religious interrogation
i decided that yesterday i would have a pleasant relaxing day.
went to my local cafe, had some very yummy pumpkin soup for lunch, nice milky chai and got lost in the excellent book i'm reading.
it was all going very well, until i finished one chapter, put my book down to pour myself another cup of chai, when i had this American lady decide she wanted to sit at my table and talk to me.
yep, you guessed it, she was a Mormon. and she talked, non stop, for about 10 minutes all about the church of Mormon, all about how its the right church and they have all the truth and that no other church is right, etc etc. i was being very polite about it all, and had already told her, a couple times that I'm a Christian, go to the local church, etc. but she kept on talking. a very well rehearsed speech. she kept leaning in to talk to me, and wouldn't take her eyes off me. not very comfortable situation.
anyway. by the end of her speech she asked if i wanted to read the book of Mormon, i told her that i wasn't interested, but thanked her for offering. she looked confused, as if her speech was supposed to convince people to discover all about "the truth".
she then told me, that she hoped that one day i would become "more open to us" and once again, tried to convince me to just take her book.
i again told her that i wasn't interested.
i think she was a little deflated.
after about 15 minutes she left and i could finish my lunch in peace.
the lady who owned the cafe, when i was paying, apologised profusely to me, claimed that she really wanted to come up and tell the lady to stop bothering her patrons. she seemed quite annoyed about it.
it got me thinking about how outsiders view religious groups.
perhaps getting into the community to show the general public that we are actually real people, is so much better than accosting them in a cafe and preaching at them for 10 minutes.
(you know, i don't think preaching at anyone really works. maybe if the lady would have asked me a few questions about what i believe then talk about what she believes it would have been a better experience for both of us.
i wonder if any non-Christians feel the same way when "we" try to convert them.
it is always good to see things from the other side.)
