For a few months, my son and I have discussed witnessing to Mormons. Having done a bit of research and talked to a number of people, we decided it was time to get answers directly "from the horses mouth" so to speak. So a couple weeks ago, I went to www.mormon.org, entered the chat room and requested that they send some missionaries to us so we could ask our questions. Finally last Thursday they called and we set up a time to meet at our house on Sunday.
I am thankful for the prayers of all of those on Facebook and elsewhere who knew they were coming, prayed for us and provided some helpful resources. Our goals were:
- Understand the Mormon position
- Ask a few questions
- Share the Gospel with them
We used the outline described on the
Always Be Ready site. And the missionaries followed the outline just as the site said. If you are considering witnessing to Mormon missionaries, then this seems to be a good way to do it.
In the
Evidence Bible, Ray Comfort indicates there are two ways to witness to Mormons: dialog on Mormon doctrine or go to the conscience with the Biblical Gospel.
Using both of these sites as reference, we opted for a hybrid approach.
Two missionaries came to our house. They were escorted by a "chauffeur" so that they did not have to ride bikes to our house and end up on bikes after dark. We welcomed them into our house, offered them a drink and then sat down. We asked them about their background, how they ended up on mission and finally how the mission was going. This seemed to open a good dialog with them. Finally, I said that we had heard a number of things about Mormonism and we simply wanted to hear first hand what it is about. They told us that there are four classes they normally share with people over a number of visits. I suggested we start "at the beginning." They told us that Heavenly Father wants us all to be happy. (Sounded like modern gospel, right from the get go) They then gave us about a 45 minute overview of their teachings starting with James 1 "if anyone lacks wisdom he should ask God" and then leading to Amos about prophets. They would look up verses in their KJV Bibles and then hand them to us to read.
Finally, they got to talking about religious freedom in America, how Joseph Smith was looking for a church and he turned to James and asked God where he should go. They described his vision of seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus and how he got gold plates that he would translate to be called the Book of Mormon. Finally, just as the outline said, they gave testimony to that they believed that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the book of Mormon is true.
So, I said, "I've read parts of the book of Mormon and prayed to God to ask if it was true. But, he has not shown me the same things he has shown you." Suddenly both missionaries were stunned and silent. Then the "chauffeur" spoke up. He gave his testimony about the same thing. We had a dialog and then he asked me "has God shown you the Book of Mormon is false?"
"Yes", I stated!
At that point is was time to ask some questions. I told them how I saw "religion" as a moral compass for this life and able to answer the question about what happens when a person dies. So I asked them to explain their plan of salvation. At that they asked me if I would agree to read at least a chapter in the Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true. My son and I each said yes. So they gave us each a copy of the Book of Mormon along with a guide "The Plan of Salvation". The plan of salvation is very confusing especially because they use many of the same words with different meanings. Their claim is that people who are ignorant of the Gospel basically get a pass to their lowest level of heaven. When I objected saying that was not what the Bible says, they said, "it's not fair that people on the other side of the world would not go to heaven just because they had never heard of Jesus." They agreed.
Then I said, "those people will all go to hell because they have broken God's law, just like you have." I reminded them that Jesus' standard is "be perfect" just as your heavenly Father is perfect. They actually agreed to that too. Then I told them the true Gospel about Jesus being God, dying in their place, raising from the dead. And again they agreed. So this is where it was really obvious we had some different terminology.
At this point, they indicated that they needed to get going to make their next appointment. I told them I had a few questions. They took down the questions and agreed to follow-up in a few days to schedule our next meeting. I had preselected questions in advance from the Witnessing to Mormon missionaries web site. The ones I picked were:
1. Can you find me archeological and
historical proof from non-Mormon sources that prove that the peoples
and places named in the Book of Mormon are true?2. I've read where Joseph Smith said
that he translated the golden plates (from which he got the Book of
Mormon) letter-by-letter, "by the power of God" and that it was "the
most correct of any book on earth." If that's true why has the Mormon
Church had to make more than 4,000 changes to the Book of Mormon that
was originally published in 1830?3. Why do Mormons say that Jesus and
Lucifer are spirit brothers when both the first chapter of John 1:1-3
and Colossians 1:16 teach that Jesus is the creator of all things,
including Lucifer?
