I had to know for myself if this was the Lord?????s Church.

[_ldsfaqs]

Interestingly, potential converts who follow the process and do not receive the 'right' answer, are encouraged to keep repeating the same process in the expectation that they will get a different result at some point.

That's right, more learning, faith and prayer can eventually bring inspiration and the truth.
It's called growth.....

However, missionary's are there to gather the wheat from the tares. If someone is a tare, then they move on. No one can be forced to the truth.

[_Hades]

Liars are a special case..... They are seduced by the dark side of the force.
They cross a line into bigotry, into intolerance, cruelty, bully syndrome.
You all wonder why I'm so condemnatory of you, it's because since I was young I beat up Bullies.... Not going to stop simply because I'm on the internet.

Your behavior is unacceptable.... You cry about mine, but I'm not the first cause. My abuse is justified.

I'm a bully for Satan. Are you going to beat me up?

[_Stormy Waters]

Interestingly, potential converts who follow the process and do not receive the 'right' answer, are encouraged to keep repeating the same process in the expectation that they will get a different result at some point.

That's right, more learning, faith and prayer can eventually bring inspiration and the truth.
It's called growth.....

However, missionary's are there to gather the wheat from the tares. If someone is a tare, then they move on. No one can be forced to the truth.

Pushing yourself until you come to a predetermined conclusion is not growth, it's self delusion. Also you haven't addressed the main point of this thread, which is that some people have used this method, and have come to very different conclusions then you have. Thus putting the method into serious question.

[_Drifting]

Interestingly, potential converts who follow the process and do not receive the 'right' answer, are encouraged to keep repeating the same process in the expectation that they will get a different result at some point.

That's right, more learning, faith and prayer can eventually bring inspiration and the truth.
It's called growth.....

However, missionary's are there to gather the wheat from the tares. If someone is a tare, then they move on. No one can be forced to the truth.

Shouldn't the truth be forced upon them?
I mean, if someone reads the Book of Mormon in exactly the way Moroni instructs but gets the feeling that it's false isn't that the Holy Ghost falling down on the job?
If the message is so weak that it can be missed or mistaken then it has to be unfit for purpose as a process.

I tell you what - I will read the Book of Mormon with honest intent to find out of it is true. As long as you can accurately describe (using official Church words) what clear and distinct feeling I will experience (that I am unable to confuse with any other feeling or emotion) if God is telling me it is true. Not your words - I want official Church words because you are only human and could give me duff instructions.

[_Buffalo]

Interestingly, potential converts who follow the process and do not receive the 'right' answer, are encouraged to keep repeating the same process in the expectation that they will get a different result at some point.

That's right, more learning, faith and prayer can eventually bring inspiration and the truth.
It's called growth.....

However, missionary's are there to gather the wheat from the tares. If someone is a tare, then they move on. No one can be forced to the truth.

It's like rolling the dice and only stopping once you get an 8.

"See, God confirmed to you that 8 is the right answer!"

[_DarkHelmet]

Interestingly, potential converts who follow the process and do not receive the 'right' answer, are encouraged to keep repeating the same process in the expectation that they will get a different result at some point.

That's right, more learning, faith and prayer can eventually bring inspiration and the truth.
It's called growth.....

If it was a reliable process, then people would come to the same general conclusion, and from there everyone can further grow in truth and knowledge. Moroni's promise gets a bunch of unpredictable results. It's like if a group of people followed the same health program exactly, same diet and exercise regiment, their results might vary a bit due to genetics and other variables, but the overall trend is the group would become healthier. You wouldn't have everyone getting vastly different results using the same health program, with some people losing weight, some gaining weight, some dying, some balding, some getting cancer, etc. and the results are no different than if the group did not take part in the health program. For a process to be reliable, the steps in the process must lead to an expected result. If I reduce my caloric intake by 25%, and spend 30 minutes working out per day, I will lose weight over time. If I do not lose weight, the process is flawed, or it was not executed. Moroni's promise is a flawed process.

[_Drifting]

Interestingly, of the 14,000,000 people who got the 'correct' answer by following this process, how many of them have subsequently reinterpreted it to mean the opposite?

[_Buffalo]

If it was a reliable process, then people would come to the same general conclusion, and from there everyone can further grow in truth and knowledge. Moroni's promise gets a bunch of unpredictable results. It's like if a group of people followed the same health program exactly, same diet and exercise regiment, their results might vary a bit due to genetics and other variables, but the overall trend is the group would become healthier. You wouldn't have everyone getting vastly different results using the same health program, with some people losing weight, some gaining weight, some dying, some balding, some getting cancer, etc. and the results are no different than if the group did not take part in the health program. For a process to be reliable, the steps in the process must lead to an expected result. If I reduce my caloric intake by 25%, and spend 30 minutes working out per day, I will lose weight over time. If I do not lose weight, the process is flawed, or it was not executed. Moroni's promise is a flawed process.

Exactly. As Tarski said in another thread, good methods converge, bad methods diverge.

[_Yoda]

You all wonder why I'm so condemnatory of you, it's because since I was young I beat up Bullies.

In my book, that makes YOU a bully as well. ;-)

[_Black Moclips]

If there is personal God who actually cares for and helps guide people's lives, I find it entirely possible that he would lead people into different churches depending on what they need to learn and experience. Of course, this goes against the assumption that God is bound to ALWAYS tell a person the LDS church is true and the one to join. But based on how different wards can be, and how imperfect the people can be, I think its very likely that that best place for some people is "somewhere else".

I don't think life is about hoops to jump through and ordinances to check off the list, as Mormons would have you believe. Because if you aren't truly Christlike, those are ordinances are null and void anyway. So developing the person is first in my book, then if there are legal hoops and technicalitlies to take care of, let them be done when they can.