Hi there. To try to make this brief, I have never been a JW but my long time friend is a witness. A few years ago she was extremely persistent with "sharing" her info and magazines with me. I would listen with an open mind but in return asked that she answered some of my questions regarding her beliefs. She would get extremely defensive and agitated and wouldn't speak to me for sometime. Let me add that we have never argued about anything since childhood UNTIL she became a witness. Up until a couple of years ago, we no longer bring up our beliefs to each other, it was kind of an unspoken agreement. Well I have noticed that since then, I have been having so many other witnesses knocking on my door at least every other week. Today I had the same two witnesses that came to my home a few weeks ago. The young man said "I don't know if you remember me..." so they both knew they had been here prior.

I have a couple of questions...first, do the witnesses have a log of where they are told to go by the society or do they choose were to witness on their own? Second, are the witnesses told to write down what the homeowner has said to them and do they have to report this back to the society? I am trying to figure out if the society is sending them here or if my friend is sending these people here.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it.

It seems to me that the most likely thing happening in your case is that your friend expressed to someone you might be interested. Or it could be something as simple as you were not overtly rude or you did not express an active disinterest in what they have to offer. While JW's do keep field service notes they mostly just note houses which seem friendly or open to literature or discussion.
My mother is currently a pioneer and while I could ask what they do nowdays that would just open a door I try to keep tightly closed. There are other folks here who have more modern answers than I.

Tucker

But again it is the absurd and its contradictory life that teaches us. For the mistake is thinking that quantity of experience depends on circumstances of our life when it depends soley on us.

Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus, translated by J. O'Brien, copyright 1955 by Alfred A. Knopf

Thanks Tucker. That does seem to be what has happened. My view is that I don't want to be rude to them or slam the door because it will just confirm what is being taught to them.

I understand you not wanting to "open that door" with your mother. With my friend I opened that door but tried to help her to see the truth and I think she became nervous when I started planting a seed of doubt in her mind. I would say, "sure we can study together....but let's start from the begining of the Bible and the Bible only." If she was persistent with jumping around the Bible or with using her 'study aids' I would ask her to point to the scriptures that say this is acceptible by God.

Thanks again for responding.

You should know that witnessing to a JW is like adding oil to a fire, if you want a bigger fire than by all means add the oil but if you wish to put it out then don't. You should also know that your idea of using only the bible will be at odds with which bible you intend to use, remember the JW's have their own bible and they do not really accept other translations or transliterations. What you are headed into is a war of doctrine and doxology. Bearing that in mind it should be remembered just how many schisms have occurred in the Christian church since the very beginning, which is why Christianity is considered to be the leading religion in competing creeds and that old and new hetrodoxies are ever evolving among protestant churches.

Tucker

But again it is the absurd and its contradictory life that teaches us. For the mistake is thinking that quantity of experience depends on circumstances of our life when it depends soley on us.

Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus, translated by J. O'Brien, copyright 1955 by Alfred A. Knopf

I probably should have added more. I no longer study with my friend. As of a couple of years ago, she has kind of put a barrier up and has distanced herself more from me.
The reason I am questioning why I have witnesses coming to my home is because I had recently received a phone call from my friend's sister who is NOT a JW. She explained to me that she has been studying with a JW and that she began to question some of the things they were studying. By the way, I do now believe that she sent someone to visit her sister also. Her sister called me because she knew that I had been reading about the history of the JWs and knew that I had tried to get her sister to open her eyes to their teachings. Ironically, after I spoke with her sister I began having more and more witnesses coming to my home.

As for the Bible issue (and it was a very big issue), I asked her to read with me and that we would compare each translation. Like I said, it didn't last long before she began to distance herself.

So it isn't that I have added fuel to the fire, although I do see your point here.

Your friend has a blindfold on and they are walking towards the edge of a cliff and she has others tied to her....don't you yell out and try to grab your friend?

"Your friend has a blindfold on and they are walking towards the edge of a cliff and she has others tied to her....don't you yell out and try to grab your friend?"

I am absolutely sure you meant the above statement and are truly concerned for your friend, and to be honest if I had a friend who decided to study with the JW's I would certainly want them to sit down and get an objective appraisal. Now while I can certainly hold my own in most any debate on the subject of christianity and its attendant hetrodoxies and varied creeds what I can not do is offer some trancendant ultimate with an absolutist promise of Truth. This is something that the JW's and almost every other fundamentalist sect promises. If a person is scared or tired and this big world is too complex and difficult ro bear the lure of absolutes becomes... well, alluring. So my question is, is your friend really walking toward a cliff or merely walking away? I am not a proponent of any religious idiology and so I can not and will not judge another persons faith or need for it, what I would suggest is that one day your friend will wake up and realize she was sold a load of self serving do-do and then she will need a friend.

