Posted on 12/04/2009 8:00:35 PM PST by Saundra Duffy
SALT LAKE CITY 3 December 2009 Since the launch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Mormon Messages channel on YouTube in August 2008, its influence has grown to reach millions. Situated among the endless variety of videos available on YouTube, the dozens of videos currently available on Mormon Messages have been viewed a total of 7.5 million times.
During the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, the Church posted a Mormon Messages video showing random people on the streets of New York City sharing a variety of responses to one simple question: “What are you thankful for?” The video become so popular so quickly that it was featured twice on the front page of YouTube. After two weeks, nearly 300,000 had viewed the video.
Last month, the Social Media Club of Salt Lake City, a local chapter of a larger organization, named the Mormon Messages channel the “Best Use of YouTube” during its 2009 awards ceremony. The judges said it was “a great use of a very accessible media medium for an organization with a growing global audience” and remarked that “regardless of your position or affiliation, being a good person, as exemplified by content on this YouTube channel, is universal.”
But the real impact the videos are having is even more apparent in the thousands of positive comments that come from their viewers. The videos reach a wide audience with inspirational messages that can be viewed in a variety of settings. Viewers in over 190 countries have watched the messages.
One individual who left a comment on a Mormon Messages video about finding hope after September 11th said he was “sitting waiting for my next class… and this video is almost bringing me to tears.” Another viewer commented on a video featuring President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “I'm not a Mormon…but I adore the message in this video and believe it's universal…we all should understand we were created to create, to give, to live, to grow. This is the road to true happiness!”
“The comments we’ve received in response to the channel have been overwhelmingly positive,” said Dallas Petersen, the project manager for Mormon Messages. “Viewers are continually asking for more of these videos.”
A new video for the Mormon Messages channel is produced about every two weeks. They’re featured on the home page of lds.org, the Church’s official Web site, and on the official Mormon Messages Facebook page. Some of the traffic to the videos comes as a result of Church members posting them on their personal Facebook pages or on Twitter. The short length and uplifting messages of the videos make them ideal for sharing on the Internet.
To date, 38 videos have been produced and many have been translated into Spanish. Topics include Jesus Christ, hope, fatherhood, creativity and perseverance. While some videos are meant to coincide with a specific event or season, others are more timeless.
Some videos, such as one featuring Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s address about Jesus Christ that was posted during the Easter 2009 weekend, are particularly timely and relevant. Elder Holland’s message was viewed hundreds of thousands of times in a matter of days and became the top viral video on the Internet during the Easter weekend.
"Our hope would be that the Church members would first be inspired by these messages," said David Nielson, managing director of the Audiovisual Department of the Church. "Secondly, that they would desire to share these messages with friends and family, both member and nonmember, through the various media channels that are now available."
You are welcome. I will always tell the truth (as I know it) when responding to these threads.
But as the dead members are kept on the rolls until they are 110 and thats a good 30-50 years in most cases after they die ...
Actually, only the truely "lost sheep" that nobody knows about. When someone dies, and we know about it, their records are removed from the "living" list. They are marked as deceased and no longer counted as a living member. Their records still exist and can be looked up, but they are not part of the 13 mil.
and the dead members can add up over the last 40 years... it is probably a LARGE number...
Probably not. The ones that remain after death are those that avoid any contact with the church. This certainly is not a large enough number to change the magnitude of what we are talking about. Even if it is 2 or 3 million, we are still talking about 10 million menbers. I suspect the actual number of dead-but-still-counted-in-the-13-million is at most 10-20 thousand. But that is a guess, with nothing to back it up.
Even long dead “prophets” are still full members...
I am going to call for references here. Show me a reference that a long dead prophet is counted in the 13 million.
Of course, since we believe in life after death, we believe that they are still mormons, but we do not include them in the list of living members, which is what the 13 million claims to be.
Incidently what are the actual numbers on dead dunking over the years ???
and the mormons were commanded to baptise everyone who ever lived, right ???
