by jwfacts 42 Replies latest watchtower scandals
Sorry, I never got past this part:
to promote the Christian religion and study of the Bible, in accordance with the beliefs of Jehovah’s Witnesses by the dissemination of Bible truths, both orally and by printed word, by charitable work for the relief of poverty,
Well, as per Almost Atheist's example, I am going to give them a DONTation of 5 gazillion dollars! Let's see what that does their to annual figures!
Cog
Guess this means they will be after my parent's property when they no longer need it. By the way - does anyone know if it is possible to contest a will (should this be made out to the society) re Australian law? And the implications of doing so? Perhaps it has already been done? I figure they have had a fair suck of the juice bottle.
I don' t really have any experience with contesting wills. However, as far as I know you can contest just about any will. Your chance of winning depends on a number of factors, and how good your lawyer is. A possible tack would be to say your parents weren't in their right mind and were manipulated in leaving money to the WTS instead of their kin. Unfortunately when you need to resort to the law the lawyers often benefit more than yourself, and you run the risk of loosing and having to pay fees.
Here's Canada's for those interested. Just click on the link after each year.
Kwin
By the way - does anyone know if it is possible to contest a will (should this be made out to the society)
There needs to be some groundwork laid by ex-jws for contesting wills where parents leave all or most of their estate to the Society. I said in another post that with the private issue of the WT coming out at the beginning of next year, I believe the WTS is going to start goading people to leave their hard earned money and property to them. They've already laid their groundwork in an earlier isssue of the WT about how to donate such to them.
There needs to be a bevy of attorneys that are ex-jws ideally that have laid some heavy duty groundwork about mind control, brainwashing techniques used by the WTBT$, etc. in order to be prepared to prove mental incompetence of parents who leave everything to the Society. Just as the WTS has attorneys on hand for their immediate use such as the ones that fight the blood issue and others, I believe apostates (I use that term for lack of a better one) need to band together in some organized fashion and recruit their own attorneys for the issue of wills and financial matters.
I can see lots and lots of pressure from the Society coming in the years ahead toward this and we need to be prepared because otherwise seemingly intelligent folks of "sound mind" do have the kool-aid mentality when it comes to the WTS and rightful heirs need to be prepared.
I pledge NOT to donate / to DONTate my retirement check and proceeds from the sale of my property -- assets I would never have had if I had chosen to remain inside the stone walls of the 'tower.
By the grace of G-d, out since 1979,
SandraC
I agree about the need to be informed. I'm quite sure about where my family's money will be going as I know there has been 'spiritual guidance' on this matter over the years. I can't remember specific times and quotes - but I do remember it being an ongoing theme, which I am sure is gaining momentum. Previously, I would never have thought of contesting their will should it not be in my favour (ie. go to the organisation), however now I do think about it for the following reasons:
I was told in about grade 2 that I would never go to high school. In high school I was told it was a waste of time and "just pioneer". Hence I essentially paid for my own education - as an adult. This is OK, many people do, but in my case it was due to WT philosophy and it was not necessary. I missed a lot of opportunities/choices that need not have been missed. In the meantime my parents have donated, in time and money, a huge amount to the society.
My parents had run their financial resources into the ground by 1975. It was through my initiative that they got back onto their feet - bought a house and have been able to have a good standard of living since then. If they had not been able to buy property again (after selling their's originally) they would have had a far more unstable life and been a constant source of anxiety for me. This isn't because they are not hard working - they just worked for the wrong people.
I grew up thinking that the society came first and any family needs came second - education/family time/financial security/employment...whatever. I found it was difficult to continue thinking this way when I had children and then after looking outside the bubble, I began to see how other families treated their children. Even adult children. It has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice to get to where I am now - and on principle I do not want to see my parent's money going to the society - they have had enough.
I am interested to hear of anyone else's experiences related to this matter.
Sorry - did not mean to change the topic of this thread - but I do think the society will be looking for money from older members of the organization. Well - maybe more now than previously.
I think that we are seeing how the WTS is reaping the whirlwind of what they sowed. By discouraging the pursuit of higher education among their young several years ago, they are now confronted by those youngsters as full grown adults. With a significant lack of acedemic skills, for which many were doubtless capable, those same adults are virtually marginalized in the lower wage bracket. Low wages may make willing sellers of WT literature, but bad donators. In these times when all must count costs, I think donating to a cause that is slowly being seen as lost would rank pretty low on a person's list of things to do.
Lets see... How many WT followers are there in Aussie? .... 80,000?..... Thereabouts?
OK, if those 80k WT followers gave 10M to the society, then I reckon that makes, on an average, some 125 bucks a year which comes down to $2.25 a week. Yep... I gues that's about all the average R&F member would think his religious org is worth.
Rather than be seen as unseemly and make crass demands for more cash, their interests will best be served by revising their policy on higher education. Sure they will lose some to "higher criticism", but they will eventually end up with a better financially enfranchised workforce, who will in turn be better able to donate big bucks. Of course it wont be felt overnight it will involve at least a generation for this to take effect.
I think that is something the Mormon leadership grasped early. Don't their missionaries get a subsidized college education after serving three years? With a higher-than average income membership they are obviously getting larger donations.
Anyway, whatever, the point about the WTS is that they must be recoiling in horror at their lost fortunes. Poor Nathan Gnaw, he so loved to see graphs going increasingly upwards in all departments, like sales, donations, increasing membership, leading to more sales, more donations, increasingly more membership and so on. Poor sod must be rolling in his grave or wherever it is that departed WT leaders eventually wind up.
Cheers
