Church Growth

[LDSGator]

1 minute ago, Carborendum said:

And one of those is the belief that the earth is over-populated.

Agree totally here. 
 

Out of all the lies out there, this one is the most ridiculous. Overpopulated? Are you kidding me? There’s plenty of room and resources out there. 

[LDSGator]

In fact, look at Japan and some European countries. Their societies are in crisis because people aren’t having enough children. 

[Grunt]

11 hours ago, LDSGator said:

In fact, look at Japan and some European countries. Their societies are in crisis because people aren’t having enough children. 

People have been warning about population collapse for awhile now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcA3rI19jYM

[LDSGator]

50 minutes ago, Grunt said:

People have been warning about population collapse for awhile now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcA3rI19jYM

Yup. They are all correct. It’s going to be a major problem. 

[LDSGator]

https://www.cato.org/policy-report/november/december-2022/valuable-people-debunking-myth-overpopulation#:~:text=One of the most popular,human action and economic progress.
 

@Grunt or anyone else into the myth of overpopulation (and yes, overpopulation is a myth) -Cato has some good resources. In this piece they even talk about a BYU professor who did research on the topic. 

Edited June 15, 2023 by LDSGator

[Vort]

6 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

https://www.cato.org/policy-report/november/december-2022/valuable-people-debunking-myth-overpopulation#:~:text=One of the most popular,human action and economic progress.
 

@Grunt or anyone else into the myth of overpopulation (and yes, overpopulation is a myth) -Cato has some good resources. In this piece they even talk about a BYU professor who did research on the topic. 

McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1958: "God has commanded his children to multiply and fill the earth, and the earth is far from full."

[LDSGator]

Just now, Vort said:

McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1958: "God has commanded his children to multiply and fill the earth, and the earth is far from full."

I find the overpopulation myth absolutely ridiculous. It takes thirty seconds of Google to see it’s complete garbage. 

[Traveler]

I would purport that overpopulation has to do with how the earth is populated.  Obviously, if every adult has an automobile and visits national parks (or Disneyland or other amusement parks) we will quickly discover that the line to visit, see and experience things will be quite prohibitive. 

That there is “enough and plenty for all” is not an expression that mankind can be selfish, wasteful and extravagant.   How we treat and use our resources does limit how many can access the resources at that same level.

 

The Traveler

[Carborendum]

I had an interesting conversation with my wife about our children reaching marriageable age.

My children have tons of cousins.  Of those returned from their missions, half have found a spouse.  The rest are looking.  But the pickings are slim.

Of all the cousins, I see very attractive, smart, hard working, faithful, charismatic, fun-loving, dedicated, capable individuals that anyone would be glad to marry.  But they are seeing an interesting trend.

For the women, the few men that are a "good catch" are snapped up pretty quickly.  Most of the others are "creeps" as they put it.  Only a few are remaining. And they're... (meh).  There really aren't any in the mid-upper strata.

For the men, they see plenty of women.  But all too many of them don't want to get married. 

If even the LDS women are refusing to get married, and/or refusing to have kids, what can we do to change the population demographic?

[Vort]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

For the women, the few men that are a "good catch" are snapped up pretty quickly.  Most of the others are "creeps" as they put it.

The difference between a "good catch" and a "creep" is whether the woman finds him attractive.

 

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

If even the LDS women are refusing to get married, and/or refusing to have kids, what can we do to change the population demographic?

Truman Madsen wrote (and said in a lecture words to the same effect):

Joseph Smith made many prophetic statements that last to our day. Some of them seemed preposterous at the time. Lillie Freeze recalls one such. "He said the time would come when none but the women of the Latter-day Saints would be willing to bear children."

It's inevitable that some of the world's ethos will leak over into the thoughts and actions of the Saints.

[Carborendum]

1 hour ago, Vort said:

The difference between a "good catch" and a "creep" is whether the woman finds him attractive.

LOL!!! Perfect video!

But as fun as it was, I sort of agree and sort of disagree.  I tend to believe that (while there are outliers) the great majority of the differences are that there are smooth/adorable ways to do something and creepy  ways to do things.

