Bea'(name removed by moderator):
I had a visit yesterday from my neighborhood Jehovahs. I attempted once to defend my faith years ago (a miserable failure

) and have since either not answered the door or gave a lame excuse why I couldn’t give them time (e.g. my baby was sleeping yesterday). I know Catholic Answers has some great material on this but was wondering, how have you all replied to these unsolicited visits and their claims? I’m thinking I’ll just keep a supply of CA’s tracts by the door and we can exchange materials?
If you have a nice, short rebuttal I can use that would be great!
Love and God bless,
Bea’s Mom
Don’t beat up on yourself for feeling a “miserable failure” with the JWs. I’ve had a lot of experience with these people and they are as tough a nut to crack as there is. In a lot of ways they are similar to the Arians of the 4th century.
First, keeping some CA tracts handy is OK, but my guess is that you’ll never get them to read them. “Arguing” with them is pointless, but if you have a set of well-prepared questions to challenge them with, that can be effective. The first move is to get them off their prepared agenda and to start responding to yours.
You need to understand what they believe. One of the best resources for this is a book by a Protestant apologist, Dr. Walter Martin, called The Kingdom of the Cults. Get thoroughly grounded in their beliefs so you know what you’re trying to refute.
One technique I’ve found useful is to zero in on their “sola scriptura” belief. When you really pin them down to the fact that they have to trust the apostate Catholic Church for their Scriptures that they are using as a weapon against you, this can be disconcerting and can serve to move the discussion onto your turf.
As I said, you really need to know what they believe and how they twist Scripture to their own ends. Dr. Martin is a big help. Prayer, of course, is still the best.
Frankly, I love it when these folks show up at my door. It’s a ready-made evangelistic opportunity.