Do you get "bushwhacked"?

mustang

Do you encounter a JW and feel that you have "been had" afterwards? Do you feel "violated"? Does what you should have said occur to you 15 minutes later or the next day?

JW's can do this "dead easy"; they are good at it.

It may be all that training in "objections to be overcome";

it may be that they are planning the "sticking it to you" and of course they have the element of surprise.

Either way, they are very effective at the "hit and run" type of social interactions. They strike and withdraw before you know you were in a confrontation.

Certainly the FS training from the TMS/SM helps: they have learned "poise under fire" in interactions with some rudimentary psychology thrown in, for good measure.

This is just another reason to simply not interact with them: to paraphrase Ralph Nader, "they are intellectually dishonest at any speed". That includes while they are asleep.

I definitely get the "bushwhacked" feeling. I always remember the proper and effective counter-argument long after the perpetrator has successfully escaped. That is why I don't give them the chance any more.

And besides...

I see the effective argument numerous times on why JW's are so wrong. But I don't "carry them around on the cuff" or "sleeve of my shirt". (I remember those catch phrases from Service Meetings, BTW.)

And I have learned that there is ALWAYS an effective counter-argument for whatever they spout.

But life is too short to just be "cocked and ready" to beat a JW into the ground all the time. I don't have time for that baggage; but I do go through the mental exercise as a therapy, at my leisure.

What about you?

Mustang

Super_Becka

Do you encounter a JW and feel that you have "been had" afterwards? Do you feel "violated"? Does what you should have said occur to you 15 minutes later or the next day?

JWs aren't that common around here, I haven't seen one in years, but I did get ambushed by a pair of Mormons last weekend, at the mall of all places, and when I finally got away from them, I felt like a total moron. I felt like my faith had been attacked, I felt violated and I felt stupid.

They're so hard to get rid of once they start talking, and because I don't know anything about their belief system or their requirements and all of that, except for some of the well-known basics, I couldn't counter anything that they were saying. All I could do was smile and nod and pray that they would leave soon. They're so damn persistent and they know the ins and outs of their belief system and have been trained to proselytize, so it's pretty hard to defend against them. When I finally managed to get away from them, I felt like an idiot, I felt stupid. Not because they'd "gotten through" to me or anything like that, because I didn't buy anything that they were saying to me, but because I couldn't respond properly to what they were saying, I didn't know what to say to them at all.

I think I'm just a magnet for minority religions - I'm dating a JW and I'm running away from the Mormons, what next??

I'm just waiting for some JWs to knock on my door and try to convert me. With what I've learned here and through my own personal research, I can counter damn near anything they can say to me, and I know I'm right about these things because I can prove them. C'mon, JWs, try to convert me, I dare ya!! Nobody belittles my faith and gets away with it!!

-Becka :)

delilah

I'm dating a JW and I'm running away from the Mormons, what next??

Becka, does your family reject and shun you for leaving the Mormon's?

wombat

Beck a.....

If I were talking to a Mormon I would let them do their act. Then I would ask them if they have ever seen any of the amazing photgraphs taken of this incredible universe by the Hubble telescope.

After they had agreed that they had and it shows how powerful and mighty our Creator is and that is all the more reason why we should adore him..I would ask the question..........

..........So why does He compel you to wear singlets with sleeves? Why is it so important to This Awesome Power that you have sleeves on your singlets? What would happen to you if you refused to wear a singlet with sleeves? Don't you think that the Creator has bigger things to think about than the type of singlet you wear ?

(The same argument can be applied to JWs wearing sports jackets)

Wombat

DannyHaszard

I posted at a Mormon vs ex-Mormon board and it's amazing how their apologist are the same http://www.heraldextra.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,/topic,5273.msg19763 from here Quote from: Dapto86 on Today at 01:58:42 AM

Quote from: True_Liberal on February 10, 2006, 10:41:05 PM
Quote from: Similis on February 10, 2006, 09:48:59 PM
Quote from: True_Liberal on February 10, 2006, 09:06:12 PM
Quote from: D.Haszard on February 10, 2006, 02:24:16 AM
Up close and personal Jehovah's Witnesses can be wolves in sheep's clothing.

Think about this-When the devil comes knocking on your door he may not have the 'dark goth look'.They could be smartly dressed and wielding the Christian Bible.

