In Search of Christian Freedom

by zound 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  zound

  I'm an athiest.

  I've read COC and heard that In Search of Christian Freedom is more about debunking scriptural things the JW's believe. With respect to Ray Franz, I'm not so interested in this as I view it as debunking one fairy tale to believe another fairytale.

  But to people who've read it is there any other info therein that I might find interesting? - eg. more info about what goes on in the GB, or Ray's comments on particular decisions or scandals.

  If it's 100% focusing on biblical nonsense I'm not too keen on ordering it - but if there's other stuff in it I might.
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  ISOCF is primarily focused on debunking Watchtower's doctrines with Biblical evidence and textual discussion.

  Ray includes a lot of interesting secular history, but it is in a religious context, mostly regarding the development of Christianity.

  ISOCF does not take the same approach as CoC.
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  zound

  The history stuff might be interesting, but it sounds like it will be biased towards promoting christianity.
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  slimboyfat

  There's lots in there to interest people who no longer believe the Bible, such as an extensive discussion about how cruel disfellowshipping is, and many quotes from internal documents such as correspondence between various branches and the headquarters in Brooklyn.
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  flipper

  ZOUND- I agree with Slimboyfat- there IS a lot of interesting information in " In Search of Christian Freedom " that has nothing to do with the Bible. What I did when reading it was skip over some of the Bible stuff and mainly concentrated on the injustices regarding disfellowshipping, also there is a good discussion of how one Bethel member tried convincing the GB to NOT have the rank and file turn in field service reports as it affected the true motives of WHY people go out in service. THAT was VERY interesting to see the GB's response. So there are many different tidbits of revealing information in this book that were not touched on in " Crisis of Conscience " . I highly recommend any ex-jW to read it. Nothing says that you HAVE to read the Bible stuff in it. Just skip over those parts. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. Very interesting
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Zound-

  If nothing else, reading ISOCF will give you a more rounded-out perspective. I've often learned more from reading or listening to opposing views than by considering only views I agree with.

  Ray gives some nice historical information about the progression from primitive Christianity to what we see today in WT. It will either confirm or deny what you presently know.

  And, as Flipper and Slimboyfat mentioned, some of the internal workings of WT are discussed in addition to Biblical info., which is always interesting.
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  *lost*
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  zound

  Thanks I'll order it.
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  Fernando

  A core concept of ISOCF is that we as humans function better when we are free to organically self-direct and self-determine instead of following a list of rules and laws (do's and don'ts).

  Ray went as far as calling "legalism" apostasy, and also pointed out that it invariably leads to a "morass of inconsistencies" (as in the manmade blood doctrine fiasco).

  A summary of ISOCF can be found in the Watchtower library by searching for the word "legalism".

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  (Why does the "true religion" secretly blind its followers to the "Good News" according to Paul, Moses, Isaiah and Psalms?)