My husband and I read both books. They are both great reads. I really like his humility and his loving way, after all the crap they put him through. I was amazed he could be so nice and not really say anything mean his books.
IN SEARCH OF CHRISTIAN FREEDOM - Ray Franz
by compound complex 33 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Arthur
I really like his humility and his loving way, after all the crap they put him through. I was amazed he could be so nice and not really say anything mean his books.
I think that it speaks volumes about the man. If anyone had a right to be angry and resentful; it was certainly him. I found it amazing that he could be so calm and rational about all of the affairs which took place. I seriously doubt that I could be as forgiving.
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hambeak
I got the book a while back myself and just haven't had time to read it yet.
I know it will be good as I have read past posts that this one is better than COC
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compound complex
COMING SOON TO THEATRES NEAR YOU!:
Former movie theatre in Queens, New York, retains ancient Egyptian motif throughout. One sister's upset over the pagan symbolism and Knorr's opposing arguments.
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compound complex
While placing intense emphasis on the "pagan origin" factor, the Watch Tower organization simply glosses over this in other areas, as in the use of wedding rings. Their own publication WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR MANKIND? (1951), pages 276, 277, quotes Catholic cardinal Newman as saying that, along with such things as the use of temples. incence, candles, etc., "the ring in marriage" is among those things that are "of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the Church." [51] Yet almost all of Jehovah's Witnesses use the "ring in marriage," something their own publication reveals as "of pagan origin."
footnote:
51 ESSAY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE,
John Henry Newman (1878), pages 355, 371, 373, Edition of 1881. -
compound complex
I recall that when the Watch Tower Society purchased a former motion picture theatre in Queens, New York, for use as an assembly hall, the theatre had an ancient Egyptian motif throughout. Over the marquee, the front of the building had large tiles depicting various Egyptian gods and goddesses, one even carrying the CRUX ANSATA. The inside contained other items, including lotus flowers, having religious connotations in Egyptian beliefs. When the Watch Tower renovated the building all these items were left unchanged. After a few years, a friend of ours from the Dominican Republic attended a Gilead School graduation there as our guest. She was struck by the pagan symbolisms and expressed her upset to me, saying that she would not have known what the meaning of these things was had she not read of them in the Watch Tower's own publications. [52] She could not harmonize the strong, negative statements made in the publications with this apparent tolerance. I felt obliged to write President Knorr, pointing out that my concern was primarily for her (and others who might feel as she did). Knorr came down to my office and argued the matter, saying that the items were simply decorations and that, for example, he didn't think that people looking at the lotuses would attribute a sexual connotation to them. He asked if I thought we could not even make use of a Catholic translation because it might have a cross on its front. I told him that I was not hypersensitive about such things, but I thought that we had an obligation to be concerned if there is an adverse effect on others, that if we set forth a particular standard for others then people have a right to expect us to live by it ourselves. Not long afterward the tile depictions of gods and goddesses were painted over. The inside of the building remained essentially the same. More recently the Watch Tower purchased the large Bossert Hotel in Brooklyn. It has gargoyles ornamenting the outside. These, too, are viewed by the organization as inconsequential decorations, void of any serious significance. As I found true in so many cases, stringent requirements placed on Witnesses of the "rank and file" suddenly seemed capable of great relaxation when the organization's own interests were involved.
footnote:
52 See, for example the book WHAT HAS RELIGION DONE FOR
MANKIND?, pages 106 to 119. -
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Persons among the Witnesses have been disfellowshiped for holding birthday celebrations. The core of the Watch Tower argument seems to be based upon the principle of guilt by association - that because only Pharaoh and Herod are mentioned in Scripture as celebrating birthdays, and because these were wicked men, therefore the celebration of a birthday is necessarily wicked also. [53] This is certainly a forced conclusion. If, as an illustration, the Scriptures had no reference to marriage feasts other than marriage feasts held by two pagans or non-Christians (perhaps with some coincidental drunkenness or immorality occur[r]ing) - would that make marriage feasts something wrong, unfit for Christians? [ibid., page 275.]footnote:
53 See REASONING FROM THE SCRIPTURES (1985), pages 68, 69;
SCHOOL AND JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, pages 17, 18. -
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The Watch Tower employs quotations about the absence of birthday celebrations by Jews or by professed Christians in early centuries. Is that really a substantial reason for taking a rigid stand? Did the Jews or the professed Christians in early centuries celebrate wedding anniversaries? Would the fact that they did not rule out our doing so today? Jehovah's Witnesses in many countries regularly DO celebrate wedding anniversaries. The idea advanced that birthday celebrations are intrinsically an 'idolizing' of the person is an unrealistic categorization. Couples who celebrate a wedding anniversary are not idolizing themselves nor idolizing their marriage. Like so many other things, it is the way in which things are done, the SPIRIT shown, and this can vary widely. [54] Nowhere in the Scriptures is there any indication of God's disapproval of birthday celebrations PER SE. They are silent in that respect. It is a case of men presuming to know God's thinking and making judgments and rulings that God himself has not made. [ibid., page 276; emphasis: RF.]
footnote:
54 One of my wife's sisters has a son, an only child conceived
fairly late in the marriage and born with a heart defect. The
parents were warned that he might not live beyond the age
of two, but surgery performed when he reached that age
corrected the problem. As the mother said, "Some people
celebrate wedding anniversaries, but to my husband and
me the day that our son was born is more precious to our
memory even than the day of our wedding." -
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In all this I am not advocating any of these celebrations. I simply believe that, viewed calmly and factually, they are matters of minor significance, never warranting the sense of superior righteousness produced by Witness abstention, and certainly never justifying the policy of disfellowshipment now in force. The mere fact that something is not condemned does not make it appealing. I am basically repelled by the shallowness and commercialism of many holidays. I have negative feelings about the practice of having a child "make a wish" while blowing out the candles (as is done in this country) since that fosters a superstitious view, or bringing in such fictions as Santa Claus. Yet I believe that for me to attribute such grave seriousness to these matters as though of life-and-death importance and to judge others on that basis would be to go beyond what Christian teaching authorizes.
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GetBusyLiving
I could not put this great book down when I first got it. I was so into it that I sat on a toilet at my old job and read it for over two hours, completely oblivious to how much time I was sitting in there. Some guy came into the washroom, pounded his fist on the door and screamed, "Are you done YET??". I let out a sheepish, "Just about".
GBL