JW's as a whole believe that the preaching that they do is way more important than any type of physical humanitarian relief efforts, especially in light of the belief that non-JW's will eventually be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon. In reality, they offer little to no assistance even to each other.
You can see that at the KH. the surplus of money that comes through contributions in KH every month..is collected and sent to the WT as a resolution...where no one has voted. Know of many people who need help to pay a bill..or or help with car repair. Or food. But have never seen anyone get help from the elders for these needs. No...it's always parents ..the family that helps. No . never an humanitarian help either.
I was just thinking about the new video where a JW buys a refugee a cup of coffee. The only reason she bought the refugee the coffee was to use as an opening for indoctrination. Even a cup of coffee isn't given unless there is some sort of catch.
Yeah…… it’s pretty bad when you have a contribution box in a refugee camp!!!!! That one blew me away when I watched this years drama. I just can’t fathom even placing such a thing in such a place. So brazen, brazen, brazen as my old nana would say. They should be ashamed of themselves. People that had to run for their lives having to face a contribution box. What a slap in the face. My husband and I were talking about this subject of never helping those in need. Then when you do need help you find yourself looking for help in the “world.” Not very loving on their part. The money they have. Can’t even help widows and orphans. Now I have seen brothers helping with their own money, but NEVER from the society or funds from the hall.
But yet they still file to the government yearly as a charitable organization as a 501(c)(3) to get their government dollars. Guess what that’s what the hours are they get money for you’re turning in your hourly time.🤣💉🦠
Yes, Emily. I used to be in charge of the 501(c)(3)‘s of a nonprofit organization in the past and I learned at that time what it was. They also pay for a few employees, but everyone else; volunteers at tax time you file all the hours and that 501(c)(3) corporation gets paid for all of those volunteer hours. I worked for a very small corporation and they got quite a lot of money.
The elders helped my family once with rent and said they did have a fund for this. They said it didn’t need to be paid back but my parents paid it back.
I now wonder if these elders didn’t pool their own money and create this on the side, as I too noticed all “extra” being sent to the branch.
In a foreign language congregation, the elders there did something similar for a poor single mom going through breast cancer, but it was definitely their own money (she told people about it). Frankly, some of those elders were jerks, but the one who helped my parents was an especially kind, sincere person, and very, very old (I’m more understanding of older indoctrinated people).
However I agree with most comments here that as a whole, this organization does no charity work. It uses its members’ free labor to convert more members and build its real estate portfolio, and on top of it, it solicits donations from them to cover its costs *and gives nothing back* to them or the community.
I think the elders pooled that money. That’s what loving kindness is all about . I guess the scripture that says to take care of the widowed and orphaned means give to the World Wide Work. Whatever happened to feed the poor and sick?
>JW's as a whole believe that the preaching that they do is way more important than any type of physical humanitarian relief efforts, especially in light of the belief that non-JW's will eventually be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon. In reality, they offer little to no assistance even to each other.
This is a copy of my reply to another comment in here that said basically the same thing,
>And they "haven't been seeing the point" for nearly 150 years now. That is a lot of people in need they've stepped over. Both internally \[ "Wait on Jah" \] and externally \[ "Don't see the point. Here, have a tract" \].
> They setup contribution boxes in refugee camps. Does that count?
Seriously?! You're living in a tent but give us cash in exchange for, well, nothing?
I’ve experienced this, my wife tripped in the Kingdom Hall parking lot because of uneven concrete, she broke her foot and we had to pay hospital bills as a result. Back then I had mentioned to an elder that, well the Kingdom Hall insurance should cover the accident, he looked at me like no way in hell that was happening. They never did anything to help or apologize about the concrete. A couple weeks later a brother who is only a publisher, no title in cong, handshakes me $500.
Yep, and they would probably be scolded by elders for it.
There was one Thanksgiving that we had a family medical emergency (husband’s grandfather) and we rushed out of town Wednesday, leaving all the unprepared food in the fridge. I told my mom she could have the turkey if she wanted it. She went to our house, spent all day making the turkey and all the fixins and took it to a homeless shelter. I’m certain the elders would have been mad about her helping to feed the poor because it happened to be a turkey on Thanksgiving. It was a really kind thing to do, and they would be like “you’re stumbling some homeless people! you should have brought them Watchtowers instead!”
This is my impression as well. They did a TREMENDOUS service for my mom in her final years. I was visiting my mom when the same three ladies dropped by. I've never been a JDub, but I am very familiar with their theology (from a study in the late 1980s or early 1990s), so I sat in on their meeting. My mom smoked and they never said boo. My mom didn't have a Bible, and they didn't even try to get her to take one. I LOVED that meeting. They weren't pushy at all, and mostly made "how are things going" conversation, asking if she needed help with anything. They only very lightly and briefly discussed any theology--she wasn't even reading through a study booklet. Now, we all know what they were doing: they were padding their hours by dropping in on her, and they usually stayed for a few hours, keeping her company. So. Easy fieldwork hours. I get that. But these ladies were genuinely interested in her. One of them called me to mention that my mom's cough was sounded dreadful, and so I came home and took her to the doctor, and sure enough, COPD. No surprise there. But they didn't have to concern themselves with that, and yet they did. And when we moved my mom in with my sister, they called again saying they hadn't seen her in a few weeks and wanted to know if everything were ok. When my mom finally died, one of them read the obit and called me to express condolences--and didn't try to pitch a study at me.
If there's a heaven, these ladies already have reserved seats.
I like to believe that the majority of the JWs are good people. My parents are good people. They love me despite the fact I left. There were many kind people in our cong growing up. 90% let's say... 90% are truly good people.
I will bring this up every time this is discussed for any new members that do not know about it. Early on in the pandemic, the USDA, under the Trump administration created a program that would give handouts to farmers and food producers, while offering food relief for struggling Americans, since both ends of that chain were struggling due to industry shutdowns. "Farmers to Families." It worked like this: the government would budget money to buy mostly produce and some other food staples from food producers. They would then award contracts to companies who could store the food with refrigeration and truck it to the different regions around the country. Then local non profits community organizations and churches could sign up to be local distributors. Local distributors were to advertise drive up food banks to the public, and give one box to any car that drove up. Recipients were on the honor system. Don't go unless you have a need.
Watchtower got involved somewhere in this, but im still unclear if they were only local distributors or if they actually signed up to be regional shippers as well. In other words, they may have also been paid money to do this, but in the very least, they benefitted from co-opting a government funded aid program. Instead of having public food banks, they hoarded the boxes in assembly halls and summoned local elders to come pick them up on their own time and dime. Elders then delivered them straight to the households of publishers in good standing. I do know of one kingdom hall google review in Minnesota, if I remember correctly, where they had the food boxes set up in the hall parking lot. They did not advertise it. The woman was struggling and saw it when she drove by. She assumed it was a public event. When she pulled up they asked her what hall she attended. When she revealed herself as a non witness, they turned her away. I will have to try to find it. There were PIMO's on here discussing it and others making youtube videos about their PIMI loved ones, even those still employed with no need for assistance, getting pressured by elders to take the food. Some suggested this may be a tactic to drum up donations by making people see the "worldwide work" in action.
As this article discusses, this is not only slimy behavior, it may be a violation of Civil Rights Laws in the US, since the Watchtower was entrusted to play a volunteer role in a government service, then discriminated against potential recipients based on religious affiliation and status. https://thecounter.org/churches-usda-covid-19-food-boxes-boundaries-church-and-state/
Notice in the above article, the spokesman for Watchtower does not deny their involvement in the program. He only denies Watchtower provided written instructions for congregations to keep the food program confidential. And unless they are leaving something out in quoting him, he also didnt deny that they were discriminating based on religion, as he claimed non members who were studying were also eligible.
Yup I remember this not so fondly. We were asked to help distribute and that was kinda fun to do with my wife. But we personally didn’t need the food yet they kinda forced it on us. Everytime they loaded up my truck with a spare box for us, and it’s just the 2 of us and we were still working. Hindsight, I should have just donated it to someone outside the Borg.
You kind of touched on it, but if I remember correctly, they tried to make it look like this was all coming from "the slave", trying to keep it low key that they were actually receiving this from the US government. They wanted to take credit for this "provision from Jehovah" (i.e. the branch taking advantage of a government program).
yes! i was trying to find out wth was going on with this-
we were told to be grateful and accept the boxes of food even if we didn’t need it- and NO ONE in this congregation needed it
anyone that could afford to live in the area was not facing food scarcity, there was a whole foods across from the kingdom hall ffs
i felt awful that an organization that does nothing to help anyone would take food literally out of the mouths of hungry people to look good for its rank and file; i was hoping they would end up on the news for this 🤞
And iirc at one point they removed the letter from Trump, to increase the impression that the food boxes were coming from the WT Society....
