Posted: 12/29/2006 11:15:27 PM EDT
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I want to preface this by saying I have my beliefs about the LDS church, and you may have yours. I'd rather not discuss that here. Just looking for some advice. I saw an ad on TV for a free Bible, and I thought, Oh good. Making God's word available to everybody. The ad said it was King James Version, but it was offered by the LDS so I called and ordered one to see if it stacked up with my authorized Authorized Version. Only thing is, after I gave the phone guy my address and email and asked him 87x not to put me on a list, I found out that apparently instead of mailing it, a couple of LDSers will stop by to hand-deliver it. I don't want to get into a lengthy discussion about religion, or about anything for that matter, with people I don't know. Call me close-minded. Whatever. What do I say to these guys to indicate that I really don't want to be proselytized at, and that it won't do them much good since I am studying to become a teacher and possibly a minister in my own church? I've never known Mormons to be rude, but I've also never known a door-to-door missionary (LDS, Jehovah's Witness or Baptist) to be short-winded either. Can I just open the door, stick my hand out and grab the bible from them? |
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Ask them what their "initiation" was when they got out of missionary academy. My brother (a Mormon elder) LOOOVES teasing the new missionaries. They have "set up" several newbies with a variety of pranks... so that now, new missionaries leaving for his area are warned to expect pranks. The missionaries are just kids... zealots to be sure, but they've just gotten out of high school and are just kids. Don't be afraid of them. |
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This summer I had the pleasure of working with a young man that was a Mormon and was using the money he made to play for his missionary gear and some items his mom needed, a very well mannered and polite young man and we enjoyed talking every day during our lunch break. I have also known a few devote Morons as neighbors and can say that the young men who will visit should listen to your thoughts and respect what you have to say, and as others have stated that they are fresh out of school so go easy on them. |
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FWIW, you can go to their website to request the Bible and it gives you the option whether to have it mailed or delivered by the missionaries. Link Like the others said, be nice to them. They are just kids doing what they think they are supposed to be doing. |
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I was a missionary for a while. I did that type of stuff all the time. we did our best to talk to them about the church, but if they said no, it was no big deal. we still gave them the bible. everybody deserves a good bible! Ps- if they are cool guys I highly suggest inviting them to dinner sometime. Living on 130 dollars a month is harder than it sounds! |
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Thank them and tell them that you are not interested in any discussions right now and you'd just like to read the book. Tell them very politely that IF you are interested at some point in the future then you'll contact them. They're very polite and good kids- don't worry about it. Inviting them to dinner sometime is a nice idea, Gee. Even if they're not going to convert you, they're very good for even discussing religion with, and any questions you have about the Mormon church. And yes, they're just kids away from home living on next to nothing- in fact PAYING to be out there... so it's nice to give them a home cooked meal every once in awhile. We have some over every other month or so. Nice kids. 
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I was a missionary for two years and lived off less than $115 the whole time. If you really don't want to talk to them about anything just let them know upfront. If you want to understand the Mormon view of the Bible they are hand delivering invite them in. Simple, straight forward and honest. ETA: at least they don't butcher your language like I did while I was a missionary in South America. |
| i...as a recent convert(literaly my baptism was yesterday and my confirmation today) would tell them that you were only interested in the bible to see how it compared with yours...tell them your intent on becoming a minister in your own church...then ask them for a copy of the book of mormon... i'm not trying to pitch it to you, but if you can get your hands on as much information as possible it might help you in your own efforts at becoming a minister...information is power...we all want to get to the same place...to be with our father and his son in heaven...it doesn't matter how you believe insomuch as that you believe period...good luck ...chris |
They must have changed things since I went to (mormon) church, or you don't have any idea what you're talking about. Faith in Christ alone is not enough to get to the Celestial Kingdom. When you say "we all want to get to the same place", what you really mean is that he can't go to as good of a place as you because he isn't LDS. Right? Note for Moderators: if my post is at all inappropriate for this forum just say so and I'll drop it. |
Seems inflammatory and argumentative for no good reason. |
i was mearly trying to be respectful and not try to hi-jack his post with church doctrine...he might not believe what i believe but i'm sure he believes that he will surely see god and the savior.. i thought i was being clear when i stated " i'm not trying to pitch it to you"...and also "it doesn't matter how you believe insomuch as that you believe "...the "you" was meant literaly "him"...and his beliefs in his church's doctrine...thankfully i'm lucky enough to have such a strong belief in my new church to not have taken offense to your comments... |
i never stated that we ( mormons) believe that other christians go to the same place as we do after death ...although others might have found your comments inflammatory or antagonistic "I" did not...i was very thankful you posted and illustrated how you percieved my comments to him...allowing me to properly clarify the intent of my comments...chris |
Fair enough. |
Man, you were wealthy. In Venezuela we lived on about $80/month. And we had no bikes or car, either. So we either walked to appointments or used what little we had on bus fare. |
| Yup, just do what others have said. Inform them that you wanted to look at it in comparison with the one you have now, and that you appreciate them comming out to give it to you. You could even go as far as to ask for a contact card (although it will probably have contact info inside of the cover), and that you'll let them know if you have any questions. |
