Eight questions about Nathan Knorr

by Skimmer 34 Replies latest jw friends

  • trailerfitter
    trailerfitter

    Guys, girls,...sorry this post has brought up an issue that I hadn't thought about. Where do the average JWs get buried? The church grave yard are not good enough for them??

  • designs
    designs

    Knorr just acted like the plumbing was backed up. Do any remember his Melt-Down talk at Anaheim Stadium circa 1970. While in the restroom during a break a father marched his kid up to the trough urinal and loudly told the little kid 'Don't touch it!' What the F#*@! Therapists must make a lot of money off of JWs.

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    My father and uncle(mother's brother in law) were Bethelites at the time Knorr was president. Marriage was considered a major step down in unholiness. To leave the Bethel family was unthinkable. They both faced much personal grief and loss of friends when they left to marry sisters in New Jersey. They lived so close they could still have worked in the factory. There was much bitterness towards Knorr. They tended to respect Franz but that could just be b/c they were factory guys. If Knorr were closeted, his marriage makes not much sense to me. It is amazing how holy scripture has different applications depending on the person.

    Of course, this is no different from almost no annullments in Manhattan (the few that were approved involved the Vatican and much money) or taking a subway one stop longer to Brooklyn where they were plentiful for $1500.

  • cultBgone
    cultBgone

    Bttt

  • Quendi
    Quendi

    Nathan Knorr was a complicated man and re-reading these posts I get the impression that he was a rather lonely one. I wonder how many real friends he had and if he ever found true love in his life. I remember the night he died which was 8 June 1977. My congregation in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was aware of his illness so his death came as no surprise to us. We were having our School and Service Meeting when one of elders made the annoucement of his death at the close of the meeting. The congregation's reaction was subdued.

    Although he has been dead for 37 years he cast a long and dark shadow over the organization. As others have noted, he was not overly concerned with doctrinal matters, leaving those in the hands of Fred Franz, the man who fancied himself both oracle and prophet for the organization and believed that he was being directly used by God to disseminate truth. I think the biggest impact he had on my life as a Witness was the creation of the Theocratic Ministry School back in 1943 (women weren't allowed to participate until 1957), one of the few features of Witness organization which directly benefited me. On the whole, however, I would have to judge the School a failure. It was an ill-advised attempt to make silk purses out of sows' ears. Most of the Witnesses I knew were rotten at the canvassing work and their public speaking skills ranged from downright bad to mediocre. Knorr had to realize that as well especially since he himself was not a good public speaker--if the talks I heard him give were any indication of his ability.

    But it was his stance on disfellowshipping and cracking down on dissent that will be the chief part of his legacy among Jehovah's Witnesses. Since his acumen was organization, this was his way of creating and enforcing an artificial unity among the rank-and-file. In his day that was relatively easy because there were fewer than three million Witnesses worldwide. That number has practically tripled since his death and his successors are finding it much more difficult to keep the status quo especially now that the Internet has lifted the veil of secrecy which shrouded the organization's history and inner workings at its highest levels. As bad as the current Governing Body is, I doubt that if Knorr and his associates were alive today they would be doing any better in leading the organization.

    Quendi

  • Balaamsass2
    Balaamsass2

    Great old thread.

    Knorr was always nice to me when I was a Bethelite. Businesslike during the day. His wife was a peach.

    Heard she whined about "no sex" to some other Bethel sisters.

    Knorr's sidekick was a nice little guy with a high pitched voice who could type 80 wpm. Dave M.......e. Dave was A OK. He is still on Corporate letterhead, was a Zone overseer and seemed a bit "light in the loafers". Who knows...........

    Knorr seemed WAY normal compared to Freddy.

  • metatron
    metatron

    He was a skilled adminstrator and businessman. He was OK in person but otherwise he was the most negative human being I have ever known. Rants, tirades, denouncements and harsh judgements.

    The banality of evil. If he was lonely, he had only himself to blame.

    metatron

  • AlphaMan
    AlphaMan

    .....do you realise that not one of the Watchtower presidents has had a normal sex life (or any sex life!)

    .

    It was amazing to be to find out how weird and dysfunctional the first 4 Presidents of the Watchtower Society were. Not a one had anything resembling a normal married life that could be an example to others.

    1. Russell 2. Rutherford 3. Knorr 4. Fanz were all weirdos with bat-shit crazy beliefs. NO WAY Jesus choose the JW religion in 1919 to be the true religion and God's Channel.

  • Balaamsass2
    Balaamsass2

    Nathan was never lonely. He surrounded himself with wealthy JWs. Lots of entertaining and fundraising.

  • Quendi
    Quendi

    bttt

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