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

by Dorktacular 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  tooktheredpill

  Dorktacular:

  I can relate to your experience. My sister sent me CoC to my work office as a gift. When I opened the brown Amazon box, I started shaking!! I felt like "Big brother" was watching me! I still have the book hiding in my office.

  Although I haven't finished reading it all, there were specific chapters that affected me a lot. I noticed how humble brother Franz is. He acted much better than anyone I know under the awful circumstances he had. Specially the chapter that explained the "witch hunt" @ Bethel, and the Edward Dunlap story. I literally cried like a child all my way home...

  It is very sad to know the truth about the Truth(tm) in the beginning, because I realized that all I know and think is completely distorted (being raised in the Borg). And I'm in the process of healing. At least I can say that my parents were not that "hardcore", and always supported me when I wanted to go to college. I finished a BS degree, and they feel very proud...

  Have a great day!

  TTRP
• 

  JK666

  Dork,

  When I got the book was after I found out about the UN fieasco. I ordered it on Ebay, and when I got it, I read it cover-to-cover in a little over a day. I was more saddened than angry, the anger had already passed and this was just confirmation of what I already knew in my heart.

  It always bothered me that Ray's book was forbidden to read while I was still a JW. I thought that if we had "THE TRUTH," then this book would be refutable. Now I know why!

  JK
• 

  Lady Liberty

  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.

  Dear Dorktacular,

  I could relate to the above statement when I was first reading the book myself!! LOLO!! It is so... NOT, the hate filled book the Society wants you to believe it is!! It is dangerous in that it shows the organization for what it really is through the eyes of a previous "anointed one", and shows how decisions that effect thousands are really made. Certainly was a eye opener for me, the way I thought the organization was run was a figment of my imagination! It was quite enlightening, and explained alot of things that have happened and why things continue to happen that no rank and file member can explain. Let us know what you think as you get further into the book, as it may give others the courage to read it too!

  Sincerely,

  Lady Liberty
• 

  Awakened07

  Heh - I ordered it from Amazon along with a lot of other books. When CoC was the only book to be late, I started thinking perhaps there was a Witness working in the packing and shipping department of Amazon, and was withholding it! OK, I didn't really think that, but the thought crossed my mind. I even thought 'perhaps they'll cross reference my name with a JW register and tell the elders here'.

  Oh well.

  -The high praise the book receives carries the danger of raising expectations too high, though. It's a great book, don't get me wrong, but parts of it I found rather dull, and when I finished it I didn't feel like a new person, like I had almost envisioned after reading the raving reviews and gotten my expectations up to unrealistic heights. So read it with an open mind, skip parts if they start to get boring, and get the most out of it. All in all, it's a must read for any Witness, if you ask me.

  By the way - Franz must have kept a very detailed diary through all this? Anyone know? Otherwise he must have a 'sticky brain'. I don't remember any conversation I had two years ago in detail, let alone ten, twenty years. Perhaps I should write a diary.
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  VoidEater

  What I love most about the book: it's written in a similar style to certain Aid Book articles (duh, no wonder), which is the only WTS publication to ever have made an impression on me. If you took the cover off, a JW could start reading CofC and it would feel "familier" enough that they might theoretically get hooked on it without even realizing the source. And that would be an interesting education for them.