Jehovah's Witnesses

[Darwinian]

I just this minute had some Jehovah's Witnesses at the door and politely said "No Thank You" and shut the door.

However, thinking back I would have liked to have had a chat with them and asked them all sorts of question.

So, I'm going to prepare a little list of questions and keep it by the front door for the next time they turn up.

Thing is.. What sort of questions should I ask?

What would your list look like? { thinking }

[Kyuuketsuki]

Invite them in and give them a drink (no idea what JW's will or won't drink) then ask them to tell you their message whilst making notes ... then you simply get picky ... they'll get bored sooner or later and you get to be entertained.

Kyu

[CoxRox]

I very nearly 'became' a JW. I was 15 when they first knocked my door. I was wagging off school. They were nice and I associated with them for about two years on and off. I even went on the door to door work, so I know their 'mind set' and their intentions- which are sincere.

As it was the middle 80's when I stopped associating with them I would ask them about the 1914 generation that would not 'die' until all things were fulfilled ie armageddon etc. With that reasoning the 'end' had to occur before 2000 as not enough people would be alive from 1914 to constitute 'a generation'. I wonder how they've riggled out of this, a main belief of theirs. They will probably say 'in light of further 'revelation' from the Governing Body, they now know it means this or that. They have been moving this particular goal post since the 1800s I think. They are very earnest and you will get some good discussions out of them. They will bring along a more mature brother who knows his stuff, if they cannot answer your questions.

[allan175]

I had some non-JWs come to the door doing the same sort of thing recently (can't remember the specific group). They are always nice enough people and I can talk to anyone!

We did still chat a bit after I pointed out right at the start they were wasting their time since I was an atheist and happy with it.

One fairly daft thing they said (well, the one that stuck in my mind) was that I just had to go to their church and I'd "live forever with god". I said "That's ok for you to say that, you believe in it, I don't, and I can't just 'flick a switch' and start believing." they agreed but still a few minutes later they came out with the line "just come to our church and you'll be with your family for eternity".

They (in fact all believers) do really seem to have a blind spot when it comes to people not believing in their religion.

[leo-rcc]

They (in fact all believers) do really seem to have a blind spot when it comes to people not believing in their religion.

To them it is even weirder to have NO religion, it just doesn't register at all.

By the way, has anyone seen the billboard sign by the FFRF (not the one near the nativity scene)? Very nice.

http://www.ffrf.org/news/images/denver01.jpg

[CoxRox]

Us Brits will be seeing this sign:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...buses.html

[Kyuuketsuki]

Us Brits will be seeing this sign:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...buses.html

They're already out there and the report is old ... £135,000 last I heard and the campaign has been extended nationally. I know most theists will disagree with me but I find it refreshing to see a message with no self-serving agenda ... I tried to photo a London bus with it on but my mobile camera is not sensitive enough to catch a moving bus so I'll have to bring in a real camera or catch one when the beastie's asleep

Kyu

[lukec]

I had a bible delivered to my house recently, because I didn't have one, and it was brought by some young Jehova's Witnesses. I had the two of them sit down with me and we had a nice long chat, but it ended up with me doing the majority of the talking- of evolution, mainly, and ethics. Anyway, I like to think I can out-talk a JW, since I haven't heard from them since.

[chatpilot]

I once had a good two hour debate with some Jehovahs witnesses once it was an interesting exchange of information.They dont celebrate traditional xmas holidays since they correctly deduced that those holidays all have pagan origins.They dont go to war since they dont believe that they should meddle in the affairs of government bodies.They dont believe in the trinity as taught in most mainstream christian groups.They call the Holy spirit Gods active force and they do not personify it.They dont believe in modern day miracles because they teach that miracles were only to help establish the church of Christ here on Earth and once that was achieved there was no longer any need for miracles.When I was in the ministry I used to buy their materials for my own personal knowledge as to their teachings.Their endtime teachings are very different from mainstream christianity.They believe that the saved will be 144,000 that have been predestined for salvation etc its a long and complicated stroy that I do not wish to get into right now.Here in the states the JW are not considered part of mainstream christianity and are not recognized by the other churches as such.They are called a religious sect here by the rest of the so called christian community.

[Rob]

In mid December they knocked on my door. Stated who they were and after a few pleasantries began to present there case. In a very short space of time they loosely covered a range of scientific subjects from evolution to abiogenesis before finally pausing for breath after citing the "nothing comes from nothing" argument. I told them about matter and energy and how its existence doesn't necessitate magic. I also mentioned how irresponsible it was for them to try to explain the origin of the universe without bringing science into the argument. I think i scared them away with that. After that they couldn't get away from me fast enough. I asked them to come in so I could point out the flaws in the rest of the argument, but they wouldn't. I'm hoping they added my address to some sort of missionary black list.