Posted by:
LivinginJapan
(
)
Date: April 14, 2015 09:45PM
I stumbled upon a thread in Japanese online, entitled "I was proselytized by Mormons"
The thread was anonymous so there were no indentifiable screennames or profiles, but this allowed people to speak freely of the matter. It's kind of a old thread from a few years back, but I've found some interesting posts that'd I like to share. The posters seem to be a mixture of neverMos, ex-mos, investigators, and people who seem to know a lot of the church.
"If you do join their church, it's like the end of your life, so to speak. They're gonna take away 10% of your income."
"I was once harassed by a Mormon missionary for hours because he wanted me to get baptized. That missionary seemed to lack consideration for other people's feelings. It was seriously annoying."
"Do they really believe in their fake religion? I think you've gotta have a loose screw in your head to seriously believe that stuff."
"Regarding the problems people have when they join the church, a lot of that can be chalked down to problems with the missionary's personality, as well as the recruiting/proselyting tactics. On the other hand, the high rate of dropouts/apostates among existing members, also means that the doctrine is problematic. The church seems to know that if they acted like other Christian missionaries, no one would want to join their church. During the 80s, extremely aggressive recruiting tactics were used (and when you look up individual cases, there were some criminal activities going on). Anyway, at that time, I heard that a missionary to Japan from that period became depressed and came home early. His parents talked to the 12 apostles, yet the 12 apostles knew about what was going on with the missionaries in Japan yet kept quiet about it. It's an organization that cannot operate without numbers. That is why they resort to extreme tactics. Their logic is that the organization matters, not the truth."
"The missionaries came to my house once a long time ago. One missionary was black and other one was white. Regarding the black guy though, I didn't get why he was a Mormon, because when I read their doctrine, they seemed to believe that black people have dark skin because they're cursed or something like that. I don't get Christian religions in general, but I don't get/understand Mormonism even more."
"I was approached by a pair of foreigners, so I thought they were going to ask me for directions, yet they started proselyting me. Not only that, they were just strangers talking to me on the street, yet they asked me about where I was from, and my job. Mormon missionaries don't seem to know that it's rude to do that. Brainwashing is so scary. I wish they were forcibly kept away from general society."
"I once saw a pair of sister missionaries stealing somebody else's bike, and using the stolen bike for their missionary activities."
"I live in Sapporo, and recently I was approached by two foreign missionaries, who were about 20 years old...They gave me some kind of pamphlet and they seemed delighted that I had heard of their church, However, I told them 'I cannot join a heretical church' and they literally froze. I hope that woke them up."
"Missionaries often use the phrase 'I know' a lot, don't they?"
"Missionaries often use the phrase 'I know' because they want you to believe that what they're saying is true. It's over-the-top to claim that you 'know' something, when that very something is not proveable, or even outright false. If this was purely a business, with no religion attached to it, you'd be arrested for making false claims about your product."
"Hello. First time poster here. Recently, two white missionaries came to my house. They asked me for contact details, so I gave them my phone number. My kids had a good impression of them, and my kids begged me to go to their free English class. The missionaries later contacted me, saying that they want to explain about Sundays, so I went with my kids on a Saturday the day before church. However, they were continually asking 'Do you think God exists?' even to my kids, and my kids got bored. Should I refuse the next meeting/lesson?"
(In response to the above)"Yes, you should not attend another meeting or lesson with them. I think you are aware on some level that something is not quite right. I also find it problematic that you gave away your contact details to some random foreigner. There are many types of Mormons, but I wouldn't recommend them even as friends."
"If you join the Mormon church, both men and women have to wear these uncool undergarments for the rest of your life. [Posts links to pictures of garments]. You can't wear miniskirts or show skin, if your parents etc are deemed unworthy of the temple, your parents can't even attend your wedding. You must give away 10% of your income to the church; that means if you earn 300000 yen a month, that's 30000 yen per month going to the church. Sundays are considered the day of rest and you're not allowed to have fun. You can't even work on Sundays, because everything on Sunday has to be church related. Young people have to serve missions and they have to pay for it; on top of that you can't even choose where you go."
"While Mormon missionaries have never told me I'm going to hell, many times the missionaries have told me that they were worried about my afterlife. Isn't that essentially the same thing, though? How is that any different from 'You're damned to hell'?"
"If you have studied actual archaelogy and history, you'll know that the Book Of Mormon is false. It's so obvious, that you'll laugh when you compare the two. "