Jehovah's witnesses talking to my teenager.

[Tau]

This morning there was a knock not the door. My partner was out and I was scrubbing the loo in my dirty pyjamas. so my 15 year old answered the door.
The visitors were Jehovah's witnesses who immediately started asking my son questions about his opinion of the state of patience in modern society, and presented him with a watchtower booklet.

Now I kind of admire the determination of those people, but I think it is completely inappropriate to start blabbering about your religious convictions, uninvited, to a minor in his own home. They couldn't even know if he was home alone or not. So I dashed down the stairs, damp, dirty and smelling of disinfectant, told them to leave and shut the door. Yes, I was a tad rude.

Am I unreasonable? Should I accept that they come to our home and talk to my son? He probably would've been a lot harsher to them than I would ever have been, but that is not the issue. I feel those people were out of line.

There's every chance they took him for older.
And regardless of what they thought, you could have said "my son is 15 and I don't think this is appropriate. I'm rather busy now. Sorry, I need to go now".

KittyFane1 - maybe I didn't phrase that too well.

I am often at some of the posts on MN about JW. Just look at this thread. Apparently people consider it perfectly acceptable to be rude to JW.

JW are people too, and should be treated with respect, just like almost anyone who knocks on your door.

I do have trouble trying to understand their beliefs, although I've had them personally explained to me. I think that's because their beliefs are so different to those I was raised with. But I can honestly say one of the loveliest families I know are JW, and to think people would be so rude to them makes me

And if a child is old enough to answer the door, then they are old enough to talk to whoever is on the other side, or call for their parent.

everlong my point was that turning up at other people's houses to talk to them about religion is itself very rude. Unless of course you have been invited to do so, in which case it's perfectly okay.

Why on earth would I smile at someone who obviously deems it appropriate to interrupt me in whatever I happen to be doing in order for them to try and convert me?

Now, obviously telling people to fuck off would be rude - but failure to be particularly pleasant to people who are themselves being rude is certainly not.

Well, OP, maybe you could have spoken to them nicely, and explained you thought it wasn't on for them to be talking to minors who answered the door.

1. they might have taken your point on board.

2. your son would have witnessed his mother behaving in a polite but assertive way.

Admitted, Lynette, that would've been a better response.
I think I might have been kinder if I had not been in my cleaning outfit... I felt a bit uncomfortable talking to people dressed in smelly fleece.

On the other hand, I don't mind if my son learns to bluntly shut the door at uninvited vendors/converters. They are a waste of time.

JWs are no different from double glazing sales men, canvassing window cleaners, ex prisoners selling jay cloths and bottle brushes or politicians after your vote. They may well be annoying but as Lynette said we are all people.

a 15 year old, yabu

CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire - oh I see

So as long as it is done surreptitiously then everyone can ignore it - but if it knocks on your door so to speak it is wrong on more than one level.

1 invites them in for a cuppa - she says that stumps them to start with. She then goes for the kill them with kindness approach; the full tea & biscuits treatment. Keeps them off the streets for a couple of hours (she said she really kept 2 in her living room for 2 hours once!!), and there's no chance of her ever converting. Plus I think her (soft as anything) rottweiler scares them a bit.

^^^

And I thought I was the only one who does this. But always caffeine free tea

Exactly FryOneFatChristmasTurkey the blood issue is from the phrase "thou should not partake in blood" which is definitely relevant to the era when people sacrificed animals to their chosen Idol/god. The JW religion has taken segments of the Bible and based their beliefs on them... the 144,000 figure was definitely an infinite number at their time. If they actually look at the Bible as a collection of different authors giving their interpretation and views on the happenings of that era and not 100% factual....

My ex MIL was a JW and when herDS and I got engaged we drew up a document naming me as NOK in case of any accident and he he needed a blood transfusion....

Yabu op he is 15 not 5. I sed to answer the door to them at that age, nod accept watchtower and triw it in the bine, I am sure that your ds is more than capable of this unless he as SN

I'm all for people having the freedom to express their own beliefs, but to my mind JWs can overstep the mark with their proselytising to the extent that it impinges on other people's lives, and knocking on doors/otherwise inveigling (sp?) does this.

Two examples off the top of my head, both of which occurred when out with my son.

One time, there was two of them in suits knocking on doors. I put my head down and avoided eye contact as I passed them, but one of them said hello to my son and asked him if he wanted to hear about ways of keeping families together. My son was 5 years old, fgs.

