by metatron 19 Replies latest jw friends
The Society doesn't have to pad their numbers. It's done for them at the local level.
The C.O. wants good numbers, so the elders tend to give them good numbers. Attendance? count every baby and make up an estimate
of who's in the bathroom. Hours? Come on Sister, you must have put in a couple of hours this month! Publishers? Only 15 minutes
is needed, brother Alzheimer! And some do just make up stuff for the C.O., it avoids trouble.
metatron
I heard the society has a "learning" center in Hawaii.... is this just a coverup for a vacation spot in 5star lifestyle for the upper class?
This isn't fact, just an opinion, but, the congregations that are the most worldly seem to be the ones who are more intacted than the congregations that are like totally cultish. My congregation is super laxed. You might even hear the occasional rap songs banging in the parking lot and you see some of the brothers and even an elder singing the words to it. Lol gotta love it. Plus you got your other congregations who are like predominently young people, who party ever chance they get and have the time of their lives. Those to me are the stable ones, along with the rich witnesses.
The only time I see serious problems is when people actually do what the WTS says to a tea and actually give up all they had and give up on further education to go out in service. That's nothing coming from the rich JW's right? Alot of times the wife can retire to become a full time pioneer cause they have money for the next 6 generations. However, when you see the people that aren't well sustained already then they give up everything for the work. That's when you start seeing the fist fights and the molestations and stuff.
This is just coming from me I know all congregations have these problems, just how I see it. Brainstormin I guess.
Comrade Metatron,
Your suggestions clearly display your counter-revolutionary leanings. To suggest that our local party elders are falsely reporting production figures in order to please the Circut and District Commissars as well as the comrades of the Theocratic Politburo is patently anti-watchtower-soviet thinking. Perhaps you should be sent to the theocratic gulag for re-education.
There was a saying in the former Soviet Union: "They pretend to pay us so we pretend to work."
There is an unsaid sentiment among the Watchtower party comrades: "They pretend to pay (everlasting life) so we pretend to work (field service).
Watchtower Educational Center Pacific
http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/1997/06/09/focus4.html
But according to Nathan Wong, assistant to the branch manager at The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, there is a great need for these types of facilities.
Better known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, the society recently opened a $20 million, 130,000-square-foot facility at the Mililani Technology Park.
The group established an educational and meeting facility -- situated on 3.4 acres next to Oceanic Cable -- called the Watchtower Educational Center Pacific.
The center will house programs based on practical direction from the bible geared toward businesses and community organizations.
Because of its massive size, the group has been approached by individuals wanting to rent the site for personal events but Wong said the building will remain purely for bible educational meetings.
The center features a main auditorium large enough to fit 1,500 visitors, smaller meeting rooms, and a multimedia facility housed with the latest in electronic devices.
The Grand Am scam [ hot dog!! I always wondered about this ]
| bigbucks
... YET ANOTHER Watchtower Bible and Tract Society non-prophet / for-profit venture! ... Click on the pic and you'll drive away in a Chevrolet...er, Buick! ... http://www.jesus-witnesses.com/bigbiz.htm - Cached
|
It's quite true that, for all their bashing of higher education and career success, there are pockets of affluence amongst JWs. And these are likely to grow as the passing of time transforms the WTBTS from a band of fervid radical ``theocratic warriors" to an institution with extensive assets, real estate, etc.
And not a few of the affluent class are former Bethelites. Besides the excellent work habits one learns there, they soon lose their ``new boy" idealism/naivete and get a first-hand view of how things REALLY are; not infrequently then, they opt to ``hedge their bets" once they leave, making up for lost time by pursuing personal acheivement and financial success.
The WTBTS is somewhat conflicted over this: much as the ``company line" is to put ``Kingdom interests" over personal/financial success, it's a class of JW the Society can exploit as a source of revenue and also for the perks they can often provide to visiting/vacationing bigwigs. So in a cynical quid pro quo, it courts the rich among them by granting status in the form of prominent positions, talks on assemblies, etc. in return for their contributions.
AS an example, there are several elders in a nearby congregation with all the accoutrements of affluence --- big homes in nice neighborhoods, manicured lawns, trophy wives, imported luxury automobiles, vacations to exotic places, lots of boy toys, etc. Any one of these would be thrilled to get a letter from the Branch assigning them to give a talk on ``Putting Kingdom Interests First" at an upcoming District Assembly; but selling off the old homestead and other goodies, and jetting off to a sub-Sahara African or Amazonian missionary assignment? That's for the other guy!
In this particular hall, there are nine elders, only two of which have dependent children, but only two of the congregation's nine book studies are in the house of an elder. Yet, the request to ``open up your homes for the privilege" is made with regularity, often unashamedly by one of these guys who never seems to think the advise applies to him.
As the saying goes round these parts"where the money is there the Circuit Overseer will be found" -yes call for brothers to lead a "simple life" but stay at the best homes and holiday with the well off...
Yes, core, well said; it's the same here.
I graduated from High School in the early 60's - strategically just behind the US baby-boom wave. My fellow graduates all surfed this population swell. Access to the best colleges was easy. State Universities were dirt cheap. BUT....
I was a JW. I struggled with industrial arts courses. My talents weren't in that area. I couldn't draw a straight line with a T-square & triangle. I couldn't hammer a nail into Balsa wood without bending it. My radio projects all sounded like prototypes of Moog sythesizers. The courses that interested me were not "practical" for citizens of the "New World". Science = evolution. Math was only important if you were pursuing science. Art & Music were self-indulgent. Dramatics was dangerous because you may get a role that's too "worldly". So I pioneered and learned how to survive cleaning toilets.
My dad was a college graduate. He went to college before he became a JW. He was a first generation from East European immigrants. My mother & father died and left me nothing. They divested themselves of all investments because the New World was close. But...
I now have two kids in college. (They are paying their own way) . Prosperity skipped a generation and now seems to be moving forward again. Fortunately my kids have learned the lesson and it won't be repeated.
This story has been told over and over. If you want to hear it, walk up to the gray haired brother who drives a 1982 Buick. Most likely he's not an Elder - any more. He's too busy paying for hospital bills out of his meagre self-employment income.
Better known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, the society recently opened a $20 million, 130,000-square-foot facility at the Mililani Technology Park.
I think I'm going to vomit.
Do the R&F's know about this? How typical - I couldn't go to college and have a decent career but they can rape the masses and live it up on the beach. Bastards.
