Question for active Mormon...

[carol_marie]

Well it happened again today… two Morman missonaries were in my neighborhood. They go to my neighbor’s house - but skip mine. Why is that? We’ve lived in this same house for 10 years and they’ve never once knocked. I see them in my neighborhood - they stop at my neighbors on both sides but ALWAYS skip my house. I don’t get it? My friend thought maybe they are turned off by the “fish” on my car? Or maybe the see the cross on my porch? Any ideas?

 

[PaulDupre]

Maybe you’re on the mission’s “do not contact” list. I know I am.
God bless you,
Paul

 

[amgid]

carol marie:

Well it happened again today… two Morman missonaries were in my neighborhood. They go to my neighbor’s house - but skip mine. Why is that? We’ve lived in this same house for 10 years and they’ve never once knocked. I see them in my neighborhood - they stop at my neighbors on both sides but ALWAYS skip my house. I don’t get it? My friend thought maybe they are turned off by the “fish” on my car? Or maybe the see the cross on my porch? Any ideas?

The easy answer to that is, Why don’t you ask them? If they are in your neighborhood regularly, that is probably because they are teaching someone in that area. Next time you see them, stop them and as them!

amgid

 

[Tmaque]

carol marie:

Well it happened again today… two Morman missonaries were in my neighborhood. They go to my neighbor’s house - but skip mine. Why is that? We’ve lived in this same house for 10 years and they’ve never once knocked. I see them in my neighborhood - they stop at my neighbors on both sides but ALWAYS skip my house. I don’t get it? My friend thought maybe they are turned off by the “fish” on my car? Or maybe the see the cross on my porch? Any ideas?

Crosses have that effect on some LDS. I wear a crucifix and I took my son swimming at a park here in Salt Lake County. It was during the week and most of the people there were young mothers with their kids. The reaction of some of them was striking. Some looked at me like there was a tumor growing out of my chest. I think Dracula would have had less revulsion toward my crucifix. Others didn’t seem to mind.

I think it’s only natural to feel revulsion for the cross when you’re taught that it’s like honoring the gun that killed your loved one. One LDS co-worker told me that a Christian wearing a crucifix would be like a black man wearing a pendant depicting his brother being lynched. So, if they have that frame of reference I think it’s very possible that the cross bothered them.

 

[carol_marie]

amgid:

The easy answer to that is, Why don’t you ask them? If they are in your neighborhood regularly, that is probably because they are teaching someone in that area. Next time you see them, stop them and as them!

amgid

I would - but I wouldn’t want them to think that I’m interested in a Bible study or anything. I’m very happy being Catholic. I was just curious as to why we’re always skipped. Did the previous owners of my house throw eggs at them or something? (hope not!)

 

[catholic-rcia]

Print this off and give it to them next time you see them. It would be good to go over each scripture with them

**

**The Cross In the Scriptures **

“God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14 "

…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

“He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”
Luke 9:23 "…

by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." Colossians 1:20

“…having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14

“…that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” Ephesians 2:16 "

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel…" Col 1:21-23

"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21

“… he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:38

“Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.” 1 Corinthians 1:17

“…if I still preach circumcision [conforming to accepted cultural standards], why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.” Galatians 5:11

“As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” Galatians 6:12

“For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven…” Philippians 3:1

8 “…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

“…you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience… But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast…” Ephesians 2:1-9
**

 

[amgid]

carol marie:

I would - but I wouldn’t want them to think that I’m interested in a Bible study or anything. I’m very happy being Catholic. I was just curious as to why we’re always skipped. Did the previous owners of my house throw eggs at them or something? (hope not!)

Perhaps the Holy Spirit has witnessed to them that you are not interested, and they don’t want to waste their time with you!

Besides, if you are not really interested in their message, what do you care whether knock on your door or not?—or for that matter what the previous owner may have done? You are not looking for an opportunity to throw eggs at them yourself, are you?

