The Jehovah's Witnesses have found me again...

[fatigues_gasolini]

I live behind a JW church and have never had anyone stop by. It may because im near the epicenter they dont come around or the entire congregation saw me naked when we moved into our house and didnt have blinds yet for our bedroom that faces the church.

 

[Fiction]

In the early ought, one of my brothers qas in the middle of an epic DDR session when they came to the door. He yelled come in and they did. They introduced himself and he breathlessly shouted "Sure but you'll have to do it while i dance!"

He completely ignored them and just danced and they eventually left lol

 

[Rats]

I was raised JW for the first seven years of my life until my mom finally worked up the courage to leave the church. I had to see her be disowned by her entire family, the parents that treated her like a maid and the younger siblings that she practically raised as her own. Years later they gradually started to reconnect but they've never completely forgiven her.

I got off easy, I was too young to know any better, but my much older sister still feels the scars of being brought up that way.

Awful organization.

 

[WedgeX]

Aside from street preachers, the only people to tell me I am going to hell were Jehovah Witnesses.

I was 8?

I answer the door now with "no thanks, I'm Catholic" and that seems to work.

 

[spad3]

I lied to the JW's that came by my door that we were Satanists and they never came back.

 

[MayorSquirtle]

I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness up until I was around 9 or so? It sucked.

 

[Rats]

I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness up until I was around 9 or so? It sucked.

Click to shrink...

Yeah but how dope was that first Christmas, though? I'll never forget it, lol.

 

[tiebreaker]

Twice, and I just told them to give me the pamphlet as I was busy. Of course, nicely.

 

[Trup1aya]

As kids we would cut the lights out and hide whenever they showed up.

Of course they knew we were there because they saw the lights go out, hear us giggling on the other side of the door, or occasionally yelling "nobody is here."

 

[Deleted member 51248]

We would get at least one visit to our neighbourhood each year, first sign of strangers with the little handbags going about and its curtains closed, anything that makes noise turned down or off, then shifting activity towards the back of the house till they've moved on. Been indoors most of the summer and don't think they've shown up this year. We would also get evangelical's knocking on our door asking if there's any kids interested in their summer Jesus group thing, seems they've shifted to online this year going by a leaflet that was left in the letterbox (and then sent to recycling).
Only times where I've had encounters with people face to face trying to sell stuff or convert was with Krishna's and Mormon's, being a shy, introvert going to a big city on my own regularly for the 1st time years ago I was caught off guard on a few occasions by the Krishna's just coming right up to me in a large crowded street and trying to sell their books, think I bought their books on 3 occasions just to end the conversation quickly, move on and calm the anxiety built up from the encounter. With Mormons I only had 3 encounters where they started with some general questions about the weather and what's good in life and then moving it towards a religious pitch, all on the same day in the same city starting as soon as I got off a bus, on one of the encounters they set themselves up at a small bridge where it would be hard for people wanting to cross to steer clear of either one which i thought was a bit of dodgy thing to be pulling.

 

[Enduin]

We would get at least one visit to our neighbourhood each year, first sign of strangers with the little handbags going about and its curtains closed, anything that makes noise turned down or off, then shifting activity towards the back of the house till they've moved on. Been indoors most of the summer and don't think they've shown up this year. We would also get evangelical's knocking on our door asking if there's any kids interested in their summer Jesus group thing, seems they've shifted to online this year going by a leaflet that was left in the letterbox (and then sent to recycling).
Only times where I've had encounters with people face to face trying to sell stuff or convert was with Krishna's and Mormon's, being a shy, introvert going to a big city on my own regularly for the 1st time years ago I was caught off guard on a few occasions by the Krishna's just coming right up to me in a large crowded street and trying to sell their books, think I bought their books on 3 occasions just to end the conversation quickly, move on and calm the anxiety built up from the encounter. With Mormons I only had 3 encounters where they started with some general questions about the weather and what's good in life and then moving it towards a religious pitch, all on the same day in the same city starting as soon as I got off a bus, on one of the encounters they set themselves up at a small bridge where it would be hard for people wanting to cross to steer clear of either one which i thought was a bit of dodgy thing to be pulling.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I wanted to keep things light in the OP, but anxiety played a big part in my inability to just politely decline and have them leave. I've only just learned about RSD(Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria) being common with those who have ADHD(thanks TikTok) and that's like my life to a T, especially when I was younger and avoided any kind of potential(realistic or not) confrontation at all costs. Thankfully I've never had a huge problem with just saying "no thanks" to people while on the street since I'm on the move and can just get away from the situation fast. But being in my house with nowhere to go really did make me feel trapped at the time, so I just had to endure.

