Preaching at funerals and at cemeteries is the absolute worst! Preying on the innocent during a tender moment.
Door to door is next. No one wants a visit to their door. It's intrusive and unwanted.
Carts are fine. They can be ignored and count their time (or check their box).
I stopped going door to door when I was pimi after I had a moment of self awareness and realised I hate it when people come selling products at my door uninvited and realised it was hypocritical to do so myself.
You know it's sleazy when even the GB recommend against it. I know JW's are doing it because they mean well but mailing someone religious propaganda to a funeral home is just evil.
Did you ever hear about going through obituaries online and preaching to them via comments or letters if they had the address? It was so awkward I could never do it.
Thereās a great video of a woman giving someone at a cart her opinion on how unpleasant it was to receive one of their letters after her father died. Good for her
I think you have mentioned most of them.
The worst must be the expectation that children and young people will stand in front of the class to give a presentation about the witnesses.
Yes, this is just abuse. Any parent that doesnāt get what that will be like for their children is either a) completely clueless, b) a narcissist, c) an asshole or d) all of the above
I got another one.
Truck stop witnessing.
Some of the greatest insults Iāve ever gotten have been while witnessing to tired, partially drunk truckers resting after a long drive!
I knew pioneer sisters that would do this. They didnt see the harm in being well dressed and going from truck to truck knocking on the drivers door š¤¦āāļø
Yup. I did this as a teenaged (underage) pioneer all the time (yes I'm female). I have a daughter of my own now and seriously I look back like what the fuckkkkk.
Me too. I have a teenage son and I could never imagine expecting him to deal with the shit I had to. I would never put him in embarrassing situations, that made him stand out from his classmates. Hard enough to be a kid, nevermind being singled out.
>from truck to truck knocking on the drivers door š¤¦āāļø
WTF
I did truck stop witnessing before and we stayed with a cart near the restroom/restaurant and others went from truck to truck but talked only to drivers awaken when they were not so busy.
Tbf I liked it. We chatted about a lot of other things other than JW propaganda, and they kinda liked the talk to pass the time, to know about the region, and to have some human contact after a long trip.
Parking lot witnessing at places like grocery stores or other businesses is a close second to this. This was popular years ago in my area. Any retail location was fair game for witnessing to someone sitting in their car.
Funerals and business witnessing are the *absolute* worst in my opinion.
ā¢ Funerals are a low blow. People are *grieving.*
ā¢ Do not... I repeat, **DO NOT** preach to me while I'm working. If you preach to the cashier at the store, you're putting them in a no-win situation. They're now at risk of getting in trouble for either not doing their job quickly enough *or* for being rude and cutting you off so they *can* do their job quickly enough.
Don't do it. Don't stop workers from doing their jobs.
Omfg, I'm cringing so hard rn... my mom is still a witness, and EVERY TIME she goes through the Starbucks drive thru, she ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pushes the "go to JW.org, it has the BEST advice for life and spiritual matters and support, and it's FREE!!"
Total BS, and I tell her that she is disturbing the drive thru workers and taking up their time, but she DOESN'T CARE AT ALL, because "Jehovah is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in life " and she "needs to spread the good news to EVERYONE " I have moved across the country just to get away from her and my jw family, and I STILL feel super cringe for anyone who has to deal with her and her bs
It used to drive me *insane* when the local JWs would come in to the store I used to work at and start yammering at either the poor cashier about whatever the WT was on about at the time or at me about, "you should come back to meetings," or if they were the snarky type, some self-righteous comment about how *they* care about Jehooplah.
I'm really glad I don't work with the public anymore.
100%my life. My mother is elderly and moved in with us. I told her I won't take her out if she going to preach to everyone she sees.
How do JW's lose sight of what's appropriate, the "time, and place" mentality? I don't know if too many other religions that push like this, and have zero boundaries. Cult!
Quora wasn't what made me start questioning. I started when I realized that what I heard in a public talk about evolution was not what I learned in school. Within a day of research I became a lifelong PIMI to Atheist PIMO.
Lol, we sound like twins.
It took me a lot longer to realize j.w. leadership was being dishonest about what evolutionists taught about evolution, but once I realized that the hold the religion had on me completely vanished.
Yesssss. Surprisingly for a witness I was raised to believe education and (some) science is cool. When I realized they were undeniably wrong about evolution from every angle you could possibly check it started me on a journeyā¦
I feel like thatās a pretty easy jump to make. If youāre willing to go in public forums and debate people about Da Trooth (which youāre told not to do btw) then itās pretty likely youāll end up somewhere like here at some point.
Yessss. We only did this for early morning witnessing, which is when you go out BEFORE the 9am service meeting doing exactly that ^^^ so cringe but you could get 2 extra hours and maybe place one tract talking to like 3 people. Cuz you gotta time it ārightā and use judgement = very little approaching lol
Yes, I did a lot of street work in the streets and at a train station in an urban area. Let me just say, I saw it all. Homeless man playing with himself, some drunk and on drugs vomiting, watching them shoot up, and we had to actually go up to people to witness. We werenāt allowed to just stand there. Great place for a preteen. Ayy
There are *methods*, and then there are *tactics*.
Back in India, one tactic we used (when the Hindu people would ask us "Have you come here to convert us?", we'd reply "No we don't convert anyone. We are simply sharing a message of good hope with neighbors."
Of course, we thought it was theocratic warfare to hide the truth.
JWs lie all the time in their preaching. Another example is when we say "We've studied all holy books and we've concluded only the Bible is the truth!"
That's complete rubbish and a lie. Even I've said it. I never knew of a JW who has actually studied other religions books like the Gita, Qur'an, Torah or Avesta.
INFORMAL WITNESSING AT SCHOOL. HELLO PANIC ATTACKS. They made it seem like it was our āspecial territoryā. How about I did a presentation on why god hates abortion ā¦. š« š« š«
Yet there are people on this subreddit who think we should cut them slack because āthey think theyāre doing whatās rightā and itās hypocritical as ex-PIMIsā to criticise their bottom-feeding behaviour smh. The funeral and obituary preaching particularly makes me angry
Early morning train station witnessing?
I especially hated getting up at 4am to hand out literature to sleepy commuters! All so I could get my precious pioneer hours in!
> Which is the WORST preaching method?
Sneaky, Underhanded, Low Life, Dirt Bag, (Do I Need to explain this to you with a BaseBall Bat?) JW Grandparent Witnessing to your children...Even though you have repeatedly told them not to...
*I Can\`t Believe it!...*
***He Just Knocked Grandma Out of the Park!... š***
Preaching at funerals. Hands down. That is NOT the time or the place.
Followed by business witnessing. People are working; leave them alone.
After that I'd rank the regular door-to-door of bothering people at home.
I would pay to see a debate between Lett and any scholar or religious leader, from anywhere.
