I'm an ex Jehovah's Witness AMA

[StressyMessyJess]

Any questions Ill try to answer as honestly as possible 😊

I was also brought up JW and my mother is still one. They have a LOT of people who have come to this country and speak poor English or are lonely and looking for meaning and purpose and a community to belong to. Unfortunately I would say that these groups are preyed upon. There are large groups of Africans, Chinese and Polish people as well as Ukrainians now. In general JWs are poorly educated and often claiming benefits or in jobs like window cleaning and cleaning generally. They can be self employed and be flexible with their ‘pioneering’ which is the name for ‘witnessing’ which is preaching part or full time.

Education is not valued. Women marry young with the husband as ‘head of the household’ and only men can lead.

The large numbers of members with poor education, poor English and limited life experience mean that the organisation can easily control and manipulate . I find it all very sinister.

Other religions are considered to be false and Babylonian. They consider themselves to be the only people who preach the Truth. Any study of another religion is not tolerated .

Thank you for sharing and answering questions. This thread has been an interesting read.

What would be wrong about Christian hymns if they consider themselves Christian? Is there also something regarding not singing to music?

I spent some time a few years ago researching some different religions (was obviously seeking something more in life!) there were a few things that stood out to me about JW that didn't sit alright with me (along with the' big' things). You mentioned earlier about JW believing everything in the bible but I remember reading that they JW use their own version of the bible which they haTwo Jehovah's Witnesses knocked on my door recently and when I said I was going to a local church, they just moved on.ve changed and adapted many times to fit into their own beliefs. So instead of following the bible, they've changed the Bible to follow them. That definitely came across as cult like to me.

Two JW woman knocked my door recently and when I said I was going to a local church they just moved on. I would like to have spoken with them about our different beliefs - is this because they wouldn't even enter into this style of training or would it be that they didn't have the knowledge to discuss things? How much training do they give people before sending them out witnessing? I know the Mormon church are intense with training and then intense with their approach, however it seems JW are very passive. It doesn't seem a good recruitment strategy to me!

Most of them just aren’t very bright In afraid.

We had a couple of JWs knock on the door a few months ago. They invited me to a party to celebrate Jesus and gave me a leaflet. When I said our whole family were atheist, they asked if we always had been and then gave up and went away. They were polite and not excessively pushy. They’ve had a bad reputation of unsolicited knocking and badgering. I can’t imagine there is an effective strategy to get people to listen unless they are naturally more open to it or more susceptible to persuasion. I know there was nothing they could say to me that would have made me consider attending their “party”.

It poses an interesting question that I don’t think has been answered. @StressyMessyJess, is there training on how to convert people?

Part of the lure of it for my paternal family was precisely because it was so colour-blind. They came from a small and obscure mixed-race community and found the JWs hugely welcoming.

I accept that you will have a wider knowledge of JWs than I do, as you grew up as one, but there is no lack of brain cells amongst my JW relatives. The cousin I mentioned upthread was very, very smart - not well-educated due to circumstances (unrelated to being a JW, they were CofE when she was a kid) - but very curious and on the ball.

We've also had a few JWs work for us. A couple, fairly average. One, extremely well-read and capable of holding his end up in a detailed conversation about the post-war tensions between the Soviet bloc and the US/UK.

This is a sweeping statement about a large community of people
As I've said before, this is my AMA. If you'd like to answer questions about your own personal experience please start your own thread, they're free.

Not exactly training but it is discussed what could be said and different topics to speak to people about. JWs consider it their responsibility to try to teach people about God. I understand it comes across very annoying but they aren't preying on people.

This is not my experience

This surprises me, they're usually impossible to get rid of!
Its possible they were newly converted or just felt awkward. There is no specific training. Generally new people would be sent with more experienced people while preaching

They have their own(terrible😄) hymns/songs which they sing to music at their meetings

Thank you.

I find religion fascinating (whilst not believing in a God or deity at all) and I love learning about them. If I met a JW in the right context, I’d really enjoy a discussion on it and finding out about religion for them. They wouldn’t ever achieve converting me but I’d actively engage in the conversation.

Do JW have to give a % of their earnings to the church?

Do they network with each other to get other JW that they know into jobs? Similar to the Freemasons?

Its great to be open minded. Im a staunch atheist now but I love to learn about other people's faith

They run the organisation on contributions but it is never discussed how much, if anything should be given.

I don't think the employment thing is something Ive heard of so I would say no.
Thanks for asking!

I do think they are preying on people. I once overheard my mother telling a relative who is also a JW to use an opportunity when his flight was delayed to preach to people in the airport . 'They are sitting ducks'.

@BoxingHares22
Please start your own thread

Hence my comment about being in the right context!

Did your family get in trouble with the elders for not shunning you? I’ve got a friend who’s an exJW and his family meet him secretly.

I wasn't disfellowshipped, which is where you are essentially shunned
I just did a slow fade so there's no issues with them talking to me

I had an acquaintance who was a JW - she was so anaemic she could barely function in her job but wouldn’t get a blood transfusion. Absolutely bonkers that religion comes before health.

Looking back at when you were a child/teenager do you think you missed out on anything that other kids were doing? Did you ever feel left out from your school friends?