| LOL!!! This is all way too funny to hear for me. I just finished my LDS mission in Washington DC 2 months ago! Funny to hear what the world thinks, lol. Sir I can assure you they will respect your wishes. We get all kind of orders for bibles and books of mormon all the time. But I wont steer you in any other direction other than to atleast listen to their message. It takes 5 min. And I can assure you it will make their day. |
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I had the Mormon missionaries come to my door a few months ago. We sat and I listened to there story. First they explained how the Bible cannot be relied upon to be truthful. That their Book of Mormon is more true. But after a few visits over a week, we discussed God and His "beginnings'. Mormon doctrine has belief that is God was once a man, that had lived and died on another planet that was created by another God the Father, and after His death He was resurrected and went on to become a God the Father himself. Apparently Mormons believe the universe is full of many other Gods that have created Earths and peopled them also, just like us here on "our" Earth, This may sound a bit confusing but the missionaries explained it clearly to me. Now I was very polite and listened, and asked them very courteous questions, and no heated discusions at all. Then came a suprising statement that is part of their belief preached by their prophets Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, that is not very well discussed in their doctrine. That is God the Father of our Earth, is also married to a resurrected Godess wife. And not to just one but many polygamous Godess wives. And that Jesus practiced polygamy also, married to Mary Magdeline, Martha and Mary as well as many other women too, that he fathered children before He was crucified. I firmly believe that the Mormons have a constitutional right to worship as they please and should be free from any persecution, past or present. All Mormons are very polite, friendly and helpful to their neighbors. This is true of Jehovah Witnesses also. All honest and good citizens. But I also think that how in the world did modern day Christianity end up in America like this? Where has it all gone haywire? When I also see the ranting and ravings of Pat Robertson, Jery falwell and Hagee. And the scariest thing of all, is the control on Christian America that all these false prophets have on our country and it's politics today. |
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So let me get this straight. You want a free Bible, but when you find out it is being hand delivered to you by a pair of missionaries, you don't want to listen to them. Is that correct? What others have said is true, if you are not interested in the message that they want to tell you, all you have to do is say you aren't interested. However, it seems really rude for you to request something from them and then just blow them off. If you are not interested in listening to the missionaries, why don't you see the Gideons or any number of other organizations that give out free Bibles? |
Just for the record, you are stating here that this is LDS doctrine as explained to you, personally, by LDS missionaries?  I apologize for the hijack, BaxterStockman, but this is the post that resurrected the thread. 
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No need to rude - if you don't want to talk to them, just be honest. I would say, "Hey guys, I just wanted to see how your bible compares to mine. I really don't want to get into a big discussion." They'll be okay with that. I served a mission in Colombia - I thought it was hilarious how many people lied to us. Many times people wouldn't answer the door and send their kids to the second story window instead: Us: "Hi little fella, how are you doing?" Little boy: "My parents say to tell you that they aren't home!"  Us: "Okay, tell them that we'll come back when they're here" Little boy yelling over his shoulder: "Dad! They said they'll come back when you're here!!!"  We met a lot of cool people there - I was pretty good friends with a guy in Bogota who was Black Hawk pilot in the Colombian National Police. We'd talk about guns and aircraft more than religion. Mormon missionaries aren't the automatons or zealots you think they are. I strongly believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ - it's made me very happy and I wanted to share it with other people. But if other people didn't want to discuss it with me I was fine to go on my way and even happier to leave them a Bible/Book of Mormon. |
Correct. Like I said,
I didn't ask for people to come to my door, nor did I know that they would until I had already ordered.
I have plenty of Bibles, and I already have one from the Gideons (thanks, Days Inn Orlando!).
And after reading most people's responses, I might well sit down with them or at least invite them back for some other time. If they're as nice as the people who've responded to this thread, it sounds like a good time. |
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I hope you don't feel ambushed - I think that you sound like a reasonable guy who just doesn't want to get trapped by a couple of missionaries talking about Jesus for a few hours. Here's what I'd do... Invite them in - offer them a glass of water/soda/juice (not coffee, tea, beer etc ). Tell them that you were interested in seeing what was different in their bible and if you want to chat with them later, you'll give them a call, but you don't want to talk religion right now. They'll probably give you a card, have a pleasant chat with you about anything you bring up. (I'd almost guarantee that one of them will be a Utah boy and probably grew up shooting).After 5-10 minutes of having them in your house, show them the door and look at their bible at your leisure. If they offer you a Book of Mormon, I'd take it too, since the bible they give you will have foot note references to similar passages in the Book of Mormon and vice versa. If those missionaries are anything less than polite and you have a hard time kicking them out the door, I'll owe you an apology and a box of ammo! |
you know, I might take you up on that offer.
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I think if you do any sort of researching on them, especially from Christian internet sites you'll see that you summarized their herrectical beliefs pretty well. |
Aside from the insult, what you just said would be akin to suggesting that the best way to learn about Jews is from a Catholic website.  Or perhaps learning about Protestants from Jewish websites.
