Need Help, Jehovah Witness or Government agent?

Originally posted by BASSPLYR
Dude just answer the door naked. Completely naked. Don't open it a crack either. Open it all the way and just be like "hi can I help you? Come on in!" Make sure you scratch your balls every now and again while standing in your doorway.

He will not be coming in. he'll excuse himself to leave, and he'll never come back. in fact word will get around and they will knock on every other door but yours.

Try it. just make sure there are no other passerbys on the street. This weapon of terror is only aimed at the JW or other solicitors don't use it on innocent civilians.

- Unless that's how he rolls in which case he might start showing up every week.

I have relatives that are JWs. You are what they call a Return Visit. They actually have to turn in how many hours they spent knocking doors, selling books and magazines, how many Return Visits they made, and how many home Bible studies they have. That is the precursor to converting you, which is ultimately their goal.

They get "points" for doing this by getting privileges assigned to them such as overseeing the literature counter at the congregation meetings, handling the microphone, supervising the congregation's accounts, etc. This makes them feel all "spiritual". Women are not allowed the privileges, however...they just get to feel "special" when they turn in more hours, more sales, more Return Visits, more bible studies, etc.

However, I can see where a "government" agent might impersonate a JW's m.o. in order to get to someone...hmmmm. Never thought of that one. You never know!

Originally posted by queenofswords
I have relatives that are JWs. You are what they call a Return Visit. They actually have to turn in how many hours they spent knocking doors, selling books and magazines, how many Return Visits they made, and how many home Bible studies they have. That is the precursor to converting you, which is ultimately their goal.

They get "points" for doing this by getting privileges assigned to them such as overseeing the literature counter at the congregation meetings, handling the microphone, supervising the congregation's accounts, etc. This makes them feel all "spiritual". Women are not allowed the privileges, however...they just get to feel "special" when they turn in more hours, more sales, more Return Visits, more bible studies, etc.

However, I can see where a "government" agent might impersonate a JW's m.o. in order to get to someone...hmmmm. Never thought of that one. You never know!

edit on 8-6-2012 by queenofswords because: (no reason given)

As I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses - can I respectfully say your twist on matters is not true. No one gets points for what they do at all. Jesus said that the widow's tiny donation meant more to God than any wealthy person's.

And I was at a congregation where there weren't alot of brothers to assist in duties so sister were asked to help out. It is men though who in the main are there to serve the congregations around the globe.

The organisation is full of allsorts of different personalities as diverse and different as you could get. However if the OP REALLY doesn't feel comfortable with this man then I would go by what your instincts are telling you and ask him politely not to call again.

Unfortunately as with any organisation there are bad eggs and strange ones too, however in the main that is not the case at all. Most JWs are very friendly and amenable to their neighbours and work colleagues. We are also taught that we should always go out of our way to help people and show them kindness - just as Jesus said Christians should.

Originally posted by JB1234

Originally posted by queenofswords
I have relatives that are JWs. You are what they call a Return Visit. They actually have to turn in how many hours they spent knocking doors, selling books and magazines, how many Return Visits they made, and how many home Bible studies they have. That is the precursor to converting you, which is ultimately their goal.

They get "points" for doing this by getting privileges assigned to them such as overseeing the literature counter at the congregation meetings, handling the microphone, supervising the congregation's accounts, etc. This makes them feel all "spiritual". Women are not allowed the privileges, however...they just get to feel "special" when they turn in more hours, more sales, more Return Visits, more bible studies, etc.

However, I can see where a "government" agent might impersonate a JW's m.o. in order to get to someone...hmmmm. Never thought of that one. You never know!

edit on 8-6-2012 by queenofswords because: (no reason given)

As I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses - can I respectfully say your twist on matters is not true. No one gets points for what they do at all. Jesus said that the widow's tiny donation meant more to God than any wealthy person's.

And I was at a congregation where there weren't alot of brothers to assist in duties so sister were asked to help out. It is men though who in the main are there to serve the congregations around the globe.

The organisation is full of allsorts of different personalities as diverse and different as you could get. However if the OP REALLY doesn't feel comfortable with this man then I would go by what your instincts are telling you and ask him politely not to call again.

Unfortunately as with any organisation there are bad eggs and strange ones too, however in the main that is not the case at all. Most JWs are very friendly and amenable to their neighbours and work colleagues. We are also taught that we should always go out of our way to help people and show them kindness - just as Jesus said Christians should.

