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Raymond Victor Franz (May 8, 1922 – June 2, 2010) was a member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses from October 20, 1971 until his removal on May 22, 1980,〔"Announcements", ''Our Kingdom Ministry'', August 1980, page 2, "This is a notification that Raymond Victor Franz is no longer a member of the Governing Body and of the Brooklyn Bethel family as of May 22, 1980."〕 and served at the organization's world headquarters for fifteen years, from 1965 until 1980. Franz stated the request for his resignation and his subsequent disfellowshipping resulted from allegations of apostasy. Following his removal, Franz wrote two books that related his personal experiences with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and his views on Jehovah's Witnesses teachings. ==Watch Tower career== Franz was born in 1922. His uncle, Frederick Franz, was influential in the religion's development, practices and doctrines. His father associated with the Bible Student movement (from which Jehovah's Witnesses developed) and was baptized in 1913. Raymond joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1938, and became a baptized member in 1939. In 1944 Franz graduated from Gilead, the religion's school for training missionaries,〔"Gilead’s 61st Graduation a Spiritual Treat", ''The Watchtower'', November 1, 1976, page 671.〕 and temporarily served the organization as a traveling representative in the continental United States until receiving a missionary assignment to Puerto Rico in 1946. Franz became a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the Caribbean, traveling to the Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic, until at least 1957 when Jehovah's Witnesses were banned in the Dominican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo. At the age of 37, Franz married his wife, Cynthia, who joined him on missionary work. Both returned to the Dominican Republic in 1961 to evangelize for four more years and were then assigned to Watch Tower headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. According to Franz, he began working in the organization's writing department and was assigned to collaboratively write ''Aid to Bible Understanding'', the first religious encyclopedia published by Jehovah's Witnesses. On October 20, 1971 he was appointed as a member of the Governing Body. In his personal memoir, Franz said that at the end of 1979 he reached a personal crossroad: Frustrated by what he viewed as the Governing Body's dogmatism and overemphasis on traditional views rather than reliance on the Bible in reaching doctrinal decisions, Franz and his wife decided in late 1979 they would leave the international headquarters. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Raymond Franz」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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