Talking with Mormons Missionaries. Discussion Tips?

[Catholic_Nation]

I met two Mormon Missionaries last Saturday and we talked for about an hour and an half and found them very interesting. Ill be meeting again tomorrow and I would like to dive a bit deeper into Mormonism, and how it contrasts with Catholicism.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions for this faith to faith conversation, no questions that are aggressive or confrontational just polite curiosity.

 

[Tommy999]

In spite of your good intentions and zeal to witness to the Catholic faith, I would tread lightly if I were you, Catholic Nation.

Keep in mind that the Mormon missionaries have been trained in the “Art of the Deal” so to speak in which they have counter-arguments ready for every argument made against Mormonism. Unless strongly led of the Holy Spirit to witness to them, I would advise to not engage them all. I personally tell them I am not interested and just politely send them on their way – the same with Jehovah’s Witnesses.

In general, trying to witness to them is like trying to sell a Ford to a **GM salesman **(A former Mormon missionary gave me that analogy).

Unless you are a Tim Staples or a Church Militant kind of person, I would advise against it unless you are led of God to do so in a special way. Please pray about it. Just my two cents. May the Lord be with you no matter what you decide.

 

[Horton]

I met two Mormon Missionaries last Saturday and we talked for about an hour and an half and found them very interesting. Ill be meeting again tomorrow and I would like to dive a bit deeper into Mormonism, and how it contrasts with Catholicism.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions for this faith to faith conversation, no questions that are aggressive or confrontational just polite curiosity.

Please keep in mind the goal of LDS missionaries is to get you to convert to the LDS faith. They have zero desire to learn more about the Catholic Church. They are trained only to convert, not dialog.

 

[Catholic_Nation]

Please keep in mind the goal of LDS missionaries is to get you to convert to the LDS faith. They have zero desire to learn more about the Catholic Church. They are trained only to convert, not dialog.

I here you and probably wouldn’t meet with them again but in saying this they were very open to me when I was talking about my faith, I even asked if they wanted to visit my local Parish Church and they were happy to go and see it. It is also a chance for me to understand Mormonism better because I like to learn about other religions but would never convert of course.

 

[truthseeker32]

I am a former Mormon who has had a few discussions with Mormon missionaries since leaving the faith. Some of them will be well-prepared for difficult questions and criticisms while others won’t be. As others have pointed out, missionaries learn tricks for controlling the conversation and selling their message, whether they are Mormon or Jehova’s Witnesses. They may spend hours each day preparing for such encounters and if you do not do the same then they may get you to question your faith and accept their perspective. Watch out for this.

Once they realize that you aren’t interested in becoming Mormon, or once they feel as if they cannot best you in argument, they will make their way for the door. They are discouraged from taking time out of their day for conversations that will not lead to conversion.

 

[superwimp]

Hello Catholic nation,
I wish I had developed my critical thinking skills much earlier in life than when I did. I don't think there is a better topic for developing these skills than the topic of Religion. Each point can be looked at from so many perspectives in Religion. If they make any valid points you can also come here and run it by us.

 

[Jon_S_1]

This is a great thing you are doing. Always be willing to share your faith!

I recently had mormons visit me. Two very nice young men. They caught me at a horrible time working in the garage and I almost shut the door on them, but the Holy Spirit must of nudged me and I invited them in and we talked for a good hour or so. It was a very good conversation and it turned into about a two month weekly discussion.

Fairly early on they invited me to got to their church. I said, “Well will you go to mine?” I figured they would say no but they didn’t. They said sure. So they came to mass with me one Sunday. Neither of them had ever been to mass and so I was able to give them that. I also gave them a pamphlet on the mass. Nothing preachy, but a description of what it is and why we do what we do. A few weeks later I attended their church (don’t worry I didn’t miss mass!). It was ok. Reminded me a lot of the evangelical church I went to growing up. A bible study basically.

After about two months of conversations, and me not budging at all, they brought in the heavy hitter…the full time missionary overseer. This happened to me in the past when I had spoken to mormons. They were very nice, but basically said, it was wasting everyones time if I was not interested…which is true. They are out to convert people and I wasn’t one of them.

Since then, they regularly text me “daily scripture readings” mostly from the book of mormon. In response to one of them I sent them a podcast from my RCIA program that is fantastic on the Papacy and they texted me back they couldn’t open it and asked for it by email. That surprised me because I thought they would just ignore it.

The area that I focused on was Church Authority, which is an area of agreement to some extent between us. They see the errors of Protestantism and the Bible alone and have a strong authority structure to supplement the scripture. Problem is they are wrong about where the true authority lies.

I focused on the supposed apostasy, which they could not provide adequate answers for or in any way refute other than a couple old testament out of context bible verses that are easy to dismiss.

