What To Do When Jehova's Or Mormons Come To The Door?

[NotreDame]

I just had two jehova's witnesses (JW's) come to the door.  They rang the doorbell once, I ignored it.  They rang it again and I answered.  I didn't want to engage them.  I explained it was very bad etiquette to ring a stranger's doorbell twice and I asked them to leave. 

 

I've also had JW's sneak up behind me in a hotel parking lot once.  I was loading my car and the guy came up behind me without giving me a verbal heads up.  At first I thought I was getting robbed or assaulted and if he were a step or two closer (within arm's reach) my reflexes might have gotten the best of me.  In that case I too had to explain that you don't sneak up behind people in parking lots. 

 

Based on these experiences, the JW's seem to lack basic common sense and ettiquette, at least when they are in proselytization mode. 

 

How do any of you handle these situations?  I frankly have no idea what JW's believe, so I don't really feel prepared to engage with them on religious matters.  I also consider them an cult and given their strange behavior, I especially don't want to invite them into my house.

 

I've never had mormons come to the door, but I'd imagine they'd practice a lot more common sense.  I also have an idea how I'd engage with them (along the lines of "where is Joseph Smith in the new/old testaments?", "have you read new/old testaments that weren't translated by J.Smith", etc.) if people have their own thoughts on how this would work, I'd love to hear them.

 

Any thoughts or experiences would be of interest to me!

 

[Luigi]

I find it beest NOT to engage them. I simply say, "I'm Catholic. I know why I'm Catholic. I intend to remain Catholic. Thank you for your interest, but I'm not interested." Simple. Honest. Firm.

[Basilisa Marie]

I don't think it's bad etiquette to ring twice - maybe they didn't really hear you the first time. More than twice is rude to me, though. 

 

Whenever Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses come to the door I usually say hi and chat a bit.  Usually it involves me letting them know that I'm Catholic and pursuing an advanced degree in Catholicism. They usually go away after that, but I take the literature they offer to read over and learn more about them, because I'm a nerd like that. 

 

The Mormon missionaries that come to my door are usually like 19 or 20, about my brother's age.  I try to be nice to them, and I ask them a few "sticky" questions if I'm feeling up for it. If they know I'm Catholic but also smart and kind, I figure it probably helps their perception of Catholics just a tiny bit. 

 

But mostly it's just "Okay thanks have a great day bye!"

Edited January 11, 2014 by Basilisa Marie

[NotreDame]

The Mormon missionaries that come to my door are usually like 19 or 20, about my brother's age.  I try to be nice to them, and I ask them a few "sticky" questions if I'm feeling up for it. If they know I'm Catholic but also smart and kind, I figure it probably helps their perception of Catholics just a tiny bit

 

Which "sticky" questions do you ask the Mormons?  It's that kind of stuff I'm interested in.

Edited January 11, 2014 by NotreDame

[ithinkjesusiscool]

Just say: so you want to discuss the Bible! Then I'll go and get my Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible for the discussion....

[Basilisa Marie]

 

 

Which "sticky" questions do you ask the Mormons?  It's that kind of stuff I'm interested in.

 

 

Softballed them a "do not add or subtract from scriptures" question, how their continuous divine revelation works and is considered to be reliable, false prophets, etc.  If they had looked older I would have gone for something more hard-hitting, but one kid was clearly very nervous and I felt bad for him. :)

[NotreDame]

Softballed them a "do not add or subtract from scriptures" question, how their continuous divine revelation works and is considered to be reliable, false prophets, etc.  If they had looked older I would have gone for something more hard-hitting, but one kid was clearly very nervous and I felt bad for him. :)

 

any links or books for this that you'd recommend?  I don't know anything about the JW's and if there would be a good way to nicely create some doubt, then I'd be interested and would read it.
 

[BG45]

I usually don't get Mormons, which is sad, because I have questions I'd ask:

• Why did some of the witnesses in the front of the Book of Mormon, who say Joseph Smith translate the tablets, leave the LDS Church?  (One returned when dying and destitute and was provided for.)
• Why did Joseph Smith allow African Americans the priesthood, only for Brigham Young to take it away?
• Why don't you use Joseph Smith's translation of the Bible, whose copyright is owned by the FLDS, instead use the KJV?

 

As for JW's, if you'd like to get them to leave you alone without any risk of them returning, just say, "I'm sorry, you shouldn't talk to me, I was disfellowshipped."  It's like excommunication, except you're not supposed to even be around or have contact with the disfellowshipped.

[Luigi]

Disfellowshipped? DISFELLOWSHIPPED?! DIS-FELLOW-SHIPP-ED?!?!?!

 

 

What have these people done to the English language? What ARE they doing to the English language? I'm usually pretty liberal on language questions - generative-transformational linguistics and all that - but THESE PEOPLE MUST BE STOPPED!!!!

[BG45]

I tip my hat to you good sir.  So glad to not be the only person who had a grammar freakout at hearing the term for the first time.

