Mormon-ed

Yesterday I was back in Ipoh (don't ask me why... that's not the topic here). At around dinner time, there were two Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) a.k.a. Mormon church missionaries from US came 'evangelizing' around the neighborhood. One of them, something Kwok (I'm bad at names), in the normal Mormon long-sleeved white shirt and tie, came knocking. I approached him, of course without allowing him in, and he started asking whether my family members were Christian. And I answered yes. He asked which church I was from. "St Michael's Church in Ipoh and Holy Spirit Church in Penang" was my reply. From my response, he acknowledged that I am a Catholic.

And yes, having a Mormon missionary at my door, I kinda expected that he would begin his 'evangelization' some time soon. So, without wasting time, I invited him to begin by asking him, "What are you doing here?" There, he began to explain that the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus was lost since the death of the last Apostle, until their 'prophet' Joseph Smith 'received revelation and from God' that he would receive the fullness of Gospel 'truth' in year 1820. (Let's do simple maths - that's 17 centuries of 'apparent darkness' according to LDS.) With that 'truth' he founded LDS Church, and later he was identified as a prophet who restored the 'truth', a prophet same as Moses and Elijah.

Next, his question was how I would feel when God answered my prayers. Thereafter, he pushed to me his tract and made me promise to read it and pray to God would answer my prayer that the 'truth' is revealed in the tract. What the...

Well, my arguments were but only two:

1. If both of us believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are the Body of Christ - why keep on pressing? My post reflection says otherwise - I doubt if they care, hence I do doubt their belonging to the Body of Christ.

2. I pointed to him Matthew 28:20, in order to refute his argument that the Gospel was lost for 1700 years. Jesus said that He will be will us till the end of age. Mormons teach that the Gospel was lost for 17 centuries. A big conflict - a big one which I am not even at all convinced at the Mormons' claim. If the Holy Scripture, or rather, the synaptic Gospel according to Matthew is True, then the Mormons are flawed. Well, I now know that, to LDS Church, the Book of Mormons are more authoritative compared to Holy Scriptures. Too bad for them...

I nearly wanted to bring up the fact that the Gospel was alive all the while through the teachings of the Church Fathers, but I did not think they would buy into it. So, I saved my breath.

In the meantime, I was a bit bugged by a more pressing issue. So, I attempted to shoo him away by returning his tract. He refused to take it back - rather, he reiterated his little demand. Well, I would not have problem promising him to finish reading it. I would not even have problem praying about it. My main concern was to pray to God to help me strengthen my hard earned faith. :-)

Nevertheless, I did feel better with me having that tract. Now the missionary has one less tract to mislead people. :-)

To learn more about the LDS Church, click here. Mind you, I do not approve of the teachings of Mormons - c'mon, it's evident if you click the link - it's sourced by Catholic Encyclopedia! :-)