How to deal with JWs?

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dallas_r

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I always get approached by JWs and I don’t really know how to talk to deal with them. How do you engage in conversation with them? They only let you talk after reciting their scripted stuff they are supposed to say and don’t really keep an open mind on what you are saying. Should I offer them a Rosary? Should I do anything?
 
dallas_r said:
I always get approached by JWs and I don’t really know how to talk to deal with them. How do you engage in conversation with them? They only let you talk after reciting their scripted stuff they are supposed to say and don’t really keep an open mind on what you are saying. Should I offer them a Rosary? Should I do anything?
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Hi dallas, i wish i had your problem. I can’t get a JW to call me or come talk to me anymore. The last one, a very nice lady, sent me a letter in the mail and we finally talked on the phone a few months ago. After her inital invitation and sharing of some scripture I told her I didn’t want to waist her time discussing our different interpretations of scripture as I have done many time with other non-Catholics and non-JW’s. After I helped her reailzed that her interpretation is one of many, that was not hard to do, I left her with one question - If you want to discuss scripture with me the line of questioning begins with - what makes your interpretation more correct than the Morman that came by last week or my Baptist friend across town or my Lutheran neighbor or…?

That has been about 5 weeks now. Im begining to think she wont be back.

Peace!!!
 
dallas_r said:
I always get approached by JWs and I don’t really know how to talk to deal with them. How do you engage in conversation with them? They only let you talk after reciting their scripted stuff they are supposed to say and don’t really keep an open mind on what you are saying. Should I offer them a Rosary? Should I do anything?
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I worked with several JW’s many years ago, and we had discussions on a regular basis. Because I saw them pretty much every day at work, it was different than talking to the JW’s that show up at your door once or twice a year.

You are right, when you first encounter them, they usually want to talk about how the world we live in right now is corrupt, and how great it will be to live in God’s kingdom here on a transformed earth, after the end times. They also will assume you celebrate Christmas and Easter, and other worldly holidays, and will want to point out to you that they are all pagan in their origins, and that even today it is wrong to celebrate them, even birthdays are wrong to celebrate.

If you want to get into serious conversation with them about the Bible, you need to know your Bible pretty well also. Although, the JW’s organization has their own translation of the Scriptures, that only they use, and their translation of the ancient languages can be quite different in meaning than the average Bible you may be using. One of the significant differences is how John 1:1 is translated, their Bible says “the Word was a god” instead of ours which says “the Word was God”. This is a result of the JW’s not believing in the Trinity, they believe Jesus is not equal, but lower than God the Father.

The JW’s belief’s are not anything close to what mainstream Christianity teaches, but they don’t care one bit, because they believe that all of the other religions are corrupt or pagan, and their organization came into being in the 1800’s to proclaim the truth, similar to the purpose of the Mormon church which came on the scene in the same time period.
 
adf417 said:
Hi dallas, i wish i had your problem. I can’t get a JW to call me or come talk to me anymore. The last one, a very nice lady, sent me a letter in the mail and we finally talked on the phone a few months ago. After her inital invitation and sharing of some scripture I told her I didn’t want to waist her time discussing our different interpretations of scripture as I have done many time with other non-Catholics and non-JW’s. After I helped her reailzed that her interpretation is one of many, that was not hard to do, I left her with one question - If you want to discuss scripture with me the line of questioning begins with **- what makes your interpretation more correct than the Morman that came by last week or my Baptist friend across town or my Lutheran neighbor or…?

That has been about 5 weeks now. Im begining to think she wont be back. **

Peace!!!
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😃
 
drac16 said:
Just be polite with them and pray for them. They need prayer.
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I just look out the window or open the door, and say “Sorry, I’m not interested.” I treat them like any other unwelcome solicitor.
 
drac16 said:
Just be polite with them and pray for them. They need prayer.
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👍

A few that the JWs came to our house, I welcomed them. We had good discussion (without being argumentative) and ended up praying together.
 
Make sure to use a good Bible translation when talking with them since their Bible is poorly translated.
 
I forgot to put that my grandma is a JW. A simple no thanks doesn’t cut it, it seems like they know where I live and always send letters. My grandma is a former Catholic knows what my defence is and somehow finds a way to come back at me in a really unintellectual way after I have stated several verses in the bible. Really frustrating and I don’t want to straight up cut them off because my grandma will be really angry…
 
True story:
My first husband got ahold of a bunch of their tracts and scattered them on the sidewalk with a chalk outline of a person.

They wouldn’t even walk on our side of the street after that. 😉
 
I don’t use bible quoting to witness to them. When they quote scripture to me I tell them no point in that. Their interpretation is just one of many. I ask them though that if there organization is God’s true faith, why don’t they have their oen bible? They interrupt, “but we do!” “No, your bible is a translation put out less than 100 years ago, before that, King James”. I ask how their bible came together. I talk about the ECF and how Jesus gave Peter the keys. They believe the Catholic Church was started by Constantine. I show them our prized St. Ignatius quote showing the Catholic Church in 100 A.D. AND believed in the Eucharist as the body and blood of Christ as ONLY the Catholic Church believes. I tell them that only we have an unbroken line of succession and all other Christian groups, including them, can trace their roots to the Catholic Church.

