 My uncle related that in the discussion he expressed himself negatively about the new view being advanced, doing so on the basis of Scripture. Afterward, he said, President Rutherford personally assigned him to prepare material in support of this new view, although he, Fred Franz, had made clear that he did not consider it Scriptural.

  On another occasion he related that the “Judge” (Rutherford) later in his presidency made it a firm policy that the Watch Tower magazine would carry only articles that stressed prophecy or the preaching work. For that reason a period of years passed in which articles on subjects such as love, kindness, mercy, longsuffering and similar qualities simply did not appear in the magazine.

  Thus, during the nearly sixty-year period of the presidencies of Russell and Rutherford, each man acted according to his own prerogative in exercising his presidential authority, with no hint of a governing body.

  In 1993 the organization produced a new history book, titled Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, replacing a previous work titled Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose. It seems evident that at various points the book seeks to counter the effect of information that has appeared in published form in recent years, including the original 1983 printing of this book, Crisis of Conscience, the 1991 printing of its sequel, In Search of Christian Freedom, and in Carl Olof Jonsson’s book The Gentile Times Reconsidered (which first appeared in 1983.) Certain facts are admitted for the first time in this new history book, perhaps with a view to muting the effect if members were to become aware of them through other sources. At its start the book’s editors assure readers of their endeavor “to be objective and to provide a candid history.”27

  The vast majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses have no access to the records of the past and no personal knowledge of the events relating to the organization’s development. The operations of the central authority structure or of the men forming that inner authority structure are likewise unknown to them. They are thus essentially at the mercy of the editors of this 1993 publication’s supposedly impartial, “candid history.”

  I have seldom read a more “sanitized” less “objective” presentation. Its depiction of organizational history and policy paints a picture that differs measurably from reality. This is the case in its discussion of the presidencies of both Russell and Rutherford.

  With regard to the identification of the “faithful and wise servant” of Matthew 24:45-47, this book finally acknowledges (on pages 142, 143, 626) that, “for a number of years” the Watch Tower magazine did indeed set forth the view that Charles Taze Russell was that chosen “faithful and wise servant,” and that, from 1896 on, Russell himself acknowledged “the apparent reasonableness” of this view. It does not acknowledge the fact that Russell not only viewed as “reasonable” the application to an individual (himself) as the specially chosen “faithful and wise servant” but that (in the very Watch Towers the book lists in its footnote) he actually argued for it as the true Scriptural application, rather than the position he had taken back in 1881. Rather than acknowledge this, the new history book misleadingly continues to place emphasis on Russell’s 1881 statement in which he applied the figure to the entire “body of Christ.”

  The book does not inform its readers that in the October 1, 1909 issue of the Watch Tower Russell 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. Nor does it tell its readers that the special issue of the Watch Tower of October 16, 1916 stated that, while not openly claiming the title, Russell “admitted as much in private conversation.”

  And while acknowledging finally that for years after his death the Watch Tower magazine itself promoted the view of Russell as “that servant,” the book gives the reader no idea of the insistence with which this was done, as in stating that everyone having a knowledge of God’s divine plan must truthfully admit that “he derived that knowledge from studying the Bible in connection with what Brother Russell wrote; that before such time he did not even know that God had a plan of salvation”; or in describing those questioning any of Russell’s teaching as having “rejected the Lord” because of rejecting his special servant.28

  Likewise it does not explain the paradox created by the Watch Tower’s own teaching: on the one hand, the present-day teaching that in 1919 Christ Jesus definitely selected, approved and identified a “faithful and wise servant class,” and, on the other hand, the fact that in that very same year of 1919 and for years thereafter the very ones supposedly so chosen believed the “faithful and wise servant” was not a class but an individual, Charles Taze Russell, selected many decades before 1914 by a reigning Christ who had become “present” since 1874.

  Effort is made (on pages 220, 221 of the Watch Tower’s new history book) to deny that the second president, Joseph F. Rutherford, sought to gain full and total control of the organization. A quotation from Karl Klein is presented to show him as actually an essentially humble man, ‘childlike in prayer to God.’

  Yet the historical record demonstrates that anyone, including any member of the Board of Directors or of those on the Editorial Committee, who expressed disagreement with Rutherford was quickly eliminated from whatever organizational position that person occupied. One has only to talk with others who were at the headquarters during his presidency to know that the picture of humility conveyed by Karl Klein does not conform to the reality, and that, to all intents and purposes, the “Judge’s” word was law.

