Bring4th

Full Version: So I just had a conversation with some Mormon guys.
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They were just doing their required missionary work thing and instead of ignoring them like I used to do, I decided to engage them in a little conversation since I'm not too familiar with their denomination.

They first asked me if I was religious and when I informed them that I was more spiritual, they kinda perked up and inquired as to what that was. I started it explaining that it was a more intimate relationship involving meditation. He asked whether I believed in god and I said of course which caught me by surprise since I figured they already knew that but considering how narrow their view is, I guess I can see why.

Anyways, when I started to explain how I believed the Creator worked along with our ultimate goal of serving others, he started taking about Jesus and asked if I believed in him. I responded with of course again but that I believed he was trying to get humanity back on track after being led astray by this vengeful, spiteful god that most believed in at the time.

As I'm explaining this, they had the most perplexed but interested look on their faces as if they weren't disagreeing with me at all yet couldn't figure out why. I explained how Jesus never admitted to being god and that Constantinople was the one who mainly made it such which they agreed

They asked if they would drop a Book of Mormon off one day and speak with me more to which I agreed as I'm curious with what they have to say as they weren't pushy or evangelical like many that I had encountered.

Was an interersting experience to say the least
They are basically asking for philosophical discussion which is a great opportunity to do spiritual 'work'. I've never turned away anyone that wanted to discuss religion with me for this reason.
you can find some common ground with anyone, if you just try Smile

I've chatted with people on the streets that were selling 'donation subscriptions' to red cross, or feed the children in africa etc. You know, where you sign up, and they direct debit a certain amount from your bank account each month. The people selling work on commission usually (number of signups each day they get).

some of them have interesting backgrounds. Of course, they are usually socialble and friendly to do that kind of work for any length of time, but its often 'work' that people end up in when they can't get anything else; as it's all results-based, the recruitment groups have nothing to lose except maybe some goodwill by hiring someone too offensive or aggressive lol, but I'm sure the screening process takes care of that.

- -

everyone is seeking ... just that many of us do so with some distorted information. I can appreciate that, as I have strayed down the wrong tracks many a time myself BigSmile

peace brother

Brittany

Close-mindedness can occur on both sides. Yes, a lot of dogmatically religious people are just unwilling to consider that anything aside from their own beliefs could possibly be true, but there are plenty of people so busy flaming religion and hating it for its hypocrisy that they themselves become incapable of holding an intelligent debate on the topic of religion. You get two brick walls pushing against each other and that doesn't go anywhere.

When I first exited Christianity I was one of those people, and really wanted nothing to do with religion or religious people whatsoever. They were all flaming idiots in my opinion. Eventually I realized that this intolerant disposition was causing me to lose people who would otherwise make great friends and I reevaluated my perceptions.

Kudos for being flexible enough to provoke an actual discussion instead of an idiotic flame war. The world needs more of that.
Yea before this awakening, I wouldn't have even answered the door lol or at best I'd open say no thank you then slam the door on them.

I forgot to mention that the first thing they said was that they were mainly here to pray with anyone who wished them to and to give blessings. They asked if I would and I accepted. He proceeded to pray thanking god for this meeting and some other stuff I don't remember as I was mainly meditating and leaving my mind blank during the brief prayer. His words did seem to slow quite a bit during the prayer which I do remember.

All in all it was an interesting experience for sure. Only one of them talked though. The other was very shy and I got the impression that he won't be as open for discourse if he also comes along when they come back over
I used to live much closer to the Mormon church and would get regular Saturday morning visits from them. This had started before I moved in with my boyfriend at the time, who would answer the door without fail, even though he had no interest in God, but he'd answer half asleep, fully hungover, no shirt, probably just his boxers. I think it was part of his unique way of being friendly/profane. It was always the same older lady, and she would always it appeared bring along a "trainee" who was mostly observing and silent. When I finally moved in there, it wasn't too long before I had a puppy, and also very few Saturday mornings off, so they were very much a nuisance, but I still tried to obey the "always answer" rule, even if I was short with them. I think my irritation was fueled by the often hateful and fearmongering words printed in their little "Watchtower" printouts, or maybe there were a few different ones.

Anyway I think we may have been some sort of experiment, or a worse case scenario for the newbies, because never did we actually have a conversation or pray with them. I guess occasionally I'd let them share a Bible quote and hope it was more loving and hopeful in nature than less. Before I was awakened, religion was a very scary thing to me, just because I never before felt like I had a solid place of truth to operate from. It would be very interesting to see how such an interaction would go today vs. 6 years ago. BigSmile
Most 'religious fundamentalists' have a hard time if you simply state: "I believe in aliens."

Hopefully that won't be such a big point of contention in the next 2-5 years.
So they were here for a little over an hour and it was a really cool experience. They were really receptive to my explanation of my beliefs which, of course, I didn't go into in depth explanations of the nuances of the LOO but touched on the basics.

They were surprisingly in line with a lot of it but our paths differed quite a bit of course about after death. Their most important factor in the church is the family and all that it encompasses which I didn't really agree with and the way to salvation is through accepting Christ and asking for this acceptance by him.

They don't really believe in hell per se which I found surprising. Theres more of a three tiered system of heaven where you're still there but only around people whom you were the most like ie: bad people, lukewarm, or blessed.

Their prophet, Joseph smith and his story seemed quite interesting and I'm curious to read how the prophets who wrote all these new testaments that Joseph smith found came to be and if there is a positive message contained within them.

Anyone with experience concerning this denomination care to elucidate on it?

Unbound

My only experience with Mormonism was meeting a girl whom I gave the book Initiation: Human and Solar by Alice A. Bailey and she said that a lot of it was in line with her Mormon beliefs. Seems like interesting stuff although it has not drawn me.
For a short while I was grabbing books on all of the cults/religions of the world, because I'm convinced that you would find strange similarities between them all. It's still a study that I think would be very interesting.

Unbound

In so far my studies of comparative religion have shown that to be true aha
I get a visit from the Jehovah's Witnesses maybe twice a year.
In fact I had once just penned a thread titled "If you could ask Yahweh a question" as they rang the doorbell.
There are 2 of them, an older man and his sidekick, a slightly old lady who is not allowed to say much.
We have a cup of coffee and a little Chat. The man is quite keen on me listenling to him quote the bible.
It's actually more like a little Sermon.
I try to be polite but do state when in disagreement with what they say.
I also would have turned them away a few years ago (in fact I think I did) but am happy to have any sort of discussion about spirituality these days.
They think they are providing an important service, that's for sure. I'm not certain however that they understand exactly who they are serving and in what way.