JW at door.

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I would just tell them I was Catholic & it seemed like they didn’t say much then & just left! Made me wonder if I had egg on my face. LOL

I have a statue of Mary in my garden also a statue of St. Francis & a small clingy picture of Mary on my storm door. Come to think of it I haven’t seen them for a few years . Ya think maybe they have been here & saw it & left? Or maybe I’m just off their list!
 
The JW who come to my door seem to me to be decent people of good moral character, and much of what they say makes sense. Of course, there are some rather serious disagreements with Catholicism, and I don’t mind pointing these out to them if and when they come up in the conversation.
I have been thinking a bit about their refusal to serve in a war, and their pacifist stand. Can any war today really be a just war? Don’t innocent people always get hurt in a war? For example, in WWII, how many innocent Japanese women and children were killed by the A-Bomb dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And in Iraq, how many innocent children are being hurt?
I have begun to have more sympathy for the pacifist position of the JW and perhaps this just war business does not really make any sense today and perhaps they are right to embrace strict pacifism.
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A7B418CB-37BD-4A69-B55C-CBDC7D932B38.htm
guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,935307,00.html
highbeam.com/doc/1G1-60350450.html
albasrah.net/pages/mod.php?mod=art&lapage=…/en_articles_2006/1206/alishaqi-crime_091206.htm
robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_page1.htm
informationclearinghouse.info/article3462.htm
informationclearinghouse.info/article3458.htm
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/12E45678-37C5-40D4-BED1-20240C3A740E.htm
guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,927890,00.html
arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=43851&d=26&m=4&y=2004
cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/23/iraq/main1227708.shtml
cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/03/19/iraq.children/index.html
 
b_justb said:
It’s an awful life. Just be kind to them no matter what. You never know; it could be the old me knocking on your door.
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Please rest assured that I wouldn’t be rude. I’d probably offer them a soda or glass of water and explain that I’m not interested and have done with it.

It would be interesting to see if they have a specific ‘patter’ that they use and how doctrinally sound it is though.

Eric
 
b_justb said:
I thought about this some more. And I know I wasn’t the only JW that just hated it and was doing the door to door stuff because of parents or other pressure from insiders. It was just horrible. I was called all sorts of names, I had people sick [sic?] their dogs on me, I was sprayed with a garden hose, threatened with physical violence, and that’s some of the good days. It just effing sucked. One night I needed to go “out in field service” (aka knock on doors) to get in my required time and I started calling people from the congregation to see if I could get someone, anyone, to go with me. 45 minutes later I had called everyone on the active congregation list. No one. So I got into my car and I drove to the beach and sat on the pier and watch the sun go down and then came home and lied to my parents about my “time in the field.”

It’s an awful life. Just be kind to them no matter what. You never know; it could be the old me knocking on your door.
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My sister has a master’s degree in theology from Franciscan University and has been visited twice by 2 different “sets” of jw missionaries and neither has returned! I think she just took control of the conversation both times…😉

How did you become a jw and what made you decide to leave? Is there anything we can say or do when they visit that would help them to re-evaluate their religious position?
 
I cant remember where i saw this, but someone had a sign at their front gate…
jehovah witness BEWARE
Catholic Dog

😃
 
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Delraek:
How did you become a jw and what made you decide to leave? Is there anything we can say or do when they visit that would help them to re-evaluate their religious position?
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I didn’t have a choice my parents we in it so I was raised in it too. I never bought into anything they said / taught. So when I was 18 I left my parents and left / was kicked out of the JW organization.

Even though I hated it and only preformed as a false front, there was nothing anyone at a door could have said to me to provide me solace. Only a very small select few friends knew how I really felt. I lived the double life for a long time growing up. Even when people at doors told me exactly what I thought and felt I would deny it to them and go forward with the scripted arguments against what ever they were presenting.

Verbally tangling with JW’s is tricky business. They train on how to change the discussion. All the people on this thread that insist that you take control of the conversation up front are exactly right, if you don’t it will never go anywhere positive.

Because being a JW is so all encompassing I serious doubt that anything anyone will or could ever say at a door encounter will have any affect. For me it took years, decades even, after finally leaving the organization to seriously look at Christ as He is, not how He is depicted by JW teaching.

Grace is amazing. In JW teaching there is no such thing as Grace. Always be gracious (though I seldom am as evident by my ranting on these forums. I am aware of my flaw. Thanks to all of you CAFers that don’t point it out to me daily, hourly ;))
 
motoeric said:
From the perspective of an ex-JW, are there any good resources on the net that you would advise people to check out in anticipation of a visit from JW’s?