They are used to being in the homes of “nones” who don’t have any faith understanding, and then the typical evangelical, protestant type that is very bible focused. When I started discussing history, tradition, the church fathers etc… they had not heard about that before.

You will not convert these kids. They won’t fall on their knees and ask God to bring them into the Catholic Faith. Don’t expect that at all. They will pressure you to become Mormon. So just kindly decline their offers to convert you.

I read the materials they gave me and asked them lots of questions about mormons. I learned a lot and it helped me strengthen my faith, while understanding theirs.

I was a little sad when they stopped coming by.

Feel free to message me as you meet with them if you need to run something by a fellow catholic who recently went through the same thing.

I have no doubts that the Holy Spirit planted some seeds in the heart of these young missionaries. I hope that I gave them a positive impression of the Catholic Faith, and that the seeds planted will one day grow. I am sure the same will be true for you and your encounters with the missionaries.

Good luck and God Bless!

 

[KEP1983]

Jon S, your experience is almost exactly the same as mine. I could have sworn you read my mind there.

I also focused on the Great Apostasy and Church Authority. It seems like a common starting place between both of us. They agreed with me that the Church Christ founded certainly had a central authority, and if it wasn’t the LDS Church then it was definitely the Catholic Church. They agreed that if the Great Apostasy didn’t happen like they claimed, then that Church is still around, and is still the Catholic Church.

After that I asked them for evidence of 1) the Great Apostasy, from both history and scripture and 2) supernatural evidence that puts the Divine stamp of approval on their claims. After all, they claim to be run by prophets and apostles.

I brought up Fatima, the 70,000 witnesses, including tons and tons of unbelievers/agnostics/atheists, etc. I brought up the incorruptible bodies of the saints, eucharistic miracles, etc. And since they admit they had a problem with blacks and the priesthood up until pretty recently, I brought up that we’ve had black priests and were against race based slavery since the time of Pope Eugene IV, centuries and centuries before secularists/atheists, Protestants, Mormons, etc.

I asked them for any similar evidence to prove that the LDS Church was divinely inspired-- especially since they talk a lot about their living prophet. I asked for any prophecies or miracles… they just would say that “they exist,” but couldn’t ever give examples.

They eventually had a “president” of some university call me (can’t remember exactly what he was), who used to be a Catholic and an LDS bishop. We had a long conversation, and I asked him the same questions. Same lack of answers. We talked a little about the mass, which he knew nothing about. At the end we each prayed, and I ended with an Our Father and a Hail Mary. After I finished the Hail Mary he had a long pause, and then said “I haven’t heard that prayer in a very long time.”

It was quite beautiful. I could tell that something positive from his past was brought up.

But back to the OP, I would also recommend talking about Church authority and the Great Apostasy. That’s common ground between us and the LDS, and the Great Apostasy is what it really all boils down to.

And be very kind and nice to them! I’ve heard that LDS will avoid you, think you’re possessed, etc if you come across as anti-Mormon. I had an experience like this once with a co-worker. She acted like I was evil for asking probing questions. Her attitude reminded me of a Jehovah Witness when you reject them (the shunning). I was overly nice to her and she warmed back up to me, and any time we talked about religion after that (which happened quite a bit) I would be very gentle and nice in my questions/comments, while still stating the truth or asking good questions.

 

[angell1]

I met two Mormon Missionaries last Saturday and we talked for about an hour and an half and found them very interesting. Ill be meeting again tomorrow and I would like to dive a bit deeper into Mormonism, and how it contrasts with Catholicism.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions for this faith to faith conversation, no questions that are aggressive or confrontational just polite curiosity.

it is good that you are trying to dialogue with them.

however, as other posters have noted, they are probably one of the most difficult groups. try to state your point logically, do not get agitated, they are well trained in argumentation. they are trying to get you to doubt your beliefs

but jon s is right, the seeds need to be planted somehow

 

[KEP1983]

Btw, something else I wanted to mention that I did… the two missionary girls were pretty young, born and raised LDS. I asked if they had any former Catholics I could talk to, since they would be coming from a similar background. They got me two different people to talk to me, and in our conversation I got to ask questions and explain things about the Church to them that they never knew.

This was me reaching out to these former Catholics, trying to re-evangelize them. See-- the New Evangelization! haha.

So maybe ask if you can talk to any former Catholics so you can try to plant some seeds again? And do some fasting and mortification before your dialogue.

 

[Memaw]

I here you and probably wouldn’t meet with them again but in saying this they were very open to me when I was talking about my faith, I even asked if they wanted to visit my local Parish Church and they were happy to go and see it. It is also a chance for me to understand Mormonism better because I like to learn about other religions but would never convert of course.

