Oh man, I remember only about a year ago, I had this really weird experience.
My hall had a really big territory. Central Seattle, hundreds of thousands of people. It took us like eight months or more to get through the territory cards, and there were still certain "fringe" areas that didn't get worked. So we had this drive to get it all done by recruiting people from other congregations to come up and help out.
So one Saturday morning I show up for service, and we've got probably 20, 25 people from outlying areas. It's a pretty big group - in fact, they outnumber the local Witnesses. Obviously, they don't know the lay of the land, the conductor assigns at least one local Witness to each car group. I get assigned to work with a husband-wife-daughter combination.
I'd like to start this paragraph with, "They seemed harmless enough," but they really didn't. I had a bad feeling the moment I laid eyes on them. I don't know if it's possible for someone to look harsh and judgemental, but somehow, these guys did. Even the nine-year-old kid. She looked like she could bust a really snappy retort on any child who dared defy her. So feeling slightly sick, I hopped in their van, and we headed for some territory.
Central Seattle is a territory with a very diverse population. We've got our gays and straights. We've got rich and poor. We've got Jews and Christians. Black and white. You name it, we've got it. So you learn early on not to be quite so critical of people out in service. For Witnesses, Central Seattle people are about as easy-going as they come. These country bumpkins that I was working with, however, were another story. These were people who would respond with looks of pure mortification if they met a gay person at the door. I knew the morning was going to be a long one.
True to expectations, I found myself cringing every time I had to suffer through a presentation delivered by one of the bumpkins. I'll never forget the first door at which the brother made it all the way through his presentation. We were offering a WT whose cover article was "What has happened to HELL?" The article was about how sermons regarding fiery punishment had been toned down in recent years, and hell was viewed more as separation from god than a place of literal torment. The conversation went something like this:
Brother Bumpkin introduces himself. Householder nods patiently.
Brother Bumpkin: You know, when we were growing up in the truth...
SeattleNiceGuy shoots Bumpkin a startled look - did he just say, "in the truth"?
Brother Bumpkin: ...they used to tell us, be good, or else you're going to burn in hell.
SeattleNiceGuy's jaw drops as he says mentally, What the hell are you talking about?
Brother Bumpkin: But these days, no one seems to care about hell much anymore. What do you think?
SeattleNiceGuy thinks: Are you insane?
Householder: Um...you know, I'm not really interested. (starts to close the door)
SeattleNiceGuy: (interjecting) But it's cool! Because according to the Bible, hell is not a place of torment! So it's all good. (Yes, I really said "it's all good.")
Brother Bumpkin: (loudly, after door has shut) Well! Some people just don't want to know the truth, huh?
SeattleNiceGuy: (mentally) You are truly a moron.
That was one of the worst experiences I've had recently. I remember puzzling over it for some time afterward. Was this guy an imposter Witness, some apostate trying to create a bad name for Witnesses? Could anyone really be that idiotic? Alas, he was legit. And the beat goes on.
SNG