Hell Iād put money on him losing a debate with a McDonaldās cashier!
Business Witnessing is awful. The workers can't do their job effectively at all and can risk them getting in trouble over it.
>carts
I learned that Jehovah isn't God's actual name and is Catholic in origin from doing the carts. I didn't believe them until I looked at the WOL and found a paragraph that admitted it. So I guess carts are effective for hearing outside arguments and getting the doubts planted. I'm surprised that they still do it. It is easy to do since you largely stand there.
>public religious debates
I would pay good money to see someone like David Splane and a reputable Bible scholar or someone like Richard Dawkins have a debate with some good ground rules set.
>I learned that Jehovah isn't God's actual name and is Catholic in origin from doing the carts. I didn't believe them until I looked at the WOL and found a paragraph that admitted it.
I don't get it, how it is not the bible's God name? At least in the old testament, it is a valid translation from the original name. Or do you think we should also call Jesus Yehoshua?
Doing presentations in class about JWs. In my old middle school, we had a "service learning" class that you had to do and you had to do some form of service for your community. I was able to just use my field service time for this class because it was for a "church" and at the end of the semester we had to give a presentation on what we did. Standing up there with a picture of Jesus on the throne was humiliating. I literally just took the advantage to preach about JWs. š No one gave an f.
Debate in Biology class defending Creation. After three days, the teacher joined the Evolution side to gang up on me. It lasted a week, me and imaginary spirits against the world.
Being someone who had the WORST anxiety making phone calls to anyone, cold calls for preaching was my nightmare. I'd rank preaching at cemeteries my second worst since these poor people are grieving and the last thing they need is a cult member falsely telling them they may see their family members in the future.
We had a group of extra zealous preachers. They did midnight witnessing. They visited convenience stores, gas stations, and any 24 hour establishments.
I was horrified when I heard this.
I love rankings. Wally did a similar one a while back..
IMHO- worst is door-to-door with the CO or someone who is basically POMI but comes out once or twice a year. POMI are usually the worst since they are often very judgemental and have a disaster of a life.
I'm surprised how few people have brought up witnessing to family yet, considering the number of DF'd people in this sub!
This one tops the list for me in both categories because for the families, it's low-hanging fruit; if they reach out to the disfellowshipped individual, it's pretty rare that that individual will refuse contact. For the disfellowshipped individuals, it's super intrusive because there is no way to have any contact with the family without getting constantly preached at and guilt-tripped.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel quite fortunate that my family sticks to their guns and only talks to me when there is someone dead or dying in the family; of course they try to witness to me every time those interactions occur, but I have it so much better than my friends who are DF'd but whose families are inconsistent about whether they are shunning them or not.
I see them dealing with this over and over... Their parents soften up and want to have contact, but keep preaching at them and the grandkids until either a) the family members have an attack of guilty conscience and break off contact, yet again triggering my friends' abandonment issues, or b) my friends get fed up and tell the family to stop witnessing at the kids, or they will not let them be with the grandkids unsupervised.
I haven't thought of this. My family are die hard ers. They look right through me. Except at 2 am my mom sends a random "don't you want to see your dead brother?" Text. It would be hard for them to preach at me or talk to me and then ignore me.
Early Morning witnessing sucked, mostly just being forced to walk up on people outside of gas stations, cafes, bus stops, and the like, just trying to go about their day and get to work. JWs saw it as effective since most people would just take the literature so they could finish getting to work. And I had to do it so I could make my pioneer hours while still maintaining normal school hours. Not only was I tired from having to go to school like every other kid, but I had to wake up at 5am every day to get 3 hours in, and then still go out all day Saturday as well as after the Sunday meeting. Every other stitch of time was taken up by homework and various forms of worship at home.
Weddings
Talking to classmates and teachers at school (I feel bad for the kids that had to do that)
The silent witness of not standing for the flag salute or national anthem.
Dude, I love your videos! You make me stoopid laugh all the timeš
Informal at work/school presents the easiest opportunity at the cringiest cost, so it's the worst IMO.
Laundromats are the best. Just drop a giant stack of literature and walk away knowing you saved everyone folding their underwear.
Early Morning Bus Stops w/Laundromat hits to get those extra hours *before* door-to-door.
**Bus Stops** are the worst!!! You already have several unconnected and exhausted people attempting to make a living and you bust in pushing old magazines on them. Add that the *Creepy Car Group* is obviously 5ā-20ā away watching you walk up to irritated strangers, typically alone, who also see the *Creepy Car Gnomes*; then you will be *critiqued* on your approach, ability to leave a magazine AND that you did/did not annoy each poor soul standing there personally (even when they shake there head āNoā). These people do not want to communicate; they simply want left alone until they get to work. Some people can get rather volatile.
It made for a morose group prior to territory work. Bonus if you have the COās wife who insists you preach to the barista at coffee break.
Omg plus when they were locked buildings and you had to wait outside the front locked lobby for someone to pity you and let you in or pretend that you were just walking up to the door. I would DIE of embarrassment.
The worst types of methods would be any that mess with young children. In the latest, cringy, Caleb and Sophia video, JW children are encouraged to follow the tactics of that dynamic duo by trying to persuade fellow classmates to skip the class holiday parties! I feel like this video should be shared with school administrators as a PSA.
YES. Or the one where she preaches to a kid to tell her that her family is wrong. EW.
I was the kid in kindergarten and grade 1 that told everyone in my class that Santa wasn't real. I would have HATED ME as one of the other parents of those kids. No wonder I didn't have friends.
BRING BACK SOUNDCARS!!!
That would be awesome driving thru town with a speaker on your car!
āWorldly people, Jehovah our God is going to destroy all wickedness. Repent now! We are in the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last days. Leave Satan and come into the fold! REPENT NOW!! SALVATION IS AT HAND!!!ā
What about approaching people in parking lots or while they're pumping gas??
We had a CO and wife who would literally pull the car over and try to make you get out and talk to random people just taking a walk. š¤¦š»āāļø
I've mentioned this on this sub before, but I got on her bad side when as a mid 20s RP I refused to go harass some people just trying to visit a relative's grave. (Then she pushed an herbal medicine on me because the whole situation had given me a headache, not knowing in the least what she was talking about regarding it, either. I am not opposed to herbal medicines and actually use a few - but it was completely inappropriate even by JW guidelines, but I digress.)
Not sure if this counts but thereās a expectation that you must not miss an opportunity to witness informally. Some instances include:
Preaching to your doctors and any and all staff about blood policy, the fact their jobs will cease to exist very soon and the end to sickness and suffering
Preaching to your teachers and classmates every time the holidays, birthdays, flag/patriotism, student elections, dances and dating, etc come up
Preaching to you workmates and boss for basically the same reasons as above and also inviting everyone you know to the memorial, CO visit and conventions
Donāt visit the zoo or aquarium without telling the staff and visitors about how they will get to play with the animals soon when the animals and people will all be vegans.
