Who was Edward Dunlap?

Edward Dunlap, also known as Ed Dunlap, was a Jehovah's Witness who had high positions within the Watchtower Society until he was disfellowshipped in 1980.

 

 

1933 : Associates himself with the Watchtower Society
1935 : Was baptized and became a pioneer
1943 : Enters Bethel in the USA, then serves many years at the School of Gilead and gets married with Dorothy ("Betty")
1954-1958 : His task is to reply to mails received at Bethel
1961-1973 : Is appointed secretary and teacher at Gilead when the school is moved to Brooklyn
Until 1980 : Works at Writing department
1980 : Leaves Bethel following his disfellowshipping for apostasy

 

 

In an audio recording in 2 parts[1], Dunlap himself speaks of the decades of full time service and his devotion to the Watchtower Society. He tells the serious problems he started to discover with the teachings from different articles of The Watchtower and what really happens in reality. He explains what led him to be interrogated by some members of the Board of Directors, from the moment when he started to present his personal points of views on different theological questions(he didn't accept the doctrine about the "rest of the anointed", according to his understanding of Romans 8:14), which led him to be disfellowshipped[2].

 

He was well educated and took part in the modernization of the printers of the Watch Tower Society in the world. He wrote the book Commentary on the Letter of James and was part of a team of five Jehovah's Witnesses who wrote the Aid to Bible Understanding[3]. He also wrote other articles in the publications. When he was a Jehovah's Witness, he declared himself a member of the "other sheep" (according to the understanding of the verse John 10:16 by Watch Tower), but later in 1980 he began to partake the emblems.

 

When they left Brooklyn Bethel, Edward and Betty went to Oklahoma City and had almost nothing else than their own clothes. Dunlap's brother, Marion, offered him a job and was therefore also excommunicated for having attended someone who was disfellowshipped. Five other family members were disfellowshipped at the same time. Edward died of a heart attack a few years later. Betty is currently(2009) in a hospital because she suffers from a form of Alzheimer's disease. She wanted to return to Australia with relatives but illness has prevented her to do so[4].

 

Raymond Franz was a close friend of Dunlap and both often discussed together various biblical subjects. He says about Dunlap :

 

"I first met him in 1964 when attending a ten-month course at Gilead School. He was then the Registrar of the School and one of its four instructors [...] Originally from Oklahoma, [...] Ed was of ordinary education but had the ability to take very difficult, complex subjects and put them in understandable language, whether it was the functions of the Mosaic Law or a scientific study of genetics. However, more important to me was his unpretentiousness. Aside from a penchant for loud ties, he was a basically low-key, lowprofile person, in appearance, demeanor and speech. [...]He had always been thoroughly devoted to the organization; his full-time service record equalled mine in length [40 years]" [5]. "So they disfellowshiped Ed Dunlap, and he was asked to leave what had been his home at the Bethel headquarters. He returned to Oklahoma City where he had grown up and where, now 72 years of age, he supported himself and his wife by hanging wallpaper, a trade he had practiced before he began his 40 years of service as a full-time representative of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society." [6].

 

 

 

1.Dunlap's testimony Consulted November 21, 2009
2.The Four Presidents of the Watch Tower Society, Edmond C. Gruss, 2003, pp. 89-90 (ISBN 1-594671-31-1)
3.Apocalypse Delayed : the Story of Jehovah's Witnesses, James Penton, University of Toronto Press, 2nd edition, 1997, p. 214
4. "My Assignment for Ray Franz", on jehovahs-witnesses.com Consulted on November 22, 2009, "A day with Betty", on jehovahs-witnesses.net Consulted on November 22, 2009
5.«I first met [Ed Dunlap] in 1964 when attending a ten-month course at Gilead School. He was then the Registrar of the School and one of its four instructors...Originally from Oklahoma, of somewhat rough-hewn appearance, Ed was of ordinary education but had the ability to take very difficult, complex subjects and put them in understandable language, whether it was the functions of the Mosaic Law or a scientific study of genetics. However, more important to me was his unpretentiousness. Aside from a penchant for loud ties, he was a basically low key, low profile person, in appearance, demeanor [sic] and speech...He had always been thoroughly devoted to the organization; his full-time service record equalled mine in length [40 years].» — Crisis of Conscience, Raymond Franz, Commentary Press, edition 1992, pp. 236-37
6.Crisis of Conscience, Raymond Franz, edition 1992, pp. 287-88 or 337