Jehover's Witness question

[aussienic]

Now I want to say this is not to offend anyone..

A couple years ago the JW's were visiting me and me alone every week.. They would up out the front of my house drop of thier little leaflet and make idle chatter.. I never invited them as I don't believe in walking door to door.. I don't buy like that either so its not a religeous thing...

Anyways they stopped visiting me unless they were doing the whole street but to be honest I usually just didn't answer the door.. rude I know but I didn't want the visits to start again

Anyways yesterday 8:15 am they turn up.. they parked across the street visited me for about 10 minutes then drove off?? Why??

Is anyone on here a JW? I can't just say please don't visit ect cus they are really nice people and are not pushy but i don't know why they keep coming to me... kwim?

I think what annoyed me the most was that i was in my pj's, hair a mess.. it wasn't even 8:30 and then they started talking to the kids and kept drawing them into conversation...

once at the shops one of the ladies came up to my DH and started asking questions about me.. Asking if I had had the baby (when I had DS3) and I don't know I just found it creepy..

Agh What do I do? Are they atrying to get me to come to thier church( is it a church?)

I have said I am not interested as I am catholic but not practicing.. but agh... I feel so mean cus they are so nice..

[~Leasha~]

I'm not JH, but have you told them you are Catholic? When they come to my door I usually, respectfully, talk to them about what I believe and that I'm very happy with my faith (don't need a new one ). I've only had them two or three times here, and never the same people.

ETA: Sorry, mummy brain, didn't realise you had told them.

[sunflowa_girlie]

Hahah, it's nice to meet someone who doesn't want to be mean to us aussienic! It makes a refreshing change!

The reason they probably started a couple of years ago coming weekly is because you took some of the literature. We like to follow up on any interest shown, so we go back pretty regularly - for myself, I generally only go back every fortnight to start with. Some people are happy for it to stay at that level, others will ask for more regular visits, so I leave it up to them.

How long was the gap between when they stopped coming and yesterday? I'm thinking that the one who was calling on you may have been sick, or away etc. Then they've decided to come back and see how you're going.

We don't go to convert people, which is probably why they didn't stop when you said you were Catholic. Unfortunately, if you don't want any more visits, you will have to say that to them, otherwise they'll keep coming! But don't worry, we get a lot of abuse on a regular basis, and I'm sure you'll be nice

[aussienic]

Sunflower girl.. Thanks for replying.. Like I said they are so friendly and nice but I am not interested...

We still got the occassional visit but usually when they were doing the street walk.. but the one on one visits stopped sometime last year..

I suppose if I rang the office/church (sorry not sure on terminolgy here) and ask if they take me off the list.. Would that work.. I can't do it face to face.. I would just feel mean

[sunflowa_girlie]

Is it ALL visits you want to stop, or are you okay if they only come when they're doing the street?

First one: You could ring, but I'm pretty sure they'll send a brother out to speak to you, mainly to make sure its not because you've had a very bad experience. From then on, 2 brothers will visit you once a year to see if you would like us to start visiting again or not.

Second one: If you just want the one-on-one visits to stop, you're going to have to tell the people who are regularly visiting. Don't worry, they won't be upset, it'll be fine! They would be more upset to find out they've been 'pushing' literature on you when you didn't want it!

[Lisa]

I agree with SG.
We used to have JW's come witnessing where I used to live. I would thank them for their time but tell them I am not religious and that they didn't need to visit me anymore as I would seek out religion in my own time. Because there are loads of different groups that would witness (not the same people everytime) I had to do this a few times but eventually they stopped coming.
I really dislike door to door anything... TBH, anything that invades on my homelife I find annoying, as like you Nic, I am most likely to answer the door in my PJ's with bed hair.

[aussienic]

SG: honestly I would want all visits to stop.. I am just not interested..

If you don't mind me asking.. why do you go door to door?

Lisa: I want to say that but I just can't.. I don;t know why because the ladies that do come by are so nice and I know they would ask why I don't want to be religeous anything but the answer is simply just don't want to... and I guess some people have a hard time understanding that

[Lisa]

I know Nic... at first I would give in and listen to their speil... eventually I realised I was spending time with kids fighting in the background listening to something I was in no way interested in. I actually decided I needed to keep firm in my beliefs and do what I felt was right and tell them I was not interested... I would feel bad because they would send the oldest, most sweetest people who would have to climb the stairs at my house, only to have me turn them away. When they tried to ask me my stance on religion etc I would apologise and tell them I was definitely not interested in anything religious, once again thank them for their time and close the door. I do the same thing to anyone who comes trying to sell me things at my door. If I am interested in something, I will seek it out in my own time.

[sunflowa_girlie]

If thats how you feel aussienic, you need to either ring your local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, or wait until someone comes to your door again, and tell them you would like to be on their 'Do Not Call' list. From then on, you will get an annual visit to check that you still would like to be left alone

The reason we go door to door is because Jesus commanded us to. Matthew 28:19,20 - "Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things." We feel we have a message that will mean the difference between life and death, and we have been instructed to tell as many people as possible. Going from door-to-door used to be the most effective way to meet people, but for a while now I have found that most people aren't home. We also do other forms of preaching, like public transport, business, and shopping centre witnessing.
There are of course other scriptures that go in to more detail, such as Luke 10:1-12, where Jesus first teaches his apostles how to preach. I don't want to go into too much detail here unless asked to, I would prefer to answer question privately, so as not to inadvertantly upset anyone.