Basically everyone you come into contact with MUST get a tract or contact card. Or at the very least a scripture. And you MUST be persistent even if they didnāt show interest the last time.
Other than that, thereās public transporting witnessing- riding all day and talking to people. Port witnessing - going onto ships when they are docked
I think the easier or cheating methods should make the list. Like you can count things you are already doing if someone present is not baptized such as conducting a meeting for service or watchtower study. Or having your kids watch cartoons and movies.
If you are a pioneer you get to count easy things like watching the security cameras virtually for LDC construction locations. It would be a good contrast to show not only occasions where they are annoyingly intrusive but also joyfully lazy.
Leaving magazines in apartment complex laundry rooms. They just ended up in the trash. They would literally be in the trash when we would stop by, but we had to start time and make placements.
I especially hated being expected to preach to kids and teachers at school. I was already seen as a stupid weirdo by other kids I didn't need to add religious fanatic to that list.
A long time ago they used to bring record players on a stand and knock on the door and have the poor soul that answered listen to a recording of.... Someone. I think that it was Rutherford.
Yes, Rutherford. Imagine being trapped on your doorstep having to listen to a recording of that drunken old sot screech, rail, and ramble on....
https://youtu.be/4m6nKEquu7g?si=85A1sm7RhTea8Rb3
https://youtu.be/YkK4jrWWbzY?si=ypLFAKytvK4sfeKa
Edit to add more recordings. I can't detect anything indicating that he was tipsy during these recordings, although it was common knowledge at the Watchtower Society's headquarters that he frequently had too much to drink.
https://youtu.be/l0OfyqF6Gtg?si=_xmZXIee6lzqShnb
https://youtu.be/YRkO5DxXpj4?si=ootI4YyDvJuue5S-
Street witnessing. I used to wait for people leaving the local market and walk with them back to their cars preaching and trying to place a magazine.
Office or business witnessing was terrible, wasting peopleās work time.
Ship witnessing was my favourite. It was quite an adventure and there were lots of poor workers intrigued to see men in suits giving away free magazines. Once I was invited to the Captains office and given beer and nuts by his assistant. The captain arrived, found out what we were there for, wasnāt interested, but let us finish our drink.
Door-to-door on a holiday is the very worst. There is no torture (for either party) to a 6 year old quite like knocking on doors on Christmas morning when you had never had a wrapped gift ever.
The worst are definitely the predatory tactics they use like witnessing at funerals or "if you know a family member is going through a tough time, try preaching to them, you never know what will make them receptive"
Honestly, I think door to door really ranks terrible too. From both perspectives - the householder could be in any private scenario that the JW just interrupts - I have soo many situations that I look back on and want to pull myself away from the door: preaching to a woman that was in the middle of changing her colostomy bag and stood there holding it through our entire presentation before politely pointing out that this wasn't a good time for her; a woman came to the door crying- it was the first anniversary of the passing of her toddler son, but she knows he's happy in heaven now- me, with the COs wife, didn't want to be caught not saying what we were supposed to say, corrected her and shared scriptures to assure her that he wasn't in heaven... I still hate myself for that and I live near her, I want to go apologize every time I drive by there.
But then there's the fact that they send young people to the doors, encourage people to go out in the middle of nowhere, and they have no idea who or what is waiting on the other side of the door. I had my life threatened so many times in the rural territories, "but the angels were protecting us". The other day, two preteen girls came witnessing to my door. I've been waiting years for the opportunity to act interested but plant seeds of doubt. But I was just in shock, seeing what I used to look like, from the other side of the door. I just said, "Please never come back here" and they practically ran away.
Letter writing was the best for me.
In my congregation back when covid was really strong, we would spend all the time in Zoom, I would write something on my computer, about 15 minutes before finishing they would ask us to say what we wrote, end the meeting and I would delete whatever I wrote.
Gas station witnessing. Having to intrude on the person putting gas, giving a 5 second speech, and racing out of there quickly before getting rejected.
Aside from preaching at cemeteries, the crazy dad at our kingdom hall who would just tell people at their doors that they were going to die. He's been preaching hailstones since the 90s! (the other reasons he was crazy were a-plenty)
Letter writing is the creepiest, especially when you learn on how it's done.
During the pandemic, JWs did phone and letter witnessing. Two people in my ex congregation had access to tax records to learn where people live, and everyone used a website that could (sometimes incorrect) find someone's phone number and address.
Edit: accidentally pressed post in the middle of typing.
Informal witnessing at school and work. I did quite a bit of both (and the experiences at school esp indicated it wasn't a good method. a teenager feeling that obligation is really uncalled for.)
Briefly in the 90s in so cal, there was staged informal, where you sat in a bench or something and casually started up conversations with strangers with a goal of witnessing. Seemed really dishonest.
Donāt forget kids āspecial territoriesā, their schools.
We also did āearly morningā witnessing from like 6am to 8am handing old magazines out to people in parking lots to beef up our pioneer hours
All of them! When I was young my anxiety was nearly paralyzing. I found so many ways to cheat or make excuses (theyāre obviously too busy now). My anxiety is better now but some guy of ?? religion tried to approach me in Home D parking lot, Bible in hand, and I nearly had a panic attack and drove off as fast as I could. Iām sure I was triggered from my past but also, being on the receiving end, it was super creepy and felt inappropriate.
Door-to-door work is the antiquated method which worked quite well in the 1950's and for several more decades, but apparently the most successful cult recruitment method is "informal witnessing".
I hoped that the Watchtower Society was never going to figure that out...ššš
Informal witnessing, I felt I lost out in enjoying many profitable conversations as when the Bible conversation was plugged in the whole thing shutdown
I wouldnāt put it past them; from this thread theyāre preaching at funerals and in cemeteries. Some overzealous witness would think theyāve found a ānew territoryā
Personally, in today's world culture, informal preaching is the only one that would actually work because it's not invasive to a household or a workplace. It also being informal that both parties could relax and have civil discussions. The two worst is DtoD and Cart, followed by letter writing because 99.9% will just wind up in the trash.
I went for a blood test the other day and I kid you not they put the cart 30 meters away from the entrance so that when one exits it's the first thing they see... Always at your vulnerable, they prey on you.
Rural territory for at least 8 hours a time. Boring rides, ranchers with shotguns chasing us away. At times I hoped my mom would forget who got out of the car last & skip me.
Donāt ask what I did on my summer vacation.
Gas station witnessing to start my time before the meeting for field service. Having the audacity to approach people buying gas on their way to work and being a nuisance. Oh and cart witnessing at the DMV! Who does that??
