Raymond Victor Franz

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Raymond Victor Franz (* 1922 in Cincinnati , Ohio ; † June 2, 2010 ) was a Jehovah's Witness until December 1981 and a member of the religious community's governing body until 1980. He then published on the religious community and was considered its most prominent critic .

Life

Franz's father, mother, and three of his four grandparents were Jehovah's Witnesses . Franz himself became active in the religious community in 1938 and was baptized as one of Jehovah's Witnesses on January 1, 1939. Immediately after graduating from school in 1940, he began the full-time field ministry. Because of the special pioneer service that began in 1942, he received grants from the Watchtower Society so that he could fully concentrate on his missionary work. In 1944, over a period of 5 months, he attended a course in the community's missionary school "Gilead", which trains and prepares Jehovah's Witnesses for missionary service.

For the next 20 years, Raymond Franz served as a missionary, circuit overseer, zone overseer, and branch overseer in Puerto Rico , the Dominican Republic, and the Virgin Islands . In 1959 he married a Jehovah's Witness, Cynthia. For further training he attended a 10 month course at Gilead School in 1964 and from 1965 worked at the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn , New York City , USA.

In 1971 he became a member of the Governing Body , the worldwide governing body of the religious community. He gave speeches at congresses and on handover of buildings and facilities.

On May 22, 1980 his two management positions ended. He received a severance payment of $ 10,000 and from then on lived in Gadsden , Alabama , on the grounds of Peter Gregerson, a Jehovah's Witness who Franz also worked for. A short time later, Peter Gregerson left the religious community at his own request. According to Raymond Franz, he was expelled from the religious community on December 31, 1981 because he had shared a meal with Peter Gregerson.

Raymond Franz then wrote a book about his time with Jehovah's Witnesses. The English title is Crisis of Conscience , the German Der Gewissenskonflikt . The book has now been translated into many different languages.

In 1985, Raymond Franz and his wife moved to Atlanta , Georgia , where they lived in their own house. A donation from a reader of his book and the money saved from his work at Peter Gregerson made this move possible.

In 1991 Franz published the book In Search of Christian Freedom . In 1997 it was published in German translation ( In Search of Christian Freedom ) on CD-ROM. Since 2005 it has also been available as a hardback edition. For Franz, “Christian freedom”, love and responsibility and not loyalty to a religious community are in the foreground. He criticizes the authoritarian structure as well as the unbiblical methods and teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses based on his personal understanding of the Bible .

Raymond Franz suffered a stroke on May 30, 2010 and fell into a coma . On June 2, 2010, his wife, Cynthia, arranged for all life support to be suspended. At 1:37 p.m. local time, he was pronounced dead.

family

  • Cynthia, the wife of Raymond Franz, was born in 1935 and married in 1959. She was present on most of Raymond's trips around the world. She had serious health problems.
  • Frederick William Franz , born in 1893, an uncle of Raymond Franz, was Vice President from 1945 to 1978, then until his death in 1992 President of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania , the parent company of all legal organizations under the name Watchtower Society . He was also a member of the Governing Body.
  • Alvin Franz , another uncle of Raymond Franz, the youngest of four siblings, left the Jehovah's Witness religious community in 1925.

Published books

  • Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. Obey people or stay true to God? A Jehovah's Witness reports (report from a former leader).
  • Raymond Franz: In search of Christian freedom. Answers to questions from sect dropouts.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, pp. 16-18.
  2. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 18.
  3. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 22 f.
  4. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, pp. 23-26.
  5. ↑ a b Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1972, pp. 158–167.
  6. ^ A b c Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, pp. 25-26.
  7. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 27.
  8. ↑ The Watchtower . Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1975, edition of March 15, p. 166, Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses expanded.
  9. ↑ Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1973, p. 257, The Governing Body.
  10. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 49.
  11. ↑ Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1980, p. 159, France.
  12. ↑ The Watchtower. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1979, edition of 1.4., P. 11, building and planting in France.
  13. ↑ Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1978, p. 254 Spain.
  14. ↑ Our Kingdom Ministry, Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, Issue 5/1977 p. 1, letter from the branch office.
  15. ↑ The Watchtower. Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, 1977, edition of 1.2., P. 95, The 61st Gilead graduation ceremony - a spiritual feast.
  16. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006.
  17. ↑ Our Kingdom Ministry . Watchtower Society Selters / Taunus, Edition 9/1980, p. 3, Announcements We hereby announce that Raymond Victor Franz has not been a member of the governing body or the Brooklyn Bethel family since May 22, 1980.
  18. ^ The conflict of conscience, Raymond Franz, 4th edition, 2006, chapter 11, especially p. 313.
  19. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 331.
  20. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 352.
  21. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 260.
  22. ^ Raymond Franz: The conflict of conscience. 4th edition, 2006, p. 222.
personal data
SURNAME Franz, Raymond Victor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ray
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author, member of the Governing Body of the Watch Tower Bible And Tract Society of Pennsylvania
DATE OF BIRTH 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 2010