Skeleton's Come Tumbling out of Bethel's Closet - Ray Franz- Book ISOCF

by flipper 43 Replies latest jw friends

  • flipper
    flipper

    My wife and I are towards the end ( finally ) of reading " In Search of Christian Freedom " by Ray Franz . ( Long book 728 pgs. )

    On pg. 598 & 599 Ray Franz makes very pertinent points exposing how the WT society has always claimed to be of higher moral character than other religion's and that Jehovah's Witnesses don't have the extent of wrongdoing that other religions have. Well- he certainly debunks THAT myth with what went on in Bethel . Notice what he said on pg. 598, " At the Brooklyn headquarters , as I know personally from having worked there, entire file cabinets in the Service department are filled with the records of cases of wrongdoing , some minor, many of them major, within the Witness membership. The entire gamut of wrongdoing is covered, from fornication, adultery, homosexuality, incest and sexual molestation of children to fraud, theft, wifebeating, and murder. Comparable records to those in the U.S. may be found in the branch offices of the organization throughout the world. " So- Translation - If you were ever brought before a JC - all your dirty little details are there for all the Service Department guys to ogle at.

    Ray continues on pg. 599, " I can recall cases of branch representatives engaging in theft , stealing from the branch funds, having a record of alcoholism , engaging in adulterous sexual relations, in one case with a prostitute, in another with the wife of a missionary living at the Branch office, and other moral failures. " In debunking a Quebec journalist for saying if all people were Jehovah's Witnesses " we would not at night have to bolt our doors shut and put on the burglar alarm ". Ray Franz said " He may think so. He does not know that at the international headquarters at Brooklyn, where the largest concentration of Witnesses on earth is to be found , it became necessary decades ago to install locks on all doors to living quarters and I never recall a period of any length during my 15 years there when there was not at least one witness thief active within the " Bethel Family ". Periodic warnings were necessary from the head of the table as to leaving valuables unattended or unsecured. " He continued that the " community of persons then numbering 1,900 like a fairly small town, but with a specialized populationfrom which one might expect a far smaller incidence of wrongdoing than in a small town. "

    Ray continued, " The Watchtower publications consistently claim that regular activity in the door-to-door " field service " constitutes a strong protection against spiritual weakness and wrongdoing. Yet most of those described in branch offices and the international headquarters were active in such work. " Bottom line : Nothing indicates that " field service " prevented any of these thefts or wrongdoings from happening, In fact just as much wrondoing occured even though witnesses engaged in service .

    So did any of you who were in Bethel observe some wrongdoing or skeleton's come out of closets when you were there ? Did you notice any more " righteousness " put into people just because they were at Bethel ? It certainly shows how there is no difference between Jehovah's Witnesses and other religion's all claiming to have " higher moral standards " than those outside who are not religious. As always I look forward to any observations, takes, or comments you have. Thanks, Hope you are all well, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

  • jookbeard
    jookbeard

    Crikey Flipps,would have thought you and the good lady would have read that years ago!

  • flipper
    flipper

    JOOKBEARD- I stopped attending 7 years ago- but didn't start reading Steve Hassan & Ray Franz's books until 2007 . Finally got around to getting In Search of Christian Freedom this year. I was hesitant at first to purchase the book because I thought it would be " too preachy " with Bible stuff which would bore me to tears. But it had lots of experiences and psychology references too ( which I'm into ) - not just Bible references. I kinda skipped over the Bible references. I just get bored reading Bible dribble

  • jookbeard
    jookbeard

    I actually read it first approx 1992 possibly shortly after it was released and well before CoC, it was the very first "apostate" book I ever read and blew me away, my then wife found it in our car and binned it , then I bought it again!

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt

    Flipper:

    Every 12 to 18 months in Brooklyn, we'd have a 'Bethel Thief'. It would be spoken about at Morning Worship. They would speak of this unknown person is the most vile manner. Eventually, the person would be caught and DF'd.

    Usually, from what I was told, it would be a single brother, stealing wedding bands/jewelry from locker rooms.

  • elderelite
    elderelite

    yep. there was a theif when I was there in the early 90s in brooklyn. A very good friend of mine was "fingered" as "the" theif (i'm sure he WAS NOT) and was sent home with NO EVIDENCE or PROOF, only speculation. After he was gone of course the thefts continued. after seeing how someone could be treated so badly with one person acting as judge and jury, that was the start of my exit from "the house of god"

  • leavingwt
    leavingwt
    after seeing how someone could be treated so badly with one person acting as judge and jury, that was the start of my exit from "the house of god"

    Yeah, one of my close friends was rail-roaded. (Not related the theft.) My heart left Bethel that day. I know what you mean.

  • Joey Jo-Jo
    Joey Jo-Jo

    ISOCF is a good book, im almost finished, starting to read the appendix, it would be great if we can bring all these matters at bethel up to surface.

  • elderelite
    elderelite

    Leaving, what was it your friend got railroaded for? I had another friend who was sent home for, and I'm not making this up, "reading commic books". they gave a talk about it at morning worship.

  • Crisis of Conscience
    Crisis of Conscience

    When I was serving at Patterson, I recall asking why in the hillbilly we had locks on our doors. Can't or rather don't we trust all of our "brothers" there?

    Well, I can testify to the truthfulness of what Ray said in his book as well as the former bethelites comments here.

    I was given the warning of "sticky fingers" at Bethel.

    What?!? Yes folks, I'm afraid it's true. It's somehting I had forgotten about until reading this thread. But I'm sure it's mentioned to all Bethel personell.

    CoC

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