Posted on 03/05/2011 1:44:43 PM PST by greyfoxx39
Stay on message
When the young men and young women of one stake donated many hours of community service to beautify public areas, a leader responded to a reporter’s query: "As members of the Mormon church we believe in serving others."
Though accurate, the response wasted an opportunity to promote our central message: We do what we do because we love Jesus. Because we love Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, we love our neighbors and serve our fellowman.
Said one Book of Mormon prophet, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17).
Whether sharing the gospel online or across the street, the scriptures and “Preach My Gospel” are foundational. With purity, prayer and practice, we can share the simple truths of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord promises to "go before your face" and send "angels round about you, to bear you up" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).
-SNIP-
Keep it simple
Suppose a friend expresses concern about polygamy. You launch into a 10-minute dissertation about the 1890 Manifesto. Wrong! Your neighbor may be asking something else, like, "Won’t I feel ostracized if I join a church that teaches controversial things?"
By identifying the real concern, you can emphasize simple truths such as our love for Jesus Christ, eternal families and the plan of happiness. Keep it simple. Love and simplicity trump the scriptorian every time.
Avoid contention
It is human nature to defend oneself. But as seasoned missionaries know, debating theology is fruitless, especially when contention is afoot. The harder we defend insults, the easier it is to chase the Spirit from the conversation.
We needn’t get sucked into anti-LDS debate, whether chatting with neighbors or sharing online. Well-meaning members sometimes charge into contentious chat rooms, then stray from the central message about Jesus Christ, eternal families, the Restoration and the plan of happiness.
The Lord counseled, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).
Avoid the knee-jerk contentions so prevalent in this instant-messaging, respond-without-reflecting world.
A word of caution
The open and unregulated nature of the Internet doesn’t always promote fact-checking, attribution or accuracy. Like the child’s game of whispering a phrase in succession to a long line of kids, the message can be unrecognizable at the end of the blogosphere line. Blog debate may be reported in mainstream media as fact when it is not.
Individual members of the church should avoid purporting to speak for the church as an "official" spokesperson.
The church welcomes honest debate. Elder Quentin L. Cook said, "In our increasingly unrighteous world, it is essential that values based on religious belief be part of the public discourse. Moral positions informed by a religious conscience must be accorded equal access to the public square" (Quentin L. Cook, "Let There Be Light!," Ensign, November, 2010)
In any public debate affecting the church as a whole, there is an order of things. The Lord governs his church through keys and councils. Area and General Public Affairs Councils are responsible for responding to media requests about proposed legislation affecting religious freedoms or attempts to erode core religious values.
By accessing keys through authorized priesthood councils, we assure clarity and unity of response, and we honor the Lord.
Preach the gospel
Elder Marion D. Hanks used to say, "Preach the gospel always. Use words only when necessary." Righteousness is our best sermon, but never discount the power of inspired words. By staying on message, keeping it simple and avoiding contention, our words will be thoughtful and our influence unlimited.
When the MORMON ‘leaders’ QUIT speaking (dead) then they are prime ‘under the bus’ fodder!
From media inquiries about controversial topics, like same-sex marriage, to blogs about whether Mormons are Christians, we can stay on message, keep it simple and avoid contention.
Stay on message
When the young men and young women of one stake donated many hours of community service to beautify public areas, a leader responded to a reporter’s query: "As members of the Mormon church we believe in serving others."
Though accurate, the response wasted an opportunity to promote our central message: We do what we do because we love Jesus. Because we love Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer, we love our neighbors and serve our fellowman.
Said one Book of Mormon prophet, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17).
Whether sharing the gospel online or across the street, the scriptures and “Preach My Gospel” are foundational. With purity, prayer and practice, we can share the simple truths of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord promises to "go before your face" and send "angels round about you, to bear you up" (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88).
A good starting point for sharing the gospel online is Mormon.org. There, we can post our testimonies and link them to our social networks. Mormonmessages.org is great for sharing gospel videos. Another resource is lds.org under "Service in the Church"/"Other"/"Public Affairs"/"Guidelines" and Helps for Latter-day Saints Participating in Online Conversations About the Church.
For other online resources, including Facebook, check out these recent LDS Church News and Mormon Times articles: "The Church on Facebook" and "Why We Blog: Using LDS Church online resources."
A little-known resource is our stake public affairs director. That person is trained to promote our central message to the media within the geographical boundaries of the stake and to build bridges of understanding with persons of influence in the local community.
Keep it simple
Suppose a friend expresses concern about polygamy. You launch into a 10-minute dissertation about the 1890 Manifesto. Wrong! Your neighbor may be asking something else, like, "Won’t I feel ostracized if I join a church that teaches controversial things?"
By identifying the real concern, you can emphasize simple truths such as our love for Jesus Christ, eternal families and the plan of happiness. Keep it simple. Love and simplicity trump the scriptorian every time.
Avoid contention
It is human nature to defend oneself. But as seasoned missionaries know, debating theology is fruitless, especially when contention is afoot. The harder we defend insults, the easier it is to chase the Spirit from the conversation.
We needn’t get sucked into anti-LDS debate, whether chatting with neighbors or sharing online. Well-meaning members sometimes charge into contentious chat rooms, then stray from the central message about Jesus Christ, eternal families, the Restoration and the plan of happiness.
The Lord counseled, "A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).
Avoid the knee-jerk contentions so prevalent in this instant-messaging, respond-without-reflecting world.
