130 years of ineffective preaching, its a good job its not actually a life and death thing, the blood of the whole world would be upon them for not getting their message over.
Were you surpised how little the "world" new about JW's after you left?
by donny 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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MidwichCuckoo
Well Done Talesin
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Disillusioned Lost-Lamb
Not really, being a born-in who wishes they were out, when talking to people I never bring up I'm a dub so when witlesses come up in conversation (not very often but they do) I find the vast majority of people know little to nothing about them despite their never-ending "preaching work".
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Retrovirus
...I find the vast majority of people know little to nothing about them despite their never-ending "preaching work".
And as a non-jw I'd suggest that a large reason is that it isn't "preaching", it's selling. JWs don't come to the door to tell you you may not have a blood transfusion and you must regard your family and close friends as "walking corpses", they tell you that Paradise will be here 'soon' and everything wrong with the world will be 'fixed'. A bible study will tell you how!
If the householder already knows some of the typically jw beliefs they sometimes offer a weak defense, but quickly move on.
The great majority of what people know about jws is from contacts like Talesin, and from sites like these.
Retro
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MMXIV
When you're told your whole life that you belong to God's only true religion, that you have been chosen and involved a life saving work - it's kind of a reality check to realise that:
a) people don't know the JW teachings (well most JW's don't know their own teachings - or current teachings anyway)
b) people don't know what great examples JW's are (maybe because they don't really do anything for the comminuty except annoy them and often arn't nice people)
c) people's lives do not revolve around trying to be bad in full knowledge they are not following the great standards that JW's do
d) people are not JW's because they are stupid or willfully disobedient.
The reality is JW's are insignificant. They do an unskilled, ineffective leaflet distribution service which tends to waste people's time so results in apathy. People don't care because they know within a few seconds that it's a complete waste of time, probably a lie and did I mention a complete waste of time? Of course they have little idea of how damaging it is - this does surprise me although in some countries such as Germany the message is spreading.
mmxiv
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LouBelle
It works both ways. The way the JW's used to carry on about the world you would think that they were experts. When I left and became of that world, the lack of knowlege was all to obvious.
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HB
As I have never been JW and have no family connections to the religion, I know first hand how widespread the general ignorance about JWs is, at least here in the UK. For most they are a nuisance or a joke.
As a 7 yr old child, the only fact I knew about the JWs was that a boy in my class called Bryan was one and he was not allowed to join us in school assembly because we sang hymns and the head teacher said a prayer. But I was mystified as to why this was a problem as I understood that JWs worshipped the same god that the school prayed to. Bryan was a very withdrawn child and didn't make friends with anyone but at the time I didn't associate his social problems with his family's beliefs.
Then when I was in my early teens, I learnt a couple more details about the religion, as my father had a young employee called John who was a JW. I knew most of the other employees well but I didn't get to know John because, like Bryan in my junior school class, he was withdrawn and kept himself to himself. I did feel a bit sorry for him though as he always looked tortured.
The business was a nursery and I learnt from my father that John had taken the job because he needed to learn to grow plants as it would be a necessary skill after Armageddon (....the end of the world was a concept which I had never heard of till then). This just sounded silly to me and I took little notice. The only other thing I knew was that John would not accept a blood transfusion which just confirmned my general impression of it being a really wacky cult.
I remember clearly the laughter and incredulity from my parents and their friends when in 1974, John's parents sold their home and moved the family of seven into a caravan because the end was nigh. John handed his notice in to my Dad at the end of November and came and rather dramatically said goodbye to all of us on the last day of the year. On the first day of 1976, he came and asked for his job back, which everyone found rather amusing but sad too. He did get his job back but only stayed a couple more years before he started his own nursery.
After that I managed to go through my life knowing nothing more about JWs until 2008 when a friend got involverd and I joined this site I didn't even know that they didn't celebrate birthdays or Christmas.
In 1990 I did answer the door to two nice JW ladies soon after giving birth to my third child. I had the baby in my arms and my two toddlers were playing at my feet. The two JW ladies cooed over how sweet the baby was and asked if I was worried about bringing children up in this wicked world? I said no, the world was a much safer place nowadays than ever before and they told me about the last days approaching and suggested I would surely not want my children to perish as they could see I loved them very much.
So I asked them to look at my happy, healthy and beautiful newborn daughter and look me in the eye and tell me that she was sinful and deserved to die. They seemed quite embarrassed and for some reason, they decided not to reply but just gave me a leaflet, wished me well and went.
Since joining this site and getting to know some ex JWs, I now know a great deal about the religion, but I discovered there are very few outsiders, including vicars, priests and misinsters, who knows much more than I used to.
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Bobbi
One thing I have noticed since leaving the borg, is the average non JW is quite aware of how odd the witnesses are and deliberately avoid becoming entangled. They see the cult behaviors and instinctively run the other way. I have heard the witnesses described as "that crazy cult" and "the church that doesn't do christmas". What ever the impression given, it is turning people away.
No one likes the kid who thinks they are smarter than everyone else. No one likes the co worker that tells you your religious beliefs are incorrect. No one likes the neighbour who refuses to participate in community events because they are no part of the world. No one likes the tyrant who teaches his followers to hate everyone who is not like them.
The witnesses will fade away all on their own, we don't have to do anything, althought I do love educating all those lovely worldly people.
Bobbi
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sir82
130+ years of a "worldwide preaching work", and
-- Fully half of the world has never even seen a JW, much less "received a witness" (99% of China, 95% of India, Muslim countries)
-- 99% of those who have talked to a JW have no clue about "the kingdom" or other JW tenets. All they know is that JWS are the other guys besides Jews who don't celebrate Christmas, and don't take blood transfusions.
If Jehovah as painted by the WTS really existed, and expected them to complete a "worldwide preaching work", he would be so appalled at their miserable failure he'd execute the lot of them on the spot.
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LongHairGal
Donny:
Before I ever became a JW I only heard of them once. When I was in grade school, a girl told me that "Jehovah's Witnesses stick their foot in your door". I was a kid and didn't know what to make of this. When I was "studying", I was a little puzzled when reading all the stories of the war-time exploits and "faithful" ones, etc. because I had never heard any of it anywhere! I had to take their word for it that they were telling the truth. But, inside of me, it sort of sounded like the person who claimed they had loads of boyfriends that nobody ever saw.
As a "fader" I still don't really hear about them, unless you count the publicity in recent years about the child molestation scandals. People know zilch about the religion except that they knock at your door.
They are just a piddle in a puddle.