by sleepy 20 Replies latest jw friends
If Ray Fanz had never left the watchtower and written his book would you be here now?
If not, is that worrying for you?
How many here worked out it was not the truth alone without the aid of a specific book and how many needed Franz's work or someone elses?
Do you think that having a broader outlook and level of knowledge about the world in general ,would have helped you make the jump ealier ?
Yeah, I would still be here, because I was well along the way to determining that it wasn't the truth before Ray Franz' book was even published. Although CofC crystallized a lot of doubts I had been having.
If anything, I owe more of my "deprogramming" to Bill and Joan Cetnar, who, though I had never met them, planted enough questions into the minds of a couple I was conducting a Bible study with that I started to question, too. I never met Bill when he was alive, but I finally met Joan at Witnesses Now For Jesus a few years ago. She's a wonderful lady, and I regret that I never got to meet her husband.
I didnt even know about Ray Franz when I left the troof.
Lizard
I didn't read Franz' books till much later.
In fact it was reading the Society's older publications that showed me the truth.
Like RR, it was the reading of old WT literature that did it for me. I left long before Franz's book was published.
I was in the borg when he was DF'd. I never even thought about him to be perfectly honest. The doctrines were not the reason that I left. It was the way they treat people. The lack of respect and dignity given to women in that religion. I hate the judgement and lack of compassion they give to all who choose not to believe what they do.
Leslie
Franz provided information that most Witnesses are not privy to (History, GB at work, etc.,). I could sense something was not right, but could not put my finger on it. Franz two books helped me in seeing the "big picture" and put everything into perspective. This was very, very helpful for me.
Franz second book, ISOCF, helped me to see how different viewpoints could be adopted and that many issues are not black and white, as the Jws pretend. This was helpful because, of all my years of being told that research outside the Jw dogma was wrong and unfaithful to God. Franz was a nice starting point for a very interesting journey that I have been on!
Edited by - thichi on 12 July 2002 13:59:30
I was first df'd in 1980 for apostasy (prompted by 1975). Not much thinking involved, mostly an act of protest. I was out for about 2 years, and first read COC in 1985. Actually, it made me so angry I almost got sick, and I threw it away. I still had hopes that WTS would change and just didn't want to believe what Ray said.
My wake up call started in the early 90s, when I went to college for retraining. Had to take those pesky elective courses (you know, sociology, philosophy, all that "worldy" garbage) and hoped for nothing better than to get them over with. Boy, were my eyes opened! Like you put it: "a broader outlook and level of knowledge about the world in general." Always thought I was reasonably intelligent; little did I know what a narrow, shallow-minded viewpoint I'd grown up with.
The "generation revelation" was my last straw, but this time my decision to leave (for family's sake, tried first to just fade) was based mostly in seeing that WTS is just another mind-control religion like so many others, and that the history of those other religions gives little hope that WTS will ever fundamentally change.
I have no doubt that I would have left for good 20 years ago if I knew then what I know now. And yes, I got another copy of COC: this time I'm gonna keep it .
I left without reading anyone's book, or speaking to any ex members.
Ray's book was not a major factor in my leaving the Witnesses. I have a copy of COC, but picked it up after I was well on my way out.
Major factors for me were the WTS's own literature, and a turning point was simply reading the first 20 or so chapters of Genesis without any preconceptions as to what it "really meant." It so quickly became obvious to me that I was reading a bunch of compiled myths that I recognized at that point that the Bible - and therefore any religions based on it - was simply man made.
S4