Tucker

But again it is the absurd and its contradictory life that teaches us. For the mistake is thinking that quantity of experience depends on circumstances of our life when it depends soley on us.

Albert Camus: The Myth of Sisyphus, translated by J. O'Brien, copyright 1955 by Alfred A. Knopf

<<With my friend I opened that door but tried to help her to see the truth
I am curious, what is "the truth" that you want your friend to see?

<<and I think she became nervous
She absolutely became nervous if you told her something that contradicted the watchtower society.

<<when I started planting a seed of doubt in her mind.
I doubt that you did that. JWs are indoctrinated to immediately dismiss anything from their mind that comes from the "not we".

<<I would say, "sure we can study together....but let's start from the <<begining of the Bible and the Bible only."

There are very few JWs who could conduct a study like that. JWs by and large do NOT know the Bible. They know the Watchtower books. Personally, I would accept an offer from someone to conduct a Bible study that way when I was a JW, but most JWs couldn't conduct a study that way if they wanted to, which they won't want to because it is not following the "God's Holy Spirit directed organization's" arrangement.

Each congregation of JW's is assigned to work an area. There is a elder responsible for making sure it all gets worked, the goal is every six months. Small maps of the whole area are kept on file and given to individual witnesses who are responsible for making sure that section gets covered. They keep general records of where they've been and people who were not at home or showed some interest so they can call back.

Unless it's changed since I left (1988) the only records that are kept are hours worked, literature left, return visits (call backs on interested people) and when the assignment was completed.

In your case it could be a couple of things - your friend is sending them to talk to you, or you said something that led them to think you might be interested (in some places and with some JW's that might be as simple as not screaming at them to &^%$ off and leave you alone.)

Thanks Jeff. That is interesting. I often wondered how they go about doing this. To know there are maps to be covered brings the 'eerie factor' up a few knotches.

Are you saying that the elders keep these general records of the contacts or does the witness themselves keep them?

I am quite certain now that my friend is sending others here.

Thanks again Jeff.

There's no formal reporting back to anyone in particular. Everyone is responsible for following up on the "interest" that is shown.

So, even if you didn't accept literature from them, maybe you raised a question, or engaged in a conversation that they might interpret as interest in their message. They're making a "return visit" on you.

Hmmm. I see. Thanks Roxi.

<<To know there are maps to be covered brings the 'eerie factor' up a few <<knotches.

Be glad that they use maps otherwise you would have different JWs coming to your house every other day. Think about it, otherwise how would they know who had been on what street and when? There is nothing eerie about it. Just a way to organize what is to them a very important God directed work.

you live near the Kingdom Hall. You would be a time starter every day!

I simply want to add the field service overseer usually makes a mental note of any special interested ones and may assign someone to make calls. They usually don't keep written records unless you are considered a formal Bible study and in that case a brief record of your name, address and publications studied is kept.
You may be considered a "special" interest because of your association with your friend.

My guess is that your friend made that arrangement herself with the field service overseer to have someone call on you.

The reason you may have different ones calling on you is because they will try to find the witness that is the most effective with their calls on you.
The person calling on you will usually jot down what was discussed with you, what was placed and how you reacted and will get advice on how to proceed if necessary.

As a JW I've gone through this whole process a number of times.

Thanks Ben. It is quite clear now that she had these people visit me numerous times. It's apparent that I need to handle these visits differently. I am going to make up inserts of my own to hand out when they come to my door. I still feel like I have to "witness" the truth to them.

Thanks so much for explaining this.

I have to somewhat disagree with some of the responses here. I'm not, nor have ever been a jw but have seen the records my jw keeps about field service. They certainly do write down what you say and report back. They also write down if you accepted any literature from them and what you seemed interested in. An example is if you believe the world is going to hell in a hand basket or in jw speak, the evil system of things and how terrible the world has become. I have seen the reports that also list if someone threatens to call the police they write in large letters 'WILL CALL POLICE' next to your address.

My advice to you would be to put up a sign, 'no visits by jehovah witnesses please' and never accept their literature it only encourages them. They keep track of all their time they spend talking to you and must report back on hours spent knocking on doors, they must also report how many pieces of literature they 'place'.

