Ausborne Blog

This morning, as I was getting ready to head to my non-job job (the construction stuff I do in the mornings before work) a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses stopped by the house.  Melanie wasn’t the least bit interested in answering the door, but did anyways after I promised that I’d speak with them.

I went out onto the porch and ended up talking with them for about 20 minutes.  You know, these guys sure weren’t very personable.  They were a couple of older men and they kind of looked at me like I was stupid, especially after I told them I’m LDS.  You know that look that people get when they think that they know something that you don’t, and that they’re going to trap you with your words?  Yeah, that’s the look.  They had these misconceptions about our religion, which I guess most other religions have, but they thought that they’d trap me with the misconceptions.  When they asked me about them, I explained what we really believe, and they proceeded to tell me that that wasn’t what they had been told by other LDS people.  In fact, one of the first questions they asked me was how could Jesus and the Father be one?  When I said that they were One in purpose, spirit and of one mind, they seemed kind of surprised, as it’s the same thing that they believe.  Almost as if it were some sort of test, they asked me if we believe in the Trinity, as if it were some sort of follow-up question to check my work.  I answered that we believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that they are three separate and distinct entities, to which they were also surprised.  This was also followed up by another question, along the lines of, “Who was Jesus praying to when he was on Earth?”  Well, the Father, of course. It wouldn’t exactly be very fruitful for Him to pray to Himself, would it!?

Anyways, to make a long story short, they seemed borderline argumentative.  It wasn’t overwhelming, the sense of displeasure in talking to them, but it was noticible by me.  Rather than being genuinely interested in having a conversation with me about the nature of God, they just seemed to be more interested in trying to catch me in a verbal mis-step or the likes.

I was taught a long time ago not to engage in argument or Bible-bashing with those who wish to argue, as it does nothing to pursuade those who believe differently to have any interest in the message I’m presenting.  When I was a missionary, I was taught to offer and invite with humility, not condemn or belittle those who believe differently.  I pray that the missionaries from my church don’t come across in such a manner when they are introducing our beliefs to strangers as these two men came across to me today.

UPDATE: One other thing that they did when talking to me was to point out the American flag that was on my shirt (it’s an Old Navy shirt).  They made a point of telling me that having allegiances to nations and governments set up by men was false, and that doing so is an abomination before God.  I explained that, while I understand that the kingdom of God is first and foremost, I am also an American, and I firmly believe in American policies of helping to spread good will and democracy throughout the world.  They didn’t seem to want to argue with me on that.

UPDATE 2: The funniest thing I noticed when they were on my doorstep, is that 5 other women and their kids showed up at my house for a big playgroup.  In all, I think there were 13 kids and 6 women in the house.  While I did mention that only two of those kids were mine, I kept wondering if they were going to go telling their friends in church that they met a Mormon with 6 wives while they were out knocking doors.