So - Street Preachers...

[Ironhold]

As of last weekend, we have street preachers here in town. 

They come from a local church that has a history of being a nuisance, and in fact they actually caused a small Covid scare a few years ago because they brought in a guest lecturer from two states over despite most government authorities warning people not to travel unnecessarily. 

For the past two Sundays they've set up at the intersection of the main highway through town and a main road, both of which are surface streets. 

Last weekend they were handing out Chick Tracts, which is something the church has done before. I'll occasionally find these materials on random shelves at various local stores, and warn the workers there when I do come upon any. (I just don't have it in me mentally or time-wise to catalog and debunk them like I used to.)

This past weekend they had professionally-printed signs of the kind you normally see in Salt Lake City or Mesa. There were also double the number of individuals, and instead of just lingering at that one intersection they were also at a nearby intersection, a service road that supports some nearby businesses. 

On both occasions, they've proven brazen enough to just walk right up to anyone whose car window was rolled down and try to engage them. While the two I dealt with were professional, I'm concerned that it's only a matter of time before someone gets too bold or picks the wrong vehicle to go up to. 

As it is, homeless individuals frequently occupy those two intersections Monday - Saturday, and at least one local homeless individual is reportedly mentally unstable. 

I'm just worried these folks are taking chances they don't understand they're taking.

[Carborendum]

17 hours ago, Ironhold said:

I'm just worried these folks are taking chances they don't understand they're taking.

I've actually wondered about the various dangerous situations we could find ourselves in when spreading the gospel "to all the world."  I'm sure we're afforded some level of protection.  But I have heard enough stories to realize that it isn't always there.

How do we balance our willingness to serve, to preach the gospel "to every creature" while maintaining some level of safety?

My daughter who recently returned from her mission was in one area for about 5 or 6 months that was infested with black widow spiders.  When you think about flies congregating over some refuse pile, that was how many black widows infested her apartment.  Her reports to the DLs, the ZLs, the APs, and the MP were all met with "figure it out."  One elder advised them to set the whole place on fire.

She was quite rattled on more than one occasion when she woke up with multiple spiders in her bed.  Yeah.  Brutal.

Miraculously, she returned to us unharmed. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by Carborendum

[LDSGator]

18 hours ago, Ironhold said:

Last weekend they were handing out Chick Tracts

Those things are vile. I remember reading one as a child and being terrified for years that my parents and I were going to Hell because we were Catholic. I’m 100% certain Chick felt the same about LDS. 

Even the most hardcore atheist could not poison religion as much as he did. Thank God he’s dead. 

Edited October 20, 2022 by LDSGator

[NeuroTypical]

There's a Planned Parenthood near my work, and for as long as I can remember (at least 10 years), there have been protestors outside.  I keep daring my progressive woke buddy to go down with me some lunch hour and go talk to them.  From what I can tell driving by, they are not angry in-your-face folks, more like 'stop by for free ultrasound coupon and alternative information' folks.  

As for the Mormon Chick Tract, I got one, and break it out whenever I need to feel better about myself and the reasonableness of the stuff I come up with.  Because holy heck is that some funny stuff.  It's the story of an LDS lady who's husband is brutally murdered by the danites.  Because he was reading books he shouldn't, or something.  The cops on the scene call their bishop, who tells them to hush it up, and they rule it a suicide.  Right there in the comic pane standing in the living room with the busted furniture and blood splatters everywhere.  The lady eventually finds some Regular Looking Christian folks who inform her of the truth about Mormons, help her escape, and pray with her until she's saved.

A long time ago, I had the Chick version of Joseph Smith as my avatar here for a few days, until Pam told me to stop.  Apparently back then, the Chick folks were a bit lawsuit-happy and might be more than willing to file suit against thirdhour (I think we were mormon.net at the time) for copyright infringement.

Edited October 20, 2022 by NeuroTypical

[NeuroTypical]

The absolute highest-class street preacher folks I ever encountered, were at the open house for the Nauvoo temple.  They were so kind and respectful, I thought they were part of the LDS visitors center.   The literature they handed me was well researched and top notch, it took me a good 30 minutes to find something with which I could disagree.  I guess the strategy was just to tell the truth about some of our things that don't jive with trinitarian belief, and let shock value do the rest.

[Carborendum]

 

[Ironhold]

They weren't at their usual spot this past Sunday, so either they've been told to knock it off or they've moved to a different part of town.