I Know Good "Christians" Who Are Not "Good" JWs
by minimus 36 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
Just because JWs may have $$$ it doesn't necessarily mean they're considered wonderful.
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minimus
I've seen a lot of wealthy JWs get into judicial trouble. Maybe not as much as wilderness dwellers, though.
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5thGeneration
It's not a fact.
My family has been castigated, criticised and looked down on for decades for having money.
Outlaw, there are things that you need to experience before you can claim to be an expert on them.
5th
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undercover
An observation I made over the years...
It seems that the JWs that had money, not rich mind you, but were "comfortable" and could afford nice things and take nice, extended vacations, were more apt to keep quiet about their business. They didn't go around bragging about their money or their stuff.
But it didn't matter. Dubs can be some of the most envious, jealous, nosiest and gossipiest people. If a brother drove up in a new Mercedes or BMW, he didn't have to say anything, everyone assumed he was showing off his money by driving this expensive car. To be fair, it wasn't totally thier fault to think this way because the WTS was always counseling everyone to not display showy means...so if Brother Moneybags bought a luxury car, then he wasn't following the counsel, so the problem was with him, not those of us who were envious. That was the faulty reasoning of us poor dubs anyway.
If you have the means, you're going to purchase a quality car, or a nice home. That is not flaunting, that is enjoying the fruits of your labor, so to speak. Outside of what was noticed about them at the hall or in service, (Coach bookbags, $1000 suits, designer dresses, etc.) most dubs didn't know much about the more well-to-do dubs. They kinda lived on the fringe of the social circles. Was it because they were trying to not be showy? I don't think so. I think it was because they were smart to mind their own business. The less noticeable they were, the less the elders got in their shit. The less the elders messed with them, the more they could do what they wanted to do.
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minimus
We had some in the congregation that were basically envious of anyone with money or prosperity and were always putting them down.
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minimus
You say a smart JW with money can get away with a lot more than a poor JW. I can't speak about your experiences but I can say your generalization is not correct from an ex-elder's point of view.
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minimus
Some elders would look for families that were well off and try to put them down (per the Watchtower) because they "should" be pioneering, be "Servants", not want to go to school, not have expensive gadgets. WHENEVER they could put these types down, they would try. Such ones are jealous because their "brothers" have a nice car, a beautiful home and so forth.
