One of my more colorful girlfriends had that beat. She kept snakes. And she had a bowlful of apples in the kitchen. When she answered the door she had a cornsnake twined around one forearm and an apple in her other hand, and she said, “I’m a but busy; can you come back later?” Needless to say, she wasn’t in her underwear. She wasn’t in anything. They didn’t come back later.
From my experience, a polite no thank you was usually sufficient for JWs and LDS. In my old neighborhood, evangelical Xians were the ones who didn’t give up (buckle of the bible belt here). I had one knock on a Saturday morning a few years back, getting me out of bed (10 am…had a late night Friday)…the lady asked me if I wanted to know Jesus. I then replied “Isn’t he the guy in apartment 79?” (quite literally the man upstairs from me, living in a latino neighborhood). She just thrust a tract at me and told me to have a nice day.
Absolutely 100% not true.
And, has never been true.
JWs keep a “Do Not Call” list. It’as not formal or complicated. It’s kept no where but on the back of a territory card. If you think of a Catholic Parish, the typical Congregation has a “territory.” The territory is broken down into neighborhoods, all of which are kept on laminated cards. So, the congregation may have 20 or so (or more) territtory cards that make up the overall territory of that congregation. If someone says simply, “I don’t wish to be called on. Please write this down”, it will be put on the back of that card that very morning.
People do move, and circumstances change. So a year later someone may call to see if the householder still feels the same. (or if there is a new householder) Every effort is made to respect those who wish not to be called on.
I belioev every thing Beaucarnea has posted here is generally accurate, except, *"Many witnesses go into sales careers, and are very successful salesmen because of their experience and training at getting an idea across to someone who is unsure or resistant”, *which is simply 100% not true.
When you have indicated you do not wish to discuss adopting new religious practices and the dolt(s) say “Why not?”, a good response is:
“Because.”
“Lo siento, no entende Ingles”
How do you know?
On topic, i’ve only been doorstopped by religious folks a couple of times, and it was just a single well-dressed guy. “I’m sorry, i’m not interested” got a “Is there any other time I could come to talk to you about this?” and a “Have this pamphlet”. I got the pamphlet (It seemed Christian-like, but I don’t recall exactly what type) and he came back a couple of times, but i’m afraid he didn’t piss me off at all and anyway I doubt I would have said anything mean.
the raindog like I said the verses came up while they tried to convert. Why would I remember the verses all these years later? Why would I have one of their bibles? You’ll have to do it the hard way. Freshen up on your bible, and invite them in.
…
Having been an LDS missionary (yes, white shirt, black nametag, the whole works), I can tell you that this was absolutely the case for me and any of the hundreds of other missionaries I knew. I mean, putting (verbal) pressure on someone who was reticent or ambivalent was one thing, but antagonizing someone who was indifferent or hostile? What would have been the point?
“Thank you, but we’re not interested,” and then you close the door.
Their hearts are in the right place and there’s no reason to be mean to them, unless they start coming around every day or something. In high school I was friends with a guy who was a JW, and he and his family were pleasant, nice people who never once pushed anything on us (they lived across the street) and his Mom made sensational French toast.
You’ll hear and read lots of “funny ways I scare off the JWs” but 99% of the folks who relate them don’t have the onions to do any of it.
And since so many of the stories involve either nudity or pertending to be satanic or crazy, I’d have to say the JWs are more likely to find you silly or stupid than irredeemably evil even if they are true.
I used to tell em we were Druids.
It’s fun to watch em speed walk up the driveway, glancing fearfully over their shoulders.
the raindog, my co-worker was in insurance sales until he began working with me, and I am certain that his best friend (who we occasionally meet for lunch because he is frequently on the road in our area) is still in the same business. I may not know everything about my friend, but I assure you that he does not have a habit of either lying or exaggeration. Why do you dispute this statement so firmly?
I had a sneeking suspicion you wouldn’t produce any.
To be able to cite 10 instances----heck, I’ll quote you: “They left after being shown about 10 different passages where their bibles had key words wrong” is no minor skill. To, off the cuff, correct mistranslations, in real time, while being presented to you requires a tremondous amount of knowledge. I would imagine that level of knowledge takes years of study.
And you can’t remember any of them? :dubious:
Well, no you’re not reading me correctly.
Let’s read me correctly, k? Might as well read it again, with bolding for clarity: "It is true that that most JWs encounter "people [who] have vague cultural notions of God and Christianity, but who have never once sat down and thought about what they believe, and whether things make sense. "
To begin , the definition was Unauthorized Cinnamon’s, who apparently used it for the dual purpose of rendering the JWs clueless and elevate herself vis a vis her unwashed neighbors. At any rate, I concurred that JWs encounter many people like that. Read: encounter.
