by GetBusyLiving 16 Replies latest jw friends
Ray's a super guy, we all know that. Just wondering if he has ever been open to discussing Creation vs. Evolution. He has an essay on his website but I don't really think his arguments are sound at all.. anyone here ever chatted with him about it?
GBL
hmmmm, ya, interesting.
i would venture, that he has his opinion about creationism, and probably that life is too short to debate it. heck, i would if i were his age. no shame in that.
he is certainly a hero and poster boy for me, no doubt as he is to you. does this mean he has to be right about everything? no.
but he did a great thing by doing what he did in exposing the lies. and that's what i think of when i think of him.
Well if you did, he would write very looooooooooong responses.
One of the things I didn't like about the books was how long they were. Ok, complain about one of the most important books any of us has read... I know, be grateful.
But I did send him an email telling him much thanks. Very short.
He responded by telling me how he is old, and can't correspond much. Then he went in to a very long and detailed description of his medical conditon. Then he went on a long discussion about how much of the ex-jw world is bitter to it's discredit. Then he went on a long discussion of how leaving the org doesn't save us from dogmatism such as the trinity.
The above 3 sentences were like 3 pages.
But I read it all, because he is our Elvis.
I just got an e-mail from him about 5 minutes ago. Granted most of it was cut and paste stuff, but still awesome that he takes the time to actually answer an e-mail.
I've got so much respect for the guy there's not much of anything I would debate him on.
His books are like the Bible of the ex jws and he deserves respect for having stood for the truth in that stronghold of lying and deception.
Yeah, I really like him too. I've been chatting with him via email for almost a year now. The first email I wrote him was a frenetic mess of pre-disassociation confusion.. I even jokingly called him the "megatron of apostates", not realizing he doesn't really have a sense of humor. He still wrote back a huge email. You gotta love a guy like that.
GBL
So if Ray still holds to creationism, at least he doesn't try to say all who believe in evolution are damned and will be murdered by God. I get the impression he would not appreciate hero status, but he wrote one of the most influential books I have ever read, which moved me like no other (ISoCF) A couple of middle chapters were heavy going, but the later chapters made such a big impact on me.
My brother (now 50) served atBethel with Ray and left a few years before Ray's "differences" with the GB. He and I were talking yesterday about the JW's and how much we still believed and how much we didn't. I've been telling him about this site...hopefully he'll check it out soon. He asked me if Ray were still alive and I assured him he was...which he was glad to hear. His next comment shows what a great guy Ray was..."the only reason I stayed my full time at Bethel was because Ray would always listen to your questions and you never had to worry about him turning you in."
I haven't even seen his website to read his essay!
can someone steer me in the right direction?
Cheers - Miss Peaches
One of the things I didn't like about the books was how long they were.
Yes, I know what you mean. It took me awhile to come to a conclusion about it. As a bit of a writer myself, reading his books, I was struck by three things. 1) How the information and facts were profoundly eye-opening, 2) How well he expressed himself, and 3) How incredibly verbose it was.
But I decided I liked the books that way. For me, reading CoC and ISoCF, was not like picking up any other type of book for a light read. These things helped me see the truth about the organization I'd dedicated my life to straight through to age 38. It was like watching a good movie I never wanted to end. I wanted to hear the repetition, the eighty word sentences. Those sentences expressed remarkable shades of meaning that I identified with and that caused me to reflect deeply. Yes, he could have made ISoCF 350 pages instead of 700, but I'm glad he didn't.
