by solomon 33 Replies latest watchtower bible
Consider the state of the economy in the US in the past few years. More than a few JW's I am sure lost their homes. I am sure that the WTS took a hit on donations as well.
This article clearly puts the blame back on the congregation for this state of affairs.
I wish I kept it now, but I had a photocopy of notes taken by some JW who attended their golden ticket event last Fall where a GB member went on a tour to speak to invited JWs.
In the notes, it mentioned how some JWs had gotten caught up in the housing market boom and dared to buy a home in the Old System (!), which often meant stretching beyond their means just to buy a shack (and counting on rising prices to extract equity). Being financially naive, some bought at the peak of the market (or even when it started to drop) and ended up losing their homes when the market crashed. From the podium, these individuals were blamed for not putting Jehovah first in their lives, so it was more of that blaming those hurt when things don't work out (which IS somewhat true, but for a different reason: anyone who bought without understanding a crash was coming was not doing their homework, or had never seen a market bubble before).
So a different topic, but the same old theodicy question: YHWH gets credit for blessing someone when things go well, but the individual JW gets the blame when things don't go so well. YWHW always comes out on top.
PS there was also a warning about credit card debt: I dunno if that was a problem coming up on the radar of the GB from the field, but there was a little diatribe about avoiding the trap of materialism enabled via use of plastic.
Because that wouldn't be capitalistic, that would be socialistic. And unless you are the government, there is no money in socialism. In order to have winners, you have to have losers. The tried and true way of getting losers to give up thier money to winners is to delude them. If you can convince people that they are getting something great in return for thier investment (e.g. everlasting life as pointed out by the WT or an enriched life as pointed out by wallstreet)...you can get very rich very fast. People want to believe, it's human nature. However, Kharma is a bitch when you try to force feed the blue pill down everyone's throat.
They remind me of a house that's run by an overbearing parent where everyone is micromanaged and order is maintained with an iron fist. It's an ancient mentality that, imo, appears to be in death throes right now. Basically, it's an overlord scenario where terror is used to control the underlings below. The problem for this framework is revolution. It's astonishing to me that in this day in age with our freedom and liberties we still have tyranny and oppression ripe within the underbelly of western society. Can't these "regimes" see that the iron fist only seals the fate of terrible and destructive revolution? I guess when there is money to be made, there is money to be made.
-Sab
A circuit overseer chastised a friend of mine and his wife because they bought a house with some land. The circuit overseer told them that mortgages
were from the devil.
Another circuit overseer was telling people in the hall to sell their houses and rent, and you won't regret simplifying your life.
I thought that it would be fair if the watchtower sold all their kingdom halls and other buildings and simplify THEIR life and rent buildings. This would
set the example for the rest of us.
Whoever bought Alex's shares when he was forced to sell probably made some money on the stock market.
Barbara Anderson:
I have no problem with investing in the stock market nor the Watchtower investing in the stock market or in hedge funds. But I do have a problem with Watchtower sending out a message "that anyone who puts his trust in Satan's system will be profoundly disappointed" and used Alex's experience in the stock market as an example.
You are so right, two sets of rules. One for them and one for us. Do as we say but not as we do!
AndersonsInfo - "...they are property rich and cash poor and are finding it difficult to sell billions of dollars of property they have for sale all over the world..."
That sums it up so well and concisely; burdened with assets that are decreasing in value and unable to sell, coupled with dwindling revenue from the R&F.
I suppose it serves 'em right for building a religious organization around a 20th Century capitalist business model.
jgnat - "This article clearly puts the blame back on the congregation for this state of affairs."
Well, they sure as hell ain't gonna say, "sorry, this was our fault".
Part of the irony is that if Alex had gone to college he might have learned something about how real life works and made better investments.
A circuit overseer chastised a friend of mine and his wife because they bought a house with some land. The circuit overseer told them that mortgages
were from the devil
Does that mean that rent is theocratic? How so? You have to pay to live somewhere. Unless you're a CO I guess.
Alex got caught up in believing the Jehovah's Witness religious teachings. Thinking he could soon quit his good paying job and enter the full-time pioneer service became an obsession for him. He became ever more engrossed in studying various Watchtower publications and prophetic predictions.
Using his life savings and money borrowed from his home equity, he reasoned that investing in the stock market could be a get rich quick way to pioneer, and bought stocks that analysts predicted would quickly rise in value. Instead, they dropped sharply. "I was determined to get my money back, " Alex relates. "I felt that if I just held on, the stocks would come back up and I could pioneer."
For months, Alex could think of little else, but how he was going to be able to pioneer now. He found it difficult to focus on spiritual matters. Eventually, Alex became disillusioned with the JW religion and the pressure they put on people to pioneer. But his stocks never rebounded. Alex lost his entire life savings and had to sell his house. None of the JW's that pressured Alex to find a way to pioneer offered any financial assistance at all in his family's time of need.
"I caused my family great pain," he admits. But Alex learned an important lesson. "I now know that anyone who puts his trust in the Watchtower Society will be profoundly disappointed."
