by sandy 26 Replies latest jw friends
Yes, yes.
There is a certain amount of "Keeping up with the Jones's " One congo has a new hall, and the next door body of elders decides it has tohave its hall re built or remodelled .
I also know of two halls built in the days just before the regional buildng committes got established , that had to be completely re built due to structural faults
the early quickbuilds were awful. Our hall was a two-day quickbuild (before they slowed down the process a bit). You could stand looking at the walls from on edge and see how wavy they were. Not a straight line in the place. It was built in the mid eighties, and had this miami-vice type color comination. Pink chairs, coral coloured walls, brought blue carpet. One's soul screamed for a window to look out of.
Then there was that quickbuild in Oklahoma that had an explosion. It was the propane tank for the kitchen trailer as I recall. Killed a couple of people, but I can't remember the details. I remember they talked about it on NPR news, though, at the time. After the Oklahoma incident, quickbuilds apparently became less of a circus and free-for-all.
They put in pews? Like in a church? How Godawful. And remember, woman who fart in church must sit in own pew.
There was a quick build down here in Savannah in the early eighties. I went around with a friend to all the TV stations and to the local newspaper and spoke with the editor in chief of every one of them about the true nature of the JWs. Asked them not to do any coverage of the quick builds (my father was in charge of the quick builds, too. Obviously, he's still IN). Anyway, there was NO coverage on TV at all. The JWs were mystified. There was a story in the newspaper, but the last fifteen or twenty column inches was given over to interviewing my friend and I about our feelings regarding the JWs being a cult and dangerous to families and the shunning policy and stuff like that.
I thought my father was going to bust a belly band, but he couldn't say a word to me about it. That would be an admission that I had beaten him at his own game. Again. (Yes, I come from a totally dysfunctional family. Guess who is the center of the dysfunction?)
The real irony was that before thirty days were up, someone torched that new KH. Hehehe. NO, it wasn't me. Burned to the ground.
In the insurance hassle that followed, my father found out that there were two insurance carriers holding the policy on that hall. The main group was State Farm or somebody like that and then there was a secondary carrier. Well, the secondary carrier was only willing to pay up a total of about 60% of what the hall had cost. They said, quite accurately, that the labor to build the hall was free and therefore no money was owing on the labor. Well, my father went straight through the roof. Hired an attorney. Filed suit. And at the very last second discovered that the secondary insurance provider was the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society as a self-insurer and it was THEY who were refusing to pay based on the free labor issue. I thought I would never stop laughing. My face hurt for three weeks from smiling so wide for so long. My sides hurt from all the spasming I was doing while laughing. I poked more fun at my father and had more fun doing it that a person should be allowed. A person should be taxed for having that much fun.
What a slimy, unethical, immoral bunch of used car salesmen run the JWs. In fact, it's an insult to used car salesmen to compare them to the JW leadership.
francois
ROFL at the WTBS being the second insurers!!!
What great irony!
bebu
Money isn't the only motivation ( although often primary)
There are many brothers with an "edifice complex" - an unnatural obsession with building.
Many brothers are in construction or manual labor careers because of lack of proper education and the thought
of freely spending congregation money to build a house for God gives them thrills.
metatron
ROFLMAO
That is the most hilarious bit of irony I've ever heard about the WT.
What I remember most vividly about KH remodelling was the division it caused in the cong.
It always seemed to be a split between those who thought the new furnishings were the greatest, ( those would be the ones who were on the refurbishing committee, and friends and relatives thereof ) and the other half who would complain and grumble about how gawd awful ugly it was ( those would be the ones who were not on the refurbsihing committee, and friends and relatives thereof )
Quite funny, now that I look back it.
BTW Francois, I busted a gut over the insurance scam /story. That's a keeper.
This story leads me to a couple of questions.
1) How does the Society justify charging interest on these loans to the congregation, which is clearly unscriptural? Surely there has been a "questions from our readers" about this?
2) Who holds the property deed? Is it the Society, or the local congregation? I don't mean a lien - if the WT holds the mortgage, they have a lien on the property, of course. But my house is "mine" as long as I make the payments, with the deed in my name. Whose name is on the deed for most halls?
3) Francois - you claim that the Society was listed as a secondary insurer. If they are able to provide insurance, they must be registered as an insurance company. This doesn't show much "trust in Jehovah with all your might", hmm? If you can find proof that they are an insurance company, they must have an AM Best rating. I was unable to find any reference to the WT at ambest.com.
Why is it that I seldom see replies when I ask hard questions?
1) How does the Society justify charging interest on these loans to the congregation, which is clearly unscriptural? Surely there has been a "questions from our readers" about this?
ASFAIK, they may not be charging interest anymore. In the past, in the US, they charged from 3-6%, which was extremely low, but as you note, not the 'christain' thing to do.
2) Who holds the property deed? Is it the Society, or the local congregation? I don't mean a lien - if the WT holds the mortgage, they have a lien on the property, of course. But my house is "mine" as long as I make the payments, with the deed in my name. Whose name is on the deed for most halls?
This one is tricky, and I am sure varies from KH to KH. In many cases there is a local corporation (w/ local elders on the 'board of directors') that actually 'owns' the KH. But there is a rider that on any change to the local corporation, disolveing, etc, ownership reverts back to the WTBTS (or one of it's many corps). Also, the KH cannot be sold w/ out involving the WTBTS. So the local congo 'owns' the building in name only. They cannot as a group decide to sell it and split up the $$$.
3) Francois - you claim that the Society was listed as a secondary insurer. If they are able to provide insurance, they must be registered as an insurance company. This doesn't show much "trust in Jehovah with all your might", hmm? If you can find proof that they are an insurance company, they must have an AM Best rating. I was unable to find any reference to the WT at ambest.com.It is a fact that the WTBTS provides insurance to halls, assebly halls, etc. I think that because the are a 'self-insurer' and a non-profit org, they do not have to fall under the same systems that 'regular' insurance companies have to. Others probably have more info on this.
