Raymond Franz is a good man

by slimboyfat 45 Replies latest jw friends

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  slimboyfat

  I have come across some old threads that make various accusations against RayFranz, but I think on the whole he seems a kind and thoughtful person. He didn't do everything right, and he is no saint as some make out: his expulsion is a bit flatteringly called a "crisis of conscience", but he came to terms with the disorienting situation well and did a service to all involved with the Witnesses by giving us a look behind the curtain. Some of the things that people hold against him it seems:

  1. While on the governing body he wrote to defend 607 BCE against Jonsson, misusing sources in traditional Watchtower fashion for the Aid book like the best of them.

  2. He did not leave voluntarily, but was forced out of the governing body and then from the Witnesses altogether against his will.

  3. Some claim he wrote his books mainly to support himself rather than help others. But I have no problem with the idea that both provided the motivation for his writing, it is not either/or.

  4. He would not support recent claims that the Witnesses have created a "Paedophile Paradise", various outlandish accusations were made for why he would defend the Witnesses on this issue.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/39360/1.ashx

  Slim

  edited to change "was" to "is" in title ~ rather than give the impression that Mr. Franz had died ~ Scully
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  mouthy

  I have been to his home ...He & his wife are really great folks. He has helped more people escape Bondage than other I know ( except GOD!!!!LOL
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  Narkissos

  I generally agree.

  his expulsion is a bit flatteringly called a "crisis of conscience"

  I think it is very honestly called so. From the reading of CoC, and then from meeting Raymond Franz personally, it struck me that his "expulsion" resulted much more from conscientious objection to the human consequences of the WT policies (in moral, political or medical issues in particular) than doctrinal disagreement.

  While on the governing body he wrote to defend 607 BCE against Jonsson, misusing sources in traditional Watchtower fashion for the Aid book like the best of them.

  Wasn't Jonsson's book first published in 1983, a couple of years after Franz's leave?
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  hillary_step

  Slim,

  While on the governing body he wrote to defend 607 BCE against Jonsson, misusing sources in traditional Watchtower fashion for the Aid book like the best of them.

  I think that you may have your XJW chronology a little twisted here. I aslo agree with NArkissos, that the title of his book 'Crisis Of Conscience' is not overdramatized at all, it is after all a book looking back over many years of internal struggle with WTS policies that reached a crisis. HS
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  DanTheMan

  Wasn't Jonsson's book first published in 1983, a couple of years after Franz's leave?

  Yes, but prior to this Johnson attempted to present his findings to Brooklyn, upon which he was told - 'you just go on back home and don't you talk about this any more - got it?'
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  Arthur

  Wasn't Jonsson's book first published in 1983, a couple of years after Franz's leave?

  Yes, but the book was based upon material he had sent the WTS during the 1970's while Raymond Franz was still on the GB.
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  Narkissos

  Thank you Dan and Arthur -- I didn't know (or didn't remember).
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  slimboyfat

  Jonsson's book was only published after Ray Franz left, that is true, but I thought it was well known that Jonsson circulated an informal paper on this issue for many years before publication, and that the governing body, including Ray Franz rejected it.

  But the governing body were surely aware that 607 BCE was suspect before Jonsson explored the issue fully - and none more so than Ray Franz who openly admits that it was he who wrote the rather dodgy defense of their chronology for the Aid book.

  Slim
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  Narkissos

  The Aid book article on "chronology" must have been written in the late 60's. Could it be a response to Jonsson's papers back then? (I don't mean it couldn't, I'm just asking).
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  slimboyfat

  Jonsson says that he sent his report on the 607 BCE chronology to the governing body in 1977, so the Aid book cannot be a response to Jonsson specifically. The Let Your Kingdom Come appendix written by Lloyd Barry was the direct response to Jonsson.

  But Ray Franz was obviously aware that the chronology was shaky, as this comes through in the Aid book's rather tortured treatment.

  Slim