[cmaD2006]

IAs for JW's, if you'd like to get them to leave you alone without any risk of them returning, just say, "I'm sorry, you shouldn't talk to me, I was disfellowshipped."  It's like excommunication, except you're not supposed to even be around or have contact with the disfellowshipped.

 

SWEEEEET ... now I have my line if I'm not in the mood to be nice :)

[Cherie]

Love love love talking to Mormon missionaries!!! We have quite a few Mormon friends, and over the summer spent a couple months chatting with the missionaries around once a week for a couple hours. Incredibly fascinating; we learned a lot about what they actually believe (the Catholic apologetic websites which describe their beliefs are not wrong...their theology is VERY different from ours) and we stumped them with a bunch of questions. They try to be all things to all people, though. So when we objected to their allowing the use of artificial contraceptives, they explained their church's position but said, basically, "But what you say makes a lot of sense, great points," as in, "See, you can be a Mormon and still believe some of the things you believe." So....once it started getting nowhere we stopped the conversations.

It was funny, because they had a lot of the adults from the local ward (some of them buddies) come to "monitor" the missionaries to see what we were discussing during our meetings. Not sure why, really, but seriously, it was a lot of fun and I think we all learned a lot about each other.

After our conversations with the missionaries, one of my husband's coworkers who quite shamelessly (in a funny way, not an anger-inducing one) had been trying to get us to convert all of a sudden stopped. So, at the very least we got across the point that we are devout and loyal Catholics.

Anyway, I think conversing with them, respectfully, can be a beneficial thing, provided you're prepared some and know a little bit what you're getting into.

[AnneLine]

I had a gentleman who was LDS try to convert me a number of years ago.... insisted on getting me my own copy of the Book of Mormon with MY NAME printed on it.  I asked a friend who had converted out what she thought, and her comment was, well... I am sure you are EVERY thing he is looking for in a wife... except that you will be going to hell.  So... he has a double reason for trying to convert an AnneLine!   And he was a nice guy, too, but when I made it clear I intended to stay Catholic, he also kind of disappeared.

 

As far as the JWs, they in some ways can be more irritating, and I will keep the 'disfellowshiped' idea as a back up.

 

We had THREE congregations of them meeting in a Kingdom Hall (i.e. church) next door to our apartment in our previous dwelling.  (and a noisy and drug-infested dive bar on the OTHER side across a 30' street.  Made for an interesting neighborhood....)

 

Anyway, we had them assembling literally morning, noon and night below our bedroom windows.  And we could hear their music coming through our bedroom wall.  (Note to self... the Catholics do not have ALL the bad contemporary music... not by a LONG shot!).   And they would ring the doorbell... all 3 congregations.  I wish I had THOUGHT to use the disfellowshiped idea!

 

I will tell you a funny story, however....   they got all hot-and-bothered because I would decorate for Christmas and wear a sweatshirt with PENGUINS in CHRISTMAS ATTIRE during the Christmas season.   Really used to upset one lady, who would rant at me about that.  

 

Welll... when it came time to take down my sad and dying Christmas tree (at the needle-shedding stage), I used a tip from my mother and would drop the thing out the big picture window in the front of the apartment right down where the trash collectors could scoop it up.  Works really well, by the way.....  Anyway, I had taken off all the ornaments and lights, and I looked down the 10 foot drop to the ground, and there was no one there, so I put the tree out the window and PLOP dropped it.  What I had not anticipated was the Christmas Attire Hating Lady coming around the corner just after I let it go.  It missed her (thank God) by about 3 inches, but it truly did startle her and she looked up at me with this look of pure horror and amazement -- I think she thought I did it delilberately.  I apologized profusely, and told her I was just prepping it for the trash, but I could tell she didn't believe me.   And I am sure they were all sharing stories of the VILE KILLER CHRISTMAS TREE that morning.   

 

But, it was very effective... they no longer rang MY doorbell.....   ;)

[SilentJoy]

This seems to work:

 

A young man and woman came to the door one morning to offer some Watchtower magazines. I had slept in because I was sick that day, and I came to the door in jammies and a bathrobe, thinking a family member had locked themselves out of the house and wanted back in (we live out in the woods off of a two-track private road and almost never have visitors). I hadn't brushed my teeth or hair. When they found out I was sick, they apologized, handed me the magazines with a promise to come back, and left.

 

They returned two weeks later. I was out in the yard, washing my old pickup, wearing paint-spattered capris and an exercise-shirt that showed my aweshum Catholic tattoo (which would never happen in public, and normally wouldn't even happen in private). I had recently gotten my hair cut WAY too short; I'd thought a pixie-cut would be cute, but it just made me look like an escaped prisoner with mange. Otherwise, I hadn't shaved.

 

The girl stayed in the car. The boy asked if I had read the magazines. I said, "I did, but I'm Catholic. I really like being Catholic."

 

They never came back.

[Norseman82]

For JWs, invite them to the parish blood drive. 

 

I will defer to Rich (SoCalGuy) for tips on the Mormons, since he once lived in Utah.