If you invite them in, they won’t do “Bible study” with you. They will share with you a prepared message, and may leave you some literature; and if you are interested, they will make an appointment with you to visit you later, and tell you a bit more about the LDS Church.

amgid

 

[Tmaque]

amgid:

Besides, if you are not really interested in their message, what do you care whether knock on your door or not?—or for that matter what the previous owner may have done? You are not looking for an opportunity to throw eggs at them yourself, are you?

amgid

Maybe she’s interested in giving them her message. Ever think of that? I always let the missionaries in when they knock on my door. I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to plant a seed.

 

[leschornmom]

amgid:

Perhaps the Holy Spirit has witnessed to them that you are not interested, and they don’t want to waste their time with you!

Besides, if you are not really interested in their message, what do you care whether knock on your door or not?—or for that matter what the previous owner may have done? You are not looking for an opportunity to throw eggs at them yourself, are you?

If you invite them in, they won’t do “Bible study” with you. They will share with you a prepared message, and may leave you some literature; and if you are interested, they will make an appointment with you to visit you later, and tell you a bit more about the LDS Church.

amgid

Amgid, I think that perhaps you are reading a lot more into this question than you should. You almost sound angry with carol. and certainly don’t think that there is any reason to be she was not attacking us or our faith she was only asking a question.

Carol, While it is not unheard of for the holy spirit to warn people (of any religion) about dangers, I am sure that that is not the case here. LDS missionaries have a lot of ground to cover when they are tracting some times they’ll do an every other house pattern or perhaps you live in between members or investigators. Also, You may very well be on the no contact list. If some one who once lived at your address asked to be on it. They may still be on it. Don’t take it personally.

Oh yeah, I wouldn’t think that the cross or the fish would have any thing to do with it either. I am a devout LDS and I am most definaately not afraid of them. While the cross and the fish are not as highly reguarded to us as they are to others, they are not forbidden, they represent christianity and deserve our respect. I think the lynching coment was a little over the top though.

 

[Chris_Jodrey]

This is all kind of funny. In my mission we had no “no contact list”. Actually, once one lady demanded to be put on it and we told her that we were too lazy to work with some list like that, and that it’s not that hard to tell us each time we come by that she’s just not interested, and that if she likes venting that much we really don’t mind getting sworn at either. This is the first time I’ve heard of a “no contact list”. Sometimes we would purposely not knock a house because we had knocked it before and the person would threaten us, or start up a 2-hour-long argument, or something like that. But by the time a new set of missionaries would get there they’d surely knock the door again and probably get the same treatment.

Think about it, if it was your job to save souls and were running from house to house to share the most important message in the world would you be checking a list each time to see if sometime in the past a person requested not to be contacted? Quite simply, that’s dumb.

Oh, and I would knock your door ESPECIALLY if you had things like a fishy and a cross. I used to drag my companions to go to protestant services (or performances with bands and such), masses, once a first communion, almost a wedding once, and an occasional debate. Only one of them actually ever enjoyed it though. For the record, my attitude wasn’t combative, I just wanted to experience and learn about other churches, and still do.

 

[catholic-rcia]

Evangelization

**This will be a good read for you, it was written by a parishioner here in Northern Utah. It will help you get into the mindset of 2000 years of missionary work. Many are freely giving up their lives today to do this work all around the world. These are called by God, not by man. It is a calling, a gift. If you would like to meet one who is a missionary for Christ just ask and you can meet this one on this forum, a pearl of the greatest price. **

The word itself sends chills down the spine of most Catholics today. We tend to think of two young men dressed in suits knocking at our door and asking us questions we can’t answer or zealous Christians wondering if we are saved. It makes us uncomfortable. Too often, we adopt the attitude of: “Here I am Lord, send someone else!” Yet evangelization is referred to as the “essential mission of the Church” by Pope Paul VI so it seems important for us to gain a deeper understanding.

Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ’s sacrifice in the mass, which is the memorial of his death and glorious resurrection…

The Church is an evangelizer, but she begins by being evangelized herself. She is the community of believers, the community of hope lived and communicated, the community of brotherly love; and she needs to listen unceasingly to what she must believe, to her reasons for hoping, to the new commandment of love. She is the people of God immersed in the world, and often tempted by idols, she always needs to hear the proclamation of the “Mighty Works of God” which converted her to the Lord; she always needs to be called together afresh by Him and reunited."

Pope Paul VI, Apostolic exhortation on Evangelization, # 14 &N 15
Evangelization in the Catholic sense is not proselytizing; getting others to join our Church. It is not a program that can be followed to ensure a certain level of success. Evangelization is a call, a way of life, a way of being. It is sharing the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ by our words, our actions, our very selves. It is making use of all our gifts and talents to love others in Christ.

while evangelization is the duty of every baptized catholic, the holy spirit is the one who brings about conversion of heart necessary for a transformed life. This presents another difficulty for many Catholics: we have no control over the outcome of our life’s vocation. The holy Spirit “blows where he will”. We can only do our part in sharing and living the Gospel and praying for the Holy Spirit to open hearts.

What might evangelization look like in the life of today’s Catholic? We are first of all called to our own continuing conversion. Our participation in the Mass and the sacraments, our time spent in personal prayer and study of God’s word, and our reaching out to those in need are definitely on the short list of ways to be open to the Holy Spirit and His plans to transform us.

The Eucharist, the “source and summit” of our lives, it is the primary means of evangelization for Catholics. Christ becomes truly present in Word and Sacrament when we gather. What better time or place to introduce others to, and rekindle in ourselves, the immense love of God poured out to us through His Son than when time itself is transformed and we stand within the Paschal mystery? The rituals and music, the gentle hospitality of the assembly gathered, the Word proclaimed and the consecrated bread and wine, all work together to bring hope to our world.

Continued-----

 

[catholic-rcia]

Serving the parish community is another way to participate in our call to evangelize, sharing our gifts through the many and varied ministries builds up the Church and helps us grow spiritually. Whether we minister at our liturgies, participate in missions and retreats, care for the poor, reach out to the sick and dying, serve on the council, catechise our children, join the RCIA team, become a member of Bible study or prayer group, help with finances, or simply bring joy and enthusiasm to social gatherings, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be bearer’s of Christ’s light to all.

As Catholics, we might agree it is important to live our lives in a way that draws others to God, but we tend to struggle with the idea of actually telling another person about our faith and God’s love. Whether we are a stay-at-home mom, an engineer, a farmer, a professor, a student, a social worker, a doctor, or unemployed, we share equal responsibility to draw others into the circle of God’s love by living and proclaiming the Good News. We are each called to live out, and speak out about out faith, firmly grounded in a God of mercy and grace through Jesus.
“Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness…Nevertheless this always remains insufficient because even the finest witness will prove ineffective in the long run if it is not explained, justified and made explicitly a clear and unequivocal proclamation of the Lord Jesus. The Good News proclaimed by the witness of life sooner or later has to be proclaimed by the word of life. There is no true evangelization if the name, the Son of God, are not proclaimed.” Pope Paul VI Apostolic Exhortation on Evangelization, # 21 & 22

Being a follower of Christ has always involved risk and a leap out of the mainstream. The Holy Spirit empowers us, or in fact, compels us, to live an exciting and challenging life of evangelization. We enjoy the privilege of being used by God to impact the lives of others and be abundantly blessed in the process. As Catholics, let us embrace our true identity as disciples of Jesus Christ and refuse to be satisfied with mediocre faith.

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe unless they have heard of Him? And how can they hear unless there is someone to preach? And how can men preach unless they are sent? Romans 10: 13-15

Margaret Stepan
Ministry of Adult Formation \ Evangelization