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Special report -Mormonism besieged by the modern age [Lds church is hemorrhaging in member losses]
Reuters ^ | Jan. 29, 2012 | Peter Henderson and Kristina Cooke

Posted on 02/01/2012 4:50:21 AM PST by Colofornian

...A religious studies class late last year at Utah State University...was unusual for two reasons. The small group of students, faculty and faithful there to hear Mormon Elder Marlin Jensen were openly troubled about the future...asking hard questions. And Jensen was uncharacteristically frank...

Did the leaders...know that members are "leaving in droves?" a woman asked.

"We are aware," said Jensen, according to a tape recording of his unscripted remarks. "And I'm speaking of the 15 men that are above me in the hierarchy of the church."...

"My own daughter," he then added, "has come to me and said, 'Dad, why didn't you ever tell me that Joseph Smith was a polygamist?'..."Everything's out there for them to consume if they want to Google it."...

SNIP

...census data from some foreign countries...show that the retention rate for their converts is as low as 25 percent. In the U.S., only about half of Mormons are active members of the church...

SNIP

...the Web has intensified debate over...the history the church teaches.

Not since...the 1837 failure of a church bank in Kirtland, Ohio, have so many left the church, Jensen said.

"Maybe since Kirtland, we've never had a period of - I'll call it apostasy, like we're having now," he told the group in Logan.

SNIP

...a non-practicing Mormon...for years filed away on a mental "shelf" concerns about the historical veracity of the religion's central text..."It came to a point where the shelf was too heavy," he said. He quit attending ..."Ok, I'm done."

SNIP

"There have been discussions at LDS church headquarters about...Romney's presidential bid," a person briefed on the talks said. "One concern is that Romney's campaign could further energize evangelical antipathy toward the church..."

..."having a Mormon president could raise the church's profile and legitimize it in other countries."

(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Current Events; Other Christian; Other non-Christian; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: abandonment; faith; inman; lds; mormon
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To: VanDeKoik

Lucy Harris smart, smart, smart. Martin Harris dumb.


21 posted on 02/01/2012 5:46:18 AM PST by CASchack
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To: surroundedbyblue
Mormonism, as you know, is NOT Christian. Electing Mitt Romney will, I fear, bring a chastisement from God.
Pray the electorate wakes up to this fact before its too late & he is nominated.

The chastisement doesn't have to come from God. It will be having Obama for another four years. That's punishment enough.

It's the GOP's fault for not backing Santorum. He's the one who should be the GOP opponent of Obama. He won't be so we ALL lose. The Republicans of our great country prefer a Mormon candidate than a Catholic one. We reap what we sow.

22 posted on 02/01/2012 5:48:07 AM PST by cloudmountain
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: askrenr

Re “chastisement”

The beatings will continue until morale improves, apparently.


24 posted on 02/01/2012 5:51:53 AM PST by headsonpikes (Mass murder and cannibalism are the twin sacraments of socialism - "Who-whom?"-Lenin)
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HAVE A LITTLE HEART.
FOIL THE NAY-SAYERS.



Click the Pic


Support Free Republic

25 posted on 02/01/2012 5:53:33 AM PST by deoetdoctrinae (Gun-Free zones are playgrounds for felons)
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To: Colofornian

One of the hidden problems besieging the Mormons has existed since their very beginning, and it’s a lulu. Secular politics.

Before their migration west, they were stuck in situations of varying hostility with non-Mormons over the years. Eventually Smith was approached with the demand that he order the Mormons to embrace one secular political party or the other.

He tried to do this to protect them, but could not deliver their vote as a bloc. And because there was no secret ballot until the 1880s, the end result was that both political parties turned on the Mormons. And politics back then was far meaner than it is today, to the point of violently persecuting political enemies.

Moving forward to today, there is still a huge political division among the Mormons, but since the 1960s, while there has been a general movement left by both parties, the Democrats have gone to the extreme left.

An extreme left that hates religion.

Just like other religions, though perhaps not as developed as in other religions, this may end up as a schism between conservatives and liberals, with liberal Mormons preferring leftist doctrines to those of their own church, yet still calling themselves Mormons, while trying to undermine their own church with corrupted doctrines.

The Mormons have been somewhat insulated from this for a while, because they have a very determined and orderly hierarchy. But eventually they are going to have to realize that many are “Mormons In Name Only”, at such variance with church doctrines that unless they are expelled they threaten the destruction of the church.

For their part, liberal and leftist Mormons will strive to achieve positions of power in the church, and leftists are skilled with infiltration into organizations with the idea of subversion to leftist goals.


26 posted on 02/01/2012 6:08:00 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: askrenr

“Will it be worse than the chastisement for electing a Muslin?”

