Well, that was fun!

[Mister Agenda]

Okay, so I'm here at my parents' house (where the internet lives), minding my own business with Facebook, YouTube etc. I wasn't really thinking of logging in here until later, if at all. Then my Dad comes in and tells me he'd like my help with a Jehovah Witness at the door, seeing as I'm more experienced at these things than he is. Bear in mind that door visits like this are so rare for me as to be non-existent. However, when he told me the guy was talking about "the circle of the Earth", I sort of had a minor prophecy of what to expect.

And I wasn't disappointed. I was given a strange mixture of softball topics, like the above circle of the Earth and "hangeth the Earth on nothing", and general limp "how do you explain this, this and this". For a start, he seemed genuinely confused when I asked him what happened to the pillars that the Earth used to stand on (1 Samuel 2:8; Job 9:6 - interestingly a few chapters before the "hangeth upon nothing" reference).

Throughout the exchange, I was able to keep him relatively on track, largely thanks to my experience here, and shut down his red herring deflections. More than that, I took charge of the conversation and steered it the way I wanted iit to go, rather than let him lead me by the nose. He mentioned prophecy; I brought up Tyre. He spoke of evidence in the bible; I told him that's the claim, not the evidence, and asked him if he believes me that I have a solid gold 'phone. He said he might if I had evidence, to which I asked why he doesn't merely believe my claim. He said he isn't a literal creationist, as the word for "day" in Genesis is apparently similar in idiom to our saying "back in my day"; so I asked how long plants had to survive on a sunless Earth - an age, or a 24-hour period.

He did speak of the popular "water canopy", which I instantly identified as the Hovind "Theory" and said as much. He apparently didn't know who Hovind is.

All in all, it was a very amicable chat and I really enjoyed myself. It was literally my first real face-to-face encounter (I don't go looking for this stuff). My Dad was really proud of me.

You didn't invite them in did you? Because even if you think you won this debate, you get marked for follow ups with people in their church who are 'stronger' in their faith. and they may come in pairs next time. The first encounter is like cold calling, and if you invite them in you are generally in for 6 months of saying "no" before someone gets it.
My sister did this very thing and she wound up hiding when ever her door bell rang in the middle of the day.

After I 'dialogued with them' and pointed out that circles are, by definition, flat; I never heard from them again.

[Cephus]

You didn't invite them in did you? Because even if you think you won this debate, you get marked for follow ups with people in their church who are 'stronger' in their faith. and they may come in pairs next time. The first encounter is like cold calling, and if you invite them in you are generally in for 6 months of saying "no" before someone gets it.
My sister did this very thing and she wound up hiding when ever her door bell rang in the middle of the day.

Depends on how you did.  I used to invite them in all the time and even invited them back, but when they got back to their churches, they told their higher ups what happened and I got blacklisted.  The last thing they want their door-knockers to encounter are people who know more about their religion and their Bible than they do. they count on meeting ignorant people.  They don't want anything to do with people with real knowledge.

As such, I haven't seen a door-knocker in 15 years or more.  I've even seen a couple of brave souls trying to leave a pamphlet at my door, they will sneak up, leave it and literally run away.  I've never been anything but nice to them either.  Come on in, I'll get you a drink and let's talk about your beliefs.  I think I cause too many uncomfortable questions to be asked, questions they have no answers to.

[Cephus]

IKR, I always take a Watchtower then shut the door in their face.  Hit em where it hurts, the wallet.

It doesn't hurt them personally though, they don't care and there are always plenty of gullible people willing to fork over more money to pay for it.  I had one guy who came walking down the street at my parents' house when my father and I were out working on a car.  He kept pushing, even after we told him we weren't interested.  We told him to go away.  He just kept talking.  So he insisted on handing me a pamphlet, I tore it up and threw it in the trash can right in front of him.  He gave me a dirty look and finally kept walking and my father said I was a little mean.  No, some people need to learn to listen.  No means no.  No does not mean keep going.

[vorlon13]

I've never seen a single JW out rustling up converts, always in pairs.

Granted, I have a small sample size going.

Never seen a pair of JWs, BTW, that I would mistake for Mormons either.

[Joods]

All of this is precisely the reason why I have a sign on my door stating that by knocking, you agree to abide by the terms on this sign. I charge $50 per half hour of you wasting my time. Have cash in hand: a minimum of $150.

Damn shame no one ever knocks on my door. I could really use the cash.

[Drich]

You didn't invite them in did you? Because even if you think you won this debate, you get marked for follow ups with people in their church who are 'stronger' in their faith. and they may come in pairs next time. The first encounter is like cold calling, and if you invite them in you are generally in for 6 months of saying "no" before someone gets it.
My sister did this very thing and she wound up hiding when ever her door bell rang in the middle of the day.

After I 'dialogued with them' and pointed out that circles are, by definition, flat; I never heard from them again.

Who knew the achilles heel of the JW's was telling them circles are flat.

[Cyberman]

Must be a huge bone of contention for them, 'cos that's what started it off with my guy. Probably cutting-edge debate to them.

[The Grand Nudger]

IKR, I always take a Watchtower then shut the door in their face.  Hit em where it hurts, the wallet.

It doesn't hurt them personally though, they don't care and there are always plenty of gullible people willing to fork over more money to pay for it.  I had one guy who came walking down the street at my parents' house when my father and I were out working on a car.  He kept pushing, even after we told him we weren't interested.  We told him to go away.  He just kept talking.  So he insisted on handing me a pamphlet, I tore it up and threw it in the trash can right in front of him.  He gave me a dirty look and finally kept walking and my father said I was a little mean.  No, some people need to learn to listen.  No means no.  No does not mean keep going.

It does, actually.  You see...The Watchtower Society is a for-profit printing press in all but name and classification (revenues approached near a billion, USD, ten years ago)....that also loans the money to build kingdom halls to individual congregations at interest (and, reportedly, inflated old boyist contractors and prices).  They can't go outside the society or on their own, or else they're heretical splinter sects. The guy pounding pavement and his family are on the hook for the debt incurred in building the hall...and they pay for all the materials they hand out.  They rely on donations to cover this, and they rely on an influx of converts to spread the debt.

Brilliant..isn't it? It's all legal, ofc. Ethical....I suppose we all have an opinion on that.

[The Grand Nudger]

-adding insult to injury....Witnesses are -required- to put in a certain amount of missionary hours, or face excommunication which, for most, means that family and loved ones will no longer speak to them (they're witnesses, they must witness).  Marriages are ruined, children are estranged from their parents, brothers from their sisters.  They pay with their time or their hard cash at an -admittedly- classily placed box somewhere in the recesses of the hall, or both....or they pay with their lives.

So, take the material, any chance you get..if you want to see this ponzi scheme collapse.  If you really want to help those rubes still firmly in it's grasp.....make them lunch....whittle away a few hours on their commitment.  Who knows, maybe they'll feel like they've done their duty and pass by the collection box one more time without dropping any coin.  Two birds, one stone.  I can't stand em, but I'm notoriously impatient when it comes to jehovah shit....others may be able to plug their noses for a good cause.

[Athene]

Last I heard, Prince returned to being a devout Jehovah's witness. I would happily invite him in and agree to listen to his spiel IF he would agree to a duet of "Strange Relationship" with me and maybe pose for one picture (wouldn't wanna push it).

Otherwise, I just yell a couple of times from behind the door "No, No! Not interested!"
I only remember them coming once to any address I've ever lived.