by slimboyfat 45 Replies latest jw friends
Ray Franz has done much more good than bad. I can hardly see the point in finding fault for his days on the GB, etc. I know it would have been much harder, (if not impossible), for me to leave the organization were it not for his written efforts.
Blondie, Thank you for the web and email.
j
Regardless of what some may say or think about him,
he educated me on what goes on at the Watchtower Society.
For this I am deeply grateful.
Respectfully,
The Wanderer
I too, have little but praise for Raymond. I suggest that he saved my wife and I from the cult of Jehovah's witnesses by his books. His honest writing and his awareness in the style he used of witness fears of reading 'apostate literature' allowed my foray into his works, and my subsequent exit of the 'truth' that is not.
I think that criticism of his failures during witness tenure are unfair - like most of us he was succumbing to the suble as well as powerful concepts that made us believe we had the 'truth'. His doubts, like most of us, did not present a full picture until he could stand far off enough to see the mosaic. For me, as perhaps for many, it was only after leaving [in my case voluntarily, in his case by force] that we can look at the picture clearly and begin to enuciate the wrongs we 'sensed' were present within our subconscience mind. Up till I understood what all the doubts meant - I would have died defending the organization though I knew things were not 'perfect' within it. How could we expect someone who was marinating within the halls of the Governing Body itself to put it together fully until his mind could clear a bit?
I have had some communication with Ray, and we came close to meeting once, but were unable due to a momentary circumstance in my travel plans. I hope to meet him someday - but if not, I hold dear his special gift to me and my wife through his books.
Jeff
While it has been many years since I have been to Ray's home, he and his wife were very nice to visit with. Some former witnesses have been very generous to the Franz's for their help and in appreciation for his books. His books are kind of like the final "nail in the coffin" for many of us in making up our minds to leave JW's
I think even my dog Sparky would like them.
Slimboy is the master of the left-handed compliment.
Ray Franz is my personal hero.
One thing I personally enjoy with Raymond Franz is that he was sensitive to the moral problems of being a religious leader and he consistently quit being one, at much personal cost. Let's not make him the xJW leader he didn't want to be.
This is one of the things I liked most about him, because if he really wanted to he could have eaisly started his own splinter movement. Instead he chose to move over onto the sidelines, tell his story, not affiliate himself with any organized religion, and leave it at that. I think that says alot.
I read Crisis after seeing it on Randys site in 96...and it was the only book besides David Reeds "Altar" in the whole library. I was TRANSFORMED in the 48 hours it took me to read that book. It was DONE. There was no turning back to JWdom ever after Rays words. I wrote to he and Cynthia and thanked them for saving me and my children and I received a letter back so full of warmth and love and absolutely selflessness...I have kept that letter for ten years and I treasure it.
When Ray passes away...well he is my version of Ghandi, Martin Luther King...my "Jesus" and savior, and it will be a very very sad day. I dont care about the particulars of things he said about this or that...the BIG picture is he saved COUNTLESS enslaved ones from the clutches of the Borg.
Ray honey....THANKS
"The Let Your Kingdom Come appendix written by Lloyd Barry was the direct response to Jonsson."
Lloyd Barry wrote the main body of this book, but he was not capable of writing the Appendix that attempts to refute Jonsson.
The person who wrote the Appendix is mentioned in Jonsson's latest edition of The Gentile Times Reconsidered. Does anyone have the book handy so they can look up the name?
I agree with Drew and some others that Ray is essentially a good man. But I can see in reading both his books that he did for a while try to surpress his feelings that things were not right with the org. and lets face it - most of us here have done the same thing.
The fact that he did give in to his conscience makes him a good guy in my eyes. How many examples can we think of where people knew they were doing the wrong thing and innocents were being hurt and yet did not care because it is more important to protect themselves then others?
I know many in the borg right now in positions of power that know many are being hurt and it is not right yet will not say a word. I give Ray a lot of credit and if he does support himself while helping others too, I don't personally see anything wrong with that.
After decades of slaving for the org. I think Ray and others like him are at least owed the right to support themselves even if they do so by being a WT whistleblower. Because I don't believe that doing so is is soley motivated by money. I believe it is motivated by a desire to help others in the same situation and many others would and do/ do this work for nothing. Think of Danny Haszard for one who is not getting rich thats for sure but is instrumental in getting the real truth out there.
Lilly
VM44,
The book says it was "possibly written by Gene Smalley" And the "spadework" was probably done by John Albu, a "scholarly witness in New York"
j