  I was actively associated with the organization during the last five years of his presidency and know the clear effect the man had upon me and the viewpoint that others expressed. Most Witnesses today have not had that experience. But God’s Son said that ‘out of the heart the mouth speaks,’ and that ‘by your words you will be justified or judged.’ (Matthew 12:34, 37) I believe that anyone who simply reads the material found in the Watch Tower magazine from the 1920s on through to 1942 can clearly see the spirit, not of humility, but of dogmatism and authoritarianism the articles breathed, articles admittedly written principally by Rutherford. Deprecating, even harsh language is employed against any who dared to question any position; policy or teaching that came forth from the organization of which he was the head.

  On these same pages of the book Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, effort is made to demonstrate that Rutherford was not looked upon by the membership as “their leader” and his personal denial of such position, made in 1941 just before his death, is quoted as proof. The caption beneath the photo shown on the next page was placed there by the writer or writers of the Watch Tower’s history book. The words are there but the facts are not.

  While admittedly Watch Tower adherents viewed Christ as their invisible leader, the fact is that they did look upon Rutherford as their visible earthly leader, contrary to Christ’s injunction at Matthew 23:10: “Neither be called leaders, for your Leader is one, the Christ.” Rutherford cannot fail to have known that the membership viewed him in that light.

  Consider the following photos and captions from The Messenger, a Watch Tower convention report, of July 25, 1931, describing large conventions held that year in major European cities. The captions shown underneath are the original captions found in The Messeng
er. Compare them with the caption the writer or writers of the Society’s history book placed beneath that book’s photo of J. F. Rutherford, shown here to the right, claiming that “the Witnesses knew that he was not their leader.”

  J. F. Rutherford in 1941. The Witnesses knew that he was not their leader

  The first photo in The Messenger, of a 1931 convention in Paris, in its caption underneath describes Rutherford explicitly as “Their Visible Leader.”

  Their Visible Leader—About to Give Instructions to the Paris Division of “Une Grande Armee.”

  In the next two, from London and from Magdeburg (Germany), the captions refer to Rutherford as “The Chief.”

  The Bethel Family at London. See ’em Grinning? The Chief Had Just Finished Telling Them Something in the “Colored Language.”

  The Chief Inspects the Cleaning of “Kopf Salat”, Just Gathered from the Garden. It Takes Only Four Bushels for a Meal!

  A fourth designates him “Generalissimo of the convention.”

  This convention report was printed ten years before Rutherford’s 1941 statement quoted in the Watch Tower’s new history book. There is no reason to believe that Rutherford was not aware of the way he was actually viewed by Watch Tower adherents throughout most of his presidency and he clearly did nothing to change that image. The evidence, including the whole history of his administration, makes his disavowal of that image—made when nearing death—seem hollow.

  President of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and Generalissimo of the Convention.

  When Judge Rutherford died on January 8, 1942, Nathan H. Knorr was unanimously elected president by the Board of Directors. The organizational structure continued basically the same, though with some adjustments, as Knorr did field out some responsibility. (Circumstances actually made this a necessity, for the number of Witnesses grew from only 108,000 at the time of Rutherford’s death to more than two million during Knorr’s presidency.)

  Not a writer, nor particularly a student of Scripture, Knorr relied on Fred Franz (the vice president) as more or less the final arbiter on Scriptural matters and the principal writer of the organization. Questions such as those discussed at Governing Body sessions (related earlier in this chapter) were, for decades, submitted to Fred Franz for decision. If President Knorr felt that the decision might have some critical effect on the Society’s operation in certain countries of the world, he would usually discuss it personally with Fred Franz and would not hesitate to make known what he felt the circumstances made advisable in a pragmatic way, overruling the vice president if necessary. As has been noted earlier, this basic relationship continued up into the 1970s as illustrated in the decision to return to having bodies of elders in the congregations. That particular decision hinged largely upon the view and opinion of one person, the vice president, and when he changed his mind and favored the return to bodies of elders, the president acceded.

  The same was basically the case with all published material. The president selected the main articles for the Watchtower from material submitted by various writers and he then passed these on to the Writing Department for proofreading and any necessary editing or polishing. Then these were finally read by the vice president and the president and, if approved, were published. Karl Adams, who was in charge of the Writing Department when I entered it in 1965, explained to me that the president by then had given the department considerable latitude as to the reworking of such material. He pointed out the one exception, namely, any material written by the vice president, stating that “what comes from Brother Franz is viewed as ‘ready for publication,’ with no adjustments to be made.”

  Here again, nonetheless, the president himself could overrule. As an example, in 1967, President Knorr sent to Karl Adams, Ed Dunlap and myself, copies of a “Questions from Readers” that Fred Franz had prepared and turned in for publication.29 Just the year before, a book had been published, authored by Fred Franz, in which it was pointed out that the year 1975 would mark the end of 6,000 years of human history. Likening those 6,000 years to six days of a thousand years each, he had written:

  Not for many decades had there been such a sense of excitement among Jehovah’s Witnesses as these statements generated. A tremendous surge of expectation developed, far surpassing the feeling of the end’s nearness that I and others had experienced in the early 1940s.