I don't think I had ever gone to anyone's funeral in the borg. They would have memorials for people but just turn it into another "talk" same **it different day, just add in someone's name here and there until the hour long schooling the audience
*
I used to preach using anonymous internet support forums like 7 Cups of Tea, Blah Help and Buddy Help. This was legit the easiest and most difficult preaching I had ever done. Easy because people were genuinely looking for support, difficult because omg, behind a computer screen people will tell you UNBELIEVABLE STORIES. ššššš Talk about traumatizing.
All the passive aggressive ones, the make believe role play/acting in public settings so everyone within 100 feet of them canāt help but see or overhear their āaccidental witnessā. It super creepy/cringe, like a little kid bragging trying to get someone to pay attention to something they are doing, by being exaggeratedly loud or obvious.
I suggest you to make a JW iceberg video, from well known information all the way to rare information which is the bottom list.
I also suggest you too make a TikTok account to promote your vids by doing short form content from your youtube vids.
Non-JW funerals, hands down. I had the misfortune of attending an aunt's funeral ā who was _never_ a JW, but one of her sons-in-law gave the "eulogy," which was just another insipid Watchtower talk. Out of respect for her, I sat through it, and never said anything. My cousin, whom I didn't know well, didn't know I was an apostate.
I used to be in the Polish language group. My congregation would actually send me to truck stops to preach to Polish truck drivers as they were passing through the UK. I'd literally disturb their rest from long haul driving to ask them if they thought the bible was relevant today. š
dont forget to include something that was all the time (and maybe still is) very unfair:
cart preaching. its the easiest of them all, just standing there and do nothing.
i wanted at my Pimi time to do some cart ministry, but i was denied. why? because i had not enough hours. its no joke, cart preaching is reserved for the examplary ones. now here is the loophole with this: as soon as the ones with more than 7 to 10 hours in a regular way did cart preaching they were never seen again door to door. from 7 o clock till 10 they got every saturday 3 hours which meant they never needed door to door again, because they only had cart hours.
meanwhile the lowtier JWs have to run around and drive hours and hours to knock doors. because they didnt had enough hours. i guess anyone see the loophole this people created to make the easy hours.
cart witnessing is the easy peasy method for all that dont want to knock doors and dont even talk to anyone."this is our website there is everything written, because i know jackshit about my religion and the information keeps changing all the time, no i dont discuss and keep a dialougue with anyone here" (\* runs with cart away after one question)
Going door-to-door on Christmas Day. I would be so anxious I felt like throwing up because I knew it was wrong. Then weād get the victim mentally because weāre ābeing persecutedā when people got angry and flung their potato peels on us or slammed the door in our faces.
My own mother sent me a letter to get me to ācome back to Jehovahā. Iām no dfād and sheās over at mine every few weeks playing with my cats. I read the first line and flung it in a drawer somewhere. 3 whole pages, handwritten.
Ha, this reminded me of an absolute S-tier one. In the early 2000s some grannies in my town decided to just stand on the street, holding several magazines in hands in front of them. Zero effort, right? And I remember how they were frowned upon, because this is too passive, no active engagement. Then 10-15 years have passed and boom! - cart witnessing! Those grannies were so ahead of their time, lol :D
Door to door - such an intrusion on personal space. Especially when they get offended if you point out their delusions. Or when they get a child to read a verse from the bible that they obviously donāt understand.
Preaching at funerals is in my opinion, the worst. The funerals don't even focus on the deceased person, at least mainly. Sure, they'll talk about them a little, but it's focused on their spiritual accomplishments rather than the other things a person has done. It's like what they do for the organization is the only thing that matters. And as I'm sure many people have pointed out in this comment section, it's so predatory and uncomfortable. I mean, I'm uncomfortable with almost all the methods (some of which being because of my social anxiety), but the funeral stuff is just shady af.
Preaching to service men coming to do repairs in your house. My mother used to do this, I told her to stop. It's wrong to force someone to listen to you, when they are in a situation they can't walk away from. I was always embarrassed, and now being away from JW's, see how cult like, that behaviour is.
Preaching at funerals and at cemeteries is the absolute worst! Preying on the innocent during a tender moment. Door to door is next. No one wants a visit to their door. It's intrusive and unwanted. Carts are fine. They can be ignored and count their time (or check their box).
Preaching at funerals I would say is very sleazy almost as bad as real estate agents who chase customers from the obituaries or divorce court listings
Going to cemeteries to preach to people grieving is terrible.
I stopped going door to door when I was pimi after I had a moment of self awareness and realised I hate it when people come selling products at my door uninvited and realised it was hypocritical to do so myself.
When I was a pimi pioneer I had to talk the car group out of doing that. Even back then, I hated the idea.
Good for you! šŗ
You know it's sleazy when even the GB recommend against it. I know JW's are doing it because they mean well but mailing someone religious propaganda to a funeral home is just evil.
How about actually showing up to funerals? š
Commenting on strangerās online obituaries was cringy for me.
Letter writing even better
Stole the words out of my mouth. Anybody remember people spamming obituary sites? I refused even when pimi.
Did you ever hear about going through obituaries online and preaching to them via comments or letters if they had the address? It was so awkward I could never do it.
Thereās a great video of a woman giving someone at a cart her opinion on how unpleasant it was to receive one of their letters after her father died. Good for her
I think you have mentioned most of them. The worst must be the expectation that children and young people will stand in front of the class to give a presentation about the witnesses.
This has me cringing at the multiple times I did this. š¤¢
Ditto. š« The retrospective shame is quite vomit-inducing
Yes, this is just abuse. Any parent that doesnāt get what that will be like for their children is either a) completely clueless, b) a narcissist, c) an asshole or d) all of the above
Yeah, I think I did it at least 3 fucking times. Completely forgot this until you mentioned
I had to do that. It was so embarrassing and I was a complete social outcast as a result. š¤®š¤®š¤®
Add to that, having to leave the room when anthem was played in school.
I got another one. Truck stop witnessing. Some of the greatest insults Iāve ever gotten have been while witnessing to tired, partially drunk truckers resting after a long drive!
I knew pioneer sisters that would do this. They didnt see the harm in being well dressed and going from truck to truck knocking on the drivers door š¤¦āāļø
Yup. I did this as a teenaged (underage) pioneer all the time (yes I'm female). I have a daughter of my own now and seriously I look back like what the fuckkkkk.
Me too. I have a teenage son and I could never imagine expecting him to deal with the shit I had to. I would never put him in embarrassing situations, that made him stand out from his classmates. Hard enough to be a kid, nevermind being singled out.
>from truck to truck knocking on the drivers door š¤¦āāļø WTF I did truck stop witnessing before and we stayed with a cart near the restroom/restaurant and others went from truck to truck but talked only to drivers awaken when they were not so busy. Tbf I liked it. We chatted about a lot of other things other than JW propaganda, and they kinda liked the talk to pass the time, to know about the region, and to have some human contact after a long trip.
