[Closed] Doorstep God Botherers.

I could comment on that mcboo, but as a catholic, I'm already on extremely thin ice 😉

Friend of mine gets rudely awakened before 12 noon on a Sunday, some time ago now, by a couple of Jehovah's Witness who open the conversation with,
'Do you know how the world was created'
He basically gave them Stephen Hawkins ' A brief history of time' ad verbatim and then asked them if they had any questions (which they hadn't) and he then went back to dealing with a stinking hangover.........
I don't think they've called since, do you go on a beyond help list?

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaa

wombat - Member

We're all individuals

I'm not

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careful mitch, its dangerous to have sex on thin ice, your bottom might get stuck like harry's tongue in dumb and dumber, or the ice might break and, well i dont know if you've ever seen an episode of 999-lifesavers but it doesnt look fun 😯

Mmmm creaky...

like your old man hips 😛

Uh-oh. Better get a chastity belt or something. Or a mask of CallMeDave; that'll stop things stone dead. 😀

But seriously, I wish religious people would stop judging me. They wonder why I get annoyed when they're basically telling me (in [i]such[/i] a nice way note, Elf) that I am evil and will burn forever for loving someone. And they are knocking on *my* door! In my book that makes them very nasty people indeed, regardless of whether they have faux 'good intentions'.

Surely there is absolutely nothing wrong with two people of the same sex who love each other? Wasn't the whole point of that Jesus chap about love and not hate? I bet if he turned up he would live in some form of lesbian commune or something and not in a nice middle-class family. 😀

This isn't a polite disagreement - people have had to lose their lives over stuff like this, just so people like me can be treated as a human being, and usually the ones who want to hurt me are religious.

Although you cant see me phil, I'm waving my fist at the screen now. Well, I'm waving something at the screen.

I like sex a lot more than I used to like going to church.

Frankie Boyle-esque joke fighting not to escape...

I bet if he turned up he would live in some form of lesbian commune

Ah, the old 'gay best friend' trick eh?

I've seen too many crap american comedy shows to not spot that one 🙂

Friend of mine gets rudely awakened

Last ones that came here dragged me out of bed at sparrowfart on Sunday. Opened the door bleary-eyed to be met by three besatchelled JWs.

"Good morning sir," they opened, "tell me, what do you think is the cause of the problems in the world today?"

"Lack of sleep on a Sunday morning." *click*

Given that I was half-asleep, I was quite proud of that one.

Ah, the old 'gay best friend' trick eh?

Dagnabit, caught again! 😀

Wasn't the whole point of that Jesus chap about love and not hate?

We should all love one another (within clearly defined parameters).

Don't you fall foul of the Commandments there, Adam, for coveting thy neighbour's ass? (-:

Hasn't happened to me yet, but I doubt I'd want to bother. I'd probably just say "There is no god and when you're dead, you're dead". And shut the door.

Don't you fall foul of the Commandments there, Adam, for coveting thy neighbour's ass? (-:

Depends on how cute it is. Current infatuations include Ryan Reynolds as he's as fit as a very fit thing in Green Lantern and Ben Browder 😛 Someone like Bernard Manning, (if he were alive I hasten to add) would not be flavour of the month.

Don't you fall foul of the Commandments there, Adam, for coveting thy neighbour's ass? (-:

does his neighbour have a particularly fine looking donkey?

No but he has bum cheeks of tungsten and NO piles. At all.

Children should be encouraged to think for themselves, enquire, ask questions, have fun and learn. They dont need this hocus pocus telling them that from day one they are guilty sinners who will be punished.

When I was young my parents sent me to what they thought was a Church of England after school club. It was actually run by an evangelist church, and my dad was furious when he found out. I used to cry myself to sleep when I was very young, terrified that I was going to hell because I loved my family more than I loved their god and Jesus.

I eventually came to the conclusion when I was about nine or ten that according to the Bible their god was pretty unpleasant and it all seemed a bit far-fetched. Got told off by a few teachers for saying that I didn't believe in god, and refusing to pray in assembly.

Still, if they ever come to the door, I'm polite in sending them on their way. Politeness costs nowt - they're not going to change their mind, and they're not going to change mine.

Surely there is absolutely nothing wrong with two people of the same sex who love each other? Wasn't the whole point of that Jesus chap about love and not hate? I bet if he turned up he would live in some form of lesbian commune or something and not in a nice middle-class family.

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"Still, if they ever come to the door, I'm polite in sending them on their way. Politeness costs nowt - they're not going to change their mind, and they're not going to change mine."
i wouldnt be too sure about that, im an ex jw, and i changed my mind after my best friend from school (not a jw) told me what he really thought of the cult i had been brainwashed by.
it was a real eye opener for me, i had no idea most people felt like that about jws.

Have we frightened off our evangelist?

Quote: PhilAmon - Member

[i]"Sorry guys bare with me"[/i]

Interesting......

My standard response is to open the door with a smile "Sorry, I don't transact any business on the doorstep" and close the door.

