Additional BOE Letter: Please Be Advised that Further Direction Will Soon be Sent to the Bodies of Elders...

by TTATTelder 103 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  yadda yadda 2

  Isn't this new arrangement effectively a global collection plate?

  The Watchtower has always said it will never go cap in hand, that persons in the Kingdom Hall will never see a collection plate passed along like in Christendom. Yet here they are now doing just that, just at a congregation by congregation level rather than at a publisher by publisher level.

  Watchtower 1987 Dec 1 pp.30-31 Is Your Giving a Sacrifice?

  "Unlike the churches of Christendom, Jehovah's Witnesses do not take up collections or send out envelopes to solicit donations."

  "..Donations mailed to the headquarters of the Watch Tower Society are also unsolicited and entirely voluntary..."

  Watchtower 1962 May 1 pp.277-280 p.278 How May I Contribute?

  "WITNESS: Jehovah's witnesses have never gone begging for finances."

  Watchtower 1971 August 15 pp.505-507 How Religious Expenses Are Met

  "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."
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  Splash

  Is there any substance to the comment that this is in response to new laws on the way loans and loaning institutions are viewed?

  Splash
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  nicolaou

  "A later discussion revealed that another letter was received to explain the procedure and inform the elders that whatever money they decide to send to the society they have to stick to it and not send any less!"

  Has a copy of this letter been posted?
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  Da.Furious

  @nicolaou, i did not see the letter and the elder i spoke with only referred to it.
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  KateWild

  When I was a JW, it was my understanding that all WWW donations went to build KHs around the world and cover the cost of literature. Now it is my understanding that any cong building a KH must get a loan from WT and pay it back.

  This is a scam and if all JWs knew that their donations were not going to help build KH's but be used as a loan they wouldn't donate.

  I read somewhere on the board that a KH build was left unfinished, when a publisher enquired why it was not finished, the JW explained that the local KH couldn't afford to pay the loan back so thei KH couldn't be finished. A donation is free not expected to be repaid. I am incesed at this and that JWs are being lied to about where their donations are going.

  Kate xx
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  AnnOMaly

  I, too, think there is something in what DwainBowman and jwstudy said.

  The WTS ditched the sale of literature and went to the donation arrangement for tax reasons. Although the tax issue was a problem in the U.S., it had global ramifications and over time the same donation arrangement was introduced worldwide.

  It wouldn't surprise me if some new rules came in or else some governmental/legal body has found out that the WTS has been acting as a lending institution without being officially recognized and regulated, and they have been told to either desist or apply through the proper channels to be a bona fide lending agent (which may be more trouble than it's worth to the WTS). As this new arrangement is being implemented in other places outside the U.S., and it looks like other countries have similar rules, this may well be the real reason for the WTS overhauling its financial business.
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  HeyThere

  camt we all file complaints with our governments about this shady behavior? if enough of us filed complaints, it would gain attemtion
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  TTATTelder

  Just giving another update.

  It is Thursday night May 15 (actually just after midnight on the 16th) here in the U.S......and.....nothing.

  No new instructions have surfaced. No new letters to the elders since the letter in the OP.

  That letter again was dated May 2. It said: hold up, new info coming, on this whole new donation arrangement thing.

  This new arrangement was supposed to be rolled out by the end of the month in all congregations.

  As of now, the bodies of elders do not even know what to do since the original announcement.

  If congregations did the survey/pledge deal, they, as of now, do not know what to do with the slips of paper they collected.

  Uhhhh Houston... we have a problem.

  -TE
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  talesin

  Thanks for the undercover work, TE and all!
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  JW GoneBad

  TTATTelder:

  'If congregations did the survey/pledge deal, they, as of now, do not know what to do with the slips of paper they collected.

  Uhhhh Houston... we have a problem.'

  I'm hearing that in our circuit there is a low percentage of publishers that have turned in the solicitation slips.

  So the problem is two-fold: 1) The elders don't know what to do with the slips they've collected and 2) they are having to remind/hound those who have forgotten or refused to turn in the slips.

  Looks like Jehovah and/or the Holy Spirit aren't backing up this new solicitation/donation arrangement.

  Houston ......WT does indeed have a problem!!!