ATMs in assembly halls (page 4)

JW GoneBad

The follwing is a partial list of ways that the GB uses to extract money from the publishers:

1. Debit and credit card ATMs in JW Assembly halls (electronic collection plates).

2. Debit and credit card ATMs at District Conventions (electronic collection plates).

3. Congregations having to pay for retired CO's and DO's living expenses.

4. Three to four different contributions boxes (each for a different purpose) in each Kingdom Hall.

5. Donations with the WTBTS as beneficiary: Wills and trusts, gift annuities, real estate, stocks and bonds, bank accounts, life insurance policies.

6. Fund raisers for building new Kingdom Halls: A Household Financial Survey form is given to each head-of-house to determine how much WT can expect to collect from each family.

7. JW.org online automated monthly collection/payment plan.

Interesting that the expression ...."Religion is a Snare and a Racket" originated with a past JW leader Judge J.F. Rutherford (1939) and little did he know then-that that's what the WTBTS would eventually become.......'A Snare And A Racket'!

Apognophos

Gotta say, I don't see the problem with this per se. It's a problem in the sense that the Society once looked down on churches for taking credit cards so now they look silly, but I fail to see the issue ethically or religiously with taking a donation in a different medium of payment.

nonjwspouse

The loud, crooked, finger pointing hypocrisy of the WTBTS is sickening.

OUTLAW

It's a problem in the sense that the Society once looked down on churches for taking credit cards so now they look silly,

but I fail to see the issue ethically or religiously with taking a donation in a different medium of payment.....Apognophos

The WBT$ doesn`t just look down on Churches.....They Demonize (portray as wicked and threatening) them..

When the WBT$ Engages in the same Demonic Behaviour.....All of a Sudden..

Demonistic Behaviour becomes Acceptable..

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........

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......................................................................................................................... ...OUTLAW

AndDontCallMeShirley

It's a problem in the sense that the Society once looked down on churches for taking credit cards so now they look silly

.

Yeah, but didn't Jehovah tell the WT to print that in the literature and highlight how pagan, greedy and plain unChristian it is for other religions to do this?

.

You'd think the Almighty would've seen this coming and told the GB to just shut up about it....

snakeface

This really may not be as bad as it sounds. Just as brothers used to spend the whole day working in foodservice, I was one who sometimes spent the whole day in the money room, counting money and preparing it to go to he bank. 2 or 3 of us in a room all day, and stayed 3 hours after the session ended as we were still counting. Other brothers periodically took the money to the bank. I and other brothers could easily have pocketed hundreds or even thousands of $ each convention. There was always a concern about getting held up. Yes we all worked in small groups but a thief would just need a gun and take the $. When you used to give $ to the brother in the parking lot or at the literature desk, he could have been pocketing some of it.

A family attending the convention likely would have budgeted a certain amount to bring. Instead of having to carry so much cash, they can use their credit card for food, gas, and hotel, so why not their donation too? And they can pay it off the next month and not have to pay interest on it. If a gang were to go in with guns and hold up the entire place, they would not get much cash. Just jewelry and equipment. And brothers don't have to stay locked in a room all day + 3 more hours, or risk their lives transporting thousands of $ to the bank in their own cars.

Band on the Run

I always found the constant harping about no collection plates odious. How much times did it take every meeting night to be reminded that the KH must raise money to continue? As an Anglican, I hear about donating money one Sunday a year, Stewarship Sunday. People joke. You fill out a form stating what you would like to give. No one bothers you if you don't donate the amount on the card. It is a planning device, not a binding contract. They hand out a sheet of paper showing tithing amounts. I was always impressed by how little I was giving to charity. They suggested tithing the church and/or suitable charity. One Stewardship Sunday, the lay person gave us some idea of costs. It was so low key to KH.

My KH drew many poor Witnesses. I wondered who made up the difference. No one was cheating the WT.

This is similar to cross or stake. Collection plate or box in KH. Same thing. Witnesses make a spectacle of it, IMO. The first time I attended regular church I was actually afraid when the collection plate came down the row. I survived touching the collection plate.

Whatever cult or religion you run, you will have costs.

OUTLAW

This really may not be as bad as it sounds.....snakeface

Oh it`s as bad as it sounds.....It has nothing to do with individual JW`s..

The WBT$ Leadership Make the Rules/Doctrines.....Then do exactly what they force JW`s to Preach against..

The WBT$ is run by Hypocrites.....JW`s take the Heat for WBT$ Stupidity..

.....................................OUTLAW

Oubliette

It's a problem in the sense that the Society once looked down on churches for taking credit cards so now they look silly

No, i'ts not that they look "silly," it's that they look like hypocrites, because they are HYPOCRITES!

No one (and I mean NO ONE) told them to point the finger at other religions and say, "Look how BAD that is! We are different. We don't do that. We are GOOD."

But they did. And now they are doing just exactly what they previously wagged their fingers at in other religions. If it was bad then, it's still bad now. If it's good now, then it was good then.

The issue is NOT the accepting of contributions, it's the self-righteous and hypocritical condemnation of other religions for behavior which the WT leaders now promote.

Apognophos

Well, I can't disagree. I guess I just feel like this is making a mountain out of a molehill. I can hardly even remember those articles criticizing the churches over this because it was a very minor footnote in the history of JW criticism of other religions. Man, what would happen if the Society did something major like accepting the cross again? I think this forum would just explode.

ATMs in assembly halls

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