From the Catholic Church to the Methodist church to the Mormon church, Africa seems to be the conversion hot spot. The western world no longer want Christianity. Russia went back to it’s Orthodox Church after communism. China has no interest in religion. India seems to be sticking with what they always had. Latin America isn’t the conversion hot spot it used to be. Then of course Islam continues to have it’s hold on it’s part of the world and is spreading.

All you hear from various Christian church’s is Africa. The LDS church being no different. I hear the Catholics have the edge though because they provide a free burial if you are a member. The other church’s don’t have that perk. I guess Russ could start the Deseret coffin works in Africa and buy some land for cemetery’s.

... and cobalt.

Yes, and evangelical churches have been playing the Africa game for a long time. The LDS church is a little late to the game due to their unique history.

Some evangelical churches actually do service for the communities they work in (medical, housing, or otherwise) so it's more of a reciprocal exchange, but I have no idea what the LDS church expects to gain or why Africans in general would be interested in it. I think that other churches, and the JWs in particular, are very keen on educating people about the flaws and errors of Mormonism and its history (while trying to convert them to their own sects.)

That said, there is a long tradition of Christianity established in Africa going back almost to the beginnings of the religion. The Ethiopian Orthodox church, for instance, goes back to the 4th century and was the second country in the world to make Christianity its religion and has about 40 million members (also supposedly they have the Ark of the Covenant, but who knows!)

They claim to have the Ark of the covenant and take extreme measures to guard it. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.livescience.com/64256-ark-of-the-covenant-location.html

I know they do not have the ark of the covenant since there is no such thing as the ark of the covenant.

It's all made up bullshit.

After generations of institutionalized racism targeted specifically at black Africans, the mormon church is now going to Africa and begging for money (tithing) from those same people. They teach those who are supposedly subject to the curse of cain that the only way out of their poverty is to pay tithing to the mormon church. This is such a low position for the church. The least they should do is to apologize to those people for generations of institutionalized racism, and to invest in the infrastructure there. That money the church spent on that mall across the street from temple square could have gone a long way toward digging wells, putting in power, and bringing-in medicines and education to those communities where the church panders for money and offers nothing of value in return.

Maybe after giving something significantly beneficial to those communities (other than the damned religion which is worthless) it wouldn't be so outlandish for the church to ask the people to pay tithing. But to just show up there and ask some of the poorest people on earth to give them money is so wrong. It's a new low for the mormon church. They have no right to ask those people for money. Another idea might be to send fulltime missionaries to teach gradeschool and highschool-level education to the kids there. They don't even do that. The church is just a blood-sucking leech.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2019 05:33AM by azsteve.

Interesting and good perspective. Send missionaries to teach school. One trouble is that the American teenagers don't know enough math or science or history to teach a class. Perhaps they could get away with elementary school but high school would be too advanced. They also may struggle with classroom management? not so much disciplining a kid but motivating encouraging and connecting with various personalities 'all at once' all day long.

But who knows? Teach for America has been doing just this thing and bringing in upper middle class kids into inner city schools in places like the Bronx, Atlanta, and New Orleans. It's not working well. So far it hasn't closed the gap between achievement or made whites less racist. The teachers always quit in a year and then the program has to start all over again. But the do gooders keep thinking they are making a difference.... next year, next year.

As an urban teacher, I can state that Teach for America most definitely does make a difference among impoverished populations. It's meant to be a short-term program, although a few TFA teachers do decide to make a career of it. Others do their hitch and then move on. You would not say that a soldier who served for only a couple of years did not make a difference. Urban school districts (and poor rural districts) have a very difficult time recruiting teachers. TFA is not the only program to address the teacher shortage, but it is a very good one, and the program sends quality people to our most needy schools.

If you were to send missionaries to the right communities to teach basic math and reading, the average missionary could probably teach a virtually unlimited level of education compared to the local community needs and capabilities. Most American missionaries are highschool graduates. It's my guess that in many of these impoverished communities in countries like Africa, that there are many or most adults who never learned basic math and reading. The kids probably don't need to learn beginning algebra and calculus, although a few missionaries might be capable of teaching to that level. They would have to teach English for reading and writing. But English is a valuable language to know, wherever you live. If nothing else, they could teach the kids how to read using book of mormons (maybe a bad idea but maybe better than no books at all). I would guess that most of their time would be spent bringing the kids and adults up to a sixth-grade level anyway.

“But to just show up there and ask some of the poorest people on earth to give them money is so wrong. It's a new low for the mormon church.”

The new slavers. I wonder if they learned their lesson the first time.

Natural resources, young consumers, and souls. We're truly in a new "scramble for Africa."

The building of new temples and convert baptisms (anywhere they can get 'em) is the impetus to keep the active sheepie church-broke, believing, and paying.

