To any Jehovah's witnesses out there, would you PLEASE.............

[lucyellensmum]

just leave me alone!!!!!!!!!!

I am very comfortable with my religeon thankyou very much (cathoic). I do not wish to discuss it, end of story.

Just after christmas, a lovely looking young girl with what i presume was her husband (i mean, she was really beautiful!!) Stood with her foot in my door and pushed a leaflet about death into my handsm telling me i shouldnt worry as death isnt the end. I suffer with depression, i know all about death thankyou very much, i lost my father to cancer and ever since i have had a pathological fear of dying for which i am receiving medical treatment. So, thanks for that!! That reminded me of the time i had a leaflet forced on me in the sreet, i was too polite to decline - this one was about when a child dies, i was pushing my buggy at the time - fucking great!

This morning, just over a week later, I am running late, so i am already stressed. I am TRYING to brush my little girls hair, and this is the only thing in the world that she HATES. The door knocks, im expecting my mother, so i plonk DD (who has just let out a blood curdling scream as i hit a tangle) wailing, on the floor. Answer the door, thinking it was my mum, i didnt bother to restrain my dog, who promptly runs past the two smartly dressed old dears standing at my door, making a bee line for the road (they have left the gate open). I have to barge past them to retrieve him. They then say, have we come at a bad time dear???

We are jehovahs witnesses, they say, should we come back another time . No, please don't, please dont ever come back, please just leave me alone. I have no desire to discuss my damnation with you, as i am not a good catholic, i dont go to church and i am not married to my daughters father, so i am bound surely to burn in hell anyway!

Im sorry, i know these people genuinely mean well, but surely they could put their energy to better use. I imagine some lonely and vulnerable old lady, desperate for some company may well invite these parasites into her home, only to have her head filled with hellfire damnation and will spend the rest of the day sitting fretting.

If you want to do God's work, and i really think that is admirable, i really do, then DO something, go and volunteer at the local homeless shelter, go and join the local hospital legue of friends, do ANYTHING but knock on my door - i am running out of polite ways to say i am not interested

think you are generalising a bit there saff

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience at school (fwiw I was waited for in the loos at school too)

but not all non-JW's are bad you know. And I'm sure that for all the non-bad non-JW's there are pushy JW's. Good and bad in all walks of life imho.

sorry, that was in relation to you 12.56 post... completely agree with you 13.10 one

saff - I was nothing like the girls who waited for you at school - and no one has been deliberately nasty on this thread at all! Think you are grossly over generalising tbh..

Some people find it very annoying to have their private lives intruded upon (me included). I personally am fine as long as they do go away with a polite no thank you but the fact remains that some don't and that is what people are getting cross about.

OK - it's their religion and they are entitled to it but it does not give them the right to ram it down others' throats at teatime or a Sunday evening when you may be trying to relax as a family or busy in other ways.

Also, we had a couple who when the door wasn't answered but cars were there just kept standing there ringing and knocking. When I answered the door finally, they said 'oh we saw you were there so thought maybe you couldn't hear the bell ringing', my response 'no sorry, but even a deaf person would have felt the vibrations from your 'knocking' on the door - I was busy doing something else and don't have time or inclination to talk to you.' That was intrusive IMO.

saff, i am sorry if my post upset you, really i am. As i have stated later in the thread, the poor ladies who came to my door were probably mortified as they couldnt have come to my door at a worse moment. It is quite funny when you look back on it, screaming toddler, escapee dog, me nearly knocking the old dear for six because i tripped out of the door! When they asked if they should come back i sort of growled at them that i wasnt interested if they were canvassing. They said they were JWs and i simply said sorry, i am a catholic and i have to go out now. They quite happily went on their way. So in this instance i was more upset about the disturbance, they could have been any body, but they got a warmer reception than they would have if they were trying to sell me something.

Is there a problem between JWs and catholics then? I wasnt aware of it, the only reason i say that i am a catholic is because i feel it is more polite than a downright, im not interested response. Also, mostly they respect that, as i have said over and over. I wasnt using being a catholic as a JW detterant!. Its just that i am a catholic and happy with my religion. I also said, dont get me started on the hypocrisy and bullshit that goes on in the catholic church. At no point did i slag off JWs, i certainly made it clear i respected their views, even re the blood thing.

