What to do with door-to-door proselytizing non-Catholics

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Thanks for all your answers. I just really don’t want to have ANY conversation at all. I want them to stop knocking on my door. Remember, I get JW, LDS, *and *Bible-thumping Christians (who are BY FAR the most persistent).

Depending on the group, if I don’t answer the door, they see that there is a car out front and come back about half hour later after they they’ve tried a few more houses. This means that they knock on my door four or five times a day. They usually work the neighborhood for three or four days. If I open the door and say “I’m not interested” and then close it, they knock again after they hear it click, or they come back in half an hour. The only way to stop the knocking is to open the door and listen for a few minutes.

I am considering buying this sign.

http://www.jamesandeve.com/graphics/no sign.jpg
 
Princess18 said:
Thanks for all your answers. I just really don’t want to have ANY conversation at all. I want them to stop knocking on my door. Remember, I get JW, LDS, *and *Bible-thumping Christians (who are BY FAR the most persistent).

Depending on the group, if I don’t answer the door, they see that there is a car out front and come back about half hour later after they they’ve tried a few more houses. This means that they knock on my door four or five times a day. They usually work the neighborhood for three or four days. If I open the door and say “I’m not interested” and then close it, they knock again after they hear it click, or they come back in half an hour. The only way to stop the knocking is to open the door and listen for a few minutes.

I am considering buying this sign.

http://www.jamesandeve.com/graphics/no sign.jpg
Click to expand...
That’s surprising. I have never gotten a door-to-door Evangelical Christian that I can remember. I get lots of Mormons and JWS because there are alot here, and once a candy bar from UPC (non-Trinitarian Pentecostals) with a sticker that said, “Jesus is God and He loves you!” but I didn’t eat it because it had been outdoors a while. It’s damp around here. There are a lot of small creatures.
I got Hare Krishnas once a few years ago. Really I get a door-to-door worker about once to three times a year, I guess. Primarily Mormons.
 
I am not sure what I will do if I get someone at my door now. I know I will be nice, but I never thought too much about what the best thing to do would be. I think it would take me off gaurd. I think I would give them my phone number and tell them they would have to call me back for a more appropriate time when I can devote myself to it, and could they also fax me the printed material that we will be talking about so I will be able to save time that can be devoted fully to the first visit that meets my scheduling needs.
How does that sound?
 
Funny I just came across this thread. I had just sent 2 LDS boys off, with their older whatever-he-was, and as I’m listening to them, I’m remembering another poster say slamming the door really is an un-Christian thing to do, and wished I had some Mountain Dew and Slice and Bakes to offer them. (Thanks Bamarider.)
I was just honest, I liked the tour of the new temple buil t here about a year ago& kinda bugged them because they hadn’t seen it yet & told one of the two that he sure looked like he was scowling at me. At that point he said I made him nervous. Well good! Nice talkin’to ya, bye!
 
👍 :clapping: :extrahappy:
LSK said:
I greet them with a big smile and I say, “HELLO! I am a member of the Church that Jesus HIMSELF founded. I am saved, I am being saved and I hope to be saved. I believe in the Holy Trinity and I believe that unless one eats His Flesh and drinks His Blood they will NOT enjoy Eternal Life. If you have any other questions about Truth, go ahead and ask!”.

Then I wait.

And usually, they run away.

One young Mormon man stood and asked me questions.

He contacted our DRE about a week later.

He is going to be coming Home to Truth next Easter, God Willing. Unfortunately, he had to move out because his mother and father disowned him.

The JW(s) no longer come to my house because of that particular greeting I shared - with them, I added, “Of course, I am a Christian. I mean, it’s not like I believe Jesus was St Michael the Archangel or something ridiculously heretical like THAT!”.

I also handed them a Pillar of Fire Pillar of Truth pamphlet…which you can get from this site.

Go get 'em…but remember…with LOVE.
Click to expand...
👍 :dancing: :clapping: :extrahappy:
That’s priceless! I’m going to have to practice that. Hope you don’t mind the plagiarism…

Mimi
 
Princess18 said:
Thanks for all your answers. I just really don’t want to have ANY conversation at all. I want them to stop knocking on my door. Remember, I get JW, LDS, *and *Bible-thumping Christians (who are BY FAR the most persistent).

Depending on the group, if I don’t answer the door, they see that there is a car out front and come back about half hour later after they they’ve tried a few more houses. This means that they knock on my door four or five times a day. They usually work the neighborhood for three or four days. If I open the door and say “I’m not interested” and then close it, they knock again after they hear it click, or they come back in half an hour. The only way to stop the knocking is to open the door and listen for a few minutes.

