Any Jehova's witnesses I can ask about the missionary thing?

[Chicken lady]

I am trying to understand why.

[Rogar]

I am not a Jehovah's Witness, but did a bible study with them for a year or so. They are basically following an interpretation of scripture.

https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/door-to-door/

[catherine]

I have a Jehovah's Witness that comes to visit me about once a month, and she's done it for YEARS. We're friends now, we ask about each other's kids, etc. She does a very, very brief intro to the cover study of the Watchtower, which she leaves for me, and sometimes casts a hook, but it's not obnoxious or pushy. She always looks amazing, and she's always very friendly.

I don't mind her visits. I agree with Rogar.. it's basically a scriptural mandate. I know my friend would be thrilled if one day I said, Chuck the Presbyterianism and the Catholicism and the Buddhism! I want to be a JW!! But that is not likely to happen, and by now, she probably knows it.

[Chicken lady]

So, basically these people feel they have fulfilled their obligation by giving me a chance to listen to them?

see, they keep coming - always on Saturday afternoons when I am filthy and working hard on the farm. They are always dressed up, and I always offer to listen to what they have to say if they'd like to stay and help.

no one has ever asked if I have a spare set of boots. They just leave really fast. I feel like, if I believed I had an important message to share, let alone a mandate from God, I'd be willing to get dirty to share it.. So I am trying to understand where they are coming from.

it seems like a major waste of time and gas. If all they feel they need to do is give me a chance to hear their message, couldn't they just mail out flyers with a phone number?

[Williamsmith]

Take it from somebody who lived next door to this group. They are a pain in the behind. As a neighbor....they were extremely rude.

[Rogar]

I've never had any JW visits that were not polite and have on occasion asked them not to call on my home anymore, which they have respected. They are just fulfilling what they consider the activities of their religious belief and I've never felt imposed upon beyond a brief interruption. Rarely have they asked for donations. I'd much rather harp on the money beggars that call my home at meal times pressuring donations to every bleeding heart organization. Or the loaded political phone surveys that are bound to start soon.

[Teacher Terry]

I got really sick of them and the Mormons coming all the time. I finally found a big grumpy cat sign that says "No solicitors" and he is giving them the middle paw. It is so big you can see it from the sidewalk without walking up to the house. Only 1 person has rang the bell since then and I asked him if he couldn't read or was just stupid. He left pretty quick. I have 4 dogs so the barking that ensues when the bell is rung is not fun. I have found them to be polite sometimes and rude at others. When we were kids 1 JW put his foot in the door so my teenage sister could not close it. She told him to move it or she would close the door with his foot in there-his choice. At 1 time I lived next door to my parents and when they got to my house I asked them not to go to them because my Mom was out and my Dad was really sick and got upset when the bell is rung and won't answer it. They said ok and started to walk the other way but then a few minutes later I looked and they were on the porch ringing the bell. Well I went outside and told them very rudely to get off his property and I watched them go.

[Mary B.]

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Jehovah's Witnesses. When I was a young teen, my father took it upon himself to convert the Jehovah Witness man who called on our family. Dad had his Time Life evolution books, and Mr Gurlap had his Watchtower and bible, and they would go at it hammer and tongs for an hour or so and then stop for coffee. Neither of them ever budged an inch in opinion, but they did become good friends. After my father's death, when my mother was on the farm with my disabled brother and young nephew, the JWs were the only people who visited. Yes, they dropped off the Watchtower, but they also brought news of the neighbourhood and spent time with Mom when she was pretty isolated. (There's zero chance of her changing her religious convictions, and she always told them that up front.)

A really different experience than yours TeacherTerry, and others in this thread -- and no I don't invite them in at my house either.

[catherine]

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Jehovah's Witnesses.

I agree, and I particularly have a soft spot for the Mormons, who have similar evangelical missions. My mother was in an assisted living facility for years after being disabled by a brain aneurysm. I was busy raising 4 kids and working and frankly, did not spend the time I should have with her--a great regret of mine. But I was comforted in her later years by the Mormon elders who visited her regularly, and helped her fill up her Sunday with church and social engagements.

On the weekend of her 68th birthday I really wanted to go visit her, but DH planned a skiing trip to PA with his mother and our kids. I felt so guilty but went with the flow. I called my mother while everyone else was on the slopes to wish her happy birthday and the nurse at the facility who answered the phone said--"wait a minute--she has company." When she got to the phone she told me that the Mormons were there, giving her a pizza party. That was her last birthday. She died a week before her 69th. I will never forgive myself for not being there, and I will never forget the kindness of the Mormons for giving her her last party.