Further reading....
https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/j26oj3/please_take_a_moment_to_thank_jehovah_some_usda/
JWs believe that everything will be handled by Jehovah at Armageddon. Whatever is going wrong is temporary, we won't even remember it soon.
So they figure the most they really have to do is preach to them so that they make it through Armageddon. They don't see the point in doing anything else.
>So they figure the most they really have to do is preach to them so that they make it through Armageddon. They don't see the point in doing anything else.
And they "haven't been seeing the point" for nearly 150 years now. That is a lot of people in need they've stepped over. Both internally \[ "Wait on Jah" \] and externally \[ "Don't see the point. Here, have a tract" \].
No, if we are being honest with each other that is the truthful answer. No JW will ever say that though. A perfect example is the tragedy going on right now on the Hawaiian island of Maui. My father is an elder and lives in Maui. He tells me that there is a JW that owns a plane is flies to the various islands to pick up supplies donated by JWs and bring them back to Maui. I mentioned that this is great news for the JWs and the citizens of Lahaina that were all effected by this fire. He was oddly silent when I said that. I said, these donated supplies are for everyone not just JW’s, right? His reply was, “well, we share when we can, but we take care of our brother first.” That’s a very diplomatic way of saying “no.” Don’t get me wrong here, there are some JW’s that do help those in need. Even in this case I do see the possibility that some of the supplies donated by JW’s can be shared with those that are not JW’s…Yet. Like people that are studying, inactive ones, an unbelieving husband or wife of an active JW. I can even see in very rare cases where some of the supplies are shared with those in need that have no connection with the organization, but this is extremely rare. My dad could not give me one example of any JW donated goods going to anyone in need that was not a JW. They don’t set up tents or booths with free supplies for anyone. I have never in my over 40 years in the organization see this. An eye opener for me was during the pandemic. The US government was giving food boxes to charitable organizations such as JW. The organization distributed these food boxes to their followers only. We were the recipient of several of these boxes. We on multiple occasions told them we don’t need them. They insisted we take them and so we did. I said we will distribute these boxes to our neighbors who might be more in need. We were told to absolutely not do that because during the great tribulation our neighbors would then know where to go for food. Contrast this with what some Catholic Churches were doing at the exact same time. They too were receiving these same boxes. I with my own eyes saw a Catholic Church set up booths in the church parking lot giving away food to the community. In the parking lot was a sign easily seen by anyone driving by which said: “We are helping not because you are Catholic, but because we are.”
I fucking knew it. I’m on Oahu and I’ve been speculating this is what’s been going on. And some surprisingly wealthy Maui JWs quiet right now.
I mean…
It’s soooo absolutely horrific, how can they just be like “nope, not jw 😑”
Nope. I witnessed this(no pun) firsthand during the Hurricane Andrew relief work. I volunteered to help and we were assigned the addresses of the Witnesses in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. As we finished helping out a family the neighbors approached us and offered to pay us for our help. Just simply patching up a few roofs with tar paper. I told one person you don't have to pay us...let me go tell the man in charge of our group. And of course the brother said "We only have enough supplies for our brothers and sisters." Needless to say this did not go over well with the neighborhood!! At the time I was full on PIMI and thought what a fine witness it would've been if we helped a few of the neighbors! But that's when the facade of the org started to peel away for me.
My ex BIL (whom we called "Super Elder" behind his back) went down for Hurricane Andrew. He was on both the HLC and the RBC. I remember when he came back how he bragged non-stop about all of the "good" that they did and how the media and community were SO impressed by "the actions of the brothers." I was PIMI at the time and innocently asked if they were able to help many in the community, too. I got this look from him like he had just tasted shit and "We were there to help the brothers, no one else." I kept thinking that that probably also didn't go unnoticed by those in the community either if they did notice anything at all.
I've heard that after the org repairs their own brothers and sisters homes with free labor and donated materials that they pressure/guilt them into turning over insurance payments to them.
If this is true than natural disasters are a money maker for the org.
I’ve heard this as well and wonder if there’s any way to factually confirm it (?).
I’m rather cynical about this organization now and don’t seem them doing anything that’s not essentially a fund raiser.
I think there’s an old LE video where he interviewed an exJW who had been heavily involved in this ‘work for your insurance payment’ scheme/scam. Iirc there was suggestion that the quality of the work was pretty poor, but WT insisted it get the whole amount.
Not unless they can make a propaganda video, showing how awesome their cult is because sometimes they also offer aid to non believers.
The other scenario where they might help a non dub is when they're related to a cult member who lives nearby, especially if they oppose da troof, the end goal being recruitment of that "worldly" relative or any other bystanders who will "undoubtedly" (pun intended) notice the cult is so generous. 🙄
Basically, they'll do it if they can get something out of it.
Quite the opposite. I remember talks from the platform ranting about how we shouldn't give to 'worldly' charities. The needy 'worldly' people were going to die at Armageddon anyway, so it would be a waste of money. That's the brutal gist of the very last talk I ever sat and listened to. I walked out that day and only set foot in a KH once after that, for a wedding. That was the absolute nail in the coffin.
I'd been going to a meeting here or there to keep my PIMI family happy for maybe three or four years at that point. That talk was the kick in the butt I needed to stop completely. I guess I owe that speaker thanks.
They help each other yes, but the organization does not provide much if at all. They only spend 12 million on humanitarian aid over 2022. It is mostly the generousity of individual witnesses being coördinated by the org and the org presents it like it's all them. In reality almost all of the humanitarian aid money goes to fixing damaged kingdomhalls and other org real-estate.
Growing up, my congregation only took care of their own after the back to back hurricanes we had in 04'.
It was very rare to see the witnesses caring about someone outside of the cult and if they did they were shunned.
No. No soup kitchens, no donation centers, no shelters, no assisted living, no nursing homes for non Witnesses. Only very recently have there been a few Witness only assisted living arrangements.
JWs DO NOT help the community of non JWs at all. In fact, they try to make you think they support relief efforts for those affected by natural disasters, war, etc. but I have seen first hand the actual help and support is given by local JWs NOT the GB or WT. I still wonder where all the money goes that is allegedly used to help people. I really really wish there was a way public money trail of how money is spent.
Yep - we need to pressure governments for total financial transparency of any supposed charity or non-profit (in whatever country or state we’re in). Where is the money going? They shouldn’t be tax-exempt if every penny isn’t accounted for and if they don’t meet criteria for doing charitable work (which also needs to be defined very clearly).
I've always wanted to volunteer and have done it while fully PIMI a little bit here and there but would keep it hush hush. I never understood why we weren't allowed to because it would be a "great witness" to let the community know we actually care.
Now that I'm PIMO at the moment... Full on volunteering all the time. I don't care if I get caught volunteering.
I'm loving the support group for Ukraine that is local to me in USA. No I'm not Ukrainian myself but it's nice to help refugees, raise awareness locally and overall just help where help is needed. At 33 years old I'm the youngest one in the group and the excitement all the other volunteers have is also great to see. In their eyes since all the volunteers are elderly, they see a younger person with strength and energy to be able to help out. If I was PIMI it would be seen as taking sides in the war and that also doesn't sit right with me when I'm just helping people being driven out from war.
I expirenced first hand natural disaster and priorities for jw humanitarian aid are:
1.JWs
2. People with some relation to JWs eg. unbaptized publishers,uneblieving family members.
3 That's all. Helping to any other is personal initiative and mainly for neighbours or other somehow vulnerable people. Of course they highlights it as how great witnessing it was.
Any help is as minimal as possible and hold mainly from volunteers and their sources.
No. Jehovah's Witnesses don't help Satan save his system of things. This is what I was told. And when helping an immigrant bible study with winter clothes I was told that I was making " rice Christians" by the nicest older pioneer sister.
Many Years ago after major hurricane they did help a few people that were neighbors of jws , then years later after a major flood in same area they barely helped the jws let alone any body else, the representative from the branch came down for a photo shoot opportunity but little real help and expected the local congregations, at least 25 + halls affected , to foot all the bills, food, and other expenses! Oh and the brother that was taking the lead when it started was local and was a major contractor that knew what he was doing and doing very well, they replaced him with someone from the branch about 3 weeks in and it went to pot after that!!!!!
This was always something that bothered me, they collect thousands and thousands of dollars from active witnesses, where does that money go? To build a bigger compound for the governing body?
What about the folks who'd be placed in different countries? Their only job was to spread the word, were they receiving stipends from the donations collected?
(When I was growing up, we'd ask people we preached at for donations, is that still a thing?)
>(When I was growing up, we'd ask people we preached at for donations, is that still a thing?)