And there is no way to get all those names...
So what then ???
When I was 16 I was out preaching on the street every Sunday afternoon...
TP: When I was ward clerk I saw this process up close. It can be difficult for folks to get their names off the rolls.
Then you’d be just the girl to ask ...
Why ???
&
Tadpole, how then do you explain why in some wards the process only takes a few weeks (often less than the 30 days, if it is stated in the resignation letter that the requestor waives the 30 day period) and in some wards (even when records have already been transferred) the process can take Months and even up to a year.
Tadpole, I like that. BTW, I am a boy baby frog.
When the process runs perfectly, which it seldom does, there is a built in 30 day lag that you mention (I never saw someone waive the 30 days). This is because of the way the process is set up.
For example, when I was ward clerk and received a resignation letter, I was to fill out a form titled something like "request to remove name from records" or some such thing. I also prepared a letter. This letter was to indicate that we had received the request for name removal, remind the person of the impact of that request (mostly the "you won't live with your family in heaven" kind of thing that mormons teach), and a statement that they had 30 days to change their mind. It also said that after the 30 days they did not contact the stake president, then the request would be processed.
I gave this form and letter to the bishop, who was to give it to the stake president, who was to mail the letter. I trust that these did not happen quickly, and maybe even took more than the 30 days outlined in the letter. That is probably why it can take months to get this done.
But none of this was deliberate. It is just the failings of us doing the process. I have a full time job, as does everyone else in the process. So, for example, if the resignation letter was handed to me Sunday at PEC (a leadership meeting), I might not fill out the form until Tues night when I am next at the church. And even if I stick it in the bishop's mailslot at the church, he is not likely to get it until the following Sunday. And he may not get it to the stake president until the next bishops meeting (up to a month later). I assume the stake president give the paperwork to the stake clerk, who may not mail the letter until later that week. Then, someone needs to notice that the 30 days has passed, and process the final part of the request.
As a ward clerk I would only know the process was complete when the membership record was pull from the computer. Sometimes that was weeks after the request. Sometimes months.
Most of the resignations I saw came from people that were hostile to the church when visited. We would inform them that we would still try to visit them at times, but if they requested name removal, we would stop the intentional visits. They would often write the letter then, but it could take weeks from that point to even get to the bishop (and therefore start the process).
It seems extremely arrogant of the mormon church that it demands a member who wishes to break contact and be considered a nonmember must register a formal "request" to do so.
I agree, it does seem arrogant. That is mostly because of the way we believe. We consider baptism to be the entry onto that "strait and narrow" path that leads back to God. So we tend to count anyone that has been baptised as having passed that gate on the path. Even if they have wandered off the path.
LOL
If you look back at my posting history (way back) you will see some steak dinners. I'll see if I can find some juicy ones for you.
I really don't know. The math I did is the best I can guess.
and the mormons were commanded to baptise everyone who ever lived, right ???
Yup
And there is no way to get all those names...
Not yet.
So what then ???
We believe in the millenium, and that the good will be resurrected during it. 1,000 year is a long time, and I trust that if this is God's plan, we will be able to get it done during this time.
Sorry, that explanation explains nothing about why the mormon church demands a "request" from a member to be removed from church records as a member, but it certainly is a refreshing apologetic comment and is remarkably a repudiation of the much vaunted mormon claim of members having "free agency".
funny placemarker
That's great but which one are you talking about? The ldser one authored by Joe Smith or the one authored by (now what's His Name? )
you: Sorry, that explanation explains nothing about why the mormon church demands a "request" from a member to be removed from church records as a member
I kind of look at it as a series of pastures, with gates on each end and a path running from one gate to the next. Once you pass the gate into the first pasture (through baptism) you are a member and remain in that pasture. Ideally you follow the trail to the next gate and keep progressing from gate to gate (priesthood for the men, temple endowment, temple sealing, etc), but if you decide to remain in one pasture, your free agency allows it.
