Knock Knock. Who's there? Mormons!

I like talking to Mormons. I don't know why exactly but it started when I lived in Milan for 6 months while in college. I was alone in a dirty and cold city where few people spoke English except for the group of five Mormon guys who found themselves in the same big city as me for two years.

Here in America the Mormon church is pretty big, everyone at least has heard of Mormons or has a friend or co-worker who is one. They are easy to spot in their black suits, starched white shirts, and "Elder" name tags. They are clean cut, friendly and would do anything to get you take a copy of "their book."

But back to me. I was lonely and homesick walking through the streets of Milan...I spotted them in the distance with their big three-sectioned bulletin board and table set up in the middle of a bustling pedestrian oriented street. They looked out of place and almost bored. I can imagine it might be hard to "minister" to a country that is 98% Catholic and not particularly fond of Americans trying to tell them how to live. So I saw this as a chance to relieve them of their monotonous day and found comfort in hearing words spoke in English.

At this point in my life I had just discovered Orthodoxy and then found myself in Italy with plenty of free time and 5 books about Orthodoxy including Eusebius' Church history and the Orthodox Dogmatic Theology among others. I was excited about Orthodoxy and anxious to get home so that I could start practicing it in an English speaking place. Nonetheless, the point of this encounter with the Mormons was more about fulfilling this longing and need to speak English with Americans than to defend Orthodoxy. So I walked up to one of them and started talking. Immediately I was surrounded by two others eager to join in the conversation and "protect" their fellow Elder from the danger of talking to a girl alone. Always having been fascinated by Mormonism in a "how can they believe this stuff?" kind of way, I listened as they performed their well rehearsed history of the "true" church founded by Joseph Smith. I started to ask them questions about church history and once I asked something that was beyond their "script" they started to quiz me about what I knew. Nearly an hour later I had answered all their questions, refused to accept their book, and had their strongest debater promise me to look into the Orthodox Church.

Since then, I have worked closely with a sweet Mormon gal and befriended a fervent Mormon girl in my graduate school program. However, I have lost touch with both of them and had little contact with people from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for a year or so. This is where my story begins:

This past week I was visiting a college friend up in Seattle. It was on this drizzly Friday afternoon that I answered my friend's door to find Elder Nielson and Elder Peters, fresh faced, wet, and clutching their personal copies of the Book of Mormon. They were there to offer me a copy and to ask me to "pray so that the holy spirit would reveal to me the truth that the book contained." I listened politely and started off with the question "What about the passage in the Bible where is says to beware of false prophets?" They had a canned answer for that one and then moved on to asking me if I knew anything about their founder Joseph Smith. I explained that I had heard the story before but listened as they eagerly explained that there "are a lot of misunderstandings about their church" and that they are really "a lot like other Christian churches except" that they "have all of the truth that God did not reveal in the Bible when the church was lost."
"Hmm...interesting...When was the church lost?" I asked
"Well, after the first twelve apostles died"
"You mean around 100AD when the Apostle John died?" I inquired
"Yes, when the apostolic succession was broken because of the people's sinfulness" Elder Nielson explained.
"Really? I've never heard that before because in the book of Acts it is pretty clear that the Apostles went around "proclaiming God's word to all of the nations" and appointed bishops, presbyters, and deacons establishing churches wherever they went. How did the truth "die with the last Apostle?" I elaborated.
"Well we believe that there were really two set of 12 apostles" Elder Nielson started "And we believe that there are modern day prophets living on the earth right now. That is just one of the differences between our church and others."
"So let me get this straight," I continued "After the first 12 Apostles died the world was "lost without a church" for thousands of years until Joe Smith had a vision in the 1800s? Why would God abandon the Church that He sent His son to die for? It couldn't be because of our sinfulness..."
The other Elder interrupted, "Well He allowed it to happen so that the truth could be proclaimed in America"
"If you truly believe in the God that is revealed in the Bible, one who is all powerful, with whom "nothing is impossible" then I find it hard to believe that He would abandon His people for thousands of years. Doesn't that sound kind of crazy to you?" I expanded.
I loved his response, "Well, there are only two churches on earth who claim to be the True Church, the Catholic Church and the Mormon church so one of us has to be right."
"Have you ever heard of the Orthodox Church?"
"The Greek Orthodox Church? Yes, I have heard of it, they are just another church that split away from the Catholic Church, I don't know much about them." he answered.
"Well, I am an Orthodox Christian and if you are looking for the Church that was the Christian Church that Christ established on earth- the one that Apostles proclaimed, the one that God has not abandoned but has kept intact since Christ was here, you will find it no where else but within the Orthodox Church." Then I went on to explaining about the "early church" and the five centers of Christianity and the Great Schism and so on. They interrupted me and asked if I knew that the Bible wasn't written until hundreds of years after the Apostles? I explained that it was actually "compiled" around 300AD and it was done in a counsel with all of the representatives from the Christian world inspired by the Holy Spirit. Nothing was done outside of the collaboration of a counsel and even then, they never made anything up, they just clarified beliefs and practices that had already been in existence since Christ. They also combated many of the heresies that had seeped into the Church. (Thinking in my head: including that old one Arianism of which your church was built.)

