"Letter-preaching"

by Hellrider 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

Hellrider

The thread above "Help, my jw-mom is pioneering at the age of 76..." made me think of this:
My grandma on dads side was a very devout jw. Unfortunately, she couldn`t walk very well, partly because of obesity. She was a short, very fat woman, shaped like a barrel, so walking door-to-door wasn`t easy for her. Because of this, she came up with something else: She wrote letters, in which she presented our religion. This was in the 70s and 80s (she died in -89), and I don`t think she had ever heard of a copymachine, cause she handwrote every letter (!!). I assume cop-machines existed back then, so imagine the waste of time! Perhaps she had heard of copy machines, but that she wanted them to be handwritten, so the reder could see that she had made an effort, I don`t know, or maybe it was some masochistic work-for-Jehovahs-organisation-thing, I don`t know. They were all the same letter, she knew it by heart, after having written it thousands of times. Then she just followed the phone book, and sent these letters to people. Over the years, she must have written several thousand letters. I remember well her desk in the livingroom, stacked with paper and finnished, enveloped letters. Sometimes I helped her with licking the stamps, I guess the taste of glue got to her after a few thousand letters... I think she actually managed to start a few bookstudies by doing this too. But just imagine writing the same letter thousands of times. Imagine the self-indoctrination, lol, like a little kid caught doing something bad at school, and being forced to write "I will not bring my slingshot to school ever again" a 100 times on the blackboard. Anyone else here also had grandmas doing this?
blondie

Back in the 70's some enterprising pioneers got the idea to write one letter (taking an hour) then photocopying it 100 times, sending them out, and counting 100 hours........the crap hit the fan on that one. I can remember the CO warning us at the meeting with the pioneers during his visit.
No, the policy re letter writing in the organization is that each one must be individually crafted (written). I wonder if that means that each one has to be keyed into a computer each time. I have received a few letters in the mail from JWs (prompted by obits and their lack of knowledge that I was a JW myself) and they were all handwritten; supposed to be more personal, right?
Blondie
***
km 12/01 p. 8 par. 4 Blessings From Showing Appreciation for Jehovah’s Love—Part 2 ***
Writing
Letters: Perhaps we are unable to go from house to house because of some physical infirmity or inclement weather. We could write letters, giving a brief witness by mail to individuals we know, those who have lost loved ones in death, or those who were not at home in the territory. We can enclose one of our timely tracts that has an appealing Bible-based message and encourages the recipient to respond if he has any questions. Use your personal return address or that of the Kingdom Hall; please do not use the branch office address.
***
be Communicating Through Letters ***
A letter can go places that you cannot. This fact alone makes it a significant tool for the ministry. Since your letter represents you and the things you stand for, give thought to what it says, how it looks, and how it sounds. It may provide just what is needed to start, strengthen, or encourage a precious soul on the road to life.
[Box
on page 73]
Phyllis Jonadab
124 Kingdom Way
Paradise, NY 12563
June 1, 20—
Dear Mrs. Friendly,
My husband and I live in your neighborhood. We have not been able to speak with you personally, but we have some important information that we want to share with you. A sample of it is contained in the enclosed tract.
It is our privilege to share in a work that is being done by volunteers in upward of 200 lands. In all these lands, people are being invited to benefit from a program that helps people learn the Bible’s answers to such important questions as: Why do we grow old and die? What is the purpose of life? How can you find real happiness?
We engage in this activity because we are genuinely interested in our neighbors. Our work is not commercial. It is our hope that someday soon we will be able to talk to you personally. Please feel free to get in touch with us at the above address.
Sincerely,
[Signature]
VOMIT ALERT
***
w87 2/15 p. 19 par. 17 Showing Appreciation for the Two Greatest Expressions of Love ***
A seventh way for us to witness, in response to the love God and Christ have shown us, is by writing letters. Often, those who use this form of witnessing get some very appreciative letters in reply. This is a method employed by some full-time ministers who may temporarily be unable to go from house to house because of physical infirmity. For example: There was a family with 12 children. One day the father came home to find five of them shot in cold blood by one of his daughter’s suitors. In vain he looked for comfort from Christendom’s clergy. Then one day he received a letter from a stranger, a Witness who had read in the press about his tragedy and who wanted to comfort him, enclosing a Truth book. This was just what the man was looking for. Today he, too, is a zealous Witness.
For details, see Awake!, October 22, 1986, pages 12-16.
delilah

