I am a nevermo who has been lurking on this board for about three years or so.

From everything I have read on this board about how little the missionaries have for food and essentials, I had told myself that if I had the opportunity I would buy a lunch or dinner for a couple missionaries.

Well tonight it happened. My daughter (she's 8) and I were going to CVS and there were a couple missionaries in there. They left the store just before we did, but their bikes were locked up in front of where my car was parked and they were getting ready to leave when we went outside.

So I went up to them and asked them if they had plans for dinner or if I could buy them a sandwich at Subway. My daughter and I were already going there because it is in the same shopping center as CVS and we were doing an easy dinner tonight. They told me they were just going home from dinner but that they would be happy to join us.

As we walked over to the Subway, they asked if I was a ward member and I informed them that I wasn't and that I was not looking to join. I told them that I read about a lot of religions and their's was one I had read about (I'm actually an atheist). I explained that from my reading, I knew they were on a very tight budget and I would like to help by buying them dinner.

Anyway, it was a very nice experience. They did not try to "teach" me or my daughter. We talked about where they were from (one from Idaho and one from Hong Kong), where they went to school before their missions (one BYU Idaho and one BYU Hawaii). I did ask them if they were looking forward to the conference and they said "Wow, you do know about the church". :-)

They asked my daughter about school and if she liked going to school and we also talked about things they could do on their free time.

We are in Alexandria VA and I gave them all kinds of ideas of the things to do in DC and in this area. A lot of the things I told them they could do were things which are free.

The one thing I did not do was give them any information about us so they can't track us down. However, if I have a chance to do it again, I will.

That was really sweet of you, what a nice story. And good on them for not pushing religion, but just enjoying the company of a stranger :) I hope I can do this for someone.

Such a nice change to hear a great story like this instead of crazy mishies who try to shove TSCC's version of God down people's throats.

Interesting that they took you up on the offer (some missions have rules against taking food from someone who isn't a potential investigator), but the conversation seemed nice. And they may have even been grateful for a chance to have a normal non-churchy conversation.

And good on you for not providing contact info.

It was nice of you to be good to them. I support the idea that "Just because other people have a different opinion, doesn't mean its a bad thing for them, or that we have to be mean to them".

I still believe in God, because a lot of anti-religion arguments I hear are mostly just disagreeing with the historical accounts of the bible (was the earth created in 7 days, or in 4.5 billion years?).

But people tend to forget-- there are other versions of the story, besides just the Bible's version of God and earth's history. And other possibilities. I do not agree that "If science proves true, then God does not". Hell, he may very well be an extremely big and intelligent scientist himself! Our whole universe may just be a science experiment he's doing, kind of the way we do with cells and things, under microscopes. It doesn't have to be mystical and magical. There are plenty of possibilities. God could very well be science-based. He could have had the brains to get this universe going, the same way WE have the brains to perform surgery, mix chemicals for a certain reaction, or put an atomic bomb together. He could very well be every bit as physical and real as we are, but the reason we cannot "see" him, is for the same reason an atom in the center of your liver cannot "see" you.

We may think that "a god" sounds too much like a fairy tale, or like hocus pocus magic... But I would really compare that mentality to how people from the medieval era would look at a TV and a remote control, and see it as "magic" or "witchcraft". They only reason they see it that way, is because they don't understand it.

Well, same thing-- maybe God seems "magical" and ridiculous, because humans don't understand the immensely complex scientific mechanics behind him. I'm talking the kind of science that would make even the brightest human minds look like a parasite's intelligence, compared to a human genius!

I'm still nice to missionaries, even though I don't believe the LDS church is the only truth.

Saying "there is no evidence for God" is like that same little atom somewhere in the center of your liver, saying "There is no evidence for humans". And God trying to prove his existence to us, is like us trying to prove our existence to that little atom. Not only is it too small to see anything we would show it, but it doesn't have the capacity to understand anything we would try to relate to it.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2011 09:23PM by melissa3839.

where's the "like" button. I've always believed/worshipped our maker. And I agree w/not being mean to someone. You can get message across and still be cordial.

Glossing over the fact that none of this has anything to do with the original story...
I suggest looking up Neil deGrasse Tyson's speech on "stupid design" on YouTube. I get a bit tired of people saying god is so intelligent and so big we just can't understand or see it so we deny it's existence. For the record- it was my scripture classes, NOT my science classes, that led me away from belief. I do, however, respect your right to believe as you wish, but this grand cosmic order and justice of the universe supposedly provided by a god? I need some actual evidence other than warm fuzzies.

Missionaries suffer enough already to be mistreated by people. It's nice of you to see the difference between a religion and two young people just trying to make their way in this confusing world.