A JW and his wife have been coming by every week. I started out from the get-go saying that I would listen because I had an interest in ALL religions and would like to learn the JW beliefs just to know that they believe. This is a very good learning experience because it makes me evaluate what I believe and why I believe it. I've often come away saying to myself "It is kind of silly for JW's to believe and do that, but then I am just as bad in this other area of my own belief!" The "study course" has made me learn a lot, though perhaps not in the way intended.
Along the way there have been a few times when I've asked or said something that really makes my JW think. They are not usually planned remarks, usually I am just pointing out something that does not make sense to me in the book we are reading. Or other times he tells me something that seems to contradict something we just read and I ask him about it. For example, we were going over the chapter on demons and he told me this story about an angel (in the form of a person) who helped someone on a death march during a war. It was something he really deep down believed (or wanted to believe). We had just read in the JW book "Today, angels no longer appear visibly to God's people on earth." So I asked him if the JW book was wrong since his belief is that an angel DID visibly appear. Does he have to believe what is in the book even though there isn't any scriptural support listed, just because the Organizaion says so? Is his belief based on scripture or man? He really thought and chattered about trying to make sense (which it did not). He had to really think for himself. Finally he said that this was one of the "rare" times that the JW book says something that the sincere reader does not really have to believe.
So my question is to those who went door to door. Do you have any anecdotes of a comment or situation where the lightbulb came on and made you think for yourself?