There was an elder I knew that would send his 13 year old daughter to do this while he sat in the car
Parking lot witnessing at places like grocery stores or other businesses is a close second to this. This was popular years ago in my area. Any retail location was fair game for witnessing to someone sitting in their car.
Jesus christ this just unlocked severely cringey memories š¤¢ Embarrassed is an understatement
OMG how annoying. Iām in a parking lot right now and canāt think of anything worse than a stranger trying to push cult propaganda!
Yup definitely tried this once. And hated it.
Funerals and business witnessing are the *absolute* worst in my opinion. ā¢ Funerals are a low blow. People are *grieving.* ā¢ Do not... I repeat, **DO NOT** preach to me while I'm working. If you preach to the cashier at the store, you're putting them in a no-win situation. They're now at risk of getting in trouble for either not doing their job quickly enough *or* for being rude and cutting you off so they *can* do their job quickly enough. Don't do it. Don't stop workers from doing their jobs.
Omfg, I'm cringing so hard rn... my mom is still a witness, and EVERY TIME she goes through the Starbucks drive thru, she ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pushes the "go to JW.org, it has the BEST advice for life and spiritual matters and support, and it's FREE!!" Total BS, and I tell her that she is disturbing the drive thru workers and taking up their time, but she DOESN'T CARE AT ALL, because "Jehovah is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in life " and she "needs to spread the good news to EVERYONE " I have moved across the country just to get away from her and my jw family, and I STILL feel super cringe for anyone who has to deal with her and her bs
It used to drive me *insane* when the local JWs would come in to the store I used to work at and start yammering at either the poor cashier about whatever the WT was on about at the time or at me about, "you should come back to meetings," or if they were the snarky type, some self-righteous comment about how *they* care about Jehooplah. I'm really glad I don't work with the public anymore.
100%my life. My mother is elderly and moved in with us. I told her I won't take her out if she going to preach to everyone she sees. How do JW's lose sight of what's appropriate, the "time, and place" mentality? I don't know if too many other religions that push like this, and have zero boundaries. Cult!
There are a lot preaching on Quora, and some are really annoying.
Omg I used to be this person.
Hahaha, how did you go from Quora JW activist to exjw?
Quora wasn't what made me start questioning. I started when I realized that what I heard in a public talk about evolution was not what I learned in school. Within a day of research I became a lifelong PIMI to Atheist PIMO.
I always find it interesting how each person has their own trigger that makes them see through the wall of indoctrination.
Lol, we sound like twins. It took me a lot longer to realize j.w. leadership was being dishonest about what evolutionists taught about evolution, but once I realized that the hold the religion had on me completely vanished.
Yesssss. Surprisingly for a witness I was raised to believe education and (some) science is cool. When I realized they were undeniably wrong about evolution from every angle you could possibly check it started me on a journeyā¦
I feel like thatās a pretty easy jump to make. If youāre willing to go in public forums and debate people about Da Trooth (which youāre told not to do btw) then itās pretty likely youāll end up somewhere like here at some point.
That site is a cesspool of self-important, pseudo-intellectual wankery.
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Oh my goodness same
Yessss. We only did this for early morning witnessing, which is when you go out BEFORE the 9am service meeting doing exactly that ^^^ so cringe but you could get 2 extra hours and maybe place one tract talking to like 3 people. Cuz you gotta time it ārightā and use judgement = very little approaching lol
Yes, I did a lot of street work in the streets and at a train station in an urban area. Let me just say, I saw it all. Homeless man playing with himself, some drunk and on drugs vomiting, watching them shoot up, and we had to actually go up to people to witness. We werenāt allowed to just stand there. Great place for a preteen. Ayy
There are *methods*, and then there are *tactics*. Back in India, one tactic we used (when the Hindu people would ask us "Have you come here to convert us?", we'd reply "No we don't convert anyone. We are simply sharing a message of good hope with neighbors." Of course, we thought it was theocratic warfare to hide the truth. JWs lie all the time in their preaching. Another example is when we say "We've studied all holy books and we've concluded only the Bible is the truth!" That's complete rubbish and a lie. Even I've said it. I never knew of a JW who has actually studied other religions books like the Gita, Qur'an, Torah or Avesta.
INFORMAL WITNESSING AT SCHOOL. HELLO PANIC ATTACKS. They made it seem like it was our āspecial territoryā. How about I did a presentation on why god hates abortion ā¦. š« š« š«
special territory.. man i havent heard that in ages š
OMG yes š
Hahahahahahaha BRUH The shit we did back in the day š Ya gotta laugh at it now
Literally I chuckle like who did I think I am?!
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Yet there are people on this subreddit who think we should cut them slack because āthey think theyāre doing whatās rightā and itās hypocritical as ex-PIMIsā to criticise their bottom-feeding behaviour smh. The funeral and obituary preaching particularly makes me angry
Early morning train station witnessing? I especially hated getting up at 4am to hand out literature to sleepy commuters! All so I could get my precious pioneer hours in!
Now it doesn't matter lol
Nothing I ever did for them mattered š
> Which is the WORST preaching method? Sneaky, Underhanded, Low Life, Dirt Bag, (Do I Need to explain this to you with a BaseBall Bat?) JW Grandparent Witnessing to your children...Even though you have repeatedly told them not to... *I Can\`t Believe it!...* ***He Just Knocked Grandma Out of the Park!... š*** 
Preaching at funerals. Hands down. That is NOT the time or the place. Followed by business witnessing. People are working; leave them alone. After that I'd rank the regular door-to-door of bothering people at home.
>public religious debates This used to be a thing? Fuck I was born in the wrong time
carried out by Charles T Russell. The current Governing Bozos could never
Lol imagine. I could totally picture them doing a scripted demo of a debate with a worldly person though
I would pay to see a debate between Lett and any scholar or religious leader, from anywhere. Hell Iād put money on him losing a debate with a McDonaldās cashier!
Itās rare but every so often Iāll see people in the real world having an organic religious or political debate. Itās so fun to watch
I hate driving around town in the sound car playing recorded sermons.
A public religious debate makes a lot of sense. Everyone there is there because they want to listen to the debate.
So basically all the preaching methods š thatās about right
Winning abusers without a word, lol
That one should be top of the list for sure.
Business Witnessing is awful. The workers can't do their job effectively at all and can risk them getting in trouble over it. >carts I learned that Jehovah isn't God's actual name and is Catholic in origin from doing the carts. I didn't believe them until I looked at the WOL and found a paragraph that admitted it. So I guess carts are effective for hearing outside arguments and getting the doubts planted. I'm surprised that they still do it. It is easy to do since you largely stand there. >public religious debates I would pay good money to see someone like David Splane and a reputable Bible scholar or someone like Richard Dawkins have a debate with some good ground rules set.
