Is it stealing to get lit without paying the borg for it?

by SnakesInTheTower 23 Replies latest jw friends

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  SnakesInTheTower

  I'm a pyromaniac. I want a fire on this thread and soon . I will check back in this evening looking for a bonfire.

  So I wanted everyone's opinion on something. Don't know if it has come up before or not. Still being an active but fading dub I still have to get literature and magazines from the counter at the KH. I have not put a dime in the WWW box in years. I used to donate to the local box for utilities, etc (only fair I thought, I crap in their toilet and use their TP at the KH) until I became an elder and as secretary had to review the accounts. When I seen how so much money was being wasted on stupid or unnecessary stuff I quit putting in for that. (The R&F did not know in my last KH what the individual expenses were because they lumped it on the accounts sheet as "Monthly Expenses")

  For a long time I did not donate because as a poor pioneer, I really did not have the money. Now, I have the money (not pioneering..see the correlation), but only want to donate to worthwhile charities. (Room to Read..a literacy program for kids worldwide http://www.roomtoread.org/ as an example of my favorite..hope that plug is OK).

  I still get the Borgs CDs, DVDs, bound volumes with the plastic covers (including the new midget Awake! bound volume). I pick up enough magazines for myself, another couple that are inactive and fading (although I think they still believe but are doubting and stumbled) and a couple more WTRags for the shredder so I can justify my fake field service report with a couple of mags, a few hours and an RV or two from informal witlessing.

  So, the question is: Is it stealing to take the lit without donating? Or should the WTBT$ pay ME to take it off their hands?

  SnakesInTheTower (of the Lazy Sheep Class ...and not feeling guilty anymore)
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  Xena

  Not stealing..they want you to have it. Donate if you feel the urge but no obligation to pay.
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  Scully

  If it's really The Truth™, the Organization™ policy would be like what Jesus said: You received free, give free.

  The fact that the Organization™ policy is anything different than that should tell you something.
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  JWdaughter

  If you are taking it to read it, why is it stealing?. . . . the are offering it FREE anyway. Any JW will tell you repeatedly that they do not charge for literature. If you were just taking it SO you could (for example) burn it, then I think that would be ethically wrong. As long as you read the drivel, they have a chance of infiltrating your mind( :) ) which is the point, right? And why they GIVE AWAY literature.

  How hard is it these days to get the current CD? Edited to say: Maybe you ought to not shred the magazines. . .perhaps donate it to the Braile society? I guess I have some ethical dilemma with getting it JUST to destroy it. . .maybe you could go door to door using the magazines and warn folks off. . .or just be so nuts that they are convicted that they shouldn't speak to JWs in the future? You could make GOOD use of it before shredding it:)
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  Warlock

  Is it stealing to take the lit without donating?

  How can you "steal" if the arrangement is by "donation"? Does that mean if someone doesn't, or can't, "donate" for the magazines out in "service", do you ask them to give them back?

  Warlock
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  iamfreenow

  The literature is "free", there is no price displayed, so how can it be stealing not to pay for it?

  Anyway, the Watchtower Society doesn'r say you have to give

  What financial contributions are expected of those attending meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses?

  Regarding money contributions, the apostle Paul said: "Let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." ( 2 Corinthians 9:7 ) At the Kingdom Halls and convention auditoriums of Jehovah's Witnesses, no collections are ever taken. Boxes are placed so that it is convenient for any who wish to contribute to do so
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  Scully

  If you were just taking it SO you could (for example) burn it, then I think that would be ethically wrong.

  Ah, but then there's the issue of the greater good that would be done by ridding the world of WTS propaganda, one set of WT & Awakes at a time.
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  crazyblondeb

  When I seen how so much money was being wasted on stupid or unnecessary stuff I quit putting in for that.

  Just curious?? What kind of 'stupid' stuff?
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  Bumble Bee

  They have been saying they don't charge for liturature now, just offered as a "suggested donation", and even then it's way too much (free labour etc).

  BB
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  95stormfront

  Ah.....the old "tried and true" accounting trick of hiding bullshit costs as a monthly expense. Kinda reminds me of that deficit all the conventions and assemblies have when their expense reports are read.