The Mormon boys came to my door...

[Allweather]

Buncha great advice here! I’m going to remember these if I ever do get some missionaries at my house.

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet as far as I can tell, is the testimony. Mormons are very big on personal testimony. You give them your personal, deep-felt, witness of your faith, and you’ll see their little ears pop right up.

So, if you’re not accustomed to sharing your faith, your conversion, a story about how God has worked in your life, etc, then start practicing it now. Find an opening, and speak earnestly from the heart about how God has filled your life. Don’t be shy about crying. Mormons love to cry when they testify, and are very impressed to see others cry when THEY testify.

If nothing else, by doing this you’ll get them to wondering about all that Great Apostasy stuff and whether it might just be baloney.

 

[fatima1917]

…and I would like to egage them for a while. I would like an opportunity to share my faith with them. I have invited them back at a later time.

Those of you with a Mormon past, how should the conversation go? Do I let them dominate the conversation, or do I redirect? If I come on too strong they’ll high-tail it and I won’t be able to share.

Any advice?

Ceil-1:

The conversation should go like this:

“Fellas, 500 years ago Luther posted his 99 theses to the door of the Wittenburg Catholic church and half of the Christian church left the true faith. You are the product of that split. But you have the chance to correct that mistake that your ancestors made. Come back to the Catholic church and be saved; stay in the error of what you are living in and you will be lost.” (end of conversation)

Then when you close the door say a little prayer for them.

 

[ltbpoe43]

When they come by here in sticky hot south Louisiana, they are usually dripping sweat and so tired looking I just have to invite them in for some tea or lemonade or water. One day I was fixing a jambalaya and they loved the smell so much I invited them to have some and they ate it up. After I explained where the crawfish come from and how they are prepared - apparently I didn’t need to be converted - and they left with thanks and appreciation. Then again, my framed picture of JPII was watching us at the dinner table the whole time. They were good and smart kids.

 

[BobCatholic]

Mormons have an interesting belief: That God changes, and that they get continuing revelation. The mormon gospel can change.

Now you know the logical consequence of this, right? It is relativism.

Since the mormon gospel CAN and DOES change (in violation of Galatians 1:9) this means that you can always stump them with questions like “How do you know what you are preaching is the pure mormon gospel? What if the prophet came up with a new revelation this morning?”

I’m still trying to figure out how to hold to the same gospel the Apostles held to (per Galatians 1:9) while at the same time it can change as they claim

 

[Aramis]

I usually just explain to them that I believe them to be heretics, provide the citation that the holy spirit will be with us always, and that this means that either Jesus lied, or Joe Smith and Brigham Young did.

 

[burnside]

…and I would like to egage them for a while. I would like an opportunity to share my faith with them. I have invited them back at a later time.

Those of you with a Mormon past, how should the conversation go? Do I let them dominate the conversation, or do I redirect? If I come on too strong they’ll high-tail it and I won’t be able to share.

Any advice?

Ask them about whether Mormonism is racist.If they say “no”,
ask them to explain 1 Nephi 12:23 and 1 Nephi 13:15 in their Book of Mormon.
I had Mormons in my house who denied they were racist,but left
me a copy of the aforementioned book.Unless they have changed since i met them,they are racist.

1 Nephi 12:23 “And i beheld,after they had dwindled in unbelief they became a dark and loathsome and a filthy people,full of idleness and all manner of abominations”

1 Nephi 13:15 “and i beheld that they were white,and exceedingly fair and beautiful”

 

[ApostateRLDS]

…and there’s also the uncomfortable fact that until the 1970’s blacks were barred from holding any priesthood office in the Mormon Church.

 

[anon]

Mormon blood atonement is also very creepy :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_atonement

According to that site, apostates in the Mormon Church are seen as having committed sins that can only be atoned by their own blood.
“Young warned these apostates that although “[t]he wickedness and ignorance of the nations forbid this principle’s being in full force,…the time will come when the law of God will be in full force” (Young 1857, p. 220), meaning that apostates would be subject to theocratic blood atonement.”

Does that mean that if you try to leave the Mormon Church, you might have Mormons come after you looking for blood atonement?

 

[Harpazo]

I haven’t seen Mormons in my area going door to door in a while. If I did, I would just hand them a copy of Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth and pray for them after they leave.

To add to that racist bit, I remember reading somewhere recently that Native American converts to Mormonism had to send their kids to live with white people to make them better and more desirable in the eyes of God. If this is true, how can Mormons justify it?

In Pax Christi
Andrew

 

[Lepanto]

They are there to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are interested to hear. If you are not interested, you should not waste their time.

zerinus

OK, let me see if I get this logic.

They come to my house uninvited and interrupt my privacy to proselytize a false cult, and if I challenge their assertions I’M wasting THEIR time???

 

[Ceil-1]

I don’t have an agenda, and GIMJ, your post sounds a bit defensive. I have had friends who were Mormon, being my hometown is Rochester which is the next town over from Palmyra. My husband came close to converting as well. I am fascinated with their acceptance of such unusal information.

It is interesting to note that many similar religions have their origin in Western NY where I am from. The SDA’s, JW’s, Shakers, Quakers, and even Spiritism, at least this country’s version of it (Lilydale). Incidentally, Margaret Sanger is from that area as well.

I figure if I could get some of these people to open up and share their lives and personalities with me, I would understand it all better. I just can’t reconcile such oddities being so very easily accepted by otherwise intelligent, high-caliber people.

