Dead End Conversation with Eternal Impact

Last week i got belittled by two Mormons who called me 'theologically illiterate'. Which i found funny cause i have read more various sacred texts from different faiths than the two of them combined i found out.

Anyway....they started talking to me. Now usually i just start off saying that i don't agree with their theology and the conversation ends, but this time i went ahead and talked with them.

We talked through the foundations of our faith systems and i found it funny that i was willing to give more ground in their favor when talking then they were with me. There are some obvious differences in our ways of thinking (Mormons believe God of this planet was created from a 'God-forum' of Gods so to speak to save this world, they believe Man can become like a God of their own planet, Mormons believe Jesus & Satan are brothers, Mormons believe that Joseph Smiths understanding of 2 golden tables found in Upstate NY have more theology in them than the texts written during the time of Jesus, and a bunch of other stuff).

A question i posed to them that was hard for them to answer was they believe their leader/prophet has ultimate control of the faith system. So i posed that tomorrow if the leader 'heard from God' he could change the entire structure of Mormonism. They said yes, but then tried to retract that with "but we trust him to do the right thing" so i then stated they are "willing to trust a mortal man whose core nature is corrupt-like everyone else on earth- over an eternal God who is perfect & holy"

The conversation kept happening for a while till they excused themselves.

Now why share all this? Cause my 2 boys were standing right next to me during the entire 40 minute conversation. My oldest Cody was very intent on listening. Afterwards he asked me why they don't believe in Jesus? A profound thing happened in me at that moment. I saw concern from my son for other people. I saw a confusion in him that he had to wrestle with. I saw his brain trying to process a lot. At 5, that was awesome!

I want my kids to understand and see how you can be civil and loving to those on a journey in life who are trying to wrestle with their spirituality as much as we are. But i also want them to know why we believe what we believe and have an understanding of this life.

That night Cody prayed for those two men. That night my son had a heavy heart. That night the Kingdom of Jesus became more real to me and to him. That night we realized that Eternal impacts happen in us as much as others.