Listen, jason. DUDE. Marines produce humans that are efficient at doing something with high utility. They kill those who pose a risk to our way of life.
Listen, Merc, DUDE! I know this. I am impacted by it personally. My son has shared his personal experiences with Marine boot camp. I really think I understand this. My point is that the methods used are to indoctrinate the Marine to so what the Marine wants them to do.
So to in the MTC. They are indoctrinated to so what they Church wants them to do AND to do what they committed to do. Neither are cult like or maybe both are.
I vote that both are, but it's not necessarily a bad thing for the military. We, as the citizens they protect, expect and demand that our soldiers follow orders and go through a rigorous boot-camp which strips away their individualism and molds them into a single unit. The "cult figure" that those men and women are serving is the United States. Everyone in this country benefits from it. You know this of course, and I guess the question is why is this same type of cult indoctrination NOT acceptable outside the military, for private institutions. Should it be? I say no, but that's just my opinion.
"We of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith." - Gordon B. Hinckley
"It's wrong to criticize leaders of the Mormon Church even if the criticism is true." - Dallin H. Oaks
I am sorry but if I recall it was lights out at 10:30 and up at 6:30. That is not lack of sleep.
Jammed into a small room with 5 other rowdy boys who had been pent up all day? Do you think I even had the option to fall asleep at 10:30? Secondly it never was up at 6:30. Not to mention one of the guys had a terrible snoring problem. I kid you not. A chainsaw would have been much quieter. At least we didn't kick him out into the hall all night like another district of elders did. There was always some reason to get up earlier. Either I had to go to the temple early so my comp could go to all three volleyball sessions or whatever. I'll admit that part of my sleep problems were personal since I don't sleep normally anyway, but that place really made things much worse. Most people were tired, not just me. Thankfully by the time I was out in the field I got away with falling asleep a little earlier, hence I survived the mission.
And when the confederates saw Jackson standing fearless as a stone wall the army of Northern Virginia took courage and drove the federal army off their land.
It is a missionaries responsibility to help people to recognize the promptings of the Holy GHost and learn how to receive revelation from God. For that reason they are expected to, for a period of two years, set aside the things of the world and focus on the things of the spirit.
Is this really all that hard to understand? Is it considered cultish that for the most part these guys have free reign. On my mission we shared a house with two other elders who won a bowling tournament together. (These two werent exactly shining examples).
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. - Plato
ozemc wrote:I was reading the other thread about the primary teaching, and the words that kept jumping out at me were "cult like".
While I do think that any church is going to try and teach children what they believe, I don't necessarily think it's cultlike.
in my opinion, what is cult-like is the teachings that the missionaries go through.
<Granted, I only know what I've been told; I'm not LDS>
Most, if not all, miisionaries that I've spoken to indicate the same things that they cannot do on their mission:
* Can't watch TV, other than church-approved videos
* Can't read newspapers or magazines, other than church-approved ones
* Can't listen to music, other than ... (You get the idea).
So, I guess my observation is that all of this walling off from society, coupled with the fact that these kids are removed from family and friends for two years (support system?), not allowed to converse regularly with them, all makes for what I could consider a "cult-like" atmosphere. To me, it's no different.
Just my .02.
Playing devil's advocate, this is no different than the military. What saves it from being a total cult is it's only temporary. After 2 years, the kids can go back to a normal life. Another scary thing about the 2 year mission is the difficulty in leaving. There is no easy way out, especially on a foreign mission where the MP takes your passport.
The only time I had it like that in the military was in boot camp (6 weeks). Even then, we got to go to the PX and buy magazines, sodas, etc.
The rest was like a regular job. I lived off base, and came and went every day.
Of course, when I was at sea, I couldn't come and go as I please, but we did have shore leave. I had the pleasure (?) of being on a minesweeper, so we couldn't atay out over a couple of days without refueling.
"What does God need with a starship?" - Captain James T. Kirk
Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch. - Robert Orben