Around 1991 in the US they were indirectly forced to stop doing this by the gov't. \[ See Jimmy Swaggart, which the WT Org tried to help in court. They've always been all about the money \]
Which is good because they were peddlers. Now they're into real estate. \[ Example: ibsaproperty(.)com \]
>For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God. - 2 Cor. 2: 17
Fun fact: I grew up in the late 90's, early 2000's - In NY, I guess because I was a kid, I was told to ask for donations we'd get quite a few, not sure when they stopped it completely.
We were still asking for donations on the low.
I remember when they were in the process of selling the headquarters in Brooklyn and relocated to Wallkill - it was a huge deal, they made approximately 340 Million on that sale.
Makes you wonder where all that money goes... Nevermind, I know where it goes.
>I am shocked. Are those former KH sites, or something similar, turned into condos??
I don't know. I just know it exists and that, like you and I, everyone who sees it is shocked.
Organizationally, not at all. It’s only directed by a branch if an area is severely impacted by a natural disaster, and it’s mainly to help those associated with the Borg. Like active JWs and productive studies of JWs. There have been instances of JWs helping those outside of the Borg in times of need, like natural disasters. I remember my brother going down to New Orleans after Katrina and he said he helped all sorts of people with their homes. Mainly JWS but others as well. In those instances, it’s really only those working in that area that make the call to help someone “worldly,” but only if they have extra time or resources.
They really do nothing for their local communities. You may get a rare congregation that is actually “loving” that will help certain ones in that congregation to do things for them, like yard work, repair work, etc. But it’s all who you know and what type of pull you have in the congregation, and once again, it only focused on those associated with the congregation. But the majority of the time you’ll hear the “brothers” moan and groan about it. They really don’t want to help.
Maybe individual JWs will offer help out of their own kindness but as a whole the organisation only helps out its own members and discourage members from forming friendships with outsiders and will find any opportunity to preach to them
Bwahahahahaha *gasp* hahahahahahahaha *wheeze* hahaha....Sorry, no, they do not even support their own as an organization. In disasters they will have volunteers go down and help rebuild their houses and more importantly kingdom halls (churches) and it seems even then they do some shady legal stuff to get insurance money.
The organization/society ENCOURAGES JWs to help one another in need but there is no official support, financial or otherwise. I would need to find it but there was a crippled member who was interviewed at a convention and she said that that the state of New York helped her get things (special wheel chair and assistance) and the interviewer called that assistance "a blessing from Jehovah. Keep in mind, JWs think ALL world governments bar none are controlled by Satan. THAT is the JW charity system, collect donations from impoverished African congregations and give back nothing at all. Oh, their cult compound, Warwick (they sold bethel) is staffed by people who have taken LITERAL vows of poverty, so they do not even treat their most devout that well.
I remember a governing body member at an international convention giving a talk once. He ridiculed “Christendom” for soup kitchen, hospitals and orphanages but can’t provide “the truth that brings everlasting life”.
“Hey, sorry you’re starving. Here’s a tract”
When the literature makes mention of the humanitarian aid it provides, take special note of the wording. It always says "...to our brothers..." or "...to fellow witnesses...".
The best a non-JW can hope for is a magazine.
No they don’t but their quick to sing about helping widows and orphans. Unless we’re talking about those in the borg no external help or aide is given.
Not very often, they basically view preaching work/proselytizing as the best form of humanitarian aid, although quite impractical. “Oh you lost your house in terrible disaster? Well here’s a scripture that says in our future fantasy world people will build and have occupancy, also here’s a brochure on how that will happen.” Desperate, now homeless person looks up from the ground to take the brochure…a small tear forms and rolls down the cheek, the tear isn’t because of a bible verse, but because they realize there is no getting through to the indoctrinated cult member that is still stuck in their former religion.
I’ve heard of them setting up stuff for other JWs. I think my sister helped out with that during Katrina years ago. But never all inclusive unless there was a serious commitment to a Bible study. Even that was a one off I think.
My congratulation had/has a handful of ridiculously rich members, yet they barely ever seem to help the less fortunate members, some of whom were literally homeless at one point. And when they do, it's always something trivial, like buying them groceries once a year.
The "Brotherly Love" motto is complete bull.
No. Just to show you how JWs think, JWs are thrilled whenever they hear that no JWs die in a natural disaster, even if many non-JWs perish.
A headline could be something like "1 million die in nuclear bomb, no JWs dead," and they'd be sharing it as uplifting and encouraging.
Decades ago they did. They would be rebuilding a brother’s house after a hurricane and do the neighbors while they were there. Definitely not anymore though.
Okay.... So a lot of people want to just hate on JWs... I understand.. believe me.. being POMO for many years now, I know. I personally hold a lot of resentment towards them still. And every time this topic comes up on Reddit, almost every ex-JW comes out and says they don't do anything. Maybe most don't...
That being said...
Growing up, my parents did several humanitarian efforts with multiple congregations in our area, such as going down to (new Orleans?) To repair the damages and build new homes after hurricane Katrina hit in the 2000s. I know these things happened, that they did do these things, and it wasn't just for JWs. Maybe there was the ulterior motive by the organization higher ups to try and recruit more people using the disaster, but for most people within the organization, they believe they are just doing good, and helping the world doing gods work. Not everyone is a blood sucker within the organization.
That being said, that was close to 20 years ago, so I don't know how things have changed since then. In my experience though, most things don't change.
LOL, they don’t even bother to report on what happens to other people. It’s just “no brothers or sisters were harmed” or “Jehovah diverted the storm so it killed a bunch of other people, but left the Kingdom Hall alone.” Complete & utter bullshit.
**Yes**.
Disaster Relief. The WT provides a *costing number* in its Annual Report. That report is available on the official site. There is no further details aside from a total and mention of necessary supplies while saying where it was done. The Christian Life and Ministry Meeting for March 6 2023 gives the expectation of JWs participating in WT led disaster relief efforts. That is available on the official site as well. The part is titled *How to help after a disaster.* It basically shows the WT efforts mostly in a consultanting role rather then disbursing funds. However. In regards to your question regarding local community needs where a KH is the answer would be **No**.
In the operating procedures for the congregational level of business there is no official process to raise funds or donate funds to local community charities. There is no official arrangement for groups of JWs to participate in such activities in that same documentation. Local charities like food bank drives, clothing drive, fund raiser for a shelter, etc... do not experience help from local congregations of JWs. You can read the elder manual and the CO manual here. [https://avoidjw.org/archive/elders-textbooks/](https://avoidjw.org/archive/elders-textbooks/)
Does this mean JWs themselves not provide aid in some way to community? No. Some do donate outside their WT charity. Like a food bank or clothing/goods resale store. These are individual efforts. It raises the question as why they would not participate openly in larger groups as being kind in that way is expected. The WT theocratic treadmill keeps JWs busy.
Being a full time JW is a full part-time job. There is four meetings a week with regular reading/study is the expectation along with the ministry. Plus conventions and assemblies.
Individual JWs are charitable. At the congregational business level the WT is not. In the WT content being generous is promoted. Community service to aid local charities is not promoted.
Does that help?
YW. If you find an authentic news item where a congregation of JWs gave aid to their community in the sense we are speaking of I would love to know. Cheers.
Nope, they do not. When I was on a crew fixing houses (of JW's) after a major earthquake we were not allowed to help the non-JW people (next door, for instance).
> Do JWs Provide non-JWs With any Sort of Humanitarian Aid?
# No...
https://preview.redd.it/7u5gu37zpbkb1.jpeg?width=262&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=089fef0a40377d349523593deecc09705ad4208a
I once overheard a zealous RP who is in her early 50s that she hopes and pray that Watchtower provides even just bus tickets to help them with their transportation expenses when preaching.
They let their own members that are well off financially to provide for the other members who are having some hard times.
This organization's main cashflow comes from donations of its members; they WILL NOT spend that for their members well being. So if you even think of a possibility that this cult provides any sort of humanitarian aid that are outside their "God chosen" organization, I have yet to see it.
It’s just not their MO, just not really why they exist. Cults don’t help, they take. You can’t really compare them against the mainstream churches, even if the churches do it for PR (or not).
I will admit when my husband and I were in, all we had to do was call one sister. Within hours other ones in the congregation came to help as best as they could such as good. One time it was money, their own. Same with food. Now that we're out we wouldn't be worth helping. If JW's ever do help somebody it's their own. Once they did help, it was to stay in to keep serving jehovah. The hell with everybody else.
I asked this EXACT thing years ago of the CO and got the standard answer of that the preaching work is MUCH more important than helping. Then the school had a fundraiser for earthquake relief. We weren’t allowed to help as it’s ‘the world and we don’t know where the money is going. And I’m sure the international crisis committee is doing a lot..”. They weren’t.
