My wife and I just visited some friends over the weekend from another congregation. These two are both full time pioneers, and also participate in various construction projects around the country.
The husband just got back from a 3 week trip to Walkill, New York to help with construction on a new residence building at 'The Farm' (Does anyone call it that anymore?).
He showed us a map of the 'campus' which he had sketched in the locations of the new construction projects with a Sharpie Pen. As it turns out (and I think I had already read this on here somewhere), The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is building an extremely large Recreational Center for the benefit of the Bethel Family. With a creepy gleam in his eye, this brother spoke about how the Rec-Center would have "ever ball-court imaginable" and "an olympic size swimming pool", etc.
I hadn't really given it much thought until this morning, but....WHAT A BUNCH OF FUCKING HYPOCRITES
I am fuming. This is the first time I have really been angry during my "awakening".
After just returning from a Circuit Assembly a couple of weeks ago, where we were admonished to be satisfied with the bare necessities of life, and told to stop trying to maintain our standardof living as the cost of goods increases, The Watchtower Society is taking our money and spending it on a Rec Center???!!!
Just after being told for an entire weekend that we need to simplify our life, and resisit the temptation to spend too much time on recreation; Just after being told in last weeks Watchtower (3/27) in paragraph 16 that "we must avoid needless pursuits, needless weights, that will tire us out" such as "pursu[ing] sports or other leisure activities" because "reasonableness and modesty should move all of us to recognize our limitations and keep unnecessary commitments to a minimum"; Just after being told more-or-less for an entire weekend at the Circuit Assembly that we should be preparing to exit this system of things, not planning for an extended stay ("Noah didn't build a nicer house at the same time he was building The Ark" - was the illustration used)......But The Society gets to build a new Rec-Center????!!!! With our money???!!!!
I am not opposed to Rec-Centers in general, but I find it hard to believe that after all of these years, "in the time we are living" The Branch feels the necessity to provide such a luxary to The Bethel Family.
Couldn't all of the money (Millions, no doubt) be spent on something more condusive the furthering our "urgent message" (i.e. A Super Bowl or World Cup advertising spot)?
What about all of the months (maybe years) of planning and construction? What about the man power and expense to all the volunteers that travel to New York to work on the project? Couldn't all of those resources be better allocated elsewhere?
This is a complete joke.