We have several
examples in the forum showing that President Knorr was not a loving and caring person;
one that impressed me was the one about the elderly Bethelite that was put out on
the streets until his death due to a disagreement with Knorr.
I bring to your attention an incident that happened in the country of Honduras back in the 50s, it has to do with immoral conduct by a Branch Overseer and his subsequent disfellowshiping. I am not critical of the end result of his conduct but rather the salacious and detailed report of this matter putting in the open the details for the whole world to see.
While making this assertion I am thinking about the relatives of this man, his father was a DO, his brother was at that time a CO and eventually a DO; the wife was from a very spiritual family and she herself was an outstanding Christian. It seems that Knorr took like in some other instances this matter very personally and he promised that as long as he was President he was not going to be reinstated.
This was a promise that he couldn’t keep and it took about 10 years but the man was eventually reinstated, as years went by and this blemish was getting smaller he started getting some privileges and he rose to the point that after like 30 years he became a CO and then DO until his death.
I don’t condone what this man did and most certainly he deserved harsh discipline, but I question whether it was needed to put all the salacious details out in the open in a Watchtower article.
Here is the information for your consideration:
The Watchtower July 15, 1955 Page 430:
The brothers saw results from the assembly, because their January report showed 104 engaging in preaching this good news of the Kingdom throughout all of British Honduras. HONDURAS Two days before President Knorr’s arrival in Honduras the constitutional government had fallen. The political situation was tense.
Also, a very grave situation had developed within the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses itself. Brother Knorr would have to appoint a new branch servant because the one formerly in charge had disqualified himself and he was therefore disfellowshiped.
Here for Jehovah’s people there was tension within and without. For the past four years Jehovah’s witnesses had been blessed and many were being gathered into the New World society. In 1950 there were 208 publishers in the country and by the time the service year of 1954 had closed there was an average of 410.
The missionaries along with the local publishers had done well, but when corruption was found within the organization it disturbed some of the weaker ones, as they were looking to mem rather than to Jehovah God. In checking the February, 1955, report it is found that there are now only 392 publishers, a decrease from the 1954 average and far below the peak of 460 publishers in April, 1954. It will take hard work on the part of the missionaries and other mature brothers in the congregation to aid, strengthen and bring on to maturity those who once had taken a stand for the Kingdom.
Those who corrupt Jehovah’s organization by immoral living have something to answer for before Jehovah God. A little sister reported the misconduct of the branch servant to one of the missionaries. It was this information that led to the uncovering of the scandal that had B r o o k l y n , N . Y . corrupted the local organization. This girl had told how she had seen the branch servant, a married man, making regular calls at the one-room house of a prostitute. It was hard for the missionary to believe the report. So then she wanted to see with her own eyes. She did, and she reported the matter to some brothers, missionaries, and for several days the branch servant was watched and his conduct checked. Some days he made as many as three calls to see this girl of ill fame. Sometimes he would take her to the theater.
The matter was then reported to the president’s office and instructions were sent out to make a very thorough check and to have a sufficient number of witnesses watch this man’s actions. Even the branch servant’s wife was invited to go along on a back-call near the harlot’s home so she too could see exactly what her husband was doing before the charges were presented to him and disfellowshiping would take place.
The Society’s president had given instructions for the man to have a fair hearing, but from the very start he tried to lie his way out. He even said he had not gone to the place. But there were a sufficient number of witnesses who were wholly devoted to Jehovah God observing daily what had taken place and in the face of all of his lies the man was disfellowshiped.
If a person wants to live as the world lives, then let
him stay in the world. When we find men in the organization like those Jude
described—“ungodly men, turning the undeserved kindness of our God into an
excuse for loose conduct and proving false to our only Owner and Lord, Jesus
Christ” —then they should be removed from the organization, and quickly.—Jude
4, NW.