Me and the Jehova's Witnesses...
Apr. 24th, 2004 04:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
silversolitaireLOL! I just had the pleasure of chatting with two Jehova's Witnesses at our door. I've been waiting for this opportunity for years! There haven't been any here for years since mom scared them off last time. They rang at the door while I was busy viewing "The Maltese Falcon" taking notes for my film noir class. Dad came in and asked me if I wanted to "chew on some Jehova's witnesses". I couldn't pass up on that opportunity, of course!
Anyhow, there were two, a young man and a much younger woman, about my age. He asked mom about whether the world was slowly being destroyed by humanity. He asked her since she's taking care of her garden so nicely, wouldn't she kick out wild boards that came into her garden, tearing it up? Mom replied a bit lamely.
Anyhow, I took over the conversation soon and pointed out that God promised not to do anything like that again, like a deluge for example. "Yes, but that's only the deluge," he replied. "So, there will be other catastrophes then?" We agreed that there will be. I said the world has a way of sorting things out itself and I doubt God is involved. That earned me a frown. The young man read a bunch of Bible quotes out to me, Paul telling about great wars, evil people, mistrust and lies and he asked me if I thought the world was like that now. I said that the world always was like that and it's for people to counterbalance evilness in this world. And that people always tend to perceive things to be worse than they were 10 years ago. He nodded and moved on to a different subject.
He read some more Bible quotes out to me, about great wars coming up before the end of the world. He said we already had two great wars in the past century and this is a clear indicator for the approaching end. I said there have always been wars, it's only now with the increased media coverage and mass communication that people are a lot more involved, adding to that the increased power of fire arms and other weaponry. He nodded and changed the subject.
He leafed around in his Bible for a while, choosing different parts before changing his mind. Then he read out to me the part from The Revelation about Michael fighting a battle in heaven, casting out Satan and his minions. And he said Michael, that is Lord Jesus, has successfully fought a battle in heaven and cleared out all evil. But he has cast it on earth and now we have to fight this evil and soon there will be a battle raging on earth and we're all doomed. They believe it started 100 years ago. I said "First off, why is Michael Jesus? Last time I checked Michael was an arch angel, pretty much like Gabriel who has announced Jesus' birth, so I somehow have my troubles believing Michael equals Jesus, especially since we have other lore regarding the arch angels that is dated far ahead of the New Testament such as the Gnosis, as well as Jewish and Islamic lore. Not to mention that Michael himself is mentioned in the OT several times, including, but not limited to Daniel 10 and 12. Secondly, Satan is mentioned in the Bible many times, for example when he's unsuccessfully trying to tempt Jesus thrice before his crucifixion. You say Michael-slash-Jesus kicked out "Satan", a hundred years ago, but Jesus was born two THOUSAND years ago and had a nice encounter with Satan, thus most likely realizing that Satan is a bad guy, so why even let him go back to heaven for 1.900 years instead of just keeping him out?" That earned me another frown and the reply that to answer this would take much more time than we have now and he'd gladly discuss this with me some other time.
So, he pointed out once more that we're all going to die and the earth is going to end soon. I asked, flatout, "Well, what's your solution then? What do you expect me, and everyone else to do, other than trying to be good human beings, helping others and trying to ease suffering of others when we encounter it? He cleared his throat, handed me a copy of The Watchtower and told me I'll find all the answers there and his colleague will pay me a visit some other time. He wished me a pleasant day and left together with the girl.
Well, that was certainly... uninformative O.o;. I shall arm myself with more direct quotes and information for the next time they show up... *cracks knuckles*
Anyhow, there were two, a young man and a much younger woman, about my age. He asked mom about whether the world was slowly being destroyed by humanity. He asked her since she's taking care of her garden so nicely, wouldn't she kick out wild boards that came into her garden, tearing it up? Mom replied a bit lamely.
