ldsmissionary

I was really surprised by your first post in my welcome thread. I thought you'd get the message and decide to be nice. You're coming across as a very rude individual. Seeing as how this is my welcome thread, I'd appreciate it if you'd be nice to the people in it.

You're a very welcoming soul, aren't you? A cartoon character, Nazi Cartman from South Park, dressed as a missionary is hardly inappropriate. Anyone who has ever served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had one "Nazi" companion, or knows someone who has had a "Nazi" companion (Nazi=overly strict with his behavior, going far and beyond the mission rules and crossing personal boundaries, at times requiring intervention by the Mission President). Those who have served missions would probably better understand. Thanks for your welcome, though.

Wow. I mean... wow.

Pam, it's an excellent opinion. You get it. I can tell I'm going to like you.

Exactly. The LDS Church has monetary resources that rival every other humanitarian organization in existence, but those resources remain untapped. Over the past 5 years, however, the LDS Church has slowly increased their efforts, but it's still a drop in the bucket compared to much smaller organizations. P.S. I'm pretty sure my avatar has been banned from lds.net.

That's certainly a good product feature of Mormonism, and one that has only recently been adopted within the LDS protocol. I'm content for folks to follow their hearts and to follow truth wherever it takes them. Any message of hope is incredibly attractive to the impoverished Latin American countries. The evangelical missionary movement in these countries is also very impressive. In some ways, those products are much more feature rich than their Mormon competition, both emotionally and 'spiritually' as it were. I really enjoyed the humanitarian efforts we were able to contribute while I was on my mission to Mexico. Sadly, it just wasn't anywhere near as effective as the humanitarian efforts made by other religions with the same agenda. If I were in a position to help coordinate the missionary efforts in those countries, I would certainly shift the focus toward humanitarian service, education, and quality of life (e.g. clean water, agricultural efficiency, disease prevention, etc.)

Yikes, Western Europe really IS an incredibly hard place to sell Mormonism. Eastern Europe as well. They've all but pulled the plug on the missionary program in Russia. The momentum has slowed down quite a bit overseas, but you're right, Latin America is ripe for the plucking.

Good to hear it.

Yes, that's the lesson.

I served a full time mission for the LDS church.

We're still not on the same page, I'm afraid. We need to speak directly to the fact that the LDS church teaches its congregation that those who leave the church or who believe differently are labeled as 'evil.' Actually, I was quoting the original inquiry. The inquiry says 'us' so I quoted 'us.' Agreed. Which is a great attitude to have. But the lesson is full of rubbish accusations and assumptions towards those who don't embrace Mormonism or have walked away from it. And to speak back to the original inquiry, it's certainly a part of the answer.

lol thanks.

Thanks.

Thanks for the welcome! :)

Thanks. A friend invited me here.

I chose to leave. Long story short, I had to follow my heart.

Rather than excommunication, you might try a simple resignation. Super easy to do. I haven't officially resigned yet, but it's simply a formality. I still behave like a good Mormon, which leaves the possibility of excommunication out of the picture. Wait, I do have a website that would probably merit excommunication.

No apologies necessary. I'm honored to have you hijack my welcome thread. I can tell already that I like you. :)

I understand where you're coming from as a member of the LDS faith, but to speak directly to the original inquiry, we have to step outside of the LDS theology a little bit. Labeling people as being 'evil' for not believing in Mormonism undoubtedly contributes to the sentiment that people 'seem to dislike or even hate us so much.' It's not so much 'why' the LDS church does it. It's hard to imagine that folks would want to be friendly with an organization that teaches its members to think less of them for believing differently.

My response was speaking directly to the inquiry. Teaching in a lesson manual that folks who aren't Mormon or who have left the Mormon faith are somehow evil would certainly contribute to the reason that some folks 'dislike or even hate us so much.' The LDS Church can choose to perpetuate that sentiment by continuing to teach the elitest myth that those who leave the LDS church or who aren't members of the LDS faith are evil, but my hope is that the LDS congregation will choose to ignore the rubbish in that particular lesson. Other churches face the same challenge. Nobody likes to lose a customer. But it's just silly to think that someone who leaves any church is evil.

I'll bite. To speak directly at the original question, perhaps part of the answer can be explored by the LDS Church's perpetuation of an elitist myth that those who leave the church, or who don't believe as latter-day saints do, are somehow evil, wrong, or incorrect in their thinking. Chapter 27 of the Joseph Smith manual for this year is a powerful example of how this attitude continues to perpetuate itself among members of the LDS faith. It's an incredibly offensive example of how the LDS Church as an organization is advertising a falsehood, expecting its members to bite the bait. I think Mormons are better than this. I think they're better than judging people for believing differently. I think they're better than that lesson in the manual. Cheers.

I'm an ex-Mormon. Happy, healthy, and here.