Brief Encounter

by snugglebunny 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  snugglebunny

  The witnesses knocked on my door yesterday. A married couple, 70's probably, and introduced themselves by giving their first names and stating that they were Jehovah's witnesses.

  It's 5+ years since we left our old address and moved a few hundred yards away. No-one visited us back then. I was one of those "I'm disfellowshipped, sod off" types, so I guess I was on some sort of blacklist.

  After we moved I decided not to confront anymore. My reasoning was that whenever I confronted them about disfellowshipping, I was actually just descending into their world. Worse, I was giving my power away. So I decided to knock it on the head, give no indication of my JW background, and the next time they called I'd politely just say no thank you.

  And that's just what I did,more or less. After they told me that they were JW's and offered my some magazines, I just said "Do you mind if I don't"? They seemed suprised. I wondered if they'd known all along that I was an ex and were expecting a different reaction from me. Whatever. I felt good about it, I was still calm, unperturbed and quite happy with our encounter, albeit a brief one.
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  days of future passed

  Answering "do you mind if I don't?", is a very different answer than they are used to. No thanks, I already go to a church, I hate JW's, etc is probably more common.

  Hahaha, it required them to answer. Did they say "Oh no we don't mind" ? That would mean that their preaching work is not life saving. "Well they are free of charge - we do this as a volunteer to promote bible reading etc." That might be a typical comeback.

  
  
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  redvip2000

  Yeah, i would agree that your answer was unusual. They were probably surprised that the door didn't get slammed in their face.

  When a JWs visits, which it has surely been years now, i also don't tell them about my history with the cult. But i engage them in thought provoking discussion if they are willing. The last time, after their typical introduction about "oh we are sharing some bible verses with our neighbors", i asked why should I believe the bible is true. That always sets them back because they are much more comfortable debating what the bible says, and not if the whole thing is true.

  As expected 2 minutes later they were telling me to visit their website for an answer
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  Lostandfound

  You can catch more Flies with Honey than with Vinegar. Well done on controlling things here.
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  careful

  Next time give them some clue as the Witness world future that you have learned here but of which they are ignorant: "Do you realize that in the future you will no longer have local publisher's record cards?" They will be immediately baffled and dismiss your comment, but then down the line when the cards are axed, they will look back on their visit in awe... "How could they have known that?"

  Then if you should see them again, you can say, "Oh, didn't we tell you that have a direct line to Tony Morris?"

  That will really leave them gasping.
  
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  Spiral

  "Do you mind if I don't?"

  I love it. Do you mind if I use that if they ever come to my door?
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  snugglebunny

  Even beats a close encounter!
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  Phizzy

  I think when you have got to the stage where confrontation is off the menu, you are in a good place. They never talk religion with me when they (rarely) knock on my door, just catch up on family stuff, it's good !

  I was in someone else's house a few months ago when they called, the two lady JW's had no clue who I was, and I gave them lots of info. They thanked me for my "views", and I said " You are very welcome, and if you find that anything I have said is factually wrong, please let me know", they have not returned to do that.

  I hope I have planted seeds. But I consider the best way to do so is in a civilized conversation, not a confrontation, though they were, gently, confronted with some difficult factual information !