Bienvenue Fifth Column. I was an active JW in the Cagnes Sur Mer Congregation. Thanks for the news from France. I look forward to more of your posts.
France : no more local bank accounts for congregations
by fifth.column 80 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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somebody
Reactions: silence, some astonished faces, and back to sleep.
Seems the reaction from the congregations to ANY changes whatsoever, hasn't changed since to 70s. SAD! :-(
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DATA-DOG
I wish they would institute mandatory tithing and the signing of a loyalty letter. I would walk.. I would do it know if it were not for family. Something really crazy might wake them up. If you are still in... STOP DONATING!!!!
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Pterist
Data-Dog
Good evening friend, I have a question...are the Kingdom Halls owned by the WBTS in NY, or are they locally owned by the local congregation ?
I thought I read somewhere that they tried to buy up all KHs ??!!,
And is this typical world wide ?
Thanks in advance
Shalom
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ziddina
"Why doesn't the branch go all the way and take over the kingdom halls and be responsible for the paying of the bills and doing the repairs. Let the local elders be spiritual shepards instead of businessmen." Hoser, page 1
If the Watchtower Society did that, they'd have no proper way to demand - er, 'ask' for frequent future donations...??? Am I right, anyone?
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frankiespeakin
The kindom halls are own by one congregation that forms a corporation that is subject to the by laws writen by the WTB& tract society. The by-laws state that they have to be loyal to the the wt corporation.
So they may be owned by one congregation in the USA but are in subjection to the society.
http://governingbodyletters.blogspot.com/2008/04/who-owns-kingdom-halls.html
[bTwo very important facts remained: 1. Each congregation still owned its own property as a non-profit association or corporation in their respective states. 2. The Society continued to claim that they had no clergy distinction, and thus no heirarchy. (The Society legally claimed that they were a 'congregational' organization and not a heirarchial organization.) The Roman Catholic Church, for example is Heirarchial, with a Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Priests, and the Chruch owns everything. The Southern Baptists, on the other hand, are Congregational. Each congregation is totally independant, and can tell the central convention to get lost if they wish.
What happened in Bonham, Texas?: The body of elders and the majority of the congregation decided to leave the Watch Tower organization . And with that, they took the Kingdom Hall. The rremaining JWs and the Society sued in court to recover the Kingdom Hall. For the first time in its history the Watch Tower Society made two important arguments: 1. They were now a Heirarchial like the Catholic Church, with the Governing Body, Branchs Overseers, District Overseers, Circuit Overseers, and Elders appointed by the Society. 2. The Society as a heirarchy, therefore, had the rightful tital to the Kingdom Hall.
This was a serious departure from all their previous claims, and is among the many issues that impressed upon me that the Society was no longer what it claimed to be.
The result?: The Society lost because the Bonham congregation was able to prove that the Society was a historically a 'congregational' organization, and as such had no legal title or interesst recorded on the deed. The Society was unable to establish legal interest.
The Subsequent Changes: Among many changes to establish legal interest was to start getting recorded on deeds as the first position leinholder when making remodel and quick build loans. (I can recall the days when we would get remodel loans from the Society, but nothing was ever recorded on the deeds.) The Society started a group insurance program for all Kingdom Halls, ostensibly to provide lower cost premiums, but also this showed an interest in each property.
And, while I did not follow the corporate changes after this, I understand that the Society started holding the deeds to local Kingdom Halls or at least assuring that each congregation was so established that its corporate by-laws would preclude losing the property if the congregation opted out of its Watch Tower affiliation.
....more info if you put the link in the add bar.
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100605034650AA4tFP5
Who actually owns the Jehovah's Witnesses property?
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frankiespeakin
triple post
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frankiespeakin
double post
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hoser
"Why doesn't the branch go all the way and take over the kingdom halls and be responsible for the paying of the bills and doing the repairs. Let the local elders be spiritual shepards instead of businessmen." Hoser, page 1
If the Watchtower Society did that, they'd have no proper way to demand - er, 'ask' for frequent future donations...??? Am I right, anyone?
I believe you are correct! I was speaking in sarcasm.
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WTWizard
Nice way to facilitate those bleeds of money. Where I used to attend, they had a local account, but each time it hit 3,000 toilet papers, they would bleed it into the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund. Thus, it did no good for anyone to build the balance to around 5,000 or 6,000 toilet papers in order to have a fat reserve for unexpected expenses. If one person were to make a one-time donation on the order of 5,000 or more toilet papers, it would trigger a bleed that could leave the congregation without sufficient funds to pay the expected bills, and trigger another round of guilt to coerce people to donate again.
Now, they don't need to do that. If all funds are forwarded to the headquarters, they will keep guilting the publishers to directly support the operations while rendering it impossible to accumulate enough for regular bills. I can only hope that people will quit donating anything at all, especially if they see that their contributions will simply trigger a bleed. I know for certain that, if I had enough money on hand to put into that box and bleed it, I would rather buy whatever silver the money would buy at the time and keep the silver.