I see this video float around the internet quite a bit. Frankly, I cringe every single time I see it.

It shows two young white guys approaching a large black man and his friends. The two boys are still too young to realize that they don't know anything about the world yet, but emboldened by their nearly forced quest to go out and talk to as many people as they can about something that makes everybody uncomfortable. They aren't arrogant. It would be hard for anybody to show arrogance towards the larger guys.

Honestly, I feel sorry for them. They didn't want to get into a fight. I wouldn't have wanted to get into a argument with these folks either.

In almost no time the Christian shows his true colors. He is a larger, louder, meaner, bully. He is almost screaming his religious nonsense at these two poor young men who obviously don't know how to handle someone who acts like this.

The Christian didn't win this argument because he was more rational. He didn't win because he was closer to God. His message wasn't any more realistic than the Mormon's message.

He won because he was a bully. He won because he could talk louder than they could and could direct the conversation. This Christian is not impressive in the least.

The worst thing is, the Christian's religious idiot-talk wasn't better, not even in the slightest, than the Mormon's message. Yet the man looks so smug, as if he is preaching some sort of truth. It is pathetic to see a person so caught up in how right he thinks he is.

A trained monkey knows the Bible better than this guy. It was probably the same message that his idiot pastor screamed at them during some church service. It is not, in any way, a skill to scream those messages ad nauseum at a couple of younger white dudes.

This Christian is not a person who should be praised. There is nothing impressive in intimidating some awkward 19 year old kids from Utah. People who think that this guy was correct in his actions have their heads in the wrong place.

Yeah, I found the Christian extremely annoying.

He would say something like "why do you need to get upset, we're having a discussion here" followed by "why should I listen to what you have to say?" His logic and consistency was bafflingly horrid - I wouldn't have had any response either, unless it was "I feel dumber from having listened to you."

and was not going to put up with their Misshy nonsense. They needed to be taken to school and then sent home.

The guy knew his stuff - I doubt he was anymore a Christian than I am but he seemed to enjoy the sport of mishie-bating. And why not? The mishies knew they were in over their heads and still tried to shove the BoM down his throat.

The few weeks training that the missionaries get doesn't prepare them to proselytize to anyone other than the seriously ignorant and those who really do have a low threshold for acceptance as truth: many really don't know too much about their faith or any other. It's not a surprise therefore that those RMs I know very well spent all their times in the new immigrant sections of big US cities.

I didn't see them try to shove anything down this guy's throat. I saw them try to back away from an obvious bully.

They could have left - they wanted to have a "debate" with him and they especially wanted to have the last word. Arrogant pricks. I think the other guy was struggling to hide his good fortune at a bit of easy entertainment and he did demonstrate how ignorant the mishies were.

I've said worse to missionaries in the days I felt darkest about the mormon church.

In short - they may not wish to be there but they come into our streets as 18 year-olds telling older individuals how to live their lives.

I've heard of mishies coming across people proclaiming to be Christians who respond to them by saying, "You're Mormon, so you're going to Hell!" and then slamming the door. What purpose does that serve? Why would that make them want to leave Mormonism for Christianity? Would Jesus behave that way? It just makes me mad when I see this behavior from other Christians.

I doubt he was trying to convert them. It looked like he just had the desire to dominate and intimidate.

There's also the race thing going on here.

How would you feel if you were a middle aged black guy who had been to hell and back for God (in his view) and two snotty nosed teenagers on bicycles come up to you, a full grown man, and tell you they have a message for you from God.

Might you feel a little disrespected?

If the Mormons wanted to prepare missionaries, perhaps they could teach them some manners. For example, how about,

"Excuse us sir, you are looking our way and since we stand out here as Mormon missionaries, are you interested in talking to us?"

(yes)

"We believe we have a message from God--if you are interested in religion, you might like to hear it. Would you like to talk with us about our message?"

This is the respectful way a young white guy should speak to an older person (whatever color).

You teach them to be arrogant and they will never stray....poor things, I always feel sorry for mishies. Just like those poor guys wearing orange jumpers picking up trash on the side of the road. Most of them really don't want to be there.

Anagrammy

"Most of them really don't want to be there."

So true

You are the voice of reason. There are so many dynamics involved that no one explanation can resolved the conflict.

What it comes down to is respect, which the morg does not teach/adhere/condone for anyone outside the collective.

The losers are the young kids forced into a sales job with a faulty product in a world gone wild.

Thank you for your wisdom

judging by the things that you choose to fret about
you are not as far out of the LDS church as you probably think you are. in fact you are still much more in the church than out of the church. maybe you should consider going back to the church, it seems to suit you much more than you being an ex mormon.

there is a contingent of ppl who think they left the church
but the church really left them. there are ppl who are such losers that even the mormons dont want them.

I guess my main problem is that I just don't know how to not be Mormon anymore. Like, I don't want to fret about things like this, but I do. It is a reflex reaction. I've been trying to recover so long, I just don't get it anymore.

Oh man, if only I were still Mormon I would be happy.

Perhaps you could create a rubric, or some sort of explanatory guide, judging how far out of the church someone is. That would really help me and the other people who are such terrible losers learn how to be cool like you other anonymous exmos.

Seriously man, I need your help so bad. Please, can you save the day?

Can't someone please help me? I thought that drinking a ton and sleeping with dozens of random women would help me recover.

Don't my sarcastic quips mean anything? Doesn't my endless plea to critical thinking and rational thought help me get through these tough, Mormonish" tendencies I still have?

Why can't I stop being Mormon? Please anon, help me. You are quite literally my only hope...

I agree 100% with SNB. In my opinion, the "christian" was just as wrong as the two Mormon kids. He obviously wanted a fight. He could have just skipped the whole conversation by saying "I'm not interesting in your religion, thank you." and walked away. Then if the kids started to try to push his religion on him he could have made his arguments (which were pretty dumb anyway).

P.S. 19 year old guys look soooo awkward in suits. Some people look good in suits, and others just look bad. It just makes the message look even stupider when it comes from a scrawny little kid with a suit coat too big for him.

It's been a while since I've seen that vid', but I recall waiting for the point where the "christian" says "Hey, I love you guys anyway" and gives them a big handshake (maybe a bear hug?), but he just came off as being a big jerk, so the whole video is kinda mean spirited.