I do not get visits from JW's - the local head honcho lives at the bottom of the Close, I have asked him to ensure we don't get visited - and we don't anymore.

Can we hurry up with the rumpy pumpy question, I'm pretty certain gf is going to want some hot bedroom action this weekend, and I need to know where I stand.

Never had the god squad come round to my house, but I've got some questions to ask now. 😀

I [i]think[/i] you might be ok, Emsz, depending on denomination:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_homosexuality

Let us know if you're struck by lightning or something.

Knock knock

Me: I'm on your list

Them: Look of surprise...'oh I'm sorry to have bothered you, our mistake'

Me: Byebye now 🙂

I don't like being rude, so when they realise I've asked to be put on their 'do not pester' list, they apologise to me and leave pronto 🙂 Except the last guy, who said they just like to double check that you haven't been enlightened in the meantime, but I was polite to him anyway as he works at the sorting office delivery counter and recognises me so I don't need to show ID to collect parcels 🙂

Hi Emsz

Not sure on the lady front as I think the guy stuff seems to be more frowned upon. Obviously religion is male oriented.

The answer I got was very political, I am afraid. I got the feeling that Phil's pager had gone off to keep on message. I am obviously damned due to loving someone. I hope I can take some marshmallows and potatoes in case I get peckish.

Perhaps you will be ok. Go on, take a chance! I will stock up on taters for you and your gf just in case.

[url= http://www.channel4.com/programmes/absolutely/4od#2921960 ]... and then I'll tell you how your life can be better if you got a suzuki 350[/url]

Calum Gilhooley, first sketch in, priceless. Unfortunately not on youtube, just 4OD.

If you get bothered by JW just say you are disowned they will never visit you again

I'm most upset, I don't even get to have a chat with them. I open the door, put on on my happy to see people face and they usually sort of look at their shoes for a few seconds, give me a " oh dear god, this one has fallen way to far to save" look and then make their excuses and leave. 😥

Poor Tazzy. 😥

D'you want a nice song to cheer you up?

Had a couple of run-ins with the JW's over the years, one that sticks in my mind was as i was going to the pub one night and two very demurely-dressed young ladies came up to me. Now, bearing in mind this was Rochdale town centre on a summers evening they stood out a mile and i thought "Gotta be yanks" and they were, American JW missionaries.
They asked if i'de ever heard of the Church of Latter Day Saints, i replied "The Mormons? Oh yes i've heard of you, y'know, always thought it was spelt with one too many M's".... Queue two puzzled looks! 🙄
They then asked what i knew about their church and i said " Well, i heard about your founder setting up the church after recieving 8 more commandments from God on solid gold tablets" and they said yes, so i replied "Now, i understand there are 8 empty spaces on the high altar in Salt Lake City for them but no-one knows where they are - that suggests that either Mr Smith was telling porkies or you've a thief on your books..."

They walked away.

I'm a bad person it seems!

Jesus Christ, I'm not reading all that shit.

My Grandad was a proper ordained godbotherer, had a collar and all that stuff. When the JW's turned up at his house he'd gaily invite them in and then spend the next few hours trying to convert [i]them[/i]... god bless the crazy old fool.

I'm sorry I've not read the entire thread but we get various pairs of visitors occasionally and to be honest I'd rather a knock from them than the likes of Talk Talk or Eon or whoever. Without fail they are polite and pleasant and when I say "I really won't read it" when they try to hand me the booklet they don't take offense or walk off or say something rude/pushy, and generally we then just have a nice chat and pass the time of day.
Where's the problem?

I have lots of religious friends from various denominations - I and they are happy to chat about their beliefs and my lack of. It is a respect thing, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not going to slag them off for having conflicting beliefs to mine - they are all still lovely people, regardless of whay they believe in.
And at the moment, when my o/h is going through some very scary health problems, when a friend say "I'll pray for you" I don't say "Thanks but no thanks" - I tell them that's nice of them and whatever good vibes they send our way are much appreciated.
I really don't see the need to be rude to people who come knocking.

That said, I would be interested to know the bottom line on girl on girl action. Just out of interest, you understand...

Surely there is absolutely nothing wrong with two people of the same sex who love each other?

FWIW most folks that I know in church don't think that there is anything wrong with it but adding the caveat that most folks that I know are also a bit older and struggle as much with the biases that they grew up with as with the bias of the church.

As I understand there are basically three views that the western Christian church takes:

1. It is specifically prohibited in the Bible therefore is wrong full stop.
2. It is specifically prohibited etc. but in becoming a Christian (whatever that means) you will stop being homosexual
3. It may be specifically prohibited but there are lots of things that we have to reinterpret in a modern context ( http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/) and this is one of them. If it seems unreasonable to you that a loving God wouldn't accept a loving relationship of either kind then it will seem equally unreasonable to most church goers so that is something that has to be understood. This is a change that is happening albeit slower than elsewhere in society.

