DangerousTalk

Last weekend two young Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my door. While most people would probably slam the door in their faces, I was happy to engage them in conversation.

These two young women were probably college aged and they were happy to talk about their religion. When they asked if they could talk to me about Jesus, I said enthusiastically, “absolutely, I have been waiting for you guys.” They handed me a copy of the Watch Tower and I asked them if they had always been Jehovah’s Witnesses or if they converted to it from some other belief system. Both girls told me that they had “always believed in ‘the Truth.’” One of them then added that they have also learned about other religions though. They are “encouraged to do so” she told me.

So next, I asked them what they enjoy most about being a Jehovah’s Witness. The lead girl responded by saying that she really loves the lifestyle. She told me that while it isn’t a law or anything, the Church encourages that they don’t smoke, drink, do drugs, or get tattoos. They are encouraged to keep their bodies pure. I told them that I respected that since I don’t do those things either, but I have nothing against people who do. “So you believe more in the lifestyle than the actual religion itself,” I asked. She told me that she believed in both.

It was at this point that an older Jehovah’s Witness saw that I was engaging these two younger women in conversation and came over to see what was going on. She was probably concerned for their welfare considering that most people would have slammed the door in their faces and here I was talking to them. I am sure it became clear to this woman that I was not threatening at all and we were having a very polite and friendly conversation.

I started to address my questions to the older woman now. I asked her why she believed. She told me that she believed in the Bible because it had been handed down unchanged for 2000 years. I quickly informed her that wasn’t true. I told her that the Bible has changed quite a lot since 2000 years ago and pretty much gave her a quick summery of Bart Ehrman’s book, “Misquoting Jesus.”

I turned to the younger women and told them in a pretty enthusiastic tone that the great parable in which Jesus says “let he who is without sin cast the first stone” wasn’t added to the Bible for hundreds of years later probably by some Catholic Priest.

The older woman didn’t dispute my claim. In fact, I think she actually knew it was true. So she quickly changed the topic to faith. She said that I can put my faith in science if I like, but that she puts her faith in “the Lord.” At this point it was pretty clear to both of us that we weren’t going to convince each other. Now we were playing for an audience. She seemed pretty worried that this conversation might de-convert the two younger women.

She then took out her Bible and started to work out her exit strategy. “Before we go, I want to leave you with this one verse,” she said. I turned to the younger women and told them that I don’t have faith in science. Science is testable. I then got very enthusiastic and told them about a recent study in which scientists were able to uses magnetism to alter people’s morality. I went on to say that lots of people think that morality comes from the soul and yet here is this experiment, which shows that it is all in the brain. “Isn’t that fascinating,” I added. The older woman mumbled that she thought it was scary. I agreed and then repeated that it was also fascinating and tells us a lot about human morality.

The older woman finally came up with another exit strategy. She asked if she could take down my name and the best time to visit again stating that they have to “share the message” with more people. I gave her the information, but she didn’t seem to be writing it down. The lead younger girl said that she enjoyed the conversation and that she liked my name. To me this means that she will remember this conversation and talk about it with her friends. The seeds of doubt have been planted.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have let them go so easily. I should have commented on how most people aren’t interested in their message and will probably be hostile toward them and/or slam the door in their faces. Their time might be better spent talking to me. I am open to their message if they can provide adequate evidence. I’m sure the older woman would have hated that. But the younger women seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. They likely have never really had their beliefs challenged before and I wasn’t been hostile or confrontational. We were just having a conversation and an interesting one at that. I do hope they will come back, but I don’t think they will.

Filed under: conversation, Jehovah's Witness, Preaching, Religion