How much does it cost to be a JW (page 2)

hallelujah

The real reason why the WTBTS discourages witnesses to have children, it's not because the end is coming, it's because childless sheep give up their assetts to the society in their wills

dozy

I reckon being a JW is fiscally neutral. Savings on financially destructive habits like smoking , gambling & drinking and rampant materialism is offset by lower earnings from lifetime employment.

I tend to factor assembly costs into my overall holiday budget. On average , the typical member of my cong donates £20 per month towards the KH expenses and the WWW which I do not think is excessive (it costs more for a Sky TV subscription).

greendawn

The point is that this org became very wealthy, being now worth hundreds of billions, through the contributions of its members, those that produced their books and mags for a pittance, those that sold them for no wage unless doing so full time in which case they also get a pittance, and those that donated money and property large or small in order to gain jehovah's favour.

With over a billion hours per year of cost free work in its favour the org has to do well. How many corporations do you know that were smart enough to achieve as much?

dozy

"The point is that this org became very wealthy, being now worth hundreds of billions"

The organisation is not worth "hundreds of billions" as your fellow posters have admitted. http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/109093/1.ashx It is an untruth for apostates / ex-witnesses to continue claiming this.

carla

Dozy,

Then why don't you write the society and find out for us? Please include all the real estate, stocks in Rand cam, Phillip Morris and elsewhere. How can you even claim to know anything about their financial status when they do not disclose anything at all about their finances? Why do you not write? If truth mattered to you, you would find out the answer to this and many other things people have asked you about here.

dozy

The accounts of JWs are on public record where required , including the Charity commission in the UK. Even the dumbest & most virulent opposer could hardly claim that JWs were worth more than ten times BP ($78 billion). I told a family relative who works in the City of London that some apostates were claiming that the WTS was worth over $700 billion and they couldn't believe the breathtaking stupidity and naivity of believing such nonsense.

Re Rand & others - As you are aware , and even many apostates acknowledge , the WTS has no control over blind trusts in favour of the society. I could buy shares today in any stock you wished , place them in a blind trust with the WTS as the registered beneficary and only the independent trustees would have any say over the holding.

carla

Did you tell your jw friends just where you get your 'apostate' news from? Meaning do they know you post on this board? Do your elders?

Never having been a jw, just an outsider, I find it extrememly hypocritical that an org that claims to speak for God and enjoys spouting the ever famous, 'only we don't go to war', etc.. phrases, owns stock in a company that produces implements of war. Ok. So you don't personally go to the front lines you just profit from war. The society will 'kill' someone spiritually one who smokes yet they profit from smokers. You don't see this as hypocritical? It would be like a Catholic finding out the Vatican owned stock in a company that provides abortions.

They certainly do have a choice in where they put their money. To accept money from what they claim are immoral activities is the 'same as participating in the world'. It is a joke to claim they have no choice as to where their money goes. I know a few Christians who have quite a number of stocks and even pulled out of some that did not square with their faith even though it was profitable. I guess they are willing to put aside their financial welfare and greed for what they consider a 'conscience issue'. They take a moral stand even at their own expense. Doesn't sound like something the boys in Brooklyn would be willing to do, obviously not considering where their money is at.

TopHat

Dozy, The property alone, that the wtbts owns has to be worth billions and billions....... http://flickr.com/groups/worldwide_bethels/pool/

willyloman

In the U.S., we don't do math very well. Consequently, a number like "billions" mean "a lot," not some specific figure. You may know it's a specific number, but the average person does not. Same with "trillions." It's one of the reasons we've coined the word, "bazillion."

That the society has assets "only" in the many millions, rather than a few billion, is a distinction that escapes most of us. The point is, it's a lot of money.

lost_light06

Blondie you are exact on with the assembly account reporst. We had our circuit assembly recently. I found something interesting during the accounts report. Our circuit started off with a surplus in the bank of around $5000. The brother then said the circuit had donated $4000 to the “world wide work”. Then he told us the expenses for the circuit assembly, they were close to $9000. Only $4000 had been donated during the circuit assembly so he told us we were in the hole another $4000. Does this sound fishy? We had 5G’s, they gave away 4G’s then came up 4G’s short for this assembly. Sounded to me like they had purposely given away most of the surplus in order to come up short so more would donate. I have never, ever been to a convention or circuit assembly where they broke even.

How much does it cost to be a JW

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