Customer Reviews

In Search of Christian Freedom

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Throughout the 20th century, the Jehovah's Witnesses movement has attracted a great deal of attention to itself, both favorable and critical. In recent years, events surrounding the movement as well as the stirring of sentiment from those who have left the organization have precipitated a flood of related literature, in general written from a critical point of view. It is no small wonder that those who continue to hail the movement as representing God's vested interests on earth view this tide of critical thinking with a great deal of suspicion and even distrust. Yet it might be said that none of the writers of "worldly" literature have written with the unreserved compassion, scholastic authority, and from such a wealth of real-life experience stemming from many decades spent within the organization as has Raymond V. Franz. In his book, "In Search of Christian Freedom," Franz has brought together a rich array of background knowledge and memories of actual conversations with top leaders within the Watch Tower organization to squarely and thoroughly investigate the validity of the claims made by the movement. As with most related literature, the book makes use of old publications and documents which the organization has virtually buried through decades of organizational upheaval and policy changes. However, in addition to this, Franz reviews and tests the entire authority structure of his former religion and makes a solid inquiry into the general issue of Christian freedom as it pertains to other religious movements as well, using sound logic, Biblical and moral precedents. Not content to simply rehash the past faults and blunders of the Watch Tower organization, Franz digs deeper than the majority of literature of this genre, investigating why the Witnesses and members of other comparable religious movements believe what they do. On the whole, the samples provided are quite relevant, and the commentary is logical, valid, and thorough; although admittedly the book is text-heavy, quite serious in tone and requires a certain degree of patience on the reader's part to thoroughly soak in and analyze from a critical point of view. What "Christian Freedom" lacks in conciseness, however, it easily makes up for in its applicableness and depth of thought, challenging the reader at every bend in the course to investigate his or her own beliefs and to make an informed value judgment of the claims of the Watch Tower Society. It is for this reason that many members of the religion view the book and the author himself with a degree of loathing, even outright anger at his audacity to propose solutions or claims contrary to the organization. However, Franz makes no excuses, and his course of action is clearly documented throughout the book for each reader to fairly investigate. I could find absolutely no trace of sentimentality, hostility, or prejudice against the Jehovah's Witnesses or against any other religious group within the book. Franz' carefully-worded expositions on the Christian mindset and motivations for the Christian life will leave an indelibly strong mark on the reader who is honestly willing to investigate his propositions. After reading this book, I could find no reason to question the integrity of Franz' experience within the upper echelons of the Watch Tower Society, nor could I find fault with his candor and appreciation of the things which he finds to make life worthwhile. His experience has apparently strengthened his faith, rather than demolishing it... a refreshing point of note which should comfort readers who are hesitant to forego their faith in God, in Jesus as his Son, and as the Bible as the Word of God. At the same time, "Christian Freedom" leaves a great deal of room for the diversity of opinion and ideology, which Franz believes should exist as a natural product of the undiluted Christian faith. My main complaint regarding this book is the sheer bulk. Not content to leave out essential details at any rate, Franz has apparently sacrificed readability and simplicity of thought for comprehensiveness. I also think that some of the personal anecdotes in the book are beginning to show their age, as Franz left the Watch Tower organization in the early 1980's. (We might hope that Franz will be able to undertake future revisions himself.) As a manual which addresses the core issues which should be closest to the heart of those involved with the Jehovah's Witnesses or with any similar organization, however, I judge this book to be of inestimable value. For those who are actively questioning the validity and properness of submitting to religious authority or of ready-made religious systems for a meaning in life, I believe that one could hardly do better than to delve into this book.

This was an excellent book, although, at 700+ pages, a little long. In addition, the title of the book had me confused at first as to the content. But essentially, this book is basically about how organized religion in general, and more specifically about how the Watchtower Society (Jehovah's witnesses), can smother one's Christian freedom (and will) with man-made (couched as Bible teachings) teachings and dogmas. It is well written, well reasoned, well documented, and one of the best books I have read.