Unfortunately the folks in groups 1 and 2 are the most vocal and the ones you hear about. Group 3 includes most caring church goers and even Rowan Williams, now the archbishop, was promoting that view in major newspapers before he became archbishop.

I realise that there is lots of stuff there for folks to chomp on now but I just wanted to put forward the point that the vocal view isn't always the majority view and it is painful to see friends struggling with their sexuality partly because of the church they grew up in 🙁

Can we have summary please?

Extra marks for it as a haiku

Although they appear to be traditionally figures of fun, and sent to allow us to take the piss, all the 'doorstep godbotherers' are actually people too, with feelings, with hopes, desires, preferences, likes and dislikes.

I met a young man, just a little older than my son who looked like he had simply had enough, standing on the corner of my street. He was a long way from home, and you could tell. You lose nothing, nothing at all by being polite, pleasant and friendly to people like him.

Just saying...

Nicely put, Crikey.

They wonder why I get annoyed when they're basically telling me (in such a nice way note, Elf) that I am evil and will burn forever for loving someone.

Yeah I see yer point, and that's not something that would happen to me, so I haddunt actually thought about it.

I do know Christians who are perfectly happy for folk to be whatever sexuality they are, and welcome all people equally. I think religion has to change to this way of thinking if it is to survive really. I try to consider just why homosexuality would be considered 'sinful', and I spose maybe in times when life expectancy was low, wars killed many men, etc, that there would be more pressure for people to be heterosexual in order to perpetuate society, but we're no longer living in such times. If in fact we ever truly did. I dunno. I do try to understand why religious requirements and rules are the way they are, and consider rational explanations.

Fr'example; pork is Haram is Islam. Now, back in the times when the faith was being formed, maybe it just weren't healthy to cultivate pigs in such an environment as people lived in. Maybe the meat just weren't good to eat. Definitely a logical explanation to that one though. And I can understand the alcohol thing; definitely not a good idea in a hot climate, and it was seen as something that clouds the mind and detracts from worship. And sober people are probbly calmer and easier to control.

I am a great disappointment to me father. I'm sorry, I just like eating bacon sarnies and having a beer! I know, I'm an abject failure (hangs head in shame)...

I definitely coon't be Jewish. No shellfish you see. And I absolutely [i]love[/i] prawns (in fact just eaten some).

Religion simply has to change, [i]evolve[/i] even, to accommodate how we've adapted and changed, if it is to survive at all.

I might not have much time for others' beliefs, but I've always got time for other [i]people[/i].

Elfin, the pork and shellfish thing most probably came up because of the climate the religions evolved in (hah!).
Shellfish goes off in minutes in hot weather and pork isn't far behind.
Hard to tell hungry people "Don't eat that, it'll make you ill", far easier to say "God forbids you to eat that".

Although they appear to be traditionally figures of fun, and sent to allow us to take the piss, all the 'doorstep godbotherers' are actually people too, with feelings, with hopes, desires, preferences, likes and dislikes.

Agreed, bearing in mind: so do I. I have "[i]feelings, with hopes, desires, preferences, likes and dislikes[/i]" and have absolutely no problem with them living their lives and being happy. They seem to have a problem with others like me though. 😕

I'd rather they not be upset. Easy done: don't come and knock on my door with your prejudices. Come and have a chat and not blanche when I ask if my husband can join in. 😀

Elfin, the pork and shellfish thing most probably came up because of the climate the religions evolved in

Erm, that's sort of what I sed....

I have "feelings, with hopes, desires, preferences, likes and dislikes" and have absolutely no problem with them living their lives and being happy. They seem to have a problem with others like me though.

It's a very good point. You have no desire to upset or offend them, and by the same token, they should have equal respect for you.

But only through dialogue can people gain understanding of others. That there are increasing numbers of people of all sorts of religions accepting that people should be free and equal in terms of their individual sexuality, shows that religion does in fact have the capacity to evolve, and it's up to it's members to bring about further change and adaptation.

There's a Lesbian bishop in Sweden. I'd say as long as Emsz and Mrs Emsz have something from IKEA, they should be ok. 😀

I fully agree Adam, I just don't accept that its okay to be unpleasant to these people because they believe different stuff.
Homophobic people need to learn that their fears are misplaced, and I (from a chubby northern straight perspective) think that the best way to do that is to show friendliness and respect and just straightforward general good peopleness to them.

I appreciate I'm simplifying things, but I think its hard to go wrong by being pleasant.

They seem to have a problem with others like me though.

Homophobic people need to learn that their fears are misplaced, and I (from a chubby northern straight perspective) think that the best way to do that is to show friendliness and respect and just straightforward general good peopleness to them.

nothing will counter this....

I think that's a very disappointing view. I choose to think that change is possible, and that the way that change begins is at a personal level. Person to person is the best way to address exactly this kind of thing, and begin to change peoples views.

Plant the seeds of doubt, challenge the ideas, open peoples minds instead of closing them.
Give them biscuits too.

Give them biscuits too

they'd love these

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or if it's a warm day

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that's sure to get a good response from the homophobes.