two JWs at my door today.

[crisleem]

If you still feel a ‘wall’ between you and God you need to go to confession for allowing others to shake your faith. Actually for allowing yourself to separate from Him.
Remember when you became a Catholic you made an Oath to uphold and believe the teachings of the Church as coming from God. She abandoned this when you sought Him elsewhere.

While effects of sins hang around, maybe even forever, you can be right in your soul through confession.

And you might want to tell your husband you’re sorry. It hurt him too.

Thanks for sharing your story. It was a wonderful warning.

 

[wifeandmomoftwo]

Steve it is deceptive not to list your religious affiliation on your public profile. If your that ashamed of your religion how can anyone take at face value what you are saying. Is it that you are ashamed of calling Jesus your lord and savior but wish to have a name Jehovah instead…

For a period of 13 years, I had a friend who described herself as an “ex-Catholic Bible Christian.” We exchanged pen pal letters since we were both Star Trek fans, and then when her health got too bad for her to write, we spoke long distance by telephone instead. On the phone, she always insisted on reading Bible verses to me. I thought her strange Biblical interpretations and talk about a “paradise earth” were merely the products of the overactive imagination of an enthusiastic science fiction fan who was also dealing with the baggage of illness and being a fallen away Catholic. For my part, I told my friend upfront, openly and honestly, that I was a strong practicing Catholic … and I let her know the Catholic position on various subjects over the years.

Come to find out that this alleged “close friend” who called me “more than a friend, a family member and sister in Christ” … was actually being dishonest about her religion.

After 13 years, it finally emerged that she was a Jehovah’s Witness who had been deceiving me by neglecting to tell me the truth about her identity when it came to her beliefs.

When the secret was at last revealed to me and I told her that I’d still be quite willing to be friends as long as each one of us respected the other’s religion … the JW dropped me. Suddenly, the whole “friend, family, sister in Christ” relationship which had allegedly been so meaningful to her for all those years just up and vanished.

I later heard that a JW who is bedridden due to ill health, as she was, could count as “missionary time” any time spent on the telephone or writing letters with the intent to convert, instead of going door to door. (Can anyone confirm this?) So I suppose it wasn’t a real friendship after all … apparently she was just using me so that she could write down in a notebook somewhere the number of hours she spent talking with me on the phone, so that she could report this to her Elders?

~~ the phoenix

So being deceptive is common among the JW’s.

 

[twopekinguys]

Pete,

You’re fooling yourself and you apparently love it.

I spend plenty of time answering questions and defending my faith. In fact, I have over 600 posts here.

However, I don’t spend my time jumping to answer questions from those who throw out insults as they are posting their questions.

I’m just following the apostle Paul’s advice in this.

The sad thing is, 598 of those posts are double talk and avoidance. I will pray for conversion for you and all JW’s.

 

[Legal_Eagle]

You avoided my question. How is it that you enjoy the freedom won by those who fought in wars??

That’s unfair. God never promised us political freedom. Go do a bit of research and see what the Catholic Church’s stance was on Christians serving in the military prior to the Edict of Milan.

JW’s, as irritating as their visits are, have fought and won more 1st Amendment cases (that we all enjoy the benefit of) than any other single group.

If you don’t like the JW’s pestering you at home (and who does?) fine. But don’t attack them unfairly.

 

[wifeandmomoftwo]

That’s unfair. God never promised us political freedom. Go do a bit of research and see what the Catholic Church’s stance was on Christians serving in the military prior to the Edict of Milan.

JW’s, as irritating as their visits are, have fought and won more 1st Amendment cases (that we all enjoy the benefit of) than any other single group.

If you don’t like the JW’s pestering you at home (and who does?) fine. But don’t attack them unfairly.

YEAH, what great things they have done…their first win allowed them to knock on everyones door (SOLICIT) without a license.

Hence that is why so many places now have NO SOLICITATION signs hanging in their doorways!
http://citystore.plano.gov/images/NoSol.jpg

 

[teachccd]

Maybe I can answer it for him?

There are three types of people in this world. The Sheep, the Wolves and the Sheepdog.
Sheep prefer to go on grazing and looking dumbly over the pasture.They prefer not to go near the sheepdog. They don’t even know its the sheepdog who protects them from the wolves.

The sheep don’t like the sheepdog. The sheepdog to a sheep looks too much like a wolf. They don’t trust anything with fangs. They don’t realize the sheepdog is prepared to use those fangs in THEIR defense. They would rather the sheepdog be another sheep , but then… who would defend the flock’s territory?