Anyhow, I took over the conversation soon and pointed out that God promised not to do anything like that again, like a deluge for example. "Yes, but that's only the deluge," he replied. "So, there will be other catastrophes then?" We agreed that there will be. I said the world has a way of sorting things out itself and I doubt God is involved. That earned me a frown. The young man read a bunch of Bible quotes out to me, Paul telling about great wars, evil people, mistrust and lies and he asked me if I thought the world was like that now. I said that the world always was like that and it's for people to counterbalance evilness in this world. And that people always tend to perceive things to be worse than they were 10 years ago. He nodded and moved on to a different subject.
He read some more Bible quotes out to me, about great wars coming up before the end of the world. He said we already had two great wars in the past century and this is a clear indicator for the approaching end. I said there have always been wars, it's only now with the increased media coverage and mass communication that people are a lot more involved, adding to that the increased power of fire arms and other weaponry. He nodded and changed the subject.
He leafed around in his Bible for a while, choosing different parts before changing his mind. Then he read out to me the part from The Revelation about Michael fighting a battle in heaven, casting out Satan and his minions. And he said Michael, that is Lord Jesus, has successfully fought a battle in heaven and cleared out all evil. But he has cast it on earth and now we have to fight this evil and soon there will be a battle raging on earth and we're all doomed. They believe it started 100 years ago. I said "First off, why is Michael Jesus? Last time I checked Michael was an arch angel, pretty much like Gabriel who has announced Jesus' birth, so I somehow have my troubles believing Michael equals Jesus, especially since we have other lore regarding the arch angels that is dated far ahead of the New Testament such as the Gnosis, as well as Jewish and Islamic lore. Not to mention that Michael himself is mentioned in the OT several times, including, but not limited to Daniel 10 and 12. Secondly, Satan is mentioned in the Bible many times, for example when he's unsuccessfully trying to tempt Jesus thrice before his crucifixion. You say Michael-slash-Jesus kicked out "Satan", a hundred years ago, but Jesus was born two THOUSAND years ago and had a nice encounter with Satan, thus most likely realizing that Satan is a bad guy, so why even let him go back to heaven for 1.900 years instead of just keeping him out?" That earned me another frown and the reply that to answer this would take much more time than we have now and he'd gladly discuss this with me some other time.
So, he pointed out once more that we're all going to die and the earth is going to end soon. I asked, flatout, "Well, what's your solution then? What do you expect me, and everyone else to do, other than trying to be good human beings, helping others and trying to ease suffering of others when we encounter it? He cleared his throat, handed me a copy of The Watchtower and told me I'll find all the answers there and his colleague will pay me a visit some other time. He wished me a pleasant day and left together with the girl.
Well, that was certainly... uninformative O.o;. I shall arm myself with more direct quotes and information for the next time they show up... *cracks knuckles*
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-24 08:22 am (UTC)Bah, I'm never that good in answering directly. So I told him that they were never here, which was basically true.
You have to love them .. in a morbid kinda way ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-04-24 08:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-24 09:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-24 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-24 10:40 pm (UTC)Witness Nothing Happening
Date: 2004-04-27 02:35 am (UTC)At no point did I believe their view.
They study the Bible fanatically. They truly believe that their views are the only correct views. Personally, I think they're wacked. The mother of the family I stayed with talked her daughter out of using a truly massive scholarship to go to a major university, since "the world as we know it will be ending in two years anyway, and the Kingdom of God will be upon us." They are trying to sell their house and land to be better prepared. Their daughter is going to hate them when four or five years have come and gone and nothing has happened, but her scholarship opportunity has expired...
They believed that the world as we know it was going to end in 1927 or something like that. I don't remember the exact year. The event was to be precipitated by the arrival of the original disciples of Christ in Central California, after they rose from the dead, of course. A rather large and palatial estate was prepared for them. They never arrived...
They regard the American flag as a Satanic relic. They literally believe that the United Nations is lead by Satan. They believe that if you have certain objects in your house, like Harry Potter books or pictures of unicorns or modern art, then you are opening your home to literal demon possession. The father of the family offered me a beer one day. I politely informed him that I do not drink. He chastised me for being too conservative. It was extremely difficult not to laugh.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-30 04:46 pm (UTC)