There are basically two types of people who are going to read this book:

Ex Jehovah's witnesses
Non Jehovah's witnesses

An active Jehovah's witness would never read this book because if they did, they would be disfellowshipped (excommunicated) for reading what the Watchtower Society would label as "apostate" literature (a brain washing technique used by the Society to keep JWs from ever questioning their man-made teachings).

For Ex Jehovah's witnesses - this book is a MUST READ for you. It will help you rid yourself of any guilt or conflict about whether the Society was really God's true organization - it isn't. But after reading this book, you will feel good about your decision to leave "the Organization." It will also help you to understand how you were manipulated and how you can now adjust to life "outside the Organization."

For non Jehovah's witnesses - this book is not just about Jehovah's witnesses. Its moderate and balanced reasoning on the topic of man imposing his will upon his fellow man (i.e., organized religion in general) applies equally to most religions whether you be a Mormon, a Seventh Day Adevntist, a Baptist, or a Cathloic.

And finally, there is little or no bitterness in the author's style of writing. I think that's what I like most about his style. Franz is very non-judgemental and moderate and reasonable and allows the reader to use their own reasoning skills instead of being dogmatic like writers of the Watchtower organization.

This is a terrific book for anyone who is interested in understanding how organized religion can become tyranical and dogmatic in nature. I highly recommend it.

You can't read this and not be in total shock. I was a 'JW' for 38 years - left about 6 years ago. I read his first book - 'Crisis of Conscience' and cried while reading it. Can't believe all the untruths - the way they manipulate things - force compliance to their ways. It saddens me to think how mislead they are. Most mean well - but will never no the real truth because they are not allowed to research their own doctrine. If you are a JW with questions - PLEASE read this book. It will change you forever.

After reading Crisis of Conscience,I had to read this follow up by Ray Franz.The reading can be a bit tedious but it is well worth the time.

He considers such topics as:

"The channel of God"- The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society's claim to be the one and only channel of god,through which he directs "his" organization and of course disloyalty to the organization is the same thing as disloyalty to god.

"blood transfusions"-what is allowed ,what isn,t,how it has changed over time ,and why men and women would die or risk the lives of their children because they wanted to look to "God's Organization"for answers.

"Legalism"-While they don't want to see it, J.W.'s look to the W.B.T.S. for direction in almost every area of their lives.What type of employment is o.k.? Can I grow a beard? Alternatives to military service is o.k. if a judge orders it ,but not if a draft board does?How many witnesses were disfellowshipped or spent years in prison because of this kind of idiocy?Is sexual foreplay proper?What about oral sex?After a while J.W.'s can no longer make even the most personal decisions without knowing what "The Society" thinks.

"Argumentation and Manipulation"-The society encourages people to have an open mind and not let their ministers or religious authorities decide for them whether or not they will study with J.W.,s.But for J.W.'s themselves, the exact opposite is true.They can't read "apostate" literature,which is anything that questions the j.w. doctrine and the authority of the society.The amazing thing is that they don,t even realize it.

Other topics include disfellowshipping,abuse of authority by elders,the "informant system"(other witnesses are always watching you),the divine name,holidays, and where to go next.

As I said the reading can be tedious, but worth the effort if you are a witness or if you are interested in how an organization like the Watchtower Bible and tract Society can exert so much influence over the lives of people,it is worth the time.

Although he advocates individual responsibility in Christianity,he doesn,t seem to be able to question Christianity itself with the same rigor that he has examined this particular sect.

All in all a good read,and good second step for j.w.s who want to think for themselves.