Another time my son fell and bashed his head on the pavement. As he was howling and I was trying to comfort him, a kindly-looking woman came up to us and asked if he was alright. I said yes he was, he's just had a fright but thank-you very much for stopping, at which point she said "Can I just give you this, dear? I feel very much that it might help you" and of course it was a fucking JW leaflet.

Both of these encounters were of people trying to wrangle themselves into our lives through the medium of a child which to me is completely unacceptable, especially on the occasion when the child in question was hurt, and they made me feel very uncomfortable for that reason. It seems quite sinister, actually.

SantaWearsGreen JWs don't believe in hell and wouldn't have said that you were going to burn there. They're more of a live-forever-in-paradise kind of outfit.

However I have been told that by some Christians, I can't say which denomination but one that was playing loud music. Apparently asking them to turn it down was enough to send my soul to hell.

I have always found JWs to be incredibly polite, if slightly annoying.

The last couple appologised because they are not suposed to knock on my door, and then thanked me for being polite.

Some of their behaviour is cultish though - and I have seen real cults in operation, which is what makes me think that they are. The entire recruitment drive, for one. The way the JWs acted with my son on those two occasions over-stepped the mark in a big way. And every JW I have ever known has stopped their child from attending RE lessons - you yourself say that you were given a leaflet; was that the only input you had about other religions.

I used to work for a supermarket in my teens. I was on checkouts, and this couple who were JW's kept giving me a copy of the watch tower. I was ever so polite to them, as obviously I was working. They used to give me a copy everytime they came in. I doubt they would have converted me, as my Catholic upbringing was far more powerful than some stranger trying to preach at me about their religion.
God loves a trier!

That's interesting about you doing RE etc - I just assumed, because everyone I know who is JW never did it, that no-one does. Although I guess there are permutations within every religion, so why should JWs be any different?

And I suppose all small religions look cultish, as do some of the fringes of the mainstream religions (Catholics seeing visions of burning crosses, anyone?). I don't feel comfortable about any of them either, though!

They are very easy to get rid of, you just smile and say in, in a friendly manner, 'I'm not interested , thank you' and you close the door.

(Quote) CatPussRoastingOnAnOpenFire JWs are no different from double glazing sales men, canvassing window cleaners, ex prisoners selling jay cloths and bottle brushes or politicians after your vote. They may well be annoying but as Lynette said we are all people.(End Quote)

That is true, Catpuss. Just for the record- I do not have a problem with Jehovah's Witnesses; but I DO have a problem with people who come at my door uninvited and who immediately try to get you into a conversation. It's rude. So I am rude back - in the sense that since they don't respect my family's privacy I am not considerate to them.

And I have to admit that the double glazing people were far far worse than the Jehovah's witnesses! We had double glazing put in, and afterwards that company drove us nearly nuts with their incessant visits, phonecalls and mailings. They were at it for three years. We will NEVER buy from them again.

I'm with Tau.

I don't single JWs out for specially brusque treatment; they get told firmly not to bother me again along with all other doorsteppers, chuggers & unsolicited phonecall types.

You can't expect them not to try their spiel on your dc, unfortunately. Any foot in the door...

I really object to cold callers of any sort. Trying to convince me to buy sky, a phone, cleaning products, donate to charity, convert to thier religon- i dont want it! Please dont knock if you are uninvited! A little sign on my door does nothing, a larger sign saying 'beware of the dogs, i really mean it' also has no effect.
So, what i do, after i have checked my spyhole is answer the door and in a haughty voice say- 'this had better be good!'
9 times out of 10 they always say 'its great!' or 'it is!' or like on one occasion ' its awesome! You'll love it!!'
Then i give my best withering look and proclaim- 'no it isnt' and shut the door.
I have no idea why the hounds of hell dont put them off snarling at them through the living room window, but this approach must me doing somethin as i watched a man selling something or other door to door along the street totally avoid my house last week. And he is not the only one, so i must be doing something right.
I have had my fair share of being intimidated by cold callers, once when i was a very young mum alone with my newborn and could not get a doorstep salesman to leave my tiny front room he had invited himself into until i changed my utilities to another provider- so now i give them no quarter, whoever they are they are uninvited and therefore fair game. Also, my dogs love a good game of 'chase the stranger'. Oh yes.

The JWs aren't a cult, they're classed as a denomination. Some of their ideas are odd, some are great. I had a personal study for 2 yrs with a JW. I personally decided against it ...really silly issues (such as I like Christmas trees and did find a Xmas card from one of the leaders online, which seemed hypocritcal) I think the JWs are good people and they do want to 'save' people. However, I think they are misguided.