 

[Dark Ninja]

I remember they used to come around a lot when I was growing up. I would ignore the door and if I was playing a game or something I would turn up the volume. If you come to my door and I don't know you I'll probably not answer.

 

[Snagret]

I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness up until I was around 9 or so? It sucked.

Click to shrink...

I was 18 when I officially left. Can confirm, it totally sucked.

 

[Vinegar Joe]

I was raised JW for the first seven years of my life until my mom finally worked up the courage to leave the church. I had to see her be disowned by her entire family, the parents that treated her like a maid and the younger siblings that she practically raised as her own. Years later they gradually started to reconnect but they've never completely forgiven her.

I got off easy, I was too young to know any better, but my much older sister still feels the scars of being brought up that way.

Awful organization.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, any religion that practices shunning can fuck right off.

That shit destroys lives.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

my mother is one, and my aunt. my uncle was one but I think he liked drinking too much to keep up with it.

I've met some very pleasant people there throughout the years. honestly they're the only religion that at least embraces science a little bit?
their kingdom hall meetings are all done via zoom right now which is a plus.
I'm not religious at all but they've never struck me as a cult, and don't get involved in politics. again, a plus.

 

[Abylim]

I was a witness until i was 14. I disfellowshipped myself to two elders and never looked back. Moved to Australia when i was 17, life is good.

My dad and grandma are in the religion still. Its crazy. My sister and i were Regular Pioneers (60-90 hours of preaching a month) and they got angry at my sister because she pierced her upper ear. Women cant pray in front of men without a head covering. The paradise on earth thing is riddled with so many holes.

My dad is convinced the world is about to end. His life is hard, so i understand wanting something more, to an extent, but his answer for most issues now is "dont worry bud, pretty soon this all wont matter" which is sad.

 

[B00T]

They used to swing by here every so often, at least once a week at one point in time. Nice enough, but we really had to tell them we had zero interest in what they had to say several times before it seemignly. If my dad was home, he'd chew em out since he lives where he does for privacy, that probably helped.

 

[The Albatross]

I've always been nice and polite, tell them I'm not interested but that I hope they have a good day. I've usually been left alone.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

I lied to the JW's that came by my door that we were Satanists and they never came back.

Click to shrink...

You would think they'll try even harder to save you or something lol

 

[Valkyr Junkie]

I got one of these meticulously-penned, hand-written letters out of the blue too. Wonder if each temple has a dedicated scribe lol.

 

[OhSatan]

Post the letter OP I want to see the penship.

 

[Enduin]

Post the letter OP I want to see the penship.

Click to shrink...

Almost perfect, just noticed the one use of white out.

While it's not the most perfect hand writing it's quite good and exceptionally consistent. At least compared to my own terrible hand writing which is anything but consistent. So I'm probably a bad judge with a very low bar for "good" handwriting.

 

[subpar spatula]

JW and other religious missionaries who bother you like that are generally professional. They're a lot like those timeshare meetings people at resorts in Mexico, Bahamas, etc. that offer you a free breakfast to pitch you an idea. If you simply say, "No thanks, we're not interested." they'll shake your hand and thank you for your time then move onto the next person. Just don't waste their time, they'll usually respect it. They're not going to think back on that day for a long time because they got rejected, they'll probably be more peeved if you actually string them along whether on purpose or not.

