Who gets the money?

by Been there 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Been there

  After reading SevenofNines post I was wondering........who gets the money?

  Who at the top (GB) gets to live in extravagant homes, be driven in limos, take fantastic vacations and buy what ever they want? My stupidity maybe showing but where does the GB live, Bethel? In a larger room then anyone else? Someone somewhere has got to be living high on the hog from the sweat of free labor and a blanket of tax exemption.

  Are they building another Neverland for all the returning profits as in years past? Will they buy out Michael and save some money (just kidding on that one, did they set him up to clear the way? just kidding on that one too) They are not charitable so we know it does'nt go to help others. Over head does'nt take it all back, taxes don't take it, property & building anew does'nt get it all so WHO GETS THE MONEY?
• 

  yxl1

  I've asked the very same question on this and other forums and the only real answer I get is no one knows.

  Check out http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/56025/1.ashx . For a more involved answer, check out beliefnet.com where I asked the same question and got well over 100 replies, which include photos of many of the flashy buildings the Cultower have bought.

  yxl1
• 

  Euphemism

  Yes, the GB live at Bethel. I've spoken to plenty of Bethelites who see them there every day. They have decent-sized apartments, instead of the tiny rooms that the grunts get; but they don't live in ostentatious luxury.

  I'm sure being a GB member is an easy life. All their expenses are taken care of, they can travel wherever they want to, and I'm sure that if there's anything they want, they just have to drop a hint around a well-to-do Witness and they will receive a gift quite promptly.

  But as far as the Watchtower's money... I think it just goes into the Watchtower. The organization practically has a life of its own. It's like a machine, whose main goal is to sustain itself. (Bring on the Matrix metaphors...)
• 

  Piph

  Euph said: "It's like a machine, whose main goal is to sustain itself. (Bring on the Matrix metaphors...)"

  Gaaaa! Not to mention the Borg metaphors! :-o
• 

  somebodylovesme

  Do they get "allowances" for food, clothes, etc? Is this, then, like a salary? How do they survive? (I was never a Witness.. hubby was... but he is not home right now for me to ask, ha ha!) Thanks.
• 

  Gerard

  http://www.wernercohn.com/Jehovah'sWitnesses1995.html

  Brooklyn looses $10 MIllion per year to the Watchtower.
• 

  Gadget

  Thanks for the link Gerard
• 

  Gerard

  *** Awake! 1970 February 8 pp.21-3 Churches in Business ***

  Churches in Business

  IN RECENT years there has been growing evidence that churches are deeply involved in big business, much to the consternation of a great many people. They have invested huge sums of money in a wide variety of business enterprises. Because the profits they receive from these businesses are very often tax exempt fewer taxes come in to all levels of government. This creates a greater burden for the average taxpayer.

  An article appearing in Reader's Digest of March 1969 discussed this tax loss and said: "For federal and state governments, church-owned and church-operated businesses represent a large loss of revenue?the taxes that would be collected if the enterprises were run by competitive private industry. It is impossible to calculate the loss exactly, but responsible estimates put it at $6.5 billion a year."

  Think how much individual taxes could be reduced if these taxes were paid. This loss is just in the United States. Other countries are also losing from tax-exempt church income from businesses.

  [?]

  "The United and Anglican Churches in Canada have more than 100 million dollars invested, 100 million dollars in every kind of imaginable enterprise, yes, even in some of these industries manufacturing arms and napalm to be used against human beings."

  The Vatican is the head of the Roman Catholic Church, and it too is deeply involved in big business. From its position on the Tiber River in Rome it governs a vast business empire that stretches around the world.

  [?]

  The vast business holdings of the Vatican and of other religious organizations bind them inseparably with the business world. How unlike the true Christians concerning whom Jesus Christ said: "They are no part of the world"!?John 17:16.

  The religious organization that truly is serving God, in harmony with the example set by Jesus Christ, concentrates on preaching and teaching the liberating truths of his Word and does not become involved in commercial businesses. Following the Bible's instructions, it does not involve itself in "the commercial businesses of life."?2 Tim. 2:4.

  http://www.newsday.com/business/printedition/ny-cvtop52369349sep17.story?coll=ny%2Dbusiness%2Dprint

  Top 40 New York Corporations:

  Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York

  25 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, 11201

  718-560-5000

  www.jw-media.org

  Revenue: $951 million

  Industry: Publishing

  President: Milton Henshel

  Employees: 3,415

  It takes a lot of printing to supply more than 6 million Jehovah's Witnesses with the materials for their ministry. One publication, Watchtower, now has an average print run of 23 million copies twice per month, an increase of 7.5 percent over last year.

  "Our report for the year is different from a Wall Street company," said vice president George Couch. Indeed, the company's employees are volunteers who live and work in the Brooklyn complex.
• 

  Been there

  Thanks everyone for the replies, and thank you Gerard for the articles. Still NO conclusion..................Ugh.....
• 

  Dansk

  Been there,

  Yours is a jolly good question and one I continually ponder. The GB are mainly a bunch of doddering oldies now so who's pulling their strings?!

  Also, it's the writting committee who seem to have the power as it's they who write the garbage in the Watchtower that is then considered sacrosanct by the members. OK, the GB or someone on the GB supposedly sanctions what the writing committee puts forward, but surely this will be down to the younger elected GB members now (??).

  It seems incredible that Watchtower can still get away with lies and deceit and the "good Christian boys" inside Bethel don't stand up and complain about it! After all, Jesus supposedly lay down his life for good and openly condemned hypocrisy and lies. Have they no guts?!

  It seems incredible that all that money is pouring into Brooklyn Bethel and yet it cannot be pin-pointed who's on the take!

  This is interesting:

  The Jehovah's Witnesses ... embark upon a program of using their tax-free millions to swallow up building after building until they own a major portion of the Heights ... and contribute nothing to the life of the community except for destroying lovely old brownstone houses and erecting ugly, modern structures.

  We all know the Watchtower hierarchy consists of a bunch of bandits! So, where DOES the money go...................................

  Ian