Danny,what is the last P?
Being Rich or Poor in the Org, did it make a difference?
by JH 15 Replies latest jw friends
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Qcmbr
I totally agree - money talks but if for a moment we be objective and step outside the equation and ask why would it matter in a religious organisation?
If you are wealthy then either , you are lucky, you were born into it, you are a 'bad' and exploit people or finally you have found a niche were your skills are appreciated and rewarded. Most people who are 'bad' tend to avoid church since they would rather be doing 'bad' things, those who are born into money aren't very numerous (most of us don't have large trust funds set up for us,) luck rarely keeps rolling sixes so we are left with most people at church being of the positive, self made successes.
Now if we take the qualities that the world of business admires we can see that they will also be very useful in a congregation: High self esteem, networker, open to opportunity, hard worker, interested in results over theory, streetwise, good common sense, practical, problem solver, strives for quality etc.. I think we can see many reasons why this sort of person would rise. Now I've known many poorer people who are salt of the earth and have been powerful leaders at church but generally I find a strong correlation between worldy success and religious success within my own faith. I think some people will rise to the top no matter what they are doing.
From a practical view as well - how can rich people invite poorer people to things that are too expensive?- - people with more money are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Being poor sucks, been there done that had a lot of bitterness when I saw what I couldn't have etc.. At the end of the day though I would hardly expect people to reduce their standard of living to that of the poorest congregation member just so they could feel 'equal'. If you've got it be fair, mafnanimous, charitable and enjoy it, if you don't avoid bitterness, look for ways to self improve and enjoy what you've got. -
sammielee24
In my own experience there was no difference and I didn't notice any with one exception and that is that anyone in a circuit organization position tended to be wealthy. Although some of the elders were obviously comfortable financially, most that I knew were simply hard working, average men who didn't drive new cars, take exotic vacations or wear Armani.
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pratt1
Those with more in a financial way were definitely treated better.
From my own personal experience even though I was encouraged not to attend college, every elder in my hall made it clear that I could date their uneducated, pioneering daughters.
Guess they though that she wouldn't need to work and could continue to live off of someone else other than him.
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dedpoet
I t made a difference in my cong, especially when we refurbished the kh. The elders looked for loans from everyone to help finance the scheme, and those who could lend a financial hand were a lot better thought of than the rest of us who did almost all the physical work.
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Soledad
Definitely. The wealthier ones were looked up to, given many unmerited privileges and were an exclusive set. The kids of these wealthy members were at best snotty and obnoxious. God forbid anyone was caught wearing the same clothes to the meetings or didn't have nice enough shoes. The poor souls were gossiped about mercilessly.
On the other hand, the poorer members would try to imitate and be like the wealthier ones by shopping at the same stores, asking questions like 'where did you buy that outfit' and 'where did you go on vacation' and then they would try their best to suck up to them and do the same things, only to end up in a mire of debt. I'll always remember this one elder, a wealthy guy with his own business, went out and bought a BMW. A poorer MS showed up to the hall the following month with a Mercedes, and about 3 months later while we were at the bookstudy the repo man showed up and towed his car away. I felt bad for him but at the same time I wanted to let him know how stupid he was!
Now, being a bit wealthier than the rest but married to an unbelieving spouse or having an unbelieving parent (like my family) kind of put us into a "we will be nice to you when we need money" category. The witnesses would go ahead and arrange large and lavish parties and ask my mother to contribute the lion's share for the food and other party items. She gladly went along, but then what killed me was that we were hardly ever invited to these things!