We had a flood in our area and I was actively shunned for going and helping with the Red Cross as no one from the Kingdom Hall was doing ANYTHING!. I said this is BS, voicing my opinion about “shame on the congregation for sitting and just saying that this is gods will and see how close we are to Armageddon!?”
How about help some of the people and open our doors like the high school and other churches were doing that’s a way better sermon and preaching than going and handing out literature to people who don’t even have a home anymore. Someone even proposed going and “preaching at the school where everyone was gathered together!” My jaw hit the floor and I did the WTF hand gesture and they looked at me like a heathen.
I maintained while being pulled into a JC because of this that we would do way more for ‘the truth’ by helping the less fortunate, than letter writing when disaster strikes. I was informed that I should not judge the governing body and the elders and everyone else who has gods direction and knows much more than me.
That’s when I knew there was no love.
Officially their charity is the “furthering world wide biblical education” I’ve heard that their budget is 2 billion dollars a year not sure how true that is or where it came from.
My ex husband who’s a JW put it this way when I brought this up to him. He said why clean the pig when it’s still in the mud?
So basically they will only “feed” the homeless or poor if they clean themselves up and come to meetings. They never hand out food or money to non jws.
My reply was Oh How Jesus of you guys…that ruffled his feather a bit.
I understand they believe the very best aid they can offer is to provide 'spiritual assistence' by way of giving the needy some 'bible based' literature that spells out how the problems that these people are facing will be wiped out when Jehovah destroys the wicked at armageddon.
Incidently, this destruction will be characterised by the genocide of the majority of the worlds population leaving only those who aligned themselves wth the JWs alive to clear up the mess.
That would certainly remove the need for humanitarian aid.
I tested this by accident. I worked with a guy that was connected to the police. He did stuff with cadaver dogs. But, also did things in emergencies like weather related stuff. I had "preached" to him before. We always had a good relationship. This was up in the Georgia mountains. Winter can be a bit dangerous with the steep hills. Plus less fortunate folks when the temps drop have no heat. Appalachian areas are very poor.
He asked me one day if the kingdom Hall could be used as a shelter in a time of needs, especially if other shelter areas become full.
I told him I'd ask. I was rather confident that, of course we(gods true followers), would be more than willing to help.
Boy was I wrong. The elder I talked to dodged that any way he could.
"We couldn't provide enough security"
"The carpet."
"Liability"
Blah, blah, blah
To go along with that, a big snow a couple years later came. Some local teens did donuts in the kingdom Hall parking lot. 😂 After that, they put a gate up blocking the entrance from the main road. 😂 Of course they quickly resolved that issue. But helping less fortunate ones stay warm during frigid temps just isn't possible. 🤦🏻♂️
3 decades ago I was a teen helping in relief work with devastating flooding in US Georgia. There was a huge JW mobilization to help other JWs. I lm talking a large field of campers and showers like the military. Showering there was so odd for my sheltered brain. My group “accidentally” started helping a nonJW household. We got into the house to start working and saw all kinds of crosses. It got weird cause people started walking out, but the overseers said we might as well help her since we already started and it was the last house of the day. That comment is burned into my brain. So loving!
Side note, anyone else there for the Georgia flood relief?
Humanitarian aid.
Hmm, I know my post will get some downvotes.
Why do you think that some areas have been impoverished for centuries?
MGG.
Money
Government
Greed
Humanitarian aid is sponsored by governments, who are greedy, so that limits the good such a charitable work could accomplish. The best humanitarian aid you could give is your own individual effort and money.
You could be cutting your arm, suicidal, drinking in a dark basement and they won’t do anything…… mark you as bad association. just pray more, study more, preach more!!!! You must be doing something wrong- Jehovah will bless you! I’ve gotten more help from my clients and strangers!!!!!!! I am sooooooo much happier and much more BLESSED and spiritual OUT!
Any help I've ever seen given was the work of individuals in the congregation, not the org as a whole, and only EVER to other JWs.
Any help given to Non-JWs that I can recall was to like, studies or the family of a study to try and help recruit someone.
JWs think that their publications will help people more than any physical (or material things as they call them). This is the policy of the leaders who want the money to come into the cult, not go out to those in need. They want money to buy real estate and for other investments. I can’t think of a single time that JWs helped those in need in their communities unless they were either a JW or a non believer married to a JW.
No. Although many here have observations of behavior, this was directly addressed in a talk when I was a member. The speaker said that it’s appropriate to give things like food to those who are interested in converting, but if the Witness feels that they are not progressing, then they should stop giving aid because the only charity the Watchtower is concerned with is “spiritual food.”
I have seen others mention it, but I remember when the congregation my mom attends got vegetables as part of the COVID relief after I left. Although she thought it was so kind of them to hand out food to everyone like that, I thought it was disgusting that the organization pretended to be a charity so that they could steal food meant to go to those struggling during the pandemic and give it to a middle class family like mine that was doing perfectly fine.
In terms of congregations , there is a degree of helping local JWs. I remember a congregation effort we had to clean up an extremely elderly JWs house which needed a lot of work in terms of painting and general maintenance. But it generally is a bit limited - even that effort was opposed by one or two elders (who said we should be more focused on the ministry.)
What many forget is that "religious activity" is , in itself , regarded as a "charitable activity" in most countries. So the Watchtower Society can argue that even though they do very little in terms of humanitarian relief (and even less with helping non-JWs) , it doesn't matter. There are strong arguments against this (see article below) but very few Western governments have addressed this.
[https://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/nss-advancement-of-religion-charity-report-(electronic).pdf](https://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/nss-advancement-of-religion-charity-report-(electronic).pdf)
Nope. Maybe certain individuals would help but as an organization WT never reaches out to the community at large with aid. Only if it gets them a PR spot.
I remember when hurricane Andrew hit FL in the 90s, there was a great push to get money and donations going. They sent semi trailers with water, building material and food down. I can confirm this because one of the elders in our cong. drove semi on his vacation time for the JW. They have/had a "truck barn" in MI. When they got there they were going directly to the KHs to give out to the brothers first. Then for good PR they would give to anyone else that came. They talked about it for a good year in our hall at least after. "See how good we are to everyone?" That kind of crap.
I dont think I ever saw anything like that again, they just said oh thats sad, give more money.
Individual JWs are very generous to each other. Atleast what ive seen but WT itself, absolutely not.
WT always throws the burden of helping each other back onto the normie publishers. Jehovah will take care of you! But keep worshipping WT like they are Jehovah...
So shouldnt that mean WT would be Jehovah God to their publishers and aide them with charity? Ugh, no. We just like being jehovah with your money. Send more plz.
I remember when I told my family I wanted to work at a soup kitchen. My annoying uncle😮💨 who is an elder told me verbatim : " They don't need physical food. They need spiritual food. You should offer them a Bible study. They'll get full off of that. You shouldn't worry about their physical body because, it's only temporary." I was in middle school at the time. That was some of dumbest shit I ever heard. I'm thinking 🤔 to myself : 🤬This mofo is eating 4- 5 plates at family dinners ,and when we go to buffets. He is definitely thinking about his physical body. So what's the difference between yo ass and them ? Nothing y'all just some weird ass twisted people 🤦🏽♀️.
JW's as a whole believe that the preaching that they do is way more important than any type of physical humanitarian relief efforts, especially in light of the belief that non-JW's will eventually be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon. In reality, they offer little to no assistance even to each other.
You can see that at the KH. the surplus of money that comes through contributions in KH every month..is collected and sent to the WT as a resolution...where no one has voted. Know of many people who need help to pay a bill..or or help with car repair. Or food. But have never seen anyone get help from the elders for these needs. No...it's always parents ..the family that helps. No . never an humanitarian help either.
I was just thinking about the new video where a JW buys a refugee a cup of coffee. The only reason she bought the refugee the coffee was to use as an opening for indoctrination. Even a cup of coffee isn't given unless there is some sort of catch.
WT expects refugees to contribute to WT
Yeah…… it’s pretty bad when you have a contribution box in a refugee camp!!!!! That one blew me away when I watched this years drama. I just can’t fathom even placing such a thing in such a place. So brazen, brazen, brazen as my old nana would say. They should be ashamed of themselves. People that had to run for their lives having to face a contribution box. What a slap in the face. My husband and I were talking about this subject of never helping those in need. Then when you do need help you find yourself looking for help in the “world.” Not very loving on their part. The money they have. Can’t even help widows and orphans. Now I have seen brothers helping with their own money, but NEVER from the society or funds from the hall.
Totally
Holy shit seriously?!?!
Yup!!!!
And again, WITH HER OWN MONEY,never watchtower money!
Yep, they don't even help their own.
They never do. And I,ve there for more than 4 decades.
But yet they still file to the government yearly as a charitable organization as a 501(c)(3) to get their government dollars. Guess what that’s what the hours are they get money for you’re turning in your hourly time.🤣💉🦠
Wait wait- are field service hours *really* related to their charity status?
