Using your car in service and still the GB asking for money

by life is to short 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  life is to short

  I listen to Dave Ramsey while I work. He is that financial guy who hates debt. I agree with 90 percent of what he says. I too feel debt is wrong and to live a debt free life is the way to go. Unfortunately being a JW doses not lend itself to being debt free.

  So yesterday he had a caller on that was talking about how she puts between 35,000 to 40,000 miles on her car a year. Dave told her she was destroying her car and that she needed to save for a newer one, not a brand new one but one that would last between three to five years as she would just going to turn them over with her high mileage.

  I was thinking back to when we pioneered where the need was great. We put 35,000 to 40,000 miles on our car and that was with 5 to 6 people in it most of the time that treated our car like a taxi. Slamming doors, getting mud everywhere, etc and God forbid ever offering to come over and wash or vacuum it out much less helping us out with gas money. Also we had to take every trial that was there. We treated out 4 door sedan more like a 4 by 4 beating the crap out of it on some of the worst roads you can think of, because after all the angles were watching and you never knew who might live at the end of that cow trail.

  But the huge difference between us and the women who called Dave was that she was making $80,000 a year US and was getting a car allowance on top of that.

  As pioneers I got nothing but to be told I was not good enough at the doors, etc. There was no way we could afford to replace our car, we just bandaged it and hoped it would last until the new system which was going to come really soon or that Jehovah the sky daddy would somehow drop a better car in our laps if we only prayed more, studied more, and went out in service even more than we were.

  I have often wondered what Dave Ramsey would say to a pioneer. Also it just makes my blood boil when I hear the GB begging for more and more money. They all ready put the burden of field service on their members and to ask for money is so unbelievable.

  LITS
• 

  Magnum

  I feel your pain/anger.

  As pioneers I got nothing but to be told I was not good enough at the doors, etc. There was no way we could afford to replace our car, we just bandaged it and hoped it would last until the new system which was going to come really soon

  Same with us; our cars got abused in service, too.

  As I look back now, I find it unbelievable how we worked so hard and sacrificed so much for the org. We had to pay for our own ministry with zero help. And yet, all the while, the org wanted us pay it (in the form of donations). We should have been the ones begging for money.
• 

  DesirousOfChange

  I cannot speak of it from the position of a pioneer -- never got suckered into that. But from the point of view of a publisher/elder, I don't think the cost of our "service" and our donations was much more equivalent that if we'd been giving a 10% tithe, which is what some of the fundamentalist church members do. We were fortunate to have pretty good jobs (not careers -- that would be bad as The End was coming before we could have finished any higher degree -- so we were fairly generous with donations, esp when there was a special need. I don't think it was as much as if I'd just have paid 10% of our gross earnings.

  Not defending. Just saying how it is.

  Doc
  
• 

  Beth Sarim

  I know our poor vehicles abused. All those starting and stopping the engines. Always giving up A LOT, getting almost nothing in return and then being asked to give more.
• 

  JustVisting

  @life is to short: " that Jehovah the sky daddy would somehow drop a better car in our laps if we only prayed more". LOL, you never heard the experience of the pioneer out in California who answered a newspaper ad for a car priced at $100 USD? The pioneer shows up to buy the car (he only has $100 to his name) only to discover the wealthy owner was searching for a someone worthy to "sell" their fairly new Mercedes 4-door SUV (service utility vehicle) for $100. The needy pioneer relates that they had been praying fervently because his car for service had just died and really needed a car for the ministry and presto, wealthy philanthropist to the rescue.
• 

  Listener

  Life is too Short, that is a good point.

  For many JWs the extra costs that they meet personally would be amount to more than 10% of their income and for most pioneers it would be way more.
• 

  life is to short

  DOC

  I get what you are saying about a normal person in the "truth" who has a well paying job or even a so, so job that by going out in service it would not amount to a 10th of your income it would be just a drop in the bucket for you.

  But when we were pioneering over half of our income went into field service. And what really got to me was those who did not pioneer and showed up without a car or told us that they could not use their car because it was too low to the ground, it had a rock chip in it, it was not clean enough, they had't gotten paid yet and didn't have money for gas and well since you go out all the time lets just use your car.

  I kid you not these are all things that were said to me, no joking. Most of the reg publishers who rode around in our car made 5 to 6 even up to 10 times more money than we did and yet they were more than willing to pile into our car and not even say thank you most of the time when they left. Yet I did get to hear about the great times they had on vacations, eating out, etc. And what really killed me was when they would get into our car and announce that they did't have any money until payday which was always at least a week away but when we went on break and I ordered my small coffee they always ordered lunch or get 5 to 6 six dollars in junk food. Funny how that works.

  It's just hard not to be somewhat bitter.

  Thank you Magnum you truly understand where I am coming from.
  
• 

  Athanasius

  What gets me is the GB begging for money to finance the preaching work. While the Watchtower corporation may give a small allowance to the few special pioneers still serving, field circus is paid for by the local JWs, and always has been.
  

  Whenever I used my car in business for the companies that I worked for, I always received a mileage allowance. When I pioneered, like the rest of you, I used my car a lot. Did the Watchtower ever reimburse me for my mileage? No.

  I
  
• 

  SnakesInTheTower

  I like ol dave, even if he is an evangelical christian. I bought a brand new honda civic in 02 right after i grad from mts. Assigned to a cong 75 miles away, but couldnt afford to move there.so i drove 150 mi. RT every sat, sun, thur, plus pioneering, plus later retail merchandising in 2 states....269K miles in 9 years. Being a JW with extra "privileges" is expensive.

  Snakes
• 

  OverlappingGeneralizations

  Every car I ever owned was never good enough. People griped non-stop about this car being uncomfortable, too low to the ground, no cup holders, no rear AC controls, too high to climb in, old van with only one sliding door, the sliding door isn't automatic, etc.

  I always kept field service in mind when buying cars like a good dubbie should, but I gave up eventually because the root of the problem is, the 'friends' were too snobby to ride in old vehicles. If it's not a 2015 honda then forget it. Well, how are we supposed to afford brand new cars when we're supposed to be poor? Hmm?
  

  Cars were always a touchy subject with me. I started to purposely leave things wrong with my car so I didn't have to drive. "Sorry brother, my car is acting up, can you drive?". I should have bitched about their cars, but I couldn't bring myself to 'return evil' to them.