Atlanta Int Convention 2014:The Big Party. Does this look like WT believes Armageddon is coming "soon"?

by AndDontCallMeShirley 173 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  twice shy

  They are a corporation. They are getting paid. There is an ulterior motive behind them promoting an entire city. People will stay just so they get their 5 minutes of fame. All of a sudden now they are being of the world. Posting peoples names and titles underneath their pictures. UGGGHHHH!

  Hmm, I wonder how many non college, secular employed witnesses can afford beautiful homes in neighborhoods like the ones pictured?

  When will Jehovah's anger blaze at his temple (organization) being a house of merchants?
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  GrreatTeacher

  I think one thing I ve learned from this thread is that JWdom is practiced somewhat differently in different places. Honestly, that house did not shock me. Plenty of JWs in my parents hall have homes like this. Many own their own little business empires. The area I grew up in had few pioneers. Everyone owned their own homes, modest though they were. It wasnt considered untheocratic to do so or to have a decent job, though most wives did stay home in the 70s and 80s.

  I just never saw people giving up everything to pioneer, though they were very zealous in meetings and weekend service. My dad was an elder who had a good job and was able to retire at age 60. He now pioneers. He's always owned a home. He raised 3 kids and my mother stayed at home. She did not pioneer, but she was and still is obsessed with the WT.

  But, more I hang out on this forum the more I realize that as dysfunctional as my upbringing was, I was spared the worst of the craziness.
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  snare&racket

  i wonder if the mansion in Wales (Anglesey) is simply summer accomodation fir the GB member visiting......

  They don't even hide it any ire do they.
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  Gypsy Sam

  A brother from Miami posted the video on a JW Facebook group I am still in. No comments, just "likes" at this point. His link still works.
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  Joe Grundy

  i wonder if the mansion in Wales (Anglesey) is simply summer accomodation fir the GB member visiting......

  I'll be up that way next month. I'll call in and check it out and report back.
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  Magnum

  A couple of posters think this video was intended for “congregations only”. I don’t think so. It had too much of a commercial, worldly feel to be just for congregations. It seems to be designed for the public. It’s too much of a promotion of Atlanta. There’s too much emphasis on the city, its sites and attractions, etc. There’s too much emphasis on entertainment. They’re trying to appear more normal.

  I think it was meant for YouTube release. However, I think they realized (maybe from monitoring this site) what we were saying about it and they pulled it.

  I think they’re testing the waters – trying to become more mainstream – mabye trying to be more like Mormons with their slick commercials.

  twice shy might be onto something. Atlanta was featured and promoted so heavily and in such a positive light... maybe they're getting some kind of monetary incentive from the city.
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  Apognophos

  Ditto, GrreatTeacher. I've noticed a lot of posters on here seem to have had very different upbringings than I did, almost like they were raised under a vow of poverty. It sounds hoity-toity, but it's not meant that way. My family wasn't well-to-do, but I grew up near the world HQ and assumed our JW lifestyle was the JW lifestyle. Then I come on here and see a lot of angst directed at JWs who have nice things. I don't mean to knock anyone, it's just a bit unusual from my perspective because these homes look ordinary to me.
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  nonjwspouse

  In the 'burbs of N Atlanta, these are homes of usually dual income, upper middle income families.

  I would find it hard to see how a "spiritually strong JW that will spend plenty of time at the KH", and the wife not work could afford this level of a home.

  Now I am sure there are some, but it is hardly "normal" IMO. The cost of living is cheaper where I live, and still those homes would be difficult to afford with the no college, no work that interferes kind of single income household.
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  Magnum

  GreatTeacher & Apognophos -

  I don' know of any JWs in my entire circuit who live in homes like those. Living in homes like those, esp in the Atlanta area, requres a lot of money. I can't imagine what the taxes and insurance would be. We must be on different planets. The org has stressed living simple lives and pioneering for years. It has suggested working part-time. It frowns on higher education. One can't work part-time cleaning houses or even at the local bank and live in a house like one of the ones depicted in the video. Are you sure you were JWs? Did you read the lit and go to meetings? Did you go to assemblies and conventions? I can't believe you don't find it odd that they would show those houses in the video. It was always stressed to me that this system was dying... was like a sinking ship and that we needed to live accordingly. The Watchtower in the late eighties said something like "Can you justify before Jehovah why you're not pioneering?" It was all about sacrificing and not being materialistic.

  I remember a (1990's?) modern-day district convention drama about a young man who was pioneering in an area where the need was greater. He was struggling financially and needed new tires for his car. He couldn't afford them. He was about to decide to go back home. But it finally worked out that he was able to get some tires for his car and he stayed in the territory.

  So this pioneer had a hard time just getting tires for his car, but he continued to pioneer. He couldn't afford a used mobile home. That drama illustrates the general message that I got from the org in the eighties and nineties about pioneering, lifesyle, etc.

  GreatTeacher: I just never saw people giving up everything to pioneer

  Did you see people pioneering at all? If so, how'd they do it? Did they have inhertiances? I did give up everything. I quit jobs, passed up others, had nothing.
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  kneehighmiah

  Magnum this is for congregations only. A couple months ago I posted audio only of the Detroit international convention video that was shown during local needs. the video was shot in the same exact format. It highlighted how great Detroit was and how the governing body cares about our cars. It emphasized that Detroit is safe. It featured shots of Ford Field, and showed a group of pretend delegates arriving at the convention and using all the facilities ammenities. These videos are only for the congregations and were not meant to be posted to social media sites like YouTube. it was posted without authorization. the purpose of these videos is to encourage friends to listen obey and be blessed. They are catching a lot of flak from friends who don't want to attend conventions in dangerous cities like Detroit, or who think the governing body's instructions on public transportation use are patently absurd. They are trying to hype up the conventions to the witnesses. worldly people don't give a a flying you know what about the convention.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK_0w8QcBTo