They Don't Pass a Collection Plate Because..... (page 2)

bluecanary

Here's the stupidity in the "we're better because we don't pass a plate" argument: I end up putting MORE money in the damn box than I do on a plate. When I went to the UU church, I put in a couple of dollars to support the services. If I went every sunday, that would cost me $5-10 per month. This seems to be normal because I noticed everyone else doing the same thing. At the KH, I put $20 in the box once a month. My mother put in $50. And we are on the low end of the financial income scale. You can milk so much more money out of people with a box than a plate.

angel eyes

I like the idea of the box, for one in the kingdom hall its extremely hard to find, but also you dont have to put money in it. When i went to church I was shocked that the plate was handed to me...rude!!

OnTheWayOut

The boxes at the assemblies and conventions are placed near the doors so people don't forget. That, by itself, is not so bad. But to the average JW, just the idea of doing it any other way is SHOCKING. AE said it: When i went to church I was shocked that the plate was handed to me...rude!!

Anyway that is not the WTS way of doing things becomes "proof" that they are God's representatives and others are in Satan's world.

What you need to do is try to learn why they always always always always announce a deficit for the assembly or convention early on the last day. Their deficit tabulation never includes "money on hand" or "money already dedicated to send to the WTS" and it never includes money collected that same morning after the "announcement of a deficit" was written and tabulated. So "God's representatives" make it appear that they are being upfront with information by telling everyone expenses, but they do it for self-serving reasons. Also, why does using their own assembly hall cost so many tens of thousands of dolllars for a weekend? They just set a "cost" per person attending and stick to it, regardless of reality.

Scully

Is it true that the WTS is now accepting donations via credit card on their official website?

Prov1320

ONthewayout,

I worked in the "accounting department" at the conventions, so I can provide some insight into this:

The disctrict conventions were ALWAYS paid for upfront by the WTS, so there were never any deficits. In fact, all monies collected would go straight to the society. Announcements were only to "encourage expressing our gratitude" for all the hard work the WTS put forth in preparing the convention. Sundays were always a big hit for contributions. And at the end of the day we would simply reconcile the accounts.

Now, for circuit and special day assemblies, all contributions had to PAY THE SOCIETY BACK! Any deficit was the amount owed back to the society. The people in attendance were responsible for sharing the cost of the weekend. The decifit would be announced to make everyone feel guilty for not contributing. However, it was a false sense of deficit, as most of the contributions would have come in at the end of the session on Sunday anyway. But it does give a big "shock factor" when it is announced, and has led many to believe "how could we have a deficit???" In extreme cases, the deficit would be carried out to the congragation level, where during a service meeting it would be announced how much per person it works out to. Talk about forced contributions! If that's not a direct substitute for a "collections plate", I don't know what is.

Bottom line, all contributions go to the society, even when the society owns the building they charge a usage fee (this was true in Ontario --- the hall in Norval near Georgetown has been owned and fully paid up for decades.... now the society charges a usage or rental fee for circuit assemblies... imagine that).

I didn't really think much of it at the time, but now I see the light! lol

DaCheech

we don't pass a plate, but we turn gods temple/kingdom hall into a merchants paradise

JWoods

Just one more crappy silly rule they made (much like holidays and birthdays) on which the bible is totally silent.

And yes, it is also part of their all-consuming fetish to be "different from the other churches".

For a long time, in a similar vein, it was considered the ultimate in witness bad taste to even mention contributions from the platform - this was considered "begging for money" just the same as if you were in christendom.

This changed forever back in the 1970s when the society needed money to convert to photo-typesetting and offset printing. The society sent an article to be read out verbatim in the service meeting much like the annual drum up money mag article they do now and I can still remember how shocked everyone was to see the society itself break this time-honored rule.

easyreader1970

What you need to do is try to learn why they always always always always announce a deficit for the assembly or convention early on the last day. Their deficit tabulation never includes "money on hand" or "money already dedicated to send to the WTS" and it never includes money collected that same morning after the "announcement of a deficit" was written and tabulated. So "God's representatives" make it appear that they are being upfront with information by telling everyone expenses, but they do it for self-serving reasons. Also, why does using their own assembly hall cost so many tens of thousands of dolllars for a weekend? They just set a "cost" per person attending and stick to it, regardless of reality.

I asked my wife this question after our most recent two-day. They said that the expenses were something like ten-thousand dollars. Even she had to mimic my "for what?!". If theJW slaves volunteers do all of the groundskeeping, all of the cleaning, and all of the maintenance, and we feed ourselves, what in the world cost ten or more thousand dollars? Soap and toilet paper? I wish they would actually itemize that list instead of just calling it "expenses".

OUTLAW

I like the idea of the box, for one in the kingdom hall its extremely hard to find, but also you dont have to put money in it. When i went to church I was shocked that the plate was handed to me...rude!!

AE..

You have trouble finding a Frigg`in Huge Contribution Box..

Placed in a spot..

You have to walk by..Going "in" and "out" of a Kingdom Hall..

Just curious..Are you Blind?

.............................OUTLAW

angel eyes

lol...ive had to ask evertime i visit a cong...honestly i NEVER find them.....

They Don't Pass a Collection Plate Because.....

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