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Mormon Numbers Not Adding Up
Religion Dispatches ^ | February 2, 2012 | Joanna Brooks

Posted on 02/03/2012 7:30:52 AM PST by C19fan

The ascendancy of Mormonism as a world religion once seemed inevitable. The year was 1984, and sociologist named Rodney Stark made a startling projection: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would grow to 267 million members by 2080.

.....................................................

But new data suggests that Mormonism may no longer be (as it is often described) among the fastest growing faiths in the United States. Instead, American Mormons appear to be settling into the twenty-first century as a maturing minority having an increasingly hard time holding onto younger members.

(Excerpt) Read more at religiondispatches.org ...


TOPICS: Religion
KEYWORDS: mormons
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To: IWONDR; RedWhiteBlue; Colofornian; Elsie; SENTINEL; aMorePerfectUnion; MHGinTN

So it is our fault that the Mormon church lies to its members?!

All we do is post their own writings and our personal experiences. The MSM can do their own research and come up with the exact same things, they don’t need us at all.


41 posted on 02/03/2012 4:09:08 PM PST by reaganaut (Ex-Mormon, Now Christian - "I wasn't brainwashed, just brain pre-soaked.")
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To: IWONDR
LOL really Dude/dudette, LOL. The LDS inc money machine has had a stealth 'help Romney' campaign going for awhile now. They call it the "And I'm a Mormon' ad campaign. If you go Youtube, it is quite prevalent. Now why would LDS inc go to such lengths to start a 'try and build positives reagrding their ISM at this particualr time in History of America? ... Depending upon your political and perhaps 'religious' perspective, the answer to that can vary. But know this, I've never been a Mormon.

They (LDS inc) sought to recruit me from my Baptist Church decades ago and I was thankfully yanked (spiritually) away from their slick lies by omission. The monetary influence the LDS inc machine will bring to bear on the media will have the effect of neutralizing, then turning the media whores to serve the new, just as deceitful, master, LDS inc.

IF Romney can be placed in the White HOuse, the Smithian 'White Horse Prophecy' and the various miss-information on that will aid the LDS inc money machine in building tithing members. There are literally hundrds of billions at stake to get the Mormon High Priest elected.

And you are naive enought to believe that what gets posted at FR will be the source for media attacks on MormonISM, until and if a MormonISM high Priest gets elected? Magic thinking is a democrat characteristic, dude.

42 posted on 02/03/2012 5:36:07 PM PST by MHGinTN (Being deceived can be cured.)
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To: reaganaut

What church? Ours has a high number too. Well, they all do I guess.


43 posted on 02/04/2012 12:21:43 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: Elsie

wHAT?????????


44 posted on 02/04/2012 12:23:49 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: ansel12
I bet that is one very intense, engaged, passionate, group of Christians.

You'd better believe it. I belong to an evangelical church in Utah and we have quite a number of ex-Mormons, and it's like they are on FIRE for Jesus!

45 posted on 02/04/2012 12:26:50 AM PST by T Minus Four
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To: annieokie
Tiger STILL hasn’t shown up for his photo shoot...

When we returned home from the biggest human gridlock I have EVER seen (or been in!) - Super Bowl Madness in Indy; Tiger was home, meowing for food.

If he's there this morning, I'll get his picture.

46 posted on 02/04/2012 5:14:37 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: IWONDR; Saundra Duffy

Ca Ching!!!

Hey Saundra!

I’m about to get paid, BIG TIME, for all the stuff I’ve posted over the years!

nyah! Nyah!! NYAH!!!


47 posted on 02/04/2012 5:17:34 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: reaganaut
The MSM can do their own research and come up with the exact same things, they don’t need us at all.

(Sounds like my first wife...)

48 posted on 02/04/2012 5:18:40 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: T Minus Four
wHAT?????????
 
 
http://mormonbeliefs.org/mormon_beliefs/mormon-beliefs-the-plan-of-salvation/the-plan-of-salvation-the-pre-existence
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-existence
 
 

49 posted on 02/04/2012 5:36:07 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: Elsie
ok, for a moment I thought you were talking about Tiger Woods, anybody seen him lately, hahahahahahaha. Before he got caught, he was my golf hero, then Phil Michelson. Now I don't care if I ever see Tiger again, he deserves all the failure he can get. Phil is my hero now.
50 posted on 02/04/2012 7:32:52 AM PST by annieokie
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To: T Minus Four

A lot of them do, the one I was referring to was Watsach Evangelical. The transition church is in AZ.


51 posted on 02/04/2012 7:56:22 AM PST by reaganaut (Ex-Mormon, Now Christian - "I wasn't brainwashed, just brain pre-soaked.")
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To: republicanbred
"...they were bombarded with anti-mormon, but it just made them stronger in their decision"

Interesting correlation you're trying to make there.