It’s the same story here. BibleSteve, you should visit the Vietnam War Memorial. Or go to Pearl Harbor sometime. Or ask any vet why they fight. Its to defend the rights of people like you! I will not apologize for the fact that I have taken up arms and I am prepared to fight and die in war too. And as for all that, THAT is between me and God.

Have fun going doorbell punching. By the way… YOU’RE WELCOME.

A Seabee Vet

 

[geraldffff]

The sad thing is, 598 of those posts are double talk and avoidance. I will pray for conversion for you and all JW’s.

Here are a couple of examples of JW teaching and ways of thinking that I learned from my older brother.

1. You cannot take advantage of another person because that would imply that they have the advantage so if they have the advantage you the weaker person cannot take it…
2. If you gain an advantage and profit by deception this is what they call “spoiling the Egyptians”. This is a allusion to the the Israelites taking property from the the Egyptians as they departed from Egypt. This is their justification for dishonesty when dealing with any person that is not one of their number. So you see for them there is nothing wrong in deceiving a person as to who they are or what their religion is really about. On the other hand JW’s are serious and devoted followers of the Watchtower and have more “forbidden books” than the Catholic Church ever did. One thing they do not have is the Holy Scripture as they are forbidden to seriously think beyond how the watchtower tells them to think. I was not much of a Catholic thinker before my JW brother challenged my knowledge by making statements that I had the feeling were inconsistent with reality. So I have him, in part,( a JW) to thank that I found and read Augstines Confession and the City of God.The Lord works in mysterious ways , for sure.

 

[geraldffff]

I have to add something to this post. I am new here by the way. From Michigan, married to a Cathoic, 3 kids, homeschooler…converted to Catholicism in 2003. My name is Angela. So Hi everyone.

okay so now for my response…

After converting a few years later a JW knocked on my door. Noramlly I would not have answered but since I had become Catholic I was hearing all kinds of horrible things about my new religion and I was curious what the JW’s had to say.
Nice enough people, I invited them in offered them food, drink and hospitaility. We began to “study” scripture and the watchtower tracks every week. They would come back and we would “study”.
All the while I was keeping it a secret from my husband and family.
Now before I began “studying” I was pretty innocent to my failth. I believed God took care of all and felt His presence when I would pray. Little miracles would happen with money when things were tight and I knew HE was there.
Sometime during studying a blackness came over me. I was having nightmares, my husband and I were fighting, I couldn’t sleep. I was even having daymares of horrible things I can’t even speak of. Then the worst thing of all happened, God left me. He just left. I have heard people describe hell as exsisting without God. When I would pray I didn’t feel HIM. I felt alone in room full of people for the first time in my life. We fell on hard times, lost our home…no miracles, nothing.
I kept studying though. Not sure why. Morbid curiosity I guess. I was convinced all other religions were evil. I was ready to divorce my husband if he didn’t comply, which by the way is encouraged by these JW’s. I was ready to burn down my Christmas tree because it was pagan, stop associating with people, move if I had to. After all, if it was “God’s will” as the JW’s put it, then I had no choice. Accept it or simply cease to exsist. My children would be damned if I didn’t lead the way to salvation.

Well through it all in the end one wonderful thing came of all of it. I learned scripture inside and out. Because I was reading my bible constantly. And in the end I realized the God was letting me feel His absence on purpose so I would know I was falling from Him. However in the end HE did save me.
During our last "study "meeting they were going over how Jesus is not God. Well I was looking through scripture for my answer and feeling frusterated that I couldn’t find anything. Later that night as if God Himself turned the page for me I opened up scripture after scripture confirming Jesus IS God!!! and that only spirits who confess this are from Him. The JW’s were not sent from Him. The next visit was short because I told them Jesus is God and of everything they had to say they would never get me to say otherwise! They were very upset, but they left and never came back.
The whole thing was quite an ordeal for me and now it’s nearly 2008 and I’m still not completly recovered. I still struggle with questions about my faith. I feel God there again, but still a wall. I feel as though I hurt Him and have to regain His faith in me. I could be wrong but the wounds are still there and I guess they just haven’t healed yet.
My advise to others…curiosity killed the cat…if they come to your door DO NOT LET THEM IN!!! DO NOT LISTEN TO A WORD THEY SAY!!! If you are struggling with your faith pray and pray hard. People will let you down…even in your own church. People fail but God does not fail. “LET ALL MEN BE A LIAR AND GOD BE TRUE”
God Bless,
Angie

Wow! Wow, Wow, thank you for sharing this valuable in site it is very disconcerting to me that some on this forum would advocate a different approach to the uninitiated. One of my younger sisters was almost totally sucked in until she came to understand that she would have to turn her back on Jesus and replace him with Jehovah. Thank you so much for sharing this.

