Emeth said ," dozens of articles (in the watchtower & awake) about money, debt etc etc say over and over again that people must not spent what they dont have and not to buy things someone cant afford."
GB says, " Honor Jehovah wuth your valuable things, oh, BTW..here is a huge list of reminders of how to do it. We are also going to remind you all the time that you need to give as part of your worship that God approves..no pressure."
Emeth said," the stories that blondie came up with are not relevant. Some of them are 30 - 40 years old."
Not relevant?? REALLY??
From your own experience, have you not found various ones of these methods to be used by Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religions to meet their expenses? Note, too, that they all have a basic similarity. Rather than encourage spontaneous giving, they employ pressure, subtle or otherwise, and even appeal to selfishness, as through gambling.
What about the Christian witnesses of Jehovah? Which of these methods do they use? Actually, they use none of them, not even the very common passing of a collection plate. How, then, do they gain the needed funds to pay for the expenses incurred in carrying on their religious activities on a local, national and international scale?
The emphasis in all giving among the Witnesses is that it must be voluntary and spontaneous, from the heart. In fact, ever since the earliest days of the modern witnesses of Jehovah it has been their policy that never should there be any passing of collection plates or similar solicitations for money. It was their conviction that this is Jehovah’s work and that he would open the hearts of his people to make the necessary contributions so that necessary funds would always be available for the expansion of the preaching of the Gospel.
At all of their meeting places there is a contribution box. Those who want to contribute to the support of the worship by the Witnesses may go to that box and give to the extent that they are able. There are no envelopes, no identification. So that those contributing might know the total amount contributed and what was done with the contributions received, once each month a statement is read to the congregation, giving those details. Additionally, many feel moved to send donations to the national and international headquarters for use in furthering the missionary work in other parts of the world. This, too, is voluntary.
Which of these methods do you think most closely resembles those used by Jesus and his apostles, who instituted Christianity? Have you ever read in the Bible of Jesus or any of his disciples asking for the tithe, or passing a collection basket or plate or operating games of chance? No, when Jesus sent forth his twelve apostles he specifically commanded them: “You received free, give free.” (Matt. 10:8) But did not Jesus and his band of apostles have expenses that needed to be met? Indeed they did, and so we read that they had a “money box” for their funds. (John 12:6) Where did this money come from? Doubtless from voluntary contributions. Indicating the source of some of this, Luke’s account says that traveling from city to city with Jesus and his apostles were a number of women “who were ministering to them from their belongings.” (Luke 8:3) The apostle Paul later set a fine example as a true minister of Christ Jesus in that he worked with his own hands “so as not to put an expensive burden upon any one of you.” Likewise among Jehovah’s witnesses today there is no paid clergy class burdening the congregations.—1 Thess. 2:9; Acts 20:34.
If you want to be like the 1st Century Christians, then use a money box. There is nothing wrong with machines, and the scriptures say nothing about using them. So to ban machines would be silly. Still, the spirit in which these things are done is important. The WTBTS does solicit funds. That is a fact. Is it wrong to ask for money if you need it? Not in my opinion. Still, it's the spirit in which it is done. All financial issues should be an open book. All JWs should have access to the WTBTS's records. Every dollar should be traced. The problem is that the WTBTS doesn't need any more money. They have plenty. Even worse, they hypocritically judge others for what they are now doing. It's called eating crow. To survive, the WTBTS Corporation is going to need to eat a lot of crow. Some BBQ sauce might help.
