You seemed to have forgotten some things.......
like the FACT that MORmONISM has ALREADY FAILED as in EPIC FAILURE according to the very standards that it laid for itself in its founding. MORmONISM was supposed to take over the world, in order to prepare the way for Christ to return BACK THEN when Smith was shooting off his mouth about his supposed restoration. Sure the MORmONS have managed to irritate people around the world, but irritating people around the world is NOT the same thing as taking over the world AND, for all the other things you made note of, you failed to note that Jesus has not returned to Missouri yet. If MORmONISM was going to accomplish its bold objectives then MORmONISM needed to have a million members in 1847, not as it did 1947 running in the wake of post WWII American influence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTi8dq4KAeEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUYWqVvUZWQWhile the pathetic laughable MORmONS make a big hullabaloo about a *whopping* 130 operating MORmON temples planned /projected to go to 170 ( whatever -YAAAAAAAWWWWWWNN! ) original traditional christianity in the form of catholicism ALREADY has right around 3000 MAGNIFICENT ARCHITECTURALLY NOTABLE AND HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT cathedrals, most of which were ALREADy in existence before the MORmONS ever started to build a temple. And while most catholic cathedral are ARCHITECTURALLY NOTABLE AND HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT structures that are 100s of years old, MOST of the LDS temples coming along are just glorified RAMADA Inns (sorry Bill Marriott).
yah "THE" church put a MORmON temple in Rome and its is going to end up as MUCH MORE of a symbol of their desperation and failure than anything else.
If the Eastern Christian church and the protestant movement is added then piddling MORmONISM and MORmON accomplishments just look even more insignificant.
MORmONISM was born dead when Joe Smith created it based on lies.
MORmONISM already killed itself when Joe Smith tainted it with polygamy, again when Brigham Young headed west to persist in SMith's treachery, again when they changed their stupid temple ceremony. Its already died, because Joe Smith would not recognize it if he showed up today. The only thing that really persists is the name and the stupidity of a certain group of people who adhere to it, WHATEVER its current mutating form happens to be.
That fact that its foul stench still persists and that some people are incredibly STUPID enough to promote that stench as something good does NOT mean that itMORmONISM is good.
staind Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's no questions that there is concern amongst
> the brass of the tscc regarding the numbers of
> members leaving/going inactive.
>
> We are fully aware of Jensen's admission and some
> interpret that as the church has sprung a leak
> that is beyond repair.
>
> Simply not the case. It's not going away. I live
> in the heart of Idaho Zion and it is absolutely
> thriving hear. I've been involved in two ward
> splits in the last 3 years in my Stake. The new
> temple will open 5 minutes from my house in a
> couple of years and my community will flock to
> it.
>
> At it's core it is still thriving. Families are
> so invested and so comfortable in their mindset
> that it simply doesn't matter what material is
> placed in front of them.
>
> I was breaking it down recently with my brother
> regarding the ward we grew up in. The "power"
> families twenty years have roughly a 60/'40 ratio
> for peers of ours who stayed in the church. Some
> have left and returned. Some have left and stayed
> out.
>
> In the heart of "zion" there is enough staying
> power to sustain the church forever.
>
> The "daughters" of zion are the churches most
> valuable asset bar none. As long as there are
> beautiful mormon girls (and there's plenty) the
> bretheren will tow the line.
Your comment seems to suggest that MORmONISM has some exclusive ability to create attractive females and /or to create the most attractive/ desirable females. That simply is not the case. NOT EVEN CLOSE!
> It is simply less taxing to leave for some than is
> worth it. Understandably so in my opinion. A
> great deal of my friends are "fence sitter" types
> who love their wives and kids. Bottom line (as is
> often evidenced here) if one spouse takes a stand
> against tssc, the other bolts with the kids.
>
> Some are so principled in their stand against the
> church that that is a price they will pay. The
> majority however will simply grin and bear the
> part of mormonism that bothers them in the name of
> saving their marriage and keeping their family
> intact.
and eventually those people are bound to face the real MORmON quality of the MORmON family that they really have, regardless of whether they ever consciously realize what really happened or not.