[Greg44]

I agree, and I particularly have a soft spot for the Mormons, who have similar evangelical missions. My mother was in an assisted living facility for years after being disabled by a brain aneurysm. I was busy raising 4 kids and working and frankly, did not spend the time I should have with her--a great regret of mine. But I was comforted in her later years by the Mormon elders who visited her regularly, and helped her fill up her Sunday with church and social engagements.

On the weekend of her 68th birthday I really wanted to go visit her, but DH planned a skiing trip to PA with his mother and our kids. I felt so guilty but went with the flow. I called my mother while everyone else was on the slopes to wish her happy birthday and the nurse at the facility who answered the phone said--"wait a minute--she has company." When she got to the phone she told me that the Mormons were there, giving her a pizza party. That was her last birthday. She died a week before her 69th. I will never forgive myself for not being there, and I will never forget the kindness of the Mormons for giving her her last party.

I am LDS (Mormon) and it is gratifying to see members who share the true love of Christ and bless the lives of others. I was a "Mormon Missionary" years ago in South Australia - it was one of the greatest experiences in my life. I love the Australian people. It was not easy, lots of rejection - that goes with the "job", but it was refreshing when those who were not interested were still nice! Offered us a cool drink on a hot Aussi day, asked us how our day was going, wished us well, etc. In my very first assigned area, we met a wonderful family who became life long friends. In business he traveled to the states nearly 50 times, and it was great when they were able to come to the Pacific Northwest. My wife said my Aussi accent always came back when they came!

[iris lilies]

I probably see JWs here about 4-5 times a year? Not often enough to be pests, often enough to recognize them when they cone by.

The last pair was a girl about ten years old and a woman, I assume her mom or auntie. The girl did the spiel, it was short, she asked " do you think there will always be suffering?" And I said "probably" and there wasnt much discussion after that. They were very sweet, handed me a pamphlet, and left. They were very dressed up.

In the past year I got a copy of The Watchtower in the mail from someone
I didnt know. they included a scribbled note as a greeting. That was odd.

[razz]

In my mother's later years a JW woman came visiting on a biweekly basis which was very important to my mother. I don't know if they ever really discussed religion beyond the initial visit but they became great friends discussing everything going on in the world. When my mother needed a dress for a wedding, that friend loaned her one since they were similar in size.

These days I see them occasionally and offer to exchange religious publications but that is always declined and we part in peace.
I have decided that I am responsible for my behaviour and choices not another's and so I try to be firm, respectful and polite, repeating as necessary to get my point across if approached.

[Tybee]

When we lived on an island in SC we lived in a black neighborhood, and the only people who would really speak to us (we are white) were the Jehovahs witnesses (the church was a couple of doors down.) I thought that was very nice of them.

[JaneV2.0]

My mother used the (apparently) magic words "We're Catholic" to squelch the JW pitch (not strictly true, but three of us were baptized). If that didn't work, she'd launch into an impassioned discussion of various discrepancies in the Bible, which usually did the trick. My mother was a character.

[catherine]

I am LDS (Mormon) and it is gratifying to see members who share the true love of Christ and bless the lives of others.

Gandhi famously said something about if Christians acted like Christ, India would be Christian--there'd be no Hindus left. Yes, Gregg, "your people" definitely walked the walk, which is the real deal when it comes to Christianity. Dogma is just window dressing, or at least it should be.

PS--nice to see you again.

Here's the mat that I have outside my front door, from dogmt.com (http://www.dogmt.com/No-Dogmas-Allowed-Indoor-Outdoor-Mat.html)

1662

[LDAHL]

My mother used the (apparently) magic words "We're Catholic" to squelch the JW pitch

That has always worked for me. My usual line is "I'm Catholic. I leave religion to the professionals." I don't know much about their theology, but they seem to hold Catholics in particular odium.

[JaneV2.0]

That has always worked for me. My usual line is "I'm Catholic. I leave religion to the professionals." I don't know much about their theology, but they seem to hold Catholics in particular odium.

See, I thought "awe." But you may be right.

[LDAHL]

See, I thought "awe." But you may be right.

I don't know. Maybe we burned their founder at the stake or something. It wasn't personal. Just business.

[JaneV2.0]

I suspect some of my relatives were tortured to death by the church--we have a history of being outspoken females who talk to cats--and I know the SOs were--at least some shirt tail relatives. He says his (Mexican-American) father hated the Church with a passion--I think it was a kind of genetic memory. My genealogical travels turned up a relative named St.Olga of Kiev, who was a veritable barn-burner (how did psychopaths get to be saints, one wonders...) I'm hoping that connection is bogus. So the JWs are probably right to be wary.