They only seem to be open, just to get you in. If you want to learn about Mormonism, go to catholic. com, they have lots of information there. God Bless, Memaw

 

[debbie_h]

Former “born in the covenant” Mormon here.
I agree with the comments above. After I left the LDS, my parents had my church records sent over to the local ward of where I live the missionaries had come to “visit”, Without being rude or disrespectful I told them I do not believe in the unique claims of the LDS (stated my issues why) and that I will never be coming back (this was before I seriously considered Catholicism & started RCIA). After a few visits they saw no fruit in trying to bring me back or even to try & convert my Catholic husband so they haven’t returned since.

As a side remark, JWs don’t even bother knocking on my door. Might be something to do with the crucifix on my front door

 

[jane_doe]

General tips from an active Mormon here:

• As others have said, if your goal is to convert them to Catholicism, it’s not going to happen. Not that Mormons can’t be converted by they are at a time of their lives where they literally focused on converting people to Mormonism so any Catholic faith that starts to emerge will be weeded out while on their mission. Now, you can plant seeds to blossom post-mission, but you won’t see it now.

• A campaign to promote interfaith understanding and appreciation will go further than a pro-Catholicism campaign (speaking time and attention-wise), and also be better for Catholic appreciation and planting post-mission seeds and

• Remember they are ~19, and have all the pros and cons that come with it. Speaking generally- pros: generally a child-like devotion to Christ, cons: they are young and don’t know everything and can be immature. Then again, grandparents don’t know everything and can also be immature.

• Every ~3 months, Mormon missionaries are transferred to new areas (this is to help keep things fresh). So, if one moves while you’re in the course of talking, don’t think it’s because of you.

• Speaking culturally: Catholics tend to be very intellectual about their faith, relying on logic arguments and tomes of old books. Mormons tend to focus on a faith that is lived and how the Spirit is felt in their lives—trying to walk as disciples of Christ. Not that both “schools of thought” don’t exist in both faiths, but I’ve noticed a marked difference in emphasis.

If you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to PM me. I’m an open book about everything and have zero proselytizing intentions (I’m a huge promoter of inter-faith appreciation).

 

[Horton]

General tips from an active Mormon here:

• As others have said, if your goal is to convert them to Catholicism, it’s not going to happen. Not that Mormons can’t be converted by they are at a time of their lives where they literally focused on converting people to Mormonism so any Catholic faith that starts to emerge will be weeded out while on their mission. Now, you can plant seeds to blossom post-mission, but you won’t see it now.

• A campaign to promote interfaith understanding and appreciation will go further than a pro-Catholicism campaign (speaking time and attention-wise), and also be better for Catholic appreciation and planting post-mission seeds and

• Remember they are ~19, and have all the pros and cons that come with it. Speaking generally- pros: generally a child-like devotion to Christ, cons: they are young and don’t know everything and can be immature. Then again, grandparents don’t know everything and can also be immature.

• Every ~3 months, Mormon missionaries are transferred to new areas (this is to help keep things fresh). So, if one moves while you’re in the course of talking, don’t think it’s because of you.

•** Speaking culturally: Catholics tend to be very intellectual about their faith, relying on logic arguments and tomes of old books. Mormons tend to focus on a faith that is lived and how the Spirit is felt in their lives—trying to walk as disciples of Christ. Not that both “schools of thought” don’t exist in both faiths, but I’ve noticed a marked difference in emphasis**.

If you have any questions or want to chat, feel free to PM me. I’m an open book about everything and have zero proselytizing intentions (I’m a huge promoter of inter-faith appreciation).

Bolding mine. I disagree with this statement. Yes some Catholics are very knowledgeable about their faith, intellectual about their faith, but to say as a group we Catholics don’t tend to live our faith is just wrong. From the time of Jesus to the 1500’s we were the only ones actually living our faith.

Catholic have both logic AND faith behind our church. The same can’t be said of the LDS. There may be warm fuzzy feelings but no logic and certainly no faith in the one true God.

Also the posters here were not advising the OP to try to convert the missionaries, just pointing out that it is the singular goal of the young men to convert others to the LDS. Once they realize it can’t be done, they are off to the next person/family.

 

[Tarquin]

Do not agree with a statement if you do not agree with the statement.
Do not accept an assertion as evidence.
If someone tells you, “I know…”, as them how they know. If they do not know via knowledgeable means, tell them they do not know, they only think, believe, or feel. This is alright. We all do this. But good feelings, even a warm chest (“bosom”) is not evidence for historical assertions or doctrinal revelations.
Do not accept an assertion as evidence, even if couched in a subordinate clause. “Because the apostles were killed …” assumes Church leadership ended, Church viability ended, Divine guidance ended. Where’s the proof?
Understand when a word is being redefined. “Apostasy” in the New Testament is clearly meant in most if not all cases, to mean falling away from Christ the Savior, and crucifying him anew. “Apostasy” in the New Testament does not mean “the Church died and ceased existing,” and it does not mean, “Well there were churches, but God did not recognize any of them, and they had no authority to baptize or teach or much of anything else.” I haven’t read this one yet; it might be helpful: catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/morm.htm