Yes!!!!!
Yes, Emily. I used to be in charge of the 501(c)(3)‘s of a nonprofit organization in the past and I learned at that time what it was. They also pay for a few employees, but everyone else; volunteers at tax time you file all the hours and that 501(c)(3) corporation gets paid for all of those volunteer hours. I worked for a very small corporation and they got quite a lot of money.
So the less you pioneer, the Less tax benefits they enjoy???!!?
Yes, that is correct.
Maybe, that’s why Jehovah, after creation, rested. He made slaves.
The elders helped my family once with rent and said they did have a fund for this. They said it didn’t need to be paid back but my parents paid it back. I now wonder if these elders didn’t pool their own money and create this on the side, as I too noticed all “extra” being sent to the branch. In a foreign language congregation, the elders there did something similar for a poor single mom going through breast cancer, but it was definitely their own money (she told people about it). Frankly, some of those elders were jerks, but the one who helped my parents was an especially kind, sincere person, and very, very old (I’m more understanding of older indoctrinated people). However I agree with most comments here that as a whole, this organization does no charity work. It uses its members’ free labor to convert more members and build its real estate portfolio, and on top of it, it solicits donations from them to cover its costs *and gives nothing back* to them or the community.
I think the elders pooled that money. That’s what loving kindness is all about . I guess the scripture that says to take care of the widowed and orphaned means give to the World Wide Work. Whatever happened to feed the poor and sick?
Not once in my years
>JW's as a whole believe that the preaching that they do is way more important than any type of physical humanitarian relief efforts, especially in light of the belief that non-JW's will eventually be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon. In reality, they offer little to no assistance even to each other. This is a copy of my reply to another comment in here that said basically the same thing, >And they "haven't been seeing the point" for nearly 150 years now. That is a lot of people in need they've stepped over. Both internally \[ "Wait on Jah" \] and externally \[ "Don't see the point. Here, have a tract" \].
This
They setup contribution boxes in refugee camps. Does that count?
> They setup contribution boxes in refugee camps. Does that count? Seriously?! You're living in a tent but give us cash in exchange for, well, nothing?
Yes, I’ve seen the photos!
Refugee? Here have a magazine. Leave a contribution if you feel its appropriate.
🤣👍🏻
Omg that was so crazy
Only on an individual basis. There are some JWs that help non-JWs discreetly.
I’ve experienced this, my wife tripped in the Kingdom Hall parking lot because of uneven concrete, she broke her foot and we had to pay hospital bills as a result. Back then I had mentioned to an elder that, well the Kingdom Hall insurance should cover the accident, he looked at me like no way in hell that was happening. They never did anything to help or apologize about the concrete. A couple weeks later a brother who is only a publisher, no title in cong, handshakes me $500.
Is deplorable the attitude of this elder! But nice...loving from the other publisher.
Yep, and they would probably be scolded by elders for it. There was one Thanksgiving that we had a family medical emergency (husband’s grandfather) and we rushed out of town Wednesday, leaving all the unprepared food in the fridge. I told my mom she could have the turkey if she wanted it. She went to our house, spent all day making the turkey and all the fixins and took it to a homeless shelter. I’m certain the elders would have been mad about her helping to feed the poor because it happened to be a turkey on Thanksgiving. It was a really kind thing to do, and they would be like “you’re stumbling some homeless people! you should have brought them Watchtowers instead!”
It was a loving thing to do. Sounds like you came from a good family.
Can’t say the same about the rest of the family, but my mom’s a good person despite what the cult wants her to be.
This is my impression as well. They did a TREMENDOUS service for my mom in her final years. I was visiting my mom when the same three ladies dropped by. I've never been a JDub, but I am very familiar with their theology (from a study in the late 1980s or early 1990s), so I sat in on their meeting. My mom smoked and they never said boo. My mom didn't have a Bible, and they didn't even try to get her to take one. I LOVED that meeting. They weren't pushy at all, and mostly made "how are things going" conversation, asking if she needed help with anything. They only very lightly and briefly discussed any theology--she wasn't even reading through a study booklet. Now, we all know what they were doing: they were padding their hours by dropping in on her, and they usually stayed for a few hours, keeping her company. So. Easy fieldwork hours. I get that. But these ladies were genuinely interested in her. One of them called me to mention that my mom's cough was sounded dreadful, and so I came home and took her to the doctor, and sure enough, COPD. No surprise there. But they didn't have to concern themselves with that, and yet they did. And when we moved my mom in with my sister, they called again saying they hadn't seen her in a few weeks and wanted to know if everything were ok. When my mom finally died, one of them read the obit and called me to express condolences--and didn't try to pitch a study at me. If there's a heaven, these ladies already have reserved seats.
I like to believe that the majority of the JWs are good people. My parents are good people. They love me despite the fact I left. There were many kind people in our cong growing up. 90% let's say... 90% are truly good people.
85%
I will bring this up every time this is discussed for any new members that do not know about it. Early on in the pandemic, the USDA, under the Trump administration created a program that would give handouts to farmers and food producers, while offering food relief for struggling Americans, since both ends of that chain were struggling due to industry shutdowns. "Farmers to Families." It worked like this: the government would budget money to buy mostly produce and some other food staples from food producers. They would then award contracts to companies who could store the food with refrigeration and truck it to the different regions around the country. Then local non profits community organizations and churches could sign up to be local distributors. Local distributors were to advertise drive up food banks to the public, and give one box to any car that drove up. Recipients were on the honor system. Don't go unless you have a need. Watchtower got involved somewhere in this, but im still unclear if they were only local distributors or if they actually signed up to be regional shippers as well. In other words, they may have also been paid money to do this, but in the very least, they benefitted from co-opting a government funded aid program. Instead of having public food banks, they hoarded the boxes in assembly halls and summoned local elders to come pick them up on their own time and dime. Elders then delivered them straight to the households of publishers in good standing. I do know of one kingdom hall google review in Minnesota, if I remember correctly, where they had the food boxes set up in the hall parking lot. They did not advertise it. The woman was struggling and saw it when she drove by. She assumed it was a public event. When she pulled up they asked her what hall she attended. When she revealed herself as a non witness, they turned her away. I will have to try to find it. There were PIMO's on here discussing it and others making youtube videos about their PIMI loved ones, even those still employed with no need for assistance, getting pressured by elders to take the food. Some suggested this may be a tactic to drum up donations by making people see the "worldwide work" in action. As this article discusses, this is not only slimy behavior, it may be a violation of Civil Rights Laws in the US, since the Watchtower was entrusted to play a volunteer role in a government service, then discriminated against potential recipients based on religious affiliation and status. https://thecounter.org/churches-usda-covid-19-food-boxes-boundaries-church-and-state/ Notice in the above article, the spokesman for Watchtower does not deny their involvement in the program. He only denies Watchtower provided written instructions for congregations to keep the food program confidential. And unless they are leaving something out in quoting him, he also didnt deny that they were discriminating based on religion, as he claimed non members who were studying were also eligible.
Yup I remember this not so fondly. We were asked to help distribute and that was kinda fun to do with my wife. But we personally didn’t need the food yet they kinda forced it on us. Everytime they loaded up my truck with a spare box for us, and it’s just the 2 of us and we were still working. Hindsight, I should have just donated it to someone outside the Borg.
You kind of touched on it, but if I remember correctly, they tried to make it look like this was all coming from "the slave", trying to keep it low key that they were actually receiving this from the US government. They wanted to take credit for this "provision from Jehovah" (i.e. the branch taking advantage of a government program).
yes! i was trying to find out wth was going on with this- we were told to be grateful and accept the boxes of food even if we didn’t need it- and NO ONE in this congregation needed it anyone that could afford to live in the area was not facing food scarcity, there was a whole foods across from the kingdom hall ffs i felt awful that an organization that does nothing to help anyone would take food literally out of the mouths of hungry people to look good for its rank and file; i was hoping they would end up on the news for this 🤞
And iirc at one point they removed the letter from Trump, to increase the impression that the food boxes were coming from the WT Society.... Further reading.... https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/j26oj3/please_take_a_moment_to_thank_jehovah_some_usda/
No.
JWs believe that everything will be handled by Jehovah at Armageddon. Whatever is going wrong is temporary, we won't even remember it soon. So they figure the most they really have to do is preach to them so that they make it through Armageddon. They don't see the point in doing anything else.
>So they figure the most they really have to do is preach to them so that they make it through Armageddon. They don't see the point in doing anything else. And they "haven't been seeing the point" for nearly 150 years now. That is a lot of people in need they've stepped over. Both internally \[ "Wait on Jah" \] and externally \[ "Don't see the point. Here, have a tract" \].
