To Wonder Why Only Jehova's Witnesses Go Door to Door?

[soapydopeybubbles]

I have never answered the door to, or had pamphlets posted through the letter box by any denomination of any other religion. I'm just curious as to whether followers of any other religions go door to door and I've just never met them or if it's something unique to Jehova's Witnesses.

I also wonder what the success rate of converting people using this method is, or if they're actually trying to convert people at all.

On a separate note I always feel a bit guilty about putting the pamphlets in the recycling It's probably a throw back from being bought up by a religious family.

There is so much misunderstanding about JW's on this thread, it is unreal.

((Shakes head))

It's bothering me too calzone and I couldn't give a flying fuck about 'God'. I just don't like the unfairness. All religions are bullshit (IMO) but it's only ok to pick on this one.

The most dangerous misunderstanding is that it is a harmless religion.

I was raised JW, I preached up until my 20s because I was pressured into it, despite having social and anxiety problems. My father was a child molester, and is still preaching to this day.

The rules are that if you are baptised and then you leave, your whole JW family is supposed to shun and not even talk to you. Occasionally you will find JW families that break these rules and maintain contact, but that is the exception, not the norm.

A lot of the innocent people following it are harmless, but the religion itself is not.

I don't think it's harmless at all. Most of my anxiety disorder can be put down to what I "learned" during my study and subsequently what I learned at the kingdom hall.

Being disfellowshipped devastated my mum and she never went back. I mentioned the reason above but the actual facts and their behaviour was horrendous.

I won't change my mind in one respect though and that is that all religions are based on fairy tales and a huge desire to control women. There's no God I'd like to support there.

Agreed TooOld. I have a heart for empathy (metaphorically), and a mind for conscience, and these are the only 'rules' I follow. I accept I am responsible for my own choices, and because I do not like to see or cause suffering, I try to make "good" ones.

I think religion may act as a stepping-stone for some (thinking of my own family members specifically) in developing their own moral compass, or even just making them behave better out of fear of divine punishment.

But once you have a strong moral compass, or if you always had one of your own, then I just can't see any place for religion. Even if you strongly believe in God, then you know that there is a 'direct line' to him through prayer. No need for other human beings to get in the way at all.

Nicely put Keepitdown

JWs as individuals are some of the nicest loving people you could ever meet. Some of the people I love most in the world are deeply involved in it & I respect their rights to have that belief & have done nothing to try & persuade any of them to leave, as I know that the tiny contact I have with them will be gone forever if I did.

However, this is not a slightly nerdy, harmless religion that it seems. For example, if as a parent you found out one of the brothers had abused your child & went to the elders. They would investigate, but unless there were 2 witnesses to the actual abuse then nothing can be done. It used to be that you were actively discouraged from going 2 the police but now is up to you, but even if they were found guilty by a court that person could still be in good standing in the congregation (due to no two witnesses to crime) they will be knocking on your door, giving talks,. Think it's rare? I know personally of 3 cases. In the USA there are loads of cases going through the courts. Abuse is considered a sin & not a crime, so even if they were guilty but showed repentance, they would not get disfellowshipped.

Being a witness is not like going to church on a Sunday. It is your whole life, it influences everything, what you read, what you listen to, who you should be friends with, whether you should go to school/college (discouraged) what job you do. Toys you get for your child. What to do about valentines/May Day/ easter/ Mother's Day/Father's Day/ birthdays/ Christmas/ harvest festival. Also, who you marry, when you marry, how you have sex. How much ministry you do, could you be doing more? studying & meeting attendance could you be doing more? I could unfortunately go on & I am not exaggerating.

Am sorry if I come across as harsh or bitter, but the fallout of being a witness & leaving is unbelievably hard. Any advice I could give to anyone studying with them is question everything, and research yourself all you learn, if you are still interested then that's your right to believe what you want.

?
They certainly do sound sinister in many respects and harmful to members.
Do they have much traction or influence in wider society, are numbers growing or shrinking?