I have Jehovah's Witnesses family in the usa who practice the Watchtower JW enforced ritual shunning that i have not seen or heard from in 15 years.

The central CORE dogma of the Watchtower is Jesus second coming (invisibly) in 1914 and is a lie.Jehovah's Witnesses are a spin-off of the man made Millerite movement of 1840.

A destructive cult of false teachings, that frequently result in spiritual and psychological abuse, as well as needless deaths (bogus blood transfusion ban).

Yes,you can 'check out anytime you want but you can never leave',because they can and will hold your family hostage.

The world has the Internet now,and there are tens of thousands of pages up from disgruntled ex-Jehovah's Witnesses like myself who have been abused by the Watchtower cult.

Jehovah's Witnesses are often a mouth that prays a hand that kills.The Watchtower is a truly Orwellian world.
----
Danny Haszard former Jehovah's Witness X 33 years and 3rd generation www.dannyhaszard.com
Thanks for your contribution. I notice that no one attacked or attempted to villify you for daring to oppose the JW church. No one questioned your right to challenge the claims of a religion. I guess Mormons in this thread reserve this treatment for people that voice disagreement with Mormonism.

LOL, because maybe there are no JWs reading this discussion perhaps?
That was just to make a point. It's okay to challenge the claims of a religion (whether it be Mormonism, JW, Catholicism, etc) Doing so doesn't mean that you are a rabid, foaming at the mouth, hater of that religion.

What other religions are you having problems with? Perhaps you ought to discuss the challenges you've presented to members of other religions. I'm very interested to know how you exerted the same kind of energy on other religions, that you have exerted on the LDS Church.

Let's turn your question around.
What critics of other religions are you having problems with? Perhaps you ought to discuss the challenges you've presented to critics of other religions. I'm very interested to know how you exerted the same kind of energy on critics of other religions, that you have exerted on critics of the LDS Church.

If you are going to reply to my post then please make an effort to address my point. Do you think that challenging the claims of a religion means you are a rabid, foaming at the mouth, hater of that religion or is that only true if Mormonism is the object of opposition?

mustang

As for the Mormon issue, I remember working the same street as a pair of Mormons when I was in FS while pIONEERing, once. That was amusing.

But the violated feeling is there, when these encounters happen, I see.

Mustang

Gretchen956

Speaking of Mormons, (not to change the subject) but my son saw a couple on their bikes and says to his friend, "hey there go the mormons" his friend says, no they aren't. He yells: "HEY, YOU GUYS MORMONS?" They jump down off their bikes, rip off their jackets and come at them running. Get up face to face, "Yea, they say, you want to make something of it?"

Now there's something you won't see with the witnesses!

Sherry

TallTexan

Becka, does your family reject and shun you for leaving the Mormon's?

Uh, I don't think she was a Mormon. They tried to convert her at the mall - that's why she's running.

Honesty

Do you encounter a JW and feel that you have "been had" afterwards?

No. They have been thoroughly witnessed to when I'm done with them.

Do you feel "violated"?

No, but sometimes I feel a bit unclean from their Watchtower presentation.

Does what you should have said occur to you 15 minutes later or the next day?

Sometimes. I then attempt a Return Visit to share more real truth with them.

Super_Becka

Becka, does your family reject and shun you for leaving the Mormon's?
Uh, I don't think she was a Mormon. They tried to convert her at the mall - that's why she's running.

Right on, TT, I'm an Anglican, always have been, just like everyone else in my family, but in the meantime, nobody in my family would shun me if I turned my back on the Anglican church. Not even my grandmother, who's a staunch Anglican who has nothing good to say about any other faith. You should hear what she has to say about my uncle's Catholic wife. No, there would certainly be no shunning my family for a conversion to another faith, not at all, except for my grandmother, we're all very accepting of other faiths, as long as nobody is harmed by following another church.

The point was, I did have an encounter with a proselytizing minority religion - the Mormons - and I did feel very violated afterwards. They didn't directly say anything against my faith and my belief system, but I could hear the contempt in their voices when I said that I'm an Anglican. How do you get recruits when you talk down to a person's belief system?? I felt like they'd attacked everything I'd ever known and my family for teaching me these things, and I didn't like it at all.

-Becka :)

Do you get "bushwhacked"?

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