JW's on a Saturday morning.

donny

Today on my morning run I saw two sets of JW's going door to door on Boston St. One set was two ladies and the other was two guys. After I has passed them up on the sidewalk I turned around and began walking towards them. The ladies turned to go up to another home just before I got to them but the guys were still approaching.

I looked at them as they approached a ... nd said "Good morning!" They returned the salutation and kept walking. In my days as a witness I would have stopped to talk to anyone standing outside, but today they must have deemed me not needing their good news.

So I ran around the block and began walking again when I saw them in the distance. This time I decided to be the one who would speak. As they approached again I asked if they were Jehovah's Witnesses and they replied in the affirmative.

I then told them I have an aunt who is a Witness (I really do) and she keeps telling me that the JW's have been the only true religion since the spring of 1919.

The taller of the two looked at me with a puzzled look and asked "She really said that?"

"Yes," I replied;, "Is that not true?"

He answered ""Well yes it is, but that is rarely shared with people who are not of our faith?"

I said laughing "Why is that? Is it secret information?"

"No" came the response, "It's just not something that we talk about much. It is a very difficult subject to explain to those not familiar with the teachings of our faith. Are you interested in learning more about 1919?"

"Yes I am."

"May I ask why? What is your religious background?"

"I am an agnostic atheist myself, but I am interested in understanding why she believes that?"

"Why is 1919 so important for you to understand?

"Well because that is a very, very, very important statement. What your church is essentially saying is that in the spring of 1919, God ceased any involvement with any and all other religions and from that point on he only worked through you guys."

"I guess it is important. I just had never thought about it much." (I am not surprised)

He then began explaining the 7 times mentioned in the book and how it added up to 2520 years and if you start with the destruction of Jehovah's temple in the year 607 BC you end up in the year 1914.

I replied, " Yes, I understand how the 1914 thing works but I do not get the way she gets to 1919. She cannot explain it to me."

"Well don't fault her too much. Most of us cannot as well or at least not without a lot of research." The mans partner had a look of confusion the whole time this conversation was going on.

"Isn't that strange," I retorted. "You would think that would be a well taught point of faith for you folks."

"I understand but since I cannot explain it well at the moment can I get your address so I can come back when I am better prepared?"

"Sure." I gave him my address and I look forward to his explanation. I have a feeling that I will not be hearing from anyone anytime soon.

millie210

I am amazed at how well you handled yourself in that encounter.

I could never have been that poised and kind Im afraid.

steve2

Nice approach, donny. You stuck to one topic and resisted the urge to take a potshot at everything. It will be interesting to see if you do get a call. The Witness who talked to you appeared straight-up about it being a difficult thing to explain. I liked the way you shifted the focus back onto 1919 after he backgrounded the topic with more familiar territory on 1914.

Yours is an excellent example of clear pursuit. Sometimes ex-JWs become too intense, too quickly when they finally speak to JWs and everything comes out and, as a result, JWs easily deduce it's a set up. Besides, spiritual indigestion usually occurs before then. You showed good awareness of human nature.

blondie

When I read this Donny it made me think of Jesus and his disciples being called on the carpet because they did not wash their hands the ritual after eating some grain they had pulled off the plant.

The Pharisees missed the point was to be clean physically afterwards not following some tradition and still be unclean. These jws seem to be following the tradition that going door to door is the way to talk to people....not wherever they are, that is if you really are trying to make disciples. It's a ritual with few practical results.

The jws I knew (me included) were not brave or committed enough to talk to people except in the ritual way.

Crazyguy

WE DECLARE THAT WE ARE GODS ONE AND ONLY RELIGION PICKED BY HIS SON IN THE YEAR 1919. HE USES US AND US ONLY AS A CHANNEL OF COMMUNICATION SO THAT WE AND ONLY WE CAN TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM! Please don't ask us to prove it or even show just one scripture because we can't,..

NAVYTOWN

The Witnesses think that almost everything in the Bible is referring to themselves. The Revelation book is a perfect example of this. A typical sign of being a cult: thinking that they, and only they, are the ONE religion the God picked as the ONLY one 'he' will deign to communicate with. JWs even think the BIBLE itself was written ONLY for themselves. Any educated person can easily see that this type of thinking is utterly nonsensical. Self-importance is the Witnesses most prominent trait.

donny

Thanks millie210 and steve2. You can tell they were quite uncomfortable with the topic. Within a minute they wanted to do the typical thing that JW's do when encountering a difficult sitiation and that i s"we'll get back to you."

Good point Blondie. In the last couple of years as an active JW, I more often than not thought we were more like the Pharisees than the diciples of Jesus.

Crazytown you are correct and todays encounter proves it,

NAVYTOWN that was a problem for me in my waning years as a Witness. By then I kew that what the original authors had put to papyrus did not have a damn thing to do with Rutherford and his band of cronies. I feel stupid for even considering that possibility.

[email protected]

Splash

I predict you will be getting the explanation from the Nov 2014 wt which handily even has a small diagram.

Pre-read that article if you wish to be prepared for their visit.

Splash

b00mslang

The diagram is interesting because it mixes actual/physical times w/ symbolic times.

If you're going to mix them, you can technically prove just about anything. They are saying that the 3.5 years (42 months/1,260 days) is literal but the 3.5 days is figurative/symbolic ("antitypical", heh heh).

What I would like to see is some scriptural proof of their position. This doesn't add-up, arithmetically. However, I can imagine peeps at the meeting, nodding their collective heads in assured affirmation.

"the force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded"

naazira

This is like the ministry school skit, except in reverse.

JW's on a Saturday morning.

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