Hey everyone else, pay attention to what he said here. I may not agree one little bit with what Witnesses believe or how they bring their children up, but I have never met a Witness that I think was a bad or rude person at heart.

If they come to your door and you dont want them there, ask them to leave and not come back. They're not going to take it personally, and they wont (shouldnt, anyway) get all mad at you for it. Be as polite to them as you want them to be to you.

Now that I've done my bit with defending Witnesses for the day, I am going to smack my head on the keyboard a few times.

reply to post by Manhater


Especially if it's a MAN?

And OP? JWs creep me out and I would not be surprised if they contain government agents among their ranks. They seem to like to harass those with deafness (like me), even going as far as to learn ASL.

reply to post by JB1234


Then tell us, do the JWs keep lists of people so they know just who to harass?

After all, there are other "door-to-door" cults like the Mormons and they keep dibs on people!

reply to post by JB1234

If you notice, I put the word "points" in quotations---meaning that it is used metaphorically. They measure their "spiritual health" (metaphor) by numbers --- how many hours, sales, return visits, and bible studies they report.

Also, it is a fact that the women are not allowed to hold congregational positions of any kind. If there are not enough men, then they can be used in a temporary arrangement, but they are never officially appointed (no matter how many hours they report).

To the OP: the man was probably recording "points" in his log book while sitting in your driveway and possibly tallying up how many more he had to go to get is hourly quota for the day before he could call it quits --- nothing nefarious to worry about, I'm sure.

Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by JB1234

 

Then tell us, do the JWs keep lists of people so they know just who to harass?

After all, there are other "door-to-door" cults like the Mormons and they keep dibs on people!

Individuals might make a record of someone they arrange to call back on yes. & congregations keep a list of people who have definitely said that they do not wish JWs to call again. This is out of courtesy to the householder - whose wishes should be respected. Then every 12 months they sometimes get a knock to see if they still live at same address as people move homes.

Individual JWs make concerted efforts to reach allsorts of people in their territory - deaf and other nationalities. Learning Chinese Mandarin, Urdu allsorts to speak to people in their native tongue, depending on ethnic make up of their area.

The first century Christians went from house to house and door to door in just the same manner as Jehovah's Witnesses do today. Also if you look back in history so did other Christians take the same path such as the Waldenses in Europe. They were also hated and persecuted for their preaching activiites especially by the mainstream established Churches at the time.

The only government agents infiltrators I've ever read about was a few in Nazi Germany & Stalinist Eastern Europe, who were soon found out. As you may know in Russia this persecution is now getting pretty bad again. However it will make no difference to JWs - we're used to carrying on under bans & as world conditions worsen more & more people listen to the Bible's message of comfort & hope.

I found a lovely video on You Tube the other day from the Shoa Foundation about a disabled child who grew up in Nazi Germany in a family of JWs and escaped a death sentence & the Holocaust. Hope people don't mind me posting this but it was very uplifting and showed how tough it was for the children of JWs who refused to make the Nazi salute to Hitler.

reply to post by JB1234


And this doesn't bother you?

The fact that individuals keep lists of other individuals?

No one should have to put their name on a list so that they WON'T be called/visited/etc.

Originally posted by The Sword
reply to post by JB1234

 

And this doesn't bother you?

The fact that individuals keep lists of other individuals?

No one should have to put their name on a list so that they WON'T be called/visited/etc.

I have seen your posts where you consistently complain about JWs calling on you. If a congregation keeps a note of house numbers as "DO NOT CALLS" not the people or any details just a reminder to miss them off when they walk down a particular street one would have thought you would have been glad.

If you don't wish JWs to set foot near your doorstep then ALL you have to do is ask them NOT to. Just say "Please can I request that you do not call on me". Your wish will be respected hopefully.

The only list individuals keep is the people who request that they do call back - some who they regularly visit with literature. However as many become friends then people no longer need lists they just go!

As for Jehovah's Witnesses being government agents, then as we are non political and bearing in mind the history during the 20th Century then unless we're under ban like Russia and they are infiltrators to seek out other JWs and have them arrested.... why on earth would we want anything to do with a government agency?

eg During the Nazi regime JWs did everything they could to avoid the government of the day and refused to cooperate with them unlike many of the established Churches in Germany. In fact their quiet but firm stand as conscientious objectors when even faced with death stood out as a testiment during the second world war.