Watchtower Charter-A Danger to GB?

by TakeOffTheCrown 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Listener
    Listener

    TOTC, there is not enough information presented to answer your question. Firstly, you have only presented the Charter of the WTBTS of New York not that of Pennsylvania. I think that the WTBTS New York is applicable to the USA whereas the WTBTS Pennsylvania is the legal entity applying worldwide. The WTBTS has so many legal entities that it is possible that their are other charters/entities that would also need to be considered in order to answer your question.

    The other problem is that the Charter you do link to refers to ByLaws and these are not included. These by laws would affect the application of the Charter.

    But let's look at the Charter we do have and assume that other Charter's would be similar. A quick google search suggests that the Pennslyvanian Charter does include the same wording as the New York Charter.

    In particular this is the statement in the Charter that is applicable

    “The purposes of the corporation are religious, educational, and charitable, including to act as the servant and legal entity for the religious body of Christian persons known as Jehovah’s Witnesses;… and do any and all other lawful things that its Board of Directors, in accordance with the spiritual direction of the ecclesiastical Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, shall deem appropriate in harmony with those purposes.”

    What stands out from reading the Charter is that it does not define who or what the Governing Body is. The only identification is that they belong (or are of) the Jehovah's Witnesses. That is why I am wondering if the Bylaws identify or establish who the Governing Body is. If it doesn't then the Government Body is not legally identifiable, it doesn't exist other than to any extent that the Jehovah's Witnesses give them at any given time.

    The Charter establishes that it is to "act as the legal entity for the religious body of Christian persons in the United States known as Jehovah's Witnesses" and to support their efforts.

    Is it possible that they (the Governing Body) can be removed it they violate the Charter?

    No. Nothing in the charter establishes any powers in which the WTBTS can remove any religious person from any position within the JW religion. It only commits itself to acting according to the GB wishes if they are in accordance with the goals as set out in the Charter. If the GB made a request or acted in a way that was not in accordance with the Charter then the WTBTS is not to follow that direction.

    The real question is, who gets to decide whether that direction is in accordance with the Charter or not? Under the Charter, that power and responsibility lies with the Directors and the GB would have to sue (or begin court action) the WTBTS if it believed that the WTBTS were not following their direction which was also in accord with the chartered aims of the WTBTS.

    What is it that the WTBTS would remove the GB from anyway? The WTBTS charter does not put the GB in the position that they currently have in the first place, neither does it establish what that position is. It only recognizes that there is such a position, that is, that there is a Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

    Note also that the Charter only allows the GB to provide spiritual direction, nothing else. Even with that spiritual direction it must still be in accord with the aims of the Charter and the responsibility to determine that (whether it is a bible truth or not) is not left to the GB but rather the directors. The Charter does not provide any direction to come from the Governing Body relating to physical or material actions. How would this work practically?

    Let's say that the WTBTS wanted to sell all the Kingdom Halls that they owned and state that Halls were now be rented. The GB would be powerless to provide any direction in this matter as it would not be spiritual direction.

    Another situation may be around the blood issue. The Directors may feel that blood transfusions were acceptable for JWs and that is wasn't promoting bible truths by stating that it wasn't. The GB was still of the opinion that it was unacceptable and instructed the WTBTS not to print the new directive. It would be debateable as to whether this was a spiritual direction or not but if the Directors did not believe it was in harmony with promoting bible truths then they would be forced by their own Charter not to print it as it would not be in accord with it.

    The fact is, the GB need the WTBTS to promote it's ideas, the WTBTS (the Directors) are only limited to a very small degree in promotings it's own ideas.

    In resigning as Directors of the WTBTS the GB clowns don't realize the power and control that they have given up so all that remains to them is to have faith and trust that the WTBTS will do their bidding.

    Legal terms do get beyond me and I might be wrong regarding the following thoughts but there is also more wording in the Charter that should be closely examined, that is the phrase "and do any and all other lawful things"

    “The purposes of the corporation are religious, educational, and charitable, including to act as the servant and legal entity for the religious body of Christian persons known as Jehovah’s Witnesses;… and do any and all other lawful things that its Board of Directors, in accordance with the spiritual direction of the ecclesiastical Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, shall deem appropriate in harmony with those purposes.”

