When Jehovahs come calling

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All these replys are great and well timed. I’m currently talking with two who are visiting on a regular basis. This coming Monday I’m giving them diner! I think spaghetti is in order! We are comparing notes via open Bibles and I’m very hopeful of reclaiming one of them for Christ, if not both. Her name is Gladys and she is a former Catholic. Please pray for her and me as we need all the help we can get to bring her back to the Truth. And I fully plan to take Jim up on his gracious offer of “coaching.” Jim wherever you are, I’ve got your e-mail!

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
JW’s and the Bible
–JW Bibles: Then and Now
–The Gradual Devaluing of The Sacred Scriptures in the Bibles of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
–The Jehovah’s Witnesses Uses and Eventual Rejection of the King James Version
–A Look At The Jehovah’s Witness, Christadelphians, and Emphatic Diaglott Connection
–The Oscillating Position as to The Preservation of The New Testament Greek Manuscripts
–The Watchtower’s Allegations that There Are “Errors” in the Bible
–Critiquing the New World Translation
–The Credibility Crisis of the New World Translation
–The Problems of the New World Translation
–Does the New World Translation Delete Whole Verses?
Specific Scriptural Difficulties
– and the Jehovah’s Witnesses "Kingdom Interlinear Translation"John 1:1
–and the Jehovah’s Witnesses “Emphatic Diaglott”**John 1:1 **
–: The Jehovah’s Witnesses and William Barclay’s TranslationJohn 1:1
–: The Jehovah’s Witnesses and Johannes Greber’s Rendering of the New TestamentJohn 1:1
–and the Definite Article**John 1:1 **
–Changes in the NWT Text of John 1:1
–: "The Father is Greater Than I"John 14:28
–: The Light Gets Brighter and BrighterProverbs 4:18-19
–and Thomas’ Declaration that Jesus is God**John 20:28 **
–)Heb. 1:6
JW’s and Prophecy
–Jehovah’s Witnesses: “The Apocalyptic Arians”: A Biblical and Historical Critique
–Prophecy and Jehovah’s Witnesses
–Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses Prophets of God?
–Prophetic Blunders of Jehovah’s Witnesses
–1925: A Failed JW Prophesy
–1973: Sell Your House for the End is Near
–The Evolution of the Failed Prophecy of “Generation 1914”
Using the Name “Jehovah”
–The 1950 NWT Acknowledges “Yahweh’” As the Correct Pronunciation of God’s Name
–The Word “Jehovah” (in the NWT) Is an Example of a Man Made Tradition
–Watchtower Society and the Term “Jehovah”
–Is “Jehovah” the Proper Name of God?
–The Term “Jehovah” in the Christian Greek Scriptures
–A Look at the Watchtower’s “Criteria” for Using the “Divine Name” in the New Testament

for more on non-christian religions, go here
for the entire reference section at phatmass, go here

pax christi,
phatcatholic
 
Jason’s book is published by Catholic Answers (he’s one of our staff apologists, after all!), and you indeed can get it through Amazon or at www.catholic.com.
 
Actually ofering literature is one quick way to send them off…they are not allowed to accept literature from other faiths and if they did they would quickly toss it…

So say “I will take your literature if you will take mine…”

Also most are good with a few verses, (some are experienced in dealing with catholics though.) and knowing verses that refer to Jesus as God such as where thomas refers to Jesus 'my lord and my God" which their tranlations renders the same as ours is a good way to get them to think…

I too have turned them away not because I do not know the responses but becasue they catch me unprepared and I do not have my scripture verses memorized sa well as I should…
 
Karl Keating:
Jason’s book is published by Catholic Answers (he’s one of our staff apologists, after all!), and you indeed can get it through Amazon or at www.catholic.com.
Click to expand...
This is an awesome book. I’ve devoured it, as well as listened to the archived CAL programs on JWs, though I haven’t had a chance to use any of the information obtained yet.

Also, I’d suggest taking as much of the publications they’ll offer (even if you don’t intend to read it, or to use it to increase your knowledge about them). The more you can relieve them of, the less they’ll have to give to some unsuspecting person down the road.

On another note, I’d really buy the book (and others) from Catholic Answers. I’m still trying to find out if what I heard about Amazon.com contributing to Planned Parenthood is true or not.
 
As Catholics one way we can evangelise is building up the community in our own parishes,so people will not be enticed away to other religions.And also people from other churches will feel welcome.

Yes,i agree,but when you try to be friendly nowadays,compared to when i was a boy in the 1950’s,you can be made to feel as if you are prying.There is an insistence on “my privacy” more than before.Unfortunately,that courtesy is not afforded to everyone else,going by the way newspapers publishing plenty of gossip and scandal seem to sell so well.
Perhaps we just need to develop a thick skin and not be put off
showing concern for the majority because of a few snubs.
 