Reference: @NeuroTypical's example of "I will always find you" in cutesy font vs. bloody knives font.

It really is the same for romantic overtures.  It is the ability of the man who performs these overtures to line up with the mindset of the woman he's interested in which will determine how it is received.  And, yes, that also includes whether the girl finds the boy to be worthy.  The hypergamy of the human female is unique among mammals (or so I'm told).  So, the male has to up his game.  ("worthy" is the key concept).

1 hour ago, Vort said:

Truman Madsen wrote (and said in a lecture words to the same effect):

Joseph Smith made many prophetic statements that last to our day. Some of them seemed preposterous at the time. Lillie Freeze recalls one such. "He said the time would come when none but the women of the Latter-day Saints would be willing to bear children."

Yup.  I was aware of the quote. But I found it disappointing to note also:

1 hour ago, Vort said:

It's inevitable that some of the world's ethos will leak over into the thoughts and actions of the Saints.

Edited June 16, 2023 by Carborendum

[NeuroTypical]

Jordan Peterson mentions dating apps that have users 'swipe right' when they're attracted to someone, and 'swipe left' when they're not.    Apparently, women swipe left 60-70% of the time, while men will swipe left only 20-30% of the time.

So if you were ever wondering why there are so many creepy guys out there, now you know.

[NeuroTypical]

Also, this guy: 

 

[Carborendum]

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

Also, this guy: 

Dude!  I just watched a bunch of this guy's videos.  He's freaking awesome!!

[askandanswer]

On 6/14/2023 at 3:34 AM, Carborendum said:

Number of children per female is going down in virtually every nation on earth.  This is no doubt caused by several factors.

Australia's Federal Treasurer solved this problem more than 20 years ago. As part of his Budget speech in 2002 (the annual speech he gives in Parliament when he is introduction the Budget for the coming year, he introduced a $3,000 baby bonus for every new born baby and encouraged parents to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country."  Australian's accepted his invitation and the birth rate went up for a few years. Australia was in the midst of a resources boom at the time and the government had more money than usual. I can't remember how long the baby bonus lasted, maybe only until the 2002 financial crisis. 

From the Australian Financial Review of 2017 https://www.afr.com/politics/peter-costellos-baby-bonus-generation-grows-up-20170831-gy7wfg

When introducing the baby bonus scheme in 2002, treasurer Peter Costello famously encouraged Australians to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country".

Costello would be happy to know as the baby bonus generation grows up, there will be a record number of Australians coming of age in the next decade. According to Deloitte Access Economics, by 2030 there will be 360,000 Australians turning 18 years old a year – a staggering 20 per cent increase from the current level of 300,000.

 

[Carborendum]

1 hour ago, askandanswer said:

Australia's Federal Treasurer solved this problem more than 20 years ago. As part of his Budget speech in 2002 (the annual speech he gives in Parliament when he is introduction the Budget for the coming year, he introduced a $3,000 baby bonus for every new born baby and encouraged parents to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country."  Australian's accepted his invitation and the birth rate went up for a few years. Australia was in the midst of a resources boom at the time and the government had more money than usual. I can't remember how long the baby bonus lasted, maybe only until the 2002 financial crisis. 

From the Australian Financial Review of 2017 https://www.afr.com/politics/peter-costellos-baby-bonus-generation-grows-up-20170831-gy7wfg

When introducing the baby bonus scheme in 2002, treasurer Peter Costello famously encouraged Australians to "have one for mum, one for dad and one for the country".

Costello would be happy to know as the baby bonus generation grows up, there will be a record number of Australians coming of age in the next decade. According to Deloitte Access Economics, by 2030 there will be 360,000 Australians turning 18 years old a year – a staggering 20 per cent increase from the current level of 300,000.

Impressive numbers. But...

https://www.statista.com/statistics/608088/australia-age-distribution/

Those purported results don't seem to be making much of a difference in either the 15-19 or 20-24 age categories.

Several other countries have tried doing the same thing -- some with even greater bonuses (PPP).  And they have made little to no impact for those nations.

Edited June 17, 2023 by Carborendum