trespass at your own risk--so sayeth the governing body

by wannaexit 21 Replies latest jw friends

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  wannaexit

  So another wonderful tract campaign will take place in November. Cities and towns will be inundated by a cheap bifold about the dead .

  BUT the dubs are warned--if there is a "no trespassing sign" on a property enter at your own risk. So says the letter from mother/gb that was read this week at the hall. It went on to say that the householder has a right to privacy and and is in his legal right to press charges not against the watchtower society but against the publisher himself. In other words big brother will not come to the aid of little brother. You are on your own publisher!!

  All I can say that this is a complete reversal of what was encourage in the past. --I don't know about the rest of you, but in my area, witnesses were instructed to disregard any sign the householder would put up because these signs never applied to God's people. So whether it was a "no solicitor", "no stranger", or "no trespassing" we were to forge on and bring the good news. And if you hesitated someone would label you as having fear of man and not trusting fully in jehovah.
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  blondie

  It is surprising that nothing is on my 2012 WT-CD. That must be why they have to read a BOE letter.
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  zeb

  ah yes Wanna, the fear of man. another form of soul bashing the wts has in its arsenal.
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  Bob_NC

  The WT is getting better lawyers all the time. Yep, back in the day we were to ignore any sign and any neighborhood petition against us coming into a neighborhood. Now it's roll out the literature carts in a public place.
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  rebel8

  All I can say that this is a complete reversal of what was encourage in the past. --I don't know about the rest of you, but in my area, witnesses were instructed to disregard any sign the householder would put up because these signs never applied to God's people.

  There was a publication in the Kingdumb Misery stating bros should follow trespassing laws.

  This is an excellent example of how they say different things out of different sides of their mouths. In actual practice the elders and other leaders would tell us to ignore locked apartment building doors and sneak in, and ignore all other signs and householder requests.

  Heck, I even wrote the wts a letter to express my dissatisfaction with a doctrine, and I stated quite clearly I do not want them on my property. I was living in their home state, where trespassing law was clear on the subject and had been discussed by them in letters to the BOE.

  And you know what the wts did in response to my letter? They sent 2 bros to visit me and answer it in person.

  I then sent a letter to the kh stating if anyone came to my property I would immediately place him under citizen's arrest for trespassing.

  I believe if you check the Reasoning book you will find a section claiming freedom of speech permits them to go door-to-door (which of course has nothing to do with trespassing).
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  Barrold Bonds

  yeah this is nothing new. I'd have to dig for it but it's been over a decade since they said all that.
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  Phizzy

  Thanks for posting dear Wanna, this may not be new to us old hands, but it will be to many who have not been a JW long, or who were born in and never listened much, like a lot of them.

  It is great I think, even more "doors" they cannot call on. Add in the ones which must be increasing on the Do Not Call list and they will soon be mainly doing Trolley Witlessing, not enough houses left !
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  smiddy

  Well i think I can go back at least 40 years ago , if their was a sign on the property that said no hawkers , we disregarded it we were not hawkers .

  If a sign on the property said no to anybody other than jehovahs witnesses then we ignored it , didnt apply to us.

  Thats how arrogant we were .

  smiddy
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  Zoos

  As a kid, in door-to-door service with mom, I saw a sign and asked, "What's 'soliciting'?"

  "That's for people who sell things like vacuum cleaners."

  "We're selling magazines." (At the time I think they were going for .10 each)

  "No son. We're placing magazines."

  "Ohh!" [grin]
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  wannaexit

  You are right Phizzy it appears that this caution was eliterated about 9 years ago. I did a quick search and there was a thread about. I think what struck me this time around is the tone the letter had. It was a" pointing the finger" type of letter no doubt carefully crafted by their lawyers. The sense was that "if you disregard any of these signs, we wont back you up and you may be sued----so there".

  I remember the sleuty ways we would get in apartment building as Rebel 8 mentioned. My poineer partner and I would wait around until someone would enter, then sneek in and start from the top floor. We would do a few doors and then go the the next floor . Eventually we would find some irate person that would call security and we would be kicked out. But then we would do it all again the next time.

  When I think about it now, I am so ashamed of some of the tactics that were used to infringe on others right to privacy.