Mormons are crazy

I agree with Kelly here. If you have the attitude that the person you're witnessing to is a nutcase, then you aren't going to treat them with the love and respect that a person, for whom Christ died, should be treated. We should be very careful not to let our fleshly feelings and prejudices get in the way of being used of God. I include myself in that statement because God isn't finished with me yet. I still have a long way to go.

Edited to add this: To the Harvest; I have no intention of starting a thread "on how much of a jerk" you might be. It's against the posting rules. But in all seriousness, had you entitled your post more appropriately, (such as Mormon theology is crazy) you probably wouldn't have heard from me as I am not an expert on their theology. What I do know of I totally disagree with though. Have a wonderful day.

[ February 19, 2003, 04:01 PM: Message edited by: Mom-O-Five ]

 

What do I tell them? Well, the first time I talked to them I ended up joining them. Since then I learned quite a bit, and would talk to them more often if the stake president hadn't banned them from my address.
What WAS working? Lots and lots of discussion and prayer with them. You're not going to drive a lifetime of mind control from them in a five minute discussion in front of your door, although if that's all you can do present the gospel in a nutshell and maybe one day it'll register.
What I suggest is that you don't talk to them for long if you don't know how, simply present the way to salvation and be done with it. You DON'T know how if you haven't studied their doctrines.
I know a few of you will be hopping up and down saying "just telling them Jesus died on the cross is good enough", and it is good, but it won't get you far because they believe he did too.
Time, patience, pray with them, feed them. For real, make them dinner or lunch or whatever, those missionaries are usually short on money and missing home. Don't give them a bunch of Baptist literature to read, give them their own literature and point out flaws and inaccuracies. And for goodness sake know the book of Hebrews inside and out!
Gina

 

Mormons aren't usually crazy, but they're horribly deceived by a false religion that will ultimately destroy them.

As far as witnessing to Mormons, I don't get to do it much, but I do treat them as people that Jesus loves and look for opportunities to chat about spiritual things. It's usually not very hard to get a Mormon to talk about their faith, so I ask them questions, patiently listen to what they have to say and then respond according to what I hear.

In my experience, there is a surprising variety of doctrine among Mormons, no doubt that some of it has filtered in from converts of Christian denominations that haven't studied their cult doctrine carefully.

Often I'll find something that the Mormon believes that is inconsistent with Mormon teaching, but consistent with Christianity and affirm them in their opinion. (Instead of trying to get them to convince them of my religious views, I affirm views they already hold. They are less likely to deny their own convictions.)Then I'll use that over the course of multiple conversations to show that their belief is correct and tie it to Christian teaching.

WARNING: You need to have a clear understanding of official Mormon doctrine and a pretty good grasp of basic Christian doctrine. You'll also need to be very comfortable with a KJV Bible, since they allegedly believe it is inspired. You also need to make a commitment to befriending the Mormon and being there when their cultic faith system is on the edge of collapse. They will need the support of good friends to support them when the stake turns against them.

 

I had four Mormon missionaries in my church Sunday night past. They are coming with a degree of regularity, although it is different people each time. They hear the gospel, and leave. Our folks are friendly towards them, as we are to any lost people. Does anyone else have visiting Mormon missionaries come by their church? Does anyone know WHY they are visiting my church in particular? I know our folks witness to them on the doors and invite them, but I doubt (maybe I shouldn't) that their (i.e. the mormon missionaries) motives are pure. What do you think?

 

Their motives are not pure! They are there to try to get their foot in the door of the people that are not ground well in their faith. What happens is, they see a person at the church, then they meet them when they are doing their door to door activities, they say,"Hey, I saw you at so-so Baptist church Sunday night". These people, usually, will say,"Oh yeah, come on in". And before you know it they have presented and won someone to their pagan belief.
They have motives for visiting your church, most of the new members of mormonism were once aligned with the Baptist faith.
Our church kindly asks them to leave. I agree this is not the best way to handle presenting the Gospel to them, but, it protects our members who aren't as grounded in their faith as they should be.
Also, if you will notice, the mormons try to really impress the children, so be careful. Rick Sr.

 

As far as I can figure, their only intention when they come for a study, is to get you into their "crazy" religion. They don't waste time on those that have any Bible knowledge or faithfulness in a Baptist Church.

