It's not in the script.

When you engage LDS in conversation and you have presented facts about their church you'll often find a common response.  That being that the facts presented aren't faith promoting (meaning it doesn't put their church in a good light) and therefore they honestly don't care about them. They've had their personal experience which to them confirms the truth of the Book of Mormon and feelings will ALWAYS override facts.  However I have witnessed something that shows this mindset isn't just limited to how they view their faith. It extends to all aspects of life.


My wife and I had the pleasure of visiting Steve Dealy of the Nauvoo Christian Center.  During our time there we went to visit some of the LDS historical sites who are ran by older missionaries.  Since it's considered a tourist town they don't want to push Mormonism too much because they want people coming back.  However when you enter any of their historical sites you'll get a brief history of the location along with how it fits into the importance of Mormonism.  Not to be concluded without showing how it's an example of how Mormonism is true.  All done which expressing a heart felt emotion in their tone.

One such site was where a older sister missionary walked through how the old pioneers would make their candles.  After her presentation was over Steve asked her a follow up question. Which she then followed with how some visitors will try and explain to them another possible way people may have done the process on how the candles are made.  Her following statement left me shaking my head.

She said...

"I just let them know that isn't in our script, and that's what we've been taught to say."

If this isn't a perfect example of how they apply facts to their faith I don't know what does. If the facts aren't in their script they aren't important. This is a prime example of what we call "Lying for the Lord".  It may not be intentional for this lady was being very sincere by letting us know she can't be bothered with too much information that what she's been told to say.

This continued as the next place we stopped at gave us LDS pride at it's best.  Explaining how one mans inventions had world wide implications and how it all tied back to that location.  However he went "off script" in the other direction.  Explaining how others who stayed there were not a part of the listed history for the location but he felt the need to tell us because it helped show how important the church was.

What really got concerning was how one location had a gentleman making statements that included the phrase "Fact is" when it was clear he was making things up as he went along.  Sounds a lot like Joseph Smith and how his revelations came to be.  There is a script when it comes the missionaries that show up at your door as well. The constant tug and pull of the emotional strings to get you to buy into the program.  LDS Apostle Dieter Uchtdorf summed up this mindset by stating...

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

He tries to portray this as someone who doesn't think they can live up to the churches standards.  First off no one including Monson can live up to the churches standards.  Jesus himself didn't live up to LDS standards because he wasn't married for all time and eternity.  So what could be a key thing to take from this?  Maybe if the 'facts' show us that the "only true church" isn't true they need to be looked at.  Maybe 'fact' is the Word of God isn't corrupted and the Book of Mormon is nothing more than a novel compiled by Joseph. Hopefully if you claim the title Christian you always consider yourself a missionary.  That each person we come in contact with is in our mission field.  If we don't let the Holy Spirit lead the conversation we won't be an effective witness. For each of these people we come in contact with have a different story and following a script will never work.