Note: I started writing this a while back.
I just got back from meeting with a missionary pair at their meeting house. I ran into one of them, who was temporarily with another companion, yesterday after eating lunch with my girlfriend at her workplace. I had fun bantering with them and I told them exactly what I believed (or didn't) and they were good sports. I agreed to meet them today to further the discussion. When I got to their building I was greeted by one of the men I met yesterday and another, let's say traditional Mormon (white American guy). This guy was a tougher nut. Either that or it's practice to allow you to have the conversation on your terms when you're on the street and free to walk away, then once you're pinned down in a room call new rules. He told me he can't speak about anything involving "proof" or "the scientific method" because they don't pertain to "spiritual truth".
I did learn a few things about how they operate, though.
First of all, this is not a conversation, this is a sales pitch. These boys are taught to establish a need - your need to be saved - and sell it to you. Not all at once, of course, that would be a very tough sell. I believe the analogy they are taught in training is "you don't give meat when milk will do." The implication is the listener is a spiritual baby and needs nourishment, but would choke on fully-formed doctrine. The reality is no right-thinking person would buy in if everything was on the table.
They also don't believe they are obligated to answer any questions regarding the institution they are representing. I told them outright I thought their church acted deceitfully and immorally in regard to California Proposition 8. They told me they weren't there to talk about "religion" or "church", just to talk about God and how he wants me to open my heart to Him. Never mind the name badges, I guess.
What frustrated me the most was the smug certainty of the believer. In any other situation, someone offering claims they admit cannot be proved with any evidence yet assert they are true beyond question would be laughed at. In religious matters it is thought to be virtuous, and appeals are made to "higher" standards of proof. These notions are not higher than anything, they are simply outside of reality and should carry no weight.
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2 comments:
Interesting synthesis of your experience. You are a gluten for punishment to even participate in something like that.
You are correct that these situations are not an exchange of ideas, but instead, they are a one way funneling of ideas.
The "milk before meat" mentality is definitely one that is taught. Furthermore, missionaries are trained in what the Missionary Training Center (MTC) calls the commitment pattern. They want their conversations to lead to specific commitments that could lead to emotional experience (i.e. read the Book of Mormon or go to church). This "pattern" could easily be renamed the "manipulation pattern".
You are also correct about the fact that meeting on their turf gave them the mindset that they did not need flatter your comments or opinions. Meeting in church building or other members houses are attempts to control the situation.
The problem with trying to discuss religion with missionaries is two fold; 1) most are not well versed enough to even be equipped to answer questions about current affairs and historical issues, 2) they are running on spirit/emotion alone. These guys eat and breath spirituality. They are there to bring souls to Christ, and are not about philosophical inquiry.
anyway. Those are a few of my thoughts on the issue. I am feeling a little bit hostile right now, so I should stop. I withheld comment on your Prop 8 posts because I get livid and sometimes physically not-well when I start to think about what happened.
Thanks for commenting, Clay; I'm glad to have your insight into this subject. I must admit I went into it with the wrong mentality: the idea that I was going to challenge these guys. Of course, if I didn't have that mentality I wouldn't have gone in the first place. On the street I really seemed to have them on their heels, but once we were behind closed doors they hamstrung me and took control and all the fun was gone. My goal was really to plant a seed of doubt and inquiry. It might not sprout for years, or at all, but I tried.
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