I recall a "down and out" family seeking a handout who appeared with every family member holding a fountain Coke from a fast food restaurant, and then whining that they only had one piece of KFC chicken remaining for food. My thoughts were that we never bought a soft drink for everyone (6 X $1.00 = $6.00) and we "had the means" to do so. Further, if we were running out of food, we wouldn't run to a restaurant. We'd have gone to the grocery store where you could buy 2x or 3x the amount of food. But, oh my, someone would have to slave over the stove to cook it.
Money donated for a specific reason
by enoughisenough 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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LongHairGal
DESIROUS OF CHANGE:
Yes, that’s right. You went to a grocery store and bought food economically and took it home to cook it.
I know I’m giving my age away, but I was never in an actual restaurant until I was in my teens! I always ate at home or over relatives houses. If somebody is really broke, they eat at home.. A few comments on this thread about people who gave money to JWs thinking they were ‘needy’ - only to hear they did something outrageous with the money - makes me hope these generous people learned their lesson!
In my experience and opinion, JWs are ingrates with a wrong sense of entitlement. Because many never really wanted to work and have no idea about money, they wrongly imagine and believe urban legends that a pile of money will be dropped on them.. I could never stand these people and especially nowadays I would run from them.
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TonusOH
We very rarely ate out because we were so poor. Shopping at the supermarket and cooking our own meals was the only option. Maybe that's why eating out is so enjoyable nowadays, even though I still do it pretty rarely. It was something special back then.
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adjusted knowledge
I belonged to a congregation that was generous and helpful to others but over time it would become only a handful that were generous with their money and time and others with their hands out. I left when I was 18 and have a career with a pension. I couldn’t imagine relying on the charity of the witnesses. My parents became inactive in the 90s. They are now in their 70s with 4 income streams. The others that are from that congregation in that age range barely have social security because of so many non work years and low wages
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LongHairGal
ADJUSTED KNOWLEDGE:
I am glad you have a career with a pension. Nobody in their right mind would want to be at the mercy of anybody’s charity.. And I’m glad your parents got out when they did and made sure they planned as well.
When you say that you saw only a ‘handful’ of JWs who were generous with their money, maybe the others were criticized for having a full-time job like I was. The way I see it, you don’t get to criticize somebody for having a job - and then ask them to give money to people there who never wanted to work! ..Sorry, but I couldn’t care less about anybody there who never really wanted to be in the workforce.
It’s too bad that so many Witnesses fell for the hype about ‘Armageddon’ and didn’t plan for their future/retirement!.. I’m glad I never fell for this.. As you said, so many worked for low wages or didn’t work much at all. They would have needed several decades of steady work to get a decent SS today.
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Anony Mous
People begging for money rarely need it. I’ve heard similar stories, the elders keep complaining about everyone not donating enough, we were short $10-15k every year, then all of the elders started driving around in Mercedes and Jaguars. If they got a cheap car like most of us, they’d be able to donate the rest to their starving congregations.
There are some people that are honest and good, but the majority, once you get a view of the accounts you see how much money is actually being collected, how much is going to the WTBTS and anyone that can put two and two together can do a back-of-the-napkin calculation.
I was in charge of the congregation accounts, I started moving money from the Worldwide Work into the local congregation funds. Checks from the elderly, all in the local accounts. We were collecting over $1000/meeting from a very poor area. In the conventions, we were literally collecting thousands per collection, there were 8 throughout the day, they tried rotating enough people to count so nobody would get an idea of what they were collecting, yet at the end of the convention they were short by tens of thousands, and when I said to the CO - I counted more than what you said from the stage, the excuse was that the statement only reflects what they counted the first day. Disgusting.
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FedUpJW
I know I’m giving my age away. If somebody is really broke, they eat at home.
This will make two of us giving away our age. As a youngster I vividly remember that my family ate at home, all the time. My mother had a cookbook titled "101 ways to cook liver." We ate ground liver, liver loaf, fried liver, baked liver, broiled liver, hot liver, cold left-over liver. Because in those days it only cost $ .03-$ .05 (U.S.) per pound, it was pig liver. Once in awhile we had a rare "treat". Beef liver! That was when my father would get an employment bonus. Beef liver was a whopping $ .15-$ .20 (U.S.).
I was nearly seventeen before the first time we ate in a cafe.
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LongHairGal
FEDUPJW:
I’m glad I had a childhood eating at home. My mother was a good cook and baked well. But, my dad was fussy and complaining even though he didn’t know how good he had it. Besides, when you eat home at least you know what’s in your food.
I also was about seventeen when I first ate out. But, being as I worked for years - eating out was something I got used to even if it was no substitute for mom’s cooking.
Getting back to the original theme of the thread: any so-called ‘needy’ Witnesses had better learn how to shop at a grocery store like functioning intelligent people and prepare the food at home. Learn how to live economically..Maybe they should even approach that brother who has a business and ask if he has a part-time job available!
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Biahi
Long Hair gal, you have a pm.
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BluesBrother
The thread’s about donations.this is the fact
hosera day ago
“If you’re not popular expect nothing from the congregation”
The lack of any organised poor-fund means that only those near the centre of things are thought of. No good relying on an elders’s memory.
The Society have said to not donate to them money for a specific purpose eg. A hurricane relief. Just put it in the WWWFund and trust us to what is best...