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Jehovah's Witnesses Weirdness

Yeah, but don't some of those ridiculous beliefs involve mortally scaring their children by telling they're going to meet their doom some day soon? Not very nice.
 
Hey, everyone needs a bogeyman story. Keeps the kids in line.
 
I once invited in a family of JWs. I was sharing a house at the time: a little bohemian but tidy and certainly not a drug den. I gave them a cup of tea. They were very uneasy -- they looked like they'd stumbled into a den of Satanists and were about to be sacrificed. I asked them if they wanted to tell me something about Jesus. The father said yes, Jesus is great and could help in my life. I can read about it in the Bible. Anyway, they were in a hurry and had to go. They left, tea untouched.
 
GNC said:
Yeah, but don't some of those ridiculous beliefs involve mortally scaring their children by telling they're going to meet their doom some day soon? Not very nice.
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Yes but she was literally at the end of her tether, it was an awful situation, the only people who helped her out were the JW's. They saved her life and those of her remaining kids.

I don't agree with them or their beliefs I'm just saying they were the only people to step up and support this person and I'm not going to go into details, but think the worst tabloid horrorshow.
 
James_H said:
I once invited in a family of JWs. I was sharing a house at the time: a little bohemian but tidy and certainly not a drug den. I gave them a cup of tea. They were very uneasy -- they looked like they'd stumbled into a den of Satanists and were about to be sacrificed. I asked them if they wanted to tell me something about Jesus. The father said yes, Jesus is great and could help in my life. I can read about it in the Bible. Anyway, they were in a hurry and had to go. They left, tea untouched.
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Blimey- how strange. I get the impression from JW's that once inside your home they won't go until you've been converted. Peculiar reaction indeed.
 
PeteS said:
Blimey- how strange. I get the impression from JW's that once inside your home they won't go until you've been converted. Peculiar reaction indeed.
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Bloody hell, I feel that I'm becoming a poster boy for the JW's.

I've invited them in before, (way before I knew my above friend), and I used to take delight in getting stoned and asking them stuff they always left when I got bored, paranoid or whatever - most of the time they just wanted to drop off copies of Watchtower, (edit sorry that's the Salvation Army who are up there).

I reckon the door-knockers are like paperboys they just want to show they've gotten rid of their allocated amount of magazines.

Jeez we are so twitchy about these guys turning up to our house!!!

There's a real belief that they will somehow brain-wash us.
 
Naughty_Felid said:
I reckon the door-knockers are like paperboys they just want to show they've gotten rid of their allocated amount of magazines.
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I understand that they have no obligation to actually convert anyone: it's the number of door knocks that counts, not the number of converts.
 
PeteS said:
Blimey- how strange. I get the impression from JW's that once inside your home they won't go until you've been converted. Peculiar reaction indeed.
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I got the impression that they'd had rather sheltered lives and were put off by the rock music posters and the site of my housemate wandering about in a towel.
 
I think they have to put in a certain amount of hours each month.
The last time some came it was an older lady and her daughter.
She asked if she could have cuttings of some of my plants so I got a bag and obliged, giving her some garlic seedlings as well.
 
The JW are not keen on the whole blood drinking thing.
 
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Naughty_Felid said:
I love how everyone else gets a bit of tolerance but we always stick the boot in with the JW's. :D
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We are an equal opportunity household when it comes to people knocking on our door to inform us we are doing it all wrong. Of course some of them, like the Mormon boys, are ordered to go out and spread their particular kind of "joy" and enlightenment, but that's their problem. They can all take their silly claptrap elsewhere. We are polite about it, unless they don't shut up and leave when we tell them we are not interested. In those situations, Ms Popper simply closes the door. I'm less friendly at that point.
 
Agree w the approach used in the last few post(s). yes it's easy to be nasty - rude, when Mormons, fundamentalist, etc come a calling. But a polite indication of disinterest is a better route.
 
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Yes, I have had some religious weirdos show up on the doorstep, but I'm always polite in turning them away. After all, I have some pretty odd beliefs too, the difference is I don't go door to door evangelising them in an attempt to win converts.

I think that's what rankles many people about fringe religious cults like the JWs, Mormons, Scientologists, Hare Krishnas, etc, not their beliefs (or misconceptions) as such, more that they're trying to force themselves into your life with them when you're just not interested. Nobody likes cold calls selling on the phone, after all.
 
I may have mentioned on this board that a late theology professor of mine found an effective way to deter doorstep evangelists. The professor was an Augustinian friar and a specialist in the late patristic/early medieval era (5th-6th centuries CE). As such, he possessed a solid knowledge of not only Greek, Latin and Hebrew but also Aramaic, Syriac and other ancient Near Eastern languages. He told me a JW once knocked on his door and asked him if he would like to read the Bible and learn about Jesus. The professor responded enthusiastically and invited the JW into his home to join him in reading the New Testament in the original Greek text. The JW politely declined and made a swift exit. The professor said he was never bothered by them again. He must have been placed on their 'no-call' list.
 
GNC said:
Yes, I have had some religious weirdos show up on the doorstep, but I'm always polite in turning them away. After all, I have some pretty odd beliefs too, the difference is I don't go door to door evangelising them in an attempt to win converts.

I think that's what rankles many people about fringe religious cults like the JWs, Mormons, Scientologists, Hare Krishnas, etc, not their beliefs (or misconceptions) as such, more that they're trying to force themselves into your life with them when you're just not interested. Nobody likes cold calls selling on the phone, after all.
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This exactly. I don't really care about anyone's religion, sexuality or politics, but neither do I want to hear about it. Unless of course it's a close friend and they have asked for help involving one of those subjects.
 
