You can now get into debt using credit cards to donation to the JW's

by life is to short 15 Replies latest watchtower scandals

• 

  life is to short

  I knew this was coming but to actually see it was another thing.

  I am a huge Dave Ramsey follower where he hates debt and charging on credit cards. He totally feels everyone should be out of debt and pay cash only. That everyone needs to do plastic Plastic surgery to cut up their credit cards. He starts his show by saying "Debt is dumb, cash is king and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW the status of choose in America."

  I listen to him while I work and he makes so much sense about staying out of debt, etc. So about a week ago he got a call from a Pastor asking what Dave felt about putting card machines in his church so members could give their donations on line. Dave told the pastor that using debit cards was OK as it is like using cash but to put a credit card machine in his church would be going against the Bible as the Bible clearly tells us to never be in debt. Dave said to accept credit cards would be so wrong as it would encourage members to not be good stewards of their money and keeping them enslaved to this system who worships at the altar of debt and then they become enslaved to making payments that they should not have charged and that now they cannot pay back.

  To me Dave makes so much sense and then I see on the JW web sight. "The following payment methods are available: Visa, Mastercard, American express, and Discover."

  It just makes me speechless here a worldly person like Dave Ramsey gets it and yet the GB just wants their members to be enslaved even more than what they are by speeding money on car gas and car repairs while going out in service. In fact there is a elder who while he was a MS went bankrupt pioneering. The last time I heard his story he still felt he was right to bankrupt because he was doing Jehovah's will pioneering and it was not his fault that he could not afford tires and gas and the only way was to charge it to credit, but he says he was doing Jehovah's will.

  It is just crazy. LITS
• 

  fakesmile

  that is great advise. i walked into a little store the other day and the cashier said," the credit machine is down, we cant accept cards". i looked at him and said "so, you still accept cash right".
• 

  respectful_observer

  On a related note, they read a letter from the Branch at the Service Meeting this week highlighting several ways you can contribute electronically to the World Wide Work TM . One method was by sending an email to the branch (specific email address was provided) with "Donor ID Request" in the subject line. They will assign you a specific donor ID that you can include in the reference line of any checks you send them via online banking (even for monthly recurring payments, as was pointed out in the letter!). I suspect the donor ID makes it easier for everyone to track for receiving an acknowledgement letter from the WTS annually for tax purposes.

  R_O
• 

  Newly Enlightened

  WOW!!! Their greed knows no bounds
• 

  nonjwspouse

  I agree the debit card isn't a huge deal, but a credit card is across the line.

  I personally don't wrote checks much at all anymore and don't carry cash. So I use credit cards for everything then pay them off each month. I have self control and good money managment skills. However, the credit card is highly dangerous to use, even in the way I am doing it. It takes a couple months of unexpected big expenses, and BAM you are in debt with the CC.

  For any religious organization to allow donation by credit card is so unethical it's reprehensible. For the Watch Tower to do this is complete hipocracy, again.
• 

  wha happened?

  When this change ocurred, which contrdicted all their bashing of other religions for doing so, it was obvious they cared littled for the avg dub. They just want money
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Awake! December 8, 1973 issue on page 29, under ‘Watching the World’:
  
  "Church Money"
  
  Some religious organizations are going to new ends to acquire money. The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Buffalo, New York, now accepts credit cards, not just cash donations. One finance committee member says: "A church can’t survive on 50-cent [cash] donations." Credit-card donations are up to $30. Admission is now being charged visitors to London’s thirteenth-century Salisbury Cathedral. A London Observer article calls this "a last-ditch attempt to find a way of meeting the desperate need for funds.""

  In a WTS letter dated 8-25-2011:

  As in previous years, voluntary contributions can be placed in the contribution boxes either in cash or by check made payable to the circuit. However, a new arrangement for making donations by debit or credit card has been approved for congregations that hold their circuit events in Assembly Halls. Locations for making debit or credit card donations will be announced at the assembly.
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  As much as WT likes to think it's better than other religions, and has spared no effort to publicize how superior it views itself, WT eventually adopts the same tactics as the churches it condemns:

  Watchtower November 1, 1975 issue on page 651, under ‘Insight on the News’:
  
  "Pray Now, Pay Later
  
  The phrase "pray now, pay later" appeared in a headline of the Philadelphia "Inquirer" in reporting on a church experiment due to go into effect shortly. A group of ten U.S. religions, including some major Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist and Baptist denominations, have decided to try church collections by credit card. The experiment, sponsored by the National Council of Churches, will encourage participating church members to authorize credit-card transfers of a specified contribution to their church each month. The idea, a Council spokesman says, is that "this will provide the local church with regular income whether or not the local congregation is in attendance," especially in "off-seasons," like summer vacation time. The report on the experiment says that those joining the program will be "giving unto business what belongs to business—a profit." How so? "Participating banks will charge 65 cents a transaction, and the credit card companies will take off 3 percent of every donation." Obviously someone benefits, but how much spiritual benefit is the modern churchgoer getting?
  
  Awake! August 8, 2003 issue on page 29, under ‘Watching the World’:
  
  Plastic Card Donations
  
  "A growing number of Canadian churches" are adopting "modern banking practices, introducing bank cards and credit cards as convenient ways for parishioners to make collection-plate donations," says the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Debit machines have been placed in church halls along with "donation envelopes with options for automatic account withdrawal and credit card payment." Individuals simply swipe their card, key in the amount they wish to donate, and then put a copy of the receipt in the collection plate. As one pastor stated: "A cashless society is where society is going. Why not the church?" A church treasurer joked: "You get air-miles on your card, plus you go to heaven for donations. Just think of it as double reward points."
• 

  tiki

  the ever evolving standard. reminds me of the old saying 'if you can't lick 'em, join 'em'.....$$$
• 

  Vidiot

  Seeing a debit machine in a Kingdom Hall was the most surreal thing I've ever experienced.