Chickpea, you poor thing! What an awful memory.
memorial day and cemetary witnessing
by chickpea 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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wunce_wuz
I knew a few people that did this, and as one person stated, "tacky". A cemetary on any day, but on memorial day... Though, of the few that did this, one brother was a WWII fighter pilot and had seen his share of action, so I think he deserved the right to be there, but still, there is a time and place and a cemetary isn't quite it...
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blondie
*** yb07pp.198-199Latvia***
Many other young ones from different parts of the Soviet Union also moved to Latvia to help with the work. Their life was not easy, but they were willing to make sacrifices. For example, Anna Batnya, now serving as a special pioneer, found work at a sewing factory and accommodations in a hostel. “Conditions were far from ideal,” she relates. “We witnessed informally on trains, at stations, in parks and cemeteries, and near churches.
*** yb00pp.55-56WorldwideReport***
A sister in Chile, while witnessing in a cemetery, spoke to a woman who had lost her 12-year-old son in an accident. This grieving mother visited her son’s tomb twice a day. The Witness shared with her the resurrection hope, and a Bible study was started. The woman spoke to her neighbor who had also lost a young son in death and who made daily trips to her son’s tomb. She too began to study. This woman’s mother, while visiting the cemetery, asked her priest to conduct a service for her deceased grandson. Because of the priest’s unpleasant reply, she stopped attending church and began studying the Bible. Now these three women share their newfound hope with others in the cemetery
*** km8/98p.8par.2UseBrochurestoAppealtoBothMindandHeart***
When SomeoneYouLoveDies. Many funeral directors appreciate having copies of this brochure on hand for bereaved families. Publishers who witness in cemeteries use this brochure to comfort mourners. Two sisters approached a family of seven who were praying at a grave. As a result of sharing the comforting message from the brochure, a Bible study was started with the mother the next day!
*** km6/93p.1par.3WhyTractsAreSoValuableinOurMinistryToday***
Some publishers who were witnessing on a street that led to a cemetery saw people whitewashing graves. The publishers used the opportunity to offer them tracts. The next day was a holiday on which many people visit the cemetery, so the publishers decided to stand at the entrance of the cemetery and offer tracts. Over five hundred tracts were placed, with only three persons refusing them. The next year, publishers returned and distributed more than a thousand tracts, with only six refusals. A number of individuals expressed deep appreciation. One man read the tract as he was leaving, and shortly he returned to speak with the sister who had given it to him. He said: “There is someone I would like to have read this message. May I have another one?”
*** w8012/1p.14Copingwiththe“RealitiesofLife”—AWorldwideEducationalProgramShowsHow***
While inviting persons to the public talk “Why Will a Loving God Exact Vengeance?”, one Witness in Italy approached a group of workers who were near a cemetery. One worker saw the first part of the talk’s title and said, “A loving God? No, not at all!” Then, without a word, he led the Witnesses to a tomb covered with white flowers. “Here lies my little girl, just three years old. Why would a loving God do this?” said this distraught man.
The Witnesses kindly explained where death originated—not with God—and showed the man the Bible’s hope of a resurrection. (Rom. 5:12; Acts 24:15) He was deeply moved. That very evening he came to the convention asking for someone to teach him so that he could see his child again. This man and thousands of others have found genuine hope.
*** km5/70p.7Announcements***
The world’s “Memorial Day” holiday comes on Saturday, May 30, this year. Where appropriate, special witnessing may be arranged at cemeteries; otherwise, congregations may find it advantageous to share in regular magazine day activity.
*** w5810/15p.624ComfortingAllThatMourn***
TO BE faithful to his commission a Christian must “comfort all that mourn.” (Isa. 61:2, AS) In the United States it is a custom for mourners to decorate the graves of loved ones on what is known as “Decoration Day,” May 30 each year. So Jehovah’s witnesses made it a point to visit cemeteries on that day with the comfort of God’s resurrection hope, as contained in special issues of TheWatchtower and Awake! That they succeeded in comforting mourners is apparent from the following experiences:
“I saw a man standing alone, looking into space. As I began to speak to him his face lighted up. He told me that his wife had died two years ago, took me close to her grave and then said he would like to ask me a question: ‘My wife was ten years younger than I and very well educated; I’m not educated. Why did God take her instead of me?’ I answered his question from the Scriptures, using among other texts Hebrews 2:14. He readily accepted the magazines and was glad to have me call at his home to comfort him further.”
“When we asked the caretaker about witnessing to the people in his cemetery, he replied: ‘Why certainly you can—I’d like to see more preachers doing that, but it seems they’re just too busy.’”
