The report that shocked me the most in Ray's book was his effort to not leave. I still can not understand why he would have wanted to remain a part of the Watch Tower Corporation after what he had gone through and in spite of things he knew. In all his writing I have never read his explanation for wanting to remain a part of the Watch Tower Corporation.
The most shocking thing I have ever seen the Corporation do is cover a perfectly good, stocked, working candy vending machine with paper, and hand write <Out Of Order> on it. Then employ two attendants to belly push me and my 3 year old son away from it.
I am glad Ray wrote the reports but I have contempt for the Corporation he fought to stay a part of.
Although both you and I have gravitated to a agnostic and/or atheist point of view, I do not object to Ray's very general advice for people to seek Christian ideals and avoid organized religion. He has avoided organizing one himself and does what he can to discourage others from following his particular beliefs. Even those who eventually leave theism, I think they are better off to make a slow transition at their own pace rather than be encouraged to go from one extreme to another.
For me it was denying the Mexican brothers their right to prayer and songs at their meetings and all their bizarre terms they had to use simply because of the WT's love of money and property. Had they co-operated with the governments like the rest of the churches, they would have not had to pretend they were a "cultural society".
Advocate: A person who speaks or writes in support of some cause, arguement or proposal.
Ray Franz will be the first to tell you he will not advocate anything. He happens to believe himself a Christian and states that. Just because he states what he believes in, doesn't mean he is advocating anything. It impressed me that he left people to make their own decision. He is not judgemental in either direction. He knows his limits and he knows it's not his place. That's impressive to me.
I guess the thing that made the biggest impression on me is how cold-blooded and cold-hearted the GB was with Ray and his friends. They didn't want to hear the full story. Their minds were made up before they even confronted him. Yeah - that's godly alright. Makes me sick to think that as bad as Ray's situation was, it is only one of thousands of Judicial Committees that have taken place and wronged a member.
Until the society explains its side if the story, I'm assuming Ray's side is basically accurate. It has the ring of truth. I was an Elder and much of what he describes about the GB and its wrangling I've experienced firsthand on the local level. I know that doesn't mean what he says is 100% true, or even true at all. However, when a group takes the approach the society has, DFing those that disagree, demonizing former members, one naturally assumes that they have something to hide. Until the society allows examination and scrutiny of its policy making procedures, they leave me no choice but to assume the worst about the charges made against them.
Bboy you wrote: “ I did not like his advocation of another religion.”
Sorry but I missed this in both his books. Franz did state that Christianity itself was the true faith, not any one religion. It seems that he was anti-organized religion.........set me straight
Bboy, I guess I fail to see your logic. A man devotes his life to serving God, discovers that the men he works with that also claim to be serving God are corrupt, so now he should abandon his faith? i.e. God is corrupt and Jesus is no longer true? Talk about throwing the baby out.
Penn
You fail to separate religion (man's way) from Jesus (God's way)
Mohammed- 'My teachings lead to the attainment of truth' Buddha- 'The truth has been revealed to me' Jesus- 'I am the truth'
The Malawi- Mexico thing was the most shocking thing for me.
NYT: You stated that you read bishop Spong's book, but you didn't clearly state whether or not you read Crisis of Conscience. If you did, can you please state exactly where in the book is incorrect? If you haven't read it, why do you assume it's in error even though the Society has had 20 years to respond to any falsehoods? Do you think if there was a book out there that claimed the society advocated the trinity, don't you think there would be a prompt response?
What shocked me was the people at the top knew it was not directed by Jehovah etc hence the voting done by the GB. Majority vote passed sufficed. People at the top knew it was crap. Only Ray had the 'crisis of conscience'.
