I am about halfway through CoC and am enjoying the book very much. However my mind keeps returning to chapter one. Ray Franz talks about the price one pays for holding to what is right. And I have never thought about it in the way he expresses it until I read that chapter.
Ray Franz was a member of the Governing Body, which in this orginazation, elevates you to God like stature. He was the nephew of the president of the WTBTS. And yet he walked away because he couldnt reconcile the Organizations teachings with the bible. He couldnt condone the way they acted with what Jesus said a Christian should conduct themselves.
Given what he left behind and the situation he found himself in after he left and was subsequently disfellowshiped, he paid a heavy price. He did not leave for money, a better job, drugs, alcohol, women, sex or any of the other countless reasons the Watchtower says people leave. He left because of exactly one thing: he had a crisis of conscience.
He went home where he had no money, no career, no education, no savings or retirment to fall back on. He left the hollywood like status of being part of the GB. Left a guarantee of a home, food, medical care, travel, etc. and went back to essentially square one.
He is demonised by the Wt and the rank and file and yet when one stops judging by the standards of the Watchtower Bibe and Tract Society there is nothing left to do but admire his courage and moral stand.