I just got "Crisis of Conscience" last night....

by Dorktacular 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  Dorktacular

  I got home from work late last night. There it was. The brown box from Amazon.com leaning against the front door. I knew what was in it. I picked it up and quickly took it inside because I didn't want anybody to know what was inside. I went inside and laid the box on my chair in the living room and draped my leather jacket over it... (again.... I felt a need to hide it because I didn't want anybody to see it...). After dinner and putting my daugher to bed, I opened the box. There it was, that most evil of books, the book that I had been warned against reading ever since I was a kid. Crisis of Conscience! I have not attended meetings for almost 10 years and still I felt like I was going to have every elder within 200 miles break down my front door and snatch the book out of my hands and throw it into my fireplace.

  I began to read this book and I couldn't put it down. I stopped reading around 1 in the morning. Wow. Really. Words can't express what I feel after reading the first three chapters. I wish I had this book 10 or even 20 years ago. I think most of us have heard that "apostate" literature, and especially Crisis of Conscience, is evil and hate-filled. This is not the case. I have found more enlightenment within the first three chapters of Franz's book than I've found in over 20 years of reading Watchtower publications. I plan on completing the book by Sunday evening.

  Oh, I actually ordered two copies. I wrapped one up to give to my brother for Christmas. He isn't exactly the reading type, but I know he'll read this book. I just wish my father was open-minded enough to read this book. It might change his life. I feel bad that he's wasted almost 40 years of his life in the service of the WTBS. I don't even know what to say. Any comments on the book??
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  Awakened07

  As I read it, I kept thinking that every Witness should read it - if they wanted to stay in or not. It's just a story of a man's life in the service, how he and the ones he knew were treated, what they were asked to do, and how the Governing Body makes their decisions. It also shows how they've made bad decisions and what could be seen as downright evil and untruthful decisions. But no active Witness should be stopped from reading it for that sake. If you can read the book (slowly and attentively) and still be an active Witness afterward - - so be it. But one should not be punished for reading it. I mean, think about it! Punished for reading a book! What kind of world is that, and would you want to live in it?
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  ex-nj-jw

  I read it after being out for 24 years and I also felt the need to hide it. Crazy isn't it? I didn't find it to be one of those "I can't put it down" kinda of books though. I had to take little bites at a time and it took me a couple of months to finally get through it. I'm not into bible doctrine and scriptures so I skipped those parts or just skimmed though it.

  I went to meetings and assemblies for 18 years of my life and I got more out of that 1 book than I did in 18 years! Enjoy your reading and be ready for the parts that make you so angry you will want to slap the $#!* out of somebody, preferbly the GB and any arogant, super JDUB that comes your way

  nj
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  truthsearcher

  Last year, I was a mixture of the two: couldn't put it down, then would get so disturbed by what I was reading and its implications to the Witnesses, that I would have to put it down and march around the room for a while working off the stress adrenaline, then I would pick it back up and read some more, and the cycle would repeat itself. I have gone through it about 3 times now, each time, something different sticks with me. I agree, every Witness should have the opportunity to read this and decide whether it is "evil" or not.
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  Awakened07

  -Just wanted to add: As for "apostate lies", which a Witness surely would call most of it, it would be very easy for the WTS - if what Ray Franz says is false - to counter it and debunk it, with sources. They could release a whole separate magazine or book with nothing but retorts to 'apostate' claims in it. That would've been very helpful to all Witnesses.

  Instead they choose to treat the matters - and the people - as if they don't exist. I wonder why?
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  worldtraveller

  If you just ignore it, it usually goes away. Like a scab. That's the plan. Just like yesterdays news.
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  flipper

  Dorktacular- Happy reading guy ! So good you are educating yourself about this . It is so true I have found after being out 4 years now, the more I read and the further away from it I get the picture becomes ever so more crystal clear how wrong the witnesses were and are. Peace out, happy reading, Mr. Flipper
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  Robert7

  I ordered the book today. It's weird, it felt so wrong, but then again so right. I am SO curious to read it all when it arrives!
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  jinjam

  When i read the book, i felt guilty for reading it, i thought about the book and decided to read it again, somehow you always think to yourself ( no this can't be true) and yet a man who had given whole life to this religion, would never make up a story like this. It changed my life and helped me let go of certain things! It won't take the guilt away but it really helps with the healing
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  Dorktacular

  Ray Franz quotes - and even prints direct photocopies - of Watchtower publications showing all of the conflicts and contradictions that have plauged the religion since it's inception. I was raised as a witness. I was always taught that when it came to the witnesses, the way things are is the way things always were and always will be because it is God's perfect organization and God is infallable. As it turns out, there has been nothing but inconsistency the whole history of the organization. The society certainly is good at covering up and hiding the many changes that have taken place over the years. When I was young, I accepted it for the truth. But, as I learned, the truth that I was raised on changed before I even graduated high school. It's not even the same religion with the same doctrines I was raised to believe in. I've made it through the first 150 pages as of last night and the book is leaving me with a sick feeling in my stomach. It really bothers me that so many are being cheated and lied to by this organization. There are so many good people out there who really want to please God and find happiness in His service, and the WBTS is just taking advantage of that! It makes me think of the 22 years of my life that I lost in pointless devotion to that stupid religion. How many like me were born into the religion and suffered their whole lives struggling to comply with every wish of some old men in Brooklyn and died without ever being free or knowing the real truth about the WBTS??? God! It literally is making me sick. Like I said in my previous post, I wish my father would read this book so that he could see the truth and leave this corrupt organization before his life is over. It is so sad. Such a waste.