I was a JW for over 20 years and I did not leave because I did anything wrong or because I wanted to persue some kind of wrongdoing. I left voluntarily because I saw so much hyprocisy and so many things that just didn't add up when compared to what the Bible had to say. I read this book several years after leaving, and this book is right on the money! I could almost have written this book myself. All the things I had problems with, such as the appointment of ministerial servants and elders, are exposed in this book for what they really are. JW's are taught that these appointments are made through God's holy spirit, but it was obvious that the STATUS and BANK ACCOUNTS of the appointees were what REALLY determined their appointments. This organization says they have "love for another." However, I saw first-hand, in a total of five different congregations all over the U.S., that this 'brotherly love' is totally fake. These people would rather knock on the doors of strangers all day long rather than help out a fellow JW who is sick, elderly or in need simply because they cannot report the time they spend in helping one another. They can only report the time spend knocking on doors of strangers. (Their status in the congregation is based on a mandatory "timesheet" they hand in at the end of the each month. Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say that when he separates the goats from the sheep it will be based on a timesheet!) This book is not coming from a 'disgruntled" ex-witness but rather from a former 'insider' from Brooklyn Bethel. It is obvious to me that Mr. Franz wrote the book to let people know what is REALLY going on within this organization (and it doesn't have much to do with God's holy spirit or direction). I wasted twenty years of my life in what I thought was the "true religion" before I woke up and realized it was no such thing. This is a MUST read for people in this religion/organization as well as though who have left or those who think they want to join. Unfortunately, JW's are not allowed to read books like this lest they risk being disfellowshipped! How ridiculous, coming from an organization that encourages people to "examine their religion."

Christian Freedom, is not really a sequel to Crisis of Conscience, but more or less like an outsider looking in to a religion that dominated 60 years of his life. It took about 10 years later to come up with the sequel. Enough time has passed to do research on the unscripturalness of JW's and what we should do now when we leave organizations like the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Crisis of Conscience tells us how corrupt the JW's are, this one is at grass root's level which concentrates more on doctrines rather than organizational rules and regulations.

I get the feeling that Raymond wrote this book to give motivation to those who left the group and there is life outside the organization, to come from Christian bondage to Christian freedom. We realize that no one has the absolute truth on Christianity as there were no written instructions handed down.

To give us strength and confidence, he knocks out the guilt in all important JW areas like:

*Baptism (the pre-1985 questions and the organization style questions.)

*Door Knocking (He makes numerous observations from the Bible texts about the lack of evidence; particularly in the Gospels.)

Church buildings and "sacred service." (All we do in our lives constitutes sacred service.)

*God's name (meaning rather than verbal utterance.)

*Christ our leader, not the Governing Body (how Christianity was hijacked from organized religion -- do we leave our salvation up to the religious leaders or up to ourselves.)

*Trinity -- gives an interesting outsider non-JW perspective!

*Blood Transfusions. (I am still not keen on the idea, but wouldn't put a Pharisee-like ban on it.)

*JW harassment, spying, lying.

*JW suicides (yep! Even at the headquarters!)

*Christian love rather than Christian doctrine.

All these points are paramount importance. My only gripe is I am very surprised that he didn't talk about such serious issues like paedophilia! You got to be kidding me! I've since researched online and Raymond seems pretty addiment that this was not a problem in all his 9 years on the Governing Body -- the subject never came up! Upon reading his book and have made contacts with him by email, this could very well be true, but it's an issue that is hard to contemplate, since he served in all levels of Jehovah's Witness since the 1920's! I'll trust that this is true. I had to warn you people before you read this book. He doesn't talk about it in Crisis of Conscience either, but one would think, he would leave it in his pseudo-sequel. I also disagree on the important subject of the divine name issue and his opposition to it -- a name written 7000 times in the Hebrew Scriptures and evidence is was used in the Greek Scriptures because of quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures and the "hallelujah" written 4 times in Revelation would make one think that the name was banned or prohibited by the dominating religious authorities at the time and condemned people to use it.

Another reason is because it gets a bit tedious towards the end! I wish he employed an editor -- it could be at least 100 pages shorter than what it is! It was quite tiresome the endless quotes from Watchtower literature and how sad he felt for their oppression of the ordinary "rank and file." So with the issues of pedophilia and the divine name issue, the tediousness at the end... 4 stars.