We’ve had tracts left by the Jehovah’s Witnesses when we were not home…so I take the easy way out… 😦
 
Having been raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnessess I would like to offer a few suggestions on how to deal with them. I would highly recommend that if you do choose to discuss your varying beliefs you have an excellent knowlegde of the bible. JW’s are trained very well in quoting scripture and can easily appear to be much more knowledgeable than they really are. A good sound knowlegde of the bible is very helpful in any discourse with them. I do not believe that the majority of JW’s are as informed about their faith as they think they are. Most are doing nothing more than repeating what has been taught to them. By doing nothing more than asking them the very same questions that they ask you, you can easily force them to admit that they cannot prove that they are the one and only true religion. They have a habbit of applying certain scriptures to everyone but themselves. So pay close attention when they do ask questions and do not be afraid to ask the same question of them. There are numerous ways to make them think a bit more about what they are saying and how silly it all is sometimes. Will not being Catholic myself I do have a fair bit of knowlegde regarding Catholocism and have even played the roll of a Catholic a few times while talking with JW’s. Feel free to contact me if any of you would like to know more. And of course the simplest way to get rid of them if you do not wished to be bothered anymore is to ask them to put you on their “Do not call list”, they will honor your request to not call on you anymore, though they make check about once a year to see if you still live in the same location. 🙂
 
Be sure to check out the 7 tracts at the Catholic Answers web site, along with Jason’s book, which Karl already mentioned.

Tracts:

catholic.com/library/noncatholic_groups.asp

Jason’s book:

shop.catholic.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/p-CB259.html?L+scstore+clqn1677ff703470+1126060417

I definitely like to speak with JW’s. You have to admire their dedication. I try to find out about them. Most often at least one of them is a fallen away Catholic. I ask them why they left the Church and start from there. I keep it very relaxed and friendly, but I definitely use the stumpers tracts because it points out the errors and inconsistencies in their Bible translation and the unfulfilled prophecies of the Watchtower Society. I choose just one or two inconsistencies to get them thinking and invite them back anytime they want to talk again.

Do not engage missionaries at your door unless you are solid in your faith. If you do speak with them and your faith gets shaken, run, don’t walk ,to this forum and let us help you straighten things out! There is NOTHING that cannot be defended in Catholicism.

:amen:
 
Hello to all.

I’m sorry to say that I lost (and I mean lost!) my sister (a fallen-away Catholic) to the Jehovah’s Witnesses over three years ago. That’s the last time we spoke. I am “evil” and “of the world”, as is the rest of my family. We could never have a conversation without it ending up in a heated argument…because, of course, Pope John Paul is the anti-Christ, and the Catholic Church is the whore of Babylon, etc., etc. She’d say, “Your priest (and the seven others she visited) can’t even explain the Trinity,” when the truth of the matter is she wouldn’t give them a chance! She pretty much is brainwashed beyond reason and the only thing that can help is prayer. My dad told her (when she was still speaking to us) that he says a Hail Mary for her every day. What do you think she thought about that? 🙂
 
Well,

Our spaghetti dinner went very well. We talked for a good while after we ate. My spaghetti is great BTW and that helps. The older woman is a cradle JW and the younger is a convert - she used to be catholic but left the church to find God! She was a baptist and a few other things before settling on becoming a JW. She’s even been re-baptised; first as a Baptist, then again as a JW. The older lady had a re-version to JW. She was around it but not IN it, or so she says. In our conversations thus far we’ve looked things up in the Bible and gone in a few circles. We seem to start off and end up in the same places. I’m beginning to notice that they can only repeat a few things. There are plenty of inconsistencies in what they preach and lots of contradictory interpretations, but I’m choosing my battles carefully. The goal for me is to bring Gladys back, not “win” the argument, so this could go on for a while. They are very tolerant of me calling Jesus God and I’m expressing clearly that I don’t believe what they say, but they just keep talking. I’m pretty much overwhlemed with all the info this thread has provided and to be honest, I’m basically relying on my own knowlege of Scripture and Tradition and trusting the Holy Spirit to lead me where I need to go with them. I will use what is posted here in the future but don’t have a whole lot of time to invest looking up all this stuff. I figure I’ll talk to them till they either give me an ultimatum or I feel that I’ve said all I can. I’ll know when to let the conversation end. Please pray for them and in particular for the younger one, Gladys, who has renounced her faith for this gibberish of a religion :whacky: . (does that break your bad language ban Karl?)

Peace and all good,

Thomas2
 
Well…good luck!

I don’t think you’ll have success in getting them to listen to anything you have to say, or read anything you present for them to read. If they will, then I’d say you have a chance.

My sister was a cradle (but not very faithful!) Catholic…now she’s the most anti-Catholic person I know…or at least she was when I saw her last–three years ago! 😦
 
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.
 
