by Beans 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Here are some great quotes regarding donations! Notice how they go into great detail on how to give them your hard earned money. Many people have directed ther money leaving loved ones hanging with nothing, so sad! They even verify why there CD Rom costs so much!
Beans
" Unsolicited" my ass. The GB beg for money at every friggin' service meeting.
TR
If donations are supposed to be strictly voluntary, then there should be no reminders thrown out all the time.
I can recall many times where need talks were given about donations all the time. To me, that is the same as asking.
Excellent Point Lilacs!
I remember at every assembly I have ever attended, when the earlier announcements are read, a brother has to give the financial report. AND at every assembly, they always start off with how much money was on-hand prior to the convention, how much was spent to get it set up, how much has been donated so far, and for the finale - HOW MUCH OF A DEFICIT IS REMAINING. It never ceases to amaze me how at every convention the word "deficit" is ALWAYS mentioned. You will never hear "surplus" as in, "Thank you brothers for donating so much in the first day of our assembly. We now have a surplus of cash on hand, in the bank, and with the Society for this convention."
Quote: "It is at the Kingdom Hall that an unobtrusive contribution box is located for use by those who wish voluntarily to give money to support the work of the congregation."
So I guess it is unobtrusive when sisters flood the assembly floor and hallways right before the last song of the convention where everyone sees them setting up the cardboard contribution boxes??
Edited by - Jourles on 8 December 2002 15:5:18
To be fair, I've been to other churches and they push contributions a hell of a lot more more than any Kingdom Hall I've attended. At least the JW's don't stop a meeting midway to bring out the collection plates. Last Friday I attended a Christmas Concert at the First Assembly church in Phoenix. I was doing some volunteer work for a nursing home and we took some people to the concert. Well, midway during the performance the pastor had some church workers with buckets come out into the audience to get money from the people who attended, and reminded us that on the back of the program was a declaration of faith saying that all we needed to do was check a box showing that we had "accepted Jesus in to our hearts". LOL.
To be fair, this was a big extravaganza (i.e. glorious piece of crap) that you REALLY needed to pay the bill for, and serves as a contrast to the dubs who only need to pay money for the preaching work, the building fund, etc, etc, etc..... rather than anything remotely entertaining.
Also, at another church I attened with my boyfriend, the person with the colelction plate gave HIM a dirty look for not contributing!
But still, I do think the dubs don't emphasize money as much as the other churches do....
I don't attend any church but I have been to a few events at churches and I get a real laugh out of the plate being passed around. I pretend were playing hot potato!
But what really made me laugh was this guy durung the service was belting out the songs, seemed to be right into the church thing had the bible on the go and when the plate came around I expected him to put a decent offering but he was playing hot potato as well!
Beans
Yeah I have to agree with Preston on this one...Yes they ask for money, but it's not as overt as some other churches I have been to. This is one place where I don't fault them.
I went to Praise the Word church a few times. They passed out the collection plates twice, and the whole time explained how tithing was 10% and then went into the mathmatics of how much that would be for each salary break down....it was really quite hysterical. And most people whipped out their pocket books and purses.
the word "deficit" is ALWAYS mentioned.Actually surpluses happened at a handful of conventions I went to, so that's not always true, at least not in my experience.
Edited by - joannadandy on 8 December 2002 17:20:26
Sorry Joanna, maybe I didn't word that quite correctly. In my experiences, they always mention the deficit at the beginning of the assembly. If they said there was a suplus instead, how many witnesses will feel compelled to contribute? The WT can't have that happening now can they? Personally, I think even if they did have a true surplus to cover expenses, they would do the Enron shuffle and state misleading financials to suit their needs. Namely, more money.
