Question for JehovahsWitnesses

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rikuoamero
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Question for JehovahsWitnesses

Post #1

Post by rikuoamero »

Just something that crossed my mind. I'm 28, about to knock on the door of 29...and that's when it hit me.
Jehovah's Witnesses have NEVER knocked on my door. Nor have I ever seen them knock on anyone else's door.
I currently live about a ten to fifteen minute walk from a Kingdom Hall. I have gone past it plenty of times, whether on bus or on foot. Not once have I seen anyone go into or out of it.
For two years, I lived just two minutes walk from another Kingdom Hall, same story. Never saw a soul.
In all my time on this planet, I have never once had a JW knock on my door and try to convert me. Not that I'm complaining mind you :tongue:
Can you clarify that this is something that JWs are supposed to do, or not? I could've thought that they were?
The only time I've seen them is either in our capital city Dublin, or on my local main street standing around with their pamphlets, but whenever I do see them, that's all they're doing. They're not actively engaging with anyone else. They're not being pushy (and again, I'm not complaining) in the slightest. One can walk by them and not be disturbed in the slightest.

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(Seems strange to me that the stand starts off being written in Spanish, when that is a minority language. Our two official languages are Irish and English, with practically everybody speaking English, and Polish being the unofficial third most popular language, due to the wave of immigrants during the 2000s. But Spanish? Outside of school, I literally can't think of anywhere in Ireland it's spoken as a daily language)
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Some force seems to restrict me from buying into the apparent nonsense that others find so easy to buy into. Having no religious or supernatural beliefs of my own, I just call that force reason. -- Tired of the Nonsense

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Re: Question for JehovahsWitnesses

Post #2

Post by Divine Insight »

rikuoamero wrote: Just something that crossed my mind. I'm 28, about to knock on the door of 29...and that's when it hit me.
Jehovah's Witnesses have NEVER knocked on my door. Nor have I ever seen them knock on anyone else's door.
I'm not a JW, but I do know that in some places there are laws against door-to-door solicitation which includes religious proselytizing and passing out religious materials.

So it could be that they simply are not permitted to solicit their religion in your area by law?
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Re: Question for JehovahsWitnesses

Post #3

Post by rikuoamero »

Divine Insight wrote:
rikuoamero wrote: Just something that crossed my mind. I'm 28, about to knock on the door of 29...and that's when it hit me.
Jehovah's Witnesses have NEVER knocked on my door. Nor have I ever seen them knock on anyone else's door.
I'm not a JW, but I do know that in some places there are laws against door-to-door solicitation which includes religious proselytizing and passing out religious materials.

So it could be that they simply are not permitted to solicit their religion in your area by law?
Huh. That to be honest never crossed my mind as a possible explanation. However, I remember in my youth, us getting door to door knocks from commercial salesmen. So it's not illegal.
EDIT - Have looked up a popular nationwide forum that I myself frequent, with someone complaining about door to door knockers, and frequently it was opined that it is not illegal, and JWs were mentioned among other groups.

Oh wait...hang on. Nuts. Apologies to JW, but it seems that my original claim (that of never having had JWs knock on my door) may not be completely accurate. Now that DI has jogged my memory about door knockers and salesmen, my brain is conjuring up vague memories (vague mind you) of religious knockers. Happened when I was young, at least more than once, but I cannot recall as to whether or not they were JWs.
The points I make about recent years still stand however. At least not since I became an adult ten years ago. In this time span, not once has anyone knocked on my door from the JWs, of that I can be absolutely certain. Also certain about the JWs in the city center, who don't bother anyone.
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Your life is your own. Rise up and live it - Richard Rahl, Sword of Truth Book 6 "Faith of the Fallen"

I condemn all gods who dare demand my fealty, who won't look me in the face so's I know who it is I gotta fealty to. -- JoeyKnotHead

Some force seems to restrict me from buying into the apparent nonsense that others find so easy to buy into. Having no religious or supernatural beliefs of my own, I just call that force reason. -- Tired of the Nonsense

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Post #4

Post by JehovahsWitness »

I lived just two minutes walk from another Kingdom Hall, same story. Never saw a soul.

