by OnTheWayOut 57 Replies latest jw friends
Happy Guy,
You said that you have "thoroughly researched" the finances of the WBTS.
How did you research $100 per month per publisher donations?
Did your research take into account that most of the publishers are from third world countries and don't even make $100 dollars a month?
Even in wealthy countries, the husband may and I emphasize MAY give $100 per month but do his wife and their teenaged, publisher kids?
y
When the French government went after the Watchtower Society in regard to unpaid taxes, the estimate was made of about $60 (USD) a year in contributions.
After the voluntary donation arrangement was started, the lit and magazine contributions DROPPED A LOT ! I was Accounts Servant at the time and looked at other congregations accounts and saw the same thing. Add in inflation and I'd say less than half.
The Society sent out letters to some congregations demanding more money. They also avoided sending free literature to institutions as requested by interested people in letters. I know this first hand because of getting involved with Bible studies with prisoners.
The idea that publishers contribute $100 a month is insane. A congregation of 100 publishers would send in $10,000 a month. In all the years I spent as an elder, Congregation Secretary and Accounts Servant, we NEVER sent in anything even close to such an amount, often not even a tenth of that.
Currently, the Organization is trying a new arrangement in parts of New England to simply lay out the magazines shipped and have the publishers only take what they need. They are desperate to save money.
metatron
The idea that publishers contribute $100 a month is insane.
I absoutely agree..............and you are talking about the US...........the richest country on earth.
What about South America and the poverty stricken countries of Africa where most JW's live.
As I said in a previous post, many of them don't even earn $100 US dollars a month.
You said that you have "thoroughly researched" the finances of the WBTS.
In which case, what I am really Not understanding why we can't see the research? Links? Something?? Anything to back up what is being said.
Here's a Brooklyn Eagle Nov 28, 1916 clip of Russell's death announcement and that he had 30,000 shares. I tried to make the scan a bit better to read. The "30,000" had a line through it so I couldn't make it appear any clearer but it is in the heading. Also this was from inside source so many not be 100% factual as to the true shares that Russell had at his death. Russell's will in Dec 1916 wt doesn't speak of shares so any additional info needs to be posted to support any statements besides these. I never seen any info how many shareholders besides Russell held shares in the corporation and the full amount of shares issued. Any additional documentation on this issue would be appreciated but I can't take someone's word for it as it were a fact. Russell died with $200 in his bank account which was peanuts but that was what he was willing to give to his "ex" which was almost a slap on a face as he hid all his assets under a religious banner from which he derived his living and not a bad living at that. So in a similar manner I assume that today's GB don't have a bid bank account but all their expenses are paid for by wts, so if they want to go on a holiday they are covered, if they need a new car to drive, it is covered by wts. They don't live like kings but being uneducated and old this is the best thing going for them. They need to cover up their lies with more lies to suppoer their old age lifestyle. I still don't get the lawyers how they can be doing all this work for free without some sort of monetary compensation knowing they lies that they are hepling to cover up.
It seems reasonable that god's chosen organization would have stocks and shareholders in a Corporation,
god is a well known for his business investments and gambling acumen.
My perspective as an outsider is that you're missing another alternative. The members of the Governing Body started as rank-and-file, which means they were duped into believing. As they went up, they became familiar with the true way the organization works. When they became members of the Governing Body, they learned how things really are. And, they were getting older as they were going up the ladder. I don't think their eyes didn't open up. I do believe they are evil liars and manipulators.
For those of you who have read Crisis of Conscience, you might remember how Ray Franz describes that decisions are made on two thirds of the vote. Ray Franz describes how these people could impose a ban on transfusions, for example, while they still knew that some members of the governing body did not agree with the policy. So, are we really to believe they don't know what they are doing? They might get an occasional person who hasn't wisened up, but it is very clear for me that these people are simply benefitting from the operation, and they know it very well.
Just for the sake of comparison, Hitler must have believed that he was saving Germany, but he was insane. Mussolini thought he was doing things for the greater good of Italy, but he was stupid. But, did Stalin really believe he was "liberating" Eastern Europe? Could he think so when he sent his tanks to Czechoslovakia?
From what I understand, there is a whole hierarchy of men in the WTBS. Do you think branch representatives aren't aware of what really goes on? I don't know where the line between the duped and innocent and the wicked is to be drawn, and I am sure that you guys are not in the group of the wicked, but, inevitably, someone somewhere in the organization knows full well that this is all a lie.
Just one more thought. Ray Franz DID realize it was all a lie, and that was why he is playing the role he is now playing.
Another depressing thought: the fact that a board of directors of COMPANIES incorporated as any other human company have a say in how a religious society is managed.