“After I told a family group about the Scriptural resurrection hope, the wife proved so interested that she desired and obtained a copy of the NewWorldTranslationoftheChristianGreekScriptures, the Bible-study aid “LetGodBeTrue” (both of which I happened to have with me), two magazines and a booklet. I was also able to arrange to call at their home for the purpose of starting a Bible study with them.”
“One young woman had just placed some flowers on a grave and turned back with tears in her eyes. I told her my name and that I was a minister bringing comfort to mourners by means of two magazines that contained the articles ‘The Memorial Day for Rejoicing’ and ‘Where Are the Dead?’ She eagerly accepted the magazines, smiling through her tears. Later, in passing by the same place, I saw her reading TheWatchtower with two young men, one on each side of her, to whom she was pointing out things in the magazines.”
“A group of six persons were putting flowers upon a grave as I approached and asked for a moment of their time. After we had introduced ourselves to each other I commented on the beautiful day and that, while it was a day to be thankful for, there could be no real joy so long as death was in view for all mankind. However, I continued, we could be truly joyful for the promised ‘Memorial Day’ of rejoicing close at hand. I offered the magazines telling about this hope, which they gladly accepted. As I was preparing to leave, one of the men, with tears in his eyes, told me that he was very grateful for the message of hope he had received and that it made what had begun as a day of sadness a day of hope in God’s promises.”
“I approached and struck up a conversation with a caretaker to sound him out about witnessing in his cemetery. He proved to be a Unitarian and told me that he was a social outcast among his friends because of his occupation, as if they were afraid death would rub off onto them. I told him, among other things, that Jehovah’s witnesses did not fear death of the body but only the second death and that to them he was no outcast. Upon asking him if we could destroy the fact of his being a social outcast by calling at his home with this message, he fairly jumped for joy. He also readily agreed to my suggestion that I speak to others in the cemetery.”
Among the various other comments heard by those witnesses who visited cemeteries on that Decoration Day were:
“I think it’s wonderful that you came out to the cemetery today. Our people ought to do that.”
“This thing proves you people are Christians. . . . I think people don’t appreciate Jehovah’s witnesses as they should.”
“If my departed loved one had known you he surely would have wanted you to come here today and say what you did to me.”
“God must have sent you here today, because you brought me real comfort from the Bible.”
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garybuss
I'm ashamed to admit, I did cemetery soliciting for Watch Tower INC. On the level of canvassing, that's the lowest I ever got in unpaid literature distribution. I might have been in adolescence at the time. The idiots in Brooklyn also came up with the bright idea for us to go door to door on Christmas morning. The replies at the cemeteries were passive, but NOT the replies on Christmas morning.
Many of these South Dakotans knew us by our bad reputation and they didn't take being solicited in their homes on Christmas morning by Jehovah's Witnesses very well. I don't blame them.
My dad drug me on these bad deals once but he never got me to cemeteries or out on Christmas day again. He was a bad man with a bad plan. He came from seeds of the early Jehovah's Witnesses that used to march with signs in front of churches and set up sound cars with loud speakers in front of a Catholic Church during mass and blast the church with Rutherford phonograph records.
The Rutherford Witnesses, the Jehovah's (Knorr/Franz) Witnesses, and now the Watch Tower (Larson/Adams) Witnesses have a long history of being arrogant, disrespectful, insulting, and downright mean. It doesn't take people long to figure out Jehovah's Witnesses and they remember a long time. -
lrkr
(Raises hand sheepishly) Yes- I did it. Not really proud of it. When you really believe that you know the truth of the universe, its pretty shocking what you can be convinced to do.
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blondie
Never suggested around here....not that some did do it....I just didn't know about it. I would never have done it...it would be like approaching people in the restroom.
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ziddina
Blondie - as usual you're a gem! Thanks for posting all those - I knew the WTBTS was the origin of that idea, but didn't know how much it was emphasized in their literature...
Talk about working hard at catching people when they're in pain and vulnerable... Zid
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WTWizard
It's bad enough to go door to door on Memorial Day, when people are getting ready to have a cookout or party or to just relax after a hard workweek the week before. But this takes it to a new low--witlessing to people who are visiting their deceased. I hope there are plenty of bees' nests and snakes to go after the witlesses--and only the witlesses get bit and/or stung. People that are mourning deserve to be allowed to do so in peace, not have the witlesses bug them at that time.
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kurtbethel
Ghoulish!
For penitance, 144 Hail Charlies and toss a fifty in the collection plate donation box.
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Gram
I did it once or twice in the mid-west during the 1960's. The WORST for me was New Year's Day. How could you knock on someone's door after a night of partying! Such an invasion of privacy.