 

I don't think anyone here has advocated promoting mormonism, or letting it slide as truth. What we've objected to is calling mormons themselves crazy. They're deceived, which I certainly don't see as being crazy. And even so, what good purpose does it possibly serve to call any other religion crazy, and particularly calling its followers crazy? We can call something wrong and call people deceived without using such a derogatory term as crazy, and that is, I think, what some of us were trying to express here. Dr. Bob.

 

crazy

adj 1: affected with madness or insanity; "a man who had gone mad" [syn: brainsick, demented, distracted, disturbed, mad, sick, unbalanced, unhinged]

2: (informal) foolish; totally unsound; "an impractical solution"; "a crazy scheme"; "half-baked ideas"; "a screwball proposal without a prayer of working" [syn: half-baked, screwball, softheaded]

3: marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness; "she was crazy about him"; "gaga over the rock group's new album"; "he was infatuated with her" [syn: dotty, gaga, enamored, infatuated, in love, smitten, soft on(p), taken with(p)]

4: (informal) possessed by inordinate excitement; "the crowd went crazy"; "was crazy to try his new bicycle"

5: bizarre or fantastic; "had a crazy dream"; "wore a crazy hat"

6: (informal) intensely enthusiastic about or preoccupied with; "crazy about cars and racing" n : someone deranged and possibly dangerous [syn: loony, looney, weirdo]

Survey says....... 4 out of 6 definitions prove that Mormons are in fact crazy!

Of course we shouldn't treat them unkindly. But to deny their madness is dangerous. They are an aggressive, mind-control cult.

 

I work with 2 very solid mormons. nice guys and hard workers. Great co workers. I have shown a genuine interest in their beliefs and have shown that I have read and studied their religion. when our conversations get going I always point out where the mormons have strong suits, and the main differences between religions. Their mission/evangelism focus is impressive... But salvation is purely by grace. I am just modelling the lifestyle. And I always offer the plan of Salvation, according to the 1 true GOD.

 

Maybe someone is inviting them, or maybe they want to learn more about what your denom believes so they can argue against it better. Or maybe they just want a break from their church.
They do have to have permission from leadership to come to your church, and they're required to wear their witnessing clothes and nametags, so it's not likely they're sneaking away quietly to hear the word. Whatever the case, it's good for them to hear the truth, whatever their motives for being there might be.
Gina

 

Actually, Gina, it is much more likely that they are "gathering intelligence." It's the fact that it's differing people each time that leads me to believe this.

That, and my own personal experiences with the Mormons, having also been one for a while at one time.

In the area I currently live, the tactic was to come into a church, sit for the sermon, and then attempt to engage the pastor immediately after the service, in full view of all the members, in a "discussion."

My pastor, being an older, wiser man, simply told them, "Not here."

Give ya two guesses as to why they'd attempt to use that tactic.

Oh, and it is good that they're coming in and hearing the truth.

 

I've done extensive research on the Mormon faith. Although I consider myself pretty liberal, what I have found is that the Mormon faith is based upon the plagerized Book of Mormon which was written by a mortal man (Joseph Smith) who decided that God "revealed to him" that he was to take more than one wife...this was AFTER he was already having affairs with his friends' wives. This man was a soundrel to say the least. BUT, his teachings and writings are what the Mormon faith is based on. There are many other weird beliefs of this group..too numerous to mention. Pull up some web sites and you can learn a lot about a cult that masquerades as a "christian" church. Many of their people are duped into believing it's really a "christian" church, but if you look at their belief system, it's about as far off as some of the more controversial cult groups that make the news.

 

I can't believe it, but Scott and I are on the same team here! </font>[/QUOTE]Yep.... and it felt so good I'd like to do it again. Where else are you posting besides the versions forum?

 

I think Stubborn Kelly has got it right, and I happily support her comments.

Mormons are wrong ... and so is every other non-christian I know. They all need to see the wonder of God and salvaton in Christ. Mormon, Moslim, Jew, Hindu, Shinto, Animist .. whatever ... they need Christ - and we are His witnesses. Let us be clear about the truth, but not in words only . actions count as part of our witness.

Regards
Bob

 

Jimmy Carter once said that Baptists don't need to waste their time witnessing to Mormons about salvation