Aggressive evangelization
Kasia July 20th, 2007
I used to think it was aggressive for the Jehovah’s Witnesses to come knock on your door. And it is. But I never knew they sat in cars in the CVS parking lot and accosted you on your way to your car…
I think what irked me most about the experience was exactly what has irked me about other Jehovah’s Witnesses in the past: that their style of argumentation is such that it’s almost impossible to respond coherently, and it doesn’t matter if you do because they’ll just respond with a non sequiter anyway.
This is more or less how the conversation went:
JW: Excuse me, ma’am, but I just want to show you this tract about life after death…so many people I know don’t know what the truth is…
ME: Oh…(flipping through to confirm that she’s a JW rather than a LDS, then handing it back) Thanks, but I’m actually Catholic. (reaching for my door handle at this point)
JW: Oh, I was Catholic for so many years, but there have been so many changes in the Church…first they changed the Mass, then they accepted homosexuality, then they started talking about wanting married priests, and then the pedophile thing…
ME: (a little confounded because as she raised each point I was preparing my response, but they were so disjointed – I mean, the Mass change deserves an answer about the authority of the Church and how the Eucharist has remained the same, but the Church’s teaching on homosexuality merits an answer going back to the Catechism; and the Church herself has not talked about wanting married priests, but rather a small proportion of her members; and the priest abuse scandal is a whole discussion in and of itself) Well, but I think if you look at what the Church has actually TAUGHT…
JW: Oh, but why didn’t they teach me that God has a personal name? I was baptized, confirmed, and all along they never taught me that God has a personal name – look at Psalm 83 (she cited a verse, but I don’t remember it offhand)!
ME: (getting very uncomfortable and just wanting to get to work, for which I was already late but I reeeeally wanted some caffeine so I stopped at CVS) Yes, well, but the Bible says that Christ founded His Church on the rock that is Peter, so I’m trusting the Church. (opening car door at this point and getting in)
JW: And that’s true, but why didn’t they teach us that God has a personal name? All those years, why didn’t they teach us that? They didn’t teach me that; they didn’t teach yout that. (Care to explain to me how your not having noticed Psalm 83 in all your years as a Catholic means that the Church is not teaching truth, or how you can justify being a Jehovah’s Witness if you do believe that Christ founded the Church on the rock that is Peter?)
ME: (smiling and preparing to close the door) I wasn’t raised Catholic; I chose it as an adult. (close door, drive away)
Seriously. I’m happy to discuss each of the points she raised, but standing in a CVS parking lot with a verbal bait-and-switcher doesn’t ring my chimes. Especially not when I’m late to work.
Wonder if she saw me driving across the street to the Cathedral?
I’ve heard this referred to as buckshot apologetics. You throw out a bunch of unrelated items at once and hope one of them hits. If you had stopped to consider even one of her points that’s what she would have pursued. It can be effective against someone who doesn’t know their faith, but to someone who does it comes across as disjointed and scattered.
The last time I was caught in an ambush like that, I ended up doing the same thing you did. In fact, it was in a parking lot too, at Lakeside Mall. Anyway, they tried doing the same thing, throwing out a bunch of things, cutting me off mid-sentence when I started to respond. After the second cut-off, I put up my hand and stopped them. I said something along the lines of, “I’ve got a few minutes, and I’m more than willing to discuss these issues, but this isn’t how a conversation works. You talk and I listen, then I talk and you listen. You bring up one point at a time, and I’ll respond. Back and forth like this… If you’re not going to do that, I’m getting in my car and leaving.” He came back saying, yeah but… and rattled off a dozen things. So I shrugged and walked away while he was still talking.
I felt the same way. I was more than willing to talk about it, but that’s not talking about it. I can’t understand how they find that effective evangelization.
Some of the more faithful readers might know that, as a young Catholic growing up in southwestern Ontario, I wasn’t steeped in all aspects of The Church, but one thing that I was taught (and remembered!!) was that God DOES have a name – GOD (and several others, in fact).
(I have to say that it was EXTREMELY difficult to resist the temptation to make some sort of humourous comment (such as, “I was always taught that God has a name – Randolph”).)
The verse probably quoted is Ps. 83 verse 18.
I was told by a sister, that God had a name, but we don’t voice it; at most we aspire it (YHWY)
Scripture tells us that when Moses asked God what His name was, God answered “I AM WHAT I AM, Tell them I AM sent you.”
There is a great difference between not knowing God’s name and not using it.
The only time gods need nomination is when they need to be differentiated between other gods, as in the Greek, Roman, or Egytion pantheons. god Zeus, god Jupiter, god Ra, to differentiate them between some other god, god Hephaetas(sp?), god Vulcan, god Osiris.
As there is no doubt to which Triune God I am praying, invoking His name is not necessary.
From wikipedia on YHWH found here (scroll down)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_that_I_am
Catholic Church interpretation:
The Catholic Church’s interpretation has been summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a product of twenty centuries of theology and teaching since the establishment of the Church in the early first century AD, and adapted from the Catechism of the 16th century Council of Trent. The interpretation is found in numbers 203-213.
Some of the salient points are the following:
“203 God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person’s essence and identity and the meaning of this person’s life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one’s name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.
“206 In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH (”I AM HE WHO IS”, “I AM WHO AM” or “I AM WHO I AM”), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is – infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the “hidden God”, his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men. A better description of what God is, would be the 99 names of God
“207 God, who reveals his name as “I AM”, reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.
[edit] “A God merciful and gracious”
“210 After Israel’s sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses’ prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love. When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name ‘the LORD’ [YHWH].” Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, “YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God.
“211 The divine name, “I Am” or “He Is”, expresses God’s faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men’s sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps “steadfast love for thousands”… By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that “I AM”.”
“212 In God “there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
“213 The revelation of the ineffable name “I AM WHO AM” contains then the truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church’s Tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is. ”
end quotation—-
I admit that when I get hit with the rapid-fire comments, I don’t respond except with questions:
Why do you think that God made so many people and less than 100,000 are going to Heaven?
Why do you say “Jehovah” and other people say “Yahweh”?
Who do you think that Jesus was, really?
What do you think of John chapter 4, verse 2? (I never quote it; I just ask that when people throw Scripture at me.)
Oh, I should mention that I pray for them, too. One of my high school friends and her family moved cross-country to leave the JW, only to get involved with a “cult of personality” Christian church run by a very persuasive minister.
I think a lot of the rapid-fire “evangelism” is done to prove to the other people from the Kingdom Hall that they’re doing their best. Most of the JW women I’ve met have literally been shaking with nervousness. They have a lot of pressure on them, and they’ve memorized a lot of things they’re supposed to say. I remember in particular a woman laughing in relief when a librarian said that she was welcome to put the Watchtower in with the free publications rack near the door.
There is a Middle Eastern (including Judaism) concept in which to use a person’s name is to imply some ontrol over that person (which is why God has Adam name the animals in Genesis 2:19-20). To name God, in the Middle Eastern mind, is the highest form of hubris which is why a Hassidic Jew will never pronounce YHWH, but will substitute the word “El” (Lord) or some variant. In fact, if you read a scholarly translation of the Bible (like the New Revised Standard or the New Jerusalem you will see places in the text in which they use Yahweh and others where they use Lord because the Hebrew authors were struggling with this concept.
Personally I have found “hey You!” and “You know who You are!” work very well too.
Try having a few Catholic tracts to hand over to the JW. Say nothing and smile and hand one over to him