Let me clarify my point: if Romney becomes the nominee, voters will be choosing between two anti-Christs. This, in no way, can be pleasing to God. My point is that we must shun Romney & put a Christian on the ticket. That’s why I said the electorate must wake up before it’s too late & Romney becomes our candidate. I hope & pray that Gingrich does indeed fight this all the way to the convention.

If he is, I will not vote. I know there are FReepers who think that’s ridiculous but I must vote my conscience. I will not support a Mormon who also embraces gay marraige & abortion on demand. No no no!!!!


27 posted on 02/01/2012 6:10:50 AM PST by surroundedbyblue (Live the message of Fatima - pray & do penance!)
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To: Colofornian

Anyone who is wondering why Romney is being pushed by the Mormons needs to research the White Horse Prophecy. Beck, Hatch, and Romney buy into that evidenced by all three referencing the “constitution hanging by a thread” comment in that prophecy.


28 posted on 02/01/2012 6:11:26 AM PST by CynicalBear
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To: VanDeKoik

Had a friend of mine over the other night and we turned the episode on for him....(Romney supporter and Michigan State Republican committee guy) he was cracking up. First, he was a T Paw supporter......then that went south, and now he is a Romney guy. Sadly, he was on McCains national team last go-around and the Romney bots are not treating him well. We will see if he is pure enough to stay the course.


29 posted on 02/01/2012 6:11:48 AM PST by Michigan Bowhunter
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
liberal and leftist Mormons will strive to achieve positions of power in the church

They already are and always have been, it is what mormonISM is. Romney is a liberal because of mormonISM not in spite of it.

30 posted on 02/01/2012 6:17:14 AM PST by svcw (For the new year: you better toughen You up, if you are going to continue to be stupid.)
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To: askrenr
Will it be worse than the chastisement for electing a Muslin?

We been killing the innocent since 1973.

We've not SEEN chastisement yet!

31 posted on 02/01/2012 6:21:32 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

The Mormons would go into a town and vote in a bloc so they could take over the civic government and change it to their theocracy...

In 1844 when Joey Smith ran for POTUS he ran on a 3rd party ticket...


32 posted on 02/01/2012 6:23:52 AM PST by Tennessee Nana (46 STATES TO GO)
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To: surroundedbyblue

between two anti-Christs


My understanding from Christian end-of-world prophecy is there is only one anti-Christ. Maybe Romney is that White Horse anti-Christ I keep hearing about? How does the true anti-Christ arrive? Is the horse color really that important? Gingrich is Catholic. Does that still count as Christian? If I type “Are Catholics Christians?” in Google, I get tons of hits that say “No way.” Jesus wasn’t a Christian either. Wonder if he would get any votes?

Inquiring minds and all.

“There can be only one.” Highlander


33 posted on 02/01/2012 6:26:58 AM PST by magritte (Nevermind)
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To: Colofornian
romneybeckexcelad, Glenn & Mitt's Excellent Adventure
34 posted on 02/01/2012 6:39:34 AM PST by FrankR (You are only enslaved to the extent of the entitlements you receive.)
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To: CynicalBear

I agree 100%


35 posted on 02/01/2012 6:41:12 AM PST by surroundedbyblue (Live the message of Fatima - pray & do penance!)
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To: Colofornian
Contempt


36 posted on 02/01/2012 6:42:38 AM PST by FrankR (You are only enslaved to the extent of the entitlements you receive.)
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To: Colofornian
This woman first introduced me to the lies of mormonism and its false prophet, many years ago. Who will be the first to tell me who she is?

Photobucket

37 posted on 02/01/2012 6:50:26 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Eccl 10 v. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.)
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To: Biggirl
Even the Catholic Church WILL NOT accept the Mormon baptism and any Mormon who wants to become Catholic has to get baptized in the Catholic Church.

I'm wondering if there's a church of any denomination that doesn't have the letters, "LDS" in its name that does recognize mormon baptism?

38 posted on 02/01/2012 6:54:07 AM PST by Graybeard58 (Eccl 10 v. 19 A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things.)
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To: Colofornian
And who knew Reuters even had a religion department???

I can hardly wait for their update on Black Liberation Theology.

39 posted on 02/01/2012 7:00:02 AM PST by The Citizen Soldier (America needs Gingrich in 2012 about as much as England needed Churchill in 1940!)
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To: cuban leaf
On the other hand the internet seems to have had little influence in taking down Obama despite all the con man evidence that would have killed the candidacy of any other human being.
40 posted on 02/01/2012 7:02:21 AM PST by CaptainK (...please make it stop. Shake a can of pennies at it.)
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