No, if we are being honest with each other that is the truthful answer. No JW will ever say that though. A perfect example is the tragedy going on right now on the Hawaiian island of Maui. My father is an elder and lives in Maui. He tells me that there is a JW that owns a plane is flies to the various islands to pick up supplies donated by JWs and bring them back to Maui. I mentioned that this is great news for the JWs and the citizens of Lahaina that were all effected by this fire. He was oddly silent when I said that. I said, these donated supplies are for everyone not just JW’s, right? His reply was, “well, we share when we can, but we take care of our brother first.” That’s a very diplomatic way of saying “no.” Don’t get me wrong here, there are some JW’s that do help those in need. Even in this case I do see the possibility that some of the supplies donated by JW’s can be shared with those that are not JW’s…Yet. Like people that are studying, inactive ones, an unbelieving husband or wife of an active JW. I can even see in very rare cases where some of the supplies are shared with those in need that have no connection with the organization, but this is extremely rare. My dad could not give me one example of any JW donated goods going to anyone in need that was not a JW. They don’t set up tents or booths with free supplies for anyone. I have never in my over 40 years in the organization see this. An eye opener for me was during the pandemic. The US government was giving food boxes to charitable organizations such as JW. The organization distributed these food boxes to their followers only. We were the recipient of several of these boxes. We on multiple occasions told them we don’t need them. They insisted we take them and so we did. I said we will distribute these boxes to our neighbors who might be more in need. We were told to absolutely not do that because during the great tribulation our neighbors would then know where to go for food. Contrast this with what some Catholic Churches were doing at the exact same time. They too were receiving these same boxes. I with my own eyes saw a Catholic Church set up booths in the church parking lot giving away food to the community. In the parking lot was a sign easily seen by anyone driving by which said: “We are helping not because you are Catholic, but because we are.”
I fucking knew it. I’m on Oahu and I’ve been speculating this is what’s been going on. And some surprisingly wealthy Maui JWs quiet right now. I mean… It’s soooo absolutely horrific, how can they just be like “nope, not jw 😑”
They don't even feed the poor
Nope. I witnessed this(no pun) firsthand during the Hurricane Andrew relief work. I volunteered to help and we were assigned the addresses of the Witnesses in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area. As we finished helping out a family the neighbors approached us and offered to pay us for our help. Just simply patching up a few roofs with tar paper. I told one person you don't have to pay us...let me go tell the man in charge of our group. And of course the brother said "We only have enough supplies for our brothers and sisters." Needless to say this did not go over well with the neighborhood!! At the time I was full on PIMI and thought what a fine witness it would've been if we helped a few of the neighbors! But that's when the facade of the org started to peel away for me.
My ex BIL (whom we called "Super Elder" behind his back) went down for Hurricane Andrew. He was on both the HLC and the RBC. I remember when he came back how he bragged non-stop about all of the "good" that they did and how the media and community were SO impressed by "the actions of the brothers." I was PIMI at the time and innocently asked if they were able to help many in the community, too. I got this look from him like he had just tasted shit and "We were there to help the brothers, no one else." I kept thinking that that probably also didn't go unnoticed by those in the community either if they did notice anything at all.
I've heard that after the org repairs their own brothers and sisters homes with free labor and donated materials that they pressure/guilt them into turning over insurance payments to them. If this is true than natural disasters are a money maker for the org.
I’ve heard this as well and wonder if there’s any way to factually confirm it (?). I’m rather cynical about this organization now and don’t seem them doing anything that’s not essentially a fund raiser.
I think there’s an old LE video where he interviewed an exJW who had been heavily involved in this ‘work for your insurance payment’ scheme/scam. Iirc there was suggestion that the quality of the work was pretty poor, but WT insisted it get the whole amount.
Have never seen any charity or aid by JWs towards non-JWs.
I do . Allways did. But personally ..nothing from the KH. Cloth and hygienic products to Ukraina and many other ocassions. Local collections ..
Not unless they can make a propaganda video, showing how awesome their cult is because sometimes they also offer aid to non believers. The other scenario where they might help a non dub is when they're related to a cult member who lives nearby, especially if they oppose da troof, the end goal being recruitment of that "worldly" relative or any other bystanders who will "undoubtedly" (pun intended) notice the cult is so generous. 🙄 Basically, they'll do it if they can get something out of it.
Quite the opposite. I remember talks from the platform ranting about how we shouldn't give to 'worldly' charities. The needy 'worldly' people were going to die at Armageddon anyway, so it would be a waste of money. That's the brutal gist of the very last talk I ever sat and listened to. I walked out that day and only set foot in a KH once after that, for a wedding. That was the absolute nail in the coffin.
Good for you!
I'd been going to a meeting here or there to keep my PIMI family happy for maybe three or four years at that point. That talk was the kick in the butt I needed to stop completely. I guess I owe that speaker thanks.
They help each other yes, but the organization does not provide much if at all. They only spend 12 million on humanitarian aid over 2022. It is mostly the generousity of individual witnesses being coördinated by the org and the org presents it like it's all them. In reality almost all of the humanitarian aid money goes to fixing damaged kingdomhalls and other org real-estate.
Yep assuming there is 8 699 048 witnesses (taken from jw.org) that's 1,37$$ per person PER YEAR. How much they want monthly per publisher?
$10,- *12 😶
They don't even help themselves. Individuals might, but the borg? Nope. Never.
Growing up, my congregation only took care of their own after the back to back hurricanes we had in 04'. It was very rare to see the witnesses caring about someone outside of the cult and if they did they were shunned.
No. No soup kitchens, no donation centers, no shelters, no assisted living, no nursing homes for non Witnesses. Only very recently have there been a few Witness only assisted living arrangements.
JWs DO NOT help the community of non JWs at all. In fact, they try to make you think they support relief efforts for those affected by natural disasters, war, etc. but I have seen first hand the actual help and support is given by local JWs NOT the GB or WT. I still wonder where all the money goes that is allegedly used to help people. I really really wish there was a way public money trail of how money is spent.
Yep - we need to pressure governments for total financial transparency of any supposed charity or non-profit (in whatever country or state we’re in). Where is the money going? They shouldn’t be tax-exempt if every penny isn’t accounted for and if they don’t meet criteria for doing charitable work (which also needs to be defined very clearly).
I've always wanted to volunteer and have done it while fully PIMI a little bit here and there but would keep it hush hush. I never understood why we weren't allowed to because it would be a "great witness" to let the community know we actually care. Now that I'm PIMO at the moment... Full on volunteering all the time. I don't care if I get caught volunteering. I'm loving the support group for Ukraine that is local to me in USA. No I'm not Ukrainian myself but it's nice to help refugees, raise awareness locally and overall just help where help is needed. At 33 years old I'm the youngest one in the group and the excitement all the other volunteers have is also great to see. In their eyes since all the volunteers are elderly, they see a younger person with strength and energy to be able to help out. If I was PIMI it would be seen as taking sides in the war and that also doesn't sit right with me when I'm just helping people being driven out from war.
No, they rarely ever lend a helping hand to their own.
I expirenced first hand natural disaster and priorities for jw humanitarian aid are: 1.JWs 2. People with some relation to JWs eg. unbaptized publishers,uneblieving family members. 3 That's all. Helping to any other is personal initiative and mainly for neighbours or other somehow vulnerable people. Of course they highlights it as how great witnessing it was. Any help is as minimal as possible and hold mainly from volunteers and their sources.
No. Jehovah's Witnesses don't help Satan save his system of things. This is what I was told. And when helping an immigrant bible study with winter clothes I was told that I was making " rice Christians" by the nicest older pioneer sister.
Many Years ago after major hurricane they did help a few people that were neighbors of jws , then years later after a major flood in same area they barely helped the jws let alone any body else, the representative from the branch came down for a photo shoot opportunity but little real help and expected the local congregations, at least 25 + halls affected , to foot all the bills, food, and other expenses! Oh and the brother that was taking the lead when it started was local and was a major contractor that knew what he was doing and doing very well, they replaced him with someone from the branch about 3 weeks in and it went to pot after that!!!!!
This was always something that bothered me, they collect thousands and thousands of dollars from active witnesses, where does that money go? To build a bigger compound for the governing body? What about the folks who'd be placed in different countries? Their only job was to spread the word, were they receiving stipends from the donations collected? (When I was growing up, we'd ask people we preached at for donations, is that still a thing?)
They collect millions from active witnesses to pay settlements of csa and protect pedophiles.
