I am often at my Church office alone, and I have a TV on the wall that provides several security camera angles. It helps to know when somebody is stopping by, because we have two different parking lots, and three different entrances to the buildings.
On Friday afternoon, I noticed a young man skateboarding in our West parking lot. No big deal - that happens frequently.
After a while, I noticed he was carrying his skateboard, walking back to the rear of the West parking lot. That's unusual, because the kids' playground is back there, but nothing else. I can see that view just by looking out my window, and I saw him walk past the playground toward the East parking lot. Presently, he showed up on that security camera view, dropped his skateboard, and zoomed around the basketball court for a bit. Again, no big deal, lots of kids from the public school across the street come to shoot hoops or ride skateboards on our parking lots. As long as they behave, we don't mind at all.
Next thing I knew, he was walking toward the front of the East parking lot, carrying his skateboard, but he kept stopping to look at the entrance to our office area. I'm guessing he saw my car, knew somebody was in the building, and was contemplating something, I knew not what.
I went to the front door, and motioned for him to come over. He very politely asked if we had a drinking fountain. I thought I'd get him a couple bottles of water - one to drink and one for his backpack. We have two refrigerators where we keep bottled water, but both were completely out. I got him a large styrofoam cup of water, for which he expressed gratitude, and I offered to get him a refill. He expressed his appreciation, and explained that he was attending summer school across the street, and was ready to head home.
He seemed hesitant to leave, so I asked, "something else on your mind?" He had that "well, yeah, but I don't want to talk about it" look. There was a picnic table nearby, so I invited him to sit down, and I'd get some more water.
When I came back, he blurted out "I belong to the Mormon Church just down the street, and I'm really confused, because something just doesn't seem right". I told him I knew a few things about the Mormon Church, but asked "what is it that concerns you".
He said, "well, some friends told me that a lot of the stuff that Mormons teach is not true, and I was looking stuff up online, and my dad found out and got really angry". I asked if his dad frequently got angry, and he said, "no - that's just the thing -- he got very unreasonably angry like I was surfing porn or something". I asked if his dad knew what he was looking up online, and he said, "yeah, I was comparing the different versions of Joseph Smith's First Vision". I asked if that's the only thing that concerned him about Mormon teaching, and he said, "No, the whole thing about the various versions of how Joseph translated the Golden Plates bothers me, too".
I didn't have to do any work. The young man was obviously aware that, even in official Mormon teachings, there are major discrepancies with fundamental teachings.
I told him I had just finished teaching a series on cults, and one of those Wednesday nights was about Mormonism. I was surprised when he said, "yeah, I know - my Aunt has been attending your Church, and she told me I needed to talk to you". (I have a suspicion who his aunt is, but not certain yet) I asked if he would like a copy of my notes, and he reached in his backpack and said, "I already have a copy". I was pretty surprised, and asked "what did you think?" He said, "at first I was angry, but I started looking stuff up, because I was going to write a rebuttal, but I found out there are a lot of problems with Mormon teachings". He explained that he had to go to the public library, because his home computer has "filters" that won't let him look up "faith destroying subject matter". (Interesting, I want to find out more about that - and apparently how his dad knew what he was up to)
He looked at his watch, and said, "My Mom is going to be picking me up in front of our Church, so I need to get down there". I asked "what can I do?" He said, "I'm supposed to go on Mission next year, but I want to do some research first, so I'm going to be spending more time at the public library doing some more research". I told him I'm available, he knows where to find me. And he waved my "Mormonism 101" study at me and said, "I have plenty to keep me busy for now".
His name is Josh. He could use your prayers.
On Friday afternoon, I noticed a young man skateboarding in our West parking lot. No big deal - that happens frequently.
After a while, I noticed he was carrying his skateboard, walking back to the rear of the West parking lot. That's unusual, because the kids' playground is back there, but nothing else. I can see that view just by looking out my window, and I saw him walk past the playground toward the East parking lot. Presently, he showed up on that security camera view, dropped his skateboard, and zoomed around the basketball court for a bit. Again, no big deal, lots of kids from the public school across the street come to shoot hoops or ride skateboards on our parking lots. As long as they behave, we don't mind at all.
Next thing I knew, he was walking toward the front of the East parking lot, carrying his skateboard, but he kept stopping to look at the entrance to our office area. I'm guessing he saw my car, knew somebody was in the building, and was contemplating something, I knew not what.
I went to the front door, and motioned for him to come over. He very politely asked if we had a drinking fountain. I thought I'd get him a couple bottles of water - one to drink and one for his backpack. We have two refrigerators where we keep bottled water, but both were completely out. I got him a large styrofoam cup of water, for which he expressed gratitude, and I offered to get him a refill. He expressed his appreciation, and explained that he was attending summer school across the street, and was ready to head home.
He seemed hesitant to leave, so I asked, "something else on your mind?" He had that "well, yeah, but I don't want to talk about it" look. There was a picnic table nearby, so I invited him to sit down, and I'd get some more water.
When I came back, he blurted out "I belong to the Mormon Church just down the street, and I'm really confused, because something just doesn't seem right". I told him I knew a few things about the Mormon Church, but asked "what is it that concerns you".
He said, "well, some friends told me that a lot of the stuff that Mormons teach is not true, and I was looking stuff up online, and my dad found out and got really angry". I asked if his dad frequently got angry, and he said, "no - that's just the thing -- he got very unreasonably angry like I was surfing porn or something". I asked if his dad knew what he was looking up online, and he said, "yeah, I was comparing the different versions of Joseph Smith's First Vision". I asked if that's the only thing that concerned him about Mormon teaching, and he said, "No, the whole thing about the various versions of how Joseph translated the Golden Plates bothers me, too".
I didn't have to do any work. The young man was obviously aware that, even in official Mormon teachings, there are major discrepancies with fundamental teachings.
I told him I had just finished teaching a series on cults, and one of those Wednesday nights was about Mormonism. I was surprised when he said, "yeah, I know - my Aunt has been attending your Church, and she told me I needed to talk to you". (I have a suspicion who his aunt is, but not certain yet) I asked if he would like a copy of my notes, and he reached in his backpack and said, "I already have a copy". I was pretty surprised, and asked "what did you think?" He said, "at first I was angry, but I started looking stuff up, because I was going to write a rebuttal, but I found out there are a lot of problems with Mormon teachings". He explained that he had to go to the public library, because his home computer has "filters" that won't let him look up "faith destroying subject matter". (Interesting, I want to find out more about that - and apparently how his dad knew what he was up to)
He looked at his watch, and said, "My Mom is going to be picking me up in front of our Church, so I need to get down there". I asked "what can I do?" He said, "I'm supposed to go on Mission next year, but I want to do some research first, so I'm going to be spending more time at the public library doing some more research". I told him I'm available, he knows where to find me. And he waved my "Mormonism 101" study at me and said, "I have plenty to keep me busy for now".
His name is Josh. He could use your prayers.
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