Did U ever wonder - if the end was so close - why were we building Kh's?

I always wondered why we were not spending the money to build halls in remote and poor areas that needed them - but instead we would build new halls and sell old ones in places where we were seeing little growth.

Every congregation in this area has built a new hall in the past 20 or so years. Yet the congs are the same basic size they were before. Most have had a least one major remodel since building new. I have read all the theories on why it is encouraged in terms of money in the hands of Crooklyn.

Did anyone else ever question this while in - I did, and openly, to the gasps of the congregation while discussing spending a hundred grand [in 1986] to build a hall we didn't need in the first place, and then later for the remodel another 150 grand.

Did this bother you? That our 'brothers' in places far away were meeting in open fields and jungles and walking for two days to get to a meeting, and we were building a new building that was not needed?

Jeff

Makes you kinda wonder huh?

I was on a building committee...  it's all a crock. Funny how our brothers in god foresaken parts of the planet STILL don't have Halls, yet we did a remodel of about 1million in SoCal. I was told that a KH in Guatemala cost $6K... total!

The WTS is like the Red Cross... they have blood drives and get their "commodity" for FREE... then turn around and sell give it away for a donation.... and of course make a tidy little "profit"... although being a non-profit entity.

The WTS loans money at, I believe, the "generous" rate of only 5% interest.... yet it's all donated money (I thought da bibble said you weren't supposed to lend to your bro on interest...) it's quite the scam...

u/d          (of the they're having a quick build remodel in my town today class)

When I was involved in the WT construction work, they explained that these buildings 'could' become central organizing centers to help in rebuilding the new system.

Don't underestimate the jw mind's ability to rationalize ANYTHING that is sponsored by the society!

I could understand building the Kingdom Halls. What I can't figure out is the 40 year shingles. 

 

      

lol... I was about to say the same thing!  If then end was so close, then why the 30 and 40 year shingles on the new KHs???

Maybe they weren't so sure the end was so close... maybe they just wanted everyone to use their own money buy property and build expensive buildings that would be signed over to the WTS?  The real kicker is that the WTS charged these people interest on a loan for a building that would be given to the WTS.  That isn't just double dipping... that is tripping dipping!

 

I know one town that wore out two Kingdom Halls and they're working on wearing out their third. All three Halls were built on the same lot.



Oh, why do they put a "sound" system in a hall only slightly larger than a phone booth? 

 

      

One Bethelite who was an elder said that the most important building in our area was not the fire station, hospital, or police station. It was the kingdom hall, because it was the center of "true worship".  He also said that they would be important in the "new system", and Bethels would be government buildings.

I'm starting to feel nauseas.

Walter

They are trying to buy some land in my town to build a new kh, my sister was telling me about it and she said the land they wanted had fallen through, then she tryed to justify it by saying there must have been something wrong with the land and it was against Jehovah's will for them to buy it, they are having real problems finding more land but that is also because its not the right time and Jehovah will find them land when hes good and ready.

My sister isn't stupid but she couldn't see that the reason they can't find land is the same as the reason for everyone, there just isn't any available.

Just this week they tore down the kingdom hall that's just a few blocks from me. Now there's just a big hole in the ground, and I was kind of getting my hopes up that it was gone for good. Now I found out they're building a new double hall there. I don't know why. There's never been any growth in this area.

Must be nice to have money to waste.

Walter

LOL @ garyb's 40 year shingle comment!



My $.02: building a new hall causes buzz in the local congregations; sort of the same function that a field-trip serves for school kids. It's fun, and makes everyone forget how boring everything else is.



It also gives, to those not closely involved (i.e. everyone on the planet outside the local congregation doing the building) the impression of growth. I.E. when you leave the old hall, you let the neighbours know that you're moving into a much bigger, newer, more $$$ hall. So the old neighbours are impressed with your growth. You then move into a new double-hall, and the new neighbours are impressed by the massive size of the new edifice (and impressed with the 40 year Armageddon fire-and-brimstone-proof shingles). So they are impressed too.



Like shuffling papers around your desk, shuffling KH's can fool some people into thinking real work (or growth)is happening.



Also, I think the double-halls might some economies of scale which saves the WT money (or leaves the local cong with more money to send to Crooklyn). Same reason why you never see a small Wal-Mart corner store: big box economics.



One more thing: WT criticises other churches for their size and ornate look, but many of those were built once, hundreds of years ago, and maintained and improved over many, many years. But I'll bet those other religions spent much less money than WT does on its "Disposable Kingdom Hall shell game".



~Quotes, of the "Three Card Monty" class

In the 1960's we had a spruce tree in town that was the best tree in the whole town. People traveled on dirt roads in dusty jalopies just to see this tree. The tree was located on the lot next to the Kingdom Hall and one day the congregation bought the lot and chopped down the tree to build an addition on to the Hall. The paint was barely dry on the remodeled Hall until the congregation sold it to a competing religion and built a new Hall on a busy city street.



