The final nine of those sixty years were spent on the central executive council, the Governing Body. As a third-generation member, the author lived the first sixty years of his life among Jehovah¿s Witnesses, serving in various countries at nearly every level of the organizational structure. Yet that Body¿s decisions are applicable and enforceable toward every Witness on earth. The Governing Body sessions and discussions are totally private and not open to the rest of Jehovah¿s Witnesses. More remarkably, very few Witnesses themselves have any knowledge of their history or doctrine forming and policy-making processes of their own organization. Yet for most persons the religion remains a near mystery. In countries where they are active, few people have not had contact with the Witnesses as a result of their intense door-to-door activity. Starting in the 1870¿s as an independent Bible study group composed of a handful of persons in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jehovah¿s Witnesses today number more than eight million in some 240 lands. The information nevertheless raises very fundamental questions that are both disturbing and conscience stirring. Franz description of his journey in Crisis of Conscience is presented with sensitivity and compassion. Author Raymond Franz, former member of the Governing Body of Jehovah¿s Witnesses presents his story of a struggle to prevent the erosion of his God-given freedom of conscience as well as that of others, forming the heart of this very personal and candid account.
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