Mormons at the Door

Yesterday was an absolute mess of a day for me. I hate having to listen to the moaning and groaning of my ickle students. Someone had the gall to say that I should give consideration to him/her because there were TOO MANY GOOD STUDENTS in the class and therefore he/she CANNOT COMPETE WITH THEM.

GOOD LORD. In every class, there will be A’s and there will be F’s. DEAL WITH IT.

Not meaning to disrespect the Lord, but He had a field day with me yesterday. I had not eaten since the previous night, and it was already almost five in the afternoon. I was tired. I was hungry. I was pissed. I needed to whip up dinner early, because I had made plans with my friends for the evening. I was in the middle of dicing my potatoes when the doorbell rang. For a moment, I thought it was one of the neighbors, because it seemed like there was a party in the hallway. I put the knife down and answered the door.

There were two Mormons at the door (should I call them Latter-Day Saints?). Now, I really have nothing against Mormons. I went to school with them. I‘ve worked with them. There might even be a few living in my building. I try to respect the beliefs of the people around me. When they (the Mormons) asked for the lady of the house (because apparently, they thought I was 15 years old), I said politely that I am Catholic, and therefore whatever religious teaching I will listen to should come from my Church.

Once one of the guys heard the word “Catholic,” he began to try to egg me on into a theological debate. How do I know if my faith is the correct faith? Did God tell me Himself? Did I choose to become a Catholic or did I just become one because I was baptized when I was a month old? I kept trying to close the conversation politely but he kept saying “Just answer one last question for me.” He even said “I know about the Catholic Church, I’m Mexican!” and “All versions of the Bible are the same!”

The good Lord was probably laughing up a storm.

Dude, the fact that you are Mexican does not make you versed in Catholic Doctrine. I told the two of them that they can’t offer me just ANY version of the Bible – the ones I use have the Nihil obstat and Imprimatur from the hierarchy of the Church. All the same, I pretty much kept my tongue in check, even though I wanted to tell them that it was gonna take more than just two Mormons to shake two and a half years of University-level Theology, four years of weekly Catholic Doctrine classes, 27 years of Catholic school, 31 years in a loving, devout Catholic family, and knowing deep in my heart and in my mind that the Lord is in constant communion with the Catholic Church

However, at this point, head was pounding and my stomach was growling.

Then finally, the guy got into the topic of original sin (it was still the Mexican guy speaking…the blond Caucasian guy was just standing in the background, carrying the sack of Bibles). He said “How can you have original sin when you are a little kid? You are born perfect…in the image and likeness of God!”

THAT was when I COMPLETELY LOST IT.

HOW PRESUMPTUOUS OF YOU TO SAY THAT YOU WERE BORN PERFECT! How presumptuous of you to say that with your free will, you will ALWAYS make the right choice!

Go ahead. I’m still listening.

GET UP AND SEE THE SARCASM IN MY EYES.

I’m sorry to say that I practically threw them out of my face, but it was just the perfect ending to a bad day that was just beginning. I knew that I had let my temper get the better of me…I could have just tried to turn around the situation and get them to listen to what the Catholic Church teaches.

Like I said, I had no food since the night before.

I look back at yesterday, and I realize that God still has a sense of humor. After all, He made me leave the knife.