I still have a copy of the "Book of Mormon." So today, a couple Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on the door.

I asked them to hold on and I grabbed the book. I asked, "Seeketh ye further light and knowledge?"

I never saw two grown adults run away so fast! Best part is, one of them stubbed her toe on the way down the stoop.

Perfect!

RB

The JWs creative "translation" of the bible in France always had a green book cover -- so we took to calling it the "Green Dragon." There was, of course, an assumption that our blue-covered BoM could set fire to a Green Dragon if you put the BoM on top of one. Never got to test that, sadly.

In England we also called it the Green Dragon! It was because on the back or front inside cover there was a dragon like creature swimming in the sea!

Must have been a missionary thing. That's what we called it in Japan in the 70's.

They might throw it into a dumpster where a trash collector or homeless person could read it and be contaminated.

I put one into a brown lunch sack and threw it into my recycle bin. My exmo brother said I wasted a perfectly good bag and I should have just shredded the book.

hilarious! the Jdubs are something to behold.

One of my oldest friends is JW and we NEVER discuss religion. Mutual respect.

RB

The JW kids at school were the only ones who told me I wasn't going to hell. We didn't talk about religion either. It was always the evangelicals who had a huge problem with this. Always being judgmental & preachy.

The only evangelicals I went to school with were Mennonites and Christian Reformed/Calvinist, and most of the guys were into sinnin' like me.

RB

The ones I went to school with were the ones that were Born Again Christians. The kind who proclaimed that only they could be called Christian. I went to a bible study once with some very nice born again girls from school (they didn't know I was in the cult), & all I heard when I got there was how horrible Catholics & Mormons were.

I don't like to fuck with JWs. They are just as much victims of their cult's system as we were/are. I don't think it's funny to try to "scare" them off your porch. I feel sorry for them, and especially sorry for their children, who they often drag around with them when they go door to door. They don't want to hang out with me. They are required to do so much door-to-door and to distribute x number of publications. The pressures on JWs are just as enormous and damaging as the mormon cult pressures. I politely take their pamphlets and close my door. That gets rid of them just as effectively.

But they come back when you take their stuff. My mom kept taking their stuff for years and would waste time talking to them at the door. Not sure why they stopped going to her house.

Another similarity: They *do* seem to stereotype and target the same people as Mormons. The bus stop was deserted on Christmas Day when I was going to my mom's house one year. They stopped their car and had a young girl get out to talk to me, but left when they found out where I was going.

I'm so exhausted from fighting off all the people who target me and from knowing that I get targeted more than others.

Oh, I don't spend any time talking to them. About half the time, I'm not even home and I get there to find they've stuffed a pamphlet in my front door somewhere. But if I do happen to be home, I just reach out my hand, take the thing, offer a cheerful thanks, and close the door. I do not give them any opportunity to talk to me. And there's a 75-pound pitbull standing in the window, barking furiously and frothing at the intruders on her porch. Generally, unless people are invited, they tend to GTF off my porch quick like a bunny when they see/hear that.

Also, I live "in the mission field" so resigning my membership was sufficient to get the local mormons off my case. No mormon has darkened my door since I resigned. I only get these JWs and I think it's because of that one JW I dated about ten years ago.

Anyway, if you're truly exhausted about dodging evangelicals of any stripe, then remember that "No." is a complete sentence. "Fuck off" is also a complete sentence. ;>) Do not feel obligated to be polite to people who are intruding on your personal space/life/home. I tend to be, but this right here is a whole thread on the many, many options we all have to handle this sort of thing. Do what you gotta do.

I had a couple young JW men stop by my farm about 35 years ago and I engaged them in a lively discussion about Mormon doctrine and how it and what they were peddling was total crap....and they left.

RB

I watched a video of JW's at a regional conference. They were actively teaching and advocating the shunning of apostate family members. Some parents who have cut off their children for apostasy were on stage, smiling and sharing their experience. They were asking, "How can children learn if they are not cut off?" They showed a video at the conference of an older teen forced to sit apart from her family at church, with no interaction allowed. I found the video deeply disturbing. I put Mormonism along the same spectrum as the JWs, but I think the JWs are worse.

I taught a very sweet college student last fall who had been cut off by most of her JW family. She was pregnant at the time and thinking of returning to that cult because she needed family support and also missed her grandmother, in particular. (To be fair, I think she said her mom did see her, but I had the impression the mother might also have left the cult and been similarly shunned). My overriding thought was "Some grandmother!" I can't imagine my own mom or my late MIL shunning their grandchildren under any circumstances.

