Talk to son

Press, 25 May 1989, Page 12

Talk to son

Sir, —Today my five-year-old son was playing in our yard when two men, representatives of the Jehovah’s Witness church, visited our property uninvited. They spoke to my son, telling him that the end of the world is imminent and quoting, out of context, a biblical passage, “backing up” their claims of a world completely changed as he

knows it. Tonight my son is unsettled and cannot sleep. The Christian teaching he has received from his church has not prepared him for the message of fear and doom he received this morning. What right do these men have to enter, uninvited, a person’s property and, in speaking to a child in such a way, usurp a parent’s right to guide and teach that child? — Yours, etc. JILL CARDWELL.

April 29, 1989.

[Mr A. Thompson replies on~ behalf of the Christchurch Central Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses: “Anyone calling at a family home will sometimes find children playing in the yard. Many children will ask the caller why he or she is there. If those mentioned in your correspondent’s letter were Jehovah’s Witnesses, their purpose in calling was to contact the householder. Possibly the child asked why they were there. While waiting for the householder to appear they may have made a brief reply to the child. In such a case they likely would have referred to the Bible book of Revelation, Chapter 21, verses three and four. These verses do speak of the Creator replacing the sufferings and injustices of the present world with a peaceful secure global paradise. Almost all children, as well as. many who are older, find such a prospect heartwarming and appealing.”]