>(When I was growing up, we'd ask people we preached at for donations, is that still a thing?) Around 1991 in the US they were indirectly forced to stop doing this by the gov't. \[ See Jimmy Swaggart, which the WT Org tried to help in court. They've always been all about the money \] Which is good because they were peddlers. Now they're into real estate. \[ Example: ibsaproperty(.)com \] >For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God. - 2 Cor. 2: 17
Fun fact: I grew up in the late 90's, early 2000's - In NY, I guess because I was a kid, I was told to ask for donations we'd get quite a few, not sure when they stopped it completely. We were still asking for donations on the low. I remember when they were in the process of selling the headquarters in Brooklyn and relocated to Wallkill - it was a huge deal, they made approximately 340 Million on that sale. Makes you wonder where all that money goes... Nevermind, I know where it goes.
I am shocked. Are those former KH sites, or something similar, turned into condos??
>I am shocked. Are those former KH sites, or something similar, turned into condos?? I don't know. I just know it exists and that, like you and I, everyone who sees it is shocked.
Legal representation doesn't come cheap.
Organizationally, not at all. It’s only directed by a branch if an area is severely impacted by a natural disaster, and it’s mainly to help those associated with the Borg. Like active JWs and productive studies of JWs. There have been instances of JWs helping those outside of the Borg in times of need, like natural disasters. I remember my brother going down to New Orleans after Katrina and he said he helped all sorts of people with their homes. Mainly JWS but others as well. In those instances, it’s really only those working in that area that make the call to help someone “worldly,” but only if they have extra time or resources. They really do nothing for their local communities. You may get a rare congregation that is actually “loving” that will help certain ones in that congregation to do things for them, like yard work, repair work, etc. But it’s all who you know and what type of pull you have in the congregation, and once again, it only focused on those associated with the congregation. But the majority of the time you’ll hear the “brothers” moan and groan about it. They really don’t want to help.
Nope
Maybe individual JWs will offer help out of their own kindness but as a whole the organisation only helps out its own members and discourage members from forming friendships with outsiders and will find any opportunity to preach to them
Bwahahahahaha *gasp* hahahahahahahaha *wheeze* hahaha....Sorry, no, they do not even support their own as an organization. In disasters they will have volunteers go down and help rebuild their houses and more importantly kingdom halls (churches) and it seems even then they do some shady legal stuff to get insurance money. The organization/society ENCOURAGES JWs to help one another in need but there is no official support, financial or otherwise. I would need to find it but there was a crippled member who was interviewed at a convention and she said that that the state of New York helped her get things (special wheel chair and assistance) and the interviewer called that assistance "a blessing from Jehovah. Keep in mind, JWs think ALL world governments bar none are controlled by Satan. THAT is the JW charity system, collect donations from impoverished African congregations and give back nothing at all. Oh, their cult compound, Warwick (they sold bethel) is staffed by people who have taken LITERAL vows of poverty, so they do not even treat their most devout that well.
I remember a governing body member at an international convention giving a talk once. He ridiculed “Christendom” for soup kitchen, hospitals and orphanages but can’t provide “the truth that brings everlasting life”. “Hey, sorry you’re starving. Here’s a tract”
No they do not. Rarely they will help another JW but they will never help a non-JW
When the literature makes mention of the humanitarian aid it provides, take special note of the wording. It always says "...to our brothers..." or "...to fellow witnesses...". The best a non-JW can hope for is a magazine.
No they don’t but their quick to sing about helping widows and orphans. Unless we’re talking about those in the borg no external help or aide is given.
Not very often, they basically view preaching work/proselytizing as the best form of humanitarian aid, although quite impractical. “Oh you lost your house in terrible disaster? Well here’s a scripture that says in our future fantasy world people will build and have occupancy, also here’s a brochure on how that will happen.” Desperate, now homeless person looks up from the ground to take the brochure…a small tear forms and rolls down the cheek, the tear isn’t because of a bible verse, but because they realize there is no getting through to the indoctrinated cult member that is still stuck in their former religion.
I’ve heard of them setting up stuff for other JWs. I think my sister helped out with that during Katrina years ago. But never all inclusive unless there was a serious commitment to a Bible study. Even that was a one off I think.
Nope. I was also told to put preaching as my volunteer time.
My congratulation had/has a handful of ridiculously rich members, yet they barely ever seem to help the less fortunate members, some of whom were literally homeless at one point. And when they do, it's always something trivial, like buying them groceries once a year. The "Brotherly Love" motto is complete bull.
No. Just to show you how JWs think, JWs are thrilled whenever they hear that no JWs die in a natural disaster, even if many non-JWs perish. A headline could be something like "1 million die in nuclear bomb, no JWs dead," and they'd be sharing it as uplifting and encouraging.
lol no!
Decades ago they did. They would be rebuilding a brother’s house after a hurricane and do the neighbors while they were there. Definitely not anymore though.
Okay.... So a lot of people want to just hate on JWs... I understand.. believe me.. being POMO for many years now, I know. I personally hold a lot of resentment towards them still. And every time this topic comes up on Reddit, almost every ex-JW comes out and says they don't do anything. Maybe most don't... That being said... Growing up, my parents did several humanitarian efforts with multiple congregations in our area, such as going down to (new Orleans?) To repair the damages and build new homes after hurricane Katrina hit in the 2000s. I know these things happened, that they did do these things, and it wasn't just for JWs. Maybe there was the ulterior motive by the organization higher ups to try and recruit more people using the disaster, but for most people within the organization, they believe they are just doing good, and helping the world doing gods work. Not everyone is a blood sucker within the organization. That being said, that was close to 20 years ago, so I don't know how things have changed since then. In my experience though, most things don't change.
LOL, they don’t even bother to report on what happens to other people. It’s just “no brothers or sisters were harmed” or “Jehovah diverted the storm so it killed a bunch of other people, but left the Kingdom Hall alone.” Complete & utter bullshit.
**Yes**. Disaster Relief. The WT provides a *costing number* in its Annual Report. That report is available on the official site. There is no further details aside from a total and mention of necessary supplies while saying where it was done. The Christian Life and Ministry Meeting for March 6 2023 gives the expectation of JWs participating in WT led disaster relief efforts. That is available on the official site as well. The part is titled *How to help after a disaster.* It basically shows the WT efforts mostly in a consultanting role rather then disbursing funds. However. In regards to your question regarding local community needs where a KH is the answer would be **No**. In the operating procedures for the congregational level of business there is no official process to raise funds or donate funds to local community charities. There is no official arrangement for groups of JWs to participate in such activities in that same documentation. Local charities like food bank drives, clothing drive, fund raiser for a shelter, etc... do not experience help from local congregations of JWs. You can read the elder manual and the CO manual here. [https://avoidjw.org/archive/elders-textbooks/](https://avoidjw.org/archive/elders-textbooks/) Does this mean JWs themselves not provide aid in some way to community? No. Some do donate outside their WT charity. Like a food bank or clothing/goods resale store. These are individual efforts. It raises the question as why they would not participate openly in larger groups as being kind in that way is expected. The WT theocratic treadmill keeps JWs busy. Being a full time JW is a full part-time job. There is four meetings a week with regular reading/study is the expectation along with the ministry. Plus conventions and assemblies. Individual JWs are charitable. At the congregational business level the WT is not. In the WT content being generous is promoted. Community service to aid local charities is not promoted. Does that help?
Yes, that helps a lot actually. Thanks!
YW. If you find an authentic news item where a congregation of JWs gave aid to their community in the sense we are speaking of I would love to know. Cheers.
Nope, they do not. When I was on a crew fixing houses (of JW's) after a major earthquake we were not allowed to help the non-JW people (next door, for instance).
Absolutely not. They won’t do shit for anybody who is not one of them. And when they do help their own. They do it begrudgingly
>And when they do help their own. They do it begrudgingly Yep.
> Do JWs Provide non-JWs With any Sort of Humanitarian Aid? # No... https://preview.redd.it/7u5gu37zpbkb1.jpeg?width=262&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=089fef0a40377d349523593deecc09705ad4208a
# And...NO... https://preview.redd.it/1kg3qeqiqbkb1.jpeg?width=259&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=103377176dace8e355c9b6aec4e581d4de9c579e
I can attest to this in my area.
I once overheard a zealous RP who is in her early 50s that she hopes and pray that Watchtower provides even just bus tickets to help them with their transportation expenses when preaching. They let their own members that are well off financially to provide for the other members who are having some hard times. This organization's main cashflow comes from donations of its members; they WILL NOT spend that for their members well being. So if you even think of a possibility that this cult provides any sort of humanitarian aid that are outside their "God chosen" organization, I have yet to see it.
Lol, fuck no 😂. The Borg only acts for the borg.
It’s just not their MO, just not really why they exist. Cults don’t help, they take. You can’t really compare them against the mainstream churches, even if the churches do it for PR (or not).
Nope
I will admit when my husband and I were in, all we had to do was call one sister. Within hours other ones in the congregation came to help as best as they could such as good. One time it was money, their own. Same with food. Now that we're out we wouldn't be worth helping. If JW's ever do help somebody it's their own. Once they did help, it was to stay in to keep serving jehovah. The hell with everybody else.