Thanks,

Eric
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google apologetics index jehovah witnesses

David Reed is a good author of books answering JW’s verse by verse.

apologeticsindex.org/j02.html

google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=apologetics+jehovah+witnesses&spell=1

qwotes.info/index.htm

forananswer.org/Top_JW/Scholars%20and%20NWT.htm

forananswer.org/ABC_Index.htm

answering-islam.org/BibleCom/jn10-34-36.html

Muslims and JW’s have been known to copy arguments from each other so check the answering islam site for replies too.

google.com/search?hl=en&q=apologetic+commentary+John+1%3A1

cftf.com/online/

geocities.com/Heartland/2919/

towerwatcher.orcon.net.nz/

freeminds.org/

qwotes.info/index.htm
 
xmydreamsfadex said:
another way they won’t come back.
put a few alka seltzers in your mouth so spit is coming out of your mouth, start laughing like there is something wrong with you, and talk abnormally.
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as a former pioneer (local full time JW missionary) AND a former EMT if I saw this I would call 911!

It is simple really, ask the person at your door if they are the ‘territory card’ holder and to make a note that you wish to be a ‘do not call’. If they do not have the territory card you may need to call the Kingdom Hall and ask for an elder to make a note on the card. But if your address is marked Do-Not-Call on the territory card you might get called on once a year or so to make sure you have not changed your mind or moved.

In the US they have won the right to knock on your door regardless of No Soliciting or No Trespassing signs posted–they are not soliciters or trespassers. The Supreme Court has determined they are Evangelizers and they are legally there.

The crazy things people do to scare JWs away did not work with me. The only ones they are NOT ALLOWED to talk to are the ones who identify themselves as FORMER or X JWs.
 
 
Alright. One day I was naked in the backyard covered in chicken blood, labouring, and they STILL incisted on talking to me…what did I do wrong?

b_justb, what do you mean there is no such thing as Grace in JW’s beliefs? How does that work? You’re either in with God or you’re not? I just cannot fathom. …My cousin told me on my mom’s b-day that she (my cousin, not my mom) is officially a JW. Besides not seeing her at birthday parties and Christmas parties (which is such rotten luck; she was always a BLAST!), I don’t much know what that means. AND, far be it from me to challange her. It’s bad enough my agnostic mother wants me to tell her that she’s joined a cult and will be going to hell (she doesn’t want me to tell her this for her salvation, but, just to have something to watch, you see.) So, I am not going to make a case out of my cousin becoming a JW because she’s always been nice, clean living, abhors swearing…mostly, and respectful. I’ll pray for her, but, other than that, I don’t want to cause trouble.
 
b_justb said:
I didn’t have a choice my parents we in it so I was raised in it too. I never bought into anything they said / taught. So when I was 18 I left my parents and left / was kicked out of the JW organization.

Even though I hated it and only preformed as a false front, there was nothing anyone at a door could have said to me to provide me solace. Only a very small select few friends knew how I really felt. I lived the double life for a long time growing up. Even when people at doors told me exactly what I thought and felt I would deny it to them and go forward with the scripted arguments against what ever they were presenting.

Verbally tangling with JW’s is tricky business. They train on how to change the discussion. All the people on this thread that insist that you take control of the conversation up front are exactly right, if you don’t it will never go anywhere positive.

Because being a JW is so all encompassing I serious doubt that anything anyone will or could ever say at a door encounter will have any affect. For me it took years, decades even, after finally leaving the organization to seriously look at Christ as He is, not how He is depicted by JW teaching.

Grace is amazing. In JW teaching there is no such thing as Grace. Always be gracious (though I seldom am as evident by my ranting on these forums. I am aware of my flaw. Thanks to all of you CAFers that don’t point it out to me daily, hourly ;))
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As far as I am concerned, go ahead and “rant” if it helps! 😉

I have never really thought about jw’s as being “miserable” but I guess if you didn’t choose that kind of life, it makes sense. I would hate having to go evangelizing door-to-door! I guess I figure that if someone isn’t receptive to listening, it’s not going to matter anyway. I love talking about my faith with people who are interested even if they don’t necessarily agree, but when someone is totally apathetic or even antagonistic, the only option that I can think of is “prayer”!

Are your family members still jw?
 
I never understood why they go door-to-door like that.

My folks told me that Jehovah’s Witnesses are like stray cats. Feed them once and they’ll keep coming back indefinitely.

