Never Done: I answered the door for the Jehovah's Witnesses
I was working at my computer, when I saw two women come up to my front door. I knew who they were, so even though I knew they could see me inside, just like I could see them outside, I just kept typing. They rang the bell, and I kept typing. It's a reflex I have -- I don't answer the door for proselytizers. But then I realized -- this is one of those opportunities I need to take. So I got up from the computer, and I went to the door, and I stood face to face with two women and a pamphlet.
JESUS "TAKES AWAY the SIN of the WORLD"
How does he do so?
Why is this necessary?
How can you benefit?
WE INVITE YOU TO FIND OUT ON
SUNDAY,
APRIL 17, 2011
Me: Hello
Woman: We'd like to invite you to an event to celebrate our Passover. We are inviting everyone. Everyone is welcome.
Me: (internal) Wait, does she know I'm Jewish?
Me: (aloud) Thank you. Why are you inviting me?
Woman: Something about Jesus and why he died. (I zoned out a little there.)
Me: Oh, so you're proselytizing.
Woman: No, we don't proselytize. We just want to invite you to read our Bible.
Me: Why?
Woman: Something about the Book of Job, Satan, and what's so special about their Bible. And again, she mentioned that everyone is welcome, and everyone is invited, and everyone can find something useful in it.
Me: So you're Christians.
At this point, the woman in the back started to shake her head very, very slowly -- as if to tell the woman I was talking with to get out fast. But the woman I was talking with couldn't see her -- I could see her. So then I wondered if maybe she was shaking her head to me -- to tell me not to bother. But we both kept going. She said that yes, they were Christians, and I told her that I am not. And she said, "I know, you're Jewish."
My head was spinning. How did she know? What was going on? Do they know who everyone is? Is this always what it's like when you open the door for them? And then she pointed to the paper menorah that's been hanging in the window since Khanike.
And the woman in the back is shaking her head. And I'm wondering what it must be like for people when it's Prince at their door instead of anonymous Brooklyn women. And the woman in front is talking about how Jews are waiting for the Messiah, but Jesus talked with everyone, and they are like Jesus, talking with everyone. At this point, I sort of lost the point of why we were talking. Was I just there to have an argument with her? Was there a way to make a connection?
So I said, I'm all for talking with everyone. I just don't believe that it's respectful to try to convert people. And she said, "Jesus was a Jew. Can we agree on that?" And I said that yes, I could agree to that. (I refrained from mentioning that he is likely a literary invention.) And I asked them what kind of Christians they are, and they said they are Jehovah's Witnesses, which they had actually not yet said, even though I was pretty sure that's who they were. I told them I have some good friends who are Jehovah's Witnesses, and that I respect them for their strong moral code. Bot the women smiled, as if to say, "Yes! We have a strong moral code!" And then, because I apparently can't leave things alone, added, "But I still oppose proselytizing."
And that's when the women realized she really wasn't going to reach me, and while the woman in back told me to have a nice day, the woman in front asked me for the pamphlet back. Asked me for the pamphlet back? Seriously? I told her I wanted to keep it, that I had plans for it.
The whole conversation took somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, but I don't think we really communicated anything substantive to one another. Maybe the only substantive thing that happened was that I noticed that the whole point of putting a menorah in the window -- even if it's 4 months after Khanike, as opposed to the mantle or the kitchen table, is precisely so that people on the street will know that you are Jewish. So, in a way, it took the Jehovah's Witnesses coming to the door to remind me of one way that I am a good Jew.
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