Post by hellyp on Apr 16, 2007 9:22:20 GMT
I searched the forums for the previous Jehova's Witness thread which I'm pretty sure existed, but was unable to find it. I probably didn't search correctly. 
Anyway, this is a bit of a rambling thread really. I unwittingly answered the door to the Jehova's Witnesses yesterday. Last time they called, when I opened the front door, they pushed their young daughter forward (she must have been about 10), and made her try and open a discussion with me. I am afraid that I didn't think this was in the least bit fair, seeing as she is a minor, and probably didn't have much of a say in whether she actually did this or not, so I told them I wasn't interested and shut the door on them.
Anyway, this time, it was a different family, a man in his 50s and a teenage boy, and it was the man who came up with the inventive line of 'Hello, have you ever thought about the Kingdom that God has made for us, and what it might be like?' So I thought he was fair game.
I replied that I had considered the possibility of a Heaven, but that based on the evidence available, I did not believe that it existed. He was extremely shocked - I've no idea why - and then told me that he had once been 'like me'; he had believed in evolution, but then one day, apparently, he suddenly became convinced of the existence of God due to the following things:
1) Humans see in colour.
2) We have an inbuilt instinct to survive.
3) We have a desire for our children to survive.
4) We feel love.
He then spread his arms wide to indicate the lovely birds, trees, etc, and said 'you just have to look around you and you can see it'. I'm afraid he lost me here. I wanted to ask him why these things proved to him the existence of God. However, he had moved on.
He then began to explain to me that in the Bible, Jesus had said that we were to look out for certain things happening in the world, which would mean that the Last Day was coming. Apparently Jesus said that if wars at different places on the Earth begin to affect everyone, and not just the people directly involved in the wars, this was a sign that he was on his way. The man thought that this was indeed happening, that we are all more aware of the planet, and what is happening in it, and so the Last Day was bound to come 'very soon'. He claimed that when it does come, God will make us all immortal and we will live happily together on the Earth. I asked him how there would be room for us all to live for eternity on the Earth, to which his reply was 'Well, I'm sure the Lord has thought of this, and will make it all right for us'. Well, that's that cleared up.
I tried to impress upon him that although he saw the Bible as the word of God, and therefore thought that it contained the absolute truth of the world, it did not help discussion between us, because I did not accept this as a starting point for legitimate debate.
He explained that he was not trying to convert me, but simply to warn me of what was coming so that I could prepare myself. Then, of course, he gave me a copy of The Watchtower, and asked me if he could come back next week so that I could ask him any questions I might have. Now I have invited a Jehova's Witness to come back to my house once before, to answer more of my questions, but unfortunately, she failed to materialise, although she did push a note through the letterbox explaining that she had peritinitis. I was left wondering if she had received invasive medical treatment, or whether she was alive due to some miracle. She never did return, and I put this down to some of the possibly offensive questions that I had asked her on her first visit.
So anyway, this man is coming back next weekend, and I intend to have several questions ready for him. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received. The challenge to myself is to try and make a deeply religious individual think differently about the world, and see things from another's point of view, if only for a short while. Anyway, thanks for indulging me in this long-winded post.
Anyway, this is a bit of a rambling thread really. I unwittingly answered the door to the Jehova's Witnesses yesterday. Last time they called, when I opened the front door, they pushed their young daughter forward (she must have been about 10), and made her try and open a discussion with me. I am afraid that I didn't think this was in the least bit fair, seeing as she is a minor, and probably didn't have much of a say in whether she actually did this or not, so I told them I wasn't interested and shut the door on them.
Anyway, this time, it was a different family, a man in his 50s and a teenage boy, and it was the man who came up with the inventive line of 'Hello, have you ever thought about the Kingdom that God has made for us, and what it might be like?' So I thought he was fair game.
I replied that I had considered the possibility of a Heaven, but that based on the evidence available, I did not believe that it existed. He was extremely shocked - I've no idea why - and then told me that he had once been 'like me'; he had believed in evolution, but then one day, apparently, he suddenly became convinced of the existence of God due to the following things:
1) Humans see in colour.
2) We have an inbuilt instinct to survive.
3) We have a desire for our children to survive.
4) We feel love.
He then spread his arms wide to indicate the lovely birds, trees, etc, and said 'you just have to look around you and you can see it'. I'm afraid he lost me here. I wanted to ask him why these things proved to him the existence of God. However, he had moved on.
He then began to explain to me that in the Bible, Jesus had said that we were to look out for certain things happening in the world, which would mean that the Last Day was coming. Apparently Jesus said that if wars at different places on the Earth begin to affect everyone, and not just the people directly involved in the wars, this was a sign that he was on his way. The man thought that this was indeed happening, that we are all more aware of the planet, and what is happening in it, and so the Last Day was bound to come 'very soon'. He claimed that when it does come, God will make us all immortal and we will live happily together on the Earth. I asked him how there would be room for us all to live for eternity on the Earth, to which his reply was 'Well, I'm sure the Lord has thought of this, and will make it all right for us'. Well, that's that cleared up.
I tried to impress upon him that although he saw the Bible as the word of God, and therefore thought that it contained the absolute truth of the world, it did not help discussion between us, because I did not accept this as a starting point for legitimate debate.
He explained that he was not trying to convert me, but simply to warn me of what was coming so that I could prepare myself. Then, of course, he gave me a copy of The Watchtower, and asked me if he could come back next week so that I could ask him any questions I might have. Now I have invited a Jehova's Witness to come back to my house once before, to answer more of my questions, but unfortunately, she failed to materialise, although she did push a note through the letterbox explaining that she had peritinitis. I was left wondering if she had received invasive medical treatment, or whether she was alive due to some miracle. She never did return, and I put this down to some of the possibly offensive questions that I had asked her on her first visit.
So anyway, this man is coming back next weekend, and I intend to have several questions ready for him. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received. The challenge to myself is to try and make a deeply religious individual think differently about the world, and see things from another's point of view, if only for a short while. Anyway, thanks for indulging me in this long-winded post.