I didn’t listen and chose to be really kind and cordial in my first JW encounter. They still come by periodically… seven years later. :eek:
 
adstrinity said:
Alright. One day I was naked in the backyard covered in chicken blood, labouring, and they STILL incisted on talking to me…what did I do wrong?

b_justb, what do you mean there is no such thing as Grace in JW’s beliefs? How does that work? You’re either in with God or you’re not? I just cannot fathom. …My cousin told me on my mom’s b-day that she (my cousin, not my mom) is officially a JW. Besides not seeing her at birthday parties and Christmas parties (which is such rotten luck; she was always a BLAST!), I don’t much know what that means. AND, far be it from me to challange her. It’s bad enough my agnostic mother wants me to tell her that she’s joined a cult and will be going to hell (she doesn’t want me to tell her this for her salvation, but, just to have something to watch, you see.) So, I am not going to make a case out of my cousin becoming a JW because she’s always been nice, clean living, abhors swearing…mostly, and respectful. I’ll pray for her, but, other than that, I don’t want to cause trouble.
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jw’s do not believe in grace. that is true. they do believe that your saved if you follow the doctrines of the watchtower organization and remain faithful to it. if you tried to explain to them about grace, they’d have a ton of malarky to serve back at you.

as for your cousin, she needs to see the truth of the falsetower. get her some good Catholic material. you can go to the CA library here and look on your upper left land screen and scroll down to where it says non Catholic groups and click on that and you’ll scroll down and see a whole category with jw stuff on it. it is excellent. as well, get yourself a copy of Jason Evert’s book, Answering Jehovah’s Witnesses. that book is the most incredible book one can have in their corner when speaking to witnesses.

its sad that your cousin is swept up in the false doctrines and deciet of the watchtower organization. they only harm souls and do not benefit them at all. they do not tell the truth. there is no untruth with God, and there most certainly is with this foul lying organization that continues to mislead the world and lie to its members. they indoctrinate the members, and they tell their members that they are not allowed to question what the society teaches, nor are they allowed to associate with non jw’s freely, nor are they allowed to have independent thinking. this is true, and how do i know? i used to be one of them.

if you want more info, contact jeff schwehm here at CAF. he is an expert on jw’s. he has more info and more experience than you can imagine. he knows the society inside out. i don’t have a biased opinion either in the information i told you here, i have told the truth. they are a dangerous cult and the governing body needs to be exposed for what they are, liars and promoters of a false belief that has no origin with God. they change the bible to suit their beliefs. there are consequences for doing such a thing, and see it for yourself at the end of Revelation 22. that might be a thing you might want to point out to your cousin someday.

i will pray she gets out of the falsetower. i have pm’d jeff and he will come over to the thread and reply. he really does have an excellent knowledge! you guys will love speaking to him!
 
Hi All:

The JWs actually have a different view of things when it comes to the grace of God. They deny the divinity of Christ and believe that Jesus is merely a man who happened to have a pre-human existence as Michael the Archangel. Thus, they believe that God pawned all the dirty work of our salvation off on a mere created being. This is in contrast to the beliefs of orthodox Christians which is that God did the dirty work to save us Himself.

I really believe that it is largely because of this that they have set up a system of salvation that is really based on good works and the “good work” that they specifically require is that of going from door to door distributing their religious literature and following all of the rules of their organization. In fact, JWs are required to report to their congregation leaders known as elders how many hours they spend going from door to door and how many books, magazines, and tracts they distribute in this door to door work. These reports are used to determine how spiritual the members are. In fact, a male JW cannot be appointed to any type of leadership in the local congregation without spending at a minimum 10 hours a month going from door to door. Those who neglect this aspect of JW life are usually labeled as spiritual weak and it is not uncommon for them to be shunned on some level.

In the JWs own Bible which is translated in such a way so as to emphasize their own odd beliefs, in areas where most Bibles would speak of God’s grace, the JW bible refers to it as God’s undeserved kindness…I really do believe that there is a difference between grace and underserved kindness when it comes to the way in which JWs and Christians understand how God relates to us.

For a Christian, God’s actions towards us are totally free. As a Catholic Christian, the Sacraments are perfect examples of God’s grace in that the grace received from the Sacraments is free from God and actually gives me the power to do the works that the Lord wishes me to do. Of course, the degree to which I receives the Lord’s grace through the Sacraments does depend on how open I am to God’s grace but still it is a free gift and something that God does out of his abundance of generosity and love for us.

