by NikL 20 Replies latest jw friends
My still in wife informed me this morning that she must be on time to the meeting as they are locking the door when it starts now.
I said that's crazy. She said it's because of the times we are living in.
We live in a rural area and crime isn't terrible though it's worse than it used to be.
I told her if that's the way it is then why bother leaving the house at all?
She said they are just trying to be safe.
Is this a thing now?
Something about this strikes me as very VERY bad.
Yes it's a thing. No it's not new. In my very, very safe country kh have been locked during meetings for decades.
Most kh have a small LED door bell here.
The fairy tale in Acts about Jesus entering the locked room is cited as scriptural precedent to lock the doors during meetings.
Just remember last year in Texas a mentally disturbed individual went into a rural church and killed 26 people. The only thing that kept him from killing all was a neighbor who heard the shots and he went and got his ar 15 and shot back. I asked one elder about that time, are they arming any brothers at assemblies and he wouldn't talk about it. I assumed they are, just to have a 1st responder there.
NIKL:
Even though I don’t go anymore, I don’t blame them for locking doors nowadays.
Back when I was in and the hall was open for the bookstudy, I was afraid the handful of us were sitting ducks if somebody came in to rob us and I didn’t wear my jewelry. I was less afraid when the hall was full but that doesn’t mean somebody couldn’t come in and do violence.
Imagine if a church locked it's doors.
Imagine it happened a few years in the past and all the head wagging the Jay Dubs would be doing.
I guess Jah's Holy Spirit isn't enough to protect his congregation anymore.
If they are worried about governments clamping down on them, arent they supposed to go after Babylon the Great first? Hmmm.
I am not comfortable being locked in a building.
There are no armed appointed JW's at meetings or assemblies sanctioned by the WT.
Whether to lock doors during meetings, have an alarm system, video monitoring, peppermint scented urinal cakes in the bathroom urinals, ect... Its all up to the individual operating committees within each KH.
I am not comfortable being locked in a building.
As commented on in another thread about this subject...no one is locked IN, late-comers are locked OUT, unless they are "approved" by whomever is "guarding" the door. It makes some sense I guess in more urban areas, and maybe even in some rural areas. In a small rural town of only a few thousand close to my location a woman teacher went out for her normal Saturday morning jog and disappeared, only to have her body found in a shallow grave nearly two hundred miles (U.S.) away with forensic evidence of gang rape, and death by multiple stab wounds. The increasing criminal element coupled with the increasing laziness of law-"enforcement" is one reason I legally carry concealed now. FedUp ain't going down without a fight!
There is two KH in my town, one has just one floor with massive one way view glass side entrance, visible from last rows, and it is not locked during the meetings.
Other one has two floors, 1st with apartment for CO, lavatory, desk for literature, office, etc. and 2nd floor with hall, and entrance is locked during the meetings, the ringer is LED blink visible from last rows. There is also an emergency one way exit on the back - some older folks use those when they are late and knock like hell during opening prayer :)
I think the most of this security measures is demanded by insurance policy, rather than some freaking cult paranoia.
With all the child abuse lawsuits, and tons of disgruntled people, it's little wonder they lock the KH doors to the meetings. There was a video on the Mike and Kim youtube channel a few months ago. Scary situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFDxWtARmsU
This is one reason churches lock their doors, to keep out the riff raff.
