| Three Day Discussion with Jehovah Witness [message #1968] |
Mon, 14 January 2013 16:24 |
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rdwhitaker
Messages: 118
Registered: December 2012
Location: Vancouver, Washington
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Senior Member |
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While knocking on doors, we were answered by a woman in her mid 50's or so. She smiled when she saw us and said (in English) "Hello, Elders, Come on in!" We were a little taken back by her welcome, but ventured forth anyway.
It turned out she was a full-time, professional, paid missionary for the Jehovah Witnesses. She had been working in that job for 22 years. She spoke at least five languages and had worked in many different countries. She was a very nice woman and did not throw the usual weapons of argument at us that we were used to getting from them.
She assured us that we would not be able to change her beliefs, and she was also pretty sure she would not change ours. We all agreed to that. Then I got the idea to ask her if we could have a 'belief exchange' with her.
I proposed that we set up an appointment with her, and we would be all ears while she gave us her very best pitch as to why Jehovah Witnesses got it right and why we should listen to what they teach. We would not interrupt or argue against anything she said, but we could ask questions for further information or insights about her message. Then, we would follow that with another appointment where she would similarly listen to us explain why our message was 'the one' she should listen to and consider, without interruption or argument from her. Finally, we would have another visit where we compared notes on both of our previous discussions.
Things went exactly as we proposed. It turns out those three visits were some of the most pleasant ones I had on my mission. There was no spirit of contention, or trying to disprove the other, or anything like that. We shared some pretty good laughs talking about our various tricks of the trade we use when arguing with members of each other's faiths. She admitted many Jehovah Witnesses are not intellectually honest, and will argue anything to prove their points, even when they know their arguments are false. We shared with her one of our 'tricks' we used against them where the Spanish translation in their own set of scriptures concluded something that we thought was very funny. It was all done in good a good spirit.
After it was all done, we had new appreciation for each other. I can't say we converted her, but we did make a pretty good friend in her so it helped spread some good will. I also went away with some very good philosophical reasons as to why Jehovah Witnesses have missed the mark at the very core of their beliefs.
Ryan
Don't . . . Quit . . . Trying!!
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