Not your typical mormon missionary question

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Delphinus85

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My brother (who I am close to) is a very active and devout mormon. He is currently serving as a missionary in Puerto Rico. This leaves me really torn. What can I do to show my brother that I love him, and I don’t hate him (or his faith) without directly supporting what he is doing down there. I know most of the population there is catholic (at least it seemed that way when I visited the area about a month ago) so I really have a hard time talking to him about it, and he is really excited about it. I pray for his conversion every day, but…how should I interact with him when he talks about his “God given mission”?
 
Delphinus85 said:
My brother (who I am close to) is a very active and devout mormon. He is currently serving as a missionary in Puerto Rico. This leaves me really torn. What can I do to show my brother that I love him, and I don’t hate him (or his faith) without directly supporting what he is doing down there. I know most of the population there is catholic (at least it seemed that way when I visited the area about a month ago) so I really have a hard time talking to him about it, and he is really excited about it. I pray for his conversion every day, but…how should I interact with him when he talks about his “God given mission”?
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Delphinus,

I’d just ask him “do you think I need saving” - if he answers “no” then ask him why he is trying to convert Catholics who share the same faith. If he answers “yes” though - I dunno.

Btw - was he raised catholic?

Catholig
 
no. Neither of us were raised with any real good christian teaching at all. I went to an assemblies of God church for a few years until finding Roman Catholicism, and he bumped around a little longer and fell headfirst into mormonism. And yes, he does think I need to find “the real truth.” We’re learned for the sake of our relationship not to discuss it though. Although for him it’s simple to do so since he feels there is no such thing as hell. (as per LDS teaching)
 
There is a rule of life that if people care about each other, they should each consider the feelings and situation of the other. That applies to your brother as well as to you. You don’t want to cause him discomfort, but neither should he want to cause you discomfort.

What would happen if you just said “As a Catholic I can’t really feel supportive of what you’re doing on your mission, so let’s just make that subject off-limits, OK?” Would he understand and agree, or would he be determined to continue talking about his mission?
 
well the real trick is, we have had that conversation, so he just talks about wanting to convert anyone to LDS, not just catholics.
 
I wouldn’t worry too much about him converting a whole lot of folks. According to my mormon friend and that PBS show last spring, missionaries typically don’t have a whole lot of luck converting folks and it’s actually rare when they do. If anything, being in a catholic country he might end up being converted himself.
 
And there’s also stories about missionaries baptizing tons of people who never bother to follow up and actually become Mormon as well. All I’m relating is what I’ve been told that missionary work is long, tiresome, and rarely shows visible returns.
 
I was just replying to the Mormon Brother response…I encourage you to start a rosary in prayer for him. And one thing you might do is dialogue in love, and remind him you are both seeking truth and ask him for permission to search for that together…ask him questions and listen. Dont respond in defense. Respond with truly a learning heart. let him know you will write it down and respond later. And ask him if you could ask him questions as well to open his heart to truly keep this journey together not divided. One thing most of us do wrong is argue. We are all seeking truth. You will find that the teachings of the Catholic Church go so far back that the answers are simple. Why would a loving God leave us on this earth without direction and guidance? He left us with a Church of love that through your actions you can express that, not by confusion of words…and God didn’t wait over 1000 years to establish the Church…that wouldn’t be right. We need organization. Period. Imagine any community without a leader. Its humans that corrupt its true meaning. Prayers your way…Theresa
 
thomasf said:
I wouldn’t worry too much about him converting a whole lot of folks. According to my mormon friend and that PBS show last spring, missionaries typically don’t have a whole lot of luck converting folks and it’s actually rare when they do. If anything, being in a catholic country he might end up being converted himself.
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I can only hope. my brother and I have talked out our differences on it. Had hours and hours and hours of discussion on the topic, and we have resorted to just praying for each other I guess lol.

I realy hope there are no converts, heh. Please pray my brother finds truth. This is something that’s causing a lot grief for me. Does anyone think it’s possible, in God’s grace, that a mormon such as my brother, if he dies as a mormon, can enter heaven at all?
 
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