An Anti-Witnessing Campaign, Please Join Me!

by What Now? 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • carla
    carla

    found my post from 7 yrs ago, check the spelling as my jw was on his way home from a dc, also check the address (should it go to Patterson now?)

    You must send this letter every year- I have given out countless letters like this and also mailed them for relatives & friends.

    Name & Address

    Date-

    Watchtower Bible and Tract Society

    25 Columbia Heights

    Brooklyn, NY 11201-2483

    NOTICE TO CEASE AND DESIST ALL VISITS

    Dear Sirs,

    Please notify all members of your congregation that consent, implied or otherwise, to visit my property at the address stated above for any purpose relating to the work of Jehovah's Witnesses or the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has been revoked.

    I will consider any future visit to be an act of willful trespass and may prosecute to the full extent of the law, civil or criminal.

    You must not visit on the pretense of 'updating records'.

    Check the electoral roll for up to date ownership information.

    Notice has also been served to my local congregation located in the area of ____________________________________________________.

    I shall hold you both severally liable for any infraction of this notice to 'cease and desist'.

    You have been warned!

    Respectfully,

  • Pete Zahut
    Pete Zahut

    Assuming that there are people who already know who JW's are and already don't want them bothering them, I wouldn't go into the JW beliefs aspect too much on the flyer. It may make the householder want to ask questions the next time a JW calls rather than put them off.

    I think it might be good to give them a brief explanation of the "Do Not Call" option along with a pre-printed do not call form letter that could be easily sent off to HQ or the local Hall. Or if one wants to be truly devious, one could send a Do Not Call request in for every house in the neighborhood and bypass the householder altogether. If we all did this, what do you think would happen? You'd have to make sure the letters were all different looking. Heck....you could just open the phone book and start writing down names and addresses.

    Of course you know that in a year or two there'll be and assembly experience about how a study was started as a direct result of someone having received one of these letters and being interested enough to ask for a study.

  • ABibleStudent
    ABibleStudent

    Hi What Now?, Most non-JWs think that the Watchtower is a kooky religion and should be avoided. Until you can show non-JWs that the WTBTS is a dangerous cult that victimizes JWs, and that under the right circumstances they could be indoctrinated into WTBTS (or another dangerous cult), non-JWs don't care.

    If you want to improve your chances that householders will take action, IMHO the following flyer would be more effective:

    Do Jehovah's Witnesses annoy you by knocking on your door or leaving their propaganda at your home? Do you want to stop being annoyed at your home by them?

    Fill out the "Do Not Call" form at the bottom of this page and either politiely give it to Jehovah's Witnesses when they come to your home, mail it to the local Kingdom Hall, and/or phone the local Kingdom Hall and ask to be added to the "Do Not Call" list.
    Do not accept Watchtower and Awake! propaganda, because Jehovah's Witnesses will think that you are interested to learn more about their beliefs and will return to try to recruit you and your family.

    The Watchtower is a dangerous cult that deceives and victimizes Jehovah's Witnesses. I know this because I once was a Jehovah's Witness. If you would like to learn more why the Watchtower is a danerous cult, please visit reputable websites like www.jwfacts.com, www.freedomofmind.com, etc.

    DO NOT CALL

    [Current Date] Jehovah's Witnesses [Address of closest congregation] Dear Sirs: This letter is to serve as formal notice that effective today you may not enter the property of [address]. This “No Trespass” notice will remain in effect until rescinded by me. Failure to comply with this notice may result in your arrest by police, citizen's arrest, and civil litigation, in which you will be named personally and as an organization. Furthermore, please do not contact me in any way.

    Please refer to the following.

    -[cite your state/local laws on trespassing here]

    -[cite your state/local laws on citizen's arrest]

    -Correspondence regarding trespassing from the Watchtower Society to you dated September 2004

    Sincerely,

    [signature]

    [printed name]

    Personally I feel that ex-JWs would be more effective in changing the WTBTS by writing to their political representatives, local news organizations, and other organizations that are politically active. Unfortunately it will take a lot of work, but the most effective way to change the WTBTS and other dangerous cults is to petition politicians to revise non-profit laws to add requirements that non-profit organizations must not promote discrimination, shunning, and hate speech; and/or report child abuse/molestation and rape to local law enforcement ASAP.

    Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

    Robert

  • BU2B
    BU2B

    I think this is a good idea, but mostly for places in inner cities where JWs cover the territory once a month or less. People there are probably sick of their nuisance visits and more apt to take steps to ensure it will not occur again. However in rural territories where JWs work it once a year or less, people likely dont really care either way.. Not enough of a nuisance to even be bothered.

  • Finally-Free
    Finally-Free

    I used to get JWs coming here. I've told them to mark me as a DNC. I've told them that I'm an apostate. I've told them I don't want to associate with child molesters. I've told them to f*ck off. Sooner or later they'd come back again.

    One bright May morning I was doing some work on the exterior of my house, and I took a break around 11 AM. I was sitting on my front step, tired, unshaven, sweaty, filthy, cigarette in one hand and mug of Guinness in the other. A couple of JWs came up, and I was too tired to be my usual obnoxious self. I was polite, took the magazines and even gave them a donation. That was five years ago, and I haven't seen them since.

