My family and I are moving 1/2 a block away from a mormon church what can we expect?

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BDawg said:
Hi Rebecca,

I know that every non-Mormon in Utah has a few “horror stories” about the Mormons who won’t stop bugging them. But the truth is that the vast majority of us aren’t like that. The sad thing is when people will take the actions of a few socially challenged people, and hold a grudge against all of us because of it.

FYI, I know lots of Mormons who have gone on missions in Catholic countries, and they always have several “horror stories” about how awful Catholics or their priests were to them. And yet, most of the time they don’t come away blaming all Catholics for the actions of a minority.
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I already said I have Mormon friends, and that everyone is different.
 
BDawg said:
Rebecca,

Case in point. My sister went on a mission to Spain, and she had a Catholic guy chase her with a sword. Yes, I said a sword. Top that. 😃
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I understand the feeling, sometimes I wish I had a sword. :knight2:
 
Most LDS people are fairly friendly and not too pushy about their beliefs. You will get exceptions though.

The dating issue for your kids could be a problem at some point and there are always some kids who bully those who are different, but that is a factor not impacted by living near a church.

I think the biggest thing you’ll have to worry about is people double parking in front of your house if there is a big conference.
 
BDawg said:
As a Mormon missionary, I always found that the line that worked best on us was, “Sorry boys, but I’m not interested in your message. Thanks for stopping by.” Then we would thank the person for their time and move on. Maybe we would knock on the door a few months later, after we had gone through all the other streets in town. If someone tried something more extreme, however, it didn’t help them at all, because we didn’t keep records of who yelled at us, threatened us, or freaked us out.
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In my experience “not interested” has absolutely no effect on the missionary (of any persuasion). Like RebeccaJ said they simply talk right over me, ignoring I might add the No Solicitors sign on my door.
 
BDawg said:
Hi Rebecca,

FYI, I know lots of Mormons who have gone on missions in Catholic countries, and they always have several “horror stories” about how awful Catholics or their priests were to them. And yet, most of the time they don’t come away blaming all Catholics for the actions of a minority.
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You seem like a pretty decent guy, so please don’t take this the wrong way. The difference is that we don’t come to you home, uninvited and unannounced, to tell you that your faith is wrong and that you have to do what we say if you are to be in heaven with God (i.e, the celestial kingdom). We don’t have a formal institutionalized program to proselytize and convert non-Catholics and we certainly don’t use tactics like “milk-before-meat.”
 
I don’t understand why people have such trouble telling evangelizers or other sales persons “Thanks, but no thanks”. It’s very easy to avoid this.

We have a Baptist door to door person stop by our house occasionally, I just say " I’m not interested" and close the door. No explanations, no further discussion, no anger, no resentment. Just give a polite refusal, thanks, and close the door.

Or, if you want to debate religion with them, invite them in.🙂
 
lovesMary said:
“Thanks, but no thanks”. It’s very easy to avoid this.

I just say " I’m not interested" and close the door. No explanations, no further discussion, no anger, no resentment. Just give a polite refusal, thanks, and close the door.

Or, if you want to debate religion with them, invite them
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It used to be a lot easier to close the front door when it was just me and my cat. Now with 4 kids and 3 dogs (no cats:( )it takes a good looonng time to get the door shut:)
 
majick275 said:
and used car salesmen just display autos and offer to assist should you wish to purchase one…at least they don’t come to your door to “invite” you to the lot.

mormon missionaries receive extensive sales training and a have a very developed set of procedures for getting people to meet with them.
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Maj, I still don’t understand what this has to do with forcing anyone to worship any particular way. Rhetoric and “sales pitches” are just a fact of life in a free society. You have to use them to promote your own agenda, and you have to learn to deal with them to keep yourself from getting railroaded by others.
 