My guess is that the influence of religion in general is declining...modern societies are increasingly secular? ?

The retention rate for children born in is about a third. The internet is causing harm to numbers but from the platform you are told you must only go to the official site JW.org to learn about witnesses, as the rest is from evil apostates who are controlled by Satan. So the information witnesses get is extremely biased.

Growth is bigger in Africa & poorer countries. In Europe, USA etc it's quite stagnant.

A relative of mine is a JW and it is very important to her. There was a case in her congregation of a middle aged man having an affair with a vulnerable 18 year old. He is lauded as a fantastic bloke still while she was disfellowshipped and shunned by her family and friends because she "tempted" him. A lot of the rules seem to be about controlling women and keeping them subordinate; for example a woman can never become an elder even though they seem to do all the legwork

I tend to think the same can be said about most religions if we're honest - I really think organised religion has very little place in modern society

?
Sounds as if it is waning and afaik there is a negative correlation between religiosity and modernity.
The two are surely antithetical and it is pretty much a tautology ?to say that societies become more secular as they become technologically and economically more advanced

Increasingly the devout are an isolated backward clique, shot in the foot and unable to progress because of the limiting worldview imposed by religious doctrine

SurlyCue: "Part of me is desperate to have an argument with them, because I love arguing and know I could wipe the floor with them.

"hmm what does that even mean?"

Sorry - have you not heard the expression before? It means I would trounce them in an argument. I'm good at arguing, I'm well read, I know a good deal about religion (including having read most of the Bible and been a chapel goer for many years) and of course I have a vast body of scientific knowledge on my side.

Actually, I wouldn't really fare better than them in an argument because I've discovered lots of people are completely immune to evidence, so if you say, "No, the earth wasn't created 4,000 years ago, it came into being about 4 billion years ago, and the fossil record shows that the dinosaurs died out 64 million years ago," they'll just say that God put the fossil record there to test us.

I deeply despise any religion and anyone calling at my door will get the same response I reserve for the BNP, UKIP and the like. The first time, I smile sweetly and politely ask them not to come back, if they do, I'm not so nice.

ClubClassic: "JWs as individuals are some of the nicest loving people you could ever meet."

You're right. I know one JW, and she is one of the most delightful people I have ever met. She is extraordinarily kind and thoughtful. So, nothing against them as people. But it's a very odd religion (then again, aren't all religions odd? Perhaps a discussion for another time).

I'm not a fan of religion but I am quite fascinated by the JWs that have the stands now. There are loads of them all over London, and as far as I can tell, no one ever approaches them or takes a leaflet. They're always very smiley and I sometimes think what a miserable chore it must be.

During the election I had JWs and UKIP at my local station on the same morning. I was much more polite to the JWs...

I wouldn't really fare better than them in an argument

Exactly, which is why i asked what your perception of "wiping the floor with them" actually was. It came across as an idiot just spoiling for a fight. Bit of bravado. A ridiculous comment. Having seen your latest post i can see that you know any "argument" would serve no purpose other than to rile yourself up and get no satisfaction. It seems silly to hold onto this theoretical plan to "wipe the floor with them". Surely it can only create negative feeling within you? It certainly has no effect on its target.

indeed, Ive seen JWs with stands and they look very lonely!
I wonder why they do it since it just makes the message look unwanted

club
I agree with all you have listed, and know it to be true from personal experience.
Although, l'm not a witness (never have been) very close members of my family are.

No matter how l try to convince them to look in to the origins, and how Brooklyn operate. They won't hear of it.
My SIL was disfellowshiped, at first l thought she'd never cope. Four years later, she has never been better - even going to church a few times

It's bothering me too calzone and I couldn't give a flying fuck about 'God'. I just don't like the unfairness. All religions are bullshit (IMO) but it's only ok to pick on this one.

Oh come on, there are threads on MN that aren't very complimentary of Christians all the time. There are some treads that are anti-Islam. There are lots of threads that are anti circumcision.

