They have just knocked upon the wrong door....they just don't know it yet.
Now, I'm very open about not being Christian. They have dealt with non-Christians before...let's face it, like any missionaries, they are trained in the patter, what to say, and the arguments to use. But I find that they are never quite prepared to deal with someone like me, because most of the non-Christians a missionary in America find are either another major religion (who will turn them away), or bored and agnostic (who turn them away), or a hardcore atheist (who just wants to angrily and vehemently argue). Then there are people like me: intelligent and open-minded. Against me, they have little defense.
See, I've done the reading, and the research. I know the positions they hold, and what they feel, and how they think. I also know how to derail a religious argument without seeming to do so, and how to say they are wrong without arrogance or afront. You know it's a winning battle when the walking door-to-door misssionaries tell you they have an appointment in a few minutes and have to go...yeah, right. (*snicker*) At every turn, they tried to make their points about how the Mormon faith is the Truth, and at every turn, their arguments were shot down without malice or denial, but also without agreement. They tried, time and again, to bring me back to the main highway, so they could continue with their patter, and time and again, I switched to the backroads, going where they wanted to go, but from a different way, which totally threw them off. Things we 'agreed' were correct were used against them, and they finally gave up and put on their boogie shoes, asking, lastly, if we could pray together, to which I replied that I appreciated the gesture, but it wouldn't have the feeling or meaning that either of us would feel it should...to which they had no real recourse but to agree.
I'm sure I didn't shake their faith any, and that's fine...as long as I made them think just a little. And if it threw off their groove for half an hour, well, that's what they get for waking me up.
