To wait or not to wait? (page 2)

waiting

Hey, MGM! (That's southern for Hi)

Thanks for the information - do you know if the rest of the world is set up uniformly like the US?

I have the KM where it explains HOW the donation system is to be carried out (but not with me).

1. Publishers are graciously given the literature for free by the Watchtower Society.

2. Publishers are - in KM - strongly appealed to to put in an appropriate donation at the time of picking up their literature for the amount of money we had been previously paying for the literature. And they gave us suggested list prices.

3. When we place the literature with only interested ones and ask for a donation, we are to ask for donation to help the world wide preaching work.

4. As explained in the KM, we are NOT asking for a donation to cover the cost of the literature. So, therefore, the person at the door is not contributing for the literature, but to the world wide preaching effort.

AS SUCH, according to this KM, all contributions to the world wide preaching effort are to be deposited in the proper box at the Kingdom Hall.

Soooooooo, the publisher is the one really donating money to the Society for the literature. The person at the door, if they wish to donate, is donating to the world wide preaching work. The publisher is not compensated at all for his money.

I will look up this KM tonite again - I never understood the concept until I actually reread the KM again. Sounds like double payment to me.

Are all the publishers world wide now paying, "donating," for the Watchtower literature?

RedhorseWoman

This whole donation thing really bothers me. I never did much like asking for money to cover the printing costs, but I figured it was probably the only way the Society could continue the preaching work.

This new procedure just seems like so much tax evasion to me. And, yes, Waiting, it IS double payment, although I had never really considered it before (funny, there are so many things that we just allow to slip past us....because we believe that the WTBTS would NEVER do anything that wasn't for the ultimate benefit of mankind and for the ultimate purpose of promoting the truth).

mgm

Hi all together

Waiting: In 3th world countries some brothers had difficults to buy the literature since they have just a little money for daily use. I know that from my own experience in Thailand. It was a lot of money for this poor people and they got only a small part back when placing the literature from house to house. As far as I know, the donation "thing" is set up uniformly worldwide from this year on.

Redhorsewomen: Yes, a lot of decisions, which the WTS make, are for avoiding to pay tax. They use every trick to do that. For this reason they even compomise as seen in Bulgaria with the blood policy.

MGM

The Dredger

dredged

Read Frenchy's opening post and then read it again!
That's a damn fine question that needs answering. Any JW takers?!

lauralisa

Hi Dredger: good call!

My experience with this organization, starting with day one of the encounter with two nice witnesses engaged in the door-to-door work, is that there is always an explanation for Every question. It was fun! They had an answer for every question I could conceive of! And I believed everything! And they were so nice! And they promised paradise and peace and love! And it was too wonderful to be believed! And I believed it anyway! I wanted to!!!!!!!!!!! It felt wonderful!!!!!

Since Jehovah is able to fortell the future, past and present, any real-time confusion can be dismissed with logical arguments based on the Almighty's "master plan of Salvation" which enable him to shift gears in any direction for whatever reason he saw fit. (Remembering that goofy "wheel-chariot" contraption described in Ezekiel here.) Everything sounded GREAT at the time; any doubts or hesitation on the part of the questioner are lovingly addressed with "smooth talk".

It was so GREAT in theory! After a period of time, when the flaws and leaps of faith became so huge as to become, well, stupid, things seemed different in "practice". Nonetheless, any doubts or questions were attributable to "lack of faith" or "lack of accurate knowledge", etc.

The final answer: don't doubt, don't question; who are you to question the Almighty? You are just a (insert humble humanoid diminutive here). Let those in positions of authority worry about such matters. They will fill us in at the "appropriate time".

So Frenchy, it doesn't matter if it makes sense or not. That is not the issue at hand. The issue at hand is whether you are "loyal" or not. Loyal = don't question, don't doubt. Don't think, even. Pray more, attend all of your meetings, study until your face falls off, and most importantly, go out there and sell those magazines. Loyal dubs who comply with these dictates don't have time nor energy to wonder about stuff.

Keep on thinking! And imo, the more controversial, the better, as long as we extend respect to one another.

larc

Dredger,

Thank you for bringing back some of these old, classic posts.

I see the WT does this on a number of issues. If there numbers are going up it is a sign of God's Blessing. If the numbers are not going up it is a fullfilment of the prophecy that the love of the greater number will cool off.

If there are wars, is a sign of the end, as in, "wars and rumors of wars." If there is peace it is a sign of the end, as in "peace and security."

When they pick a date, it is a blessing that the end will be here soon. When they don't have a clue, it is a blessing that it has taken so long.

No matter what happens it fits their theories.

Flip

No matter what happens it fits their theories.

Larc, I believe that's the underlying motto for WTB&TS claims of credibility,

'To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.'

Flip

Prisca

How much heartache and pain and grief and anguish and LIVES would have been spared if Armageddon had come twenty years ago?

Make that 21 years. Then my mum would still be alive.

funkyderek

It's just another one of those things where people are so indoctrinated that whatever happens appears to affirm their beliefs. If their family are cool about the being JWs, then it's proof that even "worldly" people can see tthat it's the truth, if they object, then Satan is persecuting you. If there are wars, that proves it's the time of the end. If there are no wars, then that's the world saying "true peace and security." If the number of JWs rises, it's proof that God is blessing their work, if it falls it's proof of a separating work or it's a test from Jehovah and everything - absolutely everything - is proof that the end is near, even proof that it's not. At my brother's wedding in January, I was inexplicably seated with the bride's grandparents and other old fogies. One of them was talking about how he remembered a Watchtower article from about 20 years ago which said that the end must be very, very near. He then used that as proof that if it was very, very near then, it must be very, very, very near now. You can't argue with that kind of logic.

--
Ubi dubium ibi libertas

proplog2

There are more people in China than there were on the whole earth when Russell started his preaching.

To wait or not to wait?

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