A word of caution
The open and unregulated nature of the Internet doesn’t always promote fact-checking, attribution or accuracy. Like the child’s game of whispering a phrase in succession to a long line of kids, the message can be unrecognizable at the end of the blogosphere line. Blog debate may be reported in mainstream media as fact when it is not.
Individual members of the church should avoid purporting to speak for the church as an "official" spokesperson.
The church welcomes honest debate. Elder Quentin L. Cook said, "In our increasingly unrighteous world, it is essential that values based on religious belief be part of the public discourse. Moral positions informed by a religious conscience must be accorded equal access to the public square" (Quentin L. Cook, "Let There Be Light!," Ensign, November, 2010).
In any public debate affecting the church as a whole, there is an order of things. The Lord governs his church through keys and councils. Area and General Public Affairs Councils are responsible for responding to media requests about proposed legislation affecting religious freedoms or attempts to erode core religious values.
By accessing keys through authorized priesthood councils, we assure clarity and unity of response, and we honor the Lord.
Preach the gospel
Elder Marion D. Hanks used to say, "Preach the gospel always. Use words only when necessary." Righteousness is our best sermon, but never discount the power of inspired words. By staying on message, keeping it simple and avoiding contention, our words will be thoughtful and our influence unlimited.
William Monahan is a 1980 graduate of BYU Law School, practicing in Gilbert, Ariz. A former Phoenix stake president, he serves as a high councilor for the Queen Creek Chandler Heights Stake. He is active in Interfaith and is a U.S. Air Force veteran.
You could have saved a lot of band width by summing the above content up in one word: obfuscate!
***Elder Marion D. Hanks used to say, “Preach the gospel always. Use words only when necessary.”***
Too bad he lifted that quote from St Francis of Assisi. Is plagiarism a Mormon trait?
FWIW, my actions can not preach the Gospel. Living the Gospel would require that I get myself nailed to a cross, die, and come back to life 3 days later. My actions can only show I am living in light of the Gospel.
***Elder Marion D. Hanks used to say, “Preach the gospel always. Use words only when necessary.”***
Too bad he lifted that quote from St Francis of Assisi. Is plagiarism a Mormon trait?
_________________________________________
Thank you
I knew I had heard those words before...
I also knew it wasnt originally from a mormon...
The very life blood!
If ya lift a few things without attributation - THAT's plagiarism.
If you glom onto entire chunks, from 66 books: that's The Book of MORMON.
If you glom onto rituals from Masonry, and mix it in with a bunch of your fantasies: that's MORMONism.
It is MORMON nature to TRY to defend it's scripture and other writings. But as seasoned missionaries know, debating theology is fruitless, especially when the target has actual, accurate MORMON information at their fingertips.
The harder we try to defend facts, the easier it is to realize that there is something amiss in MORMON theology.
...we can share the DIFFICULT parts of our faith in The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints after the target has become immersed into our culture and finds it very hard to leave it.
Keep reading...
Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
The fingers of PD disperse...
Go over there and seek yer own knowledge.
"Sometimes you need to answer the question that SHOULD have been asked."
(BTW; the answer to that question above is YES!)
NO!
I am SHOCKED!
Shocked; I tell you!
The church gets to define what HONEST means...
That is interesting.
See, I can understand you hiding behind your “anti" screed, it is safe harbor for you from those who know far more about Mormonism than you ever have.
But I have seen people on FreeRepublic who are not part of the “anti mormons” as you call us, who have asked you a question, and when they do not immediately accept your half answer, your links or whatever as a response you immedatly turn on them and declare them antis as well.
So now that you have endorsed this concept of”honest debate” are we finally going to see you put forth an actaul effort?
After all it is Church policy...
Yes, it seems to me that while claiming that the church “welcomes honest debate” this Mormon leader is advising Mormons to change the subject rather than discuss the most important of Mormon doctrines. He tells them that “as seasoned missionaries know, debating theology is fruitless.”
The Bible in contrast says something different. “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” 1 Peter 3:15
Very good analysis.
So now that you have endorsed this concept of”honest debate” are we finally going to see you put forth an actaul effort?
Thanks for allowing me to point out that I have given sources where one can actually do that. Some of the sites I link have that feature.
Give it a try if you dare. You might actually learn something when you aren’t part of a pack of attackers virtually regurgitating each others propaganda while holding your fingers in each others ears.
You need to look here. You are being misled as is obvious by your worn out propaganda.
Here’s a few links to get your started from a different viewpoint. I have found that the vast majority of the “issues” brought up in the anti-Mormon propaganda can be found and addressed at http://www.fairlds.org/ but here’s more:
http://scriptures.lds.org/
http://www.lds.org
http://www.fairlds.org/
http://www.mormonapologetics.org/
http://www.mormonwiki.com/Main_Page
http://www.lightplanet.com/response/index.html
http://www.jefflindsay.com/LDS_Intro.shtml
http://www.answeringantimormons.com/index.htm
http://promormon.blogspot.com/
Second you have now been told at least 10 times by me personally that I have read you precious “link” in detail and have learned all there is to know from them that a rational and honest person can take away. Your dishonest little game of trying to play it like I am ignorant of what is there is tiresome and rather pathetic.
But is all you got so I am a little sympathetic...
I am not the one being dishonest here.
Sorry PD, it has already been established beyond a shadow of doubt to the contrary.
Sorry PD, it has already been established beyond a shadow of doubt to the contrary.
That is completely false. Shame on you.
Shame on me - lol - drinking the koolaid early this am eh? Lying for the Lord - a mormon enterprise since 1830
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