For feeling awful about throwing away this letter?

[aperolspritzbasicbitch]

Just received a letter through the post (addressed to us, not by name - just address) from a Linda. She's a Jehovah's Witness and is wanting to spread the word.
It's handwritten, and postage has been paid so I would imagine she's gone to a lot of time, effort and expense to send all these letters out.
I have zero interest at all in what the letter or enclosed leaflet say, but feel awful at the idea of throwing it away!
Am I being a fanny? Or would you also feel a bit of guilt - like it's akin to spitting at poor old Linda in the street?! 😅

Thanks for the kind words from PPs x

I actually had a thread running at the time which I went back and looked at earlier because I did actually report the person in question to the police. I was worried that them haranguing a vulnerable person could push them over the edge, but I didn't pursue it because the woman was obviously unhinged. I think targeting the bereaved is a really low thing to do.

I know a bit about their beliefs and a few people who grew up in the faith - funnily enough they high tailed out as soon as they were old enough.

I don't give a fig what people believe as long as they don't insist on banging on about it and trying to convert me. And every time I pass the little stands that are all over my town with the earnest pamphlet wavers I hope they don't try to engage me.

The thread was interesting though - ended up at 7 pages and a discussion about Satanism that got quite lively 😂

Tape it to a brick, with a "not known at this address" label and post it.

😂😂 a pair of siblings in my primary school in the 80s were JW and I just remember there were so many things that they weren't allowed to participate in. I used to feel sorry for them having to stay behind in the classroom when we went off and did fun things, rehearsed for school plays, went for PE and they weren't even allowed to come to see the Green Cross Code man (the Darth Vader one) which I thought was extremely mean, although I was jealous they didn't have to go to morning assembly.

Don't engage. Unless you want to become a JW.

Look up the word proselytising.

Then get on with your life.

I’m a very typical Pisces and I overthink things massively. Still would’ve binned Linda’s letter though!

Wow, a house full of pisceans! Yes, it is a thing with us. We are constantly trying to do the right thing and not hurt anyone, often (usually actually) to the detriment of ourselves. We are incredibly receptive to other people's feelings and to the atmosphere around us. We have very finely tuned intuition and we can't just shrug things off. It's a bit of a pain sometimes to be honest!

@aperolspritzbasicbitch

"Also, ginasevern yup, Pisces"

I knew it aperol. Takes one to know one as they say.

I’ve had quite a few of them, from different people. This is the latest one. I tell them
I’m a catholic ( true) usual response - at least someone has some faith

Every one I’ve had says the exact same thing, different names but looks the same handwriting

We get them all the time (though somehow they know my name 😂, also not all from a Linda 😂) some of them are 100% hand written and some printed to look hand written, either way it’s going straight in the bin when I see their address at the top I don’t even read it. I do agree it will take them time and cost a bomb on stamps but I didn’t ask for them so don’t see why I or anyone else should feel guilty. X

As soon as I saw the title of this thread,I knew it was going to about a JW letter! I've had a few of these over the years. They go straight in the bin.

It's a marketing ploy and not handwritten. Bon it. Unless you are interested in becoming a JW.

If I get things through the letterbox that I don't want or am not interested ini I put it straight on the recycle bin.
Why do you find it such a problem because someone you know sent it to you. It's really not difficult.

Bin it trust me from experience, my friend is an ex-communicated Jehovah and they literally used to sit 50 to a room hand writing them to post out. It's part of the ire "reel in" technique to get new members. She's not interested in you and has probably already wrote 50 that day before she got to you.

BIn it. They send them anywhere.You didnt ask for it.
Understand they started this during covid as they couldnt go door knocking.

Yes, I think the fact that they don't believe Jesus is God - which is a central, crucial doctrine of Christianity - does rather preclude them from being described as Christians.

Muslims also revere Jesus (Isa), but only as a prophet and not as God - I can't imagine that many Muslims would thank anybody for (bizarrely) describing them as 'Christians'.

