Posted by Kent [KENT] on November 11, 1999 at 02:10:43 {mJnjjpluA6OJikFWJ7tMBSwZlMEBKg}:
In Reply to: KH Question posted by Farkel on November 10, 1999 at 13:27:35:
In Norway, most KH's is owned by a trust named "Stiftelsen Jehovas Vitners Menigheter".
When an old KH is sold, all the money goes to this trust - that is owned by The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.
When a new KH is to be buildt, the cong members collects money - and BORROW the rest (their own money!) from the trust, where they pay pretty normal interest for the loan.
In this way, the Watchtower make sure no cong can "leve the flock" and get their own hall. All KHs are owned by the Society, after the mess in Texas (?), where they lost one. Therefore, they changed the rule.
The genious in this is that every time the Watchtower builds a new hall, they get richer and richer - because the cong owns the debts, and the Watchtower gets all the money. A pretty clever arrangement.
Also, it's lots of tax stuff here. When they build halls, I will ask the authorities to check out WHO is actually there. JWs that are on sick leave from their job should NOT be there, you know :)))