Thetruechurch

Got my calling, I have been called to serve in the Perth Australia Mission :)

Critics argue like to argue that horses in the Book of Mormon is non-historical and that there are no evidences of actual horses on the American Continent prior to the arrival of Europeans. I was reading about Utah and something called "petroglyphs" which are ancient cave paintings by Native Americans, all thousands of years old. Bryce Canon in Utah is full of these. So I google imaged "Bryce canyon petrogylphs": then this came up: This image is a cave painting in Bryce canyon: It is thousands of years old, from a culture which dwelled in Utah for possibly 10,000 years (presuming its not a fraud) and what do we see? A man depicted on a horse shooting arrows! A genuine trait of horses existing in America's deep past contrary to what everyone thought. European men did not discover the existence of this place and culture up until the late 19th century And nobody else seems to have even noticed this?

LDS Church News - Growth of Church in remote central Africa is remarkable See the link above: In recent years the growth of the church has began to accelerate at a rapid pace in Africa. Aided by the fact that convert retention rates in many African countries are incredibly high (up to 90% in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Thus many new stakes and congregations are being organized. The faith and dedication of the members is incredible. What's more incredible is that the missionary work required to build the stake was performed by branch missionaries, not full time ones. And the blessings from their work show, rapid church growth. The Kingdom of God is reaching out and flourishing in the poorest countries on Earth. Whereas here in England, 99.9% of the people will not touch Christianity.

Statistics all seem to point out that the Church is growing rapidly in Texas. However, is it truthful that there seems to be a trend of Californian members of the church now migrating into Texas? One LDS growth researcher did make this claim a while back. Which may be a key factor behind such staunch growth. Another thing I also read, indicated Mormon and Conservatives Californians were leaving California for Texas because of the states obsession with boosting homosexuality. California may well be seen increasingly as a liberal hell hole which is becoming difficult for Christians to live in. Whereas the lone star state is one of the most Christian and upright states in America. Anyway, Texas has now more members than any state that was not colonized by the pioneers of the church and membership numbers have doubled since 1990. With only Utah, California, Idaho and Arizona having more members now. Membership in Texas is increasing by about 9000 a year and the total will reach over 300,000 this year. Wards and branches are being created at a continual pace (6 new ones this year already). Stake numbers are also rising. Is this rapid growth all down to migration of members from california? or are the missions in texas actually getting lots and lots of baptisms too? The growth of the church in the lone star state surprises me a lot. With it being a very religious and conservative state however, it is after all not hard to talk about Jesus Christ with people and the environment being heavily religious does stop the social factors working against converts.

I haven't posted in this forum for a while now, but I'm back, I'd just like to tell everyone that my Mission call has been made and I'm waiting for it to arrive in the post. When it comes I'll be sure to post it on here. I joined the church here in England two years ago, I never saw myself going on a mission even after I joined. I can honestly say that I felt the Holy Spirit change my heart one evening at a youth activity, which pushed me onwards to serve a mission before I go to college. I am really looking forwards to serving the lord and finding out in a few days where I go. How many RM's do we have on here?

This scripture is one I have been thinking about for a long time. For me it seems to be making some kind of prediction/connection with the book of Mormon. Specifically, I think it refers to when Martin Harris taken the Anthon transcript (characters copied from the golden plates of Nephi) to professor Charles Anthon (being a gifted professor, he is the one who is learned) and Anthon specifically told Harris that "I could not read a sealed" book. Biblical prophecy fulfilled? Or just a coincidence, or could those verses be referring to something else?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership history - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia this wikipedia article contradicts the chart, the article claiming 314,510 joined the church in 2008 based on the difference from the membership in 2007 (meaning it includes an increase in children on record aswell). However the same article claims 341,491 have joined the church this year, and I have no idea where that's came from...