[Lulu2]

I saw a wonderful doco on JW a few months ago. It really gave alot of insight and information, especially on the door to door thing.

I didn't understand it myself before and I would never be rude to them when they came to the door but now - well I really admire their commitment and it seems they just wanna share the joy they have found themselves.

If they repeat the doco (think it was SBS), I'll let you know, its worth watching.

[Kate07]

Originally Posted by sunflowa_girlie

If thats how you feel aussienic, you need to either ring your local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, or wait until someone comes to your door again, and tell them you would like to be on their 'Do Not Call' list. From then on, you will get an annual visit to check that you still would like to be left alone

So, how do you get out of the annual visit, without being rude?

I think some churches who do door to door are just working on people who do not want to be rude, and the weak and vulnerable who are unable to say no.

I would not want to 'convert' someone through pressure (and i see even an annual visit as pressure), because i would question the reason's for a person's conversion.

[sunflowa_girlie]

Originally Posted by Kate07

So, how do you get out of the annual visit, without being rude?

I think some churches who do door to door are just working on people who do not want to be rude, and the weak and vulnerable who are unable to say no.

I would not want to 'convert' someone through pressure (and i see even an annual visit as pressure), because i would question the reason's for a person's conversion.

The annual visit is to see if your stand is still the same. Circumstances change, the person may have moved, or had some event over the past year that has made them rethink their stand. It's not a huge visit, all you have to say is that you're still not interested, and you have no more visits for another year.

I'm curious as to why you view one visit a year as pressure? Our instruction is only to preach to people, not to convert, because only Jehovah can do that. I'm sorry if in the past you've had bad experiences with JW's, but we certainly don't go out with the intention of converting people through pressure.

*Everything said with the best of intentions and no offence intended - please don't hurt me!*

[~StarBright~]

I must say i also applaud the determination of JW's who go to great lenghts to spread the word! I used to live in a VERY remote place- and the first time they visited i could not beleive they went to soooo much trouble!! The road to my house was a very steep rough dirt road, and the first visit they came in a small hatch back that very nearly didnt make it- i had a great chat to them and then recieved visits fortnightly after that- and they gentleman who visited every time was smart and drove a 4 weel drive after that!!

I never invited them inside- (usually coz my house was a shocking mess!) but we had plenty of good discussions in my front yard- they never tried to "convert" me- and when i told them that while i appriciated their visits- that i had no intention of joining the church- my visits got slowed to monthly- then they stopped- until i lost my baby half way through my pregnancy- it was like they had a radar and knew that my life was a mess and they appeared again to see if i was ok.. weird, but at the same time i was kind of grateful, most of my "friends" couldnt be bothered to come and visit me- but these almost strangers seemed to know i needed support and were there... still didnt get me to their church- but it was nice to know that some how they knew and that they cared.

[Macca79]

I used to receive regular visits from some nice JW families but I have to hand it to them they could be very persistent. I even had a visit when we were in the middle of a cyclone warning. It was the only time I have invited them inside as I was worried about their safety. My offer was politely refused and they went off down the street to see another couple. I never saw them again after that though.

[briggsy's girl]

no offence to any JW's - but some of the ones that have come to our area have been REALLY pushy! i have been polite on most occassions, asked that they not continue to visit - but a few weeks later, they've been back. if we've said no, the next time they send kids to the door and then the adults follow just after so that you answer the door to the children. this might not be the case everywhere, but it's definitely happened regularly around here. i now just tell people i'm not interested, if they don't listen, i close the door on them.

as a kid, i was out delivering catalogues with my brother, and in one day, the SAME people stopped us three times and just wouldn't leave us alone. now, we were 10 and 12 - there is no WAY we should have been "ambushed" - at that age, you're not mature enough to make decisions about your religious beliefs and they shouldn't have stopped us at all

i'm very much of the belief that i will make decisions about my religious beliefs in my own time in my own way - i don't need people knocking on my door (of ANY religious persuasion) to try to preach to me. BTW - i'm exactly the same with sales people! if i want something, i'll go looking for it - don't need you harassing me!

[aussienic]

SG: I guess for me and maybe a lot of people the whole door to door thing just isn't what we want.. I don't even like charities coming to my door because I feel bad saying no.. if I can afford to i will give money when I can..

same with religeon if I am interested I will seek it out..

Now i understand it is your faith to go and spread the word but IMO wouldn't it better be done via putting up flyers inviting people to see you.. or be at the shopping centres rather then go to peoples houses..

[taegan]

I actually used to have visits when living in sydney... my partner works wknds and they would visit when he wasnt home... i usually go to the door wit a screaming baby in my arms and they never spoke religon or anything they wanted to help me around the house mow the lawn fold washing do dishes anything to make my life easier they said.... i agreed to let them mow my front lawn they brang there own mower and whipper snipper- again i never let them come inside i wasnt comfortable cuz i was always hme wit dd... any way we live interstate now so havent seen them again