PERHAPS you were not one of Jehovah’s Witnesses then or you’re too young to remember some of the huge international conventions Jehovah’s Witnesses held many years ago, but probably have seen impressive photos such as of the 1958 eight-day convention held simultaneously at New York’s Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds. Especially remarkable was the tremendous newspaper coverage of that assembly and other specialconventions held in the United States and abroad from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Recently, when I downloaded from the Internet somebody’s old scrapbook full of long-ago newspaper articles, http://www.archive.org/details/WatchtowerNewsScrapBook, reporting on Jehovah’s Witnesses so-called “International Conventions,” I couldn’t help but remember what I wrote regarding extraordinary newspaper convention coverage in my article How Jehovah’s Witnesses Watchtower Religion Impacted My Family History, Part 3and thought I’d share the information for those who are not familiar with how such “wonderful” coverage came about.
In 1991, one of the Watch Tower Society’s senior writers, Colin Quackenbush, told me in the privacy of his office about letters which the Society had received from “prominent and credible elders, not apostates” (that’s exactly what he said), who were concerned about the increase in accusations that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “false prophets.” These accusations were being made through concerted efforts by the clergy, I was told, especially on the west coast of the United States. The fuel for this attack was the Society’s failed predictions with reference to the dates of 1799, 1874, 1878, 1914, 1919, 1925, 1975, etc.
Moreover, Colin pointed out, the brothers were expressing frustration because “we are so far from the 1914 date and most of the old anointed are dead or dying and the new world is not here yet.” To combat the criticism, the elders were requesting information to disprove the “false prophet” charge.
When I think of Ray Franz, I think of his kindness, compassion and concern for others.
We know that the more closed a social system becomes, the greater the potential for abuse of power, and Ray saw this first hand in polices enacted by the Governing Body. That’s why, through his books, he tried to unveil the secret workings of the “hermetically sealed” leaders of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Ray had no dubious purpose in writing his books. He cared for others and was upset by the heartless policies enacted and continued by the Governing Body even though the “friends” were hurt by those policies. Ray always wanted justice, not for himself, but for the brotherhood and that’s why his conscience grieved him so when he was a member of the Governing Body.
On January 14, 1912, my dad was born to Polish Catholic immigrant parents in Flushing, New York. His negative experiences during the time he was a practicing Catholic no doubt unfairly influenced us to view the Church the same way as he did, disapprovingly; yet, we never thought of leaving the Catholic religion.
I was baptized as a Witness in October 1954 at age 14. I severed connections with non-Witness friends and relatives, except for my father who never joined the religion, and had a great social life with people in the congregation and with young men from Brooklyn headquarters who often visited our home in Long Island. I was having the time of my young life.
As most of you well know, Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) have never been known for having a charitable spirit, not even towards their own members because charitable acts are not encouraged by their leaders. Rather the message conveyed through this organization’s literature is that the most important thing for members to do is to spend personal time and money to convert non-JWs to their religion. They preach that after God destroys the world, suffering will be done away with so it is not necessary to relieve human suffering now.
It was while my husband and I were staff members at the JW world headquarters in New York that some momentous disasters, which touched the lives of JWs particularly here in the US, occurred. As a result, Witnesses who lived outside of the disaster areas came together to help their spiritual brothers in a large way. This activity was reported to Witness leaders in New York by their traveling representatives. Rather than stop members from assisting follow believers and come under heavy criticism, an announcement was made to the headquarter staff during lunch that the Governing Body was donating around $82,000 to help JWs in California where one particular destructive natural event had occurred. That was a milestone event which surprised and pleased the staff of 4,000 people. It came to my attention that soon after a committee at headquarters was set up which would thereafter coordinate disaster aid through branches and congregations near disaster areas. This was in the mid to late1980s and was the emergence of an appearance that this religious organization was engaged in charitable acts.
