I recently crossed the line into hard-core......... A - P - O - S - T - A - S - Y ! ! !
I approached a guy who was sitting alone at a table in a restaurant and discreetly, briefly gave him one example of why JWs are a heartless, high-control religion.
OK, rewind the tape. I haven't become an evangelical anti-JW proseletizer. Here's the back story leading up to it.
Recently I was on a business trip and while enjoying a dinner alone in an almost deserted restaurant, (6 pm on a Tuesday night), I overhead a snippet of conversation from three people sitting at a table across from me. Two guys, one gal, and the first thing that caught my JW radar was something like this: "What's so BAD about Halloween? How is a 5 year old dressed up as Superman somehow seen as Satanic?"
Now, I'm thinking, OK there's a good chance their discussing JWs, but there are also fundie groups who are anti-Halloween. Continue with the eavesdropping.
Next snippet: "Birthdays? Birthdays?!? Where in the Bible does it condemn birthdays?"
Bingo!! They were definitely discussing JWs. The best I could piece together was that one of the guys knew a JW who was trying to convert him and the other guy and gal were trying to make sure he didn't drink the JW Kool-Aid.
Now it was time for me to do some soul-searching. Do I get up from my seat, JW-style, politely interrupt their conversation and give them my $.02?
Uhhhhh.... No.
It's not my place to save the world from JWs. They're paying customer in a restaurant and certainly do not need to be interrupted by anyone, no matter how well intentioned.
Well, a couple minutes go by and the guy who knows the JW gets up and leaves because he's gotta get running. A couple more minutes go by and the gal goes to the bathroom. Now there's just one guy sitting there staring at the wall, killing time, not even pulling out his smart-phone to pass the time.
The old JW proseletyzing instincts get the best of me and I decide to take the plunge over the precipice into absolute apostasy. I apologetically approach him and let him know that I'm a former 3rd generation JW and that my JW radar couldn't help but zoom in on Halloween and Birthdays. I ask him: "Would you like to know just one question that your friend can pose to the JW who's trying to convert him?"
(The guy was COMPLETELY open to further conversation. If I got the slightest hint that he was perturbed, I would have immediately taken my leave.)
I said, "OK, have him ask this: 'Do JWs still approve of the irrevocable baptism of minors?' "
He gave me a bit of a blank stare. And then I gave the back story of how my older brother got baptized at 12 years of age and figured out at 12.5 years of age that he was gay. And that because of that he lost all his friends and family.
He was dumbfounded. I backed it up by letting him know I was an elder for over 10 years and that wasn't exaggerating the situation at all.
Midway through my spiel, his girlfriend came back from the bathroom and she was also all ears. They were VERY appreciative and know to Google "Jehovah's Witnesses".
All done.
om