FWFranz

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Posts by FWFranz

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  39

  I just finished Crisis of Conscience today....

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  disclaimer:.

  i really hate to hijack this thread, but i wasted my one 24hr post on that window washing thread last night.

  i don't think i'll have an opportunity to post this up here if i wait, and would like to get it done before the weekend.

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  FWFranz

  Ray's book "Crisis of Conscience" was the book that started my journey out of the WT mindset. Personally, I think Ray did a superb job. That book caused me to dive into intensive research into the early days of the WTS. I saw after awhile that the Proclaimers book was indeed a white washed history of the organization. I realized that if the WTS had included ALL of their early history in the Proclaimers book, that next to no one would have faith in them as God's end time prophet. I must also thank Ray for helping many of us not to lose faith even if our conclusions about the WT where quite disappointing.

  FWFranz
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  37

  Looking for a new Bible translastion to read

  by eyesropen323 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  what would everyone recomend as far as what bible translation to read instead of the jw new world translation?.

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  FWFranz

  For accuracy I prefer the NASB ( New American Standard Bible) as well as the ESV ( English Standard Version). The ESV also has a very good interlinear that I would highly recommend. I am also a fan of the NKJV ( New King James Version) Its a very well done update on the old KJV and its reads beautifully. As has been stated, no single translation is perfect, but the first two I have recommended are endorsed by many scholars as the most accurate. Websites like biblegateway are a great way to compare subtle differences in translation. I would always recomend doing that when you have a verse that deserves to be studied by a comparison. As interlinears go, I still use the Kingdom Interlinear. Its quite good when you stick to the left hand side where a direct english translation is given for the greek. It shows clearly where the Societies translators have chosen to depart from a strict reading to shore up their own theological bias.

  FWFranz

  P.S. Nice to see some on this forum who are still reading the good book.
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  18

  Announcement at Kingdomhall about FDS being only the Governing Body

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the relative who called me and told me that said it was a good thing.

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  FWFranz

  I think the word is out among the rank and file. I called my mother to spring the news on her and she had already heard about it at the hall. Generally my mother is pretty out to lunch about WT doctrinal teachings, especially new ones, so if she knew, it must have circulated. I did leave her with one question to ponder. I asked her if there where any biblical examples of actual servants of God who where divinely appointed, and then took the next 93 years to get it straight in their heads about the identity of their own appointment.

  FWFranz
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  54

  who was the craziest person in your congregation?

  by grumblecakes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pls share, i love these stories!.

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  FWFranz

  Though some of these stories are undoubtedly humorous, it is a little unkind to make light of people with serious mental health issues. I did want to share some extremely funny stories about a few major lunes that crossed my path while pionering in the 1970's but after careful consideration I think I should refrain. Instead I will share some questionable behaviour from my extended witness family that was never dealt with by any in a leadership position. Extreme power drinking. By this I mean most of the adults coming home from an assembly or a meeting and gathering at my grandmothers house to drink themselves into a blind stupor. Of course everybody eventually drove themselves home, even though they couldn't see the steering wheel. I still remember the sound of my aunt Helen screaming in an incoherent garbled voice about how great life was going to be in The New World as we used to say in the day, and promptly passing out in her easy chair. Now to be fair to the family at large we are of Russian and Irish extraction, so the amount of alcohol consumed that would be considered normal at say a sunday dinner would kill a normal person. This went on for decades and no one said much of anything to anybody. Many of them are now dead and the rest still standing are utterly pickled. If we see them again in the resurrection, I am sure they will be appointed to look after the fruit of the vine.

  FWFranz
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  19

  Attention WT Writing Department: When was Frederick Franz baptized??? Please make up your mind!!!

  by Calebs Airplane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  pop quiz for the watchtower writing department.... .

  when was frederick franz baptized?

  april 4, 1914 or november 30, 1913?.

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  FWFranz

  I was absolutely certain that I was baptised on November 30, in the year 1913, but the faithful slave has received some "new light" and apparently I was baptised on April 4th 1914.

  FWFranz
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  54

  who was the craziest person in your congregation?

  by grumblecakes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  pls share, i love these stories!.