BDawg said:
This seems kind of silly to me. How has anyone ever tried to force you to worship in a way you don’t want to? It seems to me that all anyone ever did was knock on your door and invite you to learn more about their religion, every few months.
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Let me see if I can explain. I am not now, or ever have been “church shopping”. I know that I (and my ancesters and my children and children’s children) have a legacy of Catholicism. (With a few twists and turns here and there, I know that that personal family part of the legacy goes back at least 1000 years. And I know that the Catholicism/Christian part goes back 2000 years.)

We were Catholic. And I was prepared to leave it at that. However, the fresh-faced Mormon boys were not. First they tried for my son–he actually had to be rude about it to keep from being “carried off” to one of the meetings. That was not the way he was brought up, but it stop the harrassment for him at the time. But then they came for my younger daughter and succeeded with that “milk before meat” coercion and the polite and handsome missionary that she fell for. Suddenly (six weeks until Mormon Baptism which was done secretively) my daughter (whom we love very, very much) was theirs, her heritage was made dust, and our family unraveled–and no the Mormons were not understanding and refused to even talk to us at the time. (Gee, and it all started for her with a Mormon friend offering an invitation to a Fireside Meeting and then a Relief Society Meeting–how was I supposed to know that there was an ulterior motive?)

After the wedding (which we couldn’t attend) the Missionaries would come to bear their testimonies and try to get me to commit to a LDS baptism date. The last two pled "Please, please, what we say is IMPORTANT"even when I told them that I was Catholic and so not interested.

Of course you know in your heart that if the LDS really believed that everyone is entitled to worship whatever way they feel, the LDS would not feel it necessary to send out proseltyzing Missionaries especially to the already Churched. (And yes, I’m trying to keep in mind your words that the trying to convert is really out of love, even though the result was that people were hurt.)
 
RebeccaJ said:
I already said I have Mormon friends, and that everyone is different.
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Hi Rebecca,

Actually, I think you have given some of the best advice to catholic4ever, and I appreciate your even-handed approach. That’s why I was surprised when you seemed to be arguing against the point that most Mormons are pretty tame.

For Pete’s sake, the OP is so scared of Mormons that she is afraid to go walking with her kids, and is thinking about hiding them so they never have to talk to any Mormons while living in Utah! Some of the posters here have resorted to scare tactics that are designed to make her even more afraid, but I don’t think that’s what she needs. She just needs some balanced perspectives so she can figure out how to be happy where she will be living, and raise her kids strong in her faith.

So anyway, I appreciate most of what you said here. Most of it is just what I might tell a Mormon who is scared to move to a town full of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
 
AMDGtoo said:
Code: 
Of course you know in your heart that if the LDS **really** believed that everyone is entitled to worship whatever way they feel, the LDS would not feel it necessary to send out proseltyzing Missionaries especially to the already Churched.  (And yes, I'm trying to keep in mind your words that the trying to convert is really out of love, even though the result was that people were hurt.)
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Hi A,

I understand why you have some bad feelings toward Mormons, but the fact is that your daughter wasn’t forced to do anything. She was persuaded. Maybe you think she shouldn’t have been persuaded, and that her reasons were weak, but the fact is that she was an adult, and nobody held a gun to her head.

There is a difference between ALLOWING other people freedom of religion, and trying to PERSUADE them to follow yours.

By the way, did you realize that some of the Popes around the turn of the 20th century were still saying that it was wrong to have freedom of religion in Catholic countries? A few pushy Mormons are nothing compared to that.
 
RebeccaJ said:
A Crucifix inside your front door works well. When the missionaries tell you they have a message about the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, you can open your door wide, point to the Crucifix, and say you already know allll about Him.
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Yes, a particularly bloody, Spanish mission-style crucifix on the OUTSIDE of the door may even stop people from knocking to sell you things and tell you about their new business! 😛
 
Telling it like it is. I don’t believe in the milk before meat approach.

