Fred Franz was like many religious zealots who hear voices and believe God is 'talking' to them personally. He was all in on 75 and only got cold feet as 74 was a reality and the Vietnam War was winding down.
Why did the WTBS endorse 1975?
by jay88 42 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Bungi Bill
The scary thing about that is the hearing voices is a classic symptom of schizophrenia:
(No to mention the fact that much of the drivel he spouted would be fitting of a schizophrenia sufferer!)
Sad enough under normal circumstances :
- outright disasterous, though, when so many believed him (and many deluded fools still do).
Bill.
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designs
There were a whole group of these type of Visonary guys and I think they were in a bit of competition with each other. Sort of a Theological Chess Game.
Fred Franz from the Watchtower, Paul Johnson from the Laymen's Home Missionary Group, Ted Armstrong from the World Wide Church of God.
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Nickolas
Scott77, that you have been on this board for more than a year and a half and have made 1240 posts is more than remarkable. It is astonishing, since you are just now finding out about 1975. It says that this board is inefficient at getting the real truth out.
I think the serious people on this board might want to figure out how to fix that.
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OnTheWayOut
I believe Fred Franz thought of himself as an actual receptacle for the message of Holy Spirit. He fell into the same trap of William Miller and C.T. Russell, but the organization let him do it.
My theory is that WTS decided to push for huge growth through this doomsday prediction. They allowed the frenzy because they paid for new presses at Brooklyn and they wound up with more JW's after 1975 (even after some left when Doomsday didn't arrive) than they would have had if they never started the frenzy.
My thoughts lend credibility to the "EVIL" of the organization. If the powers that be knew that it was a business move to push 1975, that is evil.
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designs
OTW- Nathan Knorr may very well be personification of Business as Evil, or maybe just the total package of Control Freak and Svengali. He certainly had his 'Wizard' in Fred.
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Nickolas
Edit: My thoughts lend credibility to the "EVIL" of the organization. If the powers that be knew that it was a business move to push 1975, that is evil.
I think the money is secondary. It will be used to promote growth in the organisation but not for individual material gain. If it can be proven that the GB indulge in a rich lifestyle then your assertion is correct. Otherwise the GB zeal and tactics are purely belief driven. That doesn't make it less evil.
Bungi Bill, what you have identified may be a key chink in the WTBTS armour.
I was surprised above that a relatively long term member of this board hadn't heard about 1975, and I was not aware of the 1974 Franz speech. It would be very nice to find a recorded copy of that speech but I would be pleasanty surprised if any exist, even if hundreds if not thousands were made, given the leadership's propensity to send around recordings to be played at the various Kingdom Halls. Remember those books of cassette tapes? If the WTBTS hierarchy got to be nervous about certain recordings, would they not order them to be erased? One has to wonder if anyone remembers ever being instructed to destroy WT tapes between 1974 and now. Why would the WTBTS hierarchy ever order non-financial Society material to be destroyed except to destroy the evidence of something they didn't want people to know about? Was there a coverup?
If there was a coverup and it could be proven it would be damning evidence. If there is a copy of the 1974 speech and it could be found and parsed with the 1975 recording, that too would be damning evidence. Edit: If both could be proven, devastating evidence.
However, even just knowing that the 1974 speech happened as you describe and then carefully listening to Franz' 1975 speech in its entirety (as painful as that is), listening to his words and the emotion in his voice, it seems patently clear that he really, really believed in his 1975 prophesy. He wasn't faking it. He's pleading with people just to be patient for a little while longer, because the end is very, very near. Does not Ray Franz in CofC also say this in effect? That the GB or its equivalent were shocked and dismayed when the end didn't come as anticipated? I haven't read the book yet, so don't know.
Great contribution, Bungi Bill. You're the one who heard the 1974 speech so may I suggest you start an appropriate thread?
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jay88
Belief in a delusion does not make it truth. The bible says that no one will know the day, so any date created is a lie.
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Nickolas
Am I the only one who sees the significance of this? Does anyone else remember hearing the 1974 Franz speech Bungi Bill's talking about?
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greendawn
The 1975 prophecy was just a clever trick to motivate the rank and file into giving more of their time to the org with a view to increasing sales and profits and the ruse succeeded greatly as they got taken in by it and many JWs made great sacrifices to preach. It was manipulation pure and simple to increase flagging sales, typical behaviour of the watchtower society which has been lying since its inception.