Has Anyone Ever Tried To Convert You?

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='Selah' date='16 January 2010 - 01:02 PM' timestamp='1263664936' post='2038540']
Come to think of it, someone did try to convert me once. At work!

This guy came up to order something, and he slipped me a dollar. I was polite and said, "you dropped this." He seemed taken aback, but after he got his food, he said, "please take it...please?" So I took it and...it was a dollar all right, but it had a tract wrapped in it. I was so offended that this man thought he could bribe me to convert to his faith. I put the dollar to good use and threw the tract away.
[/quote]

I would have thanked him for giving me money to contribute to my local Catholic parish. Or better yet, the Peter's Pence.

[Selah]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='16 January 2010 - 02:12 PM' timestamp='1263665532' post='2038544']
I would have thanked him for giving me money to contribute to my local Catholic parish. Or better yet, the Peter's Pence.
[/quote]

lol. Maybe I should have done that

[Sojourner]

I had someone try to convert me in the grocery store a few years ago. I explained that I was Catholic, and she then tried to tell me (very nicely) that Catholics weren't really Christians. Handed me a tract and everything (not Jack Chick at least, but still). In general I find that sort of evangelism to be at best ineffective and at worst offensive.

[Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam]

Three to four days a week for about a semester, I had conversations with an atheist (he was a good friend of mine who had become atheist) about world events, positions of people, the Church, and such. He tried very hard to i guess convert me to atheism (going so far as to say that as I would try to remove someone away from Satan worship so he would strive remove me from Catholicism)....I don't know if convert is the correct phrase but I suppose since one can be converted to different intellectual positions it will work. He did raise doubts but it is really hard to convince someone through logic that their is no God (especially since he was trying to use science/psychology/sociology to prove his point philosophically which didn't really work since I knew more about biology and genetics than he did b/c I was majoring in Biology and Theology at the time). Freshman year we were good friends but after a while the groups of people we hung around with were no longer the same however if either of us really needed anything I am confident the other would still help.

[tinytherese]

[quote name='Norseman82' date='16 January 2010 - 02:10 AM' timestamp='1263625847' post='2038340']
Maybe if you are kicked by a mule, they'll go back?

(For those that know the movie reference)
[/quote]

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

[little_miss_late]

I have one Baptist friend who has been trying to de-convert me, a bit. I can usually out-scripture him and then he goes away until next time. I am happy to talk religion with just about anyone who can be respectful, so I have had many conversations with people about their beliefs but none of them were really "conversion" talks.

It was something that my brother in law said to me that got me to start going to Mass, but I don't think he has any idea.

[Selah]

[quote]I wonder if the Catholic heaven has that, or is the clothes are rumpled and the moose have mange? [/quote]

That moose is gonna be dinner

[Era Might]

Someone tried to convert me to binary once, but apparently that only works on numbers.

[rhetoricfemme]

[quote name='MissyP89' date='16 January 2010 - 12:50 AM' timestamp='1263621049' post='2038238']
My dear friend's sister is a professional missionary for the Assemblies of God to Central America.

"You're CATHOLIC? Did you know that Jesus died on the cross for you?!"
"Um. Yeah?"
"But do you believe it???"
"I do..."
"Have you accepted Him as your Lo--"
"Jesus is my Lord and Savior, yes."
"Oh. *pause* Okay..."

Then there's my family, but that's another ballgame.
[/quote]
Hehe. I'm just imagining the confused look on their face.

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='16 January 2010 - 01:15 AM' timestamp='1263622547' post='2038275']
I always sorta wished that I had glasses, just for the looks.
[/quote]
In high school I would wear non-prescription glasses when the mood struck me. Horn-rimmed Buddy Holly glasses and a pair of red librarian-esque frames were my favorite. It was the best when my mom picked me up from school one day. I was sitting out front wearing overalls, horn-rimmed glasses and carrying a violin. She called me a hick. I need to get me some glasses again...

[quote name='KeenanParkerII' date='16 January 2010 - 03:14 AM' timestamp='1263629674' post='2038375']
I used to sneak out of the protestant service and run up to Holy Rosary Cathedral to watch the mass and look at the paintings and stained glass windows.
[/quote]
There's something very sweet, romantic and innocent about this.

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='16 January 2010 - 10:06 AM' timestamp='1263654415' post='2038437']
We used to get Jehovah's Witnesses at our door every year. My dad used to invite them in and offer them a drink or something, much to my mom's dismay.
[/quote]
Oooh, I'm waiting for the day to invite them in! My sister used to say she wished she knew when they'd be there so she could bake a cake for them ahead of time, lol.

[quote name='KnightofChrist' date='16 January 2010 - 10:25 AM' timestamp='1263655536' post='2038445']
Living in the Bible Belt, always. But I always take it as a complement and use it to try and convert them or correct misunderstandings. After all their trying to save my soul, why not give them the same?
[/quote]
Very true!

I don't know that anyone has tried to convert me, per se. I had lots of Mormon friends in high school, and we enjoyed talking church and theology, but no one ever tried to convert one another. I got stopped in my driveway by Mormon missionaries once, so we chatted for about 15 minutes, I got my copy of the Book of Mormon, and we went on our ways. They did tell me that if I ever had questions to feel free to call them, and they wrote their names and church number inside the book, but they were very nice and non-pushy about it.