The OP asked about Mormons in UT, this is how it is living in UT. Like all places you have the good and the bad, but no where else in the world do you have an entire population bent on inciting you AND your children, via every means possible, constantly, non-stop, to join their religion. It gets tiring, and annoying.

Honestly, I discourage non-Mormons from moving here for those very reasons. Not out of fear, no, I don’t fear Mormons. Out of a sense of you can’t live in peace, and you have to always be on guard, especially in regards to your children.

The majority of the parish I go to is made up of people who grew up elsewhere. They come here for work and most of the time they are gone within a few years, for these very reasons. A nice experience for them, and they have good experiences, but they want their families to be Catholic, not sucked into a man-made cult.

And like I said, anyone who lives here figures out how to make it work, but the point is, we shouldn’t have to.

re Popes enforcing a theocratic point of view…one name: Brigham Young
 
Regarding the whole “milk before meat” idea, are Mormon missionaries being taught to abandon that approach nowadays? I was told by a Mormon not too long ago that I was mistaken when I claimed the LDS Church taught a certain thing. I pointed to a Church publication that backed me up, but he said that wasn’t authoritative and would probably be corrected in future editions. So, I logged on to the website the LDS Church has now where non-Mormons can talk anonymously to a missionary, and I asked them. They admitted I was correct (even though it was clear from my question that it was something that really disturbed me about Mormonism), and they even gave me some Scripture citations to back me up in my argument with my Mormon friend!

Perhaps that’s an unusual situation, but I found it interesting.
 
From “Preach My Gospel” (A Guide to Missionary Service):

“•Study 1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12; and Doctrine and Covenants 19:22. What
is the milk that is referred to? What is the meat? Compare your answers with the
doctrines in the chapter “What Should I Study and Teach?” Why must you provide
the milk and the meat in the right sequence and in the right amount? How do you
do that?”

pg 236
 
JDHallKY said:
Regarding the whole “milk before meat” idea, are Mormon missionaries being taught to abandon that approach nowadays? I was told by a Mormon not too long ago that I was mistaken when I claimed the LDS Church taught a certain thing. I pointed to a Church publication that backed me up, but he said that wasn’t authoritative and would probably be corrected in future editions. So, I logged on to the website the LDS Church has now where non-Mormons can talk anonymously to a missionary, and I asked them. They admitted I was correct (even though it was clear from my question that it was something that really disturbed me about Mormonism), and they even gave me some Scripture citations to back me up in my argument with my Mormon friend!

Perhaps that’s an unusual situation, but I found it interesting.
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Hi JD,

Wouldn’t you say that it’s pretty common for Catholics to misunderstand parts of their faith? If so, why be surprised when you find out a Mormon misunderstood something? It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with “milk before meat.” That simply has to do with teaching the basics before all the complicated stuff that would be confusing without the basics.
 
Mormons are not Christians. When they come over, ask them **IS JESUS CHRIST GOD? **and they will give some other answer like, “he’s divine” or some other copout. Don’t let them leave without correcting them and spreading lies by saying they are true Christians. They do not believe in the Trinity as well. This is enough to make them stop coming by.

Here is also a good site someon reccommend yesterday:
lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/interfaith/Catholic_EOM.htm

but the standard stuff on Catholic.com is also good:
Distinctive Beliefs of the Mormon Church
The Gods of the Mormon Church
Mormon Stumpers
Mormonism’s Baptism for the Dead
Problems with the Book of Mormon
 
estesbob said:
What is “milk before meat”
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In the context of Mormon missionary work, it means the Mormon missionaries tell you about Mormonism in a way that seems almost traditional Christian. They leave out the teachings, which are from their scriptures, that are more “out there”. The sort of things that people usually ask here.

In Catholic terms, we did the same in the first 300 years or so. Pagans and others mocked our sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and so the catechumen process exists.

The difference being, we have always made sure all of our teaching are understood BEFORE baptism. Mormons tend to leave the meat part out for the poor convert to discover later.
 
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