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To a devout LDS, is the term investigator thought to be more someone who is leaning toward joining the church or someone more interested in learning about the church? Like I would consider myself an investigator of sorts, but I am someone that would never consider in the least joining the LDS church.

msnobody wrote:To a devout LDS, is the term investigator thought to be more someone who is leaning toward joining the church or someone more interested in learning about the church? Like I would consider myself an investigator of sorts, but I am someone that would never consider in the least joining the LDS church.

its someone who is recieving instruction from missionaries. An investigator is someone to be coddled and sheltered, kept from the "dirty lies" of antimormons.

Another term I heard a few times from one missionary was equating the term humble with teachable. Is this the general LDS consensus?

msnobody wrote:Another term I heard a few times from one missionary was equating the term humble with teachable. Is this the general LDS consensus?

Gullible and desperate for something new is a better way of putting it. Its odd. We were told to find the lonely, poor, depressed & destitute because they were "humbled" and easily "teachable". I always thought it was stupid because they would not stick with the program, opting for middle class suburban women instead because they were gullible enough to go for the con.

Why do they stop investigating once they are baptized?

Boaz & Lidia wrote:Why do they stop investigating once they are baptized?

Because when they see bitter people like you, they'd rather live in Disneyland.

To a devout LDS, is the term investigator thought to be more someone who is leaning toward joining the church or someone more interested in learning about the church? Like I would consider myself an investigator of sorts, but I am someone that would never consider in the least joining the LDS church.

Either or.

1900 years ago, a person trying to join the Church ( a year wait of teaching and determining worthiness was required) was called a 'catechumen'.

I think "investigator" is a complete misnomer. They don't want people actually investigating the church. They want people willing to listen to the 19 and 20 year old boys they send out to convert people to the LDS religion, and join the church based on what these boys say, and some feelings they get.

If people really "investigated" the church when the missionaries showed up, for example, they'd check out some books, look for information on the web, come up with lists of pros and cons, find out about the early history of the church and whether those who founded it are credible, etc.

A true "investigator" wouldn't have to be surprised later on to find that Joseph Smith used a rock in his hat to both attempt to find buried treasure for a fee, as well as translate the Book of Mormon.

A true "investigator" wouldn't be surprised later on to find out that Joseph Smith was conducting dozens of sham secret "marriages" with various young, middle-aged, and even old women, all behind his legal wife's back.

A true investigator wouldn't be surprised by these things because if they actually investigated the church, in the real, English language meaning of the word, they'd find out about all of this and more, and actually have some basis for the judgment of whether to take the church seriously or not.

No, the church is looking for anyone but actual investigators. They're looking for sheeple.

Investigator = A person who is being hounded by the missionaries and is too nice to tell them they're not interested.

msnobody wrote:Another term I heard a few times from one missionary was equating the term humble with teachable. Is this the general LDS consensus?

I've heard it was meekness equated with teachable.