Milton George Henschel
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Milton George Henschel (August 9, 1920 - March 22, 2003) was a longtime member of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses, who succeeded Frederick W. Franz as the president of Watch Tower Society.
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[edit] Personal life
Milton Henschel was born in New Jersey. He relocated to Brooklyn, New York as a teenager in 1934 when his father, Herman George Henschel, moved to the area to work on construction projects in the printeries and residence building for Jehovah's Witnesses. The young Milton was baptized during his adolescence. He married Lucille Bennett in 1956. Over the years he filled various administrative capacities for the international organization headquarters. According to his friends, he was known for being practical, flexible, reasonable and kind.
[edit] Career
In 1939, Henschel was appointed secretary to Nathan H. Knorr, who was overseeing work at the Watchtower printery. Knorr continued to keep Henschel as his assistant after becoming president of the Watchtower Society in 1942. Henschel was often with Knorr in his travels, visiting at least 150 countries during this time. In 1963 Henschel was detained and physically assaulted together with a large group of Jehovah's Witnesses in Liberia during a religious conference.[1] He returned just a few months later to meet with Liberia's president for the purpose of gaining freedom of worship for Jehovah's Witnesses.
In a July, 1968 interview with the Detroit Free Press, Henschel was asked about the Watch Tower Society's recently stated opposition to tissue transplants.[2] He responded by saying that "Transplanting organs is really cannibalism.[3]" Scriptural support was drawn from the Bible book of Acts 15:29, from which he quoted the Apostolic decree, "Abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood." Significant amounts of donor blood accompany the typical organ transplant, even without transfusion. He continued by saying that "In transplants, you are taking something from another body to sustain your life." Speaking for Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole, he said, "We are confident of the resurrection, and don’t fear death," ending with the rhetorical question, "If a person gains another five years, because of a transplant, what has he gained, if he loses the future?", thus suggesting that such an act would result in condemnation by God. It is noteworthy that this position was abandoned twelve years later in 1980.[4]
During the same 1968 Free Press interview, Henschel spoke to the Watch Tower view of the immediate future, making reference to the impending battle of Armageddon, during which God would defeat Satan the Devil and his evil forces, thus restoring peace to the Earth. He conceded that there was no specific date for the outbreak of Armageddon but, he added, "1975 is a year to watch," alluding to the Watchtower Society teaching that 6000 years of mankind's existence would be reached that year, marking the probable beginning of Christ's millennial reign.[5] This teaching in particular finds its root in the early nineteenth century Adventist movement founded by William Miller, and later modified by N.H. Barbour, C.T. Russell, and F.W. Franz.
Henschel also contributed to the book Religions of America (1975), edited by Leo Rosten, with the chapter "Who are Jehovah's Witnesses?"
He became the president of the Watch Tower Society December 30, 1992 and was in this office until 2000. In that year organizational changes took place, as the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses was separated from the society's board of directors. As a result, the members of the Governing Body stepped down from their capacities in the Watchtower society. Henschel thus left his office to Don A. Adams, a non-member of the Governing Body. Henschel remained a member of the Governing Body until his death.
[edit] References
- ^ 1977 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, pages 171-7.
- ^ Heart Transplants Held Cannibalism, The Detroit Free Press, July, 1968, by Hiley H. Ward.
- ^ The Watchtower, 11/15/1967, Questions from Readers. The article's title poses the question "Is there any Scriptural objection to donating one’s body for use in medical research or to accepting organs for transplant from such a source?" Having already condemned as cannibalistic the consumption of human flesh in paragraph four, and thus abhorrent to all civilized people, the question is pointedly addressed in paragraph five, stating simplistically that "When there is a diseased or defective organ, the usual way health is restored is by taking in nutrients. The body uses the food eaten to repair or heal the organ, gradually replacing the cells. When men of science conclude that this normal process will no longer work and they suggest removing the organ and replacing it directly with an organ from another human, this is simply a shortcut. Those who submit to such operations are thus living off the flesh of another human. That is cannibalistic."
- ^ The Watchtower, 3/15/1980, Questions from Readers. The question "Should congregation action be taken if a baptized Christian accepts a human organ transplant, such as of a cornea or a kidney?", presupposes that such "congregation action" in the form of formal excommunication or disfellowshipping had been mandatory for this offense amongst Jehovah's Witnesses prior to this treatment of the subject. The matter is promptly disposed of this time in the opening sentence of the first paragraph: "Regarding the transplantation of human tissue or bone from one human to another, this is a matter for conscientious decision by each one of Jehovah’s Witnesses." And, in conclusion, "The congregation judicial committee would not take disciplinary action if someone accepted an organ transplant". In that such "disciplinary action" is typically taken in response to clear violations of "God's Law," we can conclude then that, at least in this instance, God's law has been reversed.
- ^ See Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, published by Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, 1966.
[edit] Additional Reading
- He Loved Kindness, The Watchtower, pg.31, August 15, 2003.
- The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses, by Heather Botting, and Arthur Botting. Published by University of Toronto Press, May 1, 1984.
