Has anyone ever "reverse-converted" a Mormon missionary?

[Canadjun]

@Frylock

Using the term as the JW’s use it, then, its clear that a polytheist would be someone who believes there is more than one entity equal in power and authority to Jehovah. (To be clear, what I just said is what you believe about monotheism, put into their language.) They don’t believe there is more than one such entity. Hence they are monotheists.

By that logic, Greek/Roman/Norse mythology was monotheistic, since Jupiter/Zeus/Odin ruled over the other gods in their pantheons. A belief in polytheism does not imply that you believe that all the gods in your belief system have equal power.

[Gala_Matrix_Fire]

@unstrung

I’ve never converted any Mormon missionaries; however, during my brief career as a door-to-door salesman, I did once knock on their door during their dinner and sell them a bunch of crap they didn’t need. Door-to-door sales is generally an all-around crappy endeavor, but that was one of the rare moments that brought a brief sense of satisfaction…

Sweet!

[Reloy3]

@Elendil's Heir

I’ve been tempted to buy a stack of Jon Krakauer’s excellent, well-researched and gripping book on Mormonism since its founding, Under the Banner of Heaven (Doubleday 2003), and give them to the LDS missionaries who occasionally come to my door. Don’t know that I’d reverse-convert them, but it might put some thoughts in their heads that the Mormon brass don’t want there.

As a Mormon, I would just roll my eyes. I have read it, and understand its popularity, but there are better written books out there (“Rough Stone Rolling”, etc.) that take a more nuanced look at early LDS history, and implying (as Krakauer does) that modern splinter groups are somehow indicative of problems inherent to modern LDS beliefs would run counter to what I grew up with and with the people I see in my every day life.

ALthough I have met a few unintelligent Missionaries in my life, I can’t imagine one who would be shocked to find out that there are books critical to their faith. Missionaries are mostly trained that such confrontations are not good for either side and just engender anger, so it is best to just walk away.

BTW, I was sent home early from my mission, and am still active.

[Reloy3]

Sorry, my edit window closed.

It seems to be a belief among some (mostly evangelicals, but more agnostics recently) that LDS people are really ignorant about their beliefs. That somehow they’ve spent years studying and living their faith, and yet the critic knows more after one brief reading of the latest “expose” (i.e “Under the Banner of Heaven”, “Leaving the Saints”, “Secret Ceremonies”, etc. ) Guess what, we’ve heard them all before, read the books, bought the T-Shirts, moved on. This has been going on since the 1830’s.

In the last 20 years, I don’t think I have heard any new criticism of the LDS Church. It is all recycled. That isn’t to say there aren’t valid criticisms of LDS culture, but I can’t imagine that someone handing me the latest in a long line of critical books is going to make me say " :smack: Oh, obviously I have been dedicating much of my life to a mistake or fraud. Thank you for pointing out this newspaper article from 1860 or this wacko splinter group or this variant reading of scripture." Even when I was a young 19 year old, I had heard it all before.

[hajario]

@Reloy3

BTW, I was sent home early from my mission,

Would you mind telling us why?

[raindog]

I appreciate this reasoned, and well thought out post, and will add my comments below.

@Frylock

No, Annie, that is not correct.

This is a purely semantic matter. JWs are using the term “god” differently than the way you (and I) use it. For them, “a god” means, or anyway can be used to refer to, a person deserving of great honor. What you mean when you say “a god” translates into their “language” as “an entity equal in power and authority to Jehovah.”

Actually, they endeavor to use the words “god” and “God” as accurately and contextually as it is found in the bible. They note that the title “god” is used extensively in the bible, and recognize when the distinction is made between god, and God.

They also recognize that many people assign honor to their god, whomever or whatever that god happens to be. That doesn’t mean they share those values. In other words, the issue of whether that honor is “deserving” is one they hold in reserve. As one example, Satan is described as a god, and JWs would find no basis to accord him honor.

Using the term as the JW’s use it, then, its clear that a polytheist would be someone who believes there is more than one entity equal in power and authority to Jehovah. (To be clear, what I just said is what you believe about monotheism, put into their language.) They don’t believe there is more than one such entity. Hence they are monotheists.

Correct and very well put.

They do believe that there is more than one person who deserves great honor. That’s what they believe, put into your language. (In their language they would say “There is more than one person who is, or at least can permissibly be called, a god.”) But this belief in a multiplicitly of honorable people is not polytheism.

-FrL-

-FrL-

Once again, correct and well put. As a practical matter, Jesus is not generally called ‘god’ by JWs (and not being Trinitarians would never call him “God”) although he is called a god in some texts in the Bible. So the term ‘god’ would be—to use your word----permissable to use in describing Jesus. It’s simply not done, in part I suppose because there are more accurate (and certainly more common and prevalent) terms used to describe him in the bible. I imagine it also clearly delineates him as God’s Son, not God. In fact, it is much more common to see the term “god” used in describing Satan, than Jesus in JW services. (who also is called a god in the bible)

[Etaoin_Shrdlu]

And at least one Mormon missionary caused an international terrorist incident in 1987.

BTW, I was born and raised Catholic, joined the LDS church in 1997 and am now in process of resigning my LDS membership and re-activating (for lack of a better term) in my local Catholic parish.

[alterego]

@scrambledeggs

Seeing those missionaries that go door to door all over the world, and most seem to be 18-21 years old, I would imagine that over time at least one Mormon missionary was ‘turned’ by the people he tried to convert.

Is there any evidence of this happening?

Or would their faith be so strong they would never be turned? I would seem that a Mormon Missionary in say, the deep U.S. south, would be knocking on Southern Bapist doors long enough to get some serious counter-arguments.

My best friend served on a 2 year mission in Hungary and is now an atheist.

YMMV.