What i did say was this: I have had a couple of experiences that have upset me with regards to the literature. I suffer with anxiety and i am almost OCD like with some of my superstitions. To be given a leaflet with the cover story about a what happens when a child dies really played on my mind. I felt like it was an omen - this is obviously MY problem. THen a few months later, a very persistent pair of JWs at my door tried to get me to talk about death. This prompts me to just blankly say i am not interested and shut the door before they have time to say more. On the whole i have never had negative experiences before and always thought the stereotype of JWs a bit off. I just think that whoever is writing these pamphlets, whatever, is doing the religeon a disservice. I wont take them now because of this, but i did before. Sometimes i even read them. IF there were to be giving a more positive message they would get a better response. I know they are trying to be helpful with this information, but if you want that information then you will look for it, and then it is a godsend. But i just found it frightening to be honest and it played on my mind.

I have often thought about getting into conversation with JWs if i had time, but to be honest, the last two canvassers (apart from the old dears because they didnt even get chance to get their watch towers out of their carpet bags) have put me right off.

Get a sticker from the NATIONAL BLOOD DONATION SERVICE

And put it in the window

That will stop them calling and may also encourage others to donate blood

lucyellensmum you did not upset me i could see your original post was a bit tongue in cheek it was the avalanche that followed that was out of order

saff, what is the problem with accepting blood? Genuinely interested, i dont want to go to the website for fear of having to wade through stuff that will upset me. I mean, the blood is given of the persons own free will, it contains no dna (it is only the red blood cells that are given).

I have always believed that it is gods will whether someone lives or dies, ultimately. BUT i also believe that seeing as we are supposed to be Gods creation, and left to our own devices, as such. We have, over millions of years developed highly intelligent brains and built on technolgies and knowledge from our ancestors etc, to put ourselves in a position to do everything possible to help a person. Surely then, it is our duty to do everything we can to conserve God's creation? The doctors are not gods, they are human beings who are equiped to help other human beings, so it is hardly a betrayal. That is my argument about that. Furthermore, one of the teachings of the catholic church is that suicide is pretty much the biggest sin one can sin. If turning down medical intervention results in that person dying, then is that not suicide? Im not saying that i believe that, as i say, there are lots of things with the catholic church i have huge problems with, it is just the religeon i grew up with, it doesnt mean i agree with everything it teaches. These are just arguments i think that will have been put forward to JWs over and over.

One of the teachings of the catholic church is to accept and welcome other religeons. It is a big shame that we dont try and take that on board in this country.

saff, I will quote my previous post to you;

"I'm a catholic too and have engaged in many a lively debate with JH's. A lot of them are disaffected catholics and can't wait to dish the dirt on the catholic church, as if I haven't heard it all before. But some are lovely and most will go if I'm too busy. They just leave their pamphlet and bid me good day.

I wish them well. It can't be easy knocking on someone's door not knowing if you're going to get abuse. And some people can be really really nasty to them, threatening them with violence and spitting at them.

Saying that I object to them taking children with them. No child wants to be dragged around from house to house, potentially being exposed to abusive behaviour from the householder. If they turn up with children then I turn them away and I tell them why.

But could you honestly do what they are doing? Even if you don't believe, you've gotta admire them for their courage and determination. Anyone who isn't ashamed to profess what they believe in gets brownie points from me. "

You note how I mentioned how JW's seem to slag off catholicism at every given chance? But I didn't slag off your religion and I'll thank you to show the same consideration.

If one poster upsets you, then respond to that poster by all means. But don't make sweeping statements about catholics because some of those catholics have defended your religion in the past.

a. its not my religion i will say that again
b. i dont think i mentioned the name rhubarb once when posting
and c i generalized catholics on pupose cos they flip their lids if you critisise them in any way at all not once did i call them ugly weirdos or take piss of their own god they belive in when making my catholic comments i did so in a totally silly unresearched way to make the point i didnt know what i was talking about and can i just say again I AM NOT A JW nor would i want to be i think religion causes arguments lol

Lucy, would you like to borrow DPs mother for a while?
Her local JWs were stopped calling at her house after she talked two of them OUT of being JWs, I kid you not.

