3rd Nephi 11:29-30
As is quite common in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some of the most memorable events of my life come from the two years of serving as a full-time missionary. Yes, the time I spent in New York serving the Lord full-time in spreading the restored gospel is among the things I look back on with absolute joy. Near the end I came to learn, as most missionaries do, that these two years were densely packed with important spiritual lessons that the Lord saw absolutely necessary to teach me. Among the many lessons I learned was the high importance of trying to see things from other people's point of view.
Serving in New York included countless days of going door to door around the town of Middletown and near West Point, talking with everyone who would answer and asking them if we could share the restored gospel with them. It also included contacting strangers on the streets of The Bronx and Manhattan for many hours straight. Due to the long history of Christianity in these regions, many of the conversations in which I became a part of were either with a strong member of a certain religion or an advocate for atheism. The strongly religious individuals would almost always be in a "prove those Mormons wrong" mode from the very beginning of the conversation. The atheists were usually in a mindset of "you have no proof of God's existence". Consequently, many of the conversations I became engaged in for the first months of my mission quickly accelerated into heated arguments.
No matter how much scriptural evidence or historical corrections I gave them, the individuals engaged in such conversations never walked away with any further desire to learn about the Lord's restored truth. Clearly, I was approaching missionary work incorrectly. But how could this be? I was trying to dispel spiritual blindness with things I knew to be true. I was sharing the Lord's modern-day scriptures to try and widen their narrow-mindedness. I didn't say a single thing that wasn't supported by prophetic teachings. How could I be sharing the restored gospel incorrectly? Gradually over time, the answer came through a scripture that I had known for many years preceding my full-time mission:
Pondering on this teaching of Jesus Christ to the Nephites in The Book of Mormon lead me to conclude that contentious arguments were not the Lord's way, especially for missionaries. From an outside perspective this made complete sense! One purpose of the restored gospel was to increase the love, joy, peace, and unity of God's children. Of course the Lord's will is that arguments, contention, and anger were to be done away. But from my inside perspective, how was I to respond to these individuals without arguing with what they said? To me it seemed as if the only way to avoid contention was to agree with their incorrect beliefs, essentially denying what I knew to be true.
Because I could not deny the truths that I personally had come to know as true, it understandably took many weeks to fully eliminate contention from my daily missionary life. Very slowly I came to realize that, contrary to my initial reasoning, there truly was a way to avoid argumentative conversations without denying my testimony. I learned that the key was to sincerely try and see things from the other person's perspective. Why did they believe, or not believe, certain things? Why did our beliefs seem strange to them? What stories from their past led them to become who they presently were? These questions were the passage into some of the most memorable conversations I had as a missionary.
The scripture in 3rd Nephi essentially guided me to discover the value of seeing things through other people's eyes. It helped me learn that everyone has a reason for everything they believe, or don't believe. And once these reasons are uncovered, the ability to see the people as children of God is significantly amplified. Indeed, the Savior was right when he said that his doctrine is that contention should be done away.
Serving in New York included countless days of going door to door around the town of Middletown and near West Point, talking with everyone who would answer and asking them if we could share the restored gospel with them. It also included contacting strangers on the streets of The Bronx and Manhattan for many hours straight. Due to the long history of Christianity in these regions, many of the conversations in which I became a part of were either with a strong member of a certain religion or an advocate for atheism. The strongly religious individuals would almost always be in a "prove those Mormons wrong" mode from the very beginning of the conversation. The atheists were usually in a mindset of "you have no proof of God's existence". Consequently, many of the conversations I became engaged in for the first months of my mission quickly accelerated into heated arguments.No matter how much scriptural evidence or historical corrections I gave them, the individuals engaged in such conversations never walked away with any further desire to learn about the Lord's restored truth. Clearly, I was approaching missionary work incorrectly. But how could this be? I was trying to dispel spiritual blindness with things I knew to be true. I was sharing the Lord's modern-day scriptures to try and widen their narrow-mindedness. I didn't say a single thing that wasn't supported by prophetic teachings. How could I be sharing the restored gospel incorrectly? Gradually over time, the answer came through a scripture that I had known for many years preceding my full-time mission:
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. Behold this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away." ~ 3 Nephi 11:29-30
Because I could not deny the truths that I personally had come to know as true, it understandably took many weeks to fully eliminate contention from my daily missionary life. Very slowly I came to realize that, contrary to my initial reasoning, there truly was a way to avoid argumentative conversations without denying my testimony. I learned that the key was to sincerely try and see things from the other person's perspective. Why did they believe, or not believe, certain things? Why did our beliefs seem strange to them? What stories from their past led them to become who they presently were? These questions were the passage into some of the most memorable conversations I had as a missionary.
The scripture in 3rd Nephi essentially guided me to discover the value of seeing things through other people's eyes. It helped me learn that everyone has a reason for everything they believe, or don't believe. And once these reasons are uncovered, the ability to see the people as children of God is significantly amplified. Indeed, the Savior was right when he said that his doctrine is that contention should be done away.
Comments
Post a Comment