Yes, Hellrider, my Nan also wrote letters, and mailed each one off. She also used to phone witness, but I didn't like her doing that. Some got really ignorant and one even threatened her.
THAT'S when I asked her to please stop phoning, because I was afraid for her safety. I don't recall her ever having a bible study from either of these methods of witnessing.
Why Georgia

My husband and I have both gotten personal letters and little tracts in the mail from local JW's.
I even got one at my PO box that said : To the household of PO Box ____.
It was very wierd and made me pretty angry to be violated at my mailbox....but hey at least it wasn't a bill.
Best Regards,
Chrystal
DHL

Anyone else here also had grandmas doing this?
No, not grandmas. But a few months ago a co-worker showed me a JW-letter she got. It was also written by hand and the hand writing looked like it was written by a female preteen. The girl wrote that she used letters to reach people who weren't reached in field service.
greendawn

So much effort for a cultic organisation supposedly to bring people in the modern ark (WTS) to save them from armageddon, yet the ark is worthless. In addition for those thousands of letters she must have spent a substantial amount of money for stamps and envelopes no doubt never reimbursed by the org because jehovah will reimburse in due time, don't expect from the org to pay anything.
Hellrider

Omg, so they are still doing it. Ha ha. And you can be sure of this, that if you receive a letter in your mailbox from a jw, and it is handwritten, then the person will have written hundreds, perhaps thousands of copies by hand! Could you even imagine a more ridicolous waste of time and effort? If the people who wrote copies of the Bible 1500 years ago came around today, and saw that there were people copying letters by handwriting, even though we have xerox-machines, they would probably go "what, are you nuts! If we had these back in my days, I`d pop those papers into the copymachine and go to the bar or something!" . And thanks Blondie, I had no idea that this had been adressed in the magasines, and that there were instructions around how to do it. I assume that those doing it get a kind of masochistic kick out of suffering their way thru that tedious handwriting-work, working for Gods organisation here on earth. Paying for their ticket into paradise by handwriting till their fingers go sore. Jesus christ.
blondie

Well, the WTS wasn't suggesting people do this photocopying and then count an hour for each pc letter. Thru the CO they were trying to stop it. I know someone at work that got 3 letters from JWs based on their relative's obit....
Does anyone remember the days or "writing" letters to Malawi and other governments persecuting JWs...those were handwritten.
Blondie
james_woods

Yes, the Malawi letters were a big thing back in the mid-to-late sixties. However, I do not remember that we counted "time" for them...it was just sort of given as an order that everybody write one on several occasions. The announcement was made at the Service Meeting, and the Service Overseer collected them all (they were supposed to be put in an envelope and stamped by the pubs) and mailed them at once.
I always wondered (even back then as a little kid) if this was not really making the so-called persecutaion worse for those poor people. Of course, nobody had any idea that brothers in Mexico were buying their way out of the draft by buying a piece of cardboard just like Banda's party card. We young guys were probably too worried about the US draft and doing 5 years in federal prison ourselves.
When I was a pioneer, letter writing was considered as proper duty only for really old or infirm persons - if you could walk at all, you had to do your time from door to door.
The "handwritten" thing was rationalized by the idea that the person getting the letter would see that someone took the trouble to write it out by hand - copies were considered "too easy". Of course, it was really all about "time control" of the witnesses themselves. Even bed-ridden little old ladies were not exempt.
blondie

I do not remember that we counted "time" for them.

I know that the regular pioneers counted "time" or else we would have gotten behind in our "time." I don't think everyone was allowed to count time...but why not. It was time taken out of the door to door.
Blondie

"Letter-preaching"

Share this