Although towering above us in membership, the catholic church possibly has more inactive members on percentage than we do. Simply because you get a high amount of babies that are christened catholic after birth and never actually play an involvement in the faith. I also go to a catholic school, and most of the people I know there were simply people born into catholic backgrounds and couldn't care aless anymore (only a couple of members of staff are actually active catholic). That's in contrast to most people who are born and raised into mormonism usually stick by, and I've noticed that a possible 60% of the active members in my ward are people who have been born into the faith.

Whilst I agree the quality of conversions is most important, I also like to enjoy looking at the numbers of conversions to see the good work being done and the gospel spread throughout the world, it kind of adds up that there is "no stopping us" despite all the perscution and all the hatred we face. However in relation to membership: I am so pleased that to hear my friend who is on his mission in Dublin, has worked hard not just converting people but getting large numbers of inactive members back active again (which is brilliant to be fair). :)

Just numbers.

When do you guess this will happen? The day the lord will make his return to earth is something that always ponders dearly upon my mind. Although nobody specifically knows when, we know these are the last days, but when I look at the prophecies on the last days building up to christs return (some are fulfilled, some are yet to happen), I have the feeling that it will be another 100-200 years. Signs of the Times - Mormonism, The Mormon Church, Beliefs, & Religion - MormonWiki this page on the Mormon wiki gives an interesting overview of the "signs of the times" and all the prophecies that were set in the old testament and by joseph Smith to when the 2nd coming will occur. Like I some of them are happening (or happened) but many are still to be fulfilled. Thoughts on this?

Now that its nearing the end of the year, when are they released? I am eager to see how many people joined the church this year, one estimate is that the churches total membership will be 13,850,000 at the end of the year; as apparently baptism rates in the US and in other countries have boomed. Although unconfirmed, this year is possibly highest year for growth since 1999, again defining critics claims that the church growth is slowing down, or declining.

its not my blog

well maybe its not official, but I wouldn't discredit the information they are providing. If you look at the content of what they post and regularity of it they obviously have a great deal of sources and contacts from around the world providing them with their information. So as a result of that it would indicate they hold some kind of position as a result.

Excellent news, according to LDS Church Growth. It also gives some very positive news on the growth throughout other countries. and yet some people are seriously convinced that our church is a sinking ship! I have to say though, it feels so good to see the gospel slowly spread throughout the world. Nobody can stop the work from being done. I just get the feeling that this year has been a grand year for growth in the church, and I can't wait to see the statistics released on how many converts and births into the church there has been this year.

Last night I was talking to an inactive member of the church (who had stopped attending not because he doubted what the church doctrine, but because he felt he struggled to follow all of the teachings) and I got into a dicussion about going on a mission to him. Firstly, I told him I wasn't keen on going on one as I wanted to finish my education first and get a good job. However he responded saying, that although missions aren't compulsary I shouldn't really object to going on one when I'm older. He told me if I really had a testimony I would have no objection to going on one, or on the other hand I'm apparently not following the churches teachings well enough and if I really believed the church was true in what it taught, again I would have no objection. I feel in quite a difficult situation about this, any advice?

The spirit of god.