Then there’s my side of the story, as, I believe I have the fullness of truth. After all both sides can’t be right, and if either side has the truth, it should stand up to the scrutiny of the other, shouldn’t it?

 

[GIMJ]

I don’t have an agenda, and GIMJ, your post sounds a bit defensive. I have had friends who were Mormon, being my hometown is Rochester which is the next town over from Palmyra. My husband came close to converting as well. I am fascinated with their acceptance of such unusal information.

It is interesting to note that many similar religions have their origin in Western NY where I am from. The SDA’s, JW’s, Shakers, Quakers, and even Spiritism, at least this country’s version of it (Lilydale). Incidentally, Margaret Sanger is from that area as well.

I figure if I could get some of these people to open up and share their lives and personalities with me, I would understand it all better. I just can’t reconcile such oddities being so very easily accepted by otherwise intelligent, high-caliber people.

Then there’s my side of the story, as, I believe I have the fullness of truth. After all both sides can’t be right, and if either side has the truth, it should stand up to the scrutiny of the other, shouldn’t it?

I don’t understand how my post comes across as being defensive. I hate Mormonism. It’s an evil, godless, damaging cult. It has been the source of much strife for me.

As for someone lacking any agenda, you did open your post stating that you wanted to “engage” the missionaries and solicited me for bait. Don’t get me wrong, the missionaries are morons (for the most part) and spreading evil, but that doesn’t mean they realize what they’re doing or that they deserve to be used as target practice.

I stand by everything I said: If you are just going in to win an argument, realize you’ll get nowhere and have an unpleasant experience. If you want to understand Mormonism better for curiosity’s sake or to minister more effectively to Mormons, then go ahead and enjoy it. Of course, you’re free to do whatever else you like, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be fruitlessly wasting your time.

 

[SeekerJen]

I was recently approached by a young Mormon while minding my own business at the bus stop. He was perfectly polite, but when I informed him that I am a Catholic, he informed me that as someone of faith, I should be open to learning everything I could about God, and didn’t I think that the Book of Mormon could be true? I responded that I didn’t wish to personally offend, but no, I didn’t believe that the Book of Mormon was true. He kept at it until I reminded him that in MY church, I receive the Lord Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist each Sunday, and I was just fine with that. He didn’t have a response to that and politely bowed out.

 

[zerinus]

I don’t have an agenda, and GIMJ, your post sounds a bit defensive. I have had friends who were Mormon, being my hometown is Rochester which is the next town over from Palmyra. My husband came close to converting as well. I am fascinated with their acceptance of such unusal information.

It is interesting to note that many similar religions have their origin in Western NY where I am from. The SDA’s, JW’s, Shakers, Quakers, and even Spiritism, at least this country’s version of it (Lilydale). Incidentally, Margaret Sanger is from that area as well.

I figure if I could get some of these people to open up and share their lives and personalities with me, I would understand it all better. I just can’t reconcile such oddities being so very easily accepted by otherwise intelligent, high-caliber people.

Then there’s my side of the story, as, I believe I have the fullness of truth. After all both sides can’t be right, and if either side has the truth, it should stand up to the scrutiny of the other, shouldn’t it?

Those are good reasons for wanting to talk to the missionaries; provided that you keep an open mind, and allow for the possibility that they might be right.

zerinus

 

[Jerusha]

allow for the possibility that they might be right.

A few weeks ago, I overheard a shopkeeper tell two “white shirts” to leave me alone. I refuse to have ANY conversation with them-- except on the internet.

For God’s sake, give them a glass of water without obligation. Do better to them than than they do to many. The dinner avoiding any direct references to religion is a very good idea.

 

[Sweeney]

An Orthodox friend of mine spent a year in Austria studying German when he was in college. A Moslem classmate of his had Mormon missonaries stop by his apartment, and agreed to take a Book of Morman and read it if the boys would take a Qu’ran from him and do likewise.

The Missionaries came back, all in a tizzy that they had dreamed of Allah after reading some of the Qu’ran and asked the Moslem whate was going on - he told them that Allah had sent a message to them with this “burning in their bosoms” to comvert to Islam, and they did!

 

[StacieAdy]

Those are good reasons for wanting to talk to the missionaries; provided that you keep an open mind, and allow for the possibility that they might be right.

zerinus

Ummm, no.

However, I do like to invite them in and be friendly, as I’m sure they have to deal with less-than-friendly people quite often.

 

[zerinus]

However, I do like to invite them in and be friendly, as I’m sure they have to deal with less-than-friendly people quite often.

That too is not a bad reason to let them in:

Matthew 10;

42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

Mark 9:

41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

You will not be doing yourself a great favour by settling for glass of water though, when you can obtain so much more! If you will be rewarded for giving them a glass of water, imagine how much greater your reward would be if you listened to their divine, and accepted it by faith!

zerinus

 

[Lehl]

You will not be doing yourself a great favour by settling for glass of water though, when you can obtain so much more! If you will be rewarded for giving them a glass of water, imagine how much greater your reward would be if you listened to their divine, and accepted it by faith!

zerinus

Where’s the puking icon when you need it?:doh2:

 

[StacieAdy]

You will not be doing yourself a great favour by settling for glass of water though, when you can obtain so much more! If you will be rewarded for giving them a glass of water, imagine how much greater your reward would be if you listened to their divine, and accepted it by faith!

zerinus

I am perfectly happy with my reward for the glass of water, thank you. But I appreciate your zeal