Thus, he concludes, “I believe it is possible to be of greater service, better service, to God, to Christ, and to my fellow man by not linking myself to some system, whether a single denomination or the multi-denominational religious ‘establishment’ as a whole” (700).

And he indicates that church membership tends to interfere with “the exercise of personal conscience” and often “robs one of one’s freedom and personal integrity” (700). He explains that the various Christian denominations are “individual ‘camps'” together forming “a very large ‘camp’ constituting a city-like corporate religious establishment” (698). So, then, where should former Witnesses look for fellowship? The answer Franz offers is “for us to ‘go to him outside the camp,'” quoting from Hebrews 13:13 (NRSV). Thus he estimates that “about the same percentage among Jehovah’s Witnesses are true Christians as in any other church” (703). In fact, although acknowledging that “many religious organizations are less authoritarian than the one I left” (695), Franz seems to view the Christian community as a whole in much the same light as he now views Jehovah’s Witnesses. But he also feels no obligation to adopt doctrinal “orthodoxy,” viewing it as merely the majority opinion of “men who constituted what may properly be called ‘governing bodies’ of the past” (705).

He confesses that “a considerable portion of what I formerly believed had no sound foundation in Scripture” (p. While his first book, Crisis of Conscience (Commentary Press, 1983), focused almost entirely on the Witnesses, their history, and the events leading up to his formal break with the sect, this sequel attempts to put all of that into a broader religious perspective and to answer, for other ex-Witnesses, the all-important question: Where do we go from here?ĭoctrinally, Franz has come a long way since leaving the Watchtower organization. 700), fellowshipping primarily with other ex-JWs at religious gatherings in private homes. Since that time, Raymond Franz reveals in his book In Search of Christian Freedom, he has remained “free from denominational ties” (p.

The nephew of recently deceased Watchtower president Frederick Franz left the Jehovah’s Witness organization - and his own position on its Governing Body - over a decade ago.

Ray franz crisis of conscience