For those that don’t see anything wrong with what Tony did, I’m going to assume they must have been out of the religion for a long time and not heard Tony’s talks for the past 5+ years.
You guys are all completely right, there is nothing wrong with buying a dozen bottles of booze. It could have all been for one party, which he only was going to have one glass of. Maybe it’s his stash for an entire year. Others are bringing out he could have been skipping a meeting or service. Others saying he was trying to conceal himself with the hat. I think everyone is getting distracted by all these other things and not focusing on what was really wrong with what he did. In my mind, this is all about the money. This wasn't just a dozen bottles of booze for $20 per bottle like most normal people would buy, try 4-5x that cost per bottle.
This man has a platform to deliver talks to the entire World through JW Broadcasting. What does he do with that platform?
- He chastises parents who would even think for a moment of allowing their child to attend college to obtain a more secure financial future for themselves.
- He chastises members who take a better paying job if it means missing a meeting or field service here and there.
- He chastises members who lean towards a materialistic lifestyle of enjoying some finer things in life
- He encourages children to give up their ice cream money to send to the Organization.
- He chastises members for having nice homes, cars or boats when they should simplify their lives and put the Kingdom first.
- He chastises members if they put themselves in a situation that doesn’t look good from a worldly persons perspective and not becoming of a True Christian.
If you think I’m going overboard on using the word chastising, I’m not. Just watch him. He looks pissed off and uses words like disgusting when talking of these things.
This is an Organization where it’s been said more money is flowing out, than coming in. They say more and more Kingdom Halls have to be built while there not being enough funds to do it all with. Just a recent broadcast said there have been more natural disasters than ever before and the Organizations projected costs to provide disaster relief was going to skyrocket. That is a hint for members to send them more money without blatantly asking for more. They’ve encouraged members to skip out on all the needless vacations to give to Jehovah. They’ve printed how members can hand over stocks and bonds, 401Ks, homes, savings, land, literally any asset they own that has value to put Kingdom interests first either now or willed over at their death.
If this money was used from donated funds, that is an absolute tragedy. If it’s from Tony’s own account, it’s a shame he isn’t giving it to the Organization when he’s encouraging millions to sacrifice nicer things in life.
This also begs the question, if this was a rare case of taping him doing this, how many other times has he done it, or other things where spending extravagant amounts of money on things that aren’t needed has been done?
To conclude, this is my opinion only and if many disagree, I can respect that. There was nothing “wrong” with what Tony did. But what he did has now took away his free speech of any talks revolving around money and sacrificing it for the Kingdom. He can keep condemning ones wearing clothes he doesn’t approve of and I’ll laugh about it, but the minute money comes up, I will stop laughing and yell Hypocrite!