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If by CONVINCE you mean to be obnoxiously persistent and rude, then yes, that is wrong. But if you mean coming to a door to ask to talk about it, then no, it is not obnoxious or intrusive and it is a basic right in our country.
I actually wanted to become a Mormon in late high school, but there was nothing at all traumatic in my life that I can pinpoint as a cause. I was basically happy.
I never attended an LDS church and never was involved in any way with LDS activities until after leaving home for college. I joined the LDS Church after going away to college.
Since only 2 sects that I know of come door-to-door, I find it obnoxious. No one wants someone coming to their door to have to refute them or turn them down. People want people to come to their door to invite them to the block party or "progressive" dinner, or EVEN to borrow some cooking staples they ran out of.
As for your own personal experience, I am taking segments of your post, but am not convinced. Growing up, I had friends of all religions all during grammar school, HS and college, including some Jewish ones. I never thought "gee it would be great to be Jewish, have a bar-mitzvah and all that moola"...I think that most guys who convert to Mormonism is because of the access to single women with whom they can create more traditional lives (house, picket fence, crank out the kids)...that's the only "perceived advantage" to your religion, as far as I can see...even my "no divorce allowed" religion doesn't provide that avenue...they prefer it...but they don't provide for it.
Since only 2 sects that I know of come door-to-door, I find it obnoxious. No one wants someone coming to their door to have to refute them or turn them down.
I do. I enjoy it when people come. Many years ago we had some Scientologists do it. And I've had baptists come to the door. The NichiRen (Buddhist) used to do door to door as well. From time to time various Protestant churches will do some door to door work as well.
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I think that most guys who convert to Mormonism is because of the access to single women with whom they can create more traditional lives (house, picket fence, crank out the kids)...that's the only "perceived advantage" to your religion, as far as I can see...even my "no divorce allowed" religion doesn't provide that avenue...they prefer it...but they don't provide for it.
I never heard of such a thing. It certainly had absolutely no role in my decision. And I've never, ever heard it from anyone else. If that is all you can "perceive," then you have a very limited set of knowledge and experience you are working with.
If that is all you can "perceive," then you have a very limited set of knowledge and experience you are working with.
I don't claim to be working with experience of any kind. I've only come across 2 observations I've heard/seen several times: (1) guys I grew up with who actually said that if you 'go to BYU you can get a lot of chicks,' AND (2) seeing numerous GUYS who were real dweebs (sp?) who probably would have been more likely to be "turned down" had they been in another religion that doesn't push the institution of marriage and abundant procreation down people's throats as part of your church's tiered levels of holiness.
I don't claim to be working with experience of any kind. I've only come across 2 observations I've heard/seen several times: (1) guys I grew up with who actually said that if you 'go to BYU you can get a lot of chicks,' AND (2) seeing numerous GUYS who were real dweebs (sp?) who probably would have been more likely to be "turned down" had they been in another religion that doesn't push the institution of marriage and abundant procreation down people's throats as part of your church's tiered levels of holiness.
Robertpolyglot.
Your words reflect very poorly on you. Think about it.
I don't claim to be working with experience of any kind. I've only come across 2 observations I've heard/seen several times: (1) guys I grew up with who actually said that if you 'go to BYU you can get a lot of chicks,'
So we have some hormone-crazed teens dreaming about college girls as the source of your view about LDS theology and society...
BTW, it never crossed my mind to attend BYU. I had barely heard of it. Living in Illinois at the time, joining the Mormon Church meant a drastic drop in the number of females in my potential dating and marriage pool.
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AND (2) seeing numerous GUYS who were real dweebs (sp?) who probably would have been more likely to be "turned down" had they been in another religion that doesn't push the institution of marriage and abundant procreation down people's throats as part of your church's tiered levels of holiness.
And you think that LDS culture would be better if the handsome and beautiful and talented got married while other people who are "less important" and "more dweeby" should be shunned? So the LDS culture teaches people that it is okay to fall in love and get married to people who aren't fashion models and athletic champions, and you think this is a bad thing?
