Jehovah's Witnesses - how did they get so much money?

[Thinktank]

so here's the deal:

Jehovah's Witnesses don't get paid, supposedly.

Yet the organization is worth $1 billion, worth or New York's best
real estate. How did they get all that wealth, if no one gets paid?

And don't tell me the top guys of the organization don't get paid.
Every religion pays their top guys.

[grammafreddy]

Tithe?

[Mr Danksworth]

Heavy tithing and a culty insular community.

[Captain Awesome]

JW's don't do tithing, just FYI.

[Bsuds]

JW's don't do tithing, just FYI.

Maybe, but they sure do annoying well!

[Captain Awesome]

Maybe, but they sure do annoying well!

Well, so do you!

[Mr Danksworth]

The Captain is correct. I was mistaken. Thanks for the correction
It seems like they use community groupthink to support their endevors. I have no idea how much pressure is imposed on 'members' to pay their due. However, all indications point to culty manipulation to extract funds from the congregation.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedi ... #section_1

Jehovah's Witnesses fund their activities, such as publishing, constructing and operating facilities, evangelism, and disaster relief via donations. There is no tithing or collection, but all are encouraged to donate to the organization; Witnesses typically provide an opportunity for members of the public to make such donations as they encounter them in their preaching work. Donation boxes labeled for several specific purposes, are located in Kingdom Halls and other meeting facilities. Generally there is a Kingdom Hall fund for operating expenses locally, and a general fund for the "Worldwide Work", which includes the printing of literature, organization of conventions, supporting missionaries and disaster relief.

The accounts (including donations) and the financial operation of the local congregation are reviewed monthly with the entire congregation at the Service Meeting. (This meeting is open to the public.) Donations are also accepted via mail, and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society can be named as a beneficiary to an estate, and also accepts donations in the form of life insurance policies, pension plans, bank accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement accounts, stocks and bonds, real estate, annuities and trusts.

[Thinktank]

Someone once told me the Jehovah's Witnesses don't pay people.
I thought that's cool. Other churches make $1 million dollars and pay people
to preach, and pay people to do everything, but Jehovah's Witnesses are better
because they wouldn't need any money - BECAUSE NO ONE GETS PAID.

Now I find out, Jehovah's Witnesses are no better than other churches, because all the money goes into
accumulating $1 billion worth of prime New York real estate.

Now I realize I've been tricked.

[Bsuds]

It's all about the money!

[Sneaksuit]

If we want to have an ideological finger pointing party, let's compare JW ideology to Canada's, where we must declare and submit a large percentage of our income or face imprisonment. Our money is then used by "authorities" (people who connived their way into control) to pay some of us (police) to use physical force (batons, pepper spray, tazers), kidnapping (detention), and sometimes murder (police shootings) to coerce the rest of us to obey.

[BBaldini]

http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses ... -financed/
http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses ... id-clergy/

[cliffy1]

What I would like to know is: do the individuals have to pay for the magazines and books that they give away in their missionary work?

[Thinktank]

probably 25 cents each.

[Thinktank]

Over the next decades, the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, as it is officially known, bought up some incredibly valuable real estate as its operation expanded. Today, the organization’s portfolio totals 25 Brooklyn properties — brownstones, Beaux Arts multifamilies, modern high-rises and parking lots — that are said to be worth at least $1 billion.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/expe ... 41-billion

[cliffy1]

probably 25 cents each.

I have had this idea that the Watchtower society is just a printing company and the JWs are just another pyramid scheme where everybody makes a cent or two on every magazine bought below them. That is why they are so gung ho one getting new people involved in the organization. It would also explain why they are so rich - the Amway of religions/cults.