Question for ya'll.

It took me a while to realize how poor the membership is worldwide. In a world of 7 billion people, the active membership in the church is roughly 7 million. That means that the membership of the church only touches 1/10th of 1 percent of the world's population! What? say it ain't so.

Yep, 99.9% of the population on the planet, does not get to enjoy the blessings and benefits of the only true church. Wow, talk about a market penetration problem.

So I guess that is the point of the Temples, save virtually all of God's children, after they are dead. That seems odd that the only true church would not be able to have more members. Anyone else struggle with this information??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2016 06:58PM by alaskawild.

It never bugged me because of all the scriptures and doctrine that said that in the last days, the church would be small. What did bug me is the busy work and urgency to get temple work done for the dead. When that is basically all we would be doing in the millennium anyways. Just another way of keeping the leash tight on the members. If you keep them busy, they don't have the time to think about what or why their doing it. Genius!

I guess it did bug me that out of the 15 million only a little more than a quarter were active. I felt that because they, at one time "knew it was god's church, why would they leave?

I too always wondered why the loving God of this earth was so STINGY with the gospel that was supposed to 'save' everyone.

I mean there were thousands of years before Jesus came and told a tiny few people in a little backwater about the whole scheme. He did this basically for only 3 years and then everything slowly feel apart, not giving many people any chance to really understand.

Fast forward to Joseph Smith and his little crew. Okay fine, one state in the US (Utah) gets the 'whole' truth and sets out to tell the world. After a couple of centuries there are still minimal members compared the world population who, according to the doctrine, need the gospel, and its saving ordinances.

In comparison to the total world population the active church members to do the 'work' for the dead is minimal, and even with the best intentions and good genealogical work, only a fraction (perhaps a few generations) can have their work done in the temple after death. What about all the others?

IN the end it felt really good to give up on the idea that it was MY responsibility to see to it all, especially within my family. To me the numbers just do NOT add up to any sort of fairness especially with a single judgement coming.

Great comments, thanks.

Ya, that is bizarre to think that we have to carry the burden of doing all the spiritual footwork, for the other 99%. In reality, that is the mormon churches niche in religion. Every church has its niche and for the lds church, it is saving everyone after they are dead through temple work. That would explain the investment and buildup of all the temples.

Now if someone would just throw out the scripture quote about how mormons are a peculiar people. That quote gets so over used, its insane.

My faith was long gone before I ever thought about the numbers.

Mormonism's effect upon the world's religions is about the same as peeing in the ocean.

Joseph Smith had "market penetration problems" but it didn't stop him from trying.

when I was in primary I used to wonder why if the church was true, there were not loads new converts in our ward all the time - why did people not want to join the 'true' church? The explanation was people are too lazy to live up to mormon high standards. In other words, if you grow up and leave you are too lazy to be righteous.

The other thing that bugged me as a young child was if there were all these millions of members worldwide, why did it seem that hardly anyone in my neck of the woods had heard of mormons? It just made no sense to me then as a child no more than 10 years old.

The missionaries discussed this with me as an investigator. They explained that those of us who found the church in this life were exceptional in the pre-existence and were guaranteed to find the church. (Can you say "ego" boys and girls?) The rest were less faithful in the pre-existence. They said not to worry about the others because all would get a chance to hear and accept the gospel in the afterlife. I bought this explanation for some reason.

It did, however, bother me that the Evangelicals did not accept this explanation. They believed that if you didn't accept Jesus in this life you would be doomed in the next life. That was far more a problem for me than the Mormon view. If they really believed this then why weren't they all busting a gut to get everyone on earth taught? Evangelicals didn't seem to have the zest necessary to get the job done. There wasn't a whole lot of sympathy in them for the poor Muslims who would never accept Jesus as their savior. And there are a whole lot more Muslims than Evangelicals. Evangelicals seem quite resigned to the idea that most of the world is doomed as long as they aren't one of them.

well as far as numbers go...if that were any indicator of truth, then Islam must be the true religion. I think there are something like 1.5 billion muslims on the planet. So if they have the "true" gospel, then WOW, we are all screwed. I think Islam has got to be one of the most effed up religions on earth. Scary shit that they believe. Kill the infidels, non believers, gays, etc, etc.

....and if you think women have it bad in Mormonism, think about the repression in Islam!!!!

The numbers that bothered me were a bit bigger.

Based on current estimates there have been over 100 billion people who have lived or are living. Some simple math then gives us over 50 billion spirits that rebelled against God, according to the belief that 1/3 of the host of heaven rebelled.

50 billion. There were so many problems that number exposed.

If God is supposed to know each and every one of his children, and they know him, how could that many of his children rebel and choose some other guy's plan? Especially when God himself supposedly went through the exact same plan to get where he was?

The Being is whose prescience we would supposedly be vaporized. The omniscient and omnipotent One. For even one of his children to rebel against the perfect knowledge of that being should be inconceivable, let alone 50 billion of his children.

Additionally, God is exposed as a horrible parent. He supposedly expelled 50 billion of his children into some kind of hellish existence for daring to think they could alter his plan.

The other side of the coin then comes into play. The 100 billion who have lived. Let's go back to the OP's estimate of 0.1%. That would mean 100 million potentially and finally saved. So God's great plan ultimately sacrifices 149.9 billion of his children so that 100 million from all existence could be happy.

Seriously? That's the best he could do?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2016 04:48PM by ehemaliger.

Exactly!!! serious market penetration problems. Even with free agency and the general decency of people, i would think it wouldnt be a stretch to have the majority of people on the planet, faithfully following God's plan. That is why i don't believe in organized religion anymore, each one trying to claim some special niche to differentiate from other faiths.

I still believe in God, but i simply believe it all comes down to how you act as a person and how you live your life. Live a good life and go on to good things after death. Live a bad life and go onto bad things after death. I don't think God cares about the minutia and minor things. Bottom line, are you a decent person, who is honest and who helps others, loves others and takes care of your children? At the end of the day, I think that is all that matters. OH, and don't drink an evil beverage like coffee!!

No, I blindly believed the church was always growing. I didn't realize the lie until I left for other reasons.

There are so many billions of people on our planet.


This thread prompts me to roll forth unto the ends of the earth, to find the best beer in the world.