What is the ratio of defenders/skeptics/etc on this board?

[_Malcolm]

I too voted Sceptic. As I am an ExMo who no longer believes in what the COJCOLDS teaches, voting sceptic was the nearest option. In truth though I am far from sceptical. For me, it is no longer true.

I do not believe much of what is taught as church doctrine, and I have yet to see/hear of any real prophecy emanating from the Prophet.

Most of what has been offered as prophetic revelation is simply the opinion and decision of a prophet and his Quorum, given in order to control church members.

[_malkie]

Simon,

I think the ratio of LDS believers to LDS critics on this board corresponds well with the ratio of LDS believers to LDS critics in the world as a whole.

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I remember I was in junior high and I hung around with two friends a lot. One of them was from an absolute TBM family. We were talking about the Mormon church for some reason, and this TBM friend of mine mentioned that Mormons had 4.5 billion people (billion with a 'B') at a time when the earth as a whole had less than five billion people.

I knew immediately that he was off by three orders-of-magnitude and said "You mean Million, with an 'M' right?"

"No, 'BILLION' with a 'B'"

I asked him if he knew how many humans lived on the planet. He knew the correct answer.

I asked him if it was his understanding that 90%+ of the people on the earth then living were members of the LDS church.

He said 'yes, of course, give or take...'

His was so ensconced in his little LDS world that he literally believed that Mormons represented a large majority of the people on the planet.

This is the same guy who, when we were all 14 and his older brother was getting married, and heard me and our other friend openly speculating about the wonderfully nasty things this newly married couple would be doing on their wedding night, pooh-poohed the idea. "Don't be idiots!" he told us. "They are enrolled at BYU!"

We looked at him blankly... "So?"

"You guys are idiots! They won't be having kids for a few years, at least!"

"And?"

"And?!? They aren't going to have kids for a few years! What don't you get?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" we asked.

"They're not gonna have sex until they're ready for kids! Sex is for procreation only! Duh!"

Weren't they being disobedient? Weren't newly-marrieds taught not to postpone having children for education, career, or any other worldly benefit?

[_jon]

If the ratio of the board mirrors Worldwide society then

Believing/Paracticing/NOM/Inactive Mo's would represent 0.2% of the board.

The rest would represent 99.8% of the board.

[_Some Schmo]

He gets pouty when I spend too much time with Nehor in the Goddess Suite.

Ewwww... I'm not easily grossed out, but this mental image did it.

I'm afraid I can no longer visit the GS. There's no way I'm going where Nehor's been. *shudder*

Sorry.

[_beefcalf]

Weren't they being disobedient? Weren't newly-marrieds taught not to postpone having children for education, career, or any other worldly benefit?

I don't actually remember if they had kids right away or not...

But, yes, I suppose if they delayed the arrival of children, they were disobeying the brethren. But even for me, at that young age, it was obviously silly to imagine that two people would decide to be married and then not have sex until it was time to have children.

The fact that there might actually be some tiny percentage of LDS couples who have done this is disturbing to me.

[_Simon Belmont]

Simon,

I think the ratio of LDS believers to LDS critics on this board corresponds well with the ratio of LDS believers to LDS critics in the world as a whole.

Of course it does. That is a logically sound argument you've made there, beefy!

Why wouldn't an obscure Internet messageboard be a good representative sample of a real life religion?

I remember I was in junior high ...

Astounding! A naïve Jr. high school kid gets some numbers mixed up, so the church must not be true!

You know, I remember one of my friends in Kindergarten was dead-set on lightning originating from space aliens.

[_beefcalf]

What is the ratio of defenders, skeptics and others on this board?

There are like... four defenders, a handful of NOMs, and an astronomical number of critics/anti-Mormons.

There are like... 15 million Mormons, half of which are ex- or NOMs and 6.885 billion people who do not believe that the LDS church is one true path to exaltation.

Astounding! A naïve Jr. high school kid gets some numbers mixed up, so the church must not be true!

Hi, my name is Simon! Lots of bad people like to say super bad stuff about my church, which is super-super true. Heavenly Father really likes it when I use sarcasm and mean-spirited hyperbole to prove all those bad people wrong! Yay for us Mormons!

Hey Simon, while I have you...

Can you help me understand why tens of thousands of FLDS members were able to use Moroni's Promise and get back the answer, over and over again, that Warren Jeffs is the one and only true Prophet of God on this Earth?

Moroni's Promise, found in Moroni 10:

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.


It seems to me, from this reading, that anyone who:

1) has a sincere heart
2) prays with real intent
3) has faith in Christ

can know the truth of "all things."

So... Is it possible that these many thousands of people somehow all did it wrong? They prayed and prayed, they all read the Book of Mormon, and were thoroughly familiar with Moroni and his amazing promise. What did they do wrong?

Did every one of them, every time they prayed to ask if Warren Jeffs was the true prophet of God, somehow miss one of the three requirements?

How could tens of thousands of people, who earnestly and honestly believe Joseph Smith was a true prophet, and believe that Moroni was once a true prophet on this earth, and who now is an angel serving Heavenly Father, how could they all get something so important so wrong for so very long?

[_jon]

Astounding! A naïve Jr. high school kid gets some numbers mixed up, so the church must not be true!

You know, I remember one of my friends in Kindergarten was dead-set on lightning originating from space aliens.

Simon, where does the sun get it's light from?

[_Buffalo]

So does Simon count as a defender or a critic? Are we counting intention or results here?

[_Darth J]

an obscure Internet messageboard

....on which Simon has posted over 6,500 times.....

Perhaps, much like Beefcalf's observation that the ratio of believers to non-believers on this board corresponds well to the world in general, the obscurity of this message board corresponds well to interest in Mormonism in the world in general.

Keep fighting the good fight, Simon. Don't let anyone convince you that your stalwart defense of the Restored Gospel on this obscure message board is adding to---rather than ameliorating---your anxieties over trying to live your life and define the universe according to the vacuous platitudes, arbitrary taboos, and corporate directives from the oblivious gerontocracy in Salt Lake City.

All is well! All is well!