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  FWFranz

  If I had to recall to mind every unhinged witness that I have known in my life, including all my relatives, who's association goes back to the 1930's, I would be here for a week. That alone is troubling.

  FWFranz
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  47

  When You Were A JW Were You Disturbed By "Apostate" Literature or "Apostates" At Conventions?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was always curious about what they had to say.

  (i guess i was an apostate in the making)..

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  FWFranz

  I remember in the mid 70's when I was pioneering, seeing a group of people protesting outside the Toronto Bethel with signs that said, "Truth Decay". I had no idea what their message was, and admittedly I was shocked to see them there. They had paper bags over their heads to protect their identities.

  FWFranz
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  64

  The Governing Body - their own worst enemy!

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been giving some thought recently to what's going on in the minds of the individual governing body members, and what makes them tick.

  the process of listening to their talks for my "getting to know you" youtube video series, though draining, has been very enlightening.

  i now feel i know some of their individual personalities a little better than i did previously.. then there has been the tumultuous events of 2012. it's been interesting to note the way the governing body has responded to some of these issues, and how in most cases their responses have been woefully inadequate or even counter-productive as regards their long-term interests.. for example:.

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  FWFranz

  Hi Cedars

  I do agree that this new change in belief regarding the idenitiy of the FDS is a terrible idea. They have cut the umbilical cord to the last 2000 years of recorded Christian history. They are no longer connected with a direct link to the apostles and all who came after them. Severing this link will only make them look more like a nutty end time cult with pretensions of divine authority. As I stated in an earlier post they are now looking more like Herbert W. Armstrongs movement with this doctrinal change. The need to repeatedly clarify the identity of the slave also makes them look all the more like a group who cannot answer the biblical question of "who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time". Is there another biblical example of an appointed servant of God who needed a 100 years to get his own identity straight in his own mind? How many of those examples can we find in the pages of the bible? Their credibility evaporates immediately.

  FWFranz
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  24

  Do JWs really notice significant doctrinal change?

  by keyser soze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  all of these threads about the 'new light' regarding the fds has got me wondering.

  as ex-jws, we've trained ourselves to notice such things.

  we tend to treat them as if they're of great significance, even convey a certain level of optimism that it will actually wake some up, make some think, even lead to some sort of mass revolution within the ranks.. do rank-and-file jws really see any significance, or is it just wishful thinking?

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  FWFranz

  Hi Keyser Soze

  I think that most JW's look forward with such great anticipation to "new light" that it doesn't matter what the WTS decides to feed them, no matter how illogical or implausible it might sound to a critical thinker. Remember, they are trained to look forward to "new light" as a revelation from God, so questioning it or doubting it is far from their minds. Also, strangely enough, the authority of the bible is meaningless to most witnesses. They will almost always defer to statements in the latest magazine as more important than any bible passage you show them. It is telling that their weekly study is a "Watchtower study" and not a bible study. It keeps a smile on the devils face.

  FWFranz
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  12

  After a couple of days pondering the "new light" FDS change . . .

  by leaving_quietly in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i've had a chance to ponder this "new light" of the change of definition of fds now for a couple of days.

  the initial reaction was of astonishment, and just plain anger, and i can see that i'm not alone in that.

  however (assuming matt 24:45-47 is prophetic, parable or not):.

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  FWFranz

  This supposed new teaching about the FDS is in some ways eerily similar to what Herbert W. Armstrong taught. Briefly, Armstrong taught that the "truth" of the bible had been almost completely lost for 1800 or so years commencing with an apostacy that started shortly after the death of the apostles. According to Armstrong, God would raise up and appoint an endtime prophet/teacher who would restore all the long lost truths of the scriptures. Now the WTS is saying that the appointment of the slave did not occur in 33 CE, and didn't actually happen until the beginning of the last days. They are in fact saying much the same thing as HWA did. That God had no real indentifiable earthly representatives for almost 1800 years. That only in the end times would there be anyone who could claim to now be directed by God. What does that say about Christ being the head of the Christian congregation during those 1800 years? How do they reconcile the scripture that says that Jesus would be with his true disciples to the end of the age? ( Matthew 28 :20) Thats a very hard question to answer for the GB, wouldn't you say.

  FWFranz