To get black listed by the JWs is a achievement and a half I think.

I must say that I have a lovely lady call on me and we have some lovely chats (I'm C of E )

No Saff you didn't mention my name, I responded to your generalisation of catholics, that you did once again in your last post.

I don't see any catholics flipping their lids do you? What I do see what a good discussion on JW's and a few people, myself included, defending their practices.

I think it is wrong to take the piss (I know you said you didn't, but I disagree as I think you did) out of any religion, or single any religion out for a bashing. That's why I defended the JW's on this thread and why I will defend my own religion should anyone criticise it without just cause - to gain a reaction so to speak.

You may say that this is me "flipping my lid" as so many catholics do in your experience. But from my experience they take criticism on the chin and even make some damning criticisms of their own. Some of our best comedians are Catholics such as Tommy Tiernan and Billy Connolly. I think having a sense of humour is vital if you want to be a catholic.

And I forgive you your ill-judged comments!

I think the bottom line here is human nature is such that we are all individuals, with differing personalities. That being so you are always going to find people that go to the extremes with things. With the best will in the world, any organisation, be it religious or whatever, is going to have some members that overdo it and make life more difficult for others within that organisation. In the case of JW's, you might have 98% of the members lovely and walk away when told 'not interested' from people's doors, but 2% that get pushy and don't know when to give up. Unfortunately its the 2% that people remember and talk about. Its the same with other organisations too. No one is perfect and it takes all sorts, right? I suppose its a case of not thinking everyone is the same as the pushy one you meet.

agree with above rhu sorry to upset you can i say for last time not a jw been wiccan for last 20 yrs just thought i would fight their corner

My Mum was brought up in a Jehovah's witness family. As a result, all throughout her life (she passed away in a car accident 4 years ago) she said to me "I don't care what religion you want to be, as long as you have not been forced into it and are happy, and don't try to force it onto anyone else".

She had a very strict upbringing, and as I understand it, from a very early age was made to accompany her parents, knocking on doors spreading the word, and having doors slammed in her face and all kinds of things said to her.

She shunned all kind of organised religion when she was old enough to do so.

My mum used to try every trick in the book to get rid of them, and they always had an answer for everything.

I realise that there are some JW who are more considerate to others, not trying to spread the word to everyone they meet, but I think it is very rude to turn up at someones house unnannounced and expect to discuss a very personal subject such as religion.

Everyone has a right to worship who, what or how they like, or not worship at all if that is what they choose. people should be free to make their own minds up, not be "recruited".

Quick question for any JW's out there. Do JW's attend other people's birthday parties? I have a friend who is a JW and I was thinking of inviting her to one but I don't know if this is a problem.

chocchip....No, she will not attend a birthday party.

JWs dont celebrate birthdays at all.

Tangent -

I had a boss who was a JW. He would not tell a lie. Once I twigged this I could find out all sorts of things by asking him questions. If he refused to answer, then I knew I'd hit on the right answer

I found him considerate of his work colleagues, in that he didn't force his beliefs on us.

Thanks Calzone. Why is that?

I had the JWs round today. I politely said that I wasn't interested, thankyou...

...whilst being slightly embarrassed that they probably thought I wasn't worth saving as I was still in my dressing gown at 10.30am!

Actually... thinking about it... I wonder if they chose that time on purpose. Our local church Sunday service is at 10am so they wouldn't run into devout C of E worshippers at that time, would they?

JW's do not celebrate birthdays, christmas, halloween etc as they are pagan celebrations. DP's mother is a JW with loads of grandchildren and she misses out on all this which I personally think is quite sad, she is a lovely lady as well and never tries to 'convert' any of us 'sinners'.
DP now goes overboard on birthdays and christmas's for the kids as compensation for having none himself since the age of 5 .
Oh and she missed her daughters wedding and sisters funeral as they were held in church.