They've already disappeared if you ask me. Who are these people???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZaw1xe8Q70&list=PLKEA079oOeJxgo7V9OwjSc372np2Uyg4A&index=30
Question for SBF
by Fisherman 192 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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slimboyfat
Incognito thanks for some contrary views. Let me counter them. ;-)
I mean the new Bible must be a large expense because they are good quality Bibles and the material to produce them must be relatively expensive. At a time when they've stopped publishing most if not all hardbacks due to cost, it really stands out as a quality publication. (They even experimented with cheap paperback Bibles for a short period) Plus simply the fact that it's a new edition means that every JW needs one or two new copies, plus inactive ones, plus anyone else who wants a new one. I think it must have been pretty expensive. And now rolling it out to other languages is another huge expense it seems difficult to avoid.
You say they made one or two billion dollars from Brooklyn property, but that's not an inexhaustible sum. Especially when you consider they've spend just under quarter of a billion dollars on missionaries, travelling overseers and special pioneers a year. On top of that you've got printing, bethel staff, property maintenance, legal fees, web technology and whatever. Their overall running expenses could easily be more than a billion dollars a year. So if they made one or two billion from property, after you subtract the cost of the new HQ, it doesn't stretch that far if there's a major deficit.
Stephen Lett said there is an ongoing deficit. He also let slip that income from sale of property was being used to meet running costs. They can only do that for so long before they run out. I don't think they're in the luxurious position of being able to put money aside to live from the investment. The scale and rapidity of cuts in the last two years indicate an organisation that is fighting for survival.
You didn't mention the cost of looking after retired COs, subsidising poor countries on the basis of declining membership in rich countries, abuse claim payouts, declining donations from disaffected membership.
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Athanasius
Last year I obtained a copy of the Revised NWT (Silver sword) from JWs minding a literature trolley. However, it isn't what I'd call a quality publication like a Bible purchased from a secular publisher. True the new NWT has a sturdy vinyl cover, but the pages are cheaply glued to the spine instead of being sown as were the pre-1990s Watchtower publications.
If modern JWs use their Bibles like JWs did in the 1960s and 70s when I was in, it won't be long before the spines crack and the pages fall out and they will have to get a replacement.
In fact when I told the JW that I was surprised at the decline in the quality of their publications, all they could say was that the Watchtower had to cut costs as printing had become so expensive.
Guess I shouldn't complain as the RNWT was free.
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Fisherman
The SL 5/15 broadcast informed that wt was operating at a deficit -then- and disclosed that the money from the sale of one major property could only cover wt expenses for two weeks -then- besides the money from the sale of the other NY properties being used to finance Warwick. In 1/16 broadcast SL stated that contributions only increased 15 percent or less for 2 months. - Do the math!
So, SBF conclusions about wt financial crisis in his previous threads are not bombastic nor based upon SBF but are based upon the SL broadcast and looking at the cuts of wt products and services, downsizing, etc. seem to be evidence of the "crisis". WT has been cutting all non essential expenses and streamlining their operation. After all of these cuts, will contributions suffice at some bare bone point to fund the wt?
SBF, in other words, will the wt succeed in jettison all non essential expenses and stay financially afloat given the contributions. ( Of course, easy fix, everyone needs to contribute - but tha ain't happening even after Stephen Lett broadcast which should have flooded the contribution boxes.)
Also, how many people on this Forum would have realized wt financal state if not for SBF?
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slimboyfat
Are you sure it isn't sewn Athanasius? (My copy says first printing 2013, made in the United States of America, on the reverse title page) If it's not sewn then it's made to look as if it is. The songbook is glued.
Click on image to see close up of binding on this page.
Maybe the rNWT isn't up to the standard of some Bible publishers (although it looks pretty good to me) but against the standard of the cheap paperbacks JWs have been printing in recent decades it's a step up and must have been relatively expensive to produce.
Contrast it with the cheap paperback NWT you describe coming across on this thread.
And they describe taking care to make sure they last here.
https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/2015-yearbook/highlights/bible-made-to-last/
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no-zombie
My copy of the rNWT, which is made in Japan is glue backed with a fake material binding in the spine. Which give the impression that its been sown. You can peel it off with your finger nail.
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slimboyfat
Aha so it is. My mistake. Time will tell how robust it is.
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_Morpheus
Slim, the problem with predicting the fincial ruin ,and i hate to repeat myself and make you do the same, is that you assume there is nothing comming in simply because that rubber faced buffoon lett cried poor on a a monthly broadcast. They have cut back yes (it was obviously necessary) but that dosent equate to any sort of imminent demise.
They have money comming in.
They are not broke.
They will tithe before they let themselves collapse.
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sparky1
_Morpheus, I think you are wasting your time trying to be sensible and appeal to reason.When it comes to the exciting predictions of the demise of WATCHTOWER and Jehovah's Witnesses in general, the real facts of how American corporate business is conducted is ignored and denigrated. What is also neglected, from a religious standpoint, is how tenacious a 'true believer' can be in supporting and protecting the organization that brought them spiritual comfort and group identity.
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slimboyfat
I would like to see them try to tithe.
My first post on the thread said 10 or 20 years until real crisis, that's not exactly imminent.
I don't say they have a deficit just because Lett says so, but because the circumstances indicate it, and their actions confirm it.
Still waiting for some sort of explanation for how Watchtower will make up for their previous income from publishing. So far he suggestions have been that they will charge for access to the website or else they will tithe the membership. I doubt they would try either, or it would work if they did.
My best guess is the'll cut back to nearly nothing (staff of 200 or something ridiculous) and hope for the best. Get brothers to produce the website from home for free.
But cutbacks on such a scale may cause a downward spiral of congregations and membership. That's why I don't think a disorderly collapse is out of the question.