Memory Lane and Brooklyn Bethel

new boy

I Spent Monday walking down memory lane. I went to the old Brooklyn Bethel. The old Towers Hotel, were I roomed for 3 years is now a care facility for old folks. The cost per month is $6,000 to $25,000 pp. I couldn't get into the 129 119 or 107 buildings they are condos and apartments now. They were gutting the old 124 building and will soon be condos going for millions of dollars each. The old cornerstone that Russel put in place to mark the spot of the headquarters got jack hammered out and a new piece of granite was put in its place.....with no writing on it, So if you didn't know it no one would have a clue these buildings were once owned by the Watchtower Bible and Truck society. All things change and pass....My old pizza place is still there. If you you were lucky and had any thing left from your 22 dollars a month they gave you...you could buy a slice for .75 cents. They were closed on Mondays. So no pizza for me. I also went to the old factory at 117 Adams St. It's all office buildings owned by Esty. Security guards said no visitors. Of course I couldn't get in there either. I had an Asian rice bowl in what used to be building 1 by the old garage. Then I walked over to Building four (55 prospect St.) to the spot where James Olson hit the ground after jumping to his death. Guess what? There was no plaque to mark the spot. James and the Jehovah's Witnesses do have one thing in common they are dead or soon will be....as will be the thousands of young men who served there. No "last days or Paradise" for them.

dropoffyourkeylee

Any of the rooms with a view of Manhattan would bring a pretty penny. 124 building especially.

Gorb

I never understood how jw's handle their history.

When a witness dies, he or she is forgotten in a year.

When a local jw building is left no one cares.

If the HQ is sold for billions to Kushner, Trump and Reibling / Taurus (witness) no one cares.

A sect. All for the money.

G.

WingCommander

Want to REALLY have your mind blown?

Visit ol' C.T. Russell's grave out in Pittsburgh. They pyramid stone monument next to CT's gravestone is GONE!!!! They removed it, and recently put in it's place a few flat plaques of dead ones around there.

If you didn't know a large creepy pyramid was there for over a 100 years, you never would.

WatchTower: Selling off, re-writing, and destroying their history.

"Orwellian" never fit a cult so well as it does WatchTower.

St George of England

They removed it, and recently put in it's place a few flat plaques of dead ones around there.

It would be interesting to see some photographs of what they have done.

George

Fisherman

My old pizza place is still there.

Surprised they can afford the rent. They made good pizza back then with real cheese.

The clark street subway entrance inside the St. George, the promenade, Tower’s roof on hot summer nights, the grocery store that gave discounts with Bethel ID, the fancy chinese restaurant on Cadman Plaza where you could eat on chung for lunch days. About 5 or 6 bucks for shrimp meal. A lot of money.40% of the allowance you mentioned. The Squibb dining room had an awesome and breezy view of the harbor

Magnum

Though I detest the org now and really everything about JWdom, what you posted still saddens me. During a long period of my life, I loved being a JW. I felt so safe and secure. I had such a wonderful hope for the future. I remember not wanting to leave district conventions on the last day and go back into "the world."

I still feel a sense of nostalgia for those buildings. Now, it's all gone. The religion today would be unrecognizable to my JW grandfather. The religion that I once thought had divine backing is weakening, maybe even dying. It is now cowardly. Gone are the days when JWs relished deep questions and challenges. The literature is pathetically dumbed down. The religion that once focused on doctrine and prophecy and Biblical analytics has had to cease focusing on such because the internet provides a scrutiny that its teachings can't stand up to. The org has to play it safe now and has morphed into a televangelist-like lifestyle religion.

I miss what I thought it was, but I hate what I now know it is.

Gorb

Well said, Magnum.

G.

DesirousOfChange

The religion today would be unrecognizable to my JW grandfather.

It's damn near unrecognizable TO ME and I'm not old enough to be your grandfather!

Seems the only things that do not change or have not changed are WT's bad policies. Instead, they tighten &/or worsen (ie.e, the blatant conduct catch-all). I suppose in attempt to maintain control. Information control. Peer control.

Check your brain and drink the Koolaid.

greenhornet

Magnum Said...I remember not wanting to leave district conventions on the last day and go back into "the world." That teared me up.

Memory Lane and Brooklyn Bethel

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