Did anything a householder said ever make an impression on you? (page 4)

RunningMan

I’d like to make a suggestion for all of you householders out there. It’s something that I’d like to try myself, but haven’t had the chance. It goes like this:

The number one command in the Bible is “thou shalt not kill”. Murder carries the largest penalty of any secular law. Yet, both the Bible and the law allow for an exception – self defense. You are allowed to kill a person in order to save your own life. Similarly, traffic laws are designed to protect life, yet ambulances break traffic laws constantly, in the service of saving life. In fact, you will find in every aspect of law that human life comes first. Just like Jesus said when his followers were chastised for picking grain on the sabath (which was a capital offense), “The law was made for man, not man for the law.”

So, there is precedent throughout the Bible and the secular law that says that laws may be broken to save your life. Why can’t you break God’s law on blood in order to save your life?

Emma

I think for me it was consistently seeing really good people, people who had genuine happiness (I realized I was not truly happy). I remember saying to myself one day, "I'm never knocking on another door; I will not hound these people again." Householders who were mean just reinforced the persecution complex; I didn't listen to logical arguments, either, as my brain was numbed. But the good, happy public made an impression.

Zoewrex

ALL - Keep it coming! Living in the military, I've basically been on a Fort or Base for the past 8 years and in a way can't wait to see who comes knocking on my door. My parents usually give me their best lines Trinity, woe's, the Cross, worldly aspirations etc...(which were all just fine for them before retiring from their jobs and 'finding the truth') 2300?

-Tracy

RunningMan

Here’s another suggestion: Make them lie to you. Here’s how:

Ask the question: Do you believe that only JWs will be saved? They will say “No, it is up to God to judge” or some other nonsense. This is just playing with words. They really do believe that only JWs will be saved. Don’t let them get away with it. Ask things like “then why are you calling on me?”, “will the man across the street be saved?”, “can I be saved if I do not become a JW?”. They know damn well that they lied to you, make sure that they know you know it, too.

Here’s another one: Are you here to convert me? They will say “No, we are doing a bible educational work” or “sharing a message” or some other nonsense. Press them on this point. Aren’t they following the command to “make disciples”?

Ask them: Are you allowed to talk to former members? They will probably lie and say “yes”. Then ask them “have YOU ever talked to one?”, or “would you like to talk to one – I can arrange it?”

Tell them: I will promise to read your book if you will promise to read mine. Then give them a copy of Crisis of Concience.

Mulan

In the early 90's, I was a pioneer and calling on a young man, who was the Youth minister at a local Lutheran church. We placed the Trinity brochure with him, and he promised to read it. The next week, he was quite angry because some of the quotes in the brochure had shaken him. He had gone to the library to look up the books that were quoted, to be sure of the accuracy of the quotes, and informed us that the quotes were so terribly out of context that it distorted the meaning of the writer and he wasn't saying at all what the brochure made it seem as if he was saying. Then he showed us the quote and the actual writing. That shook me up pretty badly. He was right.

Then he asked for some copies of some of our publications to look at. He had a whole list of WT articles (page numbers), that would mean taking bound volumes to him, so I looked up the pages he was interested in to see what they were about. It was contradiction after contradiction, in our own writings. This also shook me. I showed it all to an elder, and my elder husband. They seemed concerned and took the list from me. Unbeknownst to me, they were heavily into examining everything themselves. Eventually the young man said he didn't have time to talk to us anymore. I need to look him up and tell him what happened to me. He actually opened the door for me to doubt.

lisavegas420

Lisa, I have read others saying the pictures in the literature scared them, all the earthquake scenes, etc. Are you one the ones who wrote about that?

I haven't mentioned this before on this forum...but yes the pictures were horrible. There was one in particitular that stands out. It was a brochure I think, it had a picture of a dead dog. I just couldn't figure out why Jehovah would kill an animal. And of course there was no real answers for my questions

Lisa

Gamaliel

When I was 7 my father took a house with me in rural territory. After a heated argument she thought she had won, she began shouting incessantly, like the wicked witch in Oz: YOOOOOOOULLLL BUUUURRRNNNN! YOOOOOOOULLLL BUUUURRRNNNN! YOOOOOOOULLLL BUUUURRRNNNN! over and over again well past the time we got back in the car. We could still hear her as we drove back up her driveway to the main road. Every now and then I still get reminded and repeat it out loud for fun. My kids don't have a clue why.

Gamaliel

primitivegenius

of course not i was a good jw and what they said didnt matter unless i could pawn off some literature. i always enjoyed going out with friends but never liked having to talk to people cause i never was sure enough of what i belived to tell others....... especially since some of the things i didnt quite belive were what my religion taught as fact it took a very strong woman to finally convince me of the brainwashing......... and i put her through hell cause she would explain and id try to revert and be re assimulated. she needs nominated for sainthood. typical superior jw attitude........ that was me. and i didnt try it on purpose but there it always came back. ive had many fun times in service.......... but now i wish i hadnt bothered those people with the lies i shared. but cant change the past. trying to envision a future tho and thats even harder cause what do you do now? lol

Undecided

When I was at the Kingdom Ministry School in NY I went out in service with one of the instructors and we were talking to a man who already had the book we were offering. The instructor was doing the talking and began asking questions to see if he had read the book. He answered every question he asked, and the instructor asked if he believed what he read and the man said,"Not a word of it." I can't remember what was said after that but those words stuck with me.

Ken P.

shotgun

For me it was when we pointed out to someone using the Reasoning book on the subject of religion where it states (would you drink a glass of water if it had even a little bit of poison in it). He said everything seems to have a little bit of poison in it. He then said if we were to look at our religion many people believe it has poison as well and have we not abandoned many beliefs we once taught.Of course we told him the light gets brighter. That reasoning now reminds me of Arnold in True Lies when he admitted he had killed people but he said (Yes but they were all bad)

Most embarrassing moment at a door : An irate householder screamed at us saying who sent you here and the zealot with me threw his hands in the air and said (Jehovah God sent us) I slithered back to the car.

Did anything a householder said ever make an impression on you?

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