JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AT MY DOOR

At 10 AM my doorbell rang. As I expected no one, I looked through the peephole and noticed two women holding leaflets. They shoved a leaflet in my hand as I opened the door and began to talk to me in pleasant and polite tones. I stopped them mid-sentence to let them know that I respected their right to their beliefs but that I did not share them. I told them I had met a Congregational minister recently whom I respected for his sharing that the Bible should not be taken literally and other aspects of religion as most people practiced it. I found it refreshing to have spoken with someone who, I felt, understood my questions and didn't try to convince me otherwise.

The conversation went on to my challenging these women about the Bible having been written by men; we have no proof that it was written by God through mortals. I shared that I did not believe in Genesis as described in the Bible, I believed in evolution, and that I do not think man is the highest power but, whatever that power may be, man was not made in its image. We played a bit with their disagreement that the Power might be a something rather than a someone.

Admittedly, I often perversely engage in these discussions because it has always intrigued me that people can so quickly believe that which is unprovable. Not to belabor the description of this contact, when asked I told them that I had more than one copy of the Bible in the house, had read much of it and have not changed my opinion of the words in the book for more than 60 years. I said I live by the Golden Rule, follow the 10 commandments and believe myself to live as a better person than many who sin and go to church for absolution only to go out and commit the same sins over again, taking no personal responsibility for their behavior.

After a several minute chat to a Mexican stand-off, to my surprise, both women thanked me for my courtesy in listening to them, despite my difference in beliefs. They said they thought I was a nice person to have been friendly to them as many people just slammed the door in their face. I mentioned I would never be rude to any human being who had done me no harm. I wanted to tell them I thought they were wasting a potentially good life but figured my opinion was worthless, showing only my own prejudices. I wished them more success in their day than they had with me and they smiled and said they considered their interaction with me a worthwhile stop.

When they left, I wondered what had happened in that meeting. Clearly their age and racial difference suggested we must have had and led very different lives. I shared that I wish I believed in prayer and God but had learned that my life is dependent solely on my own decisions and actions. This elicited a smile of approval from both women. My understanding that 'God helps those who help themselves' brought yet another smile of approval. It was clear that whether we believed the same story book or not, our life values were quite similar. It is unlikely we would become enemies for believing differently since our outward behaviors to fellow man and the world is no differentiated by religion. In all, I found it a very worthwhile 29 minutes near the start of my day.