the death of ray franz hit me harder than i would have thought.. i had to reflect for awhile....alone......and quietly.. .
after all, fine people die every day and some of them are indispensable, yet, we go on....don't we?.
but, ray franz was something that can only be described in the phrase sui generis (one of a kind).. my task was to ask myself what it was that made ray so singular, potent and admirable without a trace of scandal or ill will attached to his memory.. .
If anyone is interested in all of Ray Franz's published writings in their original versions (everything that used to be on his Commentary Press website), someone has put up a website where you can find all that material for free here:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
i posted what follows elsewhere but thought it might be of interest here as well.
my forst posting here so i apologize in advance if this is not in the correct place.. a tribute to ray franz (on what would have been his 98th birthday) and to ed dunlap, his collaborator.
last week would have marked the 98th birthday of a man for whom most of us here have high regard.
If anyone is interested in all of Ray Franz's published writings in their original versions (everything that used to be on his Commentary Press website), someone has put up a website where you can find all that material for free here:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
This includes PDF versions of his books Crisis of Conscience (2004 edition) and In Search of Christian Freedom (2007 edition). He'd be glad to know they are back online and available for free and neither "updated" nor "altered".
http://www.thejournal.org/issues/issue92/crisiscn.html .
a 'crisis of conscience' opens eyes part 1.
he continues on page 346: .
It looks like all of the old Commentary Press material, which
includes the original PDF versions of Ray's books as well as his essays
and other commentary, are finally back online again and available for
free:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
a while ago the user vinman started a forum thread called: "ray franz was an idiot".
the reaction to it was quite negative but i have to admit that the title of that thread was intriguing to me.
by nature i am an iconoclast.
I was friends with Raymond Franz starting in the 90's. He spent the rest of his life quietly helping people who contacted him by offering encouragement and support through letters as well as answering questions. He didn't go out and start a church or do anything else that would indicate he was AT ALL interested in power or glory. He told me he avoided forums on the internet because they often devolved into baseless accusations and ridiculous speculations (as sadly happens here too). He refused to partake in anyone else's agenda or be forced to take a public position to further that agenda. He was extremely measured and thoughtful in his public statements. He felt the moral responsibility of having led people in the wrong direction as a GB member and so spent the rest of his life trying to compensate for that. I believe his character was unimpeachable and was friendly with him right until his passing nearly 10 years ago.
All of the old Commentary Press material back is online, which
includes the original PDF versions of Ray's books as well as his essays
and other commentary, and are available for
free:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
It looks like all of the old Commentary Press material, which
includes the original PDF versions of Ray's books as well as his essays
and other commentary, are finally back online again and available for
free:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
the significance of raymond franz.
in the light of the passing of raymond franz this week, it is clear from the reaction that many were affected by the deeds of this man.
while he was called gentle by those who knew him (for the record, i never got to meet him personally) his reputation preceded him both in the ex jehovah's witness community, and still to this day at the world headquarters of jehovah's witnesses.. while his writings were indeed fair and reasonable, (i challenge anyone to read his books and find bitterness associated with him toward his former peers) i think it would be a mistake to remember ray franz as somewhat of a gentle, doting old man.
It looks like all of the old Commentary Press material, which includes the original PDF versions of Ray's books as well as his essays and other commentary, are finally back online again and available for free:
www.friendsofraymondfranz.com
I'm happy to see this because Ray would have been saddened that it was taken down in the first place.
Ray never recorded an audio version of any of his books, but he did do one audio commentary on a talk given by a governing body member and made it available on his website as a CD.
I assure you Ray was more concerned with making sure his work continued to be freely available than he was making money off his work and creating even one small barrier to getting it.
This website appears to host an unsecured PDF version of Crisis from 2004, which is a Ray Franz-sanctioned version:
http://www.watchtowerwayback.org/en/static1/library
We also used to sell In Search of Christian Freedom in PDF form but this has yet to see light of day. Why? I have all the original artwork and ready-to-go PDFs that could be given away if Debbie would simply agree to that. Anyone want to ask her if she would endorse that since it doesn't appear she plans to do anything with it.