Much like the orthodox Christian version of "saved." Once you are saved, you are saved. Does Christ ask you every week, or month, or year, if you wish to remain saved? We look at it that way. Once you are baptised, you are a member. To exit the church, you need to void your baptism. The only way to do that is through name removal.
And I totally respect you for that. Street preaching is a hard thing. On my mission (19-20 years old) in one of my areas we had a street board in a local market. Even though I thoroughly believed in what I was doing, it was very hard to strike up the courage to preach in public like that.
Wow, further back than I thought.
And another (again, many posts)
This whole thread has a ton of them, but you certainly have to say this and this are meat.
good list!
Much like the orthodox Christian version of "saved." Once you are saved, you are saved. Does Christ ask you every week, or month, or year, if you wish to remain saved? We look at it that way. Once you are baptised, you are a member. To exit the church, you need to void your baptism. The only way to do that is through name removal.
Good description. However, the requirement of being forced to "request" name removal still results in men coming between a person and his/her relationship with God and His Son.
It all leads back to the mormon belief that even though there are various mormon "pastures" wherein one can "work" his way to exaltation, the church has barred the gates that lead directly to Christ without the intervention of man made restrictions, and as Brigham Young stated, ""No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith. From the day that the Priesthood was taken from the earth to the winding up scene of all things, every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, junior, as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are"
(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p. 289).
Mormon translation of "free agency"...."our way or the highway", except those gates to the highway are barred. The only "keys" to the gate to salvation are held by Joseph Smith and his successors.
This is NOT Christianity, orthodox or otherwise. Christians follow Christ. Mormons follow Joseph Smith in the belief that is the only way to GET to Christ.
Here is everything you need to know about mormonism,
based entirely on the man they call a “prophet”from
one of his contemporaries - as testified under oath
in a court of law ... Joseph Smith, was in fact a con man.
“Josiah Stowell, a Mormonite, being sworn, testified that he positively knew that said Smith never had lied to, or deceived him, and did not believe he ever tried to deceive any body else. The following questions were then asked him, to which he made the replies annexed.
Did Smith ever tell you there was money hid in a certain glass which he mentioned?
Yes.
Did he tell you, you could find it by digging?
Yes.
Did you dig?
Yes.
Did you find any money?
No.
Did he not lie to you then, and deceive you?
No! the money was there, but we did not get quite to it!
How do you know it was there?
Smith said it was!
Addison Austin was next called upon, who testified, that at the very same time that Stowell was digging for money, he, Austin, was in company with said Smith alone, and asked him to tell him honestly whether he could see this money or not.
Smith hesitated some time, but finally replied, “to be candid, between you and me, I cannot, any more than you or any body else; but any way to get a living.”
Here, then, we have his own confession, that he was a vile, dishonest impostor.
As regards the testimony of Josiah Stowell, it needs no comment. He swears positively that Smith did not lie to him. So much for a Mormon witness.”
http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1877Purp.htm
Joseph Smith:
“Rookie...”
You ever think of writing for Scrappleface?
What with the Mormon churches stand on coffee, why WOULD we think this couldn’t be real?
Maybe it’s prophetic......
- - - - -
I hadn’t thought about Scrappleface and TY for the compliment.
And the LDS has given Conference talks about the dangers of the internet using the phrase “questionable material”.
Also when I was LDS, Wilford Brimly wanted to build a race track in Utah, there was a letter that came down from SLC to be read in the wards to vote against the bill. So letters such as this have happened.
Tadpole, I like that.
- - - - - -
(trumpet fanfare)
(midget climbs a ladder an unrolls a parchement scroll)
(clears throat)
“Then a decree shall go out across the land. From this day henceforth, T.P. Pole shall be called by the name “Tadpole” in the virtual land called the Republic of the Free!
So let it be written, so let it be done!”
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