>
> People can bash them all they want but I don't. I
> get it completely.
your view might not be as completely comprehensive as you thought. you might need to expand your horizons beyond the mighty (potato growing) treasure valley (Boise).
> "How can you supports an
> institution that is so evil, discriminatory,
> destructive, etc."?" It's a "buffet" mentality
> and ALL of us employ in one way or another.
>
> For example our country's closet (USA) is so
> filled with filthy baggage that anyone objective
> person would be disgusted. Pick a scandal. Pick
> an injustice. Pick a form of absolute corruption.
> It doesn't matter.
Well, actually it does, because regardless of how pervasive that corruption really is, many people still object to it, enough to act.
> The closet is full. Yet most
> of us acknowledge that it is an imperfect
> institution and move on without giving up our
> citizenship or burning our flags or revolting
> against our government (other than through proper
> political processes).
speaking of "never", you talk like that kind of thing (violent political upheaval) never happens, and yet that is exactly what happened when the current government of this country was formed just a few hundred years ago........ and you also seem to have forgotten this little deal call the American civil war.
>
> And that's the mormon mindset. A LARGE percentage
> (who knows what it is exactly) have numberous
> misgivings about tscc. It simply is not enough to
> force them out for some. They compartmentalize it
> as "something to be understood later" and move
> on.
and they are the real minority in the scheme of things, since most people can NOT tolerate the disparities of MORmONISM which explains why THE VASTLY OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of people who do know about MORmONISM do not join it.
> That is why it will never ultimately fail. It is
> elastic enough to bear some uncomfortable history.
> The leaders are masters at the art of spinning
> things in a way that most of the true tbm masses
> accept it and not begrudgingly but admiringly.
>
> It's truly a fascinating thing to watch now that I
> have both perspectives.
My boss and his TBM wife were in Hong Kong on business, they were were being hosted by a Hong Kong business enterprise. The TBM wife asked to see the new MORmON temple in Hong Kong.
Their eager to please/accommodate oriental hosts hustled to comply with their TBM guest's request. They took her to the nearest Buddhist Shrine. The eager and polite host's asked if the shrine met with their host's approval. My Boss's TBM wife indicated that this shrine was not the thing that she had really hoped to see. The eager to please host's were frantic and rushed their TBM guest to a larger buddhist shrine. The TBM still was not satisfied, Finally the TBM was taken to a buddhist temple.
which still did not meet with her MORmON expectations.
The hosts had NO IDEA what MORmONISM was.
The Ford Edsel is never going away either, because a person will always be able to find one somewhere if they look hard enough, but that hardly makes the Edsel into a success.
your claims may have some resonance -when you are sitting in the shadow of a MORmON meeting house located in the rocky mountain MO'rridor, but in Ohio and /or Italy they will get you laughed at. In china or turkey they will elicit blank stares.
I pointed out to my TBM brother, who also lives in the Boise area, in the shadow of the latest Idaho temple that you speak of, that one big problem with being around MORmONS too much and listening to MORmONS too much is that a person runs the risk of sounding very much like a real MORmON when they speak.
so its a good thing you came here for a change of pace.
The facts are: MORmONISM would have to grow a lot in order to amount to a pimple on the back of traditional christianity, a non christian pimple that is, and the time when MORmONISM might have had the chance to grow that much are long gone and they are not going to return.
MORmONISM ONLY exists and will ONLY continue to exist by running in the wake of the Momentum of traditional christianity that MORmONISM condemns, IE MORmONISM exists by biting the christian hand that drops the tiny crumbs that feeds MORmONISM. then MORmONISM also wants to be caressed by that same hand. Thats a recipe for suicide that MORmONISM has somehow managed to avoid for a while, just like Joe Smith so successfully managed to avoid his own demise, right up until he did not.
Religion in general is in a downtrend. the day is coming when LDS Inc will be forced to sell off some of those MORmON temples and it is going to happen well before Jesus returns to Missouri.