    It is only after that phrase that the GB is even mentioned. Therefore it is also limiting on the authority provided to the GB. All the requirements listed prior to this are imposed on the Directors outside of any direction of the GB. This means that the Directors are required to fulfil all the aims mentioned in the Charter regardless of the direction of the GB. The GB just has the power to add to it (in spiritual matters only)

    The Governing Body only exists because of two things

    - the JWs believe and are willing to comply to their authority

    - the degree to which the WTBTS allows

  • TakeOffTheCrown
    TakeOffTheCrown

    In resigning as Directors of the WTBTS the GB clowns don't realize the power and control that they have given up so all that remains to them is to have faith and trust that the WTBTS will do their bidding.

    Legal terms do get beyond me and I might be wrong regarding the following thoughts but there is also more wording in the Charter that should be closely examined, that is the phrase "and do any and all other lawful things"

    “The purposes of the corporation are religious, educational, and charitable, including to act as the servant and legal entity for the religious body of Christian persons known as Jehovah’s Witnesses;… and do any and all other lawful things that its Board of Directors, in accordance with the spiritual direction of the ecclesiastical Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses, shall deem appropriate in harmony with those purposes.”


    Listener:
    Very informative. Thanks for taking the time to respond.


  • Finkelstein
    Finkelstein

    My question: Is the Governing Body in danger of removal if they do not adhere to the Charter?

    The only ones that can remove the GB is themselves and that is not going to happen.

    Even if one puts forth a aggressive move backed by the Charter, the majority would most certainly vote it down.

    The GB are the most powerful people of this organization and you bet confidently they are going to keep it that way.

    Each individual GB member has the assuming knowledge that they can lose their position just like any other power position in the organization , from elders to CO's .

    Remember what happened to Ray Franz when he spoke up in opposition to the directives of the Body of GB members ?

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    Pretty sure the GB don't give an at's rass about any "charter", and it's doubtful the average rank-and-filer even knows it exists.

  • Joe Grundy
    Joe Grundy

    "At the annual meeting held on October 2, 1944, in Pittsburgh, the members of the Pennsylvania corporation adopted six resolutions amending its charter. The charter had provided that voting shares be issued to contributors of funds to the Society’s work, but the third amendment eliminated that provision. A report on that annual meeting noted: “Membership in the Society will be limited to not more than 500 . . . Each one chosen must be a full-time servant of the Society or a part-time servant of a company [congregation] of Jehovah’s witnesses and must show the spirit of the Lord.”Thereafter, directors of the Society were to be voted into office by individuals who were fully devoted to Jehovah, irrespective of the amount of money that they contributed to advance the Kingdom work."

    I wonder if someone familiar with US corporation law could help me out with this. In England & Wales, the 'members' of a company or corporation are generally shareholders or subscribers. In other words a person (real or corporate) pays or promises to pay a sum of money and in return owns a share of the company. The shares can be of different classes and some may have rights to vote in the running of the company. So far so good.

    The quote above seems to indicate that there would be no more than 500 'members' (shareholders), each presumably owning one or more shares. Only those 'qualified' were allowed to own shares and their votes were not in proportion to their investment.

    I assume that WT&BTS Penn was not a public corporation (I.e. the shares could not be traded on the open market) but what happened to those who owned shares prior to this amendment? How were voting rights distributed if not by the value of shares owned?

    This all sounds like a can of worms to me.

  • Joe Grundy
    Joe Grundy
    PS: In the UK the 'charter' and amendments, and the list of share-holders and changes to it are an open public record. Is this the same in the US?
  • TakeOffTheCrown
    TakeOffTheCrown

    Does anyone have a copy of the current Watchtower bylaws for Pennsylvania and/or NY? I found a copy of the Amended Charter and Certificate of incorporation dated 2003 at the site below, but not the current bylaws:

    https://jwleaks.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/watchtower-bible-and-tract-society-of-new-york-charter-and-certificate-of-incorporation.pdf

    A partial quote of the bylaws for the Watchtower from 1917:

    http://watchtowerdocuments.org/documents/1917_Facts_For_Shareholders.pdf

    "By-Laws

    "(I) It shall be a law governing the Board of Managers "of this Society that, while a majority of the members shall "constitute a quorum, as specified in the Charter, no matter of "business shall be decided with less than a majority vote of "the seven members of the Board. "(2) There shall be a regular monthly meeting of the "Board of Directors, held the first Thursday in each month, "at which general reports shall be made concerning the status "of the work, and especially as to the state of the Society's "finances; and otherwise to enlighten its members fully as to "what our Society is doing. Special Board meetings may be "caIled at any time by four of its members."