I am considering buying this sign.

http://www.jamesandeve.com/graphics/no sign.jpg
Click to expand...
I would respectfully ask that you don’t use that sign. I’m not sure if you were joking, but I find it offensive to all Christians.

When in Mexico, I saw many of these signs on the doors of homes there. At the time I was an evangelical protestant, and found it sad that “they weren’t open to the truth of the Gospel.”
🤷

I think it’s a lot better.
blogs.periodistadigital.com/labanderadeadiosayer.php/2008/04/24/p158253
 
graceandglory said:
I would respectfully ask that you don’t use that sign. I’m not sure if you were joking, but I find it offensive to all Christians.

When in Mexico, I saw many of these signs on the doors of homes there. At the time I was an evangelical protestant, and found it sad that “they weren’t open to the truth of the Gospel.”
🤷

I think it’s a lot better.
blogs.periodistadigital.com/labanderadeadiosayer.php/2008/04/24/p158253
Click to expand...
OK, that’s not gonna do any good unless I translate it!

This is a Catholic home.
We don’t accept literature from protestant or other sects.
Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!
Madre de Dios!
 
I have a simple answer to this issue.

Once two JWs tried to mission in our place, but I was at school. My mom understood that they wanted to talk about God and faith so she told them they could come again when I was home.

There was then an appointment made and we invited them in.
I prepared myself with my Bible and we talked over an hour. It became more of a debate…
After an hour, the two noticed they would not be accomplishing anything in our household and wanted to leave. I held them back for another hour until they finally left.
As I knew that the one of them was a former Catholic, I gace her a pamphlet from church for those “who seek the way back to the Church”.
They never came back again.
 
graceandglory said:
I would respectfully ask that you don’t use that sign. I’m not sure if you were joking, but I find it offensive to all Christians.
Click to expand...
I was half kidding - that’s the reason I posted in the first place, to see if anyone had a better “sign”. :whacky:

Husband is going to buy a regular “no soliciting” sign to see if that helps any.
 
graceandglory said:
OK, that’s not gonna do any good unless I translate it!

This is a Catholic home.
We don’t accept literature from protestant or other sects.
Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!
Madre de Dios!
Click to expand...
My great aunt has one of those hanging at her front door! I was thinking about trying to find it online when I saw the first sign posted.
 
Princess18 said:
I’ve heard the bit a million times about when a JW, Mormon, or anyone else knocks on your door, to just answer the door naked with a beer in your hand and they won’t come back. I’m sure that might work but I just don’t have it in me. Additionally, it’s not usually the exact same people over and over again so while one JW might go away mortified it won’t stop the next one from knocking. I live in the deep south so we also get non-denominational-just-started-a-new-Bible-based-church Christians.

There’s something about our neighborhood apparently. Almost every day that I’m home someone knocks on the door. If I’m out then I come home to printed material. Every once and a while I’ll answer the door, step outside while the dogs go ballistic, and politely listen waiting for my chance to say “Thank you so much for your concern, but I’m Catholic, and I am happy with all the answers that my faith provides”. Usually that ends the conversation, but occasionally they fire out a few scripture quotes and tell me that now they are even more concerned for my soul. At that point I smile politely and say “I’m closing the door now. Take care.”

I looked online today for no soliciting signs and most of the ones I found that specified religious visits seemed rude. I don’t feel that I can be ugly before they even knock. I was wondering if anyone had a polite sign idea? Also, I was thinking of keeping some printed material for the Church and maybe the cheap plastic rosaries, and pass those to whomever knocks? Anybody else do that?
Click to expand...
I’ve developed a questionaire about moral teachings.

I’ll answer the door, tell them I’m accepting applications from area churches, hand them a questionaire, and tell them to mail it back and if I’m interested, I’ll get back to them.
 