 

[PAFenix]

Almost perfect, just noticed the one use of white out.

While it's not the most perfect hand writing it's quite good and exceptionally consistent. At least compared to my own terrible hand writing which is anything but consistent. So I'm probably a bad judge with a very low bar for "good" handwriting.

Click to shrink...

That's some damn good handwriting lol I almost thought it was typed.

 

[Travo]

I remember as a little kid in the mid '80s the Jehovah's prowled my neighborhood hard one summer and on at least 3 different days they came to our door and my mother would quickly switch off the tv and we sat in the stairwell and she would tell me to pretend we weren't home. They would look through all the ground windows and circle the house. It's really messed up thinking back on it.

Click to shrink...

We always hid too, but in hindsight, maybe we should've just said "Fuck it," turn the volume of the tv up and continue on.

 

[OhSatan]

Almost perfect, just noticed the one use of white out.

While it's not the most perfect hand writing it's quite good and exceptionally consistent. At least compared to my own terrible hand writing which is anything but consistent. So I'm probably a bad judge with a very low bar for "good" handwriting.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for posting, def an interesting hand writing.

The whiteout actually ups the warming factor lol.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

I've had more than one letter arrive in the mail and it creeps me the fuck out that 1). they know my name and 2). they know where I live.

 

[Enduin]

I've had more than one letter arrive in the mail and it creeps me the fuck out that 1). they know my name and 2). they know where I live.

Click to shrink...

I was really surprised that their Kingdom Hall is like barely a mile down the road from my house based on the return address posted on it. I could practically walk there if I wanted.

Still they didn't know enough about me to realize I'm a man. So probably not super sleuthing on me.

 

[Laserbeam]

A few weeks after my mom died I was visiting a friend to just hang and take my mind off of some stuff, and his mother happened to be there. She started off by telling me how sorry she was and whatnot and then jumped into some Jehovah's Witness stuff about how she's not actually dead (I think?) and blah blah. I can't remember exactly what she told me because it was all kind of a blur and I got the feeling she was just trying to comfort me, but it did come off as slightly insensitive. I'm not at all a religious person (nor was my mom) but I generally have no problem with people who are, so I kind of just let her go on a bit and took some pamphlet she gave me.

It was pretty odd.

Months later it's just kind of amusing to me and how utterly HARD my mom would have been rolling her eyes at it all, but again, at the time it was so strange to me.

That's all I have to share. My friend doesn't believe those things and I had no idea his mom was so into it. I've also never had any of them come knocking, but I have heard all the stories.

 

[Itsuki]

I live in Japan and before the coronavirus problem started, they came to my place five times. Even if I refused and told them in Japanese 日本語食べません (I can't eat Japanese) as a way for them to leave, they came back with someone who talks English and Spanish.

 

[Fritz]

I usually tell them that I am a happy catholic and that kinda makes them recess.

 

[Layla]

In my area in the UK we have a Mormon patrol. Two squeaky clean young men with sensible haircuts, identically dressed in white shirts and black slacks on matching mountain bikes. Dazzling white smiles of perfect Utah teeth. The years go by and although they may be replaced with almost identical models they are always out there, circling around like psychic vampires looking for their next prey.

 

[Kain]

I remember I was once home alone and somebody knocked. I usually don't even go to the door but this time I did and I opened. Two dudes dressed identically in some suits were there, they were very tall I remember, and asked "Do you know why bad things happen?". I said "yes" and I slammed the door. They never came again.

They were JW because later that week I saw those two same dudes standing next to the Watchtower stands near the station handing pamphlets.

 

[CrocoDuck]

I remember one encounter around 2008 with one. I was a repeating Sophomore in high school and this woman who looked a little older, around 20ish, knocks on my fathers apartment door where I would stay on weekends. I was aware of who JWs were as I encountered a group when I was younger, so I was familiar with their routine.

