You don’t have to believe in their religion to get to know them, and if you get to know them, IMHO you’ll find they are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most honest people on the planet. I have nothing but respect for Mormons.
Oh YEAH baby! (Ahem) Wait a minute, you meant that in a negative way, n’est pas?
If it’s of any consolation, I happen to know that they don’t make very many converts here.
Oh YEAH baby! (Ahem) Wait a minute, you meant that in a negative way, n’est pas?
If it’s of any consolation, I happen to know that they don’t make very many converts here.[/quote]
And they do help the local economy; however, if they would buy motor scooter instead of bicycles it would help more. 
[quote]
IMHO you’ll find they are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most honest people on the planet [/quote]
And IMHO there are a few missing adjectives in this sentence…boring, judgmental, prejudice are three that pop into mind.
(And before you ask, yes, I do know many Mormons 
)
if you don’t want to, don’t talk to them. what are they going to twist your arm?
they have a right to do what thye are doing and it’s safe to say that on the overall scale of things they do not register as a menace to society.
i’ve found most to be friendly, which is more than i can say for most people i meet on the street.
Funny story…I went to high school in the orginal mormon capital, NAvoo, Il before they moved on to Utah. I have met only 2 friendly mormons in my life. My question is, how come they can’t say ‘hi’ to black folks, or are we still not allowed into the kindom of god? :loco: 
that right, n? i’ll tell you this i almost always get a hi, but i ain’t too black.
Moromons are usually nice. There were a couple who owned a farm back in England not far from my house.
However, in Taiwan I will cross the street/hide in the nearest shop/duck into the nearest elevator/pretend to be a tree whenever I see or hear them coming down the road towards me.
I have forgotten my Mormon Collision Avoidance System too many times and it has left me trying to back out of a conversation using feeble excuses on more than one occasion. I dont know how many times I have declined a polite invitation to become religious.
At least they are polite, though.
If you really want to complain about religious canvasers, point the finger at Je HOVAH’S WITNESSES. Intrusive buggers have the cheek to put their foot in my door.
I don’t know if we get them in Taiwan. However, back home they are a true menace. When they come around my neigbourhood canvasing everyone bolts and battens down the hatches to the extent that tumbleweed rolls down the street.
They can now let black folks into the Church. The reason why black people were barred from the Church and from higher positions in the Church was simply because, after years of protest and a US government warning that the Mormon status as a tax exempt religion was in jeopardy… God had always ordained black people to be members and heads of Mormon churches, just no one bothered to ask him until 1981.
The Book of Mormon teaches about the righteous Nephites following God’s word and being taken up into heaven. The sinners were the Lamanites, who represent modern Native Americans.
The Book of Mormos states: Alma 3:6 " And the skins of the lamanites were dark according to the mark that was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, Joseph and Sam, who were just and holy men.
3:7 And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the lord set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lamuel and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaeliteish women.
3:8 And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions that would prove their destruction…
This is clearly following the precedent set by the Christian Bible with the Mark of Kane episode and much of the Book of Mormos seems unoriginal, following a structure identical to the Christian Bible.
The explanation I was given for the racist passages…which do not stop at ALMA…was simply that the darkness was “metaphorical” and that the “light of God had been taken from them.” I would like to thank Elder Braithwaite of South Africa for the help.
Now the Mormon Church is rapidly expanding to South and Central America to convert the Lamanites back into white people (?)… My Uncle married a Mormon woman who’s daughters keep getting knocked up and then go to Peru to find husbands.
Yeah, just visit the US or the Philippines or any other country where Christianity controls government policies and let me know how they are doing on pollution, the news media, economies, domestic abuse, pedophilia, crime…
[quote=“Vannyel”][quote=“MaPoSquid”]
IMHO you’ll find they are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most honest people on the planet [/quote]
And IMHO there are a few missing adjectives in this sentence…boring, judgmental, prejudice are three that pop into mind.[/quote]
Given that description, it sounds like you must be one of that type of Mormon.
Fortunately, I have never met such.
I’ve been stopped on the streets a few times by these Jehova’s Witnesses. I usually carry on a conversation with them for about 5 minutes or so then I ask for their phone numbers before they inevitably ask for my contact details, then I tell them I have to go and that I’ll call them later to find out more… seems to work so far. 
[quote=“Vannyel”]
And IMHO there are a few missing adjectives in this sentence…boring, judgmental, prejudice are three that pop into mind.
(And before you ask, yes, I do know many Mormons 
)[/quote]
You forgot to add a tendancy toward bad cosmetic surgery–Have you seen Marie Osmond’s face these days?
My problem is that they are not genuine. When they say hi to me on the street, and do the “Your American, We’re American, so let’s stop and chat and automatically be friends” thing it is because their intention is first and foremost selling their religion, not really an interest in me as a person. They don’t deserve my time.
[quote=“MaPoSquid”][quote=“Vannyel”][quote=“MaPoSquid”]
IMHO you’ll find they are some of the kindest, friendliest, and most honest people on the planet [/quote]
And IMHO there are a few missing adjectives in this sentence…boring, judgmental, prejudice are three that pop into mind.[/quote]
Given that description, it sounds like you must be one of that type of Mormon.
