Welcome!
New to this site.
by KimD 34 Replies latest jw friends
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Leopold theseconed
I appreciate your thoughts and welcome.
Its a comforting space for me and I am sure it will be for you.
Have fun in Alabama and looking forward hearing what you have to say
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KimD
Thank you everyone. I am so curious as to how the gb makes a profit off of the sales of the kingdom hall buildings and the other sales in Brooklyn. Do they personally get money?
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Giordano
KimD.....My wife and I left the JW world back in 1965. So I'm one of the old guys on this forum.
We were pioneering where the need was great, it was that for young brothers or Bethel. Bethel workers, back in that era were paid $14 per month for a 5&1/2 day work week. That's 30 cents an hour. Looking at all the lay offs these days........ I wonder what younger Bethelites are experiencing today?
When we broke with the JW religion in our early 20's my wife and I had one C minus diploma between us and no real work experience. We moved back in with my uber JW mother. My wife was pregnant and I was waiting to be drafted........ when you stop pioneering you lose that ministerial deferment so I had two choices it was Vietnam which was a butcher shop in those days......... or go to jail. Then the Society started pushing on 1975. And I thought wow does my timing stink!
Our son came along and I caught the newly passed 'parent deferment'.
1975 came and went. By then I had forgotten all about it.
As worrisome as it all was it turned out to be the best decision we ever made. Ask my son...... who was not raised in the religion.
So tell us what's been happening in your life. We have a couple of thousand years of first hand JW experience on this forum......... so we have seen a thing or two.
Happy to have you join us!
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Biahi
A lot of newbies joining! Welcome!
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sir82
Welcome.
Do they personally get money?
If you mean "does it get deposited into a personal bank account?" the answer is "no".
However....the corporation has literally $billions in assets, including many many $millions in cash,
The GB and their "helpers" have access to all of it via what is, in effect, an unlimited "expense account".
So long as they can appear to have a "theocratic" reason for it, that money is available to them - for travel, hotels, meals, clothing, entertainment, cars, etc.
They live the life of high-ranking corporate executives - never ever ever have to worry for a millisecond about "will I have enough money for XYZ?"
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KimD
I have a story to tell which is not pretty on my part. Thanks for explaining the way the gb gets their money....because I wondered how they profit to continue keeping their members in the congregation. Now I see.
I was not raised jw. My mom's brother (my uncle) was and still is an elder of the forest park congregation in ga. My mom always said that he had the truth and if she were going to join a religion, it would be jw. I always listened to her so when I grew up....that is exactly what I did. The woman that was my bible study warned me early on about apostasy and told me not to read any of their literature....so I did exactly what she said. The woman that thought me about the Bible and the religions beliefs husband was a doctor (and elder). They had money And plenty of it....they were looked up to in the congregation. My husband and I were in our early 20's with 3 kids and barely surviving. When I finally went to work, I was frowned upon....especially by the woman that I studied with s children...they were 12 and 15 at the time and such little snobs...and so judgemental.... I never understood why they didn't teach their children to be humble.
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ElderEtta
There is no formal record of this but there is such a thing as a "green hand shake" that circuit overseers Avail themselves of while they're making their tour of the congregations and I suspect that the governing body is not exempt from this practice but there is no record of this either.
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KimD
ElderBerry,
What is a green hand shake?
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zeb
green hand shake= a fist full of dollars.
Kim D. welcome aboard from Australia. Lots of Aussies here. lots of life experience.