I think one of the reasons the church gave up the priesthood ban was that they saw how well all the other churches were doing in Africa.

Well, there is one thing the church can give Africa that no other church can…

Photos of President Russell M. Nelson. I mean, who wouldn't want THAT?

https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2192425,2192534#msg-2192534

I want to hear Mormon Elvis sing “Love me tender”.

It is not a new phenomenon. The Christian sects have been trying to "save souls" in the Dark Continent since at least the early 19th century. Good luck with that.

I wonder how many mineral rights they have acquired there. OR petroleum? They have service missionary positions all about mineral and gas.

"has no interest in religion"

Actually there is immense interest in religion in China, it's just the atheist government has attacked religion so many times some people are scared to join one... However even some Chinese politicians think religion is beneficial (at least those interviewed on a doc I watched)

Lennon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "has no interest in religion"
>
> Actually there is immense interest in religion in
> China, it's just the atheist government has
> attacked religion so many times some people are
> scared to join one... However even some Chinese
> politicians think religion is beneficial (at least
> those interviewed on a doc I watched)

That's what I was referring to. The Chinese government which sadly is going back to being more authoritarian.

The worst of all the dopey stuff that Wendy Nelson blovated out down there in Africa last year was this bit:

"Sister Nelson also said the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi built a boat, (what the hell? A fictional character a in plagiarized book build a boat!)

The sister continues, "LDS Church founder Joseph Smith oversaw construction of circular Nauvoo Temple windows." Thank God for your circular windows, Joe, our holy founding seer.

"and President Nelson pioneered heart surgery by living "not after the manner of men," a Book of Mormon phrase.

Take that, and chew on her words. And pay your tithing, Kenyans!

Take heart in this one fact:

In Africa, as well as other very poor areas of the world, los mormones will pay a native full time missionary a monthly stipend will that native serves his or her mission. 24 months with more money per month than most of them have ever seen, or ever will see. They have no trouble attracting native missionaries.

As to the quality of the missionary service, that's as widely scattered as you might imagine. Just like with Americans who come visiting for two years.

As for the natives, it's the best job they'll ever have. And many go inactive when the money pipeline shuts down.

I think it's so poetic that the church forbade Africans and their descendants from full participation in the church, and that now, years later, Mormons' only real growth is from the poorest parts of Africa.

Here's an article about the Kinshasa temple and the racism thing. See the chapel in the background--that was where my wife and I attended for 2 1/2 years. It was within walking distance from my house, but we only drove because it was normally so oppressively hot and rainy at the same time.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/danpeterson/2019/04/alleged-racism-and-the-newly-dedicated-temple-in-kinshasa.html

Christian missionaries in Africa is hardly new. The first arrived more than 275 years ago.

The bottom line is that people will be loyal to whoever makes a long-term investment in to them and in to their lives. The mormon church is often there to skim-off what profits they can get from a community, but they don't invest in anyone and certainly not in black Africans. Spewing their cult in to a community is not making an investment in to that community. It's a shallow bid to prey on the innocent and to steal their resources through coersion. The church needs to offer something of real intrinsic value to the people. Their so-called religion doesn't qualify as having value to anyone except to them. If the church wants to mine for converts, they need to quit building malls and instead build schools and wells where the people would not otherwise have access to schools and wells.

The Mormon church's perception of charity is extremely mis-guided and myopic. They typically take the attitude that says 'let the little people, government agencies, other churches, and civic organizations come up with the physical resourcing. We will show up with the most valuable resource of all... the gospel. We will share the gospel so that after these poor people repent and join the church, the lord will then bless them with some physical abundance. Until they are ready to accept the gospel, we have nothing to offer them'.

For this reason alone, the church should be starved of donations. There should be no tithing and no donations of any kind given to any level of Mormonism. Only when the church gives back should any donations be considered. Let the church give its resourcing first. After their contributions to the community and their message starts really impressing us, then maybe we consider making any donations. When they accuse us of stealing from God, they get nothing from us. God does not need my money. The Gereral Authorities are not going to get any of my money. Charity is for those who need it. The General Authorities need to go out and find honest work (jobs) for themselves, not tell other people how to live their lives.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2019 09:17AM by azsteve.

and it's very, very, diverse...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_in_Africa

https://www.nation.co.ke/Features/DN2/The-rise-and-rise-of-nons/-/957860/1901662/-/cvmtnx/-/index.html

https://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/dn2/Nons-have-been-around-for-ages/957860-1901666-xm3y74z/index.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2019 10:04AM by anybody.

And it's yielded results for many churches. Africa has been much more fruitful than Asia for Christian missionaries and is better populated than the South Sea islands. As for The Americas and Europe, they were well missionized centuries ago.