You hubby is keeping records mostly for his own use when he calls back on those <strike>hapless victims</strike> sheeplike ones. He wants to remember what they talked about so he can continue the conversation.

My notes were rather extensive, and I had a notebook (I was a pioneer, doncha know). I kept my records up to date and made sure I knew what we had discussed, and planned what I might bring up next time. Also kept old magazines with topics that might interest them.

So, records are as organized and detailed as the person keeping them wants them to be. There isn't an official repository of details about people, although they do keep a DO NOT CALL list on the back of territory cards (even though they might claim there is no such thing).

you might want to make them very informal, maybe a few bullet points that you can look at and casually say that you took some notes so that you can discuss them. They are extremely wary of other literature. If you make it look too professional or too formal, the literature will scare them and they won't take it. If they do take it, as soon as they leave you, they will immediately throw it away without reading it.
~Stella

Sorry, but they won't read any tracts you give them. And as Tucker mentioned earlier it's very hard to witness to JWs unless you understand how they interpret the scriptures....even then it's a tough task. I take it you mean you want to tell them about Jesus, right? Is that what you mean by wanting to teach them the truth? They will reply that they believe in Jesus. What then? Are you prepared to battle debates on why the Bible says people will live forever on the earth? Are you ready to debate the meaning of the New Jerusalem or Israel of God? How about the trinity when they produce verse after verse poniting out the Father and Son relationship? They're VERY prepared to debate this stuff, are you? I don't mean to discourage your willingness to share the gospel you accept, it's just a lot different I'm sure than however you received it. Don't think you're gonna show 'em a few scriptures on 'Jesus saves' and think they'll convert and leave the Watchtower. They need your prayers but they also need some very prepared scriptural debates, ready for it?

*"Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about Him being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity*

They have recently received "new light" about one of their predictions being wrong. They were convinced that the armeggeddon would happen before the generation died out who saw the events of 1914 (WWI). When those folks did die out, they had to change their prediction. Every time that failed predictions have happened in the past, they change their reasoning on the bible and key scriptions. However, they have to accompany these changes with a heightened fervor that the end is still very, very near. They have to douse their members with intensified emotions ranging from compassion to fear. This is generally done through the assemblies where they meet in large numbers for several days at a time. They have to do this because if the changes in prediction were not fraught with emotion, then common sense would rule and their members would fall away. What does all of this have to do with the numerous visits you have been receiving? Your friend is motivated, as well as by other emotions, guilt. In order to free herself of this guilt for not being able to reach you and bring you in, she has enlisted the help of some of the other brothers and sisters. Add to that the urgency that is being taught that they only have a certain amount of time to witness to people and get them to believe the "truth", you get more visits and more attention. You have a bullseye on you because you haven't been stern in saying that you are not interested. Remember ultimately, these people are salespeople. They are selling the New System of Things. It is kind of like Mary Kay. A "No" means maybe and a "maybe" means Yes.
Another thing, they report their hours and keep track of what houses are being called upon, but they do not send in reports of the individual householder's comments or responses. They do discuss these comments and responses locally before field service. In other words, if you were on their list of houses to call on for a Saturday, then before they call on you, they have a very informal discussion about what was discussed at the prior visit so that they can strategize on the best approach to win you over.
I hope this helps.
~Stella

Hi, I hope this will help you understand what is going on. I don't think that your friend "sent" the JWs to your house.

The JWs call knocking on doors "field service" because they believe that they are doing as Jesus said when he talked about the harvest work. They believe that they are harvesting good hearted people out of the wicked system of things.

The first thing a JW does is to check out a "territory", this is just a map of a neighborhood, a few blocks usually, more in rural areas. They use territories to make sure that different JWs do not repeatedly go to the same houses.

How often a territory is worked, i.e. how often the JWs will go to any one house, depends on the ratio of JWs to residences in the area that their Kingdom Hall covers. In places where there are a great many JWs territories might get worked once a week or once every few weeks. In places where there are few JWs the territories get worked once every few months, or maybe once a year.

Before a JW can turn their territory back in and get a new territory they have to attest to the fact that they called at every residence in their territory at least once. If they knock on a door and no one is home, they write that down and come back at a different day and time in an attempt to find someone at home. After three or four tries and no one is home, they will consider that they did their best and won't try again. The next person to get the territory won't get those notes and will start the cycle over again.

