Some of my TBM friends are constantly posting quotes from GA's or scriptures. I wonder if they are their own target? If they bear their testimony enough, it will have to be true.
I have "friends" on Facebook who are Mormon, and a few of them do this. I'd say 90% of their posts are quotes from Mormonism. It actually started getting on my nerves, until I finally realized I could block all posts from those people.
And you're right. It's for their own benefit more than anything else. I've been reading the CES Letter and it has this great quote from Boyd K. Packer:
"It is not unusual to have a missionary say, ‘How can I bear testimony until I get one? How can I testify that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel is true? If I do not have such a testimony, would that not be dishonest?’ Oh, if I could teach you this one principle: a testimony is to be found in the bearing of it!"
That explains it very clearly. Mormons gain a testimony by BEARING it. Does this sound paradoxical to anyone else???
I think this is the core of why TBMs are so damned vocal about their beliefs. Why they flood Facebook with it. Why they HAVE to tell it to everyone they meet. Because they're desperately trying to maintain belief in it themselves.
I never read any TBM posts around General Conference time as I just find it hard to swallow the whole Listen to a Prophet's voice stuff.
Oh if they only knew all the stuff the prophets have said.
One family member quotes a lot of GA's on Facebook and almost all of it is pure nonsense. It takes a lot of self mastery not to wade in there and leave a few choice quotes myself.
Mormons aren't the only 'righteous' ones out there.
There is a family member of mine who posts bible quotes all the time and is such a good 'Christian' that she shuns another family member who disagrees about a political issue.
They alternate between posting GA quotes and posting "I love Trump, he's just what we need" posts.
Some got so outrageous I had to un-friend them, even though I've known them for 48 years.
Many don't see as as "social media," where you can socialize with people at a distance, with the niceties of socializing. They see it as their own personal soapbox to promote whatever they "believe" in. Many of these such people wouldn't say the things they post to others in person...and they lose sight of what their rants look like to everyone else.
I've found several old friends who have privately confirmed my suspicions. In Mormonism, there's so much pressure to proselytize and declare one's convictions, an absence of that on social media is rather conspicuous.
They are told in conference to use social media to spread the gospel. If they aren't posting something then they are not obedient and will probably feel guilty. If I were still a believer now it would drive me crazy knowing how it must feel intrusive to others to post scripture and GA quotes, but feeling guilty and uncommitted if I wasn't posting them.
I see a lot of these posts from friends and family. I think some do it because they are hoping to spark some kind of interest in non-members and inactive ones. It annoys me when those are the only things they post. I am interested in them, not in their church. If they think they are going to influence me, it's not in the way they want it to.
More and more I don't respond to anything or hide what they posted. If you ask a question or comment they jump to the conclusion that you are interested in going back to TSCC.