Years ago I taught at a Church of England primary school that had formerly struggled for pupils, and had ended up admitting one of the local JW families to keep their rolls up - a total of 7 children in all. By the time I got there, the youngest one was in my class - a bright, sweet-natured, cheerful girl called Anna, who knew the drill; when we walked over to assembly, she peeled off to the library; when we were practising hymns, she peeled off to the library; when Christmas activities called, she peeled off to the library. I once had a lesson that involved evolution, and whilst I was standing there spouting, out of the corner of my eye I could see Anna bouncing up and down on her chair with her hand in the air - at which point I thought, "Sod you, you can wait!" and finished my invective before turning to her and saying, "Yes, Anna, was there something that you wanted to share?" "But what about God?" "Well, that's one belief system..."

She told me that her dream was to be a pioneer, and made several attempts to entice me along to faith meetings. ("Sorry, Anna, that's my wedding anniversary, I don't think my husband would appreciate me coming to your prayer meeting"). I heard her discussing her lack of birthday celebrations with the other girls in a very blasé fashion. The thing that freaked me out was when she gave me her piece of paper that said she was a JW and would not accept medical treatments involving blood transfer - she was 11. I suspect that should the worst have ever happened, I may have 'forgotten' about that little scrap of paper in my desk drawer until the ambulance had left...
 
bugmum said:
The thing that freaked me out was when she gave me her piece of paper that said she was a JW and would not accept medical treatments involving blood transfer - she was 11. I suspect that should the worst have ever happened, I may have 'forgotten' about that little scrap of paper in my desk drawer until the ambulance had left...
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I wonder if JWs would accept a blood transfusion from Jesus?
 
Xanatic* said:
Hey, everyone needs a bogeyman story. Keeps the kids in line.
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Jehovah’s Witness bogeyman:

iu


maximus otter
 
bugmum said:
Years ago I taught at a Church of England primary school that had formerly struggled for pupils, and had ended up admitting one of the local JW families to keep their rolls up - a total of 7 children in all. By the time I got there, the youngest one was in my class - a bright, sweet-natured, cheerful girl called Anna, who knew the drill; when we walked over to assembly, she peeled off to the library; when we were practising hymns, she peeled off to the library; when Christmas activities called, she peeled off to the library. I once had a lesson that involved evolution, and whilst I was standing there spouting, out of the corner of my eye I could see Anna bouncing up and down on her chair with her hand in the air - at which point I thought, "Sod you, you can wait!" and finished my invective before turning to her and saying, "Yes, Anna, was there something that you wanted to share?" "But what about God?" "Well, that's one belief system..."

She told me that her dream was to be a pioneer, and made several attempts to entice me along to faith meetings. ("Sorry, Anna, that's my wedding anniversary, I don't think my husband would appreciate me coming to your prayer meeting"). I heard her discussing her lack of birthday celebrations with the other girls in a very blasé fashion. The thing that freaked me out was when she gave me her piece of paper that said she was a JW and would not accept medical treatments involving blood transfer - she was 11. I suspect that should the worst have ever happened, I may have 'forgotten' about that little scrap of paper in my desk drawer until the ambulance had left...
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I can see that trying to explain evolution to a young JW might entail some conflict of belief systems, but oddly enough, everything you've said about Anna actually emphasises that she is an example of the basic decency and positive attitude that in my experience characterises the JWs, and their offspring. They certainly impress me a lot more than the members of the more conventional versions of Christianity. Yes, they feel that they are obliged to try to convince others of the merits of their sect, and I feel that on the whole they are more sincere than the average CofE or Catholic.
Recently they seem to be stepping up their visits, and most of them will accept my word that they have no chance of recruiting me -- if they don't, I can quickly quote many Biblical quotations that run counter to some of their tenets, and if that doesn't work, I can point out that although they are correct in rejecting the more numerous (and insincere) versions, they haven't gone far enough -- they need to throw out all of Paul's teachings for a start. That usually does the job, and our dog barking maniacally also helps...
 
I found it rather pointless discussing Biblical quotations with a group who cheerfully admit they have a different Bible (Good News) to everyone else. My mother had a regular JW visitor for many years and later her daughter came visiting in her place - no preaching, just chat and cake. But the daughter did admit that there were some tenets her mother believed in that she herself could no longer support - so some progress of thought. Finally JW's moved in next door to us for a while and that was the best - they didn't preach on their immediate doorstep (very sensible) and no other JW's were allowed to encroach on their patch.
 
Carl Grove said:
everything you've said about Anna actually emphasises that she is an example of the basic decency and positive attitude that in my experience characterises the JWs, and their offspring.
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Yep, she was a nice kid (in a school of generally nice kids) and I liked her mother as well, as down to earth and sensible as you would imagine from a mother of 7!
 
Bad Bungle said:
I found it rather pointless discussing Biblical quotations with a group who cheerfully admit they have a different Bible (Good News) to everyone else. My mother had a regular JW visitor for many years and later her daughter came visiting in her place - no preaching, just chat and cake. But the daughter did admit that there were some tenets her mother believed in that she herself could no longer support - so some progress of thought. Finally JW's moved in next door to us for a while and that was the best - they didn't preach on their immediate doorstep (very sensible) and no other JW's were allowed to encroach on their patch.
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Actually, it's a different translation of the same Bible, with a few none-too-subtle tweaks that support their views in some places. It is somewhat more readable than most of the other translations, I think.
 
Frideswide said:
Is it a different Good News from the Good News Bible which is used by Episcopalian, URC and, to a limited extent by Catholics?
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Frideswide said:
Is it a different Good News from the Good News Bible which is used by Episcopalian, URC and, to a limited extent by Catholics?
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Actually now I think of it (no longer have a copy), I think it was the New World Bible.
 
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