The Nehor wrote:Our mandate is to take the Gospel to all the World. We're never told the world will accept it. We had to go there. We have and a few souls have been aided.
If that's true, then why were we as missionaries constantly berated for our lack of "success"? I am quite sure I know what my mission president would have said if I had told him, "Well, no one ever said they'd accept the message."
Maybe you're not old enough to remember, but the late 80s and early 90s were a time of breathless pronouncements of how the work was going to explode in Eastern Europe. The people there were supposed to be anxiously awaiting the word to be preached to them. The success of the other religions shows that people were receptive. I wonder why they weren't receptive to Mormonism.
I remember but I remember most of those pronouncements as coming from overeager Stake Presidents. My Mission Presidents were both sane. We were in Europe and they knew that. We were the highest baptizing Mission in the Europe North Area and that wasn't saying too much. Our excuse was that Wilford Woodruff already got them all :)
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
The Nehor wrote:Our mandate is to take the Gospel to all the World. We're never told the world will accept it. We had to go there. We have and a few souls have been aided.
That's all well and good, but the current leadership brags about the numbers of members in the world, thus implying the world is accepting the "gospel".
You can't have it both ways--you can't say numbers aren't really important and have a cover of the Ensign announce "One Million in Mexico". You can't say that few will accept and then go around repeating Rodney Stark's pronouncements about Mormonism being the next world religion.
for what it's worth, I think your take is the scripturally correct one. Problem is some guys in suits in Salt Lake don't seem to agree.
The Nehor wrote:I remember but I remember most of those pronouncements as coming from overeager Stake Presidents. My Mission Presidents were both sane. We were in Europe and they knew that. We were the highest baptizing Mission in the Europe North Area and that wasn't saying too much. Our excuse was that Wilford Woodruff already got them all :)
I remember those pronouncements coming from folks like President Benson and President Monson.
Either way, I agree with your approach: it's not the numbers that count. Would that some of the men in Salt Lake figured that out.
I have to agree with Nehor. The prophecy was never that the LDS church would have wild success in these areas, only that they would be opened up so that missionaries could enter them.
And, the world IS opening up. How many countries are banning the missionaries right now?
But then it didn't. Groups such as the Seventh-Day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses have had phenomenal growth in these countries, but the LDS church has had horrible results, both in convert baptisms and member retention. 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the LDS church there is tiny and struggling.
Phenomenal growth for other groups? Can you provide some references please
Why Jasoncant you look up the information n your own? Is it because you think he is lying? For once why can't you just accept that your religion is not as strong as you believe it to be?
I suspect your self image is wrapped up too deeply for you to let go. Its sad really.
And crawling on the planet's face Some insects called the human race Lost in time And lost in space...and meaning
Scottie wrote:I have to agree with Nehor. The prophecy was never that the LDS church would have wild success in these areas, only that they would be opened up so that missionaries could enter them.
And, the world IS opening up. How many countries are banning the missionaries right now?
Venezuela really is the only country to kick out Mormons and other missionaries as far as I know.
And crawling on the planet's face Some insects called the human race Lost in time And lost in space...and meaning
Scottie wrote:I have to agree with Nehor. The prophecy was never that the LDS church would have wild success in these areas, only that they would be opened up so that missionaries could enter them.
And, the world IS opening up. How many countries are banning the missionaries right now?
Venezuela really is the only country to kick out Mormons and other missionaries as far as I know.
Aren't there some other countries that are just too dangerous to send the missionaries into? Like some of the middle eastern countries?
Scottie wrote:I have to agree with Nehor. The prophecy was never that the LDS church would have wild success in these areas, only that they would be opened up so that missionaries could enter them.
And, the world IS opening up. How many countries are banning the missionaries right now?
Venezuela really is the only country to kick out Mormons and other missionaries as far as I know.
Aren't there some other countries that are just too dangerous to send the missionaries into? Like some of the middle eastern countries?
Most don't allow missionaries of any kind
And crawling on the planet's face Some insects called the human race Lost in time And lost in space...and meaning
I believe China only currently allows LDS missionaries into Hong Kong and Macau.
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07