Amazing,
You and Jst2laws have made assumptions from my posts that I did not mean or even say. I never said Ray Franz was hiding anything, I also never accused him of knowledge of anything that hasn't already been spoken about on this board before.
I take great umbrage at Jst2laws who when the chips were down and Bill Bowen came here and attacked Ray Franz, Jst2laws was silent. He did not come out in defense of Ray Franz then, but now with me, he suddenly gets the courage to defend his good friend. Why do you think that is? (rhetorical)
The personal discussion which led to my apology initially really had nothing to do with Bill Bowen and Ray Franz although it did finally turn to that subject. It centered on another event in which Ray Franz' penchant for correctness and adherence to the scriptures caused harm to a family. This conversation also included the elder/gb threads I had started recently and by the time it was done I had come to realize that what happened to this family was not too dissimilar to what happened when Bill Bowen asked Ray Franz to help, to just do anything he could or even to just remain silent. To in some way help, but Ray Franz in his way could not. So it was with this family, they suffered, they too were left hanging in the wind because Ray Franz personally objected to breaking a scripture. The scripture was not one of the Ten commandments or anything this was simply one of Paul's little instructions we all know and love, but Ray Franz let them hang and walked away. In their case permanent harm occurred, terrible irreversible harm. (you said he did not know what I was talking about, I am not surprised since this did not happen recently, it was in the late 1990s and the family lives in Florida)
After thinking about what was said and the fact that abuse survivors should be helped and anyone who may have information just the smallest piece of information and yet withholds it is by all accounts sinning in my book, I came to the conclusion that Bill Bowen was right to ask Ray Franz to help. He was right and imo Ray was wrong for not offering something, anything in behalf of those he once led along with the GB down the path of JW false doctrine and the establishment of the Elder arrangement which has hurt so many.
Yes, I believe Ray Franz should have helped in some way or just remain silent as Bill asked him to. But what stood in the way? I don't know, but imo Bill was right to ask and right to get upset over it. I do not though agree with his attack on Ray, Bill could have presented his case in a much more palatable manner but he didn't.
Is it possible that any GB member in Franz' day could have no knowledge of why Chitty was put out? Or why Greenlees was put out? These men were not just insignificant elders they were anointed Governing Body members and at least one of them has been accused on this board of being a pedophile. This is big stuff, it just could be the reason why the GB stonewalls, who knows.
At any rate, as I said on the locked thread, if Ray Franz does not want to provide info or if he has no info then he could at least say a word of encouragement to the abuse survivors. I don't mean a negative, "I never meant the two witness rule to be applied to pedophiles" or "I am against pedophilia" but a sincere and thoughtful message or recognition of their plight and their suffering in the Org., a sincere statement which is initiated by him and not in answer to some accusation.
Why is this subject a taboo with him? Hard to understand.
Well, I am sure there will be more questions and more complaints about my thread, but just as I said last night and had fully intended to do but decided to post to this thread rather than let false notions stand: I am out of here. Jst2laws played god and killed the thread, Amazing played god and resurrected it again. I am going to play god and not answer anyone. I have learned that no matter what I say it will be misunderstood so no point in saying anything.
I have asked Simon to deactivate my membership.
Brummie, you were on the mark. Thank you.
Waiting, thank you also.
Amazing, you said something about my making self-righteous or sanctimonious statements on the other thread, please supply the quotes you refer to.
Simon, you said I was not standing up to a challenge or something to that effect. As I said to you in PM I have always faced and answered challenges as long as I have been on the net. I may be wrong or disliked or even hated but I do stand up and speak out what I personally feel is right. The apology thread was just that and nothing more. What I added to that discussion with this post is the direct responsibility of Amazing and Jst2laws who insisted that I give facts, lol. The only problem with that is, they had no idea what facts exactly they were asking for. I gave what I could, cannot say more on it. I believe though it would have been better not said and it would not have been said had they not doggedly pursued whatever it was they mistakenly were looking for.
Goodnight to all,
IW
P.S. I would like to add that what I have said above about this family is, I swear before God and before my children, the facts and the absolute truth. If names, addresses and phone numbers are required for these things to be believed too bad, they will not be forthcoming.