JW and Mormon Missionaries

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Cheshangle

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Everywhere I’ve lived (in three countries) I’ve been assailed by JWs. The other day I was walking down the road with an Asian friend, when quite a pretty, smiling young woman came up to us and said, “I’d love to talk to you; I’m a Jehovah’s Witness”. “Sorry, I said, Sima here is a Hindu and I’m Anglican so we’re spoken for”. She seemed quite taken aback and did not pursue us.

In Ireland the local JW was well known. He knocked on my door and stareted fulminating about the faults of the RCC. “I was one for 40 years, so I should know”. When he paused for breath, I replied, “well, sorry, I can’t help, I’m Church of Ireland”. He seemed a bit stuck by that and left soon after. I mentioned this to a local RC priest and he said, “I know that guy. He even pesters me at the Presbytery and I give as good as I get”. Knowing the priest as I did, I supect (and hope) he came (the priest) out on top!

Oddly enough I’ve never been approached by a Mormon, but they were well represented in Australia: sombely dressed young Americans (always male) who shouted “good day” as they rode past on their bicycles. But on the suburban train once, I saw a Mormon, carrying various “holy” books, who suddenly found a junkie sitting next to him. “Hey, I just love them books, man”. The Mormon did not seem to know how to reply, so got off at the next station, hotly pursued by the junkie.

I can give some more anecdotes, but since this is a Catholic forum, I’d be grateful for any tips from you guys.
 
Tips as far as what? How to deal with missionaries from my Church? 😉 Perhaps you should ask this in the Apologetics section 🤷.
 
Cheshangle said:
Everywhere I’ve lived (in three countries) I’ve been assailed by JWs. The other day I was walking down the road with an Asian friend, when quite a pretty, smiling young woman came up to us and said, “I’d love to talk to you; I’m a Jehovah’s Witness”. “Sorry, I said, Sima here is a Hindu and I’m Anglican so we’re spoken for”. She seemed quite taken aback and did not pursue us.

In Ireland the local JW was well known. He knocked on my door and stareted fulminating about the faults of the RCC. “I was one for 40 years, so I should know”. When he paused for breath, I replied, “well, sorry, I can’t help, I’m Church of Ireland”. He seemed a bit stuck by that and left soon after. I mentioned this to a local RC priest and he said, “I know that guy. He even pesters me at the Presbytery and I give as good as I get”. Knowing the priest as I did, I supect (and hope) he came (the priest) out on top!

Oddly enough I’ve never been approached by a Mormon, but they were well represented in Australia: sombely dressed young Americans (always male) who shouted “good day” as they rode past on their bicycles. But on the suburban train once, I saw a Mormon, carrying various “holy” books, who suddenly found a junkie sitting next to him. “Hey, I just love them books, man”. The Mormon did not seem to know how to reply, so got off at the next station, hotly pursued by the junkie.

I can give some more anecdotes, but since this is a Catholic forum, I’d be grateful for any tips from you guys.
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When a mormon comes, invite them in your house, and give them some coffee. If they reject it, say, “Okay, would you like some soda? I have coke, pepsi, mountain dew…” 😃

Okay, I was just joking, but wouldn’t that be funny? I wonder how they would respond. I’ve never had a mormon or JW try to convert me, so I won’t be of much help.
 
Just tell them that you are not interested. They are under pressure to get converts. Someone who is committed to thier religion is a waste of time for them.
 
J W’s are taught to hop around the scriptures never letting you answer a question before jumping onto something else. From my experience you just have to hold them to one subject at a time. Two of my favorites are the Deity of Jesus and the authority of the ancient Church
 
If any non-catholic approaches me, I will politely say, that I´ll listen to them, only, if they listen to me. I think that they will leave, because most evangelizers that I know, won´t listen. God bless:thumbsup:👍👍
 
My Brother who is a complete pagan invites them in. Serves them wine and cheese and puts on a porn movie. Many stay for the porn and wine. Only a few leave quickly. So, that may not be the way to handle them.

Yes, he does.

Myself, I ask them for their name, phone number and address so I can go visit them at the most inconvinent time. For some reason, I never got any takers.

With your situation, just act crazy pull out a cross and start exercising the demons out of them.
 
My favorite line for Mormon missionaries comes from the TV show “My Name Is Earl”…

“For the last time boys, we already have a Lord!”

