sock puppet wrote:Shulem wrote:Younger missionaries are going to make a difference. First and foremost, in the eyes of the General authorities, they are trying to reign in the youth and bring them under church control by starting them out early in the heavy church indoctrination and cult rituals of the temple and fulltime service for the cult. The leaders are looking at retention and means to save the youth and keep the numbers up.
But with this comes risks – addressing the boys not the girls: There is a difference between boys that are 18 fresh out of high school and boys who are 19 with a year of experience under their belts. The 18 year old boys will pose a certain liability for the church because 18 year old boys tend to do stupid things and act on rash impulses more so than older boys with more experience. The church is putting a lot on the line trusting 18 year old boys right out of high school when all they really want to do is masturbate and have fun.
Time will tell. At least we will get to see some extra cute missionaries riding their bikes. I'll be the first to whistle at the cute 18 year old missionaries. Imagine getting one of them in bed! Wow, that would be the bomb. To say nothing of the new 19 year old missionary girls, fresh bait for the straight boys just dying to make women out of them.
Paul O
Do you think that one year younger for boys that without another year in defining and clarifying their sexual orientation and identities, there might be more homosexual experimentation between these younger missionaries than has been the case with 19 and 20 year olds?
i doubt there is any way of knowing the level of experimentation of any kind, straight or gay. what i do think though, is that more kids that would otherwise not go because of their sexual orientation will end up on missions. while the church has backed off the genital electrocution and other therapies, they still believe in praying away the gay. any kid coming up through the young men program with homosexual feelings, will have used the church as a reason to not be gay, and the mission will be the next logical step in having his heavenly father make him straight. i think, and my mission companion that has come out and is living openly gay lifestyle would agree, that the percentage of gay men on missions, is much higher than the general population. gay young Mormons see the church as a reason and means to not act gay.
this is a horrible move, to let kids go on missions straight out of high school. to go straight from a "yes mom, yes dad" world to "yes church, yes mission president, yes rules" world. this is not healthy or rational. while it may not affect all kids, it is going to hurt some really bad. really really bad.
i see the nonsense on here that rationalizes this - my kid was mature at 18. my nephew is ready now, and he is 12. what the “F” ever. the church has 30,000 kids starting new missions every year. they obviously want that number to grow, and they think this will help. they are willing to take the chance with younger missionaries. fine. take a chance, but there are risks, and the fallout will be felt by young men.
the church's idea is that by getting them to commit earlier, a kid that chose to not go, will now choose to go. for the church, the mission is not changing, the message does not need to change, the church just needs to put those boys in boot camp earlier and show them the church's way.
it is obvious, that the church is hemorrhaging on the activity front. they are losing 18-30 year olds. they have revamped the single adult wards and stakes, hoping to encourage activity of people they know are out. they have told men to get married now! because young people are waiting longer, and leaving faster. they have now tried to get them into the mission training center younger. and they spent a portion of conference telling people to not read the internet, and don't believe what you read.
i doubt the church has as many missionaries as they claim. i bet that number includes every adult with some strange missionary calling where they volunteer at something twice a year and wear a badge.
the reason kids are choosing not to go on missions, is because they can know more about a mission before going. and, they can learn more about the church and the temple before committing. when most of us chose to go, all we heard about missions was "best two years of my life." nobody was telling us it could suck.
some kids will go on a mission without looking up anything. but, any kid that does choose to google and read, is going to face a real conundrum. the church could have considered that kid, and given him a few more options, something other than stop reading, stop thinking, and commit earlier. the church could have given that kid an option to build schools and houses for two years, or work in a clinic for two years, or do any number of things other than teaching, testifying and inviting by lying, acting and selling. or, the church could admit to the unsavory crap the young people are reading, address it, and let people choose to come or go from the church based on something other than a pack of lies (this will never happen.)
"Rocks don't speak for themselves" is an unfortunate phrase to use in defense of a book produced by a rock actually 'speaking' for itself... (I have a Question, 5.15.15)