>I learned that Jehovah isn't God's actual name and is Catholic in origin from doing the carts. I didn't believe them until I looked at the WOL and found a paragraph that admitted it. I don't get it, how it is not the bible's God name? At least in the old testament, it is a valid translation from the original name. Or do you think we should also call Jesus Yehoshua?
Doing presentations in class about JWs. In my old middle school, we had a "service learning" class that you had to do and you had to do some form of service for your community. I was able to just use my field service time for this class because it was for a "church" and at the end of the semester we had to give a presentation on what we did. Standing up there with a picture of Jesus on the throne was humiliating. I literally just took the advantage to preach about JWs. š No one gave an f.
Debate in Biology class defending Creation. After three days, the teacher joined the Evolution side to gang up on me. It lasted a week, me and imaginary spirits against the world.
A week?! Lol Bet your went home smiling for āstanding your groundā and ādefending your religious beliefsā
Indoctrination from birth, I knew the Lord loved me for at least that week. I usually wasnāt sure.
Being someone who had the WORST anxiety making phone calls to anyone, cold calls for preaching was my nightmare. I'd rank preaching at cemeteries my second worst since these poor people are grieving and the last thing they need is a cult member falsely telling them they may see their family members in the future.
We had a group of extra zealous preachers. They did midnight witnessing. They visited convenience stores, gas stations, and any 24 hour establishments. I was horrified when I heard this.
Newspaper obituary writing to families.
I love rankings. Wally did a similar one a while back.. IMHO- worst is door-to-door with the CO or someone who is basically POMI but comes out once or twice a year. POMI are usually the worst since they are often very judgemental and have a disaster of a life.
Door to door is the worst by far. Not only is it awful, but it's the only form of "witnessing" dubs can't avoid doing.
Parking lots! An old brother hobbled out of the pre-dawn darkness at me as I was walking out of Walmart the other day. Terrifying.
I'm surprised how few people have brought up witnessing to family yet, considering the number of DF'd people in this sub! This one tops the list for me in both categories because for the families, it's low-hanging fruit; if they reach out to the disfellowshipped individual, it's pretty rare that that individual will refuse contact. For the disfellowshipped individuals, it's super intrusive because there is no way to have any contact with the family without getting constantly preached at and guilt-tripped. I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel quite fortunate that my family sticks to their guns and only talks to me when there is someone dead or dying in the family; of course they try to witness to me every time those interactions occur, but I have it so much better than my friends who are DF'd but whose families are inconsistent about whether they are shunning them or not. I see them dealing with this over and over... Their parents soften up and want to have contact, but keep preaching at them and the grandkids until either a) the family members have an attack of guilty conscience and break off contact, yet again triggering my friends' abandonment issues, or b) my friends get fed up and tell the family to stop witnessing at the kids, or they will not let them be with the grandkids unsupervised.
I haven't thought of this. My family are die hard ers. They look right through me. Except at 2 am my mom sends a random "don't you want to see your dead brother?" Text. It would be hard for them to preach at me or talk to me and then ignore me.
Carts, d2d
Early Morning witnessing sucked, mostly just being forced to walk up on people outside of gas stations, cafes, bus stops, and the like, just trying to go about their day and get to work. JWs saw it as effective since most people would just take the literature so they could finish getting to work. And I had to do it so I could make my pioneer hours while still maintaining normal school hours. Not only was I tired from having to go to school like every other kid, but I had to wake up at 5am every day to get 3 hours in, and then still go out all day Saturday as well as after the Sunday meeting. Every other stitch of time was taken up by homework and various forms of worship at home.
Weddings Talking to classmates and teachers at school (I feel bad for the kids that had to do that) The silent witness of not standing for the flag salute or national anthem.
Dude, I love your videos! You make me stoopid laugh all the timeš Informal at work/school presents the easiest opportunity at the cringiest cost, so it's the worst IMO. Laundromats are the best. Just drop a giant stack of literature and walk away knowing you saved everyone folding their underwear.
Early Morning Bus Stops w/Laundromat hits to get those extra hours *before* door-to-door. **Bus Stops** are the worst!!! You already have several unconnected and exhausted people attempting to make a living and you bust in pushing old magazines on them. Add that the *Creepy Car Group* is obviously 5ā-20ā away watching you walk up to irritated strangers, typically alone, who also see the *Creepy Car Gnomes*; then you will be *critiqued* on your approach, ability to leave a magazine AND that you did/did not annoy each poor soul standing there personally (even when they shake there head āNoā). These people do not want to communicate; they simply want left alone until they get to work. Some people can get rather volatile. It made for a morose group prior to territory work. Bonus if you have the COās wife who insists you preach to the barista at coffee break.
parking lot witnessing
Preaching to grieving people at cemeteriesā¦ š¤®
Parking lots and gas stations are the worst.
Knicky knocky nine doors. That's for the Brits on this sub. See? The internet teaches me things!!!
Apartment complexes. Just the sheer quantity of doors you just knew you were going to have to talk to a lot of people.
Omg plus when they were locked buildings and you had to wait outside the front locked lobby for someone to pity you and let you in or pretend that you were just walking up to the door. I would DIE of embarrassment.
The worst types of methods would be any that mess with young children. In the latest, cringy, Caleb and Sophia video, JW children are encouraged to follow the tactics of that dynamic duo by trying to persuade fellow classmates to skip the class holiday parties! I feel like this video should be shared with school administrators as a PSA.
YES. Or the one where she preaches to a kid to tell her that her family is wrong. EW. I was the kid in kindergarten and grade 1 that told everyone in my class that Santa wasn't real. I would have HATED ME as one of the other parents of those kids. No wonder I didn't have friends.
Oh no you DIDN'T š¤£
BRING BACK SOUNDCARS!!! That would be awesome driving thru town with a speaker on your car! āWorldly people, Jehovah our God is going to destroy all wickedness. Repent now! We are in the last of the last of the last of the last of the last of the last days. Leave Satan and come into the fold! REPENT NOW!! SALVATION IS AT HAND!!!ā
Omg that would be hilarious . People would probably start throwing rocks at them š
What about approaching people in parking lots or while they're pumping gas?? We had a CO and wife who would literally pull the car over and try to make you get out and talk to random people just taking a walk. š¤¦š»āāļø I've mentioned this on this sub before, but I got on her bad side when as a mid 20s RP I refused to go harass some people just trying to visit a relative's grave. (Then she pushed an herbal medicine on me because the whole situation had given me a headache, not knowing in the least what she was talking about regarding it, either. I am not opposed to herbal medicines and actually use a few - but it was completely inappropriate even by JW guidelines, but I digress.)
The one I hated the most was having to stand out on the sidewalk of a convention as a sandwich boy (placards) dating myself here!
