No windows on Kingdom Halls?

by just_a_girl 34 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  spender

  I wasn't trying to say that the only reason they do it is for safety. Of course there's obvious building and insurance savings by not having any windows.

  As for about having 200 people in a hall...have you ever been to one of em? haha it just feels a little strange...there's one with over 200 people in Seaford, DE. I could only guess because it seems more personal that way...and the less people in each hall, the less the elders have to do. Usually when they have too many people for one hall, they split it up into different sections. We had a French section, and North and South sharing our hall. There might also be structural reasons why as well and things related to that with cost and everything.
• 

  just_a_girl

  Lots of different answers ... hmmm! But I guess it's safe to conclude that the main reasons would be (1)safety and (2)cost reduction ... both of which make sense. Now that I've thought about it a little bit, the hall I went to in AL had windows, but they were pretty high so you couldn't see out into the parking lot or anything. I could see how they *could* be a distraction, but I'm thinking about other churches now - do they have regular windows, aside from stained glass ones? I've never noticed ... obviously, I'm not a very observant person.
• 

  TexSham

  They don't want to have to board up all of those windows on the great day of judgement. They see themselves all huddled together in there, like it's their ark, while the rest of us pound on the doors saying we are sorry, but it's too late.
• 

  Unclepenn1

  I live in So Cal and have yet to see a KH with windows. I actually believe that it is for psychological reasons. I mean, it's a cult, OK. They want to furnish an 'us and them' mentality, to keep these people thinkning that Armageddon is soon and that no windows may provide a safer harbor for them when eveyone goes nuts and Jehovah pours out His wrath. My first answer for no windows was going to be John 3:19 ' This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ' But then I thought that might be a bit much (notice how I slipped it in there anyway :)). Seriously thought, I truly beleive there are psychological reasons for the no windows thing, apart from cost.

  Penn
• 

  Solace

  I believe it is to make sure members arent distracted. The speaker needs their full attention at all times. Wouldnt want witnesses gazing out windows, they might miss something.

  Tex,
  Read my mind!
  When I was young I used to believe that witnesses would be safe and sound in their kingdom halls during armageddon. Without windows we wouldnt have to see others being tortured and killed.
  Pretty twisted, huh?!
• 

  LizardSnot

  My architect friends would call it "architectural fenestration retardation".
• 

  Farkel

  spender,

  You keep talking like the 19-year-old idiot you are:

  : that's incorrect. It's simply a safety precaution, since lots of people like to bash in windows when there are some.

  Really? Well, I'll tell you what, sonny-boy. I spent every weekend for two months building a Kingdom Hall that was finally christened in 1962. It had NO windows and in that little part of the world there were NO window-bashers.

  The notion of no windows in most (but not all) Kingdom Halls was simple: the society didn't want its followers to have ANY distractions and windows provide distractions for the bored.

  You don't know anything, sonny-boy.

  Farkel
• 

  noidea

  IMHO....I think the stopped putting windows in the new ones so less people could escape through them, they knew the net with all the info was coming.
• 

  sonoita

  Actually, vandalism is one concern. A KH I attended built in 1950
  had 6 large windows. They were the old steel crank out type with
  many small panes. I recall times on warm Sundays they were open, it
  gave a nice airy feeling to the barn-like bldg. Over the years though, the neighborhood went downhill and we got tired of fixing
  windows due to rocks. The first major remodel saw the windows go.
• 

  LucidSky

  Vandalism, distraction, cost? It was probably all these things. Not sure of the priority.

  My original hall had high windows and it was an older hall. Interestingly, another hall I went to was forced to put in windows. It had none when built, but it was in a well-to-do area and neighbors complained about its appearance. They added fake ones with 0% tinting. Seemed kind of lame and for the longest time when I first went there I always wondered how to get to the area where the windows were!