The JW came by my house early this morning. They weren’t very persistant: it took me no more than 30 seconds to answer the door after they rang the bell, and they were already getting into their cars. Evangelization chance: missed. 😦
 
Defensor Fidei:
ILDS missionaries are young men and it is not a fair fight. The Elders send them out to toughen their skin. I doubt they will be back.

-Ted
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Not to mention, a casual buddy of mine who converted to Catholicism right from the 5th tier UP on the heirachy of the LDS church told me that the young people on bikes have NOT yet been told all the really WEIRD, nasty stuff about the beliefs of the LDS church.

The LDS church does it that way on purpose. By the time those “kids” are in their late teens, early thirties their lives are so ingrained socially and financially with the LDS church society that when they get told that stuff – like when men die they all become a god in their own universe and bring their own family here with them to start that universe’s population – they’re stuck!

The last time I spoke with the LDS folk who came to my door I asked them about whether they believed particular things (which I happen to have learned from reading the tracts on catholic.com/library/noncatholic_groups.asp about the Mormon church’s beliefs… and having perused for an hour or so over the Book of Mormon that was available for purchase at a local public, sectarian bookstore.)

These two young men were obviously not knowledgeable that THIS stuff was what the LDS church believed. They were just working from a script.

So they were at a loss of what to say in response to my simple questions about whether they believed this particular thing or that particular thing. They thought both those things were, of course, ridiculous.

And they tried to “soldier on” by reciting their scripts.

I invited them to come to my church sometime for prayer (I meant, the Mass, but didn’t say so). You would’ve thought I’d ask them to swallow hot acid.

And they took off like a bolt of lightning. Politely. But they were gone in a nanosecond!

As I shut the door, I offered it up for them.
 
Well, we had our little dinner Monday night. It went well. Salmon in phyllo with asparagus. I’m a good cook. After dinner we opened our Bibles and another discussion began. They brought up the subject of worshiping “idols, symbols and images.” I kinda knew that this talk would happen soon as the poor iconoclasts are surrounded by a few objects of religious art in my small apartment which make them squirm a little and I always wear a cross with a corpus that is pretty visible. We read a few Psalms and part of the Ten Commandments in Exodus. This was supposed to convince me that wearing my Cross was wrong and that my tastes in art should change! NOT! I explained what my Crucifix meant to me and why I wear it. Gladys at this point said “You have a daughter right?” to which I replied “Yes.” “Okay then, just suppose someone shot your daughter and killed her. Would you wear the gun around your neck?” Shock tactics I suppose. I basically just repeated my reasons for wearing my Crucifix and added that keeping near the Cross helps me to remember all that was paid for me and my sins and by so doing, I am much less likely to sin. The other woman said that nasty looking drug dealers wear huge Crucifixes and that it sure didn’t keep them out of trouble! Oi. They won’t be happy until I take it off. Fortunately they gave me my turn in explaining how I think about idols and symbols and images. I pointed out the images in their magazines and asked them if they worshiped the images in their own pages. Then I said that the letters in our Bibles were infact, just symbols of the sounds our mouths make when we speak and the letters we hear that make up different words which in turn symbolize every thing we imagaine when we talk. Certainly we shouldn’t ignore these symbols? I also talked about all our “modern idols” like rock stars and movie stars and sports stars. I asked them how many little girls do they know that dress like Brittany Spears or how much hoopla there is over Harry Potter and such. Most folks don’t mind that kind of stuff and don’t consider it “idolatry.” I also talked about the worship of money, power, sex, good looks, etc… by this point they both were agreeing although they didn’t know how to respond. Then I hit home with what about the bathroom scale? (one of these women is a weight watcher) I asked how many women today are enslaved to a few numbers on a dial on the bathroom floor and get all their good and bad feelings from fighting this little demon? That was enough. The time was pointed to and it was suggested we talk more about this next week. Shucks. I’m not sure I should cook something lo-cal for the occassion. I’m wondering how long these gals are gonna sit still to listen to me. Please keep praying for me and for them. We need all the help we can get.

Peace and all good,

Thomas2

P.S. Please dont’ tell them that the asparagus was cooked with a few drops of Holy Water in them! Gladys took seconds on them! LOL. 👍
 
While we should be courteous to everyone, we’re not obligated to entertain door-to-door sales people. We can just say “not interested” and shut the door. If they try to stick their foot in the door, so to speak, they are the ones being rude.

I usually take their material, for two reasons. 1.) one less tract they can hand out to someone else, and 2.) to see what they’re up to.

I had an encounter with a single JW lady at my door step back in law school days. Usually they come in two or more, but she was alone. As I recall, she brought up the end times and asked me if I was concerned or afraid. I said “no.” I explained that I’m going to die at some point anyway, get hit by a car tomorrow. So it doesn’t really matter if the end times come in 10 years or 500 years: each one of us will have our end time.

She asked if I was afraid of that. I said “no.” She looked stumped and left.
 
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