So Saturday my family and I were just about to leave when there was a knock at the door. I answer it to two young men who if dressed differently would have doubled for missionaries. They were early 20's short hair cuts and aside from jeans and t-shirts with the name of their company looked the part of missionaries.

Turns out they were selling security systems and we had recently been talking about perhaps getting one so I let them in to listen to their story. I decided to go with their system knowing I had 3 days to cancel if I decided I didn't want it or if I found a better deal.

During the conversation earlier I had mentioned that I "used to be a mormon". On the way out the door the "senior companion", the one who was training the other guy, just couldn't leave without bearing his testimony to me. I told him that I didn't want to get into it with him and unless he was fully prepared to lose his testimony he didn't want to get into it with me either. He kept pressing me for information and I finally said this. "Look, you seem like a nice young man and it appears to me that the church is pretty important to you right now. You best just forget this and leave now because if you continue to press me on this issue I will fill your head with so many facts, not opinions but hard verifiable facts, that will shake your world up so bad you won't know which way is up or down. I left the church because of these facts and you can bear your testimony to me all day or all year and it will not make one iota of difference to me because what I know has nothing to do with the "feelings" your testimony is based on and everything to do with the facts that Joseph Smith was nothing more than a con man and a sexual deviant and any religion that claims him as its prophet and founder is fraudulent and potentially a danger to society."

"Now, you have my email and if you really want to pursue this you can send me an email and I will send you this information including links so that you can verify every single piece of information I give you. But know this, if you pursue this and if you request the information and follow it through you had better be prepared to have your world changed and your testimony shaken to its very core. I have warned you and I have asked you to forget this and move on, now the choice is yours but either way I have to ask you to leave now."

There are certain occasions when I enjoy sharing information with someone who is arrogant in their belief of the church but most of the time I just try to let people believe whatever they want. He gave me the "deer in the headlights" look and then said ok, sorry for bringing it up. They left without saying anything more. The "junior companion" called later and apologized for the guy and I could tell that he was very uncomfortable while the exchange was taking place so I told him I appreciated it and that I would probably let the company know about the inappropriate behavior but that I would let them know that he(junior comp) had nothing to do with it and that he had the good sense and courtesy to call me and apologize on behalf of the other guy.

My wife was amazed at the behavior of the guy and I told her that in my opinion that was what made the church more than a benign entity that did more good than it did harm as many who are either nonmormon or exmormon want to believe. Mormons seem to think that it is not only their right but their responsibility to tell anyone and everyone that they think they are right and everyone else is wrong and they set up confrontational situations constantly trying to force their beliefs on others. The sad part is that most of the ones who do this crap are for the most part ignorant about everything about the church except the sanitized version taught in Sunday School every week.

OH well, I have not heard from him and I'm sure I won't but I thought I would share this little story as one of the joys of living in the Morridor.

about a door-to-door security systems firm that just hired RM's, because of their tracting skills and thick skins and accepting low success averages.

Chicago area I believe.

We get several families in our ward every summer transfer here doing the security sales. They are all young RMs from Utah.

...that may bear fruit some day.

Warning label on their security system. I looked them up and found their product to be a bit over priced and the customer service and installation was terrible in our area!!