"A Congregation of Free People" opens up your eyes and makes you feel glad that Christianity is a simple yet challenging religion. A religion not limited to Christian members and encouragement to help others regardless of religious beliefs. On the subject of helping others, I found it a bit amusing the greasing oil reference in James 5:14 is literal oil for those genuinely sick! Not spiritual oil! It makes one stop and think about Biblical interpretation: Is that a Biblical commandment or practice of the early Christians? Christians in most Western countries at least don't greet each other with a holy kiss, do they? You realize the WTS is too gung hoe about Biblical interpretation and many times they had to re-adjust their very unbiblical, man-made doctrines... which they call "new light" from above, which is really them finding out how wrong they were for (literally) many decades!

I believe the JW's have cult-like teachings and quotes a few paragraphs from Steven Hassan (Combating Mind Control) and rushes over this and admits the similarities, but doesn't tell his readers they are an outright cult. Which I think sums it up pretty well. So he shies away from calling that, and reminds his readers that other religions have major faults (quotes ex Catholics and Mormons incidentally) and brings up the subject of "orthodox Christianity" and explains that it's only orthodox because the majority believe it. It's not the label "cult" that matters" but that ALL organizations BLOCK people from Christian freedom. Which makes me conclude (considering other church doctrines), doctrinally they are as Christian as any other organization, but the demands they put on people are cult-like.

One thing I like about Ray is his candid qualities, his lack of hatred and remorse (even in his 2nd book) and his anti-picketing from ex-Jehovah's Witness. To really let go of this religion, you really have to start a new Christian life and keep going; not looking back, because that's not what Christianity is about!

Even with all it's faults, it made me feel happy that brought out this book as a pseudo-sequel just to be sure that what he said in CoC wasn't just corrupt people but their teachings are as well. I'll guarantee when you read this book, he'll get rid of the "die-at-Armageddon" guilt and make you feel happy and free now that you are not apart of the organization.

I couldn't help thinking when I was reading this book, about how much time he spent in this organization! Don't feel about what happened to you! Raymond spent 60 years in this highly-controlling organization!

Now I want to get out and lead a decent, normal life! Get out there and be free. Raymond gave me the "freedom key," and that I am eternally grateful.

Franz gives an open and honest commentary of the issues which forced him out of the organization. He also exposes a lot of inconsistencies within it. I read Crisis of Conscience, and In Search Of . . . is just as stellar as the former. It is my hope that both Jehovah's Witnesses and those seeking to know about them will read Franz's book because it provides much needed insight and truth.

Thank you Mr. Franz, your honesty and diligence are appreciated.

The "review" by the JWitness below should be viewed with skepticism... They probably did not read this tome, because they are forbidden from reading "apostate" material.

That having been said, this rather hefty volume is well worth the time investment (although I reccommend you read 'Crisis of Conscience' first.) It is by no means mean-spirited, nor written as 'revenge'. It is written as a memoir of one man's spiritual journey through a most opressive religion.

You may view it as an expose of the inner workings of the JW's, but in reality it is more than that. It is a warning to all professed Christians to not let another man bind you in a yoke of slavery. For that, it is well worth the cost.

I read both of Raymond's books and they have had a very definate effect on me.I spent 10 years as a Witness,had been inactive for several yrs. I still believe much of what they teach and know the individual people to be very honest and dedicated people. However, I agree with Raymond about the authority of this organization over members lives.It is my belief that all of us are resposible to our Creator, Jehovah God and Jesus Christ and owe no theocratic loyalty to any human. All in all I really appreciate Raymond's courage and honesty. I have to respect him and would love to meet him and just sit down and have a long talk with him.

Franz is well qualified to write about the Jehovah's Witnesses religion, he spent 9 years on the Watchtower Society's Governing Body and was a life long third generation Witness.

His soft spoken style and candor reveal eye-opening facts about how large and powerful religious organizations can manipulate and direct their members. Millions of followers are at the mercy of a handful of old men who sit in their headquarters building in Brooklyn dealing out religious doctrine that directly impacts nearly every facet of a members life. Even leaving the organization can be a traumatic experience...

Shalom,
...Richard C. Anderso