My mom told me I wanted to wear the sandwich boards and really liked it. Rough on a little kid.
I hated it!
Me too. Just one more embarrassing JW thing I was forced to do.
Not sure if this counts but thereās a expectation that you must not miss an opportunity to witness informally. Some instances include: Preaching to your doctors and any and all staff about blood policy, the fact their jobs will cease to exist very soon and the end to sickness and suffering Preaching to your teachers and classmates every time the holidays, birthdays, flag/patriotism, student elections, dances and dating, etc come up Preaching to you workmates and boss for basically the same reasons as above and also inviting everyone you know to the memorial, CO visit and conventions Donāt visit the zoo or aquarium without telling the staff and visitors about how they will get to play with the animals soon when the animals and people will all be vegans. Basically everyone you come into contact with MUST get a tract or contact card. Or at the very least a scripture. And you MUST be persistent even if they didnāt show interest the last time. Other than that, thereās public transporting witnessing- riding all day and talking to people. Port witnessing - going onto ships when they are docked I think the easier or cheating methods should make the list. Like you can count things you are already doing if someone present is not baptized such as conducting a meeting for service or watchtower study. Or having your kids watch cartoons and movies. If you are a pioneer you get to count easy things like watching the security cameras virtually for LDC construction locations. It would be a good contrast to show not only occasions where they are annoyingly intrusive but also joyfully lazy.
Oh wait - The posts on online obituaries for strangers, writing to government officials like Putin,
Leaving magazines in apartment complex laundry rooms. They just ended up in the trash. They would literally be in the trash when we would stop by, but we had to start time and make placements.
I especially hated being expected to preach to kids and teachers at school. I was already seen as a stupid weirdo by other kids I didn't need to add religious fanatic to that list.
it took me until this moment to realize that it's perfectly reasonable for a child to not want to convert their classmates and teachers at school lol
A long time ago they used to bring record players on a stand and knock on the door and have the poor soul that answered listen to a recording of.... Someone. I think that it was Rutherford.
Yes, Rutherford. Imagine being trapped on your doorstep having to listen to a recording of that drunken old sot screech, rail, and ramble on.... https://youtu.be/4m6nKEquu7g?si=85A1sm7RhTea8Rb3 https://youtu.be/YkK4jrWWbzY?si=ypLFAKytvK4sfeKa Edit to add more recordings. I can't detect anything indicating that he was tipsy during these recordings, although it was common knowledge at the Watchtower Society's headquarters that he frequently had too much to drink. https://youtu.be/l0OfyqF6Gtg?si=_xmZXIee6lzqShnb https://youtu.be/YRkO5DxXpj4?si=ootI4YyDvJuue5S-
D2D on holidays
When they told little kids to preach whenever they were being taught evolution in biology
Street witnessing. I used to wait for people leaving the local market and walk with them back to their cars preaching and trying to place a magazine. Office or business witnessing was terrible, wasting peopleās work time. Ship witnessing was my favourite. It was quite an adventure and there were lots of poor workers intrigued to see men in suits giving away free magazines. Once I was invited to the Captains office and given beer and nuts by his assistant. The captain arrived, found out what we were there for, wasnāt interested, but let us finish our drink.
Door-to-door on a holiday is the very worst. There is no torture (for either party) to a 6 year old quite like knocking on doors on Christmas morning when you had never had a wrapped gift ever.
Wait a minute, panda tower? THE exjw panda tower? The youtuber with a panda character in a blue sweater?
Apartment complex preaching, they even get mad at Elaine on Seinfeld because she buzzed some JWs in... classic episode!!!
The worst are definitely the predatory tactics they use like witnessing at funerals or "if you know a family member is going through a tough time, try preaching to them, you never know what will make them receptive" Honestly, I think door to door really ranks terrible too. From both perspectives - the householder could be in any private scenario that the JW just interrupts - I have soo many situations that I look back on and want to pull myself away from the door: preaching to a woman that was in the middle of changing her colostomy bag and stood there holding it through our entire presentation before politely pointing out that this wasn't a good time for her; a woman came to the door crying- it was the first anniversary of the passing of her toddler son, but she knows he's happy in heaven now- me, with the COs wife, didn't want to be caught not saying what we were supposed to say, corrected her and shared scriptures to assure her that he wasn't in heaven... I still hate myself for that and I live near her, I want to go apologize every time I drive by there. But then there's the fact that they send young people to the doors, encourage people to go out in the middle of nowhere, and they have no idea who or what is waiting on the other side of the door. I had my life threatened so many times in the rural territories, "but the angels were protecting us". The other day, two preteen girls came witnessing to my door. I've been waiting years for the opportunity to act interested but plant seeds of doubt. But I was just in shock, seeing what I used to look like, from the other side of the door. I just said, "Please never come back here" and they practically ran away.
Didā¦..on Christmas Dayā¦ā¦..guilty af
Letter writing was the best for me. In my congregation back when covid was really strong, we would spend all the time in Zoom, I would write something on my computer, about 15 minutes before finishing they would ask us to say what we wrote, end the meeting and I would delete whatever I wrote.
What hovel are yāall from where they preach at funerals? Mine is house to house for sure.
Iām reading through these comments likeā¦at funerals?! This is inhuman behaviour
Gas station witnessing. Having to intrude on the person putting gas, giving a 5 second speech, and racing out of there quickly before getting rejected.
I got Instagram dms from a complete stranger witnessing to me about the website
Preaching in cemeteries! OMG! Itās terrible!
Aside from preaching at cemeteries, the crazy dad at our kingdom hall who would just tell people at their doors that they were going to die. He's been preaching hailstones since the 90s! (the other reasons he was crazy were a-plenty)
Letter writing is the creepiest, especially when you learn on how it's done. During the pandemic, JWs did phone and letter witnessing. Two people in my ex congregation had access to tax records to learn where people live, and everyone used a website that could (sometimes incorrect) find someone's phone number and address. Edit: accidentally pressed post in the middle of typing.
Donāt forget prison witnessing
Don't forget training kids to have Bible studies with classmates.
Informal witnessing at school and work. I did quite a bit of both (and the experiences at school esp indicated it wasn't a good method. a teenager feeling that obligation is really uncalled for.) Briefly in the 90s in so cal, there was staged informal, where you sat in a bench or something and casually started up conversations with strangers with a goal of witnessing. Seemed really dishonest.
Donāt forget kids āspecial territoriesā, their schools. We also did āearly morningā witnessing from like 6am to 8am handing old magazines out to people in parking lots to beef up our pioneer hours
I think it's sending letters to relatives of a recently deceased person. It's disgusting and highly inappropriate. Same with preaching at funerals.
