So..You donate your money, and then you have to pay intrest on it??!!

by Lady Liberty 29 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Lady Liberty

  Good morning everyone "Happy Thursday!!",

  Just reading another thread, and it made me think of a question I could never answer as a JW. But of course ,I can see through it all now.

  How is it that when your hall wants to build, you recieve the "loan" from the society, but then you have to pay the loan back with intrest??!!

  Here it is donated money, but you have to pay it abck?? What about the scripture that says not to charge your brother intrest?????

  I always felt there was something shady about that whole thing!! It reminds me of how my Grandmothers hall wanted to build a new hall for the longest time. They got the green light from the society to build, but a stipulation for getting a "loan" from them was that they has to sell their current hall first. In time, they FINALLY did. They were so thrilled. Many including my elderly Grandmother put additional funds from their savings along with it so that they would not have to borrow so much back from the Society to build the new hall. They were instructed to send the sale funds along with all the funds that were donated to the society as the first step in getting the loan. Well guess what to their disbelief, shock and much disappointment, they recieved a letter AFTER the society recieved the funds of course, that they were not going to be given the loan afterall. The society felt that the funds would be better used in helping build other needed halls in other countries! (yeah right!!) My family that was in that hall was devistated as well as all th others who not only sold their hall, but had put in much money from there savings. It was quite a blow! Now they have to drive something like 30 minutes one way just to get to meeting and are still sharing a hall. This was a number of years ago. It was UNBELIEVABLE!! What is even more amazing is that when I tried bringing this incident up to my JW family that experienced it they don't like that I am using it to show the watchtowers dishonesty, and they act like it was no big deal. Oh but at the time it sure was!! Funny how the story changes once they know you have doubts!! But before they realize this they did nothing but complained about it!!

  It is crazy how once you leave you can see so clearly what is really going on!! Anyone else with simular stories??

  Sincerely,

  Lady Liberty
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  Paralipomenon

  In my hall in Calgary there were 5 congregations sharing a two level hall. It was one of those quick build type halls, so naturally the sloppy workmanship was falling apart. It needed a new roof and siding and they tossed in many other upgrades such as new seats, sound system, the works.
  
  Each congregation was asked to contribute equally and after a few rounds of pledges they were given the go-ahead to do the repairs. The loan was granted, the repairs were done. Not even a week after the renovations were complete, they decided to redraw the boundries and the congregation I was assigned to was reassigned to a different hall, but we were reminded that our pledges were to Jehovah and that we should honor them regardless of where we were assigned.
  
  The new hall was small and a throwback from the 60's. The congregation was in a uproar. One of the older elders was very vocal on his displeasure and would malign the Circuit Overseer that had made the decision at any chance he could get. When we had our first meeting, who gave the opening prayer and talk? The same elder that was so vocal about the move. His talk was full of love and appreciation for Jehovah's decision.
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  mavie

  I'm not sure how the loan process works. Maybe someone in the know can help us here. Does the Society keep the money in a bank and the loan then comes from the bank? With this method, the interest would be paid to the bank.
  
  I can't believe they would do that however.
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  sinis

  No, the "interest" is actually an "admin charge" that is how they justify it. As a corp I am sure they get one hell of a deal from the bank with the amount of cash they have on hand.
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  Sad emo

  Same set-up in the RC church too - the Sunday collection money goes to the diocese but if a parish needs a loan to improve or new build they have to pay back with interest - oh and just to cap it all, the buildings don't belong to them either. If they get sold, the diocese gets all the proceeds.

  So peoples money goes to the dioscese, the people borrow it back to be repaid with interest, and the resulting buildings don't actually belong to them!

  Is the building ownership the same with a KH as well? If one closes down and gets sold, do their proceeds go back to central funds.

  True, religion is a snare and a racket - especially the latter
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  MeneMene

  Does anyone know if this is how it works in Africa also?
  
  I said something to my mother about the loans for building halls and paying back interest. She claims all the KHs being built in Africa are paid for by the WTS and there are no loans that the poor African people have to pay back because they don't have any money. She seemed to think one of the WT or Aw said so within the last few months.
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  OnTheWayOut

  The entire north side of Chicago has expensive real estate and many Kingdom Halls were
  crowded between 8 and 10 years ago. The Regional Building Committee examined the
  numbers and congregations using each and every hall. They determined that they could
  more evenly distribute the number of people using each hall to equalize the crowds. These
  were older halls where mortgages were not really an issue, as most were paid for or older
  with smaller mortgages. They recommended moving several congregations a little east or
  west or north or south or whatever. This would have put 3 (and sometimes 4) congregations
  inside each auditorium. They were actually trying to keep remodeling costs down so that
  congregations could save up for new properties. (I know- to give the organization more land
  to sell later.)

  Only one congregation BOE spoke up and said they would not make the recommended move
  because their publishers were mostly elderly and could walk to the local hall. The RBC
  appreciated their honesty. The RBC asked if other bodies were able to cooperate, and they all
  said YES and FINE to the RBC. Another congregation (foreign language) was asked to move
  because of the elderly cong. that would not move. They said FINE.

  So, the big move was going to take place on Jan. 1. I spoke with some of the elders who were
  expected to come over to our hall. They said they took it to the publishers and they said NO.
  I spoke casually to a publisher, who told me their BOE was against it and rallied for a NO vote.
  Once one congregation voted not to move, others joined the "Don't move" bandwagon.
  Everyone wound up not moving, but it was a giant fiasco of backstabbing and elders blaming
  the flock, flock saying the elders wanted it that way.

  Fortunately, the solution came later. Many congregations were small and shrinking. They were
  able to dissolve a couple of congregations and swallow them up into the others. There has been
  no growth to speak of since then, except in the foreign language congs, which still have room to
  grow.
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  Mary

  How is it that when your hall wants to build, you recieve the "loan" from the society, but then you have to pay the loan back with interest??!!

  It's a rip off on every level: First of all, isn't there a scripture that says if you loan a brother money, you shouldn't be charging them interest? Then, let's say you do get the loan: You spend years paying it back to 'Mother' with interest.....this is all done through local contributions from the R&F. But the real kicker is that you don't even own the damn building when the mortgage is paid off----the greedy henchmen Governing Body and their lawyers have deemed that all these properties should actually 'belong to Jehovah' and somehow convinced the congregations to sign the deeds over to Crooklyn. So they get interest on a loan for a building that everyone else ponies up the dough for, which is then signed over to the WTB&TS.

  Those pyramid scams have got nothing on these guys.
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  38 Years

  I confirmed this with my JW mom on a new KH they are building. (She signed up to bring food) . Anyway, she said yes, they would be paying back with interest. Funny, I had forgotten about the monthly payments the Halls make to the Society. While a dub, I honestly thought that the poor Society needed to get the money back for other Theocratic needs. They didn't have any income except for donations. My eyes and thoughts were really glazed over!
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  WTWizard

  Fortunately, the solution came later. Many congregations were small and shrinking. They were
  able to dissolve a couple of congregations and swallow them up into the others. There has been
  no growth to speak of since then, except in the foreign language congs, which still have room to
  grow.

  Good. I hope the congregations continue to shrink, rendering them unable to expand. And I hope the donations continue to shrink. Maybe if they go all the way to zero, the Tower will not be able to pull off scams like this.