My first witnessing experience

I had my first real witnessing experience today, only it was supposed to be me that was the witnessee, not the witnesser. We have this nice Jehovah's Witness lady that comes to our neighborhood with various partners every so often, only I'm usually on my way to the library when they come. But a few weeks ago, she left me with their book, What Does the Bible Really Teach? and I promised her I would add it to my study of Revelation.

I really did read parts of it, and found they have a lot more in common with us that I have previously been lead to believe--state of the dead, hell/purgatory, etc. When she came back Tuesday, we were on our way to the library again, but what the heck, I told her to come back Thursday so we could talk.

Very out of character for me. I don't talk to strangers (thanks for the lessons, mom!), and I don't talk about religion/spiritual things, and I certainly don't talk to strangers about religion/spiritual things!

So they showed up this morning, all three of them--my neighbhorhood Witness, Maggie, her daughter, and another church member (I'm terrible with names). I sent the kids to the park with vovo (grandpa) and we sat down to chat.

One of the things I found interesting about their beliefs was that they don't celebrate holidays, especially "religious" holidays like Christmas or Easter. I kind of agree with them on that for a variety of reasons. So we started out with that--let them see I have an open mind to new ideas, right?

They brought up the subject of Constantine changing "Christmas" to the pagan holiday on Dec. 25th, so we then kind of segued into the question of Sabbath, and how he was also responsible for changing Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Now, I'm not trying to convert anyone or anything, I have never had the opportunity to ask a non-Adventist why they don't keep Saturday as Sabbath. Let's say we had a spirited discussion. I think they were surprised at some of my questions & the verses I pointed out. My guess is the people they deal with usually need a more elementary guide to the Bible. Lucky (Thankfully, really) for me, I have had a renewed interest in studying the Bible, not for religious purposes, but for my own questions & spiritual growth, so I had a lot of stuff fresh in my mind.

So we went back & forth for about an hour or so. I don't think I've convinced them (yet), but they haven't convinced me either. I'm sure they'll be back. Actually, Maggie had brought me a book about Revelation, since I had mentioned last time that I was studying it on my own. So it'll be interesting to read their take on that bit of prophecy. Hopefully I won't have a panic attack and hide next time I see them. Again, anyone who knows me knows this whole scenario is not in my list of likely actions. But I will say it was quite interesting. I hope they weren't disappointed they didn't bring me into their fold. I think at the very least, I gave them some good practice.

P.S. Any local ladies interested in a weekly/bi-weekly Bible study group?? Might be nice to study among those who have the same belief system as I do, but anyone's welcome!