Familiarize yourself with this site: catholic.com/tracts/mormon-stumpers. I found the “Beginning Apologetics” series to be helpful: “Beginning Apologetics 2- How to Answer Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons”. This non-Catholic site may be helpful: exmormon.org/mormon/mormon441.htm

 

[Marie5890]

• Speaking culturally: Catholics tend to be very intellectual about their faith, relying on logic arguments and tomes of old books. Mormons tend to focus on a faith that is lived and how the Spirit is felt in their lives—trying to walk as disciples of Christ. Not that both “schools of thought” don’t exist in both faiths, but I’ve noticed a marked difference in emphasis.

Speaking culturally, this is inaccurate. A faithful and devout Catholic would well know about St John Paul II encyclical’s ( teaching) on “Faith and Reason” even if they have not read it

It can be read here “Fides Et Ratio”

w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091998_fides-et-ratio.html

And the average Catholic in the pew is more than likely there because of their faith, not because of intellectualism.

 

[RebeccaJ]

• Speaking culturally: Catholics tend to be very intellectual about their faith, relying on logic arguments and tomes of old books. Mormons tend to focus on a faith that is lived and how the Spirit is felt in their lives—trying to walk as disciples of Christ. Not that both “schools of thought” don’t exist in both faiths, but I’ve noticed a marked difference in emphasis.

I thought Mormons believed that increasing in knowledge is integral to progression to godhood?

Other than that, you have expressed a caricature about Catholics. We believe God Created us as rational creatures, with the ability to reason. Both faith and our ability to reason are gifts from God and work in harmony together, when both are rightly ordered towards the will of God.

Reason and faith serve discipleship. One is not separate from the other, as though, God requires our reason to be ignored in order to have faith. Faith, without reason, breeds fanaticism and extremism, i.e., an unreasonable faith. Reason, without faith, is the road for the godless. For Catholics, we seek ways to express our faith, using reason, but that is not the only or even dominant form of how we express our faith.

And last, we are not cookie cutter The Holy Spirit has many gifts, and some are quite gifted with expressing our faith using reason. I think you might find them at a forum like this, as such a gift is very useful here. Others are gifted in different ways, and you may not find them here, ever.

 

[superwimp]

I met two Mormon Missionaries last Saturday and we talked for about an hour and an half and found them very interesting. Ill be meeting again tomorrow and I would like to dive a bit deeper into Mormonism, and how it contrasts with Catholicism.

I would appreciate it if anyone has any suggestions for this faith to faith conversation, no questions that are aggressive or confrontational just polite curiosity.

If they invite you to there church by all means go even if they don't attend yours. You'll be able to experience the love bomb. Regardless of how popular you are in the real world as long as you are an investigator you'll feel like the most popular person in the church. Tell them what they want to hear and enjoy the experience.

 

[Catholic_Nation]

Just to inform anyone still interested, I met with them and it went very well just like last time. We discussed a few things about the Book of Mormon like in the first Book, Nephi on what was described as the abominable church. Have to admit first time I read it I definitely felt it meant the Catholic Church, just on how the way it was described. Of course the missionaries didn’t say it was, but of course they wouldn’t.

We also discussed just are different understandings of what God is and also Heaven and Hell, it was interesting to see the differences between us. I also told them about how the Church teaches the Pope is the representative of Jesus on Earth, and also how we view the Eucharist.

At the end I offered them Miraculous Medals which they accepted, and they asked I pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. In return I offered them my St. Martin De Porres prayer book which has Catholic prayers, they also accepted it.

Ill be meeting them again, perhaps for the last time maybe and they want to show me their Chapel so ill be meeting there. Thanks for the discussion tips and keep me in your prayers.

 

[jane_doe]

Just to inform anyone still interested, I met with them and it went very well just like last time. We discussed a few things about the Book of Mormon like in the first Book, Nephi on what was described as the abominable church. Have to admit first time I read it I definitely felt it meant the Catholic Church, just on how the way it was described. Of course the missionaries didn’t say it was, but of course they wouldn’t.

We also discussed just are different understandings of what God is and also Heaven and Hell, it was interesting to see the differences between us. I also told them about how the Church teaches the Pope is the representative of Jesus on Earth, and also how we view the Eucharist.

At the end I offered them Miraculous Medals which they accepted, and they asked I pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. In return I offered them my St. Martin De Porres prayer book which has Catholic prayers, they also accepted it.

Ill be meeting them again, perhaps for the last time maybe and they want to show me their Chapel so ill be meeting there. Thanks for the discussion tips and keep me in your prayers.

Thanks for the update!