Can anyone elaborate or point to a more detailed discussion on how this works please? Your telling me that the donations for the Kingdom Hall fund ie what ones give to help congregations less fortunate to have their own halls are in fact loaned to them and not only do they have to pay it back they get charged interest as well??? If thats true i think thats despicable! Also after its all payed up it belongs to the society? I pity my lack of knowledge on this subject.
3.9% interest
by indahsempurna 23 Replies latest watchtower scandals
-
-
TheCoolerKing
Welcome to the board!!!
Not only this. But from what I understand "The Org." profited during the Katrina disaster too. After all the Kingdom Halls were destroyed by Katrina, the local congregatons rebuilt the halls using their own materials and of course "free" labor. But if any local congregations received insurance checks, they were supposed to automatically forward these on to the Watchtower Society in Brooklyn.
Total scam
-
sinis
Technically, the Society does not consider the 3.9% payback amount to be interest. It is considered an "admin fee". I suspect that they use this terminology so as to not get their tit in a ringer with the government.
-
juni
Welcome to the forum, what you mentioned is incredibly crooked because even after the KH loan gets paid off the title deeds go to the Watchtower society. Imagine that the local JWs put in all the money (including loan) and labour they pay off their lender and then the lender gets the property. That's the theocratic way of doing things.
Welcome to the forum.
All the 21 years I was in I never knew this. Of course they always said that you should NEVER loan money to your "brother" w/interest because this is not the Christian way.
The hypocrites!! Another reason I got out of it.
Juni
-
buffalosrfree
would there be any way of getting insurance companies to admit to who actually cashed their checks to pay for damages etc??? Seems to me if the society is getting the money paid by the insurance companies for repairs, that that monies should be accounted for if not specifically used by that particular person and or kingdumb hall. Would surely love to find this out.
-
garybuss
The Watch Tower Society, in addition to being in the publishing, printing, auto leasing, construction, convention, capitol investment, parking leasing, farming, travel agency, and real estate speculation business, the Society is a mortgage lender and an insurance company.
-
acadian
Welcome to the board !!! "Does anyone else find it terrible that the society is charging interest for congregations to build kingdom halls????" Ecclesiasticus 21:8 (Septuagint - Apocrypha), "He that buildeth his house with other men's money is like one that gathereth himself stones for the tomb of his burial." What is the meaning and origin of the word mortgage? The term mortgage comes from mort and means "death" (as in mortuary or mortality), and gage means "pledge." Mort-gage means a "dead pledge." In Bouvier's Law Dictionary of 1856, Dead-Pledge is defined as "a mortgage of lands or goods." It's a pledge of death because its an engagement in debt, which is a neglect or violation of our duty; we're not supposed to engage in those things. This is why we're not to owe man anything: Romans 13:8, "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:" There is no love when one neglects or violates the Law of God. The definition from Bouvier's is a full disclosure that one is walking in bondage and death when engaged in mortgages and debt. Nehemiah 5:3-5, "…We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses…We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards…and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards." Proverbs 22:7, "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." 2 Kings 4:1, "Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen." When one enter into debt, who is he a servant to? He is a servant to the merchants of the earth, because their law, the Law Merchant, has full jurisdiction over debt within their system. Between brothers there's not really any debt, because we give and expect nothing in return, for "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). But when we're dealing with the natural man and we go in debt with the world, we're entering into a private law, which is known as the lex mercatoria (Law Merchant). The idea of paying interest on anything that is loaned to you is foreign to the Word of God, because interest (usury) is condemned by God (Exodus 22:25-27, Leviticus 25:36-37; 23:19-20, Nehemiah 5:7,10-11, Psalms 15:5, Proverbs 28:8, Isaiah 24:1-3, Ezekiel 18:8,13; 22:12-13). So, when one pays those usury fees (interest) they are partaking of the sin of the merchant who engages in the usury. Simply and directly put: Deuteronomy 15:6; 28:12, “Thou shalt not borrow.” So, what does that make the WTS for charging interest on loans to the congregations? It makes the WTS an EVIL SLAVE!!! Acadian
-
acadian
Sorry about the formatting I'm using Firefox broswer, it doesn't work with this board very well.
-
Vernon Williams
What blew me away was when I found out the Society was making a 21 and a half cent profit on the mags back in the early eighties. I do not mind a profit, but, why did they not state there was a profit and, instead, the the price was to "cover the cost of printing." All the while mocking folks contibuting hard earned cash to thier various congregations to fund a variety of ministries and the cost of buildings etc?
This deception is fraud.
V
-
Paralipomenon
This used to bother me, even when I was a loyal witness.
I also see it has gone down. When my congregation was looking to build a new hall they announced that the society was willing to loan us the money at 1-2% above prime. It was explained that the extra 1-2% (sorry I was quite young when this was announced, I don't remember exactly the percentage) was as an admin fee and to help other halls in building.
The brother announced this at the meeting and then asked for questions. For the first time there was questions. People wanted to know exactly how much that would equate to over the life of the loan. Why was it even there, etc.
The brother was completely floored, he hadn't anticipated people actually asking questions and had absolutely no answers. But they went ahead with the vote anyways and there was about 15 people that voted against it.
It was later explained that the hall is actually property of the congregation, but the Society holds the deeds in trust. If the whole congregation decides to become Baptist, then they have the right to demand the deed to the hall.
There were three congregations in that hall. Two went to the new one and the main congregation (the deed holder) sold the hall to finance building a new one.
There was alot of grumbling over that. The mortgage was split three ways for each congregation. One held the deed and the other two paid "rent" for it. When the old hall was sold, none of the "rent" money was returned or offered to the other two congregations.