While one might expect to have Girl Scouts trying to sell you things outside Walmart. Today I brought my son to the Walmart grocery store and as we were getting out of our car, Mormons approached us.
They asked if I knew who they were. Obviously. And if I'd talked to them before. I told them I had Mormons knock on my door and later that night I saw them drinking beers at Hooters. That they came in at 10:30, just past the quiet time when they wouldn't get called for a status report. They seemed surprised and thought I may have been mistaken. No, I even went up and said hi to them and they looked embarassed. At the time, I didn't know alcohol was prohibited and I bought them their next round.
They asked about my faith. I said I used to have faith and was once a JW. They were surprised because they say JWs won't talk to them.
I got into a whole bunch of reasons the Bible is bogus. I downloaded the Athiests book of Bible Stories a couple of days ago and have been reading it so a lot of topics are fresh on my mind. I threw a bunch at them and they didn't flinch. To them it's faith and they believe.
Even my 9-year-old son got in on the act when they gave the old creationist view. Look around us, are you telling me this was all chance? My son asked them who created God. I'm so proud of him.
I also asked them to examine their beliefs. I also brought up the book of Abraham fiasco. They are totally unaware of it. The hieroglyphics found among mummies that Joseph Smith claimed were the lost book of Abraham and started to translate them. This was before we could decipher heiroglyphics. Well, now we can and the texts read nothing like what Smith translated.
I asked them to seriously look into their beliefs. I still question how anybody can believe the translation of the tablets. And oops, when one goes missing and he's asked to retranslate it, he can't. Obviously because he couldn't be sure he'd translate it word for word the same as the first time.
And I asked them to check on the DNA evidence of the "lost tribe".
That I was stuck in a cult and that before they waste their lives, to really investigate it. Hopefully I raised some questions.
Now if just those pesky JWs would knock on my door. I'm so much more familiar with them having been one. Sometimes I find evidence like a Watchtower or a tract in my door, but I usually am home most Saturday mornings and they never come calling. In fact, I think sometimes they leave the tracts or magazines without even knocking. I wonder if I'm on some "do not talk to" list - even though I've never been a JW here. Wonder if my dad tipped them off.