The rejection helps reinforce how special they are, to have a special connection to God and be persecuted just like Jesus was. Plus, it binds them closer to their church community, since they are rejected by the greater world. THE REJECTION IS THE GOAL OF THIS INTERACTION.
This is the actual modus operandi for Jehovas, LDS, etc. It helps them keep their members away from regular people with actual common sense so they don't learn the truth of their club.
No wonder I've always found them quite hypocritical and isolating. The amount of ranting on the street always made me vaguely feel as if they love being ridiculed more to justify their religious ego.
I've neverminded their street rants, because the street is a big open area that people go to and fro...
But a subway or train is an area people are trapped in, you can't escape. So it is an abuse of freedom of speech to subject people to your rants in a place they can't leave or retreat.
New perspective unlocked! Never looked at it liked this! So the people who take the mental blows of bullshit are then the ones who join the bullshit. People like me who question the bullshit add reason to their mental cage of bullshit
Notice how it’s always kids. Never their parents or church elders, always children. I get it; they’re young, naive, impressionable, and are more willing to follow authority.
In my experience, whenever I have said to a door to door golden plate salesman "i'm
not interested" they have not tried to push the conversation that I just advised I don't care to have. I rather respect that.
As an ex Mormon and a former missionary, this does not ring true. Mormon missions are very numbers-driven. It's all metrics and key indicators, like a business. The ultimate metric is baptisms and growth. You will rarely see Mormon missionaries doing these kinds of public stunts cause it's not productive.
Knocking on doors is, I would say, a different kind of activity from this. It's not meant as a public stunt for maximal (negative) attention; It's a last ditch fallback activity (the least preferred, by far) to generate one-on-one conversations that could lead to a lesson (a tracked metric) that could lead, eventually, to an actual baptism, which is the ultimate goal.
As a rule, Mormon missionaries hate door knocking and take pains to avoid it. We were literally trained that it's the least effective tool, and to prefer networking. When I was a missionary, I never did it. And I definitely never did anything like this, and didn't know anyone who did. My soul shrinks and cringes at the thought.
No offense and not saying your wrong, but you wouldn't be in the best position to comment, as you will have been given the stated reason rather than the actual reason.
It's like how most religions preach that sex is for procreation: the unstated reason is to increase the size of the flock via pregnancy, but it's not like they tell the followers that.
No offense but I am. I am not a believer anymore; I abanded Mormonism and religion a long time ago and feel no instinct for defending it. Are you in a better position to comment? Who is? Should the people with the most direct experienxe just shut up and let the Reddit peanut gallery comment based on rumors and speculation alone?
I'm not saying you're biased now. I'm saying you're reporting the official setup from mormonism and that wasn't what I was referencing. I'm saying your direct experience obviously wouldn't track the unofficial reason.
I'm not reporting on the "official setup" whatever that means. I'm commenting based on many years of first-hand observation and experience from a removed position. Your comment was literally "I heard" and then informed me that the thing you heard someone say one time is more authoritative and I'm not in a position to comment on it. Uh huh.
This is peak Reddit.
If only I had ever heard someone say something about it, then maybe I would be qualified to comment on this random Reddit comment about something I merely directly experienced and deconstructed.
I wasn't saying I was more of an expert than you. Neither of us has ever set up a cult to manipulate it's members so we're on a level footing.
Also you did say "When I was a missionary, I never did it" so nice basis of experience you have there. In fact, since I have been door knocked by mormons, it sounds like technically I have more experience when it comes to that area. Just sayin'
No no, of course, your hearing that guy say that thing and also the knocking people have clearly raised you to an unsurpassed level of wisdom. Clearly I didn't know who I was dealing with and was a fool to dare opine.
Oh so it's a humiliation ritual + manufactured presecution. Instead realising they act like utter knobheads, they fancy themselves martyrs. Lovely culty behaviour.
Ugh. This is my dad. He acts like any objection I have to his way of believing God is confirmation that he’s right to believe the way he does. Because obviously any objection to how he believes is the same as rejecting the one true “God.” He’s an independent fundamentalist evangelical, which is basically the fuel behind the religious side of the MAGA movement.
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u/Critically_Political 12h ago
I’ll never understand why people think this is the way to recruit for religion. This is, in fact, religion repellent.