While it might be fun to prove people wrong, it is in fact not so easy. Even if you manage to do it, it accomplishes very little. In my experience, those who are not ready to hear your message will simply ignore it when you have managed to prove them wrong. They will either continue to insist that they are right, or they will just change the subject. Those who are ready to hear your message will not need to have you prove them wrong as they will be receptive to what you are saying and the answers you give for their concerns.
My first near-bash situation occurred on a P-day when I had been out just over two months. After playing basketball at the stake center in Menlo Park that morning we had gone over to the apartment for the two elders who were assigned to that area. We were still in our sweats or street cloths when there was a knock on the door; on the doorstep were a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses. My fellow missionaries pretended to be students at nearby Stanford University.
One elder asked them if they were Mormons and after saying no they proceeded to rip on the church. They told us that Mormons believed Jesus was God, that they believed in the Holy Trinity, and that they didn’t believe in the Bible. I went along and pretended to have talked with some Mormon missionaries and said that they told me Mormons believed in God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I was interrupted as one of them said that the Mormons did not and then she said that God and the Holy Ghost are the same person.
It was at this point that we confessed that we were, in fact, Mormon missionaries. I said that we had gone tracting the day before and we had our Bibles with us, but they still said that we did not believe in the Bible. I noticed a Bible on a table nearby, picked it up and turned to John 15:26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” One of the J-Dubs, who I guess was the senior of the two, countered that God and the Holy Ghost are the same person and that the spirit is only the force used by God (May the force be with you).
I responded by turning the page back to John 14:26: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (emphasis added). “Whom” would denote a separate person. She pulled out her New World Translation which changed “whom” to “which.” Now, I wasn’t trying to bash, but rather I was trying to present a scripture to support my beliefs. I then tried to steer into the Joseph Smith story but they kept interrupting me. The other three elders in the room, however, were trying to bash, which didn’t help at all.
The discussion then went to the question of authority from God before going to where they got the right to change the Bible. I said something about the King James Version being a direct translation from the Greek which meant that was how Christ phrased it originally as recorded by John, which successfully got us back to 14:26. But from there the discussion spiraled out of control. One of the ladies, who I guess was the junior of the two, kept telling me that we didn’t believe in the Bible. I turned the book I had just quoted from so she could see the spine, “See, the Holy Bible, King James Version.” I had to say it three times.
I would suggest that the approach these Jehovah’s Witnesses took is an example of how not to do missionary work (generally, I would say that how the J-Dubs proselyte is an example of what not to do). I don't want to cast aspersions as I did not know these people personally, rather I want to focus on actions and methods (tactics). Their attitude was all wrong as they called us to repentance; sincerity and love are much more effective. Additionally, we do not have the power to prove our words, that is the job of the Holy Ghost.
As they left, the junior of the two turned and said “When the day of destruction arrives and Jehovah is come, and you are destroyed, just remember that we warned you!” I could not resist firing right back, “And you just remember that we warned you.” Then they ran into the owner of the apartment who told them that he had once looked into the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Right away they condemned him to Hell. Wow.
This did not turn out to be a complete waste of time if only because I did learn something about teaching with love and sincerity -- not to mention the futility of bashing. Other than that. . . .
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