![]() I believe that many who write anti-cult books are themselves so concerned with minor issues, that they themselves sometimes come across as cultish. ![]() ![]() The entire book is a calm and sober, yet highly personal, account of Franz's life deep within the Watchtower and his eventual exit. Franz also documents and explains failed prophecy, which caused many trusting members of the "truth" to sell homes, postpone college, and other goals in order to be ready for the end. He speaks of disfellowshippings where families were encouraged to "shun" other members who had been kicked out of the Watchtower, effectively ruining the lives of thousands people. Franz details this marvelously, and explains how the Watchtower even monitored its members bedroom activities. He is more concerned with what makes a group truly a cult, which is control by the leaders over its members. However, Franz is not concerned with issues like the Trinity or Christ's divinity. In fact the Watchtower is in my opinion just another apocalyptic group founded in the mid-late 1800s. The Watchtower does have doctrinal problems when compared with the beliefs commonly held by the Church throughout Christian history. Franz most likely holds to many of his old Watchtower doctrines. This style displays his personality, which was in constant conflict with the Watchtower's rigid leadership.Franz does not detail doctrinal problems with the Watchtower. Unlike other books written by former JWs, Franz seems more saddened than angry, and his tone reflects this. Unfortunately, many books that reach out to Jehovah's witnesses are written by conservative JWs turned conservative Baptist, who take a different doctrinal stance, but still do not shed the notion that only "Only I and those Christians like me have the truth." Franz, on the contrary, offers a more balanced appraisal. Actually most of them were less chained to their ideology than I was. Unfortunately I was just as rigid and legalistic as the Jehovah's Witnesses I would witness to. Way to go Ray!Ībout 12 years ago I considered myself the "cult-buster." In my young mind I could, armed with proof-texts, shoot down any cult member, especially Jehovah's Witnesses. If he is an apostate then I am proud to be on along side of him! He is not bitter in his book at all! He seems like a real nice person that is trying to apoligize for his part in this misleading orginazation. Since Ray was considered the worst of the worst I read his book. Because I questioned this conductI was disfellowshipped for apostacy. The thing is that 4 girls testified in court, but they had not been witnesses at the same time. They said they needed 2 witnesses against him. I could not understand why they would not disfellowship him. I would never, as a JW, have read this book, but after seeing a family member who was an elder and PO in the congergation sent to jail for child molestation and watching the congergation and the WTS stand behind him, I began to question the WTS. It was more like the light was flashing off and on. The Witnesses always called it "new light" but the problem with that is that they went back and forth on MANY teachings. He also showed me that the WTS has changed it's own teachings over and over. You can find a small reference to the mansion in the insight from the scriptures book too, but it fails to mention that Rutherford lived there. He showed how a former WTS president lived in a mansion in CA and how he said it was for the "men of old" that would be ressurected by 1925. What I read was a book that is backed up with references from the Watchtower Society's own books! He was able to show me where to look to find CRAZY things that the WTS used to teach. I expected to read a book full of conjecture and accusations.
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