by Honesty 22 Replies latest jw friends
Do the Jw's in your community have an overall good reputation?
Are they generally known for helping their neighbors in times of need?
Are they known as people who contribute and give back to the local community?
Do they speak up for righteousness' sake when the opportunity arises in public situations?
Or..... do they heap shame on the head of the God they claim to serve?
I don't think many JWs have good reputations anywhere. We have this local paper with this section called "Blow Off Your Steam" in it, and people write in to complain about things that are bothering them in the neighborhood. Seriously, a couple of times per year, people write in to complain about people coming to their door to preach to them and hand out "religious propaganda." They never mention the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" per se (or the editor takes it out) but we all know that's who they mean. There are hardly any Mormons here, and none have ever come to my door nor to the doors of anyone I know.
I have never heard of them doing a single thing for the community... the only time they make any kind of news at all is when they are in the real estate transactions for selling their Kingdom Halls to libraries, dentist offices, daycare centers. I would say no one has ever heard of them volunteering, donating a thing... they never hold any fundraisers, participate in any charity events, get involved with the community at all. I think we all know that's because they think they're doing everyone more of a favor by spending their time door-knocking. Anything else, to them, is a waste.
I also know that whenever people mention them, the blood issue almost always gets brought up... and people are downright disgusted by it.
Around here, there aren't many JWs at all, so most people don't even know that they exist.
I think that for most people around here, Witnesses are just the weird people who don't celebrate Christmas or birthdays and then go door-to-door to bug you at the most inopportune times to try and give you magazines and convince you to join them in their Christmas and birthday-free world.
Fortunately, I don't think their efforts work very often here. I haven't seen a JW going door-to-door in years.
-Becka :)
Oops... should have put this in my last post... but to answer the last part of the question, yes, they do heap shame on the God they claim to serve. Although they do not serve and worship the same God that Christians do, they sure make it seem that way... someone who doesn't know much about JWs would think that there are hardly any differences between the God of Christians and the God of JWs... the literature can sound just similar enough if you just give it a brief glance.
Satan has a field day with these people... he probably thinks "What better way to drag God's name through the mud than this?" The same with people like those of the Westboro "Baptist Church." You know, Fred Phelps and all those people that show up at the funerals of soldiers and the coal miners with signs saying "God Hates You" and "Coal Miners Burning In Hell!" and horrible stuff about gay people and people that died in 9/11 and everything. And then they claim to do it in the name of God... and then people assume that they are Christians... and then it makes Christianity look bad - when, really, these people are obviously not Christians at all! And real Christians don't feel that way at all... but it sure makes God and Christians look bad.
Although they do not serve and worship the same God that Christians do, they sure make it seem that way...
What an understatement!!!
When I found out who I had unknowingly served for years I cried because it was so shameful and disgusting.
No wonder the JW's don't have charities and do NOTHING at all to help their fellow man.
They're pretty much invisible here in Astoria. Never see them going door-to-door or involved in anything. I've noticed the KH is well kept but fewer and fewer cars in the lot at meeting times. Can't say as to why, just remember that five years ago there would be a dozen to twenty cars there, now maybe six to ten.
carm
No, they're just nobodies, not the shining light for all to see, just weirdos who sell jesus freak pamplets and don't do christmas.
This thread is making me smile.
So you say I moved as far away from the big cities as a man can on the eastern seaboard and, in the middle of a forest, I get called on more often than you lot! Nice JW couple even invited me to visit their home down the road (as nice as they are, I couldn't bring myself to do that or 'accept' the mags their little girl offered).
Few things give me flashbacks more than a kiddie offering me mags... very sad .. can't even make the kids day by handing over $5 without getting them excited and qualifying for a return visit.
When I lived in London I never got a knock, now I'm in the sticks two young women witnesses drop round about once every three months. They know I'm a spiritualist and ask questions that they can never answer but still they pop round and give me some mags, which I happily accept.
Around here people see them as odd bods and a fundamentalist christian sect, but just recently a lot of people have got nasty about them because a local school has cancelled this years nativity play and used the Dubs as an excuse. I personally don't blame the Dubs, because I'm sure it wasn't due to their request, but a lot of people are!
They are known as weirdos that let their children die rather than give them blood should the need ever arise. I think ppl realise that they are being ruled and directed by a destructive cult.
