Michael Paulson writes about how Colleges are scrambling to offer curriculum on the Mormon religion. Melissa Proctor will be teaching classes about Mormon history, theology, and culture.
The NCTimes.com reports on a story about women in the Church, it is titled Mormon women look for greater role in the life of the church. It is interesting and I'd like to hear your thoughts. The article says, "The agency which Beck heads, the Relief Society, is one of three Mormon offices open to women. Billed as one of the world's largest women's groups, with 5.5 million members, it provides spiritual instruction to women and aids needy families, among other things." But it concludes with this statement, "'The church does repress women, but it really doesn't repress women as much as bring men forward,' Claudia Bushman said. 'From the time Mormons are children, boys get a lot more encouragement than girls because they are needed for leadership roles. Men need more encouragement, I think.'" What do you think, do men need more encouragement?
CNN reported that Utah is the only state that allows students to take guns on campus. The article is called Utah students hide guns, head to class. This report was delivered with interviews with students from the University of Utah and not students from Brigham Young University.
The Ilford Recorder in England has an awesome article about the family history program of the Mormon Church. The article is titled Latter-day Saints' role in nurturing family ties. The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, well-known for its genealogical research, is bringing its free Family Search - On the Road exhibition to Ilford from March 6-8. The Church has been in the British Isles for 171 years.
The Economist published an interesting article titled Gnashing their teeth. It claims The latter-day saints are angry with the Republicans, but it should be noted Mormons participate in every political group. As we have already noted here in our blog.
ChristianToday.com from the UK has an article about the fasting growing churches in the US. The article is titled Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons fastest-growing 'churches' in US. They mention these interesting items:
- "Mormonism was formally listed under “cults and sects” by the Southern Baptist Convention – the largest Protestant denomination in the nation – but was more recently categorised among 'newly developed religions' on the North American Mission Board apologetics page."
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – also known as the Mormon church – grew 1.56 per cent and is listed by the NCC as the fourth largest 'church'.
- Largest 25 Churches (ranked by membership)
2. Southern Baptist Convention – 16,306,246
3. The United Methodist Church – 7,995,456
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – 5,779,316
5. The Church of God in Christ – 5,499,875
6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. – 5,000,000
7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – 4,774,203
8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc. – 3,500,000
9. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – 3,025,740
10. Assemblies of God – 2,836,174
11. African Methodist Episcopal Church – 2,500,000
12. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America – 2,500,000
13. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. – 2,500,000
14. The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) – 2,417,997
15. Episcopal Church – 2,154,572
16. Churches of Christ – 1,639,495
17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America – 1,500,000
18. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc. – 1,500,000
19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church – 1,443,405
20. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. – 1,371,278
21. United Church of Christ – 1,218,541
22. Baptist Bible Fellowship International – 1,200,000
23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ – 1,071,616
24. The Orthodox Church in America – 1,064,000
25. Jehovah’s Witnesses – 1,069,530
KansasCity.com included a note about a Mormon songwriter in their article titled Leap Year: Someone born on leap day is a 'leapling'.
1932 - Newel Kay Brown, wrote the children's song, "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission," which every child in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often called Mormon) has sung since 1970.
Gateline.com mentions Elder Ballard was there to speak at Stake Conference. The article is called Annual conference in Gig Harbor lifts spirits. Although the forecast called for grey skies and intermittent rain, there was a beacon of light and much warmth at the bi-annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Gig Harbor area.
2 comments:
I do believe that men need more religious encouragement generally. Historically this has been the reason for the marriage of sports and religion. In the LDS churches in the United States of America, the gymnasium is built right off of the holy sanctuary or “chapel.” (There are in most cases dividers that open up so that they can be joined for overflow seating capacity for the chapel.) The invention of the game of Basket Ball occurred in connection with the YMCA (the Young Men’s Christian Association.) That organization was founded as a reaction to the steep decline that was occurring in the Male population of Churches in the USA. Many of these young men, who were around 17 to 22 years old, were opting out of Church attendance and causing problems in the communities in which they lived. This YMCA sports program was an effort to retain these young male members and keep them active in their congregations while encouraging them and give them something to do. Women have always been more inclined to show devotion to God. That is the genius of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, not only are sports offered but each boy can receive the priesthood beginning at the age of 12 years old. These ordinations from the Lord give the male members a sense of belonging and purpose.
I wanted to share one more thought that I have in regard to the future growth of the LDS Church. We often cite the vision of Daniel of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands rolling forth to fill the earth. I was pondering this dream or vision that was given to Daniel recently and I have come to believe that while the church will continue to grow at an astounding rate that it will not “Become a mountain and fill the whole earth” until after it has broken down the governments of the earth as in (Daniel’s vision.) I believe that while the Church will continue to grow that the true explosion in membership will not occur until after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This seems to be more in keeping with the statements of Jesus that straight is the gate and narrow the way… and few there be that find it. Also, again in the allegory of the tame and wild olive tree found in Jacob Chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon it indicates that in the Latter-Day work, that would precede the Second Coming of Christ, the laborers were few. I believe that all of the just and good people upon the earth will still be upon the earth after the Second Coming of Christ and that shortly after that time the LDS Church will truly see its largest numerical membership explosion.
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