  That is why we were amazed to see that the “Question from Readers” Fred Franz had worked up now argued that the end of 6,000 years would actually come one year earlier than had just been published in the new book, namely that it would come in 1974 instead of 1975. As Knorr told Karl Adams, when he received this material he went to Fred Franz and asked why the sudden change. Franz replied with definiteness, “This is the way it is. It’s 1974.”

  Knorr did not feel at ease with the change and that is why he sent the three of us copies with his request that we submit our individual observations. The vice president’s argumentation was built almost entirely upon the use of a cardinal and an ordinal number in the account of the Flood at Genesis, chapter seven, verses 6 and 11 (“six hundred years” and the “six hundredth year”). The argument endeavored to show that the count of time set out in the new book was off one year as to the time of the Flood and that one more year needed to be added, with the result that the end of 6,000 years would come up one year earlier, in 1974 instead of 1975.

  Each of the three of us respectfully wrote that we did not think the material should be published, that it would have an extremely unsettling effect on the brothers.31 The president evidently agreed, since the material prepared by the vice president was never published and this was quite a rare occurrence.

  It was during Knorr’s presidency that the term “governing body” first began to be used with a measure of frequency.32 The literature now began to tie such a body in with the Board of Directors of the Watch Tower Society. In the Society’s book, Qualified to Be Ministers, published in 1955, page 381, the statement appears:

  During the years since the Lord came to his temple the visible governing body has been closely identified with the board of directors of this corporation.

  Thus the seven members of the Board of Directors were considered to be the seven members of the “governing body.” The fact is, however, that their situation was much as had been the case with the Directors in Russell’s and Rutherford’s day.

  Marley Cole, a Witness who wrote a book (with the full cooperation of the Society) entitled Jehovah’s Witnesses—The New World Society, points this out.33 In a section headed “Internal Rebellion,” he first describes the controversy in 1917 between Rutherford and the Board, saying:

  Four directors wanted a reorganization. . . . As things stood the president was the administration. He was not consulting them. He was letting them know what he was doing only after it was done. He was putting them in the position of advisers on legal corporate matters.

  Rutherford made no bones about ‘going ahead.’ The Pastor before him had worked that way. The Pastor made decisions. The Pastor issued administrative orders without the Board’s prior sanction.

  Then, in a footnote, Cole states:

  That the president of the Society thereafter continued to exercise such unrestricted freedom may be seen by the following account of N. H. Knorr’s actions in relation to bringing forth a new Bible translation.34

  The Watchtower of September 15, 1950, pages 315 and 316, is then quoted. It reveals that the Directors of the Board were first informed by the president of the existence of the New World Translation (probably one of the biggest projects ever engaged in by the organization) only after the translation of the Greek Scripture portion had already been completed and was ready for printing.

  Right up until 1971 when the “tail wagging the dog talk” was given, the Board of Directors did not meet on any regular schedule but only as the president decided to convene them. Sometimes months went by without any meetings, the most frequent agenda evidently being such corporate matters as
the purchase of property or of new equipment. As a rule, they had nothing to say about what Scriptural material would be published, nor was their approval sought.

  Vice President Franz made this clear when testifying before a court in Scotland in 1954 in a case known as the Walsh Case. Questioned as to what was done if some major change in doctrine was made and whether such had to be first approved by the Board of Directors, the vice president replied (the material here being reprinted from the official court transcript with “Q” representing the question of the counselor and “A” the response given by Fred Franz):

  Q. In matters spiritual has each member of the Board of Directors an equally valid voice? A. The president is the mouthpiece. He pronounces the speeches that show advancement of the understanding of the Scriptures. Then he may appoint other members of the headquarters temporarily to give other speeches that set forth any part of the Bible upon which further light has been thrown. Q. Tell me; are these advances, as you put it, voted upon by the Directors? A. No. Q. How do they become pronouncements? A. They go through the editorial committee, and I give my O.K. after Scriptural examination. Then I pass them on to President Knorr, and President Knorr has the final O.K. Q. Does it not go before the Board of Directors at all? A. No.35

  I personally knew that presentation of matters to be true as regards the Board of Directors. Before 1971, I was in a meeting with several Writing Staff members called by Karl Adams, and the question arose as to how to get the president’s approval of certain proposed improvements in the Watchtower magazine. Someone suggested that Lyman Swingle, who was present as one of the writers, broach the matter to Knorr. Swingle’s reply was brief but spoke volumes as to the reality of the situation. He said: “Why me? What can I do? I’m only a Director.”