by somebody 16 Replies latest jw friends
Thirdson,
:I stole the quote. It is from Judge Clarence Thomas, he has the quote on a plaque in his office.
Ya tryin to avoid criticism, eh? ;-) I thought the quote spoke the truth anyway. That's a great quote for Judge Clarence Thomas to have on his desk!
Hey...why does that Judge's name sound familiar to me? Who is he?
peace,
somebody
Somebody,
There is a site that I have seen that has the membership numbers from about 1920 to the present. Unfortuantely, I didn't write it down. Parhaps someone else here may be able to supply it. Also, I started the thread awhile back called JW decliine, where I summarized the recent (ten year) changes. (To find it, go to the top of this page to search and enter the word "decline". It should take you there) The original graphs that I summarized can be found at the freeminds site.
Besides membership, it is useful to look at % changes by year. I put together a graph for the years of 1925 to 1990. I have to look it up, so what I am here writing is off the top of my head. After the 1925 fiasco, the WT membership did not get back to its 1924 number for a full ten years. Growth from 1935 til Rutherford's death in 1944 was slow. Under Knorr they had double digit percent increases during the 40's and 50's. In the 60's and 70's they settled in at about 7-8%. They showed large increases before 1975, followed by loses and small increases intil 1980. They never did recover. From 1980 until today their growth rate has dropped steadily from an average of about 8% to about 2%.
There is one interesting fact that I forgot to add to my previous thread. In economics there are statistics that are called "leading indicators" that predict other, future information. If you look at the graphs at the Freeminds site you will notice that the number being baptized started to decline further and faster than membership declines and is a leading indicator of membership decline. This indicates that for at least the next five years, their membership in all but the third world countries will continue to decline no matter what they do.
Yes Iarc,
Your figures are good.Rutherford's rule had little impact on growth as it brought about the Bible Student schism followed by the exodus after 1925.He,however,got them noticed by adopting the social exclusion policies with which we are so familiar.This allowed Knorr,as a hard nosed businessman,to provide the tools to allow the JW's to expand.As it started to grow,the need to maintain this growth became the overriding priority in society policy.
The GB did not exist until the seventies.Before that there was Russell,Rutherford and Knorr and their word was law.
Ray Franz's account of the arguments/tussles over this issue are worth reading.
Regards Welshman
Clarence Thomas is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He's the one that doesn't say anything, so he's got that part down pat.
To follow on from Xandit, Judge Thomas's infamy was being subject to intense investigation as a result of sexual harassment charges by a former staff member of his, Anita Hill. So perhaps he doesn't do quite nothing! I am not a fan of Thomas, I think Thurgood Marshall who Thomas replaced on the Suprene Court a far better character. But I like the quote nonetheless.
Thirdson
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
P.S. Edited because I noticed the notify by e-mail box was checked ugghhhhhh!
Edited by - Thirdson on 27 February 2001 0:1:12
That's a tricky question 'SB'.
There was NO governing Body in Russell's day, and although most Bible Students viewed him as the Faithful and Wise Servant, he never admitted to be IT, in fact, for many years he taught the FDS wwere all consecrated followers of Christ, in his latter years, he believed it was an individuals, but never claimed the position.
ALthough the Society was run by a board of directors, Russell had most of the voting shares, so what he said, was law. Under Rutherford, he introduced by-laws that would give teh president FULL control, making the board of directors useless, and he became the sole autocrat of the WTBTS.
Knorr took over in January 1942, after Rutherford died, he ursurped authority from Hayden Covington, who was then vice president and would be successor. However it was decided that the president had too much power, and the Governing Body was officially formed in 1971.
The only memnbers of the board of director against the governing body was Knorr and Franz, since they shared power, Knorr as President, Franz as spiritual guru.
_______________
People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
RR,
You are correct in your writings but permit me to add some more. The Watchtower 1/15, 2001 (sorry to quote it again but it is the only one I have obtained in several months since my last trip to unload the local Laundrette of the W & A) makes some interesting, if not strange comments on this subject.
The article, "How the Governing Body Differs from a Legal Corporation" is written with the express aim of softening the blow that comes in the Special Announcement on page 31. In it the article explains how the GB was first formed in 1944. At the end of page 28 it makes this statement:
After the historic annual meeting in 1944, however, a vital question remained. Since the Governing Body was then closely identified with the Pennsylvania corporation's seven member board of directors, did this mean that the Governing Body could never be made up of more than seven anointed Christians?
So when was this vital question answered? 27 years later in 1971.
These questions were answered at the anual meeting held on October 1, 1971.
It mentions a speaker who pointed out what the governing body was supposed to be. I thought, though it doesn't say in the article, that this was Fred Franz himself.
The article shows how the GB may have no connection to the legal corporations of the Watchtower society and that the directors of these various corporation are all of the "other sheep" sheep.
I think the preparation is being made for the time when there will be no anointed in leadership and the GB will be disolved. Otherwise, they have to find a way out of the statement made in the Watchtower12/15 1971 where it says:
Let us keep in mind that the governing body must be made up of dedicated, baptized Christians who are anointed with God's spirit and begotten by Him to be his spiritual children, and who are to be united with the glorified Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom. This must be so because, as in the case of the twelve apostles of Christ, the governing body is part of the "faithful and discreet slave" class and presides over it as spiritual shepherds and overseers.
According to that when the last (genuinely) anointed person dies there can be no GB. Yam buggered then!
Thirdson
'To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing'
