Return of the Dub (plus surprise guest) (page 2)

nowwhat?

Good ol' earl got his ass chewed out for wasting bills time on a return visit on someone with a brain

under the radar

Thanks for that update, Terry. You did a great job of conveying the gist of the whole encounter. It felt like I was right there with you, and I appreciate your sharing all this with us.

Not to pile it on too thick, but my hat's off to you for being so quick on your feet and keeping the conversation going your way despite Brother Bill's best efforts to seize control. Just like your first visit with Cheerful Earl, you did a masterful job with this one, too.

And now for the bad news... I can practically guarantee that Earl will be instructed in no uncertain terms that he is NOT to visit you again. Brother Bill (who is almost certainly an elder, if not a circuit overseer or some other "heavy") obviously already suspects you are an apostate, a disfellowshipped person playing them for sport, or some other version of spiritual enemy with his own agenda. At the very least, he has decided you're only wasting their time, ulterior motives or not, and that you're clearly not a good prospect for a "Bible Study."

And if I may offer another prediction... if Brother Bill is sufficiently curious or suspicious, he will follow up on that friend you probably shouldn't have named. Under the 6 degrees of separation principle, everybody knows somebody who knows somebody, etc., etc. If he asks around enough, it is inevitable that someone will remember your friend, and that will lead to more questions (whatever happened to...), and eventually someone will put two and two together and you will be unmasked and cast as a "dangerous and angry apostate using clever words and smooth talk to entrap the unwary." Like I said before, it's entirely possible that your home will be listed as a Do Not Call. That would actually be a tribute to you, but it would also cut into your entertaining and educational verbal sparring opportunities. More's the pity...

Anyway, thanks again for sharing your visits with Cheerful Earl. You're a gifted storyteller, and I always want to read more.

Giordano

Another great outing Terry.............. Why not turn these first two posts into a book? 'Conversations with a Jehovah's Witness.' Or believing Christian. A layman's questions. Each chapter it's own question...plain talk, nothing fancy, just an honest conversation.....an inquiry into the mind of a believer.

Your unusual approach with no scripture reading or praying....... just open, thoughtful and reasonable questions could become a significant way to turn a JW into a thinking person.

I would ask you to consider modeling this on Thomas Paine's Common Sense which was Published in 1776,...........'The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America.'

There's no one more common then a JW or their fellow travelers who search for answers in organized religion.

TerryWalstrom

In the last several years at different Starbucks locations, I've run into interesting people and some of the write-ups I've done (mostly as a daily exercise I force myself to write about at least one thing during my day and seek to find some kernel of "story" in it)--all of which to say, I've done maybe 8 or 9 encounters with either seminary students or JW's. If I had the patience, I'd dig them up and put them in some order.

Thanks for the suggestion.

LV101

A book as Giordano mentions would be so great! So many searchers/wanderers in the world -- if only they knew.

Anders Andersen

I suspect some future day - be it five days, five months or five years from now - a new user called TeaBag will introduce himself here.

He'll relate how a gentle old man he met when out in 'service' planted the first seeds that ultimately helped him think.

Earl's grey matter started functioning then and there...

TerryWalstrom

That made me laugh, Anders. Thanks.

Hanged Man

Earls gray will function to a tea

Chook

If your got Earls ph numbers you might lure him back if you don't hear from him. I wish I ran into an old man like you when I went door to door. You could of saved me some cult years. I really find apostatising way more rewarding than pushing wt mags up someone's arse.

problemaddict 2

I enjoyed reading these. I instinctively understand the exhaustion, and the feeling of tenseness in those circumstances. My guess is that Earl would like to hang out again, but that the big dig he brought with him might convince him you are "not rightly disposed".

Return of the Dub (plus surprise guest)

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