  • Listener
    Listener

    This is what the WTBTS has printed about appointments.

    "At the annual meeting held on October 2, 1944, in Pittsburgh, the members of the Pennsylvania corporation adopted six resolutions amending its charter. The charter had provided that voting shares be issued to contributors of funds to the Society’s work, but the third amendment eliminated that provision. A report on that annual meeting noted: “Membership in the Society will be limited to not more than 500 . . . Each one chosen must be a full-time servant of the Society or a part-time servant of a company [congregation] of Jehovah’s witnesses and must show the spirit of the Lord.”

    Thereafter, directors of the Society were to be voted into office by individuals who were fully devoted to Jehovah, irrespective of the amount of money that they contributed to advance the Kingdom work........

    In 1971 the same speaker explained that the members of the Watch Tower Society could not vote in the members of the anointed Governing Body. Why? “Because,” he said, “the governing body of the ‘slave’ class is not appointed by any man. It is appointed by . . . Jesus Christ, the Head of the true Christian congregation and the Lord and Master of the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ class.” Clearly, then, the members of the Governing Body cannot be voted into office by the membership of any legal corporation."

    http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2001051

    "While directors of a legal corporation are voted into office by its members, the Governing Body is not appointed by any man but is appointed by Jesus Christ. There is no need for the directors of various corporations used by Jehovah’s Witnesses to be members of the Governing Body. At the recent annual meeting of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, members of the Governing Body who were serving as its directors and officers voluntarily stepped aside from their positions. The vacancies were filled by mature brothers of the “other sheep.” (John 10:16) Thus the Governing Body can spend more time in preparing spiritual food and in otherwise caring for the spiritual needs of the worldwide brotherhood.—1/15, pages 29, 31."

    According to this information the Directors of the WTBTS are voted in by the members of the WTBTS. The Governing Body is not voted in by any men which means their formation would not be established through the Charter or it's by laws.

    How are Governing Body members elected? They won't say, well they do say, and it's by Jesus.

    So how is the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses recognized by the JWs? By their names being printed in WTBTS publications and through JW org, which are both controlled by the directors of the WTBTS.

    If the Directors of the WTBTS decided that the current GB were not acting in harmony with the Charter and chose new members would this also be accepted by the JWs? When you are in control of the printing press, the media and all the assets it is a possibility.

  • EdenOne
    EdenOne
    At that time, Brother Covington stepped aside as a director to comply with what then seemed to be Jehovah’s will—that all directors and officers of the Pennsylvania corporation be anointed Christians.

    Mark these words - "what then seemed to be Jehovah's will".

    In the JW world, whenever present time is, Jehovah's will is unquestionably whatever is being said by the Governing Body. Dare you question it, you're questioning Jehovah himself. It doesn't matter if you're right and they're wrong; it's about authority. They have been (supposedly) appointed by God and Christ, and you haven't. They hold the real authority, and you're nothing but a tiny, replaceable cog in the machinery, no matter how high up on the organizational ladder you may be.

    However, in retrospect, some of their decisions and options were clearly wrong. How do you deal with those inconvenient truths? You resort to word play. 'It seemed then to be Jehovah's will'. But, back then, whenever that might have been in the past, they were absolutely certain about it! What sort of oracle do they have on what is currently "Jehovah's will", that they can only say 'it seems to be this way'? What sort of leaders are Jehovah and Christ that they allow their supposed earthly organization to guess what is their will at any given moment?

    Either Jehovah and Christ are incompetent leaders, because they're unable to communicate clearly and without ambiguity what their will is; or this Organization isn't being directed by God and Christ through Holy Spirit because simply is the work of men; or the whole God / Religion / Organization is a scam. Pick your answer.

    Eden

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