I asked an elder today...from the horse's mouth!

by Julia Orwell 26 Replies latest jw friends

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  Julia Orwell

  Today's Watchtower made out that the combining of branch offices around the world is a loving provision from Jehovah to streamline the production, but I had to ask an elder afterwards, even though I already knew the answer...

  "If the WTS is selling off bethels and Brooklyn property and cutting the publishing costs and commitments, then where is all that money going?"

  Elder replies, "Well the donations are just not coming in anymore and so they have to sell off property to stay afloat."

  Gee, I thought if this was Jehovah's approved organisation carrying vital truth to the world, then He'd be making sure the donations would be sufficient. I didn't say that bit of course. My next question to him might be along those lines.

  To tell you the truth, I honestly thought he'd give me the 'approved' answer, so it was refreshing to hear the real reason, from a company-man's mouth. What do you think? Have you had a similar experience?
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  Satanus

  Just one simple question like that at a time gets under the radar and doesn't awaken the wt imune/defence system.

  S
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  With the public ragazines being cut to half-size, how can they ignore the fact that the publishing empire is failing. So they have to cash in real estate to pay the bills?

  This is when you can use their line on them and say, "They just need to rely on Jehovah to provide."
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  Eustace

  Elder replies, "Well the donations are just not coming in anymore and so they have to sell off property to stay afloat."

  That's very interesting.

  I wonder why the elder thinks donations aren't coming in anymore. Does he just think the JWs are too stingy, or does at least a part of him understand that there's an issue with mismanagement?
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  Eustace

  With the public ragazines being cut to half-size, how can they ignore the fact that the publishing empire is failing.

  The GB sold it as a move towards internet based information distribution. That was the cover and a lot of JWs, at least on the surface, bought into it.

  It's when you look at the bigger picture that it becomes clear that the switch to 16 page mags wasn't really a choice. A lot of JWs don't really pay attention to the bigger picture, instead putting all too much trust in the GB as they've been conditioned to by the magazines.
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  EdenOne

  There's an interesting phenomena in my congregation.

  Contributions to the local congregation are coming in as usual. It's not a rich congregation but has a stable level of funds in the bank. But the contributions to the "Worldwide Work" has been steadily decreasing. I wonder what this means and if it's an observable trend elsewhere.

  Eden
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  Julia Orwell

  Where are you EdenOne? I'm in Australia. I checked the noticeboard at the hall, and I calculated that the congregations in my city, if they all contributed the same as mine, and mind you, ours is the smallest cong in our city, that we would give at least $120 000 AUD a year. And Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are bigger than the Gold Coast, many times bigger. So Australia alone is contributing a mint, and the US is more than 10 times bigger than Australia so there must be like a billion dollars coming from the US.

  I remember it said in Revelation something about the waters drying up...I wonder if this was prophesied?
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  Sparlock the Wizard

  I honestly think it just comes down to them saving more money. Even in a bleak economy, I don't think donations must be lacking much.

  It just makes more sense to simplify and spend less on paper since most people that receive the mags end up browsing them and throwing them away.
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  Julia Orwell

  So then that begs the question, what are they doing with the money they save though?
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  Pickler

  Good question Julia, don't forget they don't have the usual overheads of a publishing company, and their tax free religious status. Most of the halls I see have been around for 20 or 30 years, so they are not buying new premises. Who knows?