If the same JWs came back to your house with "do you remember us, we were here a few days/weeks ago...." that just means that you were nice to them and they think that you are an interested person. Interested in the good news of God's Kingdom, which is what they think they are doing when they come to sell their magazines. The rank and file JWs have been told that the magazine sales work is "spreading the good news of God's Kingdom" and anyone who shows interest (is nice to them) is thought to be a potential "sheep".

So, I am guessing you either accepted their literature, or asked some non-threatening questions, or were just all around nice. What they did was write down your address and the fact that you were interested, maybe they wrote down in very general terms what you talked about. They did NOT send this information to the WTBTS or to your friend.

They don't keep the kind of records where they would report specifics about their discussions with you unless they had been back three times and considered that you wanted a Bible Study. Then they start keeping records about the Bible Study that they do send to the WTBTS. This is not some evil plot, it is basic information. Who conducts the study, what publication is used, how long the study has been conducted, your name. I don't think they put down your address or any personal information. That form has not changed in a very long time. The purpose of it is so the WTBTS can know how many Bible Studies a congregation is conducting. This is considered to be an indication of the health of the congregation. Also, if the JWs conducting the study dropped it for some reason, say they moved away, the elders would call on the person to try to keep the Bible Study going.

There is no big plot, you were just nice to them, so they think you are interested in their message. You can keep being nice to them or you can tell them that you know they think that you are an interested person and they might be able to start a study with you but you don't want a study, if you want them to stop coming around.

Personally, I will talk to anyone who comes to my door. The Mormons come sometimes. I even let them "study" with me a few times. The Baptists come sometimes and invite me to church. I think I even went once. If a JW comes by I am nice to them. I do ask them questions that I know will fry their noodle. They usually don't come back until someone new gets the territory I live in.

I remember filling out a monthly Bible study report and the form asked for the address, which I always provided.
You also jotted down the publication studied and how many times the study was conducted that month.
This was about 10 years ago, unless they've changed the form since then.

I just read all the posts in this thread. You can rest assured that there is no insidious plot against you. The rank and file JW honestly believes that she is doing God's work and saving good hearted people out of Satan's system of things so that they can live in Jehovah's new system of things, by knocking on doors and giving away magazines but then asking for a "voluntary" contribution.

If you want to reason with them, you can try that. It won't do any good. They have the "truth" and nothing you say will sway them from that belief. Don't give them a hand out, that will scare them. They won't read it anyway because it is "Satan's work".

If they are really bothering you then ask them politely not to come back. They can put you on a DO NOT CALL list if you really want them to.

Personally, I don't worry about them coming to my door. I am nice and let them think they are helping me. I do ask very thorny questions. I'm southern and talk with a really stilted southern accent and I live in new england so I can get away with that "aw shucks, I'm just a dumb good ole' boy" routine. Then lay an atomic bomb on them by asking a really deep question. LOL

Don't take this so seriously. Most JWs really are motivated by care about their "neighbor" otherwise they wouldn't be going out in the "door to door" work.

Sorry but if they were so harmless and as nice as you say, we wouldn't have so many people posting here with psychological issues imposed on them by the society. I don't have time to post any more right now, but reading your posts angered me.


~Stella

when I left what I did was make up some "No Jehovah's Witness" signs, just like the "no smoking" signs. I put "NO Jehovah's Witnesses" with a red circle around it and an / through the circle. It worked but then as I got stronger after leaving the witnesses now I like it if they stop because I ask them to show me in the Bible where Jesus shunned people who left the his way? We never can find one account of Jesus shunning anyone. LOL, they can't so they walk away. I've lived here for 8 years and they've come to my doorstep 3 times. Twice they threw pamphlets on the porch and once knocked on my door where I got them to try to find where Jesus shunned someone and they couldn't so they left and have never been back. LOL, LOL. It worked. I've not seen them in a long time. Although 3 times in 8 years isn't bad. I ripped up the literature and now if I go anywhere and see their literature, I tear them up quickly and make sure NOONE else gets ahold of them.

If you need a "no jw" sign, let me know and I'll send you one, email me and I'll get your address and be happy to send you one.

Best to you



One does not want one's past to become one's future - Elie Weisel

Quyrah

Yes, they're assigned territories for which they are responsible to cover and they turn in Field Service reports listing whether they left any literature, who was especialy open or rude, who is a DNC (do not call), a not at home etc...