Knock, Knock

I Was Only 15 the First Time I Went Toe-to-Toe with Mormon Missionaries

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Audio segment generated with AI narration summarizing Patrick Madrid’s written content.

LET ME TELL YOU about the first time I got cornered by a pair of Mormon missionaries.

I was only fifteen and had been raised in a devoutly Catholic home, so my knowledge of Mormonism at that time was basically nil, and I had no experience discussing matters of faith with Mormons or, for that matter, with non-Catholics of any kind. Even so, as a first foray into that world, I learned some valuable lessons about how—and how not—to engage them in debate.

It all started with an innocuous comment I made to a neighbor who had a Book of Mormon lying on her kitchen table. I had heard of the Book of Mormon before, but never had seen it, and I asked her what it was about. I should have realized something was astir when I saw the gleam in her eyes as she started to tell me about the book.

After she gave me a synopsis, I figured I’d better save her some time by telling her I was a Catholic, thereby putting to rest any hopes she might have. I thought I had made it plain I was curious about just the book, not the religion. I was wrong.

A few Saturdays later, I heard it, that inevitable knock on the door.

Outside stood two sharply dressed guys with name badges emblazoned with the impressive title “Elder.” One of them, probably the more senior missionary, shook my hand and informed me that they were representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that my neighbor had suggested they visit me and answer any questions I might have about the Book of Mormon.

I was on the spot. My parents weren’t home, and I wasn’t sure what to do, much less how to handle a discussion with two Mormon missionaries who were four or five years older than I was and noticeably taller. The main problem was that, although I felt game for a discussion with them, I knew nothing at all about their religion and wasn’t really prepared to defend my own faith beyond the basics. Still, I thought, Game on. Let’s go.

After a few awkward moments of small talk on the porch, I decided to invite them in. We sat down, and the conversation quickly turned to the Book of Mormon. I let them give their spiel uninterrupted, until they made comments about an apostasy away from the true Church Christ had founded.

As a Catholic, I’d been raised believing the Catholic Church was the true Church. Still am convinced of that fact, but at the time of this encounter I didn’t know what they believed about the Mormon Church.

For a kid who had been well-catechized growing up and therefore knew more than a little about his own Faith, though nothing about theirs, I have to say I didn’t fare too badly. That’s not to say I didn’t make mistakes. I did. Plenty of them.

First of all, not knowing any better, I let them lead the discussion. Looking back on it, it’s easy to see that they had a prepared delivery, and they tried to keep to it. They knew what they were there to accomplish. I didn’t.

The second failing was that, although I gamely tried to refute every argument they raised against Catholicism stray Bible verses I knew, I had never memorized key passages and therefore did not know how to cite them. The Mormon missionaries, by contrast, were well prepared to quote Scripture chapter and verse. I knew a few verses by heart, or at least in paraphrase, but I had no idea what their chapter and verse citations were. It quickly turned into a game of scriptural badminton, and they could serve and return far more effectively than I could.

They informed me that there had been a total apostasy in which the Church founded by Jesus Christ was distorted and ultimately fatally compromised by heresy and syncretism, until its authority was removed from the Earth. I countered with Matthew 16:18 (“and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”). They brushed this aside and fired off another salvo of verses that seemed, at least superficially, to contradict mine.

And so it went, back and forth, for half an hour.

To be brutally honest here, I have to admit that if the Mormon authorities had sent a more experienced pair of missionaries, I would have been buffaloed. One mistake these fellows made was to get off the track of their canned presentation.

Even given my utter inexperience in such discussions, I started to see some chinks in their defenses, and I knew I should try to take advantage of them.

Remember, I wasn’t winning this debate, but neither were they, and I think they knew it. After I saw the badminton technique was getting me nowhere, I wised up, changed my tactics, and started to force an issue as far as it would go.

For example, we returned to the subject of their belief in a Great (that is, total) Apostasy. Although I knew virtually nothing about Mormon history or doctrine, I knew enough Catholic history to press the point: there had been no total apostasy.