[little_miss_late]

[quote name='rhetoricfemme' date='16 January 2010 - 03:01 PM' timestamp='1263672078' post='2038648']
I got stopped in my driveway by Mormon missionaries once, so we chatted for about 15 minutes, I got my copy of the Book of Mormon, and we went on our ways. They did tell me that if I ever had questions to feel free to call them, and they wrote their names and church number inside the book, but they were very nice and non-pushy about it.
[/quote]

A few years back, I was stopped by some Mormons on my way to pick up my daughter from school. They were actually on the public school property, standing by this little walkway that a lot of the parents used when they were coming to get their kids at the end of the day. That really kind of annoyed me. Like, I am sending my kids to a school where they put "Winter break" instead of "Christmas break" on the calendar-- but then I can't even get in the door without a couple of boys from out of town trying to give me literature?

There is a very sweet old lady who lives on the corner of our block. She is some kind of Protestant. When I happen to meet her on my way to the bus in the morning she sometimes gives me little crosses and tracts and stuff, but she just gives them to me and goes on her way. Anyway, a short time after I ran into these boys outside the school, I happened to see from out of the car window, two Mormon boys standing on the sidewalk outside of this lady's house. She was standing on her porch pointing and yelling at them about demons. They looked TERRIFIED.

[eagle_eye222001]

[quote name='zunshynn' date='16 January 2010 - 12:49 AM' timestamp='1263620957' post='2038236']
One time when I was a novice these Jehovah's Witness teenage girls gave me a flyer to invite me to their Good Friday or Easter "lesson" or something. I invited them to come to the Passion Service at the Shrine... but I think they were terrified of me. They never looked at my face... one of them kept staring at my cord and the other one just kind of looked past my face. I didn't think I was that frightening. Then they kind of ran away when the other sister I was with came out.
[/quote]

Couldn't stand the Catholic presence.

[quote name='MissyP89' date='16 January 2010 - 12:50 AM' timestamp='1263621049' post='2038238']
My dear friend's sister is a professional missionary for the Assemblies of God to Central America.

"You're CATHOLIC? Did you know that Jesus died on the cross for you?!"
"Um. Yeah?"
"But do you believe it???"
"I do..."
"Have you accepted Him as your Lo--"
"Jesus is my Lord and Savior, yes."
"Oh. *pause* Okay..."
...
[/quote]

I've thought about that line of questioning. Technically we agree with everything they ask. I think sometimes non-Catholics really believe that we put others before Christ and we worship Mary and when we profess our faith in Christ, they are just shocked.

[quote name='KeenanParkerII' date='16 January 2010 - 01:34 AM' timestamp='1263623696' post='2038300']
Glasses are awesome! Always rock the frames. =)

My sister tried to de-convert me once.. However, five minutes in she realized she bit off more then she could chew and threw a temper tantrum at me...
[/quote]

Many people can't handle losing.

[quote name='BG45' date='16 January 2010 - 02:37 AM' timestamp='1263627473' post='2038349']
Sure, how many times?

Mormons constantly, at work and door to door.

Jehovah's Witnesses door to door.

Some of my Baptist "friends" tried to convert me back.

These insane nutters from a place called the Roman Catholic Church actually managed it, quite fortunately.

Some Pagans try from time to time.

My cousin's husband tried once, a Baptist minister who refused to discuss anything before 1800.[/quote]

So close-minded. Although smart since he realized that he's lost before then. Interesting he doesn't believe in the Trail of Blood though.

[quote name='BG45' date='16 January 2010 - 02:37 AM' timestamp='1263627473' post='2038349']
A lot of Pentecostal friends tried back when I was a Baptist.

I stopped to talk to some denomination's table in the mall once and they looked so dejected and lonely...and tried to convert me in a two and a half hour marathon Bible session.

And of course, militant New Atheists.
[/quote]

You've seen a lot of action.

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='16 January 2010 - 10:06 AM' timestamp='1263654415' post='2038437']
...She just said "I don't agree with your religion."...[/quote]

Translation. I'm lost logically and factually.


[quote name='Winchester' date='16 January 2010 - 10:20 AM' timestamp='1263655249' post='2038442']
Some Baptists tried to convert me once. [i]Once[/i].
[/quote]

Riveting story?

[quote name='little_miss_late' date='16 January 2010 - 03:45 PM' timestamp='1263674758' post='2038683']
... two Mormon boys standing on the sidewalk outside of this lady's house. She was standing on her porch pointing and yelling at them about demons. They looked TERRIFIED.
[/quote]

[Norseman82]

I don't get Mormon missionaries by me, but I do get my share of JWs (they have a Kingdom Hall right across from the local post office 3 blocks away).

One time I steered the discussion to the Eucharist and the Trinity, and they ended the conversation.

Another time I received their literature in the mail, but it was in Polish (I have a Polish last name and live in an area of the NW side that has a lot of Polish immigrants).

I don't know if I ever invited them to the parish blood drive, though (inspired by someone here who once mentioned something about answering the door with an "I gave blood" sticker on).

[KeenanParkerII]

[quote][quote]I used to sneak out of the protestant service and run up to Holy Rosary Cathedral to watch the mass and look at the paintings and stained glass windows.[/quote]

There's something very sweet, romantic and innocent about this.[/quote]

If only I was an innocent child. =)

[quote]Many people can't handle losing. [/quote]

True enough. =(

[Happy_Catholic]

Have you guys ever met those Christians/Protestants who try to "convert" you from the mindset that there's a Hell? Some told me once there was no Hell, and instead its made like we never existed. So then they went on to say that I could do anything I wanted, because there was no hell for any punishment, and if I wanted Heaven be good. But don't worry if I"m not because not existing is no big deal!

[HarmonyServant]

I've had laser eye surgery! Best 3k I've ever spent.

Ahem, anyway; the last time some JW's came to the door, I had my crucifix and Bible resting on the countertop. I invited them inside to pray a Rosary. They didn't walk away from the porch; they practically flew.