I had a visit from an elderly couple of Witnesses last week (the first in several years), and all they wanted to do was hand me a leaflet that posed the question, “what do you think of the bible?”, which was followed by three answers that went something like, is it “just a good book”, “a collection of fables”, or “the word of God”.
I replied that it had lots of fables in it, but it was far from a good book. I said it’s no different to this ISIS lot, demanding we stone to death worshipers of other religions, adulterers, children who disrespect their parents, homosexuals, blasphemers, and a host of other trivial crimes. They looked a bit lost for words, and said something like, “well that’s not what Jesus taught”, to which I said, “No, but it was the Law Jesus lived under when he was on earth, the Law he was supposed to keep and fulfil”. I’m not sure they even knew what I was talking about, and just asked me again if I would like to take their leaflet, to which I said, “No, I’ve already got the book, along with every other book the Watchtower has ever published”. They gave me a funny look and just walked away.
I don’t know if these people are dumbed down, when I think back to the 1970s when I was active, I knew a lot of fellow Witnesses who didn’t have had a clue, and could barely argue a case for anything. And the last pair of Witnesses who knocked on my door were young and were able to engage in arguing their case, which we did for nearly an hour.