Their target audience is every person on the planet. JWs are in every nation on earth, and carry their ministry to people of every stripe; from peasents to heads of state.
In the US, like every other nation on earth, they carry on their ministry in the roughest neighborhoods in the country, without exception or hesistation. They also can be found in the most affluent neighborhoods in the country. They preach to doctors, lawyers, senators, gang members, tradesmen,and people of every race and tongue in the world.
Garbage in, garbage out. You started with a flawed premise–apparently by “not reading me correctly”—and so this follows that logic. Frankly, this is juvenile. As I stated, JWs call on people all over the world, without distinction. The experiences of those who post to these threads bears this out.
FWIW, JWs have no desire to show anyone their [individual] prowess with the bible. That is antithesis to JWs, who believe that glory should be shown towards God, not “self.” So the procalmation, “I know more about the bible than you do”, which I’ve seen more than once here ,would leave the JW puzzled. Essentially, the answer would be, “So?” (without regard to whether that was true or not) To a JW, the purpose of having a working knowledge of the bible is to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for God, his purposes, personality and requirements. That should inspire a certain love and humility towards God and the bible. So the comment, “…or because they don’t feel they can argue effectively against someone who is familiar with the Bible…” might be met with either puzzlement, or mild amusement as to the immaturity of the statement.
The fact is, JWs spend somewhere between 5 and 10 hours a week, every week, actively using their bible. Many of their harshest critics acknowledge that the JWs know their bible quite well. Many of the critics who post here have made similar statements. If the average***** JW was put in a room with any given Doper and nothing more than a bible, I would imagine that almost without exception the JW would have a stronger working knowledge. (*****average being defined, I guess, as someone a member for 3 years or more) Even then, the motivation of the JW would be to share what the bible has to say, not to best anyone. An above average JW—and there are millions—in a room with a bible (with various translations), comprehensive concordance, and an interlinear would be equipped to talk about the bible with more than 99% of the population.
The notion that JWs don’t know the bible, or shy away from those that do, is laughable.
My question did not assume they couldn’t make an answer, but wondered why they didn’t try - and in fact, why they concentrated on those without difficult questions. Isn’t it possible to win souls and demonstrate the truth of your position without being proud? Are those who write the tracts proud?
Call on, to be sure. And run away from any with hard to answer questions. In 1967 a JW used to call on my grandmother, who liked the company, though there wasn’t a chance in hell she was not going to be buried next to my grandfather. This woman, seeing I was reading an sf book, told me that we would never really go into space, and quoted a Bible passage. This was useful, I wrote a story for my creative writing class based on this, but it seems she was bit off in her Bible interpretation, wasn’t she?
Well, the anecdotes in this thread seem to say otherwise. What you don’t seem to be getting is that the discussion is not on knowledge of Bible verses, but their application, or lack thereof, to the world. I’m sure all know Genesis quite well, but if they consider it literal, and cannot defend their position against evolution, quite frankly they are not worthy of serious consideration. I’ve read Watchtower tracts on evolution, and they’re garbage. They indeed get the Bible verse right, though.
Do JWs get training on the latest thoughts on who wrote the Bible, or is that forbidden territory? That’s important knowledge about the Bible you don’t get even if you memorize every verse.
I answer the door with a Mossberg 500A. Just open the door enough to look out and display the barrel, about nose-high, pointing upward. Never have to say much of anything, actually.
I live in a rural area, and this is standard.
Absolutely 100% not true. And, has never been true. Nah, not really. But partially, at least, I would wager.
You’re making exactly the same mistake others in this thread are making, and IMHO you’re doing it to a much worse extent. Other people believing falsehoods about JWs? You’re claiming they’re practically* infallible*. Most people don’t have the same knowledge of the Bible that JWs do - and hey, i’d agree. But no JWs have never thought about it honestly? No JWs don’t know it very well? No JWs are motivated by anything other than sharing the Bible’s word?
You’ve claimed knowledge that, unless you’ve been to every JW meeting places and met every JW. I don’t believe everyone’s stories in this thread. But I certainly don’t believe someone who is, in my eyes, lying. Because you haven’t done those things. Yet you’re claiming the knowledge from doing so anyway. I will endeavour not to make your mistake by not treating all JWs as though they are similar to you.
What kind of crap are you spewing? You say this about my post, and in the very next post you contradict yourself and confirm major parts of it.
According to you, JWs DO have “territories”. They DO have lists of people or locations not to contact, based on the responses they get when they knock on doors. That’s about 80% of the claims right there validated by your subsequesnt post. Who are YOU to say that some JW congregations might not keep such lists in the form of color codes on a map? Are you a member of every congregation? It would make sense to do so. “Laminated” cards to keep their lists? That makes almost no sense, as their lists would be changing constantly – daily or weekly, after nearly every foray out into the streets.