Public Apology to Bill Bowen

by IslandWoman 34 Replies latest jw friends

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost
    I'm having a hard time deciphering the reason or what possible good this thread might accomplish, IW.

    Me too.

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost

    OK, I posted before reading your reason, IW

  • IslandWoman
    IslandWoman

    Ozzie,

    On this board I publicly called Bill Bowen names, I called him out in quite an angry way. I am now apologizing on this same board.

    No big mystery here, just trying to rectify a mistake.

    IW

  • jst2laws
    jst2laws

    My dear Linda,

    Ray Franz should have supported you and not by his silence add support to the Watchtower! Whatever he knows about Greenlees and Chitty he should reveal and he, imo, should also openly support the Silent Lambs.

    Are you allright? I would ask for you to explain your turnaround but I will not because I certainly do not want the same ugly and hurtful attacks to begin again. If you have new information that justifies your demands of Ray Franz, please private message me and I will support you if it is factual. If it is not I will zealously oppose any posts that further injure this good man and his reputation.

    I want to add that when this broke loose last fall I stayed out of the discussions because I knew and respected both the key men involve. I remained silent when I should have spoken up. I will not make that mistake again. For the good of all lets not get into this again.

    Jst2laws

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost
    For the good of all lets not get into this again.

    I agree.

  • IslandWoman
    IslandWoman

    My dear Linda,
    Ray Franz should have supported you and not by his silence add support to the Watchtower! Whatever he knows about Greenlees and Chitty he should reveal and he, imo, should also openly support the Silent Lambs.

    Are you allright? I would ask for you to explain your turnaround but I will not because I certainly do not want the same ugly and hurtful attacks to begin again. If you have new information that justifies your demands of Ray Franz, please private message me and I will support you if it is factual. If it is not I will zealously oppose any posts that further injure this good man and his reputation.

    I want to add that when this broke loose last fall I stayed out of the discussions because I knew and respected both the key men involve. I remained silent when I should have spoken up. I will not make that mistake again. For the good of all lets not get into this again.

    Jst2laws

    Jst2laws,

    That was the most condescending post ever written to me. Please stop looking down. I have no intention of getting into anything, why are you posting like this? I am just apologizing to Bill Bowen.

    I am not attacking anyone, it is your post that is a subtle attack. Please stop.

    IW

  • jst2laws
    jst2laws

    Islandwoman,

    I am sorry, but I feel this is very dangerous and perhaps responded with more passion than ussual.

    Please check your private messages.

    Jst2laws

  • Amazing
    Amazing

    I will talk to Ray Franz tomorrow about this. My understanding at this point is that Ray does not like to banty about gossip about people. He opposes ruining people's reputations, especially when the facts are not known.

    When I stayed with him we discussed the rumors about him. It is amazing to realize the false and patently wrong things people spread about various JW leaders. He helped me appreciate that many things are said about members of the GB which are not factual, and as a result get blown out of proportion. Nonetheless, even if something about a person is true, but their private personal lives, Ray avoids make it an issue.

    There is enough truth that is well known and established without restoring to rumor, inuendo, lies, etc. No, you have sot stated anything substantive yet, other than some vague references about Greenlees and Chitty. So tell us, IW, what is it that you factually know about Greenlees and Chitty that is true which you can establish beyond rumor and inueodo ... it must be good for you to make a public apology.

    Furthermore, since you obviously have hard facts, it is now YOUR responsibility to tell the rest of us what it is that we should know. The only thing I have ever heard about Greenlees and Chitty is that they are supposed to be homosexual. So what? These rumors have been around for many years. This information has little to do with anything regarding the issues with Bill Bowen. If these men are pedophiles, then you must have facts, and better be able to withstand the legal consequences should you prove to be in error for liable.

    It will be interesting to see where this goes, and what direction you take. - Jim Whitney

    PS: You can email me at [email protected] if you prefer to take this off board.

  • IslandWoman
    IslandWoman
    It will be interesting to see where this goes, and what direction you take. - Jim Whitney

    My God! All I was saying was that I now agree with Bill Bowen. Please excuse this sin!

    What direction will I take? None my friend, none!

    When Ray Franz dies, whatever he knows will die with him. No one is asking for gossip. I am not asking for a continuation of the troubles we had here before. If you, Amazing, are going to talk to Ray Franz again and again act as his spokeman here then this thing will become what some here fear. You will be the one who escalates this little apology thread not me.

    Stop already with this Ray Franz worship, he is a fine person but he is not perfect and he can be wrong sometimes!!! Yeah, I know, incredible but true! I like the man, he though is wrong on the Silent Lambs issue.

    Sheesh, this is too much already. Some here have really made a god of him.

    IW

  • Big Tex
    Big Tex
    I want to add that when this broke loose last fall I stayed out of the discussions because I knew and respected both the key men involve.

    Because of my background I was very much behind Bill Bowen when I first began posting. I was somewhat aghast when Bill began attacking Ray Franz. Not that I know much about Mr. Franz, but there did not seem to be much substantive to Bill's accusations. And so I kept silent and did not particpate in those threads. I regret that now.

    Actually Island Woman, you and I seem to be on opposite roads at the moment. I don't mean that in any negatie way, just an observation. This is an issue, along with others with regards to Silent Lambs, that I've been wrestling with for many months. I just cannot anymore.

    Bill was wrong to attack Ray Franz. Bill was wrong to attack RevMalk. I don't pretend to understand all the motivations why, but it's just wrong. Whatever Ray Franz thought in 1968 is not necessarily what he thinks today, nor should it be counted against him. God knows if that standard were held up to me I would be guilty toward several old bible studies of mine from my pioneer days. We do what we do because we feel it is right.

    If later we find out we are wrong, and we change, are we to be held accountable for the entirety of our lives? If so, then that goes against the very heart of Christianity. I don't know Mr. Franz's current status, but from reading CofC, I'm am left with the impression he is still a Christian. I submit that we must be judged by our own belief system. If that is so, then I forgive Mr. Franz of whatever mistakes he made while one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I do so, not because he asked for my forgiveness, but because at some point we must bury the past and build the future.

    So it is with the 2 witness rule. It exists now, not beause of Mr. Franz, but because of some pig-headed, intellectually dumbed down Witnesses of 2003. Whatever the origins of that evil policy, it is how the leaders implement it today and the people they hurt today that matters.

    Let the dead bury the dead.

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit