Such an analogy is ludicrous on its face....
JWs Worship of GB vs exJWs worship of Ray Franz
by Broken Promises 14 Replies latest jw friends
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carla
jw's say ex jw's 'worship' Ray, worldlies 'worship' a Christmas tree, 'worship' a child or family member on a birthday, ex jw's leave to start their own form of 'worship'/religion, and on and on. They don't understand true worship so to them everything is or could be 'worship'.
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blondie
BTW, I just re-read COC, Ray did not choose to leave Bethel, he was asked to leave and given a $10,000 lump sum (probably Bethel's way to protect themselves legally). He attended a congregation in the Alabama area, got a job, worked, continued as a jw until the local congregation (under Bethel direction) found a way to df him retroactively (but did not df his wife who was also present).
If he broke even on his books, that would be doing good.
He worked like you and I doing landscaping, lawn mowing, working in a store until he qualified for Social Security. He lives in a modest house.
Blondie
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Olin Moyles Ghost
Thanks for the reminder, Blondie. That's something that many JWs and ex-JWs don't realize--namely that after Ray was kicked out of Bethel, he attended a congregation as a regular JW for a year and a half.
Also, he was not DF'd for "apostacy." Rather, he was DF'd for eating dinner with his DA'd boss/landlord. And it's interesting that when the boss/landlord DA'd himself, JWs were not forbidden from associating with DA'd people. Then, in September 1981 the WT came out with "new light" that DA'd people had to be treated like DF'd people. The circuit overseer and some elders (almost certainly at the Society's direction) used that as a way to "get" Ray.
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OnTheWayOut
Blondie's post reminds me that Ray was just an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. He may well have been a nice quiet fader if not for the facts that he was screwed over by the GB that knew he knew too much and that he knew his strength was writing.
Ray was duped like most of us. But he made the best of his talents after the cult. One way to celebrate his life (besides reading the book) would be to have great lives after the cult for ourselves.