Watchtower and the Woodshed

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When the following Watchtower illustration was published it effectively licensed Witness parents who wanted to put the wood to their child.[1] Congregation servants who cautioned abusive parents against beating their children were silenced.

I recall a sister who walked into the meeting one night waving this thing saying “I told you so! I told you so! Don’t tell me to stop smacking Mark. He needs it!” Well, Mark got it. He got lots of it.

A few meetings later the same sister had Mark outside beating him so hard that a neighbor called the police and reported her. Boy that was an embarrassment! And it got more embarrassing when she pulled out this Awake! journal to show the policeman she was doing what God's organization wanted her to do.

Mark was a sweet boy. His mother abused him. To this day he’s still paying the price for her meanness.

I also recall a circuit servant back then waving this thing around on the stage explaining to parents whose children were still in diapers that they must remember that diapers have padding and that padding must be removed for “proper discipline”. As he put it, “You gotta hit some skin and leave it a little red!!!” The man was full of hate.

That illustration caused some serious issues for children.[2]

Marvin Shilmer
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References

1. Awake!, published by Watchtower, August 8, 1957, p. 8.

2. My comments are not to suggest the effect of this illustration was Watchtower’s intention. My remarks are only to share how this particular image was used at the time by those who had rather narrow ideas of what constitutes discipline.

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