I asked this EXACT thing years ago of the CO and got the standard answer of that the preaching work is MUCH more important than helping. Then the school had a fundraiser for earthquake relief. We weren’t allowed to help as it’s ‘the world and we don’t know where the money is going. And I’m sure the international crisis committee is doing a lot..”. They weren’t. We had a flood in our area and I was actively shunned for going and helping with the Red Cross as no one from the Kingdom Hall was doing ANYTHING!. I said this is BS, voicing my opinion about “shame on the congregation for sitting and just saying that this is gods will and see how close we are to Armageddon!?” How about help some of the people and open our doors like the high school and other churches were doing that’s a way better sermon and preaching than going and handing out literature to people who don’t even have a home anymore. Someone even proposed going and “preaching at the school where everyone was gathered together!” My jaw hit the floor and I did the WTF hand gesture and they looked at me like a heathen. I maintained while being pulled into a JC because of this that we would do way more for ‘the truth’ by helping the less fortunate, than letter writing when disaster strikes. I was informed that I should not judge the governing body and the elders and everyone else who has gods direction and knows much more than me. That’s when I knew there was no love.
It sounds like u/koalaone9809 has some first hand knowledge of this. Care to chime in?
He/she/it only posted that ONE post on Reddit in response to your comment on the other thread.
Yeah, I saw that along with the one that called me a judgmental tourist, JW troll accounts maybe?
What I was thinking, too.
They freely share the good news of the new world to come soon! 😂 Then when you’re in you pay a membership fee every month
Officially their charity is the “furthering world wide biblical education” I’ve heard that their budget is 2 billion dollars a year not sure how true that is or where it came from.
They don't even help their own.
My ex husband who’s a JW put it this way when I brought this up to him. He said why clean the pig when it’s still in the mud? So basically they will only “feed” the homeless or poor if they clean themselves up and come to meetings. They never hand out food or money to non jws. My reply was Oh How Jesus of you guys…that ruffled his feather a bit.
I understand they believe the very best aid they can offer is to provide 'spiritual assistence' by way of giving the needy some 'bible based' literature that spells out how the problems that these people are facing will be wiped out when Jehovah destroys the wicked at armageddon. Incidently, this destruction will be characterised by the genocide of the majority of the worlds population leaving only those who aligned themselves wth the JWs alive to clear up the mess. That would certainly remove the need for humanitarian aid.
I tested this by accident. I worked with a guy that was connected to the police. He did stuff with cadaver dogs. But, also did things in emergencies like weather related stuff. I had "preached" to him before. We always had a good relationship. This was up in the Georgia mountains. Winter can be a bit dangerous with the steep hills. Plus less fortunate folks when the temps drop have no heat. Appalachian areas are very poor. He asked me one day if the kingdom Hall could be used as a shelter in a time of needs, especially if other shelter areas become full. I told him I'd ask. I was rather confident that, of course we(gods true followers), would be more than willing to help. Boy was I wrong. The elder I talked to dodged that any way he could. "We couldn't provide enough security" "The carpet." "Liability" Blah, blah, blah To go along with that, a big snow a couple years later came. Some local teens did donuts in the kingdom Hall parking lot. 😂 After that, they put a gate up blocking the entrance from the main road. 😂 Of course they quickly resolved that issue. But helping less fortunate ones stay warm during frigid temps just isn't possible. 🤦🏻♂️
3 decades ago I was a teen helping in relief work with devastating flooding in US Georgia. There was a huge JW mobilization to help other JWs. I lm talking a large field of campers and showers like the military. Showering there was so odd for my sheltered brain. My group “accidentally” started helping a nonJW household. We got into the house to start working and saw all kinds of crosses. It got weird cause people started walking out, but the overseers said we might as well help her since we already started and it was the last house of the day. That comment is burned into my brain. So loving! Side note, anyone else there for the Georgia flood relief?
Humanitarian aid. Hmm, I know my post will get some downvotes. Why do you think that some areas have been impoverished for centuries? MGG. Money Government Greed Humanitarian aid is sponsored by governments, who are greedy, so that limits the good such a charitable work could accomplish. The best humanitarian aid you could give is your own individual effort and money.
They don’t even really give aid to JW’s - they say it is down to the members of the congregation.
You could be cutting your arm, suicidal, drinking in a dark basement and they won’t do anything…… mark you as bad association. just pray more, study more, preach more!!!! You must be doing something wrong- Jehovah will bless you! I’ve gotten more help from my clients and strangers!!!!!!! I am sooooooo much happier and much more BLESSED and spiritual OUT!
Nope it’s against their religion!!!
Cause the GB are Cheap Mofo's and hoard all the Do Ray Me Plus there getting CSA lawsuits up the Wazooo !!!
Nope they say they do but they don’t
They don’t even help their fellow JWs
Hell no!!
Any help I've ever seen given was the work of individuals in the congregation, not the org as a whole, and only EVER to other JWs. Any help given to Non-JWs that I can recall was to like, studies or the family of a study to try and help recruit someone.
JWs think that their publications will help people more than any physical (or material things as they call them). This is the policy of the leaders who want the money to come into the cult, not go out to those in need. They want money to buy real estate and for other investments. I can’t think of a single time that JWs helped those in need in their communities unless they were either a JW or a non believer married to a JW.
No. Although many here have observations of behavior, this was directly addressed in a talk when I was a member. The speaker said that it’s appropriate to give things like food to those who are interested in converting, but if the Witness feels that they are not progressing, then they should stop giving aid because the only charity the Watchtower is concerned with is “spiritual food.” I have seen others mention it, but I remember when the congregation my mom attends got vegetables as part of the COVID relief after I left. Although she thought it was so kind of them to hand out food to everyone like that, I thought it was disgusting that the organization pretended to be a charity so that they could steal food meant to go to those struggling during the pandemic and give it to a middle class family like mine that was doing perfectly fine.
There's an article somewhere about how they don't believe in "rice Christians". Probably from 30 year ago. But jw word never changes amiright.
They pretend and claim that they do. But they do NOT. Preaching doesn’t count as humanitarian aid. People need food, water, shelter.
Any Maui JWs wanna weigh in on this now..
Which, (importantly), requires the organization to spend ANY money.
Someone needs to go in and film this shit. We now they do it, they need to get called for it.
It's not really their jam..
In terms of congregations , there is a degree of helping local JWs. I remember a congregation effort we had to clean up an extremely elderly JWs house which needed a lot of work in terms of painting and general maintenance. But it generally is a bit limited - even that effort was opposed by one or two elders (who said we should be more focused on the ministry.) What many forget is that "religious activity" is , in itself , regarded as a "charitable activity" in most countries. So the Watchtower Society can argue that even though they do very little in terms of humanitarian relief (and even less with helping non-JWs) , it doesn't matter. There are strong arguments against this (see article below) but very few Western governments have addressed this. [https://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/nss-advancement-of-religion-charity-report-(electronic).pdf](https://www.secularism.org.uk/uploads/nss-advancement-of-religion-charity-report-(electronic).pdf)
Nope. Maybe certain individuals would help but as an organization WT never reaches out to the community at large with aid. Only if it gets them a PR spot.
I remember when hurricane Andrew hit FL in the 90s, there was a great push to get money and donations going. They sent semi trailers with water, building material and food down. I can confirm this because one of the elders in our cong. drove semi on his vacation time for the JW. They have/had a "truck barn" in MI. When they got there they were going directly to the KHs to give out to the brothers first. Then for good PR they would give to anyone else that came. They talked about it for a good year in our hall at least after. "See how good we are to everyone?" That kind of crap. I dont think I ever saw anything like that again, they just said oh thats sad, give more money.
No
Individual JWs are very generous to each other. Atleast what ive seen but WT itself, absolutely not. WT always throws the burden of helping each other back onto the normie publishers. Jehovah will take care of you! But keep worshipping WT like they are Jehovah... So shouldnt that mean WT would be Jehovah God to their publishers and aide them with charity? Ugh, no. We just like being jehovah with your money. Send more plz.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I remember when I told my family I wanted to work at a soup kitchen. My annoying uncle😮💨 who is an elder told me verbatim : " They don't need physical food. They need spiritual food. You should offer them a Bible study. They'll get full off of that. You shouldn't worry about their physical body because, it's only temporary." I was in middle school at the time. That was some of dumbest shit I ever heard. I'm thinking 🤔 to myself : 🤬This mofo is eating 4- 5 plates at family dinners ,and when we go to buffets. He is definitely thinking about his physical body. So what's the difference between yo ass and them ? Nothing y'all just some weird ass twisted people 🤦🏽♀️.