I work with an ex-JW. He's atheist now. Nicest guy. Great family man, always doing stuff with his wife and kids. One of the few rational guys in the office. I work with a ton of myth believers. Not Joseph's Myth, just random Christian myths.

When he first told me he grew up JW, I said I was raised in a cult too. We commiserated a bit and laughed it off.

Back in the day when I shilled for the cult, I met a lot of JWs. They were all over Europe. Talking to them was like talking to a brick wall, I thought. What I didn't realize was that I was just as thick headed about my beliefs.

It's odd now to think how many of my colleagues might believe some of these crazy things. Very few seem to think rationally. Yet their illogical thought processes contribute to many dangerous and stupid laws.

Uninvited drop in missionaries and JWs or any other religion pusher who interrupts anyone's day can't expected to be treated kindly for it.

Rude intruders at the door deserve to be ignored or sent packing.

If they bring their children, the resident can ask the child to sit in the car or go stand by the front gate. After that they can tell the irresponsible adult to never return and to treat their victimized child with more decency and compassion. Tell them that hiding behind a child is a cruel and despicable act of cowardice.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2016 11:40AM by Cheryl.

A while back two JW's stopped at my house. I misunderstood who they were initially, and then made the mistake of talking to them for a few minutes before I realized who they were.

One was clearly in training, because when I would flummox her, the other would lean in and whisper something in her ear, after which she'd keep talking. When I realized that they were JW's, I simply shut the door.

Oddly, about a week later, I received a letter from her in the mail, "correcting" whatever it was we had disagreed upon. And if that wasn't weird enough, it was addressed to me personally, by name, which means they went to the trouble to look up who owns the house (and assumed it wasn't rented to someone).

In typical creepy cult fashion, the return address was something like "Sister so-and-so" at the church's address. In other words, she can intrude on me at my home, but I'm not privileged to know where she lives, so I can't knock on her door if I want to keep the conversation going.

So it might be worth keeping a copy of the BoM and some Watchtower pamphlets on hand to chase off the appropriate missionaries. At least there's some use for this trash.

Usually I use my dog to do the trick. The only danger missionaries face from the dog is being thumped by her tail wagging, but she does bark her fool head off in happiness when people come to the door. I give an evil little laugh and lie that she doesn't like strangers and off they go at a rapid clip.

I have posted this before. I was sitting in the living room reading and the front door bell rings. The only people who use the front door are delivery people or those who canvas the neighborhood for a variety of reasons. Friends and neighbors always come through the side door. Anyways, I open the door and two middle aged women are standing there. It was obvious they were JWs. I don't remember what they said as their eyes kept getting bigger and bigger staring at me. I was thinking that I must be more hideous in appearance than normal. They never even finished their pitch and rapidly left the porch. After I closed the door I realized I was wearing a prominent "I am a blood donor" t-shirt. It is apparently an excellent JW repellent.

Very funny, lol!

That's a great story, Eric!

I don't engage with JWs for the simple reason that they are seeking clock hours proselyting and I don't want to give them anything to report. And if you talk with them (even argue) they will endure it just to get more hours in.

But I like the idea of another poster (Dogzilla) that it's another victim group we should actually have empathy for and leave alone. I can't disagree with that.

One funny story...I was helping my Asian girlfriend buy a used car from a private seller and we checked one out. It was a pretty beat up import and we decided it was not worth the money or potential trouble. The seller, a young Hispanic male, wasn't very happy when we declined to buy it.

As we are leaving he says, "You know, I'm a YW and I feel compelled to tell you something: It's unwise for an unmarried man and woman to accompany each other alone. It can lead to immoral consequences."

How did he know we weren't married? How did he know she wasn't my daughter (she's about half my age)?

I thought of a dozen things I could say, including the fact my gaydar was zooming off the charts (not that there's anything wrong with that) and perhaps he should come to terms with his own sexuality vs. the teachings of his church before scolding me. But I left it alone and had better things to do.

His comment wasn't unlike LDS members' feeling of "obligation to say something" not out of charity or love, but because it's what their cult wants them to say or has taught them to say. And I'm sure he was pissed he didn't make a sale ;}

Matthew 28:19 and 20 shows how his followres would Go and teach peope and baptize and join the ranks of JWs.

One church saw the need to go door-door. The preacher arranged to meet with his members on a Wednesday night to go from door to door like Jesus and the early apostles did. The first Wednesday three showed up. the next week one showed up. Afterward none came.

A lady identified us as Jehovah's Witnesses. I asked why JWs and not Baptists, or even Jesuits? She said that only Jehovah's Witnesses go door to door talking about the Bible. I said that maybe we are right in doing this. She closed the discussion right smart soon.