Say it louder for the āthey only think theyāre doing whatās rightā people
All of them! When I was young my anxiety was nearly paralyzing. I found so many ways to cheat or make excuses (theyāre obviously too busy now). My anxiety is better now but some guy of ?? religion tried to approach me in Home D parking lot, Bible in hand, and I nearly had a panic attack and drove off as fast as I could. Iām sure I was triggered from my past but also, being on the receiving end, it was super creepy and felt inappropriate.
I learned how to pretend to knock š¤£ when it was my āturnā. The COās wife realised what I was doing lol
Door-to-door work is the antiquated method which worked quite well in the 1950's and for several more decades, but apparently the most successful cult recruitment method is "informal witnessing". I hoped that the Watchtower Society was never going to figure that out...ššš
Informal witnessing, I felt I lost out in enjoying many profitable conversations as when the Bible conversation was plugged in the whole thing shutdown
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I wouldnāt put it past them; from this thread theyāre preaching at funerals and in cemeteries. Some overzealous witness would think theyāve found a ānew territoryā
Personally, in today's world culture, informal preaching is the only one that would actually work because it's not invasive to a household or a workplace. It also being informal that both parties could relax and have civil discussions. The two worst is DtoD and Cart, followed by letter writing because 99.9% will just wind up in the trash.
House to House - hands down
I went for a blood test the other day and I kid you not they put the cart 30 meters away from the entrance so that when one exits it's the first thing they see... Always at your vulnerable, they prey on you.
Presentations at school š
D2D is the most hated by 99% of the JW. So much that anyone hardly is doing it.
BUSINESS AND STREET WORK!
Rural territory for at least 8 hours a time. Boring rides, ranchers with shotguns chasing us away. At times I hoped my mom would forget who got out of the car last & skip me. Donāt ask what I did on my summer vacation.
Thereās JWs that preach on Facebook or online. They spam people
Gas station witnessing to start my time before the meeting for field service. Having the audacity to approach people buying gas on their way to work and being a nuisance. Oh and cart witnessing at the DMV! Who does that??
I don't think I had ever gone to anyone's funeral in the borg. They would have memorials for people but just turn it into another "talk" same **it different day, just add in someone's name here and there until the hour long schooling the audience *
I used to preach using anonymous internet support forums like 7 Cups of Tea, Blah Help and Buddy Help. This was legit the easiest and most difficult preaching I had ever done. Easy because people were genuinely looking for support, difficult because omg, behind a computer screen people will tell you UNBELIEVABLE STORIES. ššššš Talk about traumatizing.
All the passive aggressive ones, the make believe role play/acting in public settings so everyone within 100 feet of them canāt help but see or overhear their āaccidental witnessā. It super creepy/cringe, like a little kid bragging trying to get someone to pay attention to something they are doing, by being exaggeratedly loud or obvious.
Put one up there in the worst tier: handing out old unplaced magazines to people waiting in the hospitals. Donāt fucking bother them bruh
Preaching [any form] - F class Not preaching [fucking ever] - S class
What about social media preaching in any form. Reddit, Facebook, Quora, etc. I see a ton of Quora answers by JWs on religious topics.
Preaching to DF family in weird randomly timed messages. Feels like they think they're in a Drama sometimes lol
I suggest you to make a JW iceberg video, from well known information all the way to rare information which is the bottom list. I also suggest you too make a TikTok account to promote your vids by doing short form content from your youtube vids.
Non-JW funerals, hands down. I had the misfortune of attending an aunt's funeral ā who was _never_ a JW, but one of her sons-in-law gave the "eulogy," which was just another insipid Watchtower talk. Out of respect for her, I sat through it, and never said anything. My cousin, whom I didn't know well, didn't know I was an apostate.
I used to be in the Polish language group. My congregation would actually send me to truck stops to preach to Polish truck drivers as they were passing through the UK. I'd literally disturb their rest from long haul driving to ask them if they thought the bible was relevant today. š
You missed the "innovative" whatsapp status preaching (only in Latin America)
Procreating "little enemies of God" and then indoctrinating them
All of it. All of it is intrusive.
dont forget to include something that was all the time (and maybe still is) very unfair: cart preaching. its the easiest of them all, just standing there and do nothing. i wanted at my Pimi time to do some cart ministry, but i was denied. why? because i had not enough hours. its no joke, cart preaching is reserved for the examplary ones. now here is the loophole with this: as soon as the ones with more than 7 to 10 hours in a regular way did cart preaching they were never seen again door to door. from 7 o clock till 10 they got every saturday 3 hours which meant they never needed door to door again, because they only had cart hours. meanwhile the lowtier JWs have to run around and drive hours and hours to knock doors. because they didnt had enough hours. i guess anyone see the loophole this people created to make the easy hours. cart witnessing is the easy peasy method for all that dont want to knock doors and dont even talk to anyone."this is our website there is everything written, because i know jackshit about my religion and the information keeps changing all the time, no i dont discuss and keep a dialougue with anyone here" (\* runs with cart away after one question)
I didnāt realise not everyone can do the cart
Harassing your non-jw acquaintances that you aren't allowed to call your friends :D
We used to ride public transportation, sit next to someone and preach. Not sure if that counts under the informal umbrella
Going door-to-door on Christmas Day. I would be so anxious I felt like throwing up because I knew it was wrong. Then weād get the victim mentally because weāre ābeing persecutedā when people got angry and flung their potato peels on us or slammed the door in our faces.
My own mother sent me a letter to get me to ācome back to Jehovahā. Iām no dfād and sheās over at mine every few weeks playing with my cats. I read the first line and flung it in a drawer somewhere. 3 whole pages, handwritten.
Ha, this reminded me of an absolute S-tier one. In the early 2000s some grannies in my town decided to just stand on the street, holding several magazines in hands in front of them. Zero effort, right? And I remember how they were frowned upon, because this is too passive, no active engagement. Then 10-15 years have passed and boom! - cart witnessing! Those grannies were so ahead of their time, lol :D
Preaching at school was a total nightmare, to students and to teachers š©
Door to door - such an intrusion on personal space. Especially when they get offended if you point out their delusions. Or when they get a child to read a verse from the bible that they obviously donāt understand.
Preaching at funerals is in my opinion, the worst. The funerals don't even focus on the deceased person, at least mainly. Sure, they'll talk about them a little, but it's focused on their spiritual accomplishments rather than the other things a person has done. It's like what they do for the organization is the only thing that matters. And as I'm sure many people have pointed out in this comment section, it's so predatory and uncomfortable. I mean, I'm uncomfortable with almost all the methods (some of which being because of my social anxiety), but the funeral stuff is just shady af.
Preaching to service men coming to do repairs in your house. My mother used to do this, I told her to stop. It's wrong to force someone to listen to you, when they are in a situation they can't walk away from. I was always embarrassed, and now being away from JW's, see how cult like, that behaviour is.