2019-August Announcements and Reminders! (page 2)

Dmitry

Bro Not Here

Yes! There is nothing new in the resolution itself.

But, I see such a formula for the first time. They orient oversiers on a fixed amount of payments, based on the number of publishers. Racket!)

blondie

I can remember some jws and ex-jws questioning why the WTS keeps buying property and building. The WTS just says that they are hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1986004?q=building+armageddon&p=par

‘But why,’ someone may ask, ‘are there so many expansion projects when we stand face-to-face with Armageddon?’ The answer is that Jehovah’s organization does not ‘close up shop’ with the approach of Armageddon. That is ‘closing time’ only for Satan’s organization. Jehovah’s organization is building for an eternal future. Whether or not man-made structures weather the storm of Armageddon, we know that God’s organization will survive as a going concern and that Jehovah will use it and those who loyally support it, establishing eternal peace and security in the glorious earthly Paradise of God’s promise.—Revelation 7:9, 14-17; 21:1, 4, 5.

In 1943, the WTS built some buildings outside NYC supposedly to start the school of Gilead, but more likely in the event they had to move out of NYC to a safer place (in case the Nazis took over the WTS?)

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1982604?q=1943+building&p=par

Because of the loss of liberties in many lands, and as a precaution for the safety of the Bethel family, a place of refuge had been built in South Lansing, New York. It was never needed for that purpose, however. Instead, under Jehovah’s direction the building was later transformed into a dormitory and school, called the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead. This occurred while World War II was still raging. In 1943 the first class of 100 students began. The school (from which I was to benefit later) was to be used to train missionaries for spreading the good news of God’s kingdom.

Saltheart Foamfollower

Just to clarify what the Global Assistance Arrangement is supposed to be - at one time congregations insured their own Halls and contents. At some point the WTS muscled in on it with the GAA and effectively forced all congregations to use it. Of course, in practice no congregation has ever made a claim as far as I'm aware, they just have to take care of repairs themselves. So in reality this is just another money making scheme.

Listener

Regarding the Special talk given the week before the memorial

Since the Special Talk will be a revised version of Talk No 56 "Into the New World under Christ's leadership" the current version should not be presented after 1st September, 2019

This would suggest that there is going to be New Light given. It always amuses me that they have new teachings but don't present them straight away, resulting in the fact that they are happy to teach false doctrines until they are ready to present them at their own given time.

slimboyfat

There’s nothing incompatible with belief in Armageddon and practical forward planning. I think it’s not a very compelling point to make, especially about Memorial dares. Maybe there will still be Memorials after Armageddon too, I don’t know?

If they are building luxury apartments for the GB that seems a more relevant observation to me. I don’t think the Watchtower directors of the 1940s, Knorr, Franz and so on, were terribly concerned with luxury. They were busy building up the organisation, opening missionary schools, translating the Bible, printing more and more literature, and so on. All their future planning was geared toward preaching and future growth. If the current GB are closing down printeries and building luxury swimming pools instead, then that is quite telling in my opinion.

dozy

When I was a JW there was a "Kingdom Hall Assistance Fund" , or something similar , which was the same as this scheme - supposedly an insurance scheme for Kingdom Halls. But it really was / is just another revenue earner for the Society.

We had a serious fire in the hall ( vandalism ) and we approached the Society to claim on the fund only to be told that the fund didn't really exist as a ringfenced pot and we needed to pay for & do the repairs ourselves. The RBC didn't help us as they were fully committed on new builds so most of the work was done by ( worldly ) contractors. It was really annoying as genuine commercial property insurance would have been half of what the Society charged our congregation and would have been a genuine insurance cover for this kind of eventuality. Our congregation was a small , rural congregation and we ended up having to borrow money from a larger congregation that had surplus funds and raise as much as we could ourselves.

We had paid thousands over the years into the scheme and one of our elders was really angry about it & wrote to Bethel ( even though he was very much a Society loyalist and not one to complain ) but was basically told in no uncertain terms to shut up and behave ( the letter was copied to the body of elders and was the typical standard cut & paste form "p**s off and trust in the Organisation" type of Bethel letter ). He was then suddenly and quietly sidelined from any convention or assembly parts because of his "attitude" ( before the fire he had been on virtually every assembly ). It was one of the "hmmmmm" moments that started me really thinking about the Org. The elder eventually resigned and moved away - I often wonder if he stayed as a JW.

2019-August Announcements and Reminders!