As Germany was losing the war, they called a bunch of young boys up to military service to be a homeland defense. It failed miserably, of course, and a lot of boys died. Is this thing about letting 18 year olds serve as missionaries somehow a reflection of being desperate? Are 18 year old boys going to help the church? After decades of people wondering why women had to wait until 21 to go on a mission, why are they changing that now?

I just rethought this a bit and it occurred to me that at 18 the elders have one less year of masturbation and so are actually more worthy of a mission by a whole year.

Hm. I guess this was a real unpopular idea with youse folk. Tell me why. I hate to write stuff that is so trite that no one comments. I haven't been doing this long and maybe don't have the talent for responding or writing, in which case I could just read instead without participating.

Lurkers should not become impatient. The RFM board goes through slow times, and fast times. Conference always brings a lot of posters to the board, and probably now these people are just taking a break. Don't take it personally.

I thought the same thing you did, Sometimes Lurker. This does seem like a last-ditch, desperate attempt to keep the cult from bleeding out. One GA recently admitted, that "the members are leaving in droves."

I agree that sending the 18-year-olds on missions has nothing to do with their ability to recruit new converts. Missions are not doing well, and the cult knows that. What the cult hopes, is that the 18-19 year olds will be more likely to not leave the cult, if they are captured earlier and put away onto missions, before they gain more life experience, before they become more educated, before they learn more on the internet, etc. If the young people are captured, the parents are also pressured into providing money to the missionary fund, and pressured into paying tithing to go to the temple with their missionary.

"Breed 'em young," is still a viable philosophy of the cult. Male and female missionaries will now be younger when they return, and will provide the cult with new members sooner.

Newborn BIC babies--the cult's primary source of new members! Forget about converting people who leave a few weeks later, anyway. The cult is concentrating on keeping its present members more firmly ensnared, and forcing more children out of them. When the Mormon cult says they "are growing the church", they mean it literally!

"What luck for rulers that men do not think." Adolf Hitler

I really do not see the parallel between the Hitler Youth and 18 year old missionaries.

Care to elaborate?

I think my view is the same as the OP. There's a history of counties at the collapse of their war effort lower the age of conscription in order to get fresh recruits. This move by LDS looks like a desperate move for fresh blood... err, I mean missionaries.

"Isn't it interesting that you cannot go onto the web and find any kind of anti-Catholic, anti-Pentecostal, anti-Baptist, or anti-Lutheran material, but there's all kinds of stuff that is "anti-Mormon."

What a dumbass. Has he ever even used the interwebz?

Actually, that is a good point.

The reason there is seemingly less anti Catholic, anti Protestant and Anti Baptist stuff is because they are less cultish than Mormonism.

They still have some rules etc. but sects such as Mormonism, Scientology and Jehovah`s Witnesses are much more controlling, thus more cultish, thus breeding more "anti" sentiment online....

Q: Why did the church lower the age at which a young man can go on a mission to 18?

A: Because they couldn't lower it to 17.

I can't think of any other reason for them to lower it than that they are desperate. They certainly are not doing it for boys and girls who will now "get" to go sooner.

They are doing it because there will be an immediate small increase in the numbers which they can report as a success during the coming year. They are also doing it to control the high school crowd. Now they can tell 16 year olds, "You need to straighten up! You go on your mission in 2 years! You must prepare for your mission and the temple."

I imagine there is a large percentage of kids who go away for college that slip through the cracks and in the very least have to wait to resolve sins before they can leave on their missions.

Maybe not desperate for missionaries but desperate to stop the tide of young men and young women from leaving the church. The sooner you put them into the highly programmed mission, which BTW is similar to cult programming, the fewer chances there are to see the light and escape the Mormon church's grasp.

And don't be discouraged if you don't get answers. I've been here for years and once in a while I'll post about something that is either well-discussed on another thread or not what people are currently interested in and it will sink like a stone with nary a comment. This used to bother me too but I've seen it happen to other long-timers as well. Sometimes you really can't tell what people want to chat more about.