Hi there,

I really couldn't say... It's most unlikely that the kingdom hall is not in use at all, but it is possible - maybe its for sale; we are going through major reorganization at the moment with new models of halls to be used and maximization of use so maybe its something to do with that... don't know any more than you do on that.

If you are extremely curious you could just look up the times of the actual meetings in that particular hall HERE and then check out movements 20 mins before the start time. I don't know where you are but where I am in France the doors are locked and there is a interphone to get in after starting time so there won't be much to see after the meeting ("service") starts.


I have never once had a JW knock on my door and try to convert me.

As for this, its unlikely that knocking on doors is illegal in Dublin (Ireland?), but if like me you live in a secure buiding access is limited and you might not get a personal visit that way (in my building for example there are two coded doors before one can access the appartments). In any case we still go from door to door where possible and all territories are worked systematically but there are only 8 million of us on the planet (and not all of us can spend much time going from door to door due to health, age or infirmaties, family responsibilities etc) so on a planet of 7 and a half BILLION you do the math.

Literature Stands

Regarding literature stands, if there is a cart that means there is at least one group of Witnesses that speak that language. "A group" is smaller than a congregation and might be comprised of only a dozen or so people. If you are in Dublin (Ireland) I think it is actually quite an international city so my guess is there are indeed spanish speaking witnesses (the individuals with the literature do speak the language they are offering) and spanish (or whatever language) individuals frequenting the area. A group might cover a very large area, for example we have a group associated with our congregation that speak Pevé (sp?) its an African language. I've never heard of it, but the point is its the only group in Paris, or maybe Northern France I forget, so when they have their meetings people come from miles away. The point is that there may not be many that speak that language but there are probably some.



Hope my answer helps a little,

Regards,

JW
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Post #5

Post by rikuoamero »

[Replying to post 4 by JehovahsWitness]
I really couldn't say
Not really expecting you to come up with a solid answer, just hoping to get clarification on something that was bugging me.
maybe its for sale; we are going through major reorganization at the moment with new models of halls to be used and maximization of use so maybe its something to do with that... don't know any more than you do on that.
Could be that...but for eight years? I'll restrict the time frame to that, because that is when I moved out of my parent's, and in all that time, I cannot recall a single door knocker who was religious in some way.
If you are extremely curious you could just look up the times of the actual meetings in that particular hall HERE and then check out movements 20 mins before the start time.
I might have already done that inadvertently. The first Hall that I lived near to, that was down the street and around a corner (two minutes walk at most), I walked by that every time I went to the local chipper (fast food takeaway, if you don't recognise the term) and I went there a lot. Best curry chips I ever had...sheds a single tear.
I don't know where you are
Which is why I intentionally keep it vague.
but where I am in France
To be honest...I NEVER would have guessed that about you. I always thought you were in the US.
As for this, its unlikely that knocking on doors is illegal in Dublin (Ireland?)
Nope. Pretty confident it's not illegal here, and yes, Ireland.
but if like me you live in a secure buiding access is limited and you might not get a personal visit that way (in my building for example there are two coded doors before one can access the appartments).
I have to admit that for five years of the twenty eight I've spent on this rock, I did indeed live in such an apartment and those five years are part of the eight I talked about above. Even if we deduct those five, that still leaves me with three years where not once did anyone JW knock on my door (or neighbours for that matter).
In any case we still go from door to door where possible and all territories are worked systematically but there are only 8 million of us on the planet (and not all of us can spend much time going from door to door due to health, age or infirmaties, family responsibilities etc) so on a planet of 7 and a half BILLION you do the math.
I vaguely recall a disagreement I had with you about something regarding this? You said something like the JWs have spread their message to all nations and you use that as a metric for which religion is the true one, and I responded by saying something similar to what you have just said, that a handful of JWs living in a given nation do not count as that nation having had the JW message being given to it.
I can't link to it (since I don't recall exactly what was said, so don't know what to search for), so take what I just said with a grain of salt if you will, but I'm pretty darn sure of it...
Regarding literature stands, if there is a cart that means there is at least one group of Witnesses that speak that language. "A group" is smaller than a congregation and might be comprised of only a dozen or so people.
Indeed.
If you are in Dublin (Ireland) I think it is actually quite an international city so my guess is there are indeed spanish speaking witnesses
I'm not in Dublin right this moment, but I can get to it quite easily. That photo is taken outside a local monument, the General Post Office or GPO.
Basically, whenever I pass JWs either outside the GPO or on my local main street, it's never more than a handful. As in, if I used my fingers to count them, I'd have some fingers left over. They're pretty tame and quiet. They just stand there, sometimes with the leaflets in hand, but they don't actually speak to anyone of their own accord. Anytime I've seen them talking with anyone, it's always the other person who initiates the conversation.
And yes, Dublin is indeed international, and yes, Spanish is a popular language. Where I live, there is a sizeable Spanish student group I see on the bus almost every day commuting.
The thought that came to my mind regarding the Spanish is that is the first language on the stand. A stand that is used in a nation where, in order of popularity, the most popular languages are English, Irish and Polish.
Any government documentation is in English and Irish, for example (and people like myself say it should also be in Polish, given our sizeable Polish speaking population)...but there quite simply is no demand for Spanish material. Unless one is studying it in school or already speaks it (either coming from Spain or from Latin America), no-one speaks or demands Spanish material.
A group might cover a very large area, for example we have a group associated with our congregation that speak Pevé (sp?) its an African language. I've never heard of it, but the point is its the only group in Paris, or maybe Northern France I forget, so when they have their meetings people come from miles away. The point is that there may not be many that speak that language but there are probably some.
Shrugs. Just find it odd that Spanish is first and top on the stand. Unless maybe it was given by American JWs (I do hear that English and Spanish are official government languages there).
Hope my answer helps a little,

