by zound 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Its too late!
The ten kings have already given away their power to the wild beast.
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, as the group is officially known, had been run by a so-called Governing Body. Now, religious and administrative duties will be divided, with three newly formed corporations running the group's U.S. operations.
See the October 8th, 2000 Washington post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20001009/aponline235956_000.htm
abe
Ray Franz was in the same "TRANCE" all 'true faithful WT believers are in;
a TRANCE. He was blind. Then he could see. Think about the apostle Paul.
Read the account again. Paul was KILLING Christians, he was completely
blinded. It took a supernatural act; of actually KNOCKING HIM OFF HIS HORSE,
and striking him BLIND, before he could see
that what he was doing was WRONG. Many have had a powerful epiphany
(and many have had such an epiphany), were we experienced a sudden
pulling away the "veil" a sudden realization, a sudden awakening
accompanied by a strong moment of sudden insight
and sense of the presence of the divine and then we "SEE"
Blind and then we see.
I think someone wrote a famous hymn about it.
Actually, Ray was a repeat of Olin Moyle with greater writing ability.
zed
Hi Nathan Natas
I also left a few years before Ray did and for different reasons. Reading Ray's books filled in the blanks for me and helped to confirm many things. I kept in contact with Ray through letters and periodic phone calls. I would agree, that he simply felt compelled to tell his story in hopes that it might bring some clarity in the constant fog that surrounds the WT world. He certainly wasn't looking for a following as some might have suggested.
Villagegirl. Excellent post. Right on the money.
FWFranz
From reading his books, I'm not sure that Ray had a sudden epiphany. He was already strongly leaning towards different, alternative interpretations before he was disfellowshipped, and I think this matured over a period of time rather than happening suddenly. It was when he was disfellowshipped on trumped up charges that the walls probably came crashing down as to his belief that it was the true religion. I think that was the extent of any epiphany, but previous to that he had already formed in his mind a number of doctrinal views that departed quite strongly from the orthodox JW creed.
One of the greatest things learned from the Ray Franz incident was that there are undoubtedly GB members even now who harbour secret alternative interpretations and views. There probably always has been. The GB is not totally homogenous, and there is a spectrum of opinion ranging from towing the orthodox hardline to taking quite alternative and opposing views on some matters. They suffer from groupthink but across a continuum of individual views. This gives us some glimmer of hope for positive reform in the future.
But Ray was probably rather unique in that he had the intellectual honestly and objectivity to challenge the status quo with more intellectual rigour and logic than the others. He managed to separate the search for truth (at least scriptural 'truth') from the political objectives and needs of the 'organisation'. Most of the GB are evidently willing to sacrifice the former in favour of the latter.
Thet are likely tied up pretty tight by the legal department with gag policies they had to sign...
probably get their arses sued off if they spoke a word, truth or not.
Oz
