How Should One Handle Missionaries?

[_Bond...James Bond]

Like most people, I've had a few encounters with missionaries (4 to be exact; three at the house, once outside a store). Most of the times I simply told them I was not interested, but the most recent time I asked a few pointed questions (mostly because I just like to mess with people, and I had a few minutes to spare).

Needless to say they didn't exactly like my questions (whch included: Did you know Joseph Smith was a polygamist? Did you know Joseph Smith translated with a rock in a hat? etc...) and they quickly excused themselves from the area. I'm sure most people just give them the old "No thanks", but I'm sure many get the informed questioners (such as myself). So my questions are:

Do people have the right to question the missionaries who approach them?

Should missionaries have to take whatever they get from people (as long as it isn't violent or profane)?

[_ozemc]

let me say that I have had my share of missionaries at the house.

I have told them at one point "No, I don't believe it", annd then they just look at me with this amazed look on their faces, and tell me to just "read the Book of Mormon again".

They just can't seem to accept that I've heard this over and over, and won't believe it.

My wife has started to notice that I'm getting a little perturbed, so she has told them to back off.

They have stopped showing up unannounced, especially when I'm watching TV drinking a beer.

[_truth dancer]

Hi James...

The missionaries are teenagers and young men and women who are sacrificing two years of their lives to do what they feel is what God wants them to do.

I respect and honor that.

Regardless of how one views the church I think being polite, respectful, and decent is appropriate behavior toward missionaries, regardless of what religion.

:-)

~dancer~

[_ozemc]

Hi James...

The missionaries are teenagers and young men and women who are sacrificing two years of their lives to do what they feel is what God wants them to do.

I respect and honor that.

Regardless of how one views the church I think being polite, respectful, and decent is appropriate behavior toward missionaries, regardless of what religion.

:-)

~dancer~

Oh, absolutely, Truth Dancer.

I try to be as respectable as possible to these young folk: I have had them over for dinner, etc.

The only time I really start to have a problem is when they start showing up unannounced at night during the week with a "we were just in the neighborhood" type of thing.

At that point, I will talk to them at the door, but they don't get to come in.

[_gramps]

I always talk to the missionaries when I see them around the town.

One day, last summer, I met them walking up the street in Neustadt - the pub, alternative lifestyle, and student hangout. I don't know what they were really doing there. They looked tired and sweaty and going nowhere in a hurry. They also seemed to be staring at the same beautiful young 20s woman that I had just noticed.

I was in a mere t-shirt, shorts and sandals. It's when I had my "Einstein-like" fro. I stopped and said "Hi, Elders. How's the work going in these parts?" Well, it took them back a bit. They asked me where I was from. How I knew about the "Elders," etc. One was from some small town in Utah, the other was from Germany. The one from Germany was clearly the greenie because he had that glazed look in his eyes. They were nice guys. I offered to get them something to eat, but they were on the way to the park just up the street. Pretty good scenery there in the summer, to be sure. Couldn't blame them. I think they were a little scared of me, perhaps rightfully so.

The other pair I met in a chapel in town when my girlfriend and I stopped in to see their Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit. Everything was going fine until the missionaries showed up right on cue to see if we had any questions. My girlfriend asked them what the replica of the Gold Plates at the end of the exhibit had to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls. She also asked them why the replicas seemed to be written in some kind of Arabic, rather than Reformed Egyptian. They didn't handle that too well.

I stayed out of it until the missionary hinted that I was too scared to look him in the face when he was bearing his testimony. (When he started, I just kind of wandered away.) Well, then I told him to "f*** off." Of course, he went ballistic and then I started laughing. Neither he nor I were being nice. Finally, he called me to repentance and told me to come back to the Church. My girlfriend grabbed me by the arm and suggested we leave. I took her wise advice.

I guess this a long way around to my basic principle when I meet the missionaries: If they're cool, I am cool. If they're jerks, I give it right back to them. It is rare when I meet a jerk like at the exhibit. But, when it happens, that can be fun, too.

[_Bond...James Bond]

Hi James...

The missionaries are teenagers and young men and women who are sacrificing two years of their lives to do what they feel is what God wants them to do.

They're still volunteers right? So everything they get they could avoid by not going on a mission right?

Regardless of how one views the church I think being polite, respectful, and decent is appropriate behavior toward missionaries, regardless of what religion.

Of course.....but should they have to listen to my comments and questions? If they waste five minutes of my time don't I have the right to waste five minutes of their time?

[_Lucretia MacEvil]

The last time missionaries came by my house, I brought them in, gave them sodas and commenced to read aloud selections from Thomas Paine's "Age of Reason." They suddenly remembered they had appointments for haircuts. It was lovely and marvelous.

[_asbestosman]

So my questions are:

Do people have the right to question the missionaries who approach them?

Should missionaries have to take whatever they get from people (as long as it isn't violent or profane)?

1) Yes
2) No

Personally I think you'd get a bigger kick out of asking the missionaries hard questions they they probably want to anwer. Something along the lines of, "since I felt peace when _____ talked to me, how can I tell whether _____ is right or you're righ?" You could also try asking them if you should follow Jesus's example and wait until you're 30 to get baptized. You could also ask them why God blesses us by healing us or giving us comfort when in fact our physical health doesn't matter so much in the eternal scheme. Shouldn't God rather bless us with knowledge and such so we can keep his commandments instead of trivially blessing us with healing our sickness?

The free will question might be fun too. How can we be held accountable for our choices? If our initial disposition was really the same, then why did some people chose differently? If the choices were random, why are we punished. If the reason we chose differently is based on how God made us, then why are we punished? Then for good measure ask for the interpretation of Romans 9: 19-22.

For all that torture, be sure to treat them to something nice like ice cream.

[_Mr. Coffee]

Hand them a copy of the "Kiss Hank's Ass" joke and slam the door on them. Generally works. Failing that, call up the local ward HQ and ask them to put you on the "Do Not Knock" list. Also, put a easilly visable "no socliciting" sign out front and have a decent lawyer on retainer.

Keeps LDS, JWs, and Kirby Salemen from bothering you.

[_ajax18]

Having been on a mission, I pretty much just feel sorry for the missionaries. Yet lately I've found it most effective to keep my distance. Now if I were to get a shot at a mission president or an area authority, I might ask questions like the one mentioned above, but they avoid that just as much as I avoid missionary committments.