Quick kids, hide in the closet and don't make a sound until they leave. But I've engaged them twice now. It was nerve wracking at first. 

Two women came to the door the first time, one older and one younger and they asked me if I believed in God and if I would like to learn more about God's plan for my life. I immediately told them that I was Catholic, that I was firm in my faith and that I rejected many of their doctrines including the belief that Jesus is somehow not equal to God.

They thanked me for my time and started to leave but I asked them for a copy of their iconic "Watchtower" mini-magazine, which they handed me with enthusiasm. I walked the two ladies to the street and asked a few questions - the primacy of the bible (as opposed to the church) as the source of religious truth and that sort of thing and invited them to come back. Interestingly, I found later on while looking at their magazine, that it quoted scripture incorrectly, placing a period in the middle of a passage as follows:

"Go therefor, into all nations, baptizing them."

They left off, "...in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" from the end of Jesus' commission.

Two other ladies, a mother and daughter team, came to the door a few weeks later. I again informed them that I was Catholic and said that I would like to learn more about their faith. I brought out the copy of The Watchtower previously given to me and asked them about the truncated passage. They claimed that sometimes the magazine needs to save space so they leave off things which are not really pertinent to the issue at hand. It seemed funny to me that they had a icluded a generic picture of smiling moms and kids on the page but but decided to leave off one half of Jesus' sentance to save space. It's a small issue but I was going somewhere with it.  

I asked if Jehovah's Witnesses did anything in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. They responded that they did everything in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and tried to turn the conversation toward a discussion of God's name, stating that Father and God are only titles and that we need to understand and call God by his real name which is Jehovah. I wasn't buying the change of subject and said, "You know, Catholics do everything in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, exactly like it says in the Bible."

You see, Jehovah's Witnesses, like members of almost all Protestant denominations, believe in the doctrine of sola scriptura - that scripture alone, and not the church, is the authoritative source of all religous truth. I knew this and was trying to establish a precedent in their mind - that the Catholic Church did at least one thing more in acccord with scripture than their Church did, and further, that their Church may have mistakenly not obeyed scripture (and therefore God's will) as well as it could have. 

I told them that every prayer of the Church, that every mass, every baptsim, marriage and funeral as well as every private prayer offered by every individual begins and ends with the words "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen". I then told them that we even sign ourselves as we say the words and the repeated the "in the name of the Father, etc", this time signing myself in a slightly exagerated way in order to make my point.

This took them aback a little and there was a brief moment of awkward silence. I realized right then that they were not well educated on the Catholic faith. Someone once said that the Catholic Chuch is like a caged lion, it does not need to be defended as much as it needs to just be let out of the cage and so I stepped into the breach and asked them on what authority their church teaches on matters of faith and morals.

They replied that their church teaches under the authority of the Bible and tried to turn the conversation toward biblical authority, insisting that we must always make sure that we are doing everything according to the teaching of the Bible (sola scriptura again).

 
"OK", I responded, "But the Bible states that the Church is 'the pillar and foundation of truth'" and explained that as the upholder (pillar) of truth and the base upon which all truth is built (foundation), the Bible really tells us that it is the Chuch, and not the Bible, which is the primary authority on religious truth and maters of faith and morals.

Not relenting, I stepped right into the second moment of awkward silence and said that although the Jehovah's Witness Church was established by Richard Russel in the 1800's, the Catholic Church was established by Christ himself. I then told them about apostolic succession, that every priest and bishop can trace his predecessor back through history to the original twelve apostles.

They seemed somewhat surprised by all of this. They were not familiar with the term "Apostolic succession" but the the Bibles they carried had an excellent encyclopedia in the back and they read the short essay on the subject to me out-loud. To their credit, it was acccurate and fair and I congratulated them on it.

The converstaiton went on a little while longer and as I walked them down the driveway, I told them that I admired their spirit of evangelism and that I would welcome a visit from them or any other members of their Church.  As we parted, I said, "You know, we have to always be open to God's truth, no matter where it leads us and no matter what the cost." They gave me an Amen and headed up the street.

Will they be converted? I don't know. I pray for them sometimes. Maybe, if you have read this blog post this far, you could pray for them too. 

The seed has been planted. The lion has been let out of the cage. That's all anyone can do.

Interestingly enough, I read that the Mormons are starting to push a big door-to-door campaign similar to what the Jehovah's have been doing for years. The word on the street is that they send out kids who know less about their own faith than the Jehovah's at my door did about Catholicsim. You can read about the Mormon campaign over at Patrick Madrid's blog. See http://patrickmadrid.blogspot.com/2010/06/coming-soon-to-doorbell-near-you-mormon.html.

So what's my point in all this? Don't hide when they knock on your door. They are really nice people who sincerly believe in their faith and are trying to live it as best as they know how.  Engage them. Talk to them. Give them a drink of water because it's pretty hot outside. May God bless them.

And their theological arguments are really weak.

Most non-Catholic Christians believe in the supremacy of the Bible and if you can show them how Catholicism is firmly rooted in scripture, you just might plant a seed that will grow.  

-Tim-