Received "recruitment" letter following death of father

by John K 18 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  asleif_dufansdottir

  John,

  First of all, my condolences on your loss. Second, I am pleased that you are inclined to do something about a practice that is, at best, in poor taste, and, at worst, preying on the vulnerable and grieving.

  Going to the congregation of the individual in question will do nothing to stop this practice, as the organization (what you might think of as the "church hierarchy") actively promotes this type of behavior, because it has paid off in the past in terms of converts. The Society highly recommends writing such letters and including tracts for their members who are elderly or ill, and have physical difficulties with going out in the door-knocking work that all are required to do. As a JW, my conscience was bothered by this type of activity, but JWs are taught that if your conscience conflicts with the Watchtower Society's advice, there is something wrong with your conscience!

  Just so you don't miss Blondie's excellent post (from the linked section), I'm going to add it here as well. These are actual quotes from the Watchtower (w) and Kingdom Ministry (km) publications of Jehovah's Witnesses (the km is mostly an 'evangelizing how-to' monthly for members of JWs). Please consider including this in any letter to the newspapers, as it will give weight to your complaint! Good luck.

  *** w99 4/1 p. 8 Preaching ‘in Favorable Season and in Troublesome Season’ ***

  Following are excerpts from a letter written by a Witness who served for a time in Sarajevo.

  "Besides preaching from house to house, we have tried various other methods to reach people. For example, we have had good results sharing Bible publications in the many cemeteries in the city.

  ***

  km 8/98 p. 8 Use Brochures to Appeal to Both Mind and Heart ***

  When

  Someone You Love Dies. 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!

  ***

  km 10/94 p. 7 Using the New Brochure Effectively ***

  Keep an extra copy at hand, and use it for informal witnessing. You may wish to visit local funeral homes in your territory to see if they would like to have copies on hand to comfort bereaved families. Or you might tactfully approach grieving ones in cemeteries on occasions when they return to visit the grave of a loved one.

  ***

  km 6/93 p. 1 Why Tracts Are So Valuable in Our Ministry Today ***

  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?"
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  teenyuck

  Hello John and Welcome!

  Please accept my condolences on you loss.

  I think a letter to the editor, with a copy of the letter from the JW, would be very effective in getting the message to them that this type of preaching is unacceptable. I would enclude copies of the quotes above, all from Watchtower Bible and Tract Society literature. All those quotes can easily be verified.

  That type of *get 'em when they're down* attitude is typical, unfortunatly.
• 

  rocketman

  Hello and welcome John,

  yes, as you can see, such tactics are encouraged among the jws, but writing and telling them your feelings on the matter could be helpful. Hopefully, your mom and your family will be okay after having to deal with the death of your dad.
• 

  garybuss

  Sorry for your loss and sorry for the rude letter. Makes me glad to not be associated with that kind of people any more.

  
  The Jehovah's Witnesses sent me to visit mourners at grave sites in the cemeteries on Memorial Day here in the USA to offer Watch Tower Publishing Corporation produced religious literature for a "donation". It was a terrible experience and I only did it once as part of a campaign sponsored by the publishing corporation as a means to secure new recruits, "place" literature produced by them and to secure donations to be forwarded to headquarters.
  
  Rutherford had it right, "Religion is a snare and a racket!".
  
  Gary of the, "been there, done that class" . . . .
  
  
  
  
• 

  Oxnard Hamster

  As I said, knock on my door, talk to me on the street, even call me on the phone to spread a religious method. This person is using the obituaries and the phone book to find targets and I think that crosses the line of good taste.

  I have sent a letter to the person sending it, but I suspect this is an ongoing practice. I would like to see a stop to this. This letter only served to upset a widow, and I suspect that is the reaction the letter recieves often.

  Yes, it is an ongoing practice. One lady whom I am friends with, who is a JW, does the very same thing. She even showed me some letters she was about to send out.