I wasn't particularly interested in what she had to say in terms of her religiosity, but she was very... pretty. While I was quite enamored with her, she had a pretty face and cute dress, I felt embarrassed as I looked like a mess. I was out of shape, wore baggy clothing, needed an overdue haircut, and just her overall speech and demeanor and knowledge of the world (at least compared to my own meager understanding) made me feel way out of depth and miserable.

She came back a week later and this time my father responded. I hid in his room while he told her that I wasn't interested. I just felt embarrassed about the whole thing, and felt kind of sorry for wasting her time like that.

 

[Deleted member 3010]

I've been told that if you tell Mormons or JWs that you used to be a part of the church but have been excommunicated, they never bother you again.

Click to shrink...

Shit, that's a great idea! 😂

 

[Yataran]

I had a JW friend at uni years ago. He was a nice guy, kind of shy and a bit awkward sometimes... But I should know about showing a certain level of awkwardness caused by being immersed in fundamentalist religion. I grew up Seventh Day Adventist and I was in the church until my late 20s... It's curious how that became something that made us bond a bit, despite each church/cult considering the other as being definitely wrong and having "false prophets". Both organizations share part of their history, and both of us were living "in the world while not of the world". Rolling my eyes now at that last point.

 

[Xater]

I don't give anyone the time of day who wants to peddle something to me at the door or the phone. I always immediately tell people, zu am not interested and close the door or hang up the phone. Don't really care if it's rude, I don't have time for their bullshit.

 

[Sidewinder]

Two years ago I had my first encounter with a couple of JWs, they were obviously very nice and I listened to them and kindly told them I wasn't interested in anything they might want to tell me. But still they came at least 6 times after that, even though I told them repeatedly that I wasn't interested and nobody in this house was or ever would be. Then they finally stopped.

But then, at the best imaginable time of the century, during a deadly pandemic they went to my mum. Luckily a neighbor (doctor) shooed them away as soon as she saw them.

I'll never ever speak to one of those fkers again, I'll just slam the door shut in their faces.

 

[Uncle00Jesse]

Brainwashing good people that the world is ending, sweeping rampant sexual abuse of minors under the rug, and denying people the right to life-saving medical procedures?...fucking disgusting. My heart aches for anyone caught up in that bullshit. It's just sad and angers me a lot

 

[Jegriva]

Just for the LOLs, it's fun to read all the history and the reasoning behind thei prediction of the end of the world "in the 1918 generation", and how they are costantly and franticly updating their intepretation around this hard date.

 

[CreepingFear]

Sorry, thread title made me think of

 

[Rassilon]

I believe they banned cold calling in my area some years ago, so they mostly hang around street corners with their Watch Tower pamphlets.

I have never seen them actively approach anyone when standing by their pamphlet stands

 

[gosublime]

My father actually has a priester education (and has a doctor in theology), though he never "hold office" (or however you call that in English).
So whenever JWs tried their spiel, he'd go into an hour long theological debate with them and chew them out.

Suffice to say they left a bit humbled, and waited a long time (probably when new persons got responsible for the route) before comming again.

Click to shrink...

I did something like this when they came to my door - I studied Philosophy and History, with one of my courses being about Biblical studies and I've since gone on to teach RS for the last 18 years of my life.

They tried to use a passage from the Bible that predicted a battle to show how the Bible was true. Problem was that I know that passage also happens to mention an instrument that was first used about 300 or so years after the battle took place, so it's not a prediction.

They suddenly looked at each other and asked what I did - they left pretty sharpish after I kept on pointing out flaws in their points and different interpretations. Haven't come back

 

[Mozendo]

This happened around last year.
I recently became an RA for my college's dorms, but unlike more traditional dorm where they're like apartment complexes within the campus, our dorms are townhouses that's is by the main campus and is nearby other non-campus housing units.