My experiences at Bethel are in line with what Ray Franz explained in his book Crisis of Conscience that it was the “other sheep” who, over the years, did the bulk of the writing for Watch Tower literature. Of course, when Ray was in the Writing Department there were men who professed to be of the “anointed" who were doing writing. He was one of them along with Karl Klein, Lloyd Barry and Fred Franz. I don’t know if Dunlap or Reinhart Lingstat, both who collaborated on the Aid book, also claimed to be anointed.
Joe and I just returned from Chicago where I was a guest speaker at the BRCI conference on September 19, 2009. The attached material, "Opening Pandora's Box" is the talk I gave. It is about our European month-long tour from last June-July. “Pandora’s Box” is a simple Greek myth which explained how bad things came to be. In one version, when Pandora opened what appeared to her to be a valuable box, she let out all the evils including hope. Is hope evil? Well, the Greeks considered hope evil, even dangerous, and its bedfellow was thought to be delusion.
In our jargon today, opening Pandora’s Box means to unwittingly unleash chaos on yourself and those around you. It was with these thoughts that I commenced one of the lectures that I gave three times in Europe this past summer.
From what Bethel insiders and informers told me, the innermost sanctums of Bethel were far from peaceful during that year.
Starting in 1998 through 2001, Watch Tower’s blood-ban was a hot issue primarily stirred by an elder from Alabama by the name of “R. Jensen.” Correspondence from Jensen to Watch Tower, and from Watch Tower to Jensen, can be found using these links:
In 1998, I completely severed my association with Jehovah's Witnesses. However, it wasn't until 2004 that I heard the details from my mother, two years before her death at age 91, of how the Watch Tower organization’s teachings significantly altered her Polish Catholic father's life-course causing him to end up an excommunicated Catholic in Poland although he never became a Watch Tower follower.
Frances Pollini was the middle-aged woman of Italian descent who conducted a home Bible study with me and my mother in the fall of 1953. Connie Grazzuti introduced the Watch Tower religion to Frances Pollini, an ardent Catholic who changed her religion to become an ardent Jehovah’s Witness. A year before Frances met us, she moved from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY, where Connie also lived, to East Meadow, Long Island, NY.
As an independent, outspoken critic of the Watch Tower organization, I know, “The more profile, the more scrutiny.” Inasmuch as I write many articles, posts and blogs, there is opportunity for criticism of my integrity and honesty if I make certain claims without proof such as saying, “Thousands of Witnesses die each year when they need whole blood or some major blood components that JWs leaders don’t approve of.”
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While many Jehovah's Witnesses have been treated badly by the Watchtower organization, many have had good experiences during their time as Witnesses. For several years starting in the 70s, the Brooklyn home had a kind of "talent night," in this case it included an interview. You think these are "grumbling apostates" who never enjoyed their time in the organization, watch and find out.
Dan Bell, a Bethelite, told Barb that "no one ever gets to see these "family nights" outside of Bethel and gave Barb a copy of this one on a VHS tape as a personal gift for them to share with others. This segment is almost 30 minutes and is an interview with Joe, Barb, and their son Lance. George and Grace Aljian are also featured. Enjoy a good story!
Ever wonder why the name, Watchtower, (one word) is sometimes written, Watch Tower, (two words)? Does it matter? What are the legal ramifications? What does the Watchtower have in common with the Peoples Pulpit Association of New York? The answers to these questions and more are thoughtfully presented from a historical perspective.
Jehovah's Witnesses are discouraged from doing extensive personal research into their modern-day history. Such action can cause a truth-seeking Witness to be labeled "apostate" and be shunned by family and friends.
As an independent, outspoken critic of the Watch Tower organization, I know, “The more profile, the more scrutiny.” Inasmuch as I write many articles, posts and blogs, there is opportunity for criticism of my integrity and honesty if I make certain claims without proof such as saying, “Thousands of Witnesses die each year when they need whole blood or some major blood components that JWs leaders don’t approve of.”
