I hope this is just a joke, because when reading this board, I thought this was'nt suppose to happen

by Truth and Justice 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  Truth and Justice

  Hi to all the board,

  I am confused about something that I read on this board. It was the subject about the building and Development of new kingdom halls. I had remembered reading that the Society had gotten up a sort of a Kingdom Hall Development Committee to survey and search out areas for the building of New Kingdom Halls in the US, and some other countries. I am not sure of when this had started, but I'm going to guess that it was around 2 years ago. If I remember correctly, it seemed like it was almost 4 or 5 months after, that the Society sends another letter saying they are going to discontinue any further searching and surveying of the Halls and on top of that they were going to discontinue all building projects, and put a halt to any projects going on except the one in Warwick which is basically done.

  I say all this because my Mother and I do not attend meetings, and have been out for over 3 decades. A member of the family calls today to talk to my Mother to see how she is doing since our Father had passed away late in the summer. It was the first time my Mother said that the conversation was very good, he was relaxed and asked a lot of questions. In the conversation, my Mother asked him "Where are you calling me from? He says "I'm calling from the state of ______." (its a East coast state. He is heading back home to the South East part of the country. I'm trying to protect him from too much being said.) My Mom says "What were you doing in that state? He replies that he was at a committee that works on this development. The stunning part is that he tells my Mother he is in charge of all Research Development in the US and a broad.

  Why this bothers me: I thought that the Society was not going to get involved in any more building projects and put a halt to all other projects as well.

  Now the way it has been said, is that FUNDING HAS DRIED UP DRASTICALLY. Between Lawsuits, merging of kingdom halls, taking halls and selling them for profit for other means, discontinuing of amenities at bethel, no more Gilead school, selling of numerous properties, drastic cutting on publishing literature, Lawsuits on various issues especially the sex lawsuits in the US, the large one in Australia with the Royal Commission, upcoming Lawsuits with Britain, Canada, and Mexico. When I heard they were cutting back on Kingdom Hall building, I never recalled the Organization ever discontinuing the contribution boxes for the Worldwide work and Expansion.

  I also heard it said that the Society, at the time they came up with the arrangement of searching out areas for building halls, KNEW that the arrangement was not going to work, that it became a PLOY to at least get people to contributing any kind of funds. (I don't know if that part is true)

  Can anyone enlighten me on this, I try to go on what I know is the truth behind the scenes of the organization, and not on here say. I will say that I remember reading a letter that leaked out about the new building initiative, and then they reneged on it.

  Thanks for any help!

  Truth and Justice,
  
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  neat blue dog

  Building was never completely stopped, just drastically reduced. Now, all Kingdom Halls are being booked to capacity, and local funds for new Halls being sent to the society, so THEY decide what gets built, when, and where.
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  _Morpheus

  Well the funny but true answer is: everything you said was true. Even the parts that sound contradictory.

  They did lay a grand plan for building. They did backtrack. They are still building.

  The more indepth answer is that some on this board have buried the org a bit prematurely. They def have had and continue to have money issues but prob not as bad as some would like to think. In some areas they are building a new hall but very sparsely and only where it seems to allow for a lot of consolidation therby allowing them to make money when they sell the old halls. Also the rdc (prob what you were refering to) travels as an enforcer of the branches will. They survey the condition of halls and approve repairs.... or not.

  So all of what you wrote and thought is true, in context.
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  Finkelstein

  Why this bothers me: I thought that the Society was not going to get involved in any more building projects and put a halt to all other projects as well.

  Nope apparently Jehovah knows the value of real estate and so do the heads of the WTS. $$$
  
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  scratchme1010

  Why this bothers me: I thought that the Society was not going to get involved in any more building projects and put a halt to all other projects as well.
  

  I'm confused, if you are not part of that organization for decades, why do you care about any of what they do or don't do? Not sure why any of that should matter.
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  Coded Logic

  I'm confused, if you are not part of that organization for decades, why do you care about any of what they do or don't do?

  Because what the Society does affects many of our friends and families that are still in.
  
  
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  JakeM2012

  McDonald's has realized that they are not in the hamburger, happy meal, or french fries business. McDonald's is in the real estate business and they make their money from the leasing the property that produces hamburgers, happy meals, and french fries. WTBTS has similarly realized that they are not in the printing business or religious business but in the real estate business of leasing the property to the congregation's tax-free.
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  Truth and Justice

  I find all your points interesting. A point was made that if I have not been a part of the organization for decades, then why would I even care? First, it happens to involve a member of my family.

  I would say that in my opinion over 70% of the people on this board are not in the organization, so why are they even reading any of these good posts on this forum. That being said, we are here and we care, because THE ORGANIZATION HAD A TREMENDOUS AFFECT ON OUR VERY LIVES. AND MOST OF US WOULD LIKE TO SEE CHANGE AND SOME JUSTICE. AND THE FRUITS OF THAT ARE STARTING TO SHOW.
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  SAHS

  Well, they say that there are two kinds of work: hard work, and smart work.

  The WTS does the “smart” (financially efficient) “work,” while the vast throngs of rank-and-file members do the hard work (pounding the pavement for zillions of hours scouring the community for each convert).

  The WTS will continue to pare down their monetary assets (Kingdom Halls) while consolidating (maximizing) their corporate assets.

  In a sense, the WTS are like Donald Trump and his New York skyline assets: Grow, grow, grow, and then, when the time is right, sell, sell, sell (cash in).

  I guess it takes one cold-hearted tycoon (opportunist) to be able to know another.
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  problemaddict 2

  I'm in southern California, and I know of a plot of land in San Diego that is going to be the first new KH build here in a while. But it is moving forward.