🙂
 
As much as we like to poke (light hearted) fun at the LDS and JW Missonaries…at least they are out trying to convert people to what they believe is the truth. Can any other church say they field as many missonaries as the Mormons? It may be annoying to you to pestered by them, but look at it from their view…they are trying to save your soul. I simply tell them that my husband is Catholic, I am Lutheran and we since we can’t convert each other…they don’t stand a chance.
 
You can invest a small amount of $ (less than $10) and read When Mormons Call, Answering Mormon Missionaries at Your Door by Isaiah Bennett.

Bennett was a Catholic priest who, in the throes of depression, became a Mormon after allowing himself to be convinced by the arguments of visiting missionaries. He taught Mormonism for a couple of years in Salt Lake City, but left when he realized he had been duped – he found Mormonism to be a fraud, founded by a con man.

The book describes the training and techniques of the missionaries and tells readers the best way to defend against them.

Mormonism is not Christian, but it’s wrapped in language that can deceive one into thinking it’s Christian. Both Judaism and Catholicism – the fulfillment of Judaism – are monotheistic. Mormonism is polytheistic, or as some like to say, henotheistic. God of earth (aka Heavenly Father) is an ‘exalted’ man of flesh and bones, one among many gods. Their “trinity” is three separate gods. Mormon males aspire to become gods and rule over their own kingdoms and produce spirit children with their multiple goddess wives…

Here’s a link to the book:

amazon.com/When-Mormons-Call-Isaiah-Bennett/dp/1888992077

It’s also available right here at the publisher, Catholic Answers.

Jim Dandy
 
Ches, your skills are more than adequate for deflecting unwanted advances by missionaries.

If you want to actually engage them in debate, **just do it **(love that nike slogan)
 
I owe an incredable debt of gratitude to the JW members. Their questions prompted me to look up answers to comments made that never seemed quite right. I more or less knew what the Church taught but I was not sure why she taught what she did.
 
I’m a former Mormon missionary, now convert to the Catholic Church.

Mormon missionaries are given a very rudimentary education in the scriptures and the basic beliefs of various religions. The majority of LDS missionary training is in how to emotionally recount one’s “testimony” and how to speak a foreign language.

All you need to do is:
  • know what you believe and why you believe it.
  • know why the Catholic Church is the same church as was started by Christ when he sent St. Peter as the first Pope and the Holy Spirit as comforter on Pentecost.
That’s really it. The Mormon position rests on the premise that the original Christian Church apostatized. You’ll hear different hypotheses on how this apostasy occurred (everything from sin to false teaching), but the one unifying belief is that the original church apostatized so significantly that every single last man who held the priesthood failed to faithfully pass that priesthood on to others and, thus the “authority” was lost to continue the mission of the Church.

Once you read up a bit on Apostolic Succession, the three-fold ministry of the Christian priesthood, and the very Catholic beliefs of the early Christians (e.g. the Real Presence of the Eucharist, the Communion of Saints, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc.) you can move onto the same plane on which you’ll find your Mormon companions: emotion.

The LDS are very much into emotion; so much so that the first Sunday of every month is a special “open mic” service in which individuals members may approach the pulpit to spill their hearts out about how they know the LDS Church is true and how they know Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson are prophets of God. If you have a personal testimony of the Catholic Church, of Jesus’ salvific action on Calvary, of his real existence in the accidents of bread and wine, of the authority of the papacy, or any other uniquely Catholic doctrine, by all means mention it to the missionaries. Tell them that you know these things are true because you were given such a witness by BOTH reason and the power of the Spirit. It will likely shock them since there’s a generally well understood maxim in LDS culture that only Mormons have “true testimonies”.

If you can speak of your faith as if you’re on fire, it will very likely surprise LDS missionaries.
 
Jerusha said:
Just tell them that you are not interested. They are under pressure to get converts. Someone who is committed to thier religion is a waste of time for them.
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You can normally spot them coming down the street, and for better or for worse fail to answer the door. If I am assailed, I reply, “sorry, I’m Anglican, I’m already spoken for, good bye”. My dad used to say, “here’s fourpence; I’ll buy your magazine; goodbye”.

Oddly enough I was at a large hotel in Paris ten years ago, and there was a major world-wide JW congress there. Not once was I approached, and they all seemed to be very normal, pleasant people, wise-cracking at the bar, etc.

I mentioned this to my RC priest friend, and he said, “I’m not surprised. They’re human after all and we shouldn’t pre-judge them”.
 
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