What was the makeup of the "antimormon"? Was it literature? Was it websites with thousands of ex-mo's describing the pagan rituals that occur in the temple or telling about women ex-communicated because they dared to divorce their abusive husbands? Was it showing them the conflicts between mormonism and Christianity? How mormonism is just mormonism and not Christianity?

What?

Also, I wonder if the fact that you're daughter is a friend of theirs, didn't have some influence on dissuading or dismissing any facts that may have been presented?

52 posted on 02/04/2012 8:02:02 AM PST by SZonian (Throwing our allegiances to political party's in the long run gave away our liberty.)
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To: SZonian

bttt


53 posted on 02/04/2012 8:38:33 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: reaganaut; blasater1960
This post is from 3 years ago.....
 
The point of posting LDS authored stories is part of the Proselytizing .
 
Certainly, when LDS knocks on the door of an "Apostate" they expect objections.  Otherwise, why have the Student Manual for Missionaries, in which, they have points and counter points to their non-believers or what could be more accurately called Non-members of the LDS.
 
In fact, LDS missionaries search out opportunities for conversion in the less educated parts of the world where illiteracy is extremely high.  By that, I mean, if one looks at the efforts of LDS in countries south of the American border, you will find illiteracy rates that are in excess of 70%.
 
There is no point in disputing the numbers.  I have been involved in literacy programs for 5 years and the fact is, you can more easily sway someone, with emotion and power of persuasion, who does not read  or more importantly cannot read.  They have no real ability to study or collect thoughts of reason based on information contained within them or discovered by study.  Nothing to study if you can't read, you just take others words for truth.
 
Where is the proof that LDS efforts and growth at directed at countries with lower illiteracy rates?

10 New Missions to be Created, 14 to be Discontinued

Ireland Dublin Mission, one of the missions in Chicago, and a mission or two in Australia will be discontinued.
 
New missions include Peru Cuzco, Guatemala, Philipines, Democratic Republic of Congo Lubumbashi and more.  All new missions being formed outside the U.S. are in areas that have indisputably high illiteracy rates. 
 
A new mission in St George, Utah will stretch all the way to Farmington, New Mexico and is likely being built to support LDS immigrants to the areas of  traditional LDS communities.
 
However, it is interesting to note the total number of missions worldwide will fall by four from 344 to 340.
 
 
Now to the Student Manual for Missionaries and their program for conversion.
 
President Gordon B. Hinckley explained the importance of the Book of Mormon in relation to the Church and the Bible:
“If the Book of Mormon is true, the Church is true, for the same authority under which this sacred record came to light is present and manifest
among us today. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior in Palestine. It is a restoration of the Church set up by the Savior when he visited
this continent as set forth in this sacred record.
 
Okay, so the reasoning is the same as defense of the Bible, which unlike Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, etc, has historical proof of certain events and the geography, where the events took place, is undisputed and the Bible is very stark proof of it's own provenance.
 
Gordon Hinckley continues:
"If the Book of Mormon is true, the Bible is true...."
 
And yet LDS claims the Bible to be rife with mistakes, lost books or purposely misleading.  This while they claim right to the very same scriptures, but maintain interprations of convenience, by way of contrivance.
 
President Benson also offered inspired counsel regarding how to use the Book of Mormon to respond to objections investigators(read possible converts) may have to the restored truths of the gospel:
“We are to use the Book of Mormon in handling objections to the Church. . . .
“. . . All objections, whether they be on abortion, plural marriage, seventh-day worship, etc., basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets of God receiving divine revelation.
 
So LDS recognizes there are real objections to their faith and to be fair so does Traditional Christianity.  Both have plans for conversions with the key difference between the two being as follows:
 
Church of Christ Latter Day Saints:
Their premise is that most converts come from the foundation of Traditional Christianity, which forms the basis of belief for their doctrine, which is of a slightly different story.  They hold that converts are worshipping Apostate Religions and they are the One True Church and therefore the only arbiters of ones future when it comes to eternal salvation.
 
No reason to look further than where ever you find Christians you will find LDS missionaries teaching a new way of thinking,  a new road to salvation and of a superior system that plays to man's innate vanity and hope to be something  more, such as deifying oneself through work.
 
But first they start their premise with unworthiness and shame the Christian into believing they have been had.  With no real defense of literacy and learnedness the most important decision in one's life is now called into question.
 
What will you do?  If the Book of Mormon is true and your heart is open to learning it's truth, you can be saved.  Bit of a canard and a highly charged emotional question that is a leading question of conscious, heart and spirit.
 
Traditional Christianity:
Here we find missionaries seeking out converts not from other religions but from souls of sola fide(by faith alone) and those very converts come from areas where God, in the light of Traditional Christianity, are not understood by lost souls nor has the salvation of Jesus Christ reached them yet.  Here we can think of China, North Korea, Middle East or Russia where God is a challenge to their authority, especially in the form of Christianity and is therefore outlawed.
 
The difference in Christianity and Mormonism goes to Sola Fide.
 
