"Bethel is a prison with golden bars."
A 'gilded cage': a relatively comfortable kind of servitude or bondage.
The Paid Clergy of the WTBTS
by The Searcher 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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JW GoneBad
“WE ARE not peddlers of the Word of God as many men are” (2Cor 2:17) so say the GB of the WTBTS.
And then there is this quote from 5/1/59 Watchtower page 285:
‘BACK in August, 1879, this magazine said: “‘Zion’s Watch Tower’ has, we believe, JEHOVAH for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support. When He who says: ‘All the gold and silver of the mountains are mine,’ fails to provide necessary funds, we will understand it to be time to suspend the publication.”…….
How about today? Does the Society still maintain this position? Yes. Has the Society ever begged you for money? No. Jehovah’s witnesses never beg for funds. They never petition, dun, pass a collection plate, charge admission, rent pews, conduct gambling or canvass businessmen.’
No, the leadership of WT are ‘not peddlers of the word of God’!
Then what is this recent petition in the form of a ‘HOUSEHOLD FINANCIAL SURVEY’ given to each and every family head in the Los Angeles basin area in an attempt to solicit $200 million dollars from JW families supposedly to build approximately 72 new kingdom halls?
The WTBTS would rather word doesn't get out that Jehovah's Witnesses are peddlers of the Word of God so they end the petition with this alert:
'Please destroy this form once the reports have been compiled'.
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LogCon
confusedandalone
" I wish we could use names on this board so bad."
Go ahead, use some names.
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heathen
they are pathetic , they take in about a billion dollars a year tax free but if you don't pay for your magazines you are the free loader ,, unbelievable
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Fernando
Paid or not, it reads like a tacit admission that they do indeed have a clergy-class (which rules over the laity-class).
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Fernando
In response to "The Household Financial Survey" posted by JW GoneBad above:
I suppose the Watchtower may be right - they do not solicit. Instead they coerce. Apparently their god (the god of religion) needs our money to finance their campaign to advance religion (legalism) and bury the liberating gospel (the Good News).
*** g93 6/8 p. 26 Charitable Contributions—A Christian Obligation? ***
It is not unusual for some fund-raisers to keep more than 90 percent of the donations they solicit.*** g93 6/8 p. 27 Charitable Contributions—A Christian Obligation? ***
At the same time do not feel obligated to give to any and all who may solicit your money.*** jl lesson 24 p. 27 How Is Our Worldwide Work Financed? ***
We do not tithe, charge dues, or take up collections. Although the costs of supporting our evangelizing work are high, we do not solicit money. Over a century ago, the second issue of the Watchtower magazine stated that we believe we have Jehovah as our backer and that we “will never beg nor petition men for support”—and we never have!—Matthew 10:8.*** g 5/08 p. 21 Is Philanthropy the Answer? ***
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not tithe or in any other way solicit funds. -
heathen
I know that's a lie fernando . The KH I attended would have the ministry school time to say they need money for projects or to pay the mortgage or the electric bill .. They even went so far at one meeting to turn off the power and cancel stating they needed money .. absolutely pathetic
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sir82
They have those "financial surveys" every time a new Kingdom Hall is "needed". But I've only seen it done at a local level - at most, all the congregations in one Kingdom Hall. I've never heard of it being done over a wide area.
In my experience, these anonymous surveys are pretty misleading. The actual amounts taken in are typically much less than promised.
I suppose they factor that into the process, though. If they determine that say $800,000 is needed, they tell everyone that the price is really $1.5 mllion, expecting that they will receive less.
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LongHairGal
Are they kidding?
If I were still in the religion and somebody handed me a pledge form like the one above, I would tear it up and throw it away. Their use of scripture as a guilt-inducer would not work on me.
