by JNS2 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I personally never read COC, and don't care to (I never liked the JWs anyway, they always struck me as evil, even as kid). Hope you have a relatively easy time breaking away from the JWs. Good luck. Feel free to email any time.
BTW, where do you live? My wife and I live in Jersey. If you need to, just give us a buzz @ [email protected].
Again, good luck.
ash
Ray is 80 years old and has a giant financial empire because of profits from his books. That's why, when you order one, he gets the order, goes into his garage by his house, picks up a book, puts it in a box and and then fills in the shipping information.
JWs for years have tried to discredit Ray by saying he's made millions off his two books, but the plain truth is, its nearly impossible to make ANY money from books dealing with the Watchtower Organization. Very few people care enough about the WTS to bother to read such books, let alone pay for them.
Crisis of Conscience is THE most significant book every written about how the Watchtower society really works and how it routinely lies to their members. Haven't you ever wondered why the society hasn't tried to rebut even ONE of his statements? They don't because they can't. Yet they quietly let lies and rumors about him circulate among their members: "he's a homosexual. He's made a fortune from his books."
Fortune from books? This same society brings in a half BILLION dollars a YEAR from their books!
Farkel
Thanks for the comments & welcomes! I asked the question for 2 reasons. 1) the comment on the other board made me wonder how Ray was doing at this point after the fateful decision he made to leave. 2) I remember vaguely hearing something about his life while I was still in the organization serving as an elder. Something about his sister & something about mental problems of some sort. (probably as pointed out, lies & innuendos) Shakita, don't wonder about my question in a bad way. I'm not trying to pry into his finances. I guess a part of my wondering still has to do with the effect of being in the (b)org for so long. I can't help but wonder what happens to someone who leaves Jehovah so visably & with so much publicity. I suppose I'd wonder, will things go badly for turning ones back on Jehovah or will things go great (materially) because you know who is the "ruler of this world" & all it's wealth. You must realize I wouldn't be here reading posts or adding them if I wasn't trying to see through 22 years of reinforcement (programming). It is, however, hard to just simply accept the fact that I was duped for 22 years. That's MY mini coc.....Larry
Thanks Stan,
Just the info I was looking for. And thanks to GeddyLee for starting the thread and Farkel for highlighting the important parts.
Hi JNS2,
Welcome to our community. You're probably familiar with the excellent benefit and retirement plan that the WTS offers ALL Bethelites, right?
Yes, nothing. In the days of Charles Taze Russell there was at least a final resting place in the shadow of the CTR pyramid, but today's Bethelites don't even have that. Probably because millions of them will never die.
By the way, if you're looking for other EXCELLENT reading material, check out "Visions of Glory" by Barbara Grizutti Harrison. It has long been out of print, but before her death last year BGH gave Randy Watters permission to post it on-line. It can be viewed here: http://www.exjws.net/vg.htm.
Best wishes.
PS - As you have already seen, Farkel doesn't bite. He just nibbles like a gentle wolverine at ignorance, fear and doubt. Nice Farkel... (backing away) nice Farkel...
Edited by - Nathan Natas on 2 January 2003 14:21:34
Thanks for the warning, I'll stay out of Farkel's way. Not even a gold watch? Seems like I remember the comment "the reward is extra days of everlasting life".....
Shakita, don't wonder about my question in a bad way. I'm not trying to pry into his finances.
Hope I didn't give the impression that I thought you were prying. I didn't think that.
Just to be here posting and questioning the WT takes a lot of courage. You deserve to be built up in your journey for the real truth. Here you are free to ask as many questions as you want, unlike "you know where."
Take care.
Mrs. Shakita
JNS2,
Farkel with the Sparkle isn't really that bad. His bite worse than his bark. Oh wait. That is bad! LOL!
I'm thrilled that you are thinking for yourself. As years as a JW daughter, it was new ground for me to notice things on my own. It took years of practice to think on my own. I hadn't ever experience anything except the whole "Feed Me!" mentality of the typical JW. And I've been out for about 12 years!
Reading COC was one of the MOST eye-opening experiences for me! It forever changed the way I looked at the organization and my family still in it. I hope reading it is as fulfilling and saving for you as it was for me. My life completely change for the better! Have fun on your journey and stick around - this board has some wonderfully talented and intelligent people to learn from. (Including Farkel!)
Andi
There have been a number of books written on the subject. I think Dr. Ed Gruss did a 600 plus page book a year or so ago. Maximus told me the book outstanding.
I think for some who are "thinking" JWs, Ray's books are great.
But for me the works of Alan Feuerbacher were the most interesting that I have read. You can find a lot of them at "Research on the Watchtower" (http://www.geocities.com/osarsif/index2.htm) Now, Alan might come off a little long winded to you or a little angry at times but he does an excellent job of explaining a lot of the stuff, and, most importantly provides outstanding back up documentation to prove the points. You will also find Norm and Doug's (aka Farkel's) outstanding articles there as well. Take the time and slowly read all the articles and learn it carefully. If necessary review the supporting documents as well.
As for the Blood, there is www.ajwrb.org and of course to understand what the bible says properly about blood go here http://www.jwbloodreview.org (even though the site - at this time - does not appear to be up and running).
If you want to know about the UN scandal I am kinda partial to Randy's site at www.freeminds.org and Zev's site at http://www.geocities.com/plowbitch69 It's kind of a long story why I like them.
I think from my point of view (which you should know is different than most here) Ray's C of C book was interesting to me in the Malawi incident (Chapter 6). The rest of it - I either already knew about before I read the book or I was not really interested in reading about the witch hunt to expel him. But again that's just me as I am not a JW - I would suspect there are 10s of thousands like you who would be VERY interested to read about Ray's life and I would urge YOU to invest the money or go to your nearest library and get a copy out and read it for yourself for free.
Take care.
hawk
Larry,
What impressed me most about RF's books was the tone. I fully expected to find a direct, full-out assault on everything JW. Instead I found the tone to be a calm, straightforward relation of facts. After I read the first one, I had to get the second immediately. Of course the facts are accompanied by his personal assessments. But again, I'm sure you'll be impressed by his tone.
And welcome to the board!
