Terry’s New Book

by SAHS 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  SAHS

  I just finished reading Terry Walstrom’s new book “I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon,” and I just had to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it! I just purchased the Kindle version from Amazon about a week ago and found it quite hard to put it down. (Here’s the direct link: http://www.amazon.com/Wept-Rivers-Babylon-Prisoner-Conscience/dp/1492902063/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1394547792&sr=1-1&keywords=i%20wept%20by%20the%20rivers%20of%20babylon&tag=vglnk-c1113-20.)

  The book is a compelling account written from a deeply personal yet practical perspective of raw but innocent experience which anybody is able to relate to on different levels. It lets the reader experience firsthand the very real and tangible effects of whimsical policy dictated by a capricious corporate sect disguised as the only true religion – which effects have been acutely felt by many ordinary people – people who earnestly believed that they have simply been doing their best to serve an almighty God through men – men who claim to be the sole mouthpiece and authority for that God on earth. It briefly summarizes one young man’s journey from his initiation to the concept of religion itself to his subtle but progressive indoctrination among the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses to his coming full circle in a return to a kind of innocence acquired through successive moments of clarity, which led him to the realization of the concept of true, unconditional love, which ultimately attained for him a simple pragmatic yet profound serenity.

  There are some profound and evocative thoughts which shine an objective light on just a slice of the evolution of the seemingly enigmatic – but really more problematic – dogma and policy synthesized by the constantly morphing corporate evangelical pseudo-Christian empire of the Watchtower. The book is written in a clever and seasoned manner, but it certainly does not give the reader any sense of dragging or bogging down.

  I would recommend this book to anybody, regardless of what kind of involvement they have, or not have, had with any kind of “organized religion.” I would think that it would appeal to anyone, from the completely uninitiated man on the street to the regular frequenter of a church pew or a Kingdom Hall. I think that everyone should read Terry’s new book, not just to enjoy a powerfully compelling account, but hopefully to be just that much more the wiser.
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  donny

  It is a great book about one's harrowing journey through the Watchtower.
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  Terry

  The check is in the mail!

  Wow! Your review makes me want to buy a copy as well!

  Sincerely, thank you so much for the kind review. It has made a big difference in how I feel inside that I got this all out in the open

  instead of carrying it around like shrapnel inside my heart.

  I know it is a cliche' to say it, but--if just one person is helped to gain an objective historical view of an insidious group of mind-f**kers, I will die

  a happy man.

  Cheers!
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  compound complex

  "Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."

  Margaret Mead

  Or, 'one committed man.'

  KUDOS, TERRY!

  CC
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  snowbird

  Congratulations, Terry!

  Sylvia
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  Terry

  "Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."

  Margaret Mead

  Or, 'one committed man.'

  ___________________________________________

  Or, one man who needs to be committed!

  Thanks, folks!
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  LivingTheDream

  SAHS -

  This book is on my list of to-reads. I've already sampled some of Terry's writing on this board and I love his easy enoyable style. Plus, the subject is interesting too, one that I know little about.

  Right now I'm slogging through Ray Franz's first book. It's a seminal read for sure, one that is mentioned often by many ex-JWs and was the first book I ever read by a so-called "apostate" years ago. But going through the updated edition more carefully this time around, I find that it certainly is not an "easy read".

  Brock Talon
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  crmsicl

  That WAS a good review. I wish I could have put it so suscinctly.
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  Terry

  I think when Ray wrote his book he was suffering the side-effects of writing for the Watch Tower all those years.

  As the book surfaces from Ray's biographical background I think it actually takes flight and soars.

  But seriously, the Society has some of the worst writing "style" I've ever chopped my way through with a machete.

  In my own book I employ three conscious styles for different moods and expositions.

  After writing it, I removed so much information simply to make it more readable--I wondered if there would be anything left:)

  Turns out, my feedback from readers tells me the personal story shone through--and thank goodness for that!
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  scarredforlife

  Thanks for the recommendation. I just bought it on Kindle.