There must be a moral to this story but I can't think of one. 

 

 

       

 

     

If all the "wordly" people were dead after Amaghedon, then wouldn't the W.T. have all the buldings in the world that are left, to use as "central organizing centers", and not need any new buildings?

I know all the churches would have been destroyed wholesale, but not all the world's buildings.

Hubert

When I first became a witless the local KH was decorated in such a way that it didn't become outdated very quickly...in neutral colors that aged well.  The circuit assembly hall was the same, not exciting, but just fine.  Suddenly everybody was all hot to trot about redecorating the circuit assembly hall.  They repainted, recarpeted, rebuilt the stage, got new curtains and who knows what else (I'm sure they updated the sound system and anything else they could think of).  When they finished it was in shades of teal and mauve, like a giant bedroom.  I couldn't understand why they chose such a strange color scheme.  I know that only a couple years after I moved, they redid it again.  Such a waste. 

I moved to CT right about the time the congregation here was deciding about building a new hall.  There was quite the debate about it.  Older ones really questioned the need for a new hall and were worried about the unnecessary expense of it all.  Of course, those voices of common sense and reason were out numbered, and the old hall was sold, land purchased and a quick-build soon set up.  All very exciting.  The new hall here was again decorated like somebody's boudoir: shades of teal and salmon pink.  ...oh, and in the fever to get the building up in three days, corners were cut and mistakes made with the roofing so that there were problems with leaks in the ladies bathroom.  There was mildew, ruined drywall and wallpaper falling off in strips.  Nice.

They really don't know when the end will be....

More and more, they are lost, and they realize it.  1 day for Jehovah is 1000 years...

Ahhh, rural America...

I am of the class that liked the KingDumb halls that were built in the 70's....before all this quick build b.s.



The quick builds all look like double wide trailer trash. No architechture, no interesting motifs, just plain ugly cracker boxes. With those stupid $ 35 uncomfortable chairs bought from the JW that owns the chair company....what a scam he's got.



I remember refinishing theater seats for our KH in Iowa.... SUPER comfortable..... sure enough 8 years later they ripped them out...cause people would get too comfortable and fall asleep. I guess they never thought maybe it wasn't the chairs but the material presented.

*** w86 1/1 pp. 25-26 Building for an Eternal Future ***

But why,? someone may ask, ?are there so many expansion projects when we stand face-to-face with Armageddon?? The answer is that Jehovah?s organization does not ?close up shop? with the approach of Armageddon. That is ?closing time? only for Satan?s organization. Jehovah?s organization is building for an eternal future. Whether or not man-made structures weather the storm of Armageddon, we know that God?s organization will survive as a going concern and that Jehovah will use it and those who loyally support it, establishing eternal peace and security in the glorious earthly Paradise of God?s promise.?Revelation 7:9, 14-17; 21:1, 4, 5.

*** w97 9/15 p. 6 Poor yet Rich?How Can It Be? ***

Joan, who lives in Central Africa, is a pioneer. To take care of a paralyzed husband and four other dependents, she sells bread. When the congregation she attends needed benches for the Kingdom Hall, Joan?s family decided to donate all the funds they had in the house. That left them with nothing. The next day, however, someone unexpectedly paid a long-standing debt, giving them money that they had given up hope of ever receiving!

 

The money they make of the interest of course! duh!

Now about those 40 year shingles...........

                                                                         DL76

I don't think they charge interest any more.  I think that went the way of charging for meals, subs, and the publcations.

In recent years, the WTS has not been lending much to congregations in the developed countries, expecting them to save up the money or get loans from conventional banks.  I don't know if that is to channel more to the developing countries or that their cash flow has slowed.

I did hear a few JWs express concern about remodeling their own hall when it was still in good shape when congregations in other areas were meeting in a field or a shack.  I live in an area where the is a great deal of contact with JWs from Africa and Hispanic countries with little personal funds.

I also have heard JWs in charge express the idea that these buildings would be protected by God through the great tribulation and be used in the new system.  I always thought that was a bunch of hooey.

I have never gotten anyone on the RBC to explain who was going to run the waste treatment plants, the electric power plants, the clean water systems, and how God would do that after using natural disasters to kill people.  Many of us know what happens to those systems after a tornado/hurricane/earthquake.

I know of congregations that won't even share their surplus funds with a neighborning congregation to build a new KH let alone send money to another country.

Blondie

Always wondered why the watchtower bought land from Bob Hope in 1974. If Armageddon was coming in 75, why BUY real estate in 74? Why not just wait a few months and then take all you want?