by millymollymandy 8 Replies latest jw friends
(Sorry if I've posted this twice!)
I finished reading Crisis Of Conscience today. I found it pretty mind-blowing, and I'm not even a JW. I was just wondering what the official/non-official response was from the Watchtower Society when it was published? Did they even deign to officially acknowledge the existence of the book?
Franz was labeled an apostate and it was FORBIDDEN reading by anyone! if you did, off with your head.
That book is only discussed in hushed, secretive tones, and even then only briefly.
Ha, I guess that such a response is only to be expected.
I found it inspiring reading, although a few bits (the indepth discussion of 1914 in particular) kind of went over my head. I was very impressed with how Franz attempted to back up as much as he could with hard evidence. A very appealing quality to a news writer like me!
I also admire the calm, measured tone taken throughout - it would have been so easy to lapse into bitterness and turn the tale into a piece of pure whistleblowing revenge.
I just hope I can gently persuade my boyfriend to take a look at the book now.
Typical WTS response they will disfellowship you for reading it...They will fight all the way to the Supreme Court to protect their first admendment rights of free speech but will absolutely destroy someone elses right...
The Watchtower's 'response' to the headquarter 'blowout' following R. Franz and subsequent books written by 'apostates', was an attempt at "preemptive fire extinguishing" in the book "Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom" that was released in 1993, and was an 'internal' history book about the organization. It was the first time they had printed a photo from when Christmas was celebrated at Bethel, they printed a picture of Russel's pyramid gravestone and admitted he had been into pyramidology, they showed the mason imagery once used (but without using the word 'mason'), they for the first time acknowledged a contributor to Russel's end time calculations, they mention 1874.... Lots of stuff. But even so, and even then - they managed to be untruthful about a lot of things, smoothing over things, omitting things etc. If you've got the latest edition of Crisis of Conscience, Franz goes through some of it in detail.
The "Proclaimers" book seems to have been a clear effort to stave off any rumors that may start to circulate about the JWs past - "telling it like it is" (in a sanitized version) before any apostates could do it. And - for those on the inside, with no other sources available - it probably did.
JWs prove that you don't have to read a book to condemn it. They share that in common with book-burners of old, including Catholics, Protestant fundamentalists and Moslems.
The fact is, that book is so embarrassing to them that they will disfellowship anyone that so much as lays a finger on it. The book exposes the dirty secrets within the Governing Body itself. Not so much a personal experience book about ruined childhoods and pedophiles (it doesn't even say a word about that problem), it focuses instead on the policy makers and how the rules are made. For instance, they have a two-thirds majority rule to change anything. What most people don't know is that a member that is absent counts as a vote for keeping the status quo. If there were 12 members, there needs to be at least 8 votes to change it; if 5 or more are absent, this makes it impossible for the change to be enacted even if the 7 members present are all unanimous.
It also details one major piece of hypocrisy. It is OK for people to bribe the authorities for a fake certificate of having served in the military, according to their rules. However, to buy a damn party card (there was only one party, so one would not be taking sides) is a breach of neutrality and therefore forbidden. That rule caused needless suffering (I guess the closest now would be forcing people to go out in field circus after NBC reported the pedophile scandal on a mainstream format, exposing people to extra persecution). There are so many of his personal experiences of all the hardships the author went through as a missionary, and what little it got him. Definitely a must-read for anyone that is thinking of getting baptized.
Hello Millymollymandy,
Now that you have read Crisis Of Conscience, please read Raymond Franz's sequel, "In Search Of Christian Freedom".
If you think Crisis Of Conscience was mind blowing, wait until you read In Search Of Christian Freedom.
With documented proof, and examples of pure evil perpetrated by various levels of watchtower officials and congregation elders, the sequel gives even more detailed evidence that the watchtower society is the epitome of evil, and is the most wide ranging scam ever to appear on this planet.
Additionally, Raymond Franz gives many examples of how the watchtowers own literature is their deepest condemnation, and he accomplishes all of this with the same calm tone of Crisis Of Conscience.
A must read.
Worf
