by jst2laws 22 Replies latest jw friends
HEy,
We just arrive in Sioux City and will be meeting Garybuss in about an hour for dinner.
Shutterbug,
If I was ever told how many calls they get I forgot. But I also forget to tell everyone it is a toll free number 1 800-Why-1914.
The lady who answers is very good and has been specifically trained in counseling of this sort.
Amazing
Big OOPS. No explanation necesarry, I think you are right.
Jst2laws
Actually, Ray *was very* involved with the original organizing of BRCI. But the group rather quickly developed along different lines from what was originally intended. In the original concept, Ray contributed significantly to the legal end of getting it set up as a nonprofit organization for research and publishing. True, he never served on the board. (Ray does not join any group.) But he *was* a key figure in the original setup. As BRCI progressed and the founders went about their diverse paths of "healing", the organization moved along lines away from the original purpose, as well as the fact that some of the original members followed diverse paths in their own exit progress and eventually withdrew from the group. That very briefly sums up why the name--Biblical Research and Commentary International, Inc.--now bears little or no resemblence to the groups literal function. (Notice the resemblence of the name to "Commentary Press".)
BRCI's original real objective was to provide an avenue for scholarly exJWs to do research and publish their work, which was intended to include that of Ray, Carl Olof, as well as numerous others who have now moved on. They had no intention of identifying with mainstream religion. Today, BRCI is mainly a fellowship group who espouse a mainstream Christian perspective to exiting JWs. The board members have varying Christian perspectives.
~Ros
Btw, I was remiss in not mentioning how much I thoroughly enjoyed visiting once again with Joy, Steve, Amazing, RW, Bobbie Witty (former Bethelite/missionary), Blondie (nice to meet you), Mouthy (what a special surprise to see you, Love!!!), Outaservice, Gregersons, Cabeens, Zweifels, Jon, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention.
Jerry Bergman cancelled BRCI at the last minute for the reason of sudden serious illness of his father-in-law.
Not everyone agrees with Jerry's scholarship since he is moved along the lines of Christian Creationism (I'm not sure whether he is "new earth" or "old earth" creationism.)
He was very instrumental in motivating Diane Wilson to write her book, "Awakening of a Jehovah's Witnesses" that was published with good reviews two years ago. That all began about 7 years ago (I think--give-or-take) when Diane--who was very new out but her husband was still a JW elder--formed a cruise group of exWitnesses. I heard Gregersons were going, to I joined. [Side note: Diane's JW elder husband also joined us and thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, but did not discuss religion. He did hear some rather heated discussions, as you might imagine, being seated as he was at the table with Jerry and Peter Gregerson. But we had fun with him; he was a good sport. When the group photo was taken at the formal dinner, there was Diane's husband seated next to Peter. I later asked Diane if George realized that was *precisely* what got Ray Franz disfellowshipped? We had a good laugh over it!! :D))))
There will be another opportunity to observe, Jerry. I think he is going to be in a debate with AlanF in Washington state next October on the topic of creationism. As I understand it, Penton will also be there to debate with Amazing on the topic of "war". Might be a worthwhile get-together, if not for the debates, for the camaraderie in between (that's what I go for).
~Ros
