Witnesses are broke

by metatron 20 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  metatron

  I realize I risk making an over-generalization here, but I notice that many Witnesses are just broke or nearly so.

  This was reinforced with a recent incident in which I learned that only a few people in the congregation have any

  health insurance - including elders. The Wall Street Journal carried a front page article with graph that showed the

  widening income gap between people with a 4 year college degree and those with only a high school diploma

  - it's getting worse!

  In short, I'm not surprized to hear about all these cutbacks, low contributions and half-attended assemblies.

  It's amazing that many Witness families get by as well as they do, considering all the burdens they're carrying.

  metatron
• 

  kibizzle

  Yeah, my 80 yr. old witness auntie has to keep a paper route to survive, it makes me even more angry at this religion for misleading their people . Not that money is everything, but they take it to just the opposite extreme. I'm just grateful that my husband and I have the stable jobs we do with insurance and benefits.
• 

  OHappyDay

  Yes, Witnesses who lived their lives in loyalty to the Society's directives are mostly broke now. Those with money represent people who totally ignored the Society and lived their own lives, going into the military, going to college, working long hours, etc., and who much later became Witnesses.

  To bad Armageddon isn't really "just around the corner" for those old loyal ones. No paradise is in sight, and they are stuck with dealing with this old world until death claims them.

  And all the Society has to offer is, "We were wrong about the generation thing, and don't know when the End will come. Just hang in there. And preach, preach, preach!"
• 

  willyloman

  Even more interesting is how many witnesses AREN'T broke. They're the ones who ignored all the Society's advice over the past 30 years and got educated or skilled in some profession and worked full time, invested their money in retirement programs, bought a house back before '75, and otherwise "took care of business" in the decade just past. Many of these dubs are sitting on paid-for houses that have quintupled in value or retired on the proceeds of stocks that went up 10-fold during the past 20 years. I know several elders who are retired on lucrative pensions from school district and government jobs, or middle management positions with large companies. They live very well and don't seem to have any financial worries at all. Their two chief concerns appear to be their health and whether their children/grandchildren will ever come back in the truth.

  Meanwhile, those who put all their faith in "mother's" financial planning strategies (don't work full time, don't go to college, and send us everything you can spare) are at the polar opposite, and the gap is widening, especially in many parts of the U.S. where real estate values have more than doubled just in the past five years.

  This is creating huge class distinction problems in U.S. congregations, where the concept of caring for the less fortunate is largely considered a "worldy" trait.
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  truthseeker1

  Nahh, God will provide and after Armageddon, a degree in higher education from an accredited university won't mean diddly squat. Till then...
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Dont hate God
• 

  truthseeker1

  I hate God as much as I hate Santa and his Elves.
• 

  Crazy151drinker

  Santa has feeling to you know.
• 

  xjw_b12

  Witnesses are broke, financially, emotionally, spiritually, physically. I could go on but I think I made my point.
• 

  happy man

  I think you are wrong here.

  I can give you an exampel even if it is unusal.

  I now a woman as was maried to en CO, she was pionjering, he was also a good painting artist.

  When he died she take hes money and go to the bank and give it to them and say can you inest this money, and this was in the middel of 1980 ies.

  She forget this and after around 15 year she go the the bank and say she want the money, and it was millions, this woman was at the time the one as have been piojering longest in sweden, over 50 year, she was wery devoted, and saw this investment as a blessing.

  She died 2001 and all her money, where did they go, well guess.

  I can also tell you the our kingdom hall ,peopel outside say tih s is the rich hall, in swedish the name of kingdom hall is Rikets sal and the word fore ´whelthy man is rik, and ofcourse in Sweden most JW have good ekonomy, even if not millioners.