 

[celticcrusader]

I have a friend [ex-cath.] who is J W ,when they first start talking to you they use the KJV bible , then they bring out the JW bible because they say its written so they can understand it easier . but it removes all reference of Jesus as God . and they give you things to read but they CAN’T read anything you might give them to read . any way one day i met him with 2 elders from the hall and we talked at the end of our discussion they decided i was a GOAT!!! they told him he can’t talk religion with me ??? i don’t think our church would that? BAAA BAAA we still talk

 

[ishii]

For a period of 13 years, I had a friend who described herself as an “ex-Catholic Bible Christian.” We exchanged pen pal letters since we were both Star Trek fans, and then when her health got too bad for her to write, we spoke long distance by telephone instead. On the phone, she always insisted on reading Bible verses to me. I thought her strange Biblical interpretations and talk about a “paradise earth” were merely the products of the overactive imagination of an enthusiastic science fiction fan who was also dealing with the baggage of illness and being a fallen away Catholic. For my part, I told my friend upfront, openly and honestly, that I was a strong practicing Catholic … and I let her know the Catholic position on various subjects over the years.

Come to find out that this alleged “close friend” who called me “more than a friend, a family member and sister in Christ” … was actually being dishonest about her religion.

After 13 years, it finally emerged that she was a Jehovah’s Witness who had been deceiving me by neglecting to tell me the truth about her identity when it came to her beliefs.

When the secret was at last revealed to me and I told her that I’d still be quite willing to be friends as long as each one of us respected the other’s religion … the JW dropped me. Suddenly, the whole “friend, family, sister in Christ” relationship which had allegedly been so meaningful to her for all those years just up and vanished.

I later heard that a JW who is bedridden due to ill health, as she was, could count as “missionary time” any time spent on the telephone or writing letters with the intent to convert, instead of going door to door. (Can anyone confirm this?) So I suppose it wasn’t a real friendship after all … apparently she was just using me so that she could write down in a notebook somewhere the number of hours she spent talking with me on the phone, so that she could report this to her Elders?

~~ the phoenix

I think everyone has a jw story. Here is mine: My wife is native Japanese and when some Japanese women came ringing the doorbell, she let them in and served them some tea. (They had noticed her while attending our neighbor’s garage sale and had briefly said hello. It is not uncommon for Japanese people (esp. women) to call or " drop by" another Japanese person’s house just to be friendly, especially if it is an area of the country where there are not many Japanese people around. Well, they were very polite and normal acting, engaging in small talk and such and got along very well. My wife was very happy to meet them and thought they would perhaps become friends as they were around the same age, etc. Then they suddenly shifted to why they were really there- which was to convert my wife to JW-ism.
The strange thing is that when they started to talk about the bible and the Watchtower and everything, everything about them changed and they acted very differently. Their personalities changed and they acted phony, and spoke in a very cautious, rehearsed manner, not at all naturally. They had come into our house under totally false pretenses (just Japanese women wanting to make friend with another Japanese). My wife regretted letting them in at all. They were very aggressive and kept coming back but my wife wouldn’t let them in. Finally, I had to tell them to just go away. They were very stubborn and it got heated. It woke me up (pun intended) to the tactics of JW’s and just how duplicitous they are willing to be in order to catch another convert to their cult. Further, it makes me think the view of an earlier post in this thread from an RCIA teacher to be naive to the potential harm the JW’s can do. The JW’s are not, I repeat, not out to just have an innocent conversation and understand us and engage in ecuminism. They are out for one thing: to pull us away from our Catholic faith, and they will be aggressive if they think they have a good chance at getting someone. Ishii

 

[robert_martin]

hi 'Dustinsdad" im glad u gave the kind of response u did on the thread…i totally agree with you…wise counsel God bless you…

 

[sodak]

The best way I found to get rid of Jw’s at the door is to have a book ready to give them when they come. A pamphlet about the Catholic faith is sufficient. When they hand you the Watch Tower hand them your book…They won’t take it, and when they don’t hand their propaganda back to them and say, "Hey I’m all for a fair exchange of ideas and beliefs, but if you are unwilling to consider mine, why should I consider yours?. They won’t like it, and they won’t come back for a long time.
Keep the Faith, Greg

I’ve never yet met a JW who was honest and forthright in their intentions. They have all (thus far) been extremely sneaky when coming to my door, harassing me in the airport, etc.

