The large and varied number of reactions to the few lines I posted surprised me, and it is, of course, impossible for me to respond adequately even to a handful of them. I find some of them particularly pertinent and informative.
"Gedanken", in his judicious and balanced post of Oct. 25, 2002 at 13:03, shows he has correctly understood the meaning of my post. (Danke schn!) And "Amazing", in his enlightening post of Oct. 25, 2002, at 13:35, helpfully brought me up to date on this story by giving a detailed review of what had transpired before I butted into the discussion. Valuable information and comments were also provided by "IslandWoman", "Wasasister", and others. Thanks all of you!
The most puzzling explanations are those posted by "bjc2012" on Oct. 25, 2002, at 16:19, in which he/she tries to cast the blame on Ray Franz for the way my case was handled by the Watch Tower Society and its representatives back in the 1970s, after I had sent my treatise to the headquarters in 1977. The story you tell, "bjc2012", is totally misleading and false. I have been corresponding regularly with Ray Franz during the past 20 years and feel I know quite well what happened. Here are some facts:
My treatise on "The Gentile Times Reconsidered" was examined at the Writing Department by a number of brothers there. At that time about 18 writers were working at the department, and nearly one third of them more or less accepted the evidence presented in the treatise. One of them was Ray Franz, who was well acquainted with the subject, as he had done a lot of research on it himself and, as you say, had written the section on "Chronology" for the "Aid" book. He wasnt aware of the enormous burden of evidence against the 607 BCE date, however, until he read my treatise, so you cant blame him for what he wrote in defense of the date before 1977.
As he realized that my conclusions were correct, how can you claim that he encouraged or participated in the widespread defamation of my name and character as a result of my research? This is completely illogical. During the correspondence I had with the headquarters and the Governing Body in the years 1977-1980, I received a number of letters, none of which was written or authored by Ray Franz. I know this, because I have a copy of the internal list from that time that explains the symbols used by the various authors and writers of letters.
Ray, of course, was aware of the way the Society had decided to handle my case. But this policy was based an majority decisions, and it could not be changed by one man. Further, like myself, Ray was at that time in the process of reevaluating his whole belief system, so we were in a similar situation, mentally. As he also describes in detail in Crisis of Conscience, he brought up the subject of chronology at the Governing Bodys sessions, even copied a part of my treatise for each of the members. He tried to convince them that they needed to reconsider the whole subject, but met very little response. Instead, he soon got under fire himself, as we all know.
I do not know why you are trying to throw suspicion on Ray Franz, his motives and actions, and why you are publishing your personal grudges against him here. You claim that you have presented "facts" about this matter, but I find none in your post. You speak of courage. Do you have the courage to step forward and tell us what is your real name and where you live, thus showing that you are prepared to take the responsibility for your statements and are prepared to present any evidence in support of them? Or do you prefer, as some others do, to use (misuse) your signature as an "ambush", from behind which you can attack those you dislike?
I feel rather sure that none here believe your story.
Carl Olof Jonsson
