Seriously, all you who handled the contributions at the Hall and conventions, were checks okay?
Probably not, but donating your estate would mark you as "humble"
do jw's have to pay for watchtower mag?
by finger 15 Replies latest jw friends
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Nosferatu
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blondie
Checks are always fine. In fact, it is announced at the assemblies/conventions to be sure to put "Watchtower" in the Payee line.
I am so old, I can remember when magazines were 5 cents apiece. There was a time when publishers paid 5 cents less what they asked from the householder. Pioneers paid 5 cents apiece for magazines and asked 25 cents. The 192-page books were 25 cents. Subscriptions were $5 a year for 24 magazines. I think pioneers were subsidized a dollar or 2 on those placed with householders. But the day came when the pioneers paid the same as the householders, no more subsidies. These were definite prices. If you got 5 magazines, you had to fork over $1.25 right then and there (sometimes the magazine servant would give you until the next meeting to pay). One can see why the inventory of publications was more serious back then. I can remember it being announced that the congregation and $1,936.25 worth of literature in stock. Interestingly, the congregation ordered this without paying for it first, so this was $1,936.25 that the congregation owed to the WTS. If the inventory started piling up, the WTS would send a letter to the elders telling them to get it moving, in the hands of the publishers at least.
Blondie (oldtimer)
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Mysterious
When was the donation thingy enacted here anyway. I swear it must have been the early 90's cuz I thought I remembered mom asking a set price when I was really young.
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Scully
Blondie
When my folks first started going to meetings (late 60s), magazines were 4¢ each for publishers and 5¢ each to the public. The Truth book was 20¢ for publishers, 25¢ for the public.
In Canada, the Voluntary Donation Arrangement? was introduced in the spring of 1990, shortly after the government decided that GST would be applicable to all Goods and Services, including religious literature, effective January 1, 1991. When the GST was first proposed, I remember fretting about it in service, asking everyone how they felt about having to keep records of literature they placed and the money they collected for it so they'd be able to Render Caesar's Things To Caesar?. At the time, I suggested the only way around it was to go to a donation arrangement, the way the US had recently done. Six months later, that's what we were doing.
That the first time I realized that the WTS cared more about accumulating money than they did about sharing The Truth? with others.
Love, Scully
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blondie
It wasn't really that long ago ,was it. (Poztate)
Actually, in the length of a JW career, it is. Most of the JWs today have been in less than 15 years. Those leaving the WTS reflect that time frame. Many even on JWD don't remember those 5 cent a mag days even though it was only 40 years ago. Nowadays, being in your 50's is like being Methusaleh to someone who is 18 or 19.
Blondie