Letter writing is a very big thing in the JW world, and (it is alleged) it has been weaponised on numerous occasions in the past. If they wish to protest or influence opinion on a particularly important point, they will mobilise across the country (sometimes even across the world) and get everybody to send a physical letter (maybe more than one per person - not sure if they have to be handwritten or maybe can be printed) to their 'target'.

If tens of millions of letters are received for one address all at once, it not only overwhelms the postal service and paralyses the sorting offices, but it then makes an immense problem for the actual recipient.

Take a moment to think about what you would do if endless post vans kept on bringing tens of thousands of bulging mailbags to your door. Where would you put them? How would you even be able to junk/recycle/tip that many? It wouldn't even matter what they contained - they could just be several folded sheets of blank paper and the power would be the same.

I'm not suggesting that this is Linda's MO at all, but as PP have said, it is a calculated choice to handwrite the letters. Even people who can't/won't/don't ever use computers know of the existence of mass photocopying, costing a few pence or less per sheet, so they would only need to hand-write one letter - they could always leave a space after the 'Dear' and just write in 'People at 68 Acacia Lane' or whatever. Anybody choosing to hand-write hundreds and hundreds of copies of the same letter has a very specific reason for doing so; one that many people would describe as manipulative.

I got one a while ago hand written saying 'To my neighbour' on the front. I opened it saw what it was. A crock of shite and consigned it straight to the recycling bin. The last JW that attempted to post a letter through my post box was told not to bother and she could put it straight into my recycling bin as she walked back down my drive.

They do this all around the world - just bin it! You didn't request it, so the time and effort it took them is nothing to do with you.

I used to feel a little bit sorry for JWs as I felt they were possibly treated a bit harshly. Then I met my (thankfully now ex) MIL, whose reaction to being told no, she could NOT raise my then newborn daughter as a JW was to say she wished her granddaughter had never been born. I no longer feel sorry for anyone who would use their imaginary sky fairy as justification for saying such an awful thing about their own grandchild.

Linda could be doing something far more useful if she wanted to be a good person couldn't she?

Hi

As a child I went through a harrowing experience as a Jehovah's Witness. A lot of us did to the point of needing therapy and peer support amongst each other who have left.

I am anonymous in BBC Panorama Suffer the little children which was aired in the UK in July 2002. Those within the Jehovah's Witness organisation at the time were told not to watch it and if they did, to take everything that has been said with a pinch of salt. My former "brothers and sisters" called us liars, an actor, Satan's child, Evil, etc after watching myself and the other four relaying to Betsan Powys what we had been through in there. You can find the video on youtube. Even one of the top guys called us liars - Stephen Lett who is a member of the governing body of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (the parent company of Jehovah's Witnesses) You will know what we "lied about" when you watch the program.

You are doing yourself and others (specifically children) a huge service of putting that filth in the bin. Educate yourself on cult tactics (Stephen Hassan B.I.T.E. Model) and never let yourself or your children be inculcated into a cult like this one. They might look benign, but trust us - they are not. Poor Linda is just a sheep following a cult, brainwashed into believing their sect of christianity and she is looking to recruit you. She would not call it recruiting, she was call it saving you from Armageddon. It is a doomsday cult and all I knew was fear from a young age. Many people have lost their families in there, parents shunning children, children shunning parents at the orders of the most high governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

My experiences in written format. If you are a survivor of abuse, please ensure you are in a good headspace before reading. Thanks.

silentlamb2silentnomore.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/my-story-of-surviving-child-abuse-in-a-cult/

They do this all the time, hand write and send to many. That’s their choice. Do not feel bad it’s gone in the bin!

I received one like that a year or two ago, felt bad but threw it away.
Forgot all about it, till now 😅

If I was you I'd have a word with the local JWs and show them the email. I know they are not allowed to send anything like that to anyone they have to be really polite and friendly and part of their beliefs is that God doesn't punish people for what they do so they'll be in trouble for saying something that isn't part of their belief too. Can you email the elders and show them as they'll definitely do something about it and the person who sent it will be in trouble.