Several months ago I approached a nice young couple who were standing by a JW literature stand in my local community. I did not know them, they did not know me.
They were pleasant and polite but incredibly stilted when it came to answering my "innocent" questions about their beliefs.
This was the occasion of JWs featuring the article headlined "Is Religion Dying?".
I expressed interest in the topic which brought even wider smiles from the couple. I observed to them that, unlike the cover photo showing very few people attending a church sermon, churches in our community were very well attended.
The JW male immediately conceded my point. I then was astonished about the lameness of his subsequent comments. He said something like, "and this magazine brings you uptodate information on several important topics".
After conceding religion in our community was not dying!
And that was it.
He exhibited a very limited capacity to engage in a meaningful exchange. His wife fixed her smiling eyes into the middle distance. Just awkward smiles and offering me the latest magazine (which I declined).
The JW male then attempted to hand me a tract that appeared to be designed to direct me to JW.org. I declined saying "Why would you refer me to your website when I'm standing right in front of you talking?"
He and his wife both nervously laughed and, quite tellingly, did not have much else to say.
I walked away and reflected upon the superficiality of the exchange: I was most likely the sole individual that day - and probably the whole week - who approached them and expressed interest in their featured topic. However, they could not add anything to what that embarrassingly glib article was featuring.
And they did what JWs had done a year or so earlier in the door-to-door campaign: Used contact with people as a means of promoting JW.org.
What a wasted opportunity that, as JWs have less and less firsthand active contact with people, when they do have contact, rather than engaging meaningfully in an exchange, they refer people to JW.org. These are people who truly have nothing they themselves feel impelled to share...beyond a website.
The calibre of JW's "preaching" continues to dribble to new lows.