You all are a whole lot more charitable dealing with them than I am. They don’t come to my door anymore, and with good reason.

 

[Meximo]

I, too, have had my JW experience, according to a group of JW I am the devil incarnate. They make it a point to avoid my side walk. I did nothing wrong just asked them a few questions. I guess I bothered them. Okay maybe it was me knocking on their door a few days later that bothered them.

 

[revelations]

One thing to add as a few people pointed out earlier, I don’t think tolerating JW’s can be lumped into the ecumenist movement for Christian unity…I think you have to at least believe that Christ is truly God to be counted in the ecumenist group…

It has been shown from real life encounters that their main goal is to stray you from faith in Christ. They are lost sheep, and we must kindly let them know they are lost and plant the seeds to bring them back. Take control of the conversation, note the passages that mention belief in Christ, give them some Catholic literature and wish them on their way. I have a nifty little booklet titled “What Catholics Believe”, and you only need one because it’ll always get handed back .

Peace of Christ be with you all,

-revelations

 

[Seabee4681]

Just my two cents.

I have absolutely no time for JW’s and no inclination whatsoever to listen to anything they have to say. The way I see it, my spiritual life is already a train wreck, my Catholic Faith is already in smithereens, and my salvation? Heh, in question.
Why should I give my time to people who let their little kids die for want of a blood transfusion which could save their children’s lives and follow a religion that quite frankly makes NO sense. They will get the same reaction from me as a Hindu stopping by and telling me I have to worship cows. blank stare

I’d advise everyone not to give them the time of day. You’re going to do as you feel and believe is right of course, but in my opinion the Watch Tower is a lot of man made hooey. Sorry to be so blunt about this. In my search for the truth about God I simply have no time for lies.

 

[Church_Militant]

I have found that they generally will not return if you make even a minimal defense of the faith. I have noticed that they will usually prey upon anyone they perceive as ignorant or weak in their faith. Very often they hear “Catholic” and their eyes light up thinking that they have a easy catch.

I have found that when they walk up I can stop and smile and when they start their pitch I say, “Well, I’m trinitarian. I believe that there are three persons in one God and that the Father, Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all persons of the same God…” they make their best effort and when I challenge their translation of John 1:1 as grossly mistranslated, they just look at each other.

After the last time they caught me taking out the garbage, they have not returned.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

I have some Catholic pamphlets right at my door to hand out to them.

 

[CesarAugusto]

Teachccd,

If you can point me to a Scripture that shows Jesus or his Apostles in battle training, ready to haul over to the next country to kill other Christians, we can continue discussing your point.

Otherwise, I think we just disagree.

I believe that passage is right next to where the eating of cotton candy is endorsed by the apostles.

Jokes aside, it seems like unless a practice is literally endorsed in Scripture, you are against it.

While eating cotton candy is not mentioned in Scripture and according to your theology you should NOT eat it, the question of serving in the armed forces is touched upon in Scripture. Jesus openly talks to Roman soldiers and never tells them to stop being soldiers.

You are right about the command to teach all nations; however, we are to teach His Gospel, not the JW theology which initiated in the 1800s. You are taking half of the teaching and running with it.

 

[Legal_Eagle]

YEAH, what great things they have done…their first win allowed them to knock on everyones door (SOLICIT) without a license.

Hence that is why so many places now have NO SOLICITATION signs hanging in their doorways!

And, thanks to them, you have that right as well, should you choose to excersise it.

 

[BibleSteve]

That’s unfair. God never promised us political freedom. Go do a bit of research and see what the Catholic Church’s stance was on Christians serving in the military prior to the Edict of Milan.

JW’s, as irritating as their visits are, have fought and won more 1st Amendment cases (that we all enjoy the benefit of) than any other single group.

If you don’t like the JW’s pestering you at home (and who does?) fine. But don’t attack them unfairly.

Thank you Legal Eagle for a very fair and reasonable response.