The Mormon missionaries that visited us the other night had made an appointment to come back at six last evening. Six o'clock came and went without a knock at our door and to be honest I wasn't very surprised. I figured it was a 50/50 shot whether they would show up or not. As Tiffany said "being blacklisted twice by the Mormons is probably more than enough."
Something surprising happened though, a little after six thirty there was a knock at our door. The two missionaries had come back, and this time they brought a friend. My suspicion was that he was a leader in their church and that because of our prior encounters with missionaries he was brought along to keep an eye on things.
Once they came in from the cold and we were introduced to their friend I had a strange feeling. You know how sometimes you know almost immediately that you like someone? The guy that the missionaries brought with them was one of those people. He was instantly like-able. After talking to him for a few minutes I realized that he wasn't a leader in the church, he was just a Mormon guy that had the missionaries over to dinner with his family and then drove them to come meet us.
After we dispensed with some small talk we got to the meat of why they were there. They asked us if we had any questions about the LDS church. I said no, that we have read the Book of Mormon and that the missionaries who had visited us in the past answered any questions we may have had. It was then that I got my second surprise of the evening. One of the missionaries admitted that he thought that was the case. He suspected after our first conversation that the chances of us joining their church were slim to none but that he had wanted to come back and talk to us anyway.
I told them that my main issues with the LDS church are the lack of independent archaeological evidence for the places and people described in the Book of Mormon. More than that though, I told them that their doctrine of the need for someone to be baptized so that they may be saved was wrong. If there was anything we could do to achieve salvation then there was no need for Jesus to die on the cross.
It was at this point that the guy who drove the missionaries to our house spoke up. He said that in his mind, baptism wasn't essential for salvation but that it for him it was a symbolic act to show obedience to Christ. I remarked that he had a very Christian way of looking at baptism. Sadly, this is not the teaching of his church.
When they left they said that we could expect a phone call to make another appointment with us. I am not convinced that we can actually expect a call, but they did manage to surprise me last night. I was left with the same curious feeling that I have had when visited by Mormon missionaries before. They are nice people and they sincerely believe what their church teaches. I am not able to brand them as evil, but we don't believe the same things either.
Comments