Comment on My Dealings With the Mormons, Part 5 by Sparten Mormon

Sparten Mormon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:49:20 +0000

I knew a young lady who went on a mission for the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. She was originally Catholic and was at divinity collage training to be a Nun. Somehow or other she converted. She volunteered like all LDS missionaries do, was found to be morally worthy after an extensive interview with her LDS Bishop. She payed her own expensis to go, which is common-place. She had zero choice as to where she would be going. The country that an LDS missionary goes to is assigned to them by someone at Church headquarters who prays about it. Until they receive the envelope in the mail the missionaries are not sure where they will be sent to. Except for pre-existing health conditions a missionary could be sent to just about anywhere in the world… from sophisticated Japan to primitive Nigeria and all points in between. In the case of the young lady previously mentioned (the former Nun student LDS converted to Mormonism), she was sent to a country in South America. Her mission was primarily aimed at just keeping Natives alive. A lot of them were dying of disease as the result of incorrect sanitation habits and what not. The setting she was in for a year and a half, was rugged, primitive, jungle… and it goes without saying dangerous and wild. This could have easily have been the destination of all the female missionaries so far as they were aware when they signed up for consideration. I mention this so that you will know that the conversation that you had with these young ladies was just the tip of a very big (, and very global) iceberg. Being a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of LDS, I can tell from personal experience that the behavior you mentioned is pretty much typical of conversations that are happening around the world. Not having been a missionary myself, I can only stand back and be amazed at their courage and determination. Imagine being sent to Northern Ireland. As much as they hate each other (Catholic and Protestants) they hate Mormons more. Still these young people volunteer. This despite the continuing tightening of standards. You used to never here about young men or young men being sent home early for non-health reasons. Now you here about it more often (because of the ever higher standards). Socrates said “Only one is wise, and that is God.” He then went around ancient Greece and made anyone that thought he was wise, and tried to make anyone he could meet with look like a completely idiotic fool. Socrates was smart and wily. So he made anyone he held a conversation with look like a fool and thus prove his point. It was all great fun, but he eventually was forced to drink the hemlock (execution by self inflicted suicide). Nevertheless he did not back down. This is essentially what the female missionaries were trying to convey to you in so many words, with the same sense of humor as Socrates, but without the insulting verbal tricks and traps the esteemed Socrates used against one and all. The message is otherwise the same and strikingly so. Only one is wise and that is God. So what the young lady from the Non-English-Speaking country came all the way across the globe to tell you, as best she could, was that simple message. Only one is wise and that is God. She was happy because something happened to her that was pleasing to her. She didn’t have the ability or the smarts to get her (foreign country) Dad to stop drinking and abusively yelling at her and her siblings. But these Mormon Missionaries did, and they did it by saying “Only one is wise and that is God”. And she was so happy about that, that she was willing to risk her life to tell others about it. No body likes to sound like a fool, and multiply that by a significant factor if you are talking in another language, and even more so if you are doing it in a foreign country, and imagine if you were a Missionary and a Mormon on top of that!? Add to that being a female… and I think even Socrates would be astounded at the courage. Do you think under the circumstances, she was trying to lie to you? Maybe she was using those good old fashioned syllogisms the ancient Greek philosophers made so famous?? Of course not. It is obvious what she was saying. Her life had been awful. Her Dad drank like a thirsty horse. He was by definition a lunatic who made the life of a little girl, his daughter, miserable. But no. Knock. Knock. LDS Missionaries show up at her door. And soon her life isn’t bad anymore. The little girl looks up and see’s her daddy in a right state of mind and he is finally sober and sane and happy. And her life has been very very happy since then. After being baptized the family really felt good about each other and about the direction their life was headed. The Holy Ghost had come into her life. God, NOT MAN had intervened. And she is so happy about receiving the joy of the Holy Spirit in her life that she wants to share that joy. And if she can only convince one Daddy to receive the Holy Ghost into his life then all of her pains and struggles to give the gift of that message to others… it would be worth it. Because a little daughters life will have so much eternal joy in it. This is why this young female LDS Missionary came all the way across the world, with her and her families money, to stammer in your living room. And 50, 000 LDS missionaries are doing the same thing. Soon it will be twice that, 100,000 , because of the geometric growth of the LDS Church. So many people in this world are trying to share misery, she was trying to share eternal happiness through repentance and living the commandments of God. The only sensible way to find out what Church is true is to ask God himself with real intent and a true desire to make restitution and live the commandments as an agreement … if God is willing to give a person that knowledge. Under the circumstances it is hard for me to comprehend how someone could have had four heroic young women in their living room saying “Only one is wise, and that is God.” and ignore the request to ask God through sincere prayer what Church is true, and if Jesus really does want you to live a righteous and Holy life. In comparisons, I can’t imagine the Spartens being considered that brave, because their soldiers were men, and these Christian soldiers are chaste young women. Sophist subtle arguments of men verses a sincere righteous belief in the Infinite wisdom of God. Pardon me while I go dig up some hemlock somewhere. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little thirsty. I think I safely can say I can now relate to Socrates’ frustration at human frailty and the stubourness of self-worship. Because that is what relying on your own wisdom amounts to. Self worship. Instead of the worship of GOD and his eternal, unimaginably infinite, WISDOM. And I am still trying to process someone sitting there and refusing to pray to God for wisdom to know God’s will while in the presence of such pure and chaste and heroic young women. Forget about how God must feel about this, consider how in the next life what histories great cowards are going to say to you, and about you, when you go to judgement day. “Dude…even I would have prayed.” Is what all the cowards in the afterlife will say… who didn’t get such convincing evidence of God’s true Church as you got. FOUR ??!!…….. . . .

Comment on China by porter

porter — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:26:19 +0000

oh, i was under the influence of a misleading impression that you were already in china…. i thought it would be rather fun to have a birthday something like 15 hours early.

Comment on Scraps of paper by Devin

Devin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:14:02 +0000

That profound statement is the entire basis of an upcoming ps3 game. http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Games/Fat_Princess

Comment on China by Shirley

Shirley — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:28:07 +0000

Bon voyage, Jeff. (I know, that’s supposed to be for boat trips.) Hope you have a wonderful time!

Comment on Getting Home by Lois

Lois — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:36:05 +0000

We’re still up in the air. Did you ever make it out of the Greyhound Station and onward to Hawaii? What an exciting beginning to your trip!

Comment on Summer Heat by Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:31:05 +0000

Oh, the semantics of that sentence! Actually, you were right. No pants for downtown.

Comment on Summer Heat by David Lee

David Lee — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:25:18 +0000

“Only put on a shirt”… I do hope you tried pants as well.

Comment on Saturdate by Caitlin « On the Tables

Caitlin « On the Tables — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:32:57 +0000

[...] Published July 2, 2008 General , Intriguing For those of you who don’t know, I have a girlfriend. She’s really smart, really cute, and happens to be in [...]

Comment on Murder Mystery Dinner by Jeff

Jeff — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:49:17 +0000

Oh, no. The premise is as follows:
“Zeus’ latest mortal lover has been MURDERED by another god!!! Racked with grief, and unable to face his fellow deities, Zeus has ordered us to discover who among ourselves is the killer.”

Comment on Murder Mystery Dinner by Ron Davison

Ron Davison — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:44:13 +0000

I love the idea of solving the murder of a god. Aren’t they supposed to be immortal? Wait. These are Greek gods, aren’t they? Now I’m just confused. But you knew that.

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