If a Jehovah's Witness knocks at your door…

[HeleneParticipant]

Am studying at home today, and there was a knock on the door this morning. Greeting me was a solitary, young, cute (in my opinion!) guy inviting me to Jesus’ anniversary or similar. He showed me a double-sided piece of paper with Watchtower printed on the back. I asked if he was Jehovah’s Witness, and he nodded in the affirmative. I was polite, friendly, and said ‘thanks but no thanks’. I was in the middle of something else so it wasn’t a good time to chat.

It made me think, what is the response of other T-L-Supperers?

Once in the past when I was feeling more engaging I gave my phone number to one (female) doorknocker and said she was welcome to give me a call if she wanted to catch up and discuss over coffee. It was a genuine offer in the spirit of friendship. I never heard another word, which didn’t surprise me, as I wasn’t convert material.

I guess overall, I have three thoughts:

I see engaging in discussion/theology as pointless, as I’ve only met a fixed mindset to date, one that predicts my questions and has a ready answer.

I feel empathy for the younger family members who have to attend these doorknocks in tow

And I don’t know why they don’t ditch their illustrator ! White be-robed gentle Jesus doesn’t do it for me anymore, neither does the artistry that looks like fantasy airbrush from the 60’s.

[WadeParticipant]

I’ve fielded a few JW’s over the years. The most recent was an older gent who had been a JW for many years. Normally they are much younger than that!

My usual tactic is to invite them to my church. They don’t seem to have a response for that. The gent above was trying hard to refuse without saying he was refusing, even in the face of the fact he was inviting me to his church. I feel like their worldview is just so proscribed from on high that they really have less hope than usual with the sort of people who would join TLS.

I do refuse their literature though. I tell them that I probably won’t read it and it would end up in the bin. So I’d rather they didn’t waste the paper.

 

 

[Chris MParticipant]

To be honest, I usually tell them I’m not interested but I’m sure my wife would love to talk to them.  She really appreciates that 

[Anonymous]

I used to be rude, now I just give them the grace message in actions. They resist but they never come back, well at least the same people don’t come back…..lol….they must have them stashed some where in reserve……meet resistance….. send in the next pair on the list……we’ll wear her down with persistance….lol, I love to tell people about Papa’s grace, they cannot give pat answers to my questions

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah and I always answer their questions with a question, confuses them……it isn’t in the script, they don’t ad libe well

[starfielderParticipant]

I smile and say, “we don’t take solicitations at the door. Thanks. Bye. ” and I close the door.

[moxierocksParticipant]

The last time I was the one who answered the door when we had JW’s knocking..hmm..it was when my littlest was still in the hospital. I thought I would be able to have her quickly on her way by just telling her I had to leave to go to the hospital. But she wanted to know if it was okay to ask who I was visiting. So when I told her it was my baby..well, I ended up answering a few more questions than I had anticipated. She was very kind and polite, and when she left I thought that was it..but the very same lady came back about 2 weeks later to “check on me and see how the baby was doing”..which, I gotta say, even though she also wanted to leave Watchtower pamphlets with me and invite me to her church, that lady showed SO MUCH more compassion and caring for me than any of the people I had gone to church with just a few short months before. If I answered one now, I would probably just say what @starfielder says..

[Anonymous]

They don’t come anymore since I got my Warning: No Solicitors and Go Away! signs (complete with a menacing looking bear). Goodbye also to the Schwann’s food man and that creepy dude who takes pictures of your house and property from his airplane and tries to sell them to you.

[Author]

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