by Iown Mylife 15 Replies latest jw experiences
Apparently it's both. The WTS has tons of real estate, and that's a blessing from above, a sign that God trusts them. If you get an awesome piece of real estate, you're not 'making sure of the more important things' and it's from Satan. It's all a matter of who stands to benefit from it the most.
--sd-7
The early disciples of Jesus had difficulty with this question. Not so much the "Devil or God" part, but rather, where material prosperity figures into whether a person has God's blessing. See Matthew 19:16-29. The disciples were flabbergasted that Jesus could so abruptly write off such a seemingly good prospect as the law-abiding rich young ruler. The view that Jesus expressed appears to figure into the difference between the Old Law Covenant and the New Covenant and why the New Covenant is associated so much with the idea of faith.
I agree with the sentiment that "material prosperity" is, to some extent, linked to personal effort and ingenuity, but also to opportunities that are beyond one's control (e.g. inheritance and the type of society one lives in). Under the Law Covenant, prosperity was often linked to God's blessing for being Law abiding and open-handed towards one's neighbors in imitation of God. This probably figures greatly into the disciples viewpoint in Matthew 19.
There is an interesting discussion in the NICNT-Matthew commentary about the Matthew 19 pericope and its relation to modern Western Society which is fantastically wealthy by 1st century Galillean standards. The writer (R. T. France) discusses the fact that Jesus did not require of his own disciples what he did of this rich man. He also discusses how various commentaries try to deal with the possible implications of what Jesus told the man in comparison with Western lifestyle.
Material success comes from many sources, but joke-hova is not one of them.
First, material success can come from your own hard work. You work hard, you invest wisely, you gain material success. Sometimes this involves staying on top of markets, so you can figure out whether the Rothschilds are trying to sell a market to buy it back cheaply (in that case, such as with silver and gold, you buy into it) or run a market up to lure people to take a bath (if so, you sell out). Or, you find a product that you can market. Many people work hard by starting their own businesses.
Of course, with joke-hova, you get so many obstacles to prevent this from working. You start a business? Too much time away from joke-hova. Get a fine job? Worry about that military contract that might come up. Work hard at work? You are missing too many boasting sessions and/or field circus. Invest wisely? Too worldly--real Christians don't invest but they trust joke-hova. Either way, your work is hindered. And, if joke-hova wants you just above the poverty level when you could have been in the upper class, too bad.
Another way is programming one's soul to attract wealth. This takes hard work, and most of us are programmed to be poor. Yet, joke-hova condemns most of this work as spiritism. What you get is programming to attract poverty. How many times I have heard "People are happiest just above the poverty level. Any more, you are miserable." and "One of the greatest trials and tribulations a Christian can suffer is having abundance of both time and money." from the platform? And, those experiences from the platforms and in the rags, and often within your own congregation, extolling people for cutting way back on their material success "for the sake of the lord". Many stories about people that quit their work, pulled a no-show so they could be at the a$$embly, or went part time and are now pious-sneers. They had to make sacrifices, but they claim to be happier now. Worst of all, the applause and approval--if just one person would shout "You IDIOT!" and start a round of hissing and booing at this, it would prevent this spiritual loss of income from the whole congregation.
They also program poverty into people's souls in field circus. How often do witlesses work the poorest territories? They also extol those who are living poor as "having a great advantage" because they seem to be the ones falling for the scam most. This is the worst attitude toward money--far worse than the "I can't succeed" attitude. (At least a "I can't succeed" attitude isn't making a virtue of failure, which actively programs your soul to attract failure). Most witlesses have their own homes full of cheap crap, which programs the soul to accept that as normal. If you have cheap crap, your soul comes to accept that as "sufficient". Myself, I have been surprised at how often a minor splurge has been followed by financial gain of modest magnitude, usually within 3 or 4 months. Also, I make a point of getting fine quality items--if I can program my soul to accept 250 toilet papers for a toaster as affordable and 65 for a flashlight (and think of it in terms of silver, to inflation-proof the purchase), it might not accept living just above poverty in future lifetimes.
Now, if joke-hova was in charge, I would never be able to get expensive quality items. I spend 250 toilet papers (which was, at the time, slightly more than 10 ounces of silver) on a toaster, they whine that they could have thrown it away. They act like "What's wrong with a cheap dish rack that cost 7 toilet papers instead of the metal one you got for more than 60? You could have instead donated the 60 toilet papers toward the Worldwide Pedophile Defense Fund!" Spending money on video games, toys that I might not need but could create a less dreary atmosphere, and quality merchandise programs my soul to accept more wealth (though it works slowly given that I have been programmed, probably for many lifetimes, to accept living just above poverty).
Instead, joke-hova wants me spending money on things that give me negative value. This is more than "blowing your money". Buying a field circus bag is an example, and it had better be one that I can enjoy for itself because field circus is negative value. Wasting funds going to a Grand Boasting Session where I am getting negative value is worse. And paying 32 toilet papers a month for bad luck is not exactly what I call positive value. That 32 toilet papers a month for the new Kingdumb Hell fund/Bad Luck In My Life was absolutely the worst waste of money I have ever made. And my soul paid for it--even though I only made 7 payments, the financial stagnation persisted for almost 4 full years. Anyone that says that you never donate into poverty is lying--if you are donating for negative value, it can--beyond the mere face value of your donation.
In all, in my experience, success has come from splurging a little. Failure usually comes after spending money on things that give me negative value and being around idiots that extol poverty. This is far worse than the defeatist attitude that so many people think is the worst--extolling failure is many times worse than merely acknowledging it.
Jehovah is one greedy god. If you read the joshua and the early exploits they are always boasting how much gold and virgins they managed to take when they killed the godless pagans.
WTWizard! i can't tell you how much i enjoyed your essay - very funny and very true, helpful and instructive. thank you!
WT Wizard, how do I program my soul to attract money? Is it a quantum physics/belief type method? I'm game, just tell me how.
This a good topic. The WTBTS is always saying that material prosperity is NOT a sign of GOD's blessing. Then they cite the wealth of BTG as an example. They say that false religions teach that GOD will bless you materially if you serve him. Then they say that is a false teaching. THEN..the WTBTS talks about how blessed they are with their expansion of " Kingdom interests." Jehovah is directing them, right? So then, Jehovah must have blessed them with over $800 million dollars in real estate sales. So is it a false teaching that Jehovah blesses people with riches or not? If it is Satan blessing people with prosperity, then who is running the WTBTS?!