Regards,

JW
Thanks. It does.
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Your life is your own. Rise up and live it - Richard Rahl, Sword of Truth Book 6 "Faith of the Fallen"

I condemn all gods who dare demand my fealty, who won't look me in the face so's I know who it is I gotta fealty to. -- JoeyKnotHead

Some force seems to restrict me from buying into the apparent nonsense that others find so easy to buy into. Having no religious or supernatural beliefs of my own, I just call that force reason. -- Tired of the Nonsense

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Jehovah Witness Teaching.

Post #6

Post by Falling Light 101 »

.
.

Jehovah Witnesses have a lot of truth however they have many things that they add to Gods word that are not the original message of the Manuscripts.

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Post #7

Post by William »

I had a JDub knock on my door recently - actually they do so about four times a year on average.

I told him about my experience with the JDubs on this forum and how they tend to ignore me because I don't believe the bible is the word of god and how one of them admitted being on the forum mainly to proselytize and that they often spammed the forum with JDub images, and that I found such behavior quite disrespectful.

I told him that I was a theist and not a christian and as the conversation continued on the doorstep it became apparent that we both seemed to like one another's 'vibe' so I asked him and his young son who was with him, if they wanted to come in and chat.

We spent the next hour or so chatting about GOD and religion and we parted on good terms. He said he would definitely be coming back for more.

Face to face does have some advantages over internet forums. :)

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Post #8

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 7 by William]

Did you have a question? I was under the impression this forum was for "questions for a specific user".
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Post #9

Post by William »

[Replying to post 8 by JehovahsWitness]

I was responding to the OP in general (JDub doorknockers) rather than any question specifically.

From the OP;
Just something that crossed my mind. I'm 28, about to knock on the door of 29...and that's when it hit me.
Jehovah's Witnesses have NEVER knocked on my door. Nor have I ever seen them knock on anyone else's door...
Any question I may have for any member of the JDubs, I will ask them face to face.

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Post #10

Post by JehovahsWitness »

William wrote: [Replying to post 8 by JehovahsWitness]

I was responding to the OP in general (JDub doorknockers) rather than any question specifically.

From the OP;
Just something that crossed my mind. I'm 28, about to knock on the door of 29...and that's when it hit me.
Jehovah's Witnesses have NEVER knocked on my door. Nor have I ever seen them knock on anyone else's door...

Any question I may have for any member of the JDubs, I will ask them face to face.

Okay, I ask because the OP was addressed to me. I was under the impression that this forum was not for discussion ABOUT a person but to address a person; which in this case would be me.

In any case since the thread was started as a question FOR me, I will keep an eye on it in case you or anyone else does have another question, in which case I'll certainly give full consideration as to whether I want to answer or not.

Have a most excellent evening,

JW
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

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