DiscussMormonism.com

It's difficult to measure the harvest from the intensive cyber missionary service that is now happening all over the World Wide Web, but there are indicators.

The following message was posted recently on the LDS Cyber Missionaries forum http://www.LDS1.org:

“I have been over on Facebook- group “All Christians On Face book” usually posting under a thread started by Jeff Stevens (i think I have his name spelled right?)– and it is interestingly enough titled “Ask a Mormon”!

There have been a LOT of “hecklers” who post reams of anti stuff- but the administrators do a pretty good job of banning those who get personal or dirty in their language. — bless them!

I have just recently had several posters say that from my work there, they have decided to look into the church, and one said they would read the Book of Mormon!

Just yesterday a Jehovahs’ Witness has suggested that from my respectful posting there, that he would like to learn more of our doctrines! WOWIE ZOWIE! Made my day! So we are just inching into that.

I wish I had MORE time! I wish I didn’t need to eat or sleep or shower or clean my house etc! (boy would my husband be upset!– but I AM blessed as he totally approves of my posting- but does worry if I let the dishes go unwashed for more than 2 days — yea– I worry about that too! ;/ and I work to NOT let that happen!

May God bless us all in our work for Him and guide us in how we post!”

I invite comments regarding, and the sharing of cyber missionary experiences in this thread.

Sounds like an interesting effort, and it certainly beats knocking on doors! Of course, only time will tell whether the internet has a net effect for good or bad towards Church growth (and the long-term prospects for converts).

Wow, Why does this sound like the only converts it will attract are the gullible shut-ins who will not be "model" Mormons?

What do they expect from this?

Mercury wrote:Wow, Why does this sound like the only converts it will attract are the gullible shut-ins who will not be "model" Mormons?

What do they expect from this?

Sounds to me like it will attract those seeking spiritual meaning in their lives.

moksha wrote:

Mercury wrote:Wow, Why does this sound like the only converts it will attract are the gullible shut-ins who will not be "model" Mormons?

What do they expect from this?

Sounds to me like it will attract those seeking spiritual meaning in their lives.

Spiritual meaning? Don't you mean "friends" and "silly self congratulation"?

It's tough because it seems like there are 5 anti-mormons sabotaging the cyber-proselyting efforts of each member (I suppose it depends on where you go). I've noticed though that there are actually fewer anti-Mormons per Mormon; it's because the anti's tend to be "loud" and persistent. We just need to be persistent back (without being contentious).

Personally I think those particularly obnoxious anti's are helping the work rather than hurting it; reasonable people are asking, "What's your problem with the Mormons? What did they ever do to you? What are they all about anyway?" Then they check the legitimate sources and like what they see.

www.Mormon.org is another one.

I'm not LDS, but if I was the missionaries on this site would embarrass me.

You can check it out for yourselves though.

My observation is that when non-LDS folk hit the Internet and discover some of the "stories" regarding the LDS church are true, they run the other way.

For example, as much as the LDS church tries to become mainstream and portray a typical Christian image, the reality is, they believe in polygamy, they do have to know secret handshakes, passwords, and names to get into heaven, they do maintain "male privilege", they have an extraordinary racist past that while "put behind them" is alive and well as if from God, they do have missionaries knocking on doors and irritating families, they do wear garments, and most (with the exception of apologists, smile) believe the Book of Mormon really happened, that the Book of Abraham really was written by the hand of Abraham, that the Promised Land is North America, and that the only Hill Cumorah is in NY. While all this is normal to LDS, it appears cultish and crazy to others.

Personally, I think all the PR in the world is not going to make that much of a difference unless some of the underlying problems are addressed.

JMO,

~td~

Hello,

Here is the Link to the LDS Mormon Cyber Missionaries Forum:

http://www.ldsnow.org/forums/