There's no sanitising of the WT's all or nothing approach to 1975. Even outsiders were treated to the WT's brand of loving persuasion:
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/6536487399587840/baby-that-would-never-born-1975
What Really Happened (Back Then) With The False Teaching Of 1975 Among Jehovah's Witnesses?
by 1975JWExpert 59 Replies latest jw friends
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blondie
After 1975 did not come, the WTS saw decreases in the # of publishers for almost 3 years running. The 1976 comment blames the membership and distances themselves from any responsibility. The 1980 was a try to fix the damage. Try finding the 1976 quote in the Watchtower Online Library index, it is hard to find. Not under 1975
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TonusOH
1975JWExpert: The above statement was originally written to primarily humiliate them both
If that was the intent, I don't think it worked. Most JWs I knew (granted, I was just a child at this time) were in something of a holding pattern, based on the idea that the end might still come very soon because we did not know the date of Eve's creation. I think a lot of new JWs were also hedging their bets, not wanting to leave in case the 1975 date was just off by a bit instead of completely wrong. I think it wasn't until 1978 or 1979 that growth went negative and the WTS decided to make a more conciliatory response to the issue (but not an outright admission of what they had done).
I'm not saying that this was not the intention of that statement. I don't know. But Ray Franz gave the impression that tensions had been running high ever since the GB had been given actual power at the expense of Knorr and Fred Franz. The statement may have been intended as a shot across the bow. But I never got the impression that it was.
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1975JWExpert
Hi TonusOH,
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, we are going back quite a few years, aren't we.
I was a little older than you back then, that is by October of 1975 . . . the big date and all.
I was an adult at the time, married, and serving as a full-time regular pioneer. Back then I was a Min. Servant and was permitted to do lots of things in the congregation, because I was "serving where the need was greater," along with my wife.
At that time, I was permitted to be a Book Study Conductor, Theocratic Ministry School (as it was called back then) Conductor, Public Speaker inside and outside the congregation as a visiting speaker, in 1975. Later in April of 1978, I became the Presiding Overseer for a small congregation at the age of 25, with lots of privileges on assemblies, and so on.
I was made aware of "insider" problems at Brooklyn Bethel between 1978-1980, by way of a newly arrived Bethelite who had close ties with certain "heavies" at Bethel during that time. (When he arrived, I was personally involved in a big fight/dispute with a C.O. and a D.O. in a struggle of human issues within the local congregation, which eventually required the presence of a "Special Committee" to settle the problem. This Bethelite friend helped me out with this situation.)
The newly arrived Bethelite and myself, was on the phone with Brooklyn Bethel to get advise on how to proceed. Two members of the three-man Committee that was responsible for the writing of the "Aid To Bible Understanding" publication were the ones we dealt with. Ray Franz was one of the two we dealt with. My ex-Bethelite friend was a very close associate with these men, and very close with NH Knorr, believe it or not. He talked about him all the time, sometime with tears. Yeap, he wanted to go back to Brooklyn Bethel so bad he could taste it.
I later served in the Gadsden, Alabama Circuit in a small nearby town, when Ray & wife arrived there and starting working for Peter Gregerson, who headed up Warehouse Groceries at the time.
Let's just say, the whole ordeal was quite an experience and eye-opener for a young man, in his mid-twenties among Jehovah's Witnesses, during those years.
But somehow, I survived, happily.
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Biahi
Did you know Peter Gregerson? I met him once, at an ex JW conference. What a kind, Christian man!
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1975JWExpert
Hi Biahi,
I met Peter, Greg and Mark (fleshly brothers) all at the assemblies. They also came around as visiting speakers, from the Gadsden area to my small town in DeKalb County, Alabama.
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Biahi
You were blessed to have known him. 🙏🏻
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TonusOH
1975JWExpert, thanks for the insight!
Did you ever happen to meet Claudius Johnson, by any chance?
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1975JWExpert
No, I don't believe I have.
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1975JWExpert
September 7th, 1975 -- War At Brooklyn Bethel!!!
Frederick W. Franz Explodes "Governing Body" False Teaching (Taught In Newly Released "Aid To Bible Understanding" Book) before audience of Gilead Graduates At Brooklyn Bethel Headquarters -- September 7th, 1975!
Hear audio of actual Frederick W. Franz 1975 Gilead speech where he scripturally debunks concept of first century Governing Body's existence. (Audio of Gilead Talk available at YouTube.)
See and hear two individuals discuss Raymond V. Franz's personal recall of this actual 1975 Bethel event on video Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMzW31zxyR4
See and hear eye-witness testimony of one who was an actual member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses for 9 years. Notice his comments on how the Bible, God's Word, was actually viewed by these men who governed the JW Organization with absolute and complete authority. (See Matthew 15:7-9, Mark 7:7, 8): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_2C08O ... hamicFaith
In a most controversial speech, delivered September 7th, 1975, the then Watchtower Society Vice-President Fred W. Franz holds up the Watchtower's first true Bible reference book, "Aid to Bible Understanding" before the entire audience at the Gilead Graduation ceremonies. Ironically, it was the research done for this volume which led both to (a) the "new light" on the elder arrangement, and (b) the establishment of the modern concept of a "Governing Body," which supposedly held divinely approved authority over all first century Christians.
On September 7th, 1975. before an audience of loyal, soon-to-be missionaries for Jehovah's Witnesses at Gilead Training School, then Vice President Franz vehemently and sarcastically destroyed the Watchtower's "new light" on the necessity of a "Governing Body". The concept of one centralized authority, it seems, was not the bee in Franz's bonnet. What DID upset Franz seemed to be the new Governing Body's attempt to find justification for this dogma in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15. Franz used the book of Acts itself to dismantle the Watchtower Society's pretense (taught in the newly released "Aid To Bible Understanding" Publication) of finding precedent for this "Governing Body'" Concept in the New Testament.
Please research the above information for yourselves, to ascertain the facts.***