  I agree that this isn't "discreet" at all.
• 

  DevonMcBride

  Coincidentally an employee of ours told us today that she received the same "recruitment" letter" this week too. Her husband passed away in February and she just got the letter. Her letter was handwritten and had no return address. Her letter was much more than a letter. It contained a Watchtower magazine and other literature. She found it very distasteful for them to do this. In a way, this could backfire on them. I would think that many other people (who know very little about JW's) would also find this offending and lose respect for the Jehovah's Witnesses.

  Devon
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  benext

  There would have to be something seriously disturbed about a person sending letters of "condolence" to strangers. There have been instructions in the Kingdom Ministry not to use the KH as a return address.
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  undercover

  Maybe Blondie or somebody can find something in print somewhere, but I vaguely remember hearing or reading at the meeting about using the obits and writing letters to "spread the kingdom message". I remember thinking as we covered this material, that this was in very poor taste. I thought maybe that I wasn't being spiritual enough in my thinking. What better time than when one is greiving to share the hope of a paradise and resurrection in the name of God. Actually, what better time than when one is greiving to catch them off guard and offer a hyped-up(unrealistic) hope in the name of God in order to gain a recruit. Disgusting really. I never came to grips with that preaching system and never, ever tried it. Never did phone witnesseing either. I hate telemarketers and I would be damned before I called people and bugged them to listen.
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  blondie

  Elderly JWs and disabled or housebound JWs are encouraged to do letter writing. The easiest targets are people who have lost family members. Usually, their names are listed in the obituary. Note these examples over 40 years that show that JWs are encouraged and praised for writing to family.

  6/1/67 WT p 345

  
  One of Jehovah’s witnesses in New York was sharing in the regular house-to-house ministry. At one door she met a man who identified himself as a devout Catholic, quite familiar with Jehovah’s witnesses, and definitely not interested in becoming one. Learning that the householder was quite upset over the recent loss of his wife, the Witness briefly spoke to him about the resurrection hope.

  The minister soon found that, since she had made the original call, he had received a letter from a Witness who obtained his name and address from the obituary column in the newspaper. Though the man was a stranger to her, she had written a kind letter explaining the Bible’s glorious hope of a resurrection. The man concluded that surely he ought to look into an organization that would take the time to go from door to door and to write letters of comfort to people.

  11/15/56 WT p 688

  At one of the Society’s Bethel homes a brother, close to eighty years old, unable to climb stairs because of heart trouble, sends letters of comfort together with literature to those whose addresses appear in the obituary column because of having lost a loved one.

  8/15/54 WT p 491

  At one of the Society’s "Bethel homes" some fifteen brothers, between the ages of 70 and 88, serve day in and day out, from morning till night alongside their younger brothers. One of these, whose crippled feet permit little walking and no climbing of stairs, watches obituary columns for addresses of bereaved ones to whom he sends a letter of comfort together with a booklet containing a message of like import.

  6/22/95 Awake p 23

  I made arrangements to enter a nursing home. There I began to share in the ministry by writing letters to people whom the Witnesses had difficulty contacting in the house-to-house ministry. I also read the obituary columns and wrote to relatives of those who had recently died, enclosing comforting scriptures from the Bible.

  Kingdom Ministry 1/70 p 8

  Some names she gets from the obituary column. Or if there is information in the local paper about new mothers, or engaged individuals, she writes them, sharing good news from the Scriptures to encourage them as they embark upon their new responsibilities.

  1995 Yearbook p 46-7

  Now 94, she is still busy witnessing. Still she has to do most of her witnessing with a pen. She finds names and addresses in the obituary columns in the daily paper and writes to some of these.

  1991 Yearbook p 248-9
  Can elderly people participate in the ministry? Consider this example: A sister who is eighty-eight years of age could no longer go from house to house and manifested concern about how to share regularly in the service. It was suggested that she use the obituary column in the newspaper and write letters to bereaved families. This she did.