Fortunately, I have never met such.[/quote]
Actually I did always want to be a Mormon. Have you seen most of those guys…they are hot…hell, it would be like joining the army forever (I had to give up the U.S. army over 8 years… 
). But then again, I smoke and drink too. Not to mention my coffee habit. 
It might help to know that the missionaries who prefer to let those who are interested come to them with inquiries are generally considered to be bad missionaries. They are given a great deal of pressure to actively promote the religion. In their minds, they are trying to give you something you need, whether you know it or not. Yes, it’s condescending. Yes, it can be annoying.
If you want to blame someone, blame the church and its leaders, not the 19 year old kids who are pressured from birth into dropping everything to “work for the Lord” for two years.
Screaming Jesus is right about conversion rates in Taiwan. When I was a missionary here, the average number of converts per missionary for a two year mission was 1. That average has gone up a bit since then, but it is largely an exercise in frustration. Makes regular sales work seem like a breeze by comparison.
Tomas is right. But even though the whole missionary experience can be a tough experience, I have to admire their commitment and the opportunity to get out and see the world. I just think it’d be better to do when they’re a bit more mature.
I’ve met a lot of Mormons, and I’ve seen that they have a similar range of qualities you’d see in most other groups of people. Some better, some worse. If Vannyel’s of the belief that they’re any more racist than the rest of America then I’d have to disagree. I’ve met some older ones that are racist, but the younger ones I’ve met haven’t been.
FYI the Mormon diet and lifestyle has made them among the healthiest people in the world.
I’ve spoken with the Mormons a number of times, both in Taiwan and Europe. I find their beliefs fascinating and unusual.
Mormons believe Native Americans were originally Jews. God led them from Jerusalem to the new world around 600 BCE. After constructing ships and crossing the Pacific to the new world, one faction turned against God. As a result, God “cursed” this faction with a dark skin. This dark skinned faction later wiped out all of their white skinned relatives. All of this was recorded on gold plates in a language described as “reformed Egyptian.”
In the 1820’s, after receiving a vision of God and Christ (two distinct beings) Joesph Smith unearthed these plates and translated them into English by placing a “seer stone” into his hat. His translations became the Book of Mormon. These gold plates were later taken back to Heaven.
I’ve yet to meet a Mormon missionary who is aware of evidence linking Native Americans to late ice age Asian migration. In fact, when you mention DNA evidence linking Native Americans to Asia, they tend to get a blank look on their face. Try this the next time you run into of one them.
[quote=“Wanker of Mass Destruct”]I’ve spoken with the Mormons a number of times, both in Taiwan and Europe. I find their beliefs fascinating and unusual.
Mormons believe Native Americans were originally Jews. God led them from Jerusalem to the new world around 600 BCE. After constructing ships and crossing the Pacific to the new world, one faction turned against God. As a result, God “cursed” this faction with a dark skin. This dark skinned faction later wiped out all of their white skinned relatives. All of this was recorded on gold plates in a language described as “reformed Egyptian.”
In the 1820’s, after receiving a vision of God and Christ (two distinct beings) Joesph Smith unearthed these plates and translated them into English by placing a “seer stone” into his hat. His translations became the Book of Mormon. These gold plates were later taken back to Heaven.
I’ve yet to meet a Mormon missionary who is aware of evidence linking Native Americans to late ice age Asian migration. In fact, when you mention DNA evidence linking Native Americans to Asia, they tend to get a blank look on their face. Try this the next time you run into of one them.[/quote]
Quite accurate, except for the last point.
As a 19 year old missionary, I was aware of evidence of Asiatic migration across the Bering Strait. It didn’t bother me then. I decided that it was either faulty research (there is a Mormon adage–“all will be explained in time”–to explain evidence that contradicts doctrine), or that they were different from the Nephite (white skinned) and Lamanite (dark skinned) cultures that you describe.
Well sure, it’s all bullshit. So is romantic love, but people still believe in that, don’t they?
The only real problem I have with Mormon missionaries is the fact my hometown is in the general vicinity of what is apparently the biggest Mormon temple in the Southern Hemisphere. I happened to let that detail (my hometown) slip once when chatting with a missionary. God, try and get out of that conversation alive
[quote=“wolf_reinhold”]Bassman:
You mean in a different sense that the Mormons pick on other people who do not believe in their faith? Cajoling them? Confronting them at their door (oh, look, they are smiling…)?
Mormons are pushers of cult quackery on a people here that are far better adjusted than just about anywhere you can name in the US (partucularly Salt Lake City).
It isn’t enough that their cult has to have it own special weirdness, they also have to try and shove it down the throats of every other human on earth (and the dead, too).
A plague be cast upon them![/quote]
That’s their business, not mine. Why should it ruin my day or be something that I obsess about?
The problem is they so often want to make “their business” your business.
No one is sticking up for door-to-door salespeople or telesales reps - like Mormons, they are also pedlars of truck.
It’s OK to be irate at these people but not Mormons? Both have an agenda, both have a sales pitch. But we shouldn’t knock Mormons because they are somehow better people? Bull.