It's hardly just JW's that attract negative attention on MN!

Club is right. Most individual Witnesses are lovely, kind, caring, sincere people, (except in matters concerning competitive preaching/piousness) but the religion is sinister and harmful.

I was lucky - no-one else in my family was involved with JWs, so when I left, I still had a family and was able to pick up the pieces but it took years before I got over the fear. I had "killed" my children by leaving because none of us would survive Armageddon - even though there is no guarantee that you will survive it if you are a Witness, depends on how much preaching you've done, how good a Witness you've been. In fact, in congregations that I was attached to, it was common to hear people say things like "We all know which congregations won't survive".

I had one friend - who was a pioneer and devoted her life to the preaching work, who had a nervous breakdown and was disfellowshipped in her late 20's/ear;y 30's because the elders didn't approve of her choice of prospective husband. he wasn't "as strong in the Truth" as her and they basically hounded her to dump him until she broke down.

Another friend was married to a violent alcoholic who was convicted and spent several years in prison for child sex offences. He repented, over and over again, so continued to a be an elder in good standing while she left him, after he was convicted, was disfellowshipped and shunned just when she needed the most support.

I knew teenagers who were interviewed repeatedly by the elders about their masturbation habits in order to "help" them stop sinning. it goes on and on.

I could tell you stories that would curl your hair. it is not a harmless and slightly eccentric religion it is a horrible, manipulative belief system run by a group of sex obsessed, rich, old white men for their own aggrandisement.

in the 80s, the GB even told us what sexual positions were acceptable to Jehovah and described, quite graphically, things like oral sex and masturbation - these things were not acceptable to God - which, of course, only served to increase folks curiosity about them. The GB controls every aspect of your life when you are a witness because they have a hotline to Jehovah and are his mouthpiece on earth. Anyone who contradicts or challenges that is ruled by Satan and therefore only serves to prove that the GB are right.

I am, of course, a dreadful apostate and cannot be trusted.

I don't mind them - I understand that their beliefs require them to evangelise. Not all Christian denominations believe in evangelisation, and other religions such as Islam and Judaism, as far as I know, do not evangelise either.

My Christian denomination is not evangelical, but I am happy to chat and would never be impolite to the JW. They seem quite happy when I explain, and in my old home there was a lovely gent who would come and chat with us anyway :)

I recently moved from a flat to a house and from zero contact with JW's I now get a visit about once every 4/5 weeks. I was polite at first, stated that I was an atheist and that their literature would be wasted on me, but wished them well. It is the same group of women knocking on the door, we recognise each other now, I am not rude but have definitely become more firm in my stance, they still don?t listen. Instead the tactic now is to just embark on a rant the moment the door is opened, usually along the lines of "With all the war and despair in the world there is still hope at hand" while thrusting out a copy of the watchtower. I used to think they were just a curiously benign but well-meaning bunch but I have since got to know a few former members who have been through a torrid time (as alluded to above) when their parents have pretty much disowned them. They are now reduced to secret meetings with much loved siblings just to stay in touch. Horrifying really.

Club Your right.

I'm a christian and I used to attend my local church. It is not JW, but your example sums how my local church is. If you are a member of (my local church), like you said, it dominates your whole life. From the clothes you wear, what you eat (exaggeration), what you watch, who your married to, or if they approve of that, attending meetings and so on. It is draining.

Of course not all churches are like that.

I don't think they are picked on any more than other religions which shun those who leave. There is just as much criticism on mumsnet of Islam and the Times has had a thin about the Brethren recently and there is no end of justified criticism of scientologists never mind particularly fundamentalist mormons.

What they all have in common except may be the quakers is men control women and their sexuality for the good of men. It is all about male power and keeping women down and in kitchens and out of positions of power, particularly in those groups like many JW, those Jews who banned driving to school by women recently and the like where the women have very large families so it's harder for them to pursue a career and outearn their men.

I would ban none of these but we do need to keep an eye on them and we have to ensure women who want to leave have support.