Hear people talking outside which I think is odd because I'm the only person in my townhouse stack, then get a knock on the door. It's a group of about 5 JW and I straight up tell them "Hey I'm an employee, my director does not people going door to door knocking as you guys are not residents and he considers this trespassing" one of them then ask me to get in contact with my director and I tell them sure, but to follow me to the office and I'll give them his business card where they can contact them.

On the way to the office I find out the woman who asked to speak to director took my position at the boys & girls club I quit a few months back. We started talking about some of the youth I missed and we were badmouthing my former/ her current director. They seemed nice, never saw them again which is good because the residents hated previous JH interactions

 

[Amalthea]

I got one of these handwritten letters too, just threw it away but it was sorta creepy.

 

[Emmaginary]

I once had some JWs appear at the door to start peddling their literature. I indulged them for longer than I am typically willing to, this one time, out of curiosity. Very quickly the guy started to try to talk down to me about how tornadoes through scrapyards don't create planes and how all parts of the human eye are necessary simultaneously for the eye to exist.

Me being an amateur evolutionary biologist, I knew exactly what he was trying to convince me of and said something along the lines of "you're trying to disprove evolution using irreducible complexity."

As soon as I said "irreducible complexity", I could see he was alarmed. Once I started explaining the evolution big the eye and that of flagella, his face betrayed fear. He quickly said he had to go, but that he would be back.

He never came back.

 

[Cels]

Sorry, thread title made me think of

Click to shrink...

the funny thing is for some people JW can be just about as scary as armed gunmen who you stole plutonium from...

not to say that they aren't misunderstood in same respects. here in the US, the witnesses played a pretty big part in the development of first amendment law. for example, schoolchildren cannot be forced to salute the flag or recite the pledge of allegiance because of a case involving the witnesses. and i think they managed to get a law struck down that restricted door-to-door proselytizing.

at the same time, there's a pretty notorious appellate case in California involving a sexual abuse lawsuit where the victim/plaintiff asked for documents from the church, concerning any history of sexual abuse that his abuser had in the church, and the church refused, even after the court ordered them to turn over those records. they eventually settled that case. but hey, sexual abuse and religion, it's not just a Catholic problem

 

[kami_sama]

I live in Japan and before the coronavirus problem started, they came to my place five times. Even if I refused and told them in Japanese 日本語食べません (I can't eat Japanese) as a way for them to leave, they came back with someone who talks English and Spanish.

Click to shrink...

I read first the English translation and had to do a double take. Read the Japanese and it made sense. That's quite the idea lol

 

[sHitman]

When they ring and I open the door I always politely say that I have no interest, but when they won't let get of me I ask them if it's okay if I'm into sucking dick and if they want to try mine. Most leave before I can ask them if they are compfortable putting their fist up my ass. Works every time. I know it's not nice but it's the fastest way to get rid of them. Also they don't come back.

I lived in a house near a JW center or church, and they came by every week until I started going mental.

I have to find a child-friendly way of doing it though, do not want my kids to be in a situation like you. Scary. I don't know why this even is allowed.

 

[CreepingFear]

the funny thing is for some people JW can be just about as scary as armed gunmen who you stole plutonium from...

not to say that they aren't misunderstood in same respects. here in the US, the witnesses played a pretty big part in the development of first amendment law. for example, schoolchildren cannot be forced to salute the flag or recite the pledge of allegiance because of a case involving the witnesses. and i think they managed to get a law struck down that restricted door-to-door proselytizing.

at the same time, there's a pretty notorious appellate case in California involving a sexual abuse lawsuit where the victim/plaintiff asked for documents from the church, concerning any history of sexual abuse that his abuser had in the church, and the church refused, even after the court ordered them to turn over those records. they eventually settled that case. but hey, sexual abuse and religion, it's not just a Catholic problem

Click to shrink...

I actually have experience. My grandmother and aunt's were JW's. When they watched me when I was little, they were raising me in "The Truth". I know all about it.