Did he get stiffed by the elders?

by writerpen 12 Replies latest jw friends

  • writerpen
    writerpen

    In an earlier topic, blondie made reference to heated discussions in congregations over KH builds. This raises a question. My father was and elder who was selected as the building coordinator for the new KH in our local area about 2-3 years ago. He had been a contractor his whole life and offered himself willingly, although I don't think he realized the intensity of what he was getting into. Everybody complained about everything and few people would show up to help out (personally, I refused to show up where men walked around with clip boards while all the "underlings" did the work, maybe that's why few showed up). Anyway, my father ended up having to quit his contracting job to make the KH build his full priority, being that no one was really helping out. He lost thousands of dollars, which meant that he and my mother took a fairly hard hit financially.

    Anyway, the old KH had been bought by a company that wanted the land and paid somewhere around $250,000 to $300,000 in addition to gifting land for the new site. In the end, the local KH sent the leftover money of about $100,000 to the society as a gift. They never offered my father a dime for the six months that he sweated it out and lived in near poverty just to complete this project. I'm sorry, but what is wrong with this picture? Normally I don't feel sorry for my Father, but I did in this case. Although I think he needed to have this happen to wake him up a bit as to how little the organization really takes care of its own.

    Six months later, he was deleted as an elder because my sister and her fiance went down behind the barn to test things out before saying "I do."

    Any thoughts on this subject?

  • scumrat
    scumrat

    That Sucks. Unfortunately, many people ( including myself ) have donated much time, money, and skilled labor under the guise of "doing it for Jehovah". Once it's all said and done, you walk away and the Society gets all the bennies. That Organization is ruthless when it comes to using people under the pretense of making you feel privilaged to serve Jehovah in that way. F*#& THE WATCHTOWER

  • Mister 8iggs
    Mister 8iggs

    Yes. Your dad got

    Live and learn, I guess. Ask yourself this: If your father could have predicted the outcome, would he have done the same thing? I bet you he would because JWs feel like they are doing it for Jehovah no matter what the expense to themselves or to their family.

  • Mister 8iggs
    Mister 8iggs

    Wow! scumrat and I are on the same wavelength. We both used the exact phrase "doing it for Jehovah".

  • ozziepost
    ozziepost

    The WTS would draw a separation between Dad's donating his time and their receiving the surplus funds.

    I guess they would also say that Dad did it "for Jehovah".

    Strange then, that Jehovah didn't need it! "God does not dwell in handmade temples" (Acts 17:24)

    Still, look on the bright side; it did cause your father to see the truth about "the troof", didn't it?

    Cheers, Ozzie

  • outoftheorg
    outoftheorg

    Yes Writerpen he got stiffed.

    Scumrat said it all. I learned early on that it was not a good idea to do business with any other jw. That it was even more risky to do business with the wbts. They have this arrogant belief in their self importance and expect all others to cater to them in every way. Especially when there is money or land or something of value involved. To this day I in my mind can see the superior grin on their faces as they explained how I had to do something for free or give something free to the organization.

    What really pisses me off, is I learned that early on and stayed on for several more years. Go figure.

  • imanaliento
    imanaliento

    sorry to hear about your dad. I often think of the SHOWY DISPLAY put on by these, got to have new halls.

    We had built our own house, thought we had to hire brothers for the job, being they were all in construction and we thought we could trust them the most. turns out the worldly guys were more prompt and honest. so from that we told any who wanted work done on their houses, NOT to hire brothers. sis X

  • dsgal
    dsgal

    This is typical jw behavior.I found out a long time ago that they don't really take care of their own.At least your dad found out that is just a lot of BS jive.

  • freeman
    freeman

    Kind of the same type of story but different players and a twist at the end.

    This time the fall guy is an Elder with a large family to support, eight of them all together. He is a VERY good construction worker and the Society uses him all the time on building projects. Because he has such a large family, and he devotes so many hours to Kingdom hall building even going out of state to do so, he has had a rather hard time making ends meet. Then the car breaks down; he is screwed, so they do without.

    Washing machine breaks down too, so they do without.

    Did the Society or even the local Elders ever part with a few bucks to help him out?

    Nope.

    Wait, it gets better.

    With him out on the road so much doing all these freebies for the Society two of his sons get into trouble.

    So what happens?

    He gets deleted as an Elder because "he was not taking care of his family properly".

    So where is he now?

    No not at home.

    The Society has asked him to work out of state again on another building project. And of course he just had to go, after all, its for Jehovah.

    So sad, so very very sad.

    Freeman

    Edited by - freeman on 29 August 2002 14:24:1

  • Mary
    Mary

    Yep, your father got royally screwed. In the minds of many of these idiots, you should be more than willing to take a huge financial loss, as long as THEY'RE getting the labour done for free. They don't give a crap about anyone except the Borg itself.

    It's been said here many times before: resistance, is FU-TILE...............

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