At this point it had been a good 20 minutes or more and they are still standing at the door only slightly protected from the rain. I didn't feel comfortable inviting them into a house that was not mine. But they were intrigued to say the least. They looked at me with amazement and almost dare I say it- awe. I felt like they wanted to ask me more questions but they couldn't because they were there to convince me of their truth, not the other way around.

I asked them very kindly if they were born into Mormon families and if they had ever looked at any faiths or other "kinds of Christianity" outside of their church. They were both from Mormon families and had never sought truth anywhere else but had "read the book of Mormon, prayed that the truth would be revealed to them and it was" which is why they were at my door. I said that emotions are a really strong part of religious faith and that it is important for a person to be sure that they are not solely relying on their "feelings" to determine what they belief. God gave us our intellect, therefore offering us a chance to wholeheartedly seek the Truth to its fullest. I was saying this in my most friendly but authoritative voice trying to be careful that I wasn't completely invalidating their faith (although in a way I was.) They said that I "brought up a good point" but that if I just read the book the holy spirit would tell me that it was right. They went onto ask me if I knew that that the book of Mormon "explained all of the LITTLE details that the Bible doesn't like the nature of the Trinity how they are really three separate beings instead of one."

"I am sorry," I interrupted, "I wouldn't call the nature of the Trinity a "small detail." I would say that it is pretty much the most fundamental Truth that you have to believe in order to be a Christian."

"Okay," he stuttered "I am just telling you that all the answers are in the book of Mormon"

"I still don't think we will get anywhere this way because you might be wrong. I can take your book and read it, and the holy spirit could tell me that it is wrong, what then?

They laughed uncomfortably and replied, "We don't believe that is possible." I continued after my own uncomfortable laugh

"Have you ever thought about the fact that you could be wrong? I did and I sought the truth outside of what I knew and what I was raised to believe and I believe that I have now found it. Unfortunately nothing I say here can convince you of it and nothing that you guys tell me will convince me that you are right. So I will take your book of Mormon if you agree to look into the history of the Christian church."

They politely declined and stood there for a bit like they wanted to continue but my friend called me from the other room to go to lunch. They thanked me for my time, smiled and asked my name. I told them that it was great talking to them, wished them luck, and apologized for making them stand in the rain for so long. (It had been 45 minutes total.)

It felt good to talk to them, not in a prideful, "I am right and you are wrong" sort of way but because of the expression on Elder Nielson's face when I talked. He was actually listening to me whereas the other one I could tell by the look on this face was calculating how he was going to respond to my words using his memorized manual of responses. I stood there, shivering for most of the conversation wanting nothing more than to love these two young men who are out spreading the word which they believe so fervently. I wanted to unwrap and open the lid of the box in which they have lived in all their lives and let the light of Truth in. I know that I was by no means successful in doing that; however, I think I shook the box a bit so that maybe, someday they will question if Truth exists outside it.