{"id":376,"date":"2013-01-09T11:26:44","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T16:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/dangeroustalk\/?p=376"},"modified":"2013-01-09T12:47:39","modified_gmt":"2013-01-09T17:47:39","slug":"jehovahs-witnesses-atheist-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/dangeroustalk\/2013\/01\/09\/jehovahs-witnesses-atheist-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses: Atheist Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

My doorbell just rang a few minutes ago and to my delight it was Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. I bet I am the only one who is delighted to see them and yet they always seem to want to end our conversations.<\/p>\n

Two ladies, one older and one younger came to the door. The younger one hung back as the older one asked me about the presence of God in my life. I told her that I didn\u2019t believe any gods existed and that the evidence for deities was not just absent, but that the evidence stands against the possibility.<\/p>\n

She then asked if I had always \u201cfelt that way,\u201d so I told her that I did not. I told her that I grew up believing in God and that I was indoctrinated into that belief for a long time. Then I asked her what convinced her that there was a God. She responded and said that she grew up in the church and always believed. So I pointed out that she had been indoctrinated and that she should question that belief. I made sure to turn to the younger college-aged girl as I made that point.<\/p>\n

This is when they first attempted to leave. They politely said that they didn\u2019t want to keep me, but I told them that I didn\u2019t mind at all. Somehow we got into the Bible when I was told that the Bible was the oldest book we have. I think I laughed at that since there are tons of books older than the Bible. I pointed out that the Bible has changed so much that we don\u2019t even have the original Bible. Bart Ehrman comes in handy at this point.<\/p>\n

Again they try to leave politely, but I keep on asking questions. The older \u201cwitness\u201d then talks about how she is perfectly content in her life even if she turned out to be wrong. I was looked shocked and said, \u201cReally? How could you be, knowing that you wasted your entire life and that you have been impeding human progress and have had a skewed sense of morality?\u201d I know that sounds harsh, but I said it nicely.<\/p>\n

I talked about how when I was religious I thought I was content in my life too, but that leaving religion has made me much happier and a much better person. We had some more small talk after that and they plugged their website a few times. I plugged mine too just for fun. I actually directed the plug toward the younger \u201cwitness\u201d because I thought she would be more likely to actually check it out. I didn\u2019t spend as much time as I wanted pushing critical thinking and overall skepticism but I think it was still a pretty positive exchange. I told them to come back any time and they said they would, but I\u2019m skeptical.<\/p>\n

I do love Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses. It\u2019s like ordering from an atheist takeout with free delivery. They bring their craziness right to my door. Less than 30 minutes guaranteed. I get to have fun trying out my de-conversion material guilt free too. They came to me after all.<\/p>\n

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