Cards as a deterrent

[Thoughtful]

l get the JW very rarely here, when l do l find them very polite. After they realise l am not interested they just give me their Watchtower leaflet and off they go.

Though once some years back when l lived in a different area, they seemed to come on a regular basis. l told them l had my own beliefs and that l was a spiritualist medium. Their faces were a picture l thought they were going to drop on the spot. Didn't do much good as they went into overdrive but l managed to deflect them.

As the saying goes all roads lead to Rome and all faiths hopefully lead to God if practised in the right spirit.

 

[SunsetKay]

I have a sign posted on my door with gardening and music trivia. On that sign I advise all solicitors that they can ring my bell and speak to me to their heart's content if and ONLY if they can answer four of the questions... Or they're selling Girl Scout Cookies. Works for me.

 

[jolie_amethyst]

ETA they do have those "no solicitors" signs, which maybe the religious visitors would respect? Then again maybe not.

Nope. Sometime back, a good friend who was JW told me they are taught to disregard those signs as they are not selling anything...therefore, they aren't soliciting. I'd bet the LDS missionaries are the same. Currently, I point to the sign, say "Thanks, we're not interested," and shut the door. I'll ask the next drop ins of either religion about the "no visits" list.

That said, the JWs in general that I've known have been good people, and many of their beliefs aren't as far off from mainstream Christianity as most people think. I studied with that friend for a while and found some of it thought provoking. In the end I decided I still wasn't comfortable with any organized religion, and there were things within theirs (as with all others) that just made no sense to me. We still went camping together and remained friends until we lost touch when we both moved from that neighborhood.

As for the phone, anyone calling on the land line IS a solicitor at this point. People who have an actual need to speak to me have the cell number; the landline is for cellular outages and other emergencies. As such, I turned the ringer off completely. They can speak to the answering machine. Funny how they never do! Solicitors on the cell line get trapped in my call blocking setup, which gives them an infinite busy signal.

 

[Achlys]

I've never had a positive experience with them in all honesty. We caught a group of Jehovah kids vandalizing our house and even if we were nice to them, they were rude as anything to us.
They finally left us alone when we hung a picture of baphomet on our front door.
I guess at that point they figured we were beyond saving.

 

[Debra]

They finally left us alone when we hung a picture of baphomet on our front door.

Hahaha now that's a thought!

 

[scorpiogirl]

You could do better than that...tell them you are an Atheist!
I've done that once before. The look on their faces was priceless!!!

 

[Chiska]

A gentle reminder that the purpose of this forum is spiritual discussion and exploration . Effective strategies for dealing with unwanted proselytizing are okay, but do be mindful that this does not cross into bashing.

Milfoil's suggestion to contact the local Kingdom Hall is excellent. Also, one may contact the local ward leadership of the Mormon church and request that no one visit.

I have always found that a polite, but firm, "thank you for stopping by, but I am not interested" works well.

Chiska
Moderator

 

[danieljuk]

I once tried this by saying I was Pagan and have different beliefs to them and they starting lecturing me about "we all love nature in the end"

You can contact the JW's locally and ask them to put you on a list to not disturb but I think they just ignore it completely (well they do here!).

A gay married couple who I am friends with, were lectured and abused at the door by JW's and by the door they now keep printed out leaflets made by them which talk about kindness and they don't support bigotry. They hand them to all religious door visitors! I think that is fair to say "no thanks" and this is the reason why, *give them a print out*.

The best way of all, is to tell them you are an apostate! Scientologists and JW's are not allowed to associate with people who have renounced their former religion or have been thrown out! if you say this, they will leave very quickly! I am not sure if this applies to LDS as well. Don't say "I am an apostate" though lol! say Well I used to be an JW but .....

I think it's wrong to invade someone's life / personal space with their religion but I also think it's wrong to be abusive, sneaky or embarrass them at the door. They are not always nice either though but we should be respectful and say please leave me alone!

 

[gregory]

A gay married couple who I am friends with, were lectured and abused at the door by JW's and by the door they now keep printed out leaflets made by them which talk about kindness and they don't support bigotry. They hand them to all religious door visitors! I think that is fair to say "no thanks" and this is the reason why, *give them a print out*.

I think it's wrong to invade someone's life / personal space with their religion but I also think it's wrong to be abusive, sneaky or embarrass them at the door. They are not always nice either though but we should be respectful and say please leave me alone!

Well - this. Very much this. I have never had them be offensive, so I just ask them to leave - now that we are past the days of "Kids - your new colouring books are here" or my 4 y/o who listened intently to the bit about we can all live harmoniously (I agree, actually), and took her thumb out of her mouth to say "That's stupid, the lion would eat the lamb" and wandered off - they left of their own accord !

Many here are JUST as aggressive about pushing their tarot beliefs on others, after all.

 

[Thoughtful]

or my 4 y/o who listened intently to the bit about we can all live harmoniously (I agree, actually), and took her thumb out of her mouth to say "That's stupid, the lion would eat the lamb" and wandered off - they left of their own accord !

Priceless!!! don't you just love them