This is a very interesting topic for me. Firstly I and everyone else would like to see membership to continue to grow around the world for the church to expand so more and more people get the chance to accept the gospel and work towards a greater salvation. Positive news on church growth is something that makes me very happy inside, as I am gracious to see it happen. I myself have contributed to this just over half a year ago when I decided to get baptized, and I have only ever missed one service (due to illness) since that wonderful day for me and I hope to further contribute to church growth by one day marrying someone within my stake youth, and then going on to raise any children I would have as Latter Day Saints. It has also been a good year for my ward, as a number of other people who have joined have also managed to stay on as active members (though sadly, some haven't and we all know that happens). However, church critics may argue that church growth is slowing, in this post I would like to rubbish such a theory using this source: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints membership history - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia which shows how many have joined the church year in contrast to the total amount of members at the time. If we look at 2008's statistics we see that 314,510 were baptized into the church, about 2%growth, which is a fairly good number and larger than in 06, 05, 04, 03, 02, 01 . Now critics gain the "decline" theory from the fact that the growth rate is only "2 percent" where as if we look back in 1990 it was about 6%. This however does not equal to decline in growth, as simply with each year the total membership (regardless of active or inactive) increases. Meaning that automatically the growth rate is going to come in a smaller percentage in comparison to the total, where it was a larger percentage in the past as the membership number was less in total. The critics feel to realise the number of converts has not reduced at all (regardless if they go inactive or not), but just became a smaller percentage to a growing total. Aside with this, the birthrates of members are also worth considering, as usually they are quite high. There has been about 25 children born to lifelong active members in my ward since 2002, and I am positive that a lot of children who are born into the church do become active members. There were 120,000 births into the whole church last year, a record total (and I believe this is not counted in the baptism numbers) To conclude, decline in church growth is a load of rubbish and a very exaggerated theory. What they need to remember is that churches take a long time to establish and we have not even exsisted for 200 years yet. Take islam for example, from its origins in the 7th century it took hundreds of years for it to expand across the middle eastern world and then eventually evolve into a major world religion. I believe that despite the ravengous attacks against us, our church will continue to spread across the globe and it will ultimately stand the test of time to prepare the world for the 2nd coming of christ. To say it extremely, those critics will never destroy us. by the way, stay tune to this official LDS growth progress blog LDS Church Growth

thanks.

I actually don't have one of those. I'll make sure to ask my ward bishop for one on sunday.

I hope this is not a touchy or inapropriate topic but, Aside from the obvious rules of chasity which I don't have an issue with, are there any specific guidelines, restrictions or rules in relation to dating amongst the church youth? I'm 16 and have been in mens for quite a while now and attended a few stake youth events. I've seen quite a few girls there who come across as friendly and attractive, one who I have quite a crush on. I whilst I am not rushing into to a relationship yet, something very strong inside tells me, that my future spouse will likely be a member of the church. I Although I said I'm not rushing into any relationship, and will consider my partner carefully. I do feel largely unsure over the subject, and how it may reflect to church policies and other members. Any advice would be helpful :)

Aimed at defending mormonism from its critics, and generally dicussing topics about the church. I've started off with a post on Baptisms for the dead. Saints Unite- Building faith and Testimony

I feel that this may be an interesting topic to start a thread on: How do you all feel towards the powers of prayer? Does anyone here feel that regular praying has made a significant impact on their lives? Or caused them to have spiritual experiences of any kind? I myself feel that prayer is simply an amazing thing. In the few months that I have been a member of the church, I seemed to have developed a strong part of my own testimony from this. Prayer has helped me remove worry, discomfort and anexity when facing certain situations in my life, and feel strong spiritually. I have prayed for desired outcomes in certain things before, and my stated wishes have been granted somehow, as if it were a miracle unto itself. As some of you know, I was dicussing physical proof for the book of Mormon and such on another thread. However when it comes to relating and dicussing the effects of prayer on me and my life, I feel I can personally feel and understand the truth of the church in relation to this alone and henceforth so can others.

Although I have been adviced not to bother to prove it true, I am still eager to conduct research into the Anthon transcript and the reformed Egyptian language. In relation to the characters on the transcript, I am aiming to conduct an academic in semetic languages. Not to see if they can translate it (as this will prove impossible as) but rather to see if they can make any plausible sense out of it and identify features which show it indeed is a cohent language, and not designed to decieve as John Gee pointed out. I will report back with my new findings later.

It won't, it just means I need to learn to go beyond the surface a bit more when conducting research, I am also extremely grateful that he responded in about a hour of my email. It will also be something great to tell of in Ym's tonight and in my ward on sunday, that I have been in touch with a top professor from BYU in relation to the book of Mormon. Who has enough credibility to have his own wikipedia article: John Gee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Regardless of that, I love studying the book of Mormon though whether just in reading it, or researching into it. The feeling it brings just to think of it is so very warming. As stated, there's no solid proof that the golden plates exsisted, but I have such faith that it is true, and I always will.