In contrast, the god of the JWs does not have sacraments he is just basically kind to us in a way in which we do not deserve in that for them their god pawned off our salvation on a mere created being (I guess their god did not want to get his hands dirty) and now he judges them in no small part on how well they sell magazines and get converts for his publishing company.

The whole JW belief system is really so much less than what the Lord really wishes to give us.

Jeff S.
www.catholicxjw.com
 
jschwehm said:
Hi All:

The JWs actually have a different view of things when it comes to the grace of God. They deny the divinity of Christ and believe that Jesus is merely a man who happened to have a pre-human existence as Michael the Archangel. Thus, they believe that God pawned all the dirty work of our salvation off on a mere created being. This is in contrast to the beliefs of orthodox Christians which is that God did the dirty work to save us Himself.

I really believe that it is largely because of this that they have set up a system of salvation that is really based on good works and the “good work” that they specifically require is that of going from door to door distributing their religious literature and following all of the rules of their organization. In fact, JWs are required to report to their congregation leaders known as elders how many hours they spend going from door to door and how many books, magazines, and tracts they distribute in this door to door work. These reports are used to determine how spiritual the members are. In fact, a male JW cannot be appointed to any type of leadership in the local congregation without spending at a minimum 10 hours a month going from door to door. Those who neglect this aspect of JW life are usually labeled as spiritual weak and it is not uncommon for them to be shunned on some level.

In the JWs own Bible which is translated in such a way so as to emphasize their own odd beliefs, in areas where most Bibles would speak of God’s grace, the JW bible refers to it as God’s undeserved kindness…I really do believe that there is a difference between grace and underserved kindness when it comes to the way in which JWs and Christians understand how God relates to us.

For a Christian, God’s actions towards us are totally free. As a Catholic Christian, the Sacraments are perfect examples of God’s grace in that the grace received from the Sacraments is free from God and actually gives me the power to do the works that the Lord wishes me to do. Of course, the degree to which I receives the Lord’s grace through the Sacraments does depend on how open I am to God’s grace but still it is a free gift and something that God does out of his abundance of generosity and love for us.

In contrast, the god of the JWs does not have sacraments he is just basically kind to us in a way in which we do not deserve in that for them their god pawned off our salvation on a mere created being (I guess their god did not want to get his hands dirty) and now he judges them in no small part on how well they sell magazines and get converts for his publishing company.

The whole JW belief system is really so much less than what the Lord really wishes to give us.

Jeff S.
www.catholicxjw.com
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excellent!👍
 
TraditionalCath said:
excellent!👍
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By the way, I have read the Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska. I do believe that we all need to be merciful toward one another, including JW’s. I am sure that you must feel the same way. And hopefully, all the catholics on this forum feel the same way. I have seen some unmerciful posts on this forum when other faiths are discussed.

I visited Vilnius this summer where I saw the painting in your signature. It was beautiful as was the shine where it was placed.
 
why_me said:
By the way, I have read the Diary of Saint Faustina Kowalska. I do believe that we all need to be merciful toward one another, including JW’s. I am sure that you must feel the same way. And hopefully, all the catholics on this forum feel the same way. I have seen some unmerciful posts on this forum when other faiths are discussed.

I visited Vilnius this summer where I saw the painting in your signature. It was beautiful as was the shine where it was placed.
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of course we are to show mercy! naturally! but also telling the truth and defending that truth is what God would expect of us as His True Church. i will never bow to the organization again. however, i find it very hard to be merciful to the governing body because they have lied for over 100 years and continue to do so. if the truth was in them, then they would not do what they do. the governing body are like agents of the devil, they lie about God and they lie about the Catholic Church and they change God’s holy word, the Bible. that is nothing to be merciful for. it is up to God to show them His supreme justice and He will. in the meant time, we can pray for the souls that have been horribly misled by the governing body and help them on the road to freedom.
 
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Delraek:
Are your family members still jw?
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Not my brother (only brother) but my parents and my aunts and uncles on my mother’s side are.
 
i have written a series for Catholics in dealings with jw’s. so far there are 2 pamphlets written, No Christmas for me, and How to find freedom. these publications of mine are copyrighted and not for internet usage. they are for private use only unless i specify otherwise. they are for Catholics who are dealing with someone they know who is a jw, or an ex jw Catholic, or someone who is leaving the organization that you know of. it helps the Catholic to understand how it is for a jw not to celebrate the birth of our Lord in the first series, and in the second series, it shows you the mind set of a jw and how they can be free. if you want a copy for private use only feel free to pm me. you may print them out for yourself for private usage only.
 
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