When I quote scripture…i ask them, "who is the first and the last?"who “Jehovah!” Who died and rose? “Jesus” I quote scripture that Jesus says He’s the first and the last, died, and risen. It can’t be any more clear and they deny it. I witness someone else witnessing to them who asked who raised up Jesus…they said Jehovah. They are shown Jesus said HE will raise Himself. They deny. Satan has turned them into mindless robots.

The only way I believe is to talk history and early Church. I’m appalled anyone would shut the door and not be willing to defends God’s TRUE Church to them. Even on Youtube, NOONE is witnessing to them… I’m starting my channel tomorrow. I told my husband since he has off, he can take the kids out all day so I can start recording.
 
I love to speak with them. I call them protestants, which they object to. But, I say, you use the protestant doctrine of bible alone, and the protestant 66 book bible. You must therefore be protestant!

Dr. David Anders asks them: What indication is there that that Jesus Christ intended for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to be the custodians of the Christian faith? Of course, there is none.
 
My favorite experience in dealing with JWs was some years ago in a government agency. All of our co-workers were excited about the coming of Christmas. (Yeah, this was a LOT of years ago, when “Christmas” wasn’t an evil word in a government agency.) But it was “secular” Christmas/December solstice style. Decorate the office with holly and tinsel (a fevered competition between branches), get your Polaroid picture taken with Santa and his elves, visit the local veterans’ home and sing Santa songs, that sort of thing. The JW lady and I both shook our heads–she, because she embraced none of it, and me, because I wanted to celebrate Advent, not Christmas–Christmas started on the 24th. We were great friends for many years.

So first, with JWs, you need to find common ground, and that may lie in the realm of common fears and doubts. How do we know what we believe is true?? When teaching JW doctrine for Catholic religious education classes, I always found it useful to go straight to the roots of the New World Translation of the Scriptures or the Emphatic Diaglott translation (?) of the Greek New Testament and show how they were in error because of intentional doctrinal infusion. Yet the best argument is “by what authority?” How was there a religious authority vacuum on the earth for 18 centuries after Jesus? And how may I know that it was restored, when I believe it was never lost in the first place? And if even your scriptures acknowledge life after death, how can annihilation and recreation of only the 144,000 be even vaguely true? What’s to gain for me by subscribing to your beliefs? Here’s what you gain with mine.

Good luck. It’s not an easy argument. They accept scripture alone, and then by their translation/s. No Sacred Tradition. No Magisterium. No relevation ending with the apostles.
 
They don’t go by scripture alone, they go by scripture + authority of their organization. They are required to submit to the teachings of WT as true even if they see a contradiction in scripture. They are not allowed to read others religious liturature. They are controlled.
 
I am on good terms with our local JWs, they have been calling round for years, and if I have time I invite them in. Whilst we have our differences, I have found we can learn from each other.
We are stuck with ‘One God’, we share one world, and we live in one community, the same God hears all our prayers despite our differences. All truth must lead towards compassion, love, mercy, forgiveness, justice and building communities.
 
po18guy said:
I love to speak with them. I call them protestants, which they object to. But, I say, you use the protestant doctrine of bible alone, and the protestant 66 book bible. You must therefore be protestant!

Dr. David Anders asks them: What indication is there that that Jesus Christ intended for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to be the custodians of the Christian faith? Of course, there is none.
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This is so true. I once was given a dvd to watch by a JW entitled “Faith in Action part 1”. Well into the video the narrator introduces a man by the name of Henry Grew which seemed to come into play sometime between the time of Joseph Priestly and Charles Russell. The narrator introduces Grew as a Baptist preacher, tells how Grew came up with the revolutionary concept to let scripture interpret scripture and then he, Grew, came to the conclusion that the trinity doctrine was false and began to preach/teach accordingly. The video depicts Grew sitting by himself with a pile of books and having a grand revelation. :eek: This conclusion was considered heresy in the Baptist religion and he had to leave the Baptist church and began to teach the Trinity as false doctrine. 😦

So far i have questioned 3 JWs directly about this. The one who gave me the dvd has no answer the other two have not seen the dvd. That was about 2 years ago, I assume they still have not seen the dvd or have no answer. 🤷

This, yet another publication by the Watchtower, i suspect will be out of production soon and many will be scampering to cover up the damage it will cause.

Peace!!!
 
Faith1960 said:
I just look out the window or open the door, and say “Sorry, I’m not interested.” I treat them like any other unwelcome solicitor.
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Not always the case as they are a religious organization, but sometimes they are required to have permits to go door to door or have to follow ordinances about when knocking is permitted. Asking about if they are following them (politely) is usually a good way to get them to leave my house and the whole neighborhood, too. We also have a no soliciting sign from our police department. It technically doesn’t apply to politicians or non-profits, sadly, but it has decreased frequency a lot.

Maybe one day I could spend more time with them,but right now I have a lot of small kids and I really don’t like the bell ringing at naptime or when I’m trying to get dinner ready.
 
I was raised in the JW cult, but, thankfully, never baptized.

My advice would be to avoid discussing doctrine, as the JW literally spends hours every week at the Kingdom Hall practicing their sales pitch and apologetics. This isn’t to say that their doctrines cannot be soundly defeated, however, they are trained to argue in circles.

Therefore, focus on the source and power of all things JW and that is the Watchtower itself. There are a ton of resources that show the false sources, quotes, flip flops, and outright lies in their materials. If you can show them that “God’s mouthpiece on earth” made an error, they could start to question the whole thing.
 
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