In 1971, Franz was invited to become a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, a small group of men at the second-highest organizational level.

The proverb is apt: 'When anyone is replying to a matter before he hears it, that is foolishness on his part and a humiliation''-Proverbs 18:13 Whether the reaction of the reader will coincide with mine, I have no way of knowing, but one thing is certain, and that is no one could understand what brought me to a crisis situation without knowing these developments. What I saw, heard and experienced during the next fifteen years had a great impact on me. In the preface of the first of his two books, Crisis of Conscience, Franz describes his experience at the headquarters in this way: “ The book was subsequently re-published as 'Insight on the Scriptures' in 1988, as a two-volume set with very minor revisions. these things may have been of principal benefit.'. Perhaps its tone, its approach, the effort put forth by most of the writers to avoid dogmatism, to acknowledge that there might be more than one way of seeing certain matters. Franz reflected on the effect the research had on the group: 'the did serve to quicken interest in the Scriptures among many Witnesses.

Franz and his colleagues spent five years researching various bible translations and Bible commentaries, and submitted a great number of biblical topics to Knorr for approval. įranz began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write Aid to Bible Understanding, the first encyclopaedic book published by Jehovah's Witnesses. Franz admitted to Knorr that he preferred missionary work but accepted the offer at the President's request. In 1965, Nathan Knorr, the Watch Tower Society's third president, invited Franz to work and live at Jehovah's Witnesses' world headquarters (called Bethel) in Brooklyn, New York. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years. At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him in these missionary travels from 1959 onward. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, travelling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, at least until 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo. until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. In 1948, Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries, and temporarily served the organization as a travelling representative in the continental U.S. By 1940, Franz had increased his religious activity by evangelizing for Jehovah's Witnesses on a full-time basis in areas which that organization had deemed to be in need of special attention. Raymond became a member of Jehovah's Witnesses when he was sixteen years old (in 1938), and became a baptized member in 1939. Raymond's father was baptized in 1913 as a Bible Student, as they were known before they adopted the name 'Jehovah's Witnesses' in 1931. Frederick Franz, Raymond's uncle, was highly influential in the religion's development, practices, and doctrines, and remained a prominent member of the organization until he was disfellowshipped by the Watchtower Society in 1980. Carelinks Network For Former Jehovah's Witnessesįranz was born in 1922 and raised as a third-generation Jehovah's Witness many of his family were members.

Raymond franz