What's with the new Luxurious K.H's?!

Lin

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon driving from one K.H. to the next here in the Dallas area (hey you current jw's in Dallas, those lambs and flyers were from me!) and was shocked to find the congregation I attended with my family, Central/White Rock, is now some oriental temple! It's got the typical oriental fringe hanging off the roof too! After my inital shock wore off, I started to laugh thinking, Okay...where'd ya go, I've got a lamb for ya! Then, I went to the K.H. in Pleasant Grove where I had briefly attended, and it's now a day care center! LOL!!!!! I had this huge list of K.H. I found online, so I just kept going to the next listing in that area. I couldn't believe my eyes!!!!! These are HUGE Kingdom Halls!!!! Lots of expensive landscaping, electric fences around them!!!! What the *&%$???? There's one on Forney Road in Mesquite that would blow your mind!!!! The second one in Mesquite I went to on Sam Houston Road also has electric fences, 'cept somebody.....forgot to close the gate! hehehehe I spread silentlamb flyers all over the parking lot and tossed a few extra lambs I had in strategic places so they'd have to really look hard to make sure they got everything I left them!

Something I found rather funny was some listings for K.H.'s aren't K.H's after all, but are just the address of some elder. I called a couple listed phone numbers and was told they hadn't yet built their new K.H. but the phone number was their personal home number. Well, I had to leave a lamb for them too.

All in all, I drove all over the Metroplex and delivered lambs and flyers to fifteen different K.H's. I made a special effort to spread silentlamb flyers all of the parking lot and in the bushes of the K.H. a few of us had "picketted" in front of last weekend. They'll be finding those flyers for a while!

But seriously, what's up with the luxurious halls? Whatever happened to that crap about not wanting their meeting places to resemble "worldly churches" in size or look? Damn, if you could see these things! What ever happened to the other b.s. about witnesses needing to "live a simple life", not needing a large fancy house, fancy/expensive cars, etc??? Look at their damn Kingdom Halls and tell me how all that makes sense?????

Okay, some one in Dallas tell me where is White Rock/Central meeting now?

Lady Lee

Lin I was shocked here too. Of the 7 halls only one was an older building. All the others were huge buildings - one had 4 congregations sharing it. They all have property galore for parking and landscaping.

I saw a thread talking about how the WTS gets double payment from the cong for the hall and how the WTS gets them to pay extra for things they could get cheaper elsewhere. What really gets me is that after the cong pays double (once to the KH find and again for the mortgage) the hall still belongs to the WTS!!!!

plmkrzy

gee whats next? The WT will provide transportation for the elderly?

Big Tex

Hey Lin, are your serious? I didn't know White Rock had sold that hall. Of course, I don't keep in touch with too many people anymore, but still it's surprising to me. So where are they now? Well at least the building is being used for something better now . . .

Pork Chop

I can't believe this myth is still going around. No, the Hall's don't belong to the WTBS and they don't get the money. It goes to the local congrgation. Been there too many times when they've been sold, whether you like or not this stuff is simply not true.

DanTheMan

I have seen a subtle trend towards more "posh" KHs here in Ohio, too. I think it is a silent signal that the WT is becoming more conventional. The current leadership situation is the last gasp of the Jaraczians, I think JW's will be a different breed 10 or 20 years from now than they are today. Fancier KH's, less emphasis on field service, more dubs getting college degrees, things are changing, slowly but surely.

Edited to add:

Assembly Halls especially seem to be at the fore of this trend. If you've ever been to the Stanley Theater - it is very nice. A couple of years ago the London Ohio Assembly Hall that I used to attend was revamped, I only attended one function there after the renovations, it was pretty awesome.

Edited by - dantheman on 28 September 2002 19:46:50

Pork Chop

Most of those halls have four or even five congregations meeting in them, and that can add up to something between 600 and 1,000 attenders in an urban area like Dallas. Some of those Halls are probably doubles so ther will be even more people meeting there. You're not going to stick that many people in a hovel. Parking lots are mandated by statute so they don't really have much choice on that.

Anymore the building committee works on just a handful of plans with a few interior options so most of most of the halls are virtually identical. The square foot costs are not that high.

Lin

Sorry, I don't accept the drivel about the halls needing to be more posh at all. For as long as I can remember, the emphasis was always on simplicity because they didn't want to look like churches of the world. Yes, there are several congregations that meet at each hall, but that doesn't mean new halls being built have to go posh and luxurious, spending god knows what amount of money on the fancy stuff. They sure are looking more and more like the churches of the "world". All they need is a steeple! Just because a few or even several congregations meet at the same building means nothing to me. There's nothing wrong with them building new buildings, but they could stick with the "simple" styles they've been known by. All the luxury looks pretty pompous to me. Electric fences? Oh yeah, those are probably to keep people like me out. LOL Whatever.....

I'd love to see that post about about the congregations being charged more, if not double, what the costs are. I saw something about it on a woman's group I belong to, but not alot of detail. Anyone got the link for that?

Pork Chop

Your definition of "posh and luxurious" must be a whole lot different than mine. Exactly what did you object to?

ScoobySnax

Forgive me Lin, but for someone who has left the Witnesses and no longer subscribes to their beliefs, spending all afternoon driving around viewing Kingdom Halls seems a little bizarre...........I really still for the life of me cannot understand why those who have supposed to have "moved on" on this site and found a better life outside, keep being fascinated by the Witnesses. Its sort of a reverse of Witnesses viewing apostate sites, they get chastised for that, in your case Lin though, in the nicest possible way, maybe you ought to get out more.

What's with the new Luxurious K.H's?!

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