    W

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    They went away saying to eachother "That guy looked so normal, and happy, I think we will write him down as a DNC with double asterisks, we really don't want the friends troubling him again ".

    Only explanation I can think of in view of what you tried before.

  • DATA-DOG
    DATA-DOG

    Great idea. Raise awareness,now. Later, the final outcome of the Conti case will remind the public of the dangers of the WTBTS. Jws will be the people who:

    1) Bother you on Saturday morning.

    2) Protect pedophiles.

    The rank and file will take the heat for the GB'S insane policies. Only the truly indoctinated GB worshippers will brave the territories. They will attempt to defend "the truth", but they will fail.

    DD

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    ABibleStudent - "...the most effective way to change the WTBTS and other dangerous cults is to petition politicians to revise non-profit laws to add requirements that non-profit organizations must not promote discrimination, shunning, and hate speech; and/or report child abuse/molestation and rape to local law enforcement ASAP."

    IMO, the WTS is too far gone to let anyone "change" them, but it's still a good idea.

    Besides not promoting discrimination, shunning, and hate speech and reporting child abuse, I would also add, "provides clear, quantifiable community-benefiting activities" (i.e. soup kitchens, donation drives, etc.).

    It might be a nice little platform for an up-and-coming legislator to cut his/her teeth on.

  • Island Man
    Island Man

    Firsf of all I commend your idea. I like your approach of sending letters to forewarn the neighbors.

    However, if I might offer some constructive criticism:

    You might want to change the tone of the letter. I think it could be counterproductive to outright direct the neighbors not to accept the advances of Jehovah's Witnesses. Adopting a forbidding tone may actually pique the curiosity of the neighbors as to why you are determined to undermine them. It could also play into the propaganda of the Witnesses that you are just bitter and hateful and desperately spreading lies and making mischief.

    To avoid this, adopt a more reasonable tone. Acknowledge some of the positive aspects of the religion before mentioning the negatives. When you do mention the negatives avoid using absolutes. For example, instead of saying:

    "They believe that very shortly, every single person in this world who is not one of Jehovah's Witnesses will be violently and everlastingly destroyed by God at Armageddon."

    You could instead say:

    They believe that persons must be baptized in association with their organization to have any valid hope of suviving Armageddon [site Watchtower reference]

    Take out "every single person in the world" as it sounds very absolute and JWs would counter by saying its not true because they believe only God can judge which individuals will survive. It would also prove very difficult to find such absolute terminology in JW literature. If possible try to use the exact wording or paraphrases of what is found in the JW literature and give the references. That way the JWs can't say what you wrote is a lie as the householder would be able to find the exact wording in the literature you reference. Notice that in the above alternative I use the term "any valid hope of surviving". A very similar expression, if not that exact expression, can be found in JW literature.

    Don't use the cult word. Many people think of only the most extreme cults when they hear it and would likely not think of JWs as being among the most extreme cults - especially since JWs put on a very mainstream facade. So using the cult word might cause your neighbors to see you as exaggerating and a bit over the top. It could cause your message to lose some credibility. You could instead mention that experts like Steven Hassan has mentioned them as being "[quote his words]". And provide a link to his website.

    So avoid adopting a forbidding and overly bitter tone and avoid using too much absolutes and extremes of expressions that the JWs would deny on technical grounds. Try to provide JW literature references to back up your claims about them. Instead of telling your neighbors not to go to their site (your attempt to censor them in this way could raise red flags about your motives) provide your neighbors with links to other sites like JW facts and even the wikipedia page. Invite them to look at different sites to get the complete picture so they can make an fully informed decision.

    To preempt JW propaganda about going only to the official JW site to learn about JWs, you could mention that when a person is selling you something they usually try to paint the best picture possible and omit mentioning any flaws or faults. In the same way one cannot rely on the official JW site to get the whole truth about them as they have a vested interest in presenting themselves in the most appealing way while omitting mention of their flaws and more extreme practices and teachings. So a person must balance what the biased pro-JW site says with what biased ex-JW sites (yes, acknowledge that ex-JW sites are biased. That would give you credibility as being balanced and honest) say so as to get a more accurate and complete picture. At this point you might quote Proverbs 18:17. Tell them that any group that tells the public to visit only their site and avoid and not believe anything ex-members have to say is trying to control the flow of information to hide their faults.

    Dignify your neighbors with having the intellectual capacity and responsibility to decide for themselves if they wish to pursue religious association with JWs. Remember, it is Watchtower that outright directs JWs not to accept the advances of apostates. You might want to adopt a more open tone where you leave it up to the neighbors to make the decision themselves. Instead of telling the neighbors not to visit jw.org or not to go to their memorial you can tell them that they should also do independent research on them from non-JW and ex-JW sources. Don't come across as trying to stifle contact with JWs. Come across as warning your neighbors to be sure to get all the facts about them from non-JW sources so that they can make a fully informed decision and not one they later regret because of not having done independent research.

  • Apognophos
    Apognophos

    Mm, good advice.

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