In Sola Fide we find salvation by God's grace and Jesus paying the ultimate sacrafice and the only path to eternal salvation and it is brought to you by faith alone that your pardon is secure, forever, through the gift of God, who recognizes that man could never hope to work his way to heaven or pay for his salvation as he is an imperfect being.
 
And so "For God so loved the World, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life".
 
Mormons teach a version of God's greatest gift but if comes with qualifiers.  Their belief, in direct contradiction to historical Christian Doctrine, is one must some how become worthy to enter into God's kingdom.  How does one become worthy? There is no answer of specific definition, only that you must perform certain works showing your worthiness and that Joseph Smith will be the one who approves your "Passport" to heaven.  Yes, they do use the term passport in their doctrine, though one wonders what information should be contained in that passport.
 
 
And yet God tells "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God"  "There is none worthy, No, not one".  Seems pretty clear that God didn't even bother so single anyone out just lumped us all into a definition of lesser beings, who has shown great mercy on despite our incredible shortcomings.
 
Jesus tells us"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God". (John 3:4-5)
 
Paul in his letter to the Ephesians:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” -Ephesians 2:8,9
 
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” –James 2:19.  This presents a huge conflict with Mormon belief that one can become a god, just like God.  It doesn't appear God agrees or approves.
 
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” –James 2:18.  So we are being presented with what the effect of faith is and that is: a belief, truly of the heart and spirit, will result in works demonstrating your walk in and with Christ.  It will be plainly apparent and motivated by spirit to excersise works of God in daily action or in specific witness of testimony.
 
Now in the Student Manual for Missionaries, of LDS, on page 77 we find the beginning discussion of Apostacy, in which the LDS begin to lay the foundation for proof of a foul religious belief and that theirs is the one and only true way:
Under the direction of Jesus Christ, the priesthood and the Church were restored through His servants.
The Restoration dispelled the darkness of the Apostasy. Priesthood authority was restored.
Through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Lord organized His Church again upon the earth so that the saving principles and ordinances of the gospel could be correctly administered in order to help people come unto Christ.
 
President Gordon B. Hinckley also bore witness that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored:
“This is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. . . . We testify that the heavens have been opened, that the curtains have been parted, that God has spoken, and that Jesus Christ has manifested Himself, followed by a bestowal of divine authority.
 
“Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of this work, and it is built upon a ‘foundation of . . . apostles and prophets’ (Ephesians 2:20)” (in Conference Report,
Oct. 2002, 87; or Ensign, Nov. 2002, 81).
Really?  How can Mormons possilby quote scripture from a book that was organized in the fourth century and specifically call out scripture by chapter and verse, even though they have their provenance in other religions, which are antithetical to your belief and an apostacy in the view of LDS?
 
And now begins the teaching of conversion from other faiths and the superiority of Mormonism with their unique and new scripture:
 
Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that faith is part of the fertile ground that nourishes conversion:
“The first seeds of conversion begin with an awareness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a desire to know the truth concerning His restored Church.
‘Let this desire work in you’ (Alma 32:27)
. A desire to know the truth is like a seed which grows in the fertile ground of faith, patience, diligence and
long-suffering (see Alma 32:27–41). . . .
 
The Church of Christ Latter Day Saints makes no pretense as to who their target market is for conversion.
 
Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught that conversion requires a complete willingness to give up all practices contrary to the teachings of the restored
gospel:
“The gospel of Jesus Christ challenges us to change. ‘Repent’ is its most frequent message, and repenting means giving up all of our practices—
personal, family, ethnic, and national—that are contrary to the commandments of God. The purpose of the gospel is to transform common
creatures into celestial citizens, and that requires change” (in Conference Report, Oct. 2003, 39; or Ensign, Nov. 2003, 37).
 
So I could finish a whole dissortation on the subject of specific market converts and what LDS has to say about their doctrine but, suffice to say they are well aware of opposition to their faith and have a plan to counter objections.
 
Also, we are given specific demands of faith, by LDS, in their writings.  So why the opposition to being "called on the carpet" as it were?
 
I think down deep, many in LDS know there are some real challenges in the history of their formation, by "Apostles" and "Prophets".  They also know their founders had some real errors of heart and spirit, such as having several wives and even taking the wives of other men and then having those men officiate or act as witness to their wife being taken by another man.
 
Talk about losing your way.  I mean, what man would accept that god had commanded and ordained another man to take his wife?  Where would you scriptural imprimatur for such a thing?  No where.
 
I will expand on this later but that about does it for today.

54 posted on 02/04/2012 2:46:42 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously, you won't live through it anyway)
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To: grumpa
Less than 2% of the population, about the same as homosexuals.

Yes. I've seen 1.7%...and that includes inactive "Jack" mormons. Almost 2/3rds of Mormons on the books are not active; and 80-85% are NOT temple Mormons.

55 posted on 02/07/2012 9:38:13 AM PST by Colofornian
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To: Vendome

Placemark


56 posted on 02/07/2012 9:42:45 AM PST by Colofornian
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