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Just tell them you are not interested in investigating the church any further at this time and they will leave. Yes, it will be a REAL King James version that is what we use! We are talking the real OLD english version not New english or what have you. It will have footnote cross references to our other canons of scripture(Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants etc.) we use that relate to the same topic at the bottom of the pages. They aren't going to bite you or sell you insurance, besides if you want to be a minister it is actually good to know what other faiths believe and and get it straight from people of that faith than to take a third parties word for it. In Fact i have Left Books of Mormon with ministers and challenged them to prove it teaches anything against the bible! They admitted it doesn't they still don't believe it to be scripture just "harmless to the original teachings of the bible." |
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jnewson anyone who says you won't make it if your not mormon to the highest glory is not teaching the truth. We believe all people who show worthiness will make it whether they are mormon or not, it's noty our call, it's Lords. What we do teach is that if you are not Christ like in your treatment of others you won't make it. We should all try to use Christ as an example of how to deal with our fellow men and women. I am sure people like mother Theresa who gave up aristocratic life and lived in poverty to serve the poor have their place assured. |
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ARover, You probably had a vist from "Reformed LDS" missionaries the RLDS church is common in Missouri and Illinois, they are people who left the main church and tried to form their own version of it after the main church went west to Utah, they are a different church entirely than the main LDS church. Just as the Polygamist are an offshoot but they are also are not recognized or condoned by the LDS church.They are considered apostates of the truth. They call themselves Mormons but aren't in actuality part of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". A lot of RLDS teachings are so heathen to us they make us cringe! WE DO NOT TEACH CHRIST WAS MARRIED OR PRACTICED POLYGAMY AT THE ORIGINAL LDS CHURCH!! We do not claim knowledge that Christ was married at all because the scriptures are vague on that!!! We definately don't claim he practiced polygamy. |
That IS true. While I am a evangelical Christian, (not a pentecostal or liturgical type) I have studied other major religions/Christianity offshoots. For example, LDS, JW, Catholics, Unitarians, etc. (Also, for the record, I am not calling any of these wrong, that's another topic). I have ALWAYS found it best to be able to argue a theological point of difference if I was able to get that point from the original source. For example, I don't want a Calvinist telling me what an Armenian believes, and vice versa. I want to hear what each side believes, with their own lips, and talk about THAT. Lord knows some religions have a hard enough time keeping their story straight themselves, much less with someone else trying to explain it. |
Well where to begin... In order to avoid a thread hijack I'll be brief. Your quick negative and critical comments are typical of ARFCOM quick fire critical experts... 1. It is commonly held by all Christian factions the quoted text from my post is considered heresy 2. You make a lot of assumptions. I think if you google LDS or Mormon you find plenty of 'recovering' and 'former' LDS'er forums (same with JW's) who discuss things from a very first person/insider view point... also I've never seen LDS'ers deny the basic priniciples I was referring to, they are not new, and not a new revelation, so the fact that you can find them on non LDS sites and criticised as heresy doesn't make them any less authentic observations. |
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The Missionaries I referred to that visited me, were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This is the official Mormon church headquartered in Salt Lake City. They of course have Temple Square, and the Mormon Tabernacle Quior. I later researched what the missionaries told me, by reading the sermons of Joseph Smith, and Brigham Young, Bruce McConkie, and Joseph Fielding Smith. The "JOURNAL of DISCOURSES" is still published by the LDS Church also. And the writings of contemporary Mormon Apostles that say the same thing. All this information is can be found, even from Mormon sources that are current. I'm not criticizing Mormons at all, nor what they believe. Nor did i criticize the missionaries that visited with me over a period of days. We had a very cordial visit. And they were very open about their Church beliefs and history. I'd be the first to defend their rights, just as I would Jehovah Witnesses, Moonies, or those in Scientology. Even though i would disagree with all their doctrines. |
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Don't fear the missionaries. They can take no for an answer. For those of you who feel the need to denigrate someones belief system at every oportunity, you need to figure out what you believe and stop worrying that others don't believe the same thing. If you don't like it, leave it alone. You are not forced to listen. You are not forced to convert. Act like a christian. If you aren't christian, at least act like a decent human being. |
I'll assume the comment in red wasn't related to MY comments. And if it was, well.... I'm not saying former "whatever religion" people don't have valid points too. BUT, I know that some that are former "mainstream Christians" don't have their story straight either. So, with that observation, I like to hear it from everyone. Back to the topic at hand, though. I have had many interesting conversations with LDS missionaries that come to the door. In fact, I usually just set a time "limit" ahead of time that I make them aware of. I.E., I have an appointment somewhere. That helps get to the point quicker, and I have learned quite a bit that way. They have always been respectful, polite, and generally good guys. Slipped and offered them coffee once.  I think they thought I did it on purpose. I have different beliefs then they do, but it helps keep me sharp as to what I believe, and WHY. If you want a free Bible, and that's all, I would say that the next time you stay at a hotel, grab one there. My dad is a Gideon, and assures me that is exactly what they are for. No follow up, or other people to have to deal with. |