Eddie32

Thank you everyone for your very thoughtful explanations. I appreciate you taking the time to explain the way the missionary program is setup. I'm so glad I asked on that forum because I was completely wrong in what I thought the missionaries were all about and what their purpose is. I thought they went to a training center to learn even greater details than they learned as just being members and learned how to answer non-members questions and explain the church's beliefs. In other words, I thought that they were full time ambassadors for the church and would be more willing and able to answer follow up questions than "regular" members since they focused 100% on being missionaries. My thought was that because they're talking to so many people they'd probably encounter a lot of questions and they'd probably have something like a "FAQ" with common questions and how to answer them. To PolarVortex, I met with a couple missionaries before that were the way you described, but I'm not sure how many of them there are like that. My mormon friends always say I can ask them anything, but I view them as friends 1st and don't really want to discuss religion or challenge them on their beliefs, since I know how important it is to them and know that it's helped them. Again, I'm so appreciate for the straight forward answers here. I wish you all the very best

I'm confused by what it means to "preach the gospel", I thought it meant explain and teach the "good news" and everything about the church. I'm also confused why they would insist on calling me when I made it clear I was tired of people asking me to be baptized and that there's no LDS church in my area I feel comfortable going to. Is the general idea that they tell me "you need to do/stop doing x,y,z" and I'm just supposed to say "ok"? I'm not expected to ask any questions or tell them I honestly don't feel comfortable or understand some things? Am I supposed to be a passive follower of everything they say? For example, they asked me to read a talk from general conference and then asked what I thought of it. So I read the talk and wanted to go through it almost line by line to understand what he was saying and how it ties into other things they had taught. Instead they basically told me "the talk says ..., will you do what the talk says?" I told them I didn't understand it, but I'd read it again. Then the next lesson they'd have something else and weren't at all interested in discussing the talk. It seems like them asking "did that make sense" was more of a rhetorical question. I had no interest in debating, coming over for bridge or having a good time with them. They're in a completely different state. I did think they were supposed to discuss church history as they brought up Joseph Smith and were talking about what he did. If he's so important isn't it natural to what to know more about him and also understand how and why the church is structured the way it is? I mean, before someone becomes a citizen of a country they usually want to know something about the country's history.

I'm not a member, but I've learned a lot about the church and have some good friends that are members. I had met with a lot of missionaries, but stopped a couple years ago. Recently I visited temple square and one of the missionaries asked if she could call me. I explained that the church in my area wasn't really setup for someone like me and that I didn't feel comfortable going there and the word "baptism" makes me cringe. That being said, I told her she could call to teach me more about the doctrine, history, culture, etc. Instead of being interested in teaching me, she and her companion seemed extremely focused on getting me to follow these commitments and didn't seem that interested in my thoughts or questions other than if I agreed to commit to do or to say I believed whatever they wanted that day. In the next lesson I tried asking about questions I had from the previous one and tried steering the conversation to things about the church I wanted to learn about, but they had this laser like focus on their lessons and commitments. So after a few lessons where they kept pushing the importance of going to church they said something like "let us know how church goes and we'll be happy to teach you again". Obviously that was the last I heard from them. After that experience, I was just curious if missionaries are teaching to check investigator commitments off a list or if they're actually supposed to teach people that are interested about the church even if the investigator does not seem to be interested in converting?

Glad to hear the forum is open to anyone. I have the same basic values and live the same way as LDS members (no alcohol, I don't swear, saving myself for marriage, etc) so I wouldn't be faking anything if I decided to convert. I know a lot of people are baptist or catholics but they don't go to church every week or make a big deal over it. So its not mandatory to send your kids to do missionary work or to take part in religious activities every week? Right now I believe in God, but I'm not sure about all the details of the LDS religion as they would apply what's required as a member. After visiting temple square and looking online I understand the basic beliefs, but I'm confused about what kinds of things would be necessary for me to convert other than what I believe. I certainly don't want to be considered faking it. Aside from abiding by the standards of behavior, which I already do, what else is required in order to be allowed to have a temple marriage?

I apologize in advance if this forum is only supposed to be for people who are LDS. I'm considering applying at a college in Provo, Utah, and just about everyone there is mormon. I share their views on issues and think its wonderful how wholesome they are and enjoy being around them. I also believe in God but I'm just not that a religious person. In particular, I don't care much for all the rituals in organized religion. I would also never want to send my kids to do missionary work overseas or force them to only live in areas with large mormon populations. Also, I'm concerned about that "marriage is forever" belief b/c what if your spouse cheats on you, becomes abusive, becomes an addict, or does something where it wouldn't make sense to stay married? In theory of course I'd love to find a woman with the idea that we'd love and be together forever, but I'd like to have an option out just in case.Do they not allow divorce or remarriage? Aside from that, I'd really like to meet a girl with the values and morals that LDS girls have and obviously this would be a problem since I'm not LDS. So could I convert without having to do anything I'm not comfortable doing?