Hmmm. It seems to me that you are giving me good reasons for showing how the LDS faith teaches wonderful principles of human worth and equality between people and before God.
Okay, so you have an extremely limited and obviously skewed sampling of LDS Christians. Instead of telling me that I must have converted because I was after and wanted to compete for the 2% of women in the country who were LDS (it was about 1% when I joined), you might want to reconsider what you think you know about my religion...
And you think that LDS culture would be better if the handsome and beautiful and talented got married while other people who are "less important" and "more dweeby" should be shunned? So the LDS culture teaches people that it is okay to fall in love and get married to people who aren't fashion models and athletic champions, and you think this is a bad thing?
Not at all. You missed what I was getting at. What I was getting at is that the Mormon girl is a lot less apt to say "Gee, no thanks..." to someone's interest. It is general knowledge that Mormon women stay home to rear their kids. How many Mormon kids are in day care? Not saying that's good or bad. At any other religious collegiate institutions, not everyone leaves married. In fact, very few do. It's just that Mormom women are on the schedule "get the toothy whitebread Mormon boy when he comes home from his mission and pop out his kids." From what I've read up above, that's the schedule you were on.
Here's something that's important to know: let other folks have their faith in peace. They neither want nor invite your proselytizing.
some people do want us to come door to door. some people have found it to be very advantageous to them.
if no one wanted it, as you say, then we certainly wouldn't be doing it. i grew a lot on my mission, and personal growth is very important--but the point of a mission is to share with others, to find people that want to listen. if no one wanted to listen to us when we come to their houses, then we would find different methods to get to know people.
as far as converting religions in high school or college, it is actually pretty common. most people are becoming aware of the world around them during this stage, and according to some theories, are just barely beginning to understand the deeper psychologies of society. it is pretty normal for them then to branch out and choose their own political ideals, and their own religious beliefs.
as a missionary, i wasn't looking for people that i could coerce into baptism. i wasn't looking for the weak members of the flock, the gullible and the exploitable. i was looking for the people that could actually hold an intelligent conversation with me about who they are, what they believe, and who they think God is. those that didn't want to talk to me weren't bothered again unless they came to us later for something; we did community service in the area too, and some people recognized that we were there to help out independent of their beliefs or desires.
if that bothers you, then i guess the variant on the old saying is true: you can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.
Your words reflect very poorly on you. Think about it.
I really don't care whether they do or not. It's what I've heard, what others have shared with me and what I've come to believe.
Over 80% of us in this country are either mainline Christian, various, (besides LDS and JW) or Catholic. We are fortunate to be in religions that don't program us and don't put us on timelines, where strangers and non-believers can come into our city's principal places of worship, and where people can obtain employment in a small mainline Protestant or Catholic enterprises without having their marital / familial status scrutinized.
The list goes on and on. It even includes being stuck in SLC on a long lay-over and picking up the van for the free ride to Temple Square -- condition: AS LONG as you go on their tour. So, I got the free ride and found an excuse to get out of it. The 2 people in the shuttle were so "Stepford," it was scary. I was so nauseated, I took the "milk train" city bus back to the airport.
Any Mormon missionary coming to my door or accosting me in public to share their message, given what I've experienced, will very rudely be told to "put it where the sun don't shine."
Any Mormon missionary coming to my door or accosting me in public to share their message, given what I've experienced, will very rudely be told to "put it where the sun don't shine."
you consider someone greeting you in public to be an accost? just religious people, or anyone? gotta be a hard way to live.
you consider someone greeting you in public to be an accost? just religious people, or anyone? gotta be a hard way to live.
Two guys in white shirts/black pants on bikes equals being accosted.
People at Barnes and Noble who want to chat about travel experiences, or a stranger who needs directions or suggestions on the local area equals being welcomed with open arms.
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