Here is a WT apologist view on Ray.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Jehovah-s-Witness-1617/2009/5/raymond-franz.htm
Bangalore
Refuting Franz's Crisis of Conscience
by irondork 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
jookbeard
I believe the silent policy that the WTS went along with played in Rays plans perfectly and he must have been overjoyed with the worldwide sales that Commentary Press enjoyed after the first run of CoC and the latter works that followed , the curiosity factor is simply too much for the the R&F and one will ever know how many active/closet dissenters read and currently read CP's works.The sales that CP have enjoyed must have never even dreamed of, as usual the WTS shot themselves in the foot like they have done with Silent Lambs/The UN membership etc.
-
TotallyADD
Dozy this was the announcement that was made at the end of a elder school I went to serveral years ago. "You will hear TV reports on the news about WT from the UK do not believe them they are not true." Nobody had a clue what they were talking about. I did not know about the UN thing until I started coming to this site many years later. Just thought you would like to know this. Totally ADD
-
Mad Sweeney
The dude at that link, Bangalore, should be ashamed of himself. The crap he posted there as an "expert" makes me wish there really was a vengeful war god YHWH who is going to burn all the liars in the lake of fire. I am so angry after reading that!
-
garyneal
My wife commented on Franz saying that she heard that he was the biggest and worst apostate of the witnesses, painting him to be a very bad person. I asked her for sources and she provided none. She probably heard it from another witness at her cong. Oh well, if she wants to keep her proverbial head in the sand, so be it.
On a similar note, I remember reading an account of Jerry Bergman's life as a witness and it revealed that the Society headquarters had a copy of 50 Years a Watchtower Slave. He, presumebly Jerry, wondered why the society had access to such literature but denied it to their rank and file. Apparently, some members of the rank and file could serve as apologists if they at least had access to the material (or at least could publically announced that they had access).
It was one of the main reasons why he became so disenfranchised with the organization.
-
Mad Sweeney
"Special knowledge" that is only available to higher ranking officials but not to the rank and file is a hallmark of cults. That said, I bet a WT researcher who wants to look at any of the "apostate" material in the Bethel library needs express permission or even direct orders from the GB to do so. Otherwise he would invite suspicion.
-
Broken Promises
The book was 30 Years a Watchtower Slave, not 50.
Just clarifying.
-
Band on the Run
My sweet JW aunt told my mom that Ray Franz had left the truth. Freddie was devestated, absolutely devestated. She was so upset you would think it was my brother who wrote the book. She was so caught up in the drama that we did not report any of the hot stuff. It was not as though Freddie and she were bosom pals. It wasn't clear how she knew who it was.
-
godrulz
30 years likely felt like 50 years. There are few things more exciting than a dead cultist coming alive in Christ. I agree that JW expert is clueless. The verse about eating/drinking is about faith in Christ alone, not about leaving a supposed organization-mediator?! The evil slave thing is another twisting of Scripture as well as the implication that God cannot feed us from the Word without the shoddy teachings of WT (I Jn. 2 applies in that we do not need false gnostic teachers when we have the indwelling spirit which they deny to the rank/file).
-
Quendi
I thought I would insert this paragraph from Ray Franz's Crisis of Conscience because it has much bearing on this thread.
"In 1993, the organization produced a new history book, titled Jehovah’s Witnesses—Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom, replacing a previous work titled Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Divine Purpose. It seems evident that at various points the book seeks to counter the effect of the information that has appeared in published form in recent years, including the 1983 printing of this book, Crisis of Conscience, the 1991 printing of its sequel, In Search of Christian Freedom, and Carl Olof Jonsson’s book, The Gentile Times Reconsidered (which first appeared in 1983.) Certain facts are admitted for the first time in this new history book, perhaps with the view of muting the effect if members were to become aware of them through other sources."
One can only wonder what the WTS will do in light of the growing backlash the Internet has created.
Quendi