I’m afraid I get very annoyed with JWs. They used to come regularly to my area - you could always tell the groups. Let’s face it - they must keep some sort of tally on addresses. I’ve told them time and again, that I’m Catholic - thanks, but no thanks - in so many words. For awhile they didn’t get the message - then it seemed they did (or the bell didn’t work) :confused: Recently, they came again…Maybe, they should get an A for effort but it is annoying. I’m simply not interested. I have my Catholic Faith. I feel really badly for a friend whose Catholic son married/converted (don’t know which came first) into JW - now, if the grandchildren come to visit, my friend is not allowed to give them Christmas gifts.
 
deb_in_MI said:
Once upon a time, about a year ago, I had a family of JW’s visiting me regularly. The 18 year daughter seemed to be given ‘my house’ as her assignment and she always brought Mom or Dad with her. Well I invited them in. We had a chat. Next week they brought an ex-Catholic with them. I invited them in. We had a chat. She never came back again.
Then one week I invited them for lunch. We had a very nice lunch. I had the sense that the 18 year old was genuinely interested in what I had to say and sometimes very confused by what she heard her parents say. Mom got very irritated with this at the last meeting and they stopped coming by. At one point I asked them for their address so I could visit them on a Saturday morning some day… they weren’t willing to share…

I think I must have gone on a black list because no one comes by to chat with me anymore!!:confused:
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😦 I will be praying for more JW to come your way.👍
 
Angels_Unaware said:
Actually, there was a story I read, and it may have even been here, on Catholic Answers, about a JW woman who worked in a hospice. She worked there really on purpose, so that after the family members had died she could take advanatage of their grief if they did not have strong religious beliefs. She would wait for their family member’s death, then inappropriately get their personal contact information and write them letters about being with their family members whent they died. She did this for the sole purpose of converting them.
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Now that is an interesting tactic not often heard.😉

My only encounter with JW is when I was about 7 or 8, a JW came to the door. My mom answered and after about 5 minutes of the women giving her mini-speech my mom began to counter with John 6 (neither her nor I remember how this came up exactly), but after watching the women repeat herself for the third time as apparently she couldn’t deal with John 6, my mom threatened to call the cops if she would not leave our property.

Ever since then, they have avoided our house 😦 and gone around the neighborhood in 2’s and 3’s.:newidea: Perhaps they deal with John 6 by walking around with more people?

Obviously my mom was not looking to threaten the lady with calling the cops but when she kept ignoring John 6, and kept on repeating her set speech…what else are you to do?
 
You know, Catholics and Protestants have done some pretty aggressive evangizing over the years. Actually, since the first century. Sometimes, REALLY aggressive. So maybe we shouldn’t judge others doing what they believe is their calling. I’m not rude to them, but I don’t engage them in conversation, either. They’re too well trained…
 
Since, at least, the actual Pope and the previous, have encouraged evangelizing, I wonder if some of us is having the courage of doing so.

I have a couple of friends that tried to do that. One told me that fellows catholic sent them away from their doors. The other was surprissed to receive the following answer:
“What now!..have you become one of Jehovah´s witnesses?”

Both of these friends stopped their efforts to evangelize.

Sorry for my english. It´s not my mother-language.
 
Nuance said:
My great aunt has one of those hanging at her front door! I was thinking about trying to find it online when I saw the first sign posted.
Click to expand...
Most evangelists, for reasons I don’t fully understand, avoid me on sight. The ones who make it to my front door are simply told, “No thanks”, and leave. It’s quite easy.
 
If you don’t like the tone of ready-made “no soliciting” signs that specify religious visits (which you’re going to need in some fashion, because JWs are often told that they can ignore generic no-soliciting signs since they’re not “selling” a product or service), you can make your own.

Here’s one idea:

NOTICE
If you represent a church or other religious organization, we ask that you please do not knock or leave literature. Thank you and may God bless you.

Short, polite, and to the point. As long as it’s placed to catch the eye of anyone about to ring the bell or knock, you can make it any size – from a small card to a full-sized sheet printed in jumbo letters and tacked smack dab in the middle of the door.
 
hello. i truly am blessed each time JW or LSD knock at our door to evangelize. i would ask them to tell me the history of their faith and let them feel comfortable. then i would start asking questions making me the evangelizer rather than them, w/o me leaving my house. i usually focus on how christians got the bible (most of them didn’t have any idea), about st. thomas “my Lord and my God” affirmation (Jn. 20:28) and Jesus’ body and blood (Jn 6:51 ff). one elderly couple who were elders in JW were flustered when i explained to them about the body and blood of Jesus, and Jesus’ warning that they would not have life in them unless they eat his flesh and blood and how judas iscariot did not believe either. my house is always open to them and pray that more will come, that our good Lord use me to plant the seed of truth to our misled brothers and sisters.
don’t let the opportunity to be an evangelizer pass by. educate yourself on our Catholic faith and pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance. God bless.
 
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