I challenged the missionaries to look again at what the Bible had to say about the perpetual nature of Christ’s Church, particularly Matthew 16:18, where Jesus declared, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” My thesis was simple: Christ was either lying, miscalculating, or telling the truth. [See my article on the Great Apostasy for more on this topic.]

They had no satisfactory answer for that one.

When I brought up the fact that history and tradition point to an unbroken line of continuance from the apostolic Church to the present-day Church, they couldn’t refute that. Again and again they left ecclesiastical history and the Bible and appealed to the Book of Mormon.

They “testified” to me that they “knew” there had been an apostasy and that the Mormon claims were legitimate. Theirs was the only true gospel, they said.

The rest of the conversation centered on their testimony. They asked me to pray about the “truths” they had told me, and they assured me I would receive a “testimony” from the Holy Ghost (Mormons use “Holy Ghost” instead of “Holy Spirit”) that the Mormon gospel is true, and so on.

I countered with: “How do you explain the fact that I have a strong testimony that’s diametrically opposed to yours?”

I asked them to consider: Suppose the Catholic Church is the true one, with correct doctrines. Then your prayers are heard by my God. Now reverse it: Suppose you’re right. Then my prayers are heard by your God. Either way, only one God receives our prayers.

The argument, I said, boiled down to one issue.

How is it that we’re being heard by the same God, but that we receive drastically different testimonies? How could God testify to you that the Mormon Church is the one true Church, but to me that the Catholic Church is?

That doesn’t make any sense, but it does show the weakness of a personal testimony as the proof of a religion.

The badminton game was over. We had moved into a more profitable area of debate.

The key to getting there was being ruthless in pursuing a subject until it had been examined to the point of impasse. I stumbled on this insight too late in the game, but I learned a lesson.

By now the missionaries seemed uncomfortable. They couldn’t give any answer to the question about Christ’s promise to his Church in Matthew 16:18. They offered no convincing logical or historical evidence for a total apostasy, relying instead on appeals to the Book of Mormon and their personal testimonies, neither of which I found persuasive.

They seemed cornered, and they knew it. Or at least I knew it, even if they never let on that they saw the problem I had pointed out in their claim.

Our conversation ended on a strained note. I demanded more explanations from them on these subjects, but they couldn’t produce them. They offered to check with their stake president and get answers for me.

Alluding to 2 Corinthians 4:4, one of the missionaries’ final remarks was this:

“It’s obvious that Satan has clouded your heart and mind so that you’re unable to see the truth of the Gospel.”

That’s where they left it. We said our good-byes, and they mounted their bikes and rode off.

I hadn’t won the debate, at least not in the way I would have liked. And they never gave me a rematch.

Not only didn’t I get a return visit from them, but I got the cold shoulder from my neighbor after that. But that’s okay. I did learn important lessons on how not to debate Mormons.

No more scriptural badminton for me.

I knew I’d have to stick with a subject until it had been exhausted, and I had to keep myself from being intimidated through double-teaming.

Though I had to do two things in preparation for the next knock at the door.

First, I had to become more familiar with the facts about the Catholic Church’s history. I resolved not to sit still for any of that Emperor Constantine jazz.

Second, I had to study up on Mormonism. Just the basics, please. I knew I wouldn’t have to do extensive research, and I got what I needed out of a few pamphlets the Mormons put out. I studied them and thought about how to answer the pamphlets’ arguments.

That first awkward doorstep encounter with the Mormon missionaries actually sparked something positive in me. It whet my appetite for deeper study and reflection on why I was Catholic. (I hope this and other articles I share here will do the same for you.) I realized I didn’t have to be afraid or nervous, just persistent.

The same goes for you.

Every time there’s a knock on the door, it could be another opportunity for you to say, with a big smile:

“Hi, Elders! I’m glad you’re here! I’ve been waiting for you!”

Copyright © 1988–2026 Patrick Madrid. All rights reserved. All text, images, and other original content are the property of the author. Revised and expanded from my May 1988 article “Knock, Knock,” originally published in the Catholic Answers Newsletter.

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