Been in Utah for about 10 weeks now. I used this site and others for "intel."

Tonight, while waiting for my wife to pick me up at the TRAX station, two mishies "jumped" me. They seemed nice, I asked where they were from, how long they had been serving, etc. They always steered the conversation back to TSCC. They asked if I was religious, I shared with them my Catholic faith. They asked me why I wasn't interested in learning about TSCC. I responded "Why aren't you interested in the Roman Catholic Church?" They asked why I was Catholic, I explained that my family had been Catholic since the 16th century, how they fled England to Maryland and eventually to Kentucky to eek out a better life away from Protestant repression. I explained how my church believes in total absolution of sin and forgiveness. By that time, they had blank looks in their faces and my wife thankfully pulled up.

Nice enough guys, but they obviously don't "get it."

Unfortunately, in my experience both as a missionary and with missionaries (after I left TSCC) I get the impression that they don't have an open mind about other people's beliefs. They what you to buy what they're selling and don't want to hear what you're selling.

I told the missionaries about a spiritual experience I had after leaving TSCC and they pretty much told me that only Mormons are entitled to the gift of the Holy Ghost, so what I felt was just the "light of Christ". The also tried to convince me that I was happier as a Mormon (even thought they didn't know me when I was a Mormon and that I actually tried to commit suicide due to feelings of guilt and inadequacy very strongly related to being a Mormon.)

I think it's rare, but you might find a missionary who's genuinely interested in you, but I don't think that's the case with the majority. I think the majority are not intersted in you, just intersted in getting baptisms.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2013 11:51PM by StoneInHat.

Melbourne. Elder Benallacks blog.
Rolled train station
gold. ..


was able to go on an exchange yesterday with a Vietnamese companionship in Footscray which is west Melbourne. It was so rejuvenating to be out with my boots on the ground, doing missionary work. We went out 'GQ’ing' for a few hours at the train station before we attended the afternoon sacrament meeting. We were having the time of our lives, I wish I had some footage or something. We had 5 missionaries at the train station to talk to every single person that came off the train. Combined, we set up over twenty return appointments!

As mentioned above, we trained into the Melbourne CBD to attend the International branch that meets on the second floor of a high rise building on Lonsdale Street. It was a neat experience; the branch is so diverse and different. Eighty percent of the members that make up the branch have been members less then a year! The branch has baptised 28 people since its creation in March. It’s amazing to see new converts just step up to the plate when given an assignment. Recent converts holding important callings such as counsellors in the branch presidency, branch clerks, Relief Society counsellors etc. It was a tender sacrament meeting seeing recent converts giving amazing talks, even though I giggled when one lady closed ‘in the name of the Holy Ghost, amen’. I was asked to bear my testimony too, which was nice.

>> "It was a tender sacrament meeting"
>> "I giggled"

The poor guy has been emasculated by mormonism. Hopefully he can wake up soon and recovery fully.

Emasculated? Try castrated? OK, maybe that's a bit extreme and permanent.

Thankfully, I'm not the only one that thinks Mormonism completely kills the testosterone of otherwise normal men. Or maybe it's just that men with lower testosterone just fit in better with the constant talk of planning weddings and having babies. Mormonism really wussifies men.

Yes, hopefully he will recover some day. Or maybe he'll just come out of the closet. Either way, I wish him luck.

T-Bone

As others have noted, it's simply not appropriate to attack another person's religious beliefs. But Mormonism teaches that they are the one and only team that is going to win the Superbowl. And they might even partially blame the members of other religions for being "deceived," not for being raised Catholic or Muslim.

Either way, Mormons create an artificial hierarchy in their minds and pigeon hole every person they meet in to that false hierarchy. Mormonism is always at the top, with various other religions below Mormonism, all very subjective and arbitrary. That's if you were the type of Mormon I was. I had that false hierarchy in my head when dealing with others, even as a 10 year old kid. My classmates and teachers who were not members just didn't measure up. I didn't see the need to obey my teachers any more than was necessary. I would never go out of my way to be a good student. And I treated my non-Mormon classmates as if they were somehow a step beneath me. Always. Without fail.

Showing respect for others, their culture, or their religion, while it is very useful in the real world, is not useful when your only goal is to get them to convert and start giving 10% to your team. One cult tactic is to simply challenge the intended victim, telling him that everything he has known to be true up until today is false. It's time to reassess and unlearn old ideas. It's time to update your thinking. The admonition takes several forms, but it's always for the same purpose. Shock the intended victim in to questioning his/her own beliefs. It's a very powerful technique.

Since Mormons are recruiting others in to their cult, it shouldn't be shocking that they are using cult recruiting techniques.

T-Bone

It was obvious they weren't really interested in me or my faith. They were just trolling for people at the station. It's funny you use the "selling" terminology. I told them that I wasn't shopping for a new faith.

It sounds like they're barely even familiar with other faiths.

They're obnoxious, but I always have to remember to cut the poor guys some slack. They hate every minute of their miserable lives right now, and on top of that, they feel guilty for it.

They bothered you because they had to. They even counted that conversation with you to report back to their leaders on Sunday night. They have to scramble all day long to find enough people polite enough to give them conversations (there's a fixed quota), or else God will be mad at them.

The missionaries aren't the perpetrators of LDS abuse, they're the victims.

That's why I talked to them. I was as nice as I could be. It beat standing there alone. I tried to steer the conversation to be about them, their interests, their hopes and dreams. They kept bringing it back to TSCC. WHEN THE Mrs. pulled up, I wished them a good night and shook their hand.

"The missionaries aren't the perpetrators of LDS abuse, they're the victims."

That's an interesting way of putting it :)

liminal state Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "The missionaries aren't the perpetrators of LDS
> abuse, they're the victims."
>
> That's an interesting way of putting it :)
--===============================================

AMONG the victims perhaps...

It's MORMONISM that's the problem. It's not that Boyd K. Packer
is an asshat, it's that hes a Mormon apostle. It's not that
Bishop Jackwagon is a jerk, it's that he's a Mormon bishop.

Mormons are only hosts for the Mormon virus. It's not the
person, it's the disease.

How clueless these kids are. Yes, I've run into many. So baffled that anyone badmouths "The One True Church," when the foundation of Mormonism is laid all other churches being false--an "abomination." So shocked that anyone would say Mormons aren't Christian. If you ask me, Mormons are just getting back the same respect they pay to non-LDS Christians.

against their religious preference.

Important rule for good manners:

Don't confront strangers and demand they discuss religion, sex, or politics in public.

Here's what "nice" missionaries would do. "Excuse me sir, we're wondering if you have a few minutes and would be interested in hearing about our church?"

If the answer is no, they need to say, "Thank you for your time. Have a nice evening."

Those boys were definitely not well mannered.