I got home from work today and sat down to watch a little TV when the door bell rings. I knew it had to be either someone trying to sell me something or someone trying to convince me that I was going to hell if I didn't join their religion. It turns out it was the latter.

Okay, maybe they didn't say that I was going to hell if I didn't become Mormon but they tried to convince me that they know the truth. I argued with them that there is only one truth and they agreed. But they continued to insist that Joseph Smith some how received the word of God while in the Americas that contradicts the same word of God that He gave to the apostles through Jesus Christ. Now if there is only one truth, Joseph Smith should have been in total agreement with the teaching of Jesus Christ to the Apostles.

I compared Joseph Smith to Muhammad and Martin Luther. Martin Luther was unhappy with the religions that he had explored and wanted to find something more so he decided to make his own. This is in direct contradiction to God. There is one word of God. You either accept it or not. And like Muhammad, Joseph Smith saw something that he felt was God and by his misguided interpretation, he lead himself astray and thus lead others astray as well.

All of my questions that I asked of them went unanswered. It was funny how they didn't even attempt to answer my questions. For the mosst part, they just continued with their rehearsed script. They showed me why I shouldn't do the same. If anything they turned me off even more with their lack of understanding of their own beliefs. When they told me about Joseph Smith, it seemed more and more unbelievable. Their belief in the Book of Mormon is based solely on their personal feelings. I know from Fr. Matthias, that I should ignore my feelings. If I based my choice of following God on feeling alone, I wouldn't follow God at all. I wouldn't fast because I like the taste of meat. I wouldn't pray because I would rather do things that are more fun. I wouldn't wake up early on Sunday to go to church and stand for hours on end in worship toward God and would stay home and watch football all day instead. I would steal because it's easier than paying for things. I would cheat as long as I can get away with it. I would think of my needs before anyone else because that would make ME feel good. Basically feelings will lead you astray and won't necessarily lead you toward God just like they did for Muhammad Joseph Smith.

There is empirical evidence of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and I know that the church that I attend has remained true to the teaching of the Apostles for the last 2000 years and my feelings agree with the evidence. The Holy Spirit that God has given to me has also lead me in the same direction.

I accepted their gift of the Book of Mormon and I promised that I would read at least the introduction. I will read it with an open mind but I do not anticipate that it will change my way of thinking one iota. I expect that I will pick out every fallacy that appears in the reading and point it out to them then we'll see how they respond.

Edit:

After thinking about this last night, I think I have the wrong attitude. I shouldn't take this as a challenge and try to prove that I am right and they are wrong. I should take this as an opportunity to share the gift of God with people that are willing to listen. Here are people that come to my door and want to speak to me about God. How much more obvious can it be that I need to share my limited knowledge of God with them? I just hope that if I meet them again, that God speaks through me and uses me as a tool to do His work.

If there is anyone out there that has a question that they would like me to ask from these missionaries, please post it in the comments.