The Watchtower Letters, part 6

by NeonMadman 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman

    OK, back to the juicy stuff...

    After all that material on pioneering, you might think I spent a lot of time in the pioneer service, right? Actually, I was a regular pioneer for less than a year. It didn't take me long to get into the habit of fudging my hours (as so many here have indicated that they did). The ironic part is that I don't think I ever added more than 8 or 10 hours in a given month, which means I was still putting in 90+ hours. Now, I read on this board about pioneers who only put in 5 or 10 hours and fudge the rest!

    Anyway, fortunately for the cleanness of the congregation, there was an individual in our congregation who had been Assistant Congregation Servant before the elder arrangement came in (right around the time I started pioneering), but who had not been appointed to a position under the new arrangement. I had been newly appointed as a ministerial servant. He somehow became suspicious that I might not be putting in all the hours I was claiming, and took it upon himself to follow me around, and to gossip all over the congregation that I was lying about my hours. Eventually, the gossip got to the elders, who asked me whether it was true. I denied it at first, but soon after that, broke down and confessed. The two letters that follow are the result. Oh, and the spy/gossip? It didn't take him long to get back to being an elder.

    The first letter below is to me from the elders, "inviting" me to a JC meeting. It had a lot of identifying info, so the redacting on this one is fairly heavy. The second is more interesting. It came from the Society, after they had been informed of my public reproof. Notice how, after a few words of encouragement, they get to the main point of the letter in the second paragraph...

  • xjw_b12
    xjw_b12

    Neon. Geeez, do you think they were interesting in your wrongdoing and your level of spirituality, or just interested in getting the cash for the literature. What a bunch of a**holes !

    This would have been my response !

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman
    This would have been my response !

    And in later times, mine might have been similar. However, back then, they were God's organization, and I was a true-blue believer. Obviously, if not, I would never have admitted to fudging the hours in the first place!

  • blacksheep
    blacksheep

    Awe, man! I was hoping they'd get into more juicy details about the "wrongdoing." That was the only interesting part of the letter (hey, my JW wrongdoing rap sheet is a mile long!)

    What's up with the worrying about turning your literature for money? Geeze, major issue, right.

    Ah, "deprived" of the right to pioneer. That's like being deprived of the right to have an unnecessary root canal.

  • NeonMadman
    NeonMadman
    What's up with the worrying about turning your literature for money? Geeze, major issue, right.

    Hey back then it was. That's when the literature had a price tag! A magazine that sold on the street for 5 cents cost a publisher 3 cents, but a pioneer only paid one cent! And a small book, like the Truth book, cost the householder a quarter, but a publisher paid a mere twenty cents, and a pioneer only a nickel! So, if you add up, say 50 mags placed a month (which was a lot - the goal back then was 100, but you only made that if you left them at not-at-homes for free) and 10 books, why, you'd be making...let's see now...a grand total of $4.00 for the month for 100 hours work! No wonder there were so many pioneers back in the years coming up to 1975!!!

    So, anyway, the Society had to make sure that they got the difference between the publisher and the pioneer rate from me. Why, it just wouldn't be fair for me to rake in all that cash if I wasn't really putting in the 100 hours, would it?

  • No Apologies
    No Apologies

    Simply unbelievable, that they would want to make sure you did not "profit" off that literature you still had!!!!!!!!

    I guess they showed you! So much for your little get-rich-quick scheme!!!! LOL!!!!!!

    Oh, I also find it interesting that the elders actually wrote you a letter inviting you to a judicial meeting. I think nowadays nothing like that is written unless absolutely necessary.

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    Obviously water under the bridge now, but too bad it didn't come to light then, like if you had fought them on it. I'm not a lawyer, but I am an accountant and frequently deal with legal issues. You paid the price they charged you at the time the product was delivered. They can't retroactively charge you a different price. If they do then it becomes clear that you, and everyone else selling their literature are agents of the WTBS. I'm almost certain that this also threatens their non-profit status. Could have had huge implications.

  • lulu
  • TheOldHippie
    TheOldHippie

    I remember when I quit as a pioneer, they wrote me and asked me to count the literature I had and send them the cost difference. I still have the letter and calculation sheet; the sum total, in US $, was 3.77. They are careful when it comes to figures; not 3.50, not 4, but 3.77.

  • greven
    greven

    Talking about micro-management!

    SHEESH!

    They can't do that now, can they?

    Greven

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