Whatever else we might think of him, Fred Franz was better educated than most JWs of the last century, and likely had a rather formidable IQ, and the often eccentric personality that went along with it. While Charles Russell seems clearly to be the main influence on JWs of the 20th Century, I would argue that Fred Franz may be well ahead of Rutherford as far as the #2 position.
With the death of Franz, there has been a complete absence of any sort of biblical scholar figure among the Witnesses. The current GB members are so generic and often just plain dumb. A post we had on here a few months ago about a talk by Sam Herd at a special assembly day, which was so pathetic that even "faithful" elders were traumatized by it, is typical of the quality of the current GB. Their anti-education stance is totally biting them in the ass. Sam was the last DO and elder school instructor I had as a JW elder, and I can vouch for the fact that he is just not that impressive.
I've never really thought much about this before, but might this be the real reason for the decline of the Witnesses? Franz was definitely a cult figure among JWs. I met him personally when I was young, and treasured it as one of my life's great moments - at least for a while! I can't begin to relate all the stories I heard about Fred Franz, tons more than about any other GB member, including Knorr, even from brothers I know who work in the writing department at Bethel. Franz's nearly photographic memory took him a long, long way, even if his theology was really wacky at times.
As the last of these old-timers die out, who is there to take the lead? No one, it seems, at this point.
S4
