Sharing The Gospel Online: Pointing Someone To An LDS Church Link Without Being Intrusive, Disrespectful, Or Spamming

Sharing the Gospel can be one of the more difficult tasks for some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, particularly for those who are introverts and who may not have ever filled a full-time mission. We don't want to be accused of spamming. We are reluctant to be intrusive or invasive.

However, natural contextual opportunities to share the Gospel online do crop up. If someone experiences a death in their family, we can express our condolences and then point them to an LDS link which provides our perspective on death. Whether this ultimately helps them or not is irrelevant; our mission is to proclaim the Gospel, and leave it to the Holy Spirit to take care of the conversion process.

Here's an example of my own interaction on the F2 Board. An individual started a thread in which he describes being suddenly dumped by his wife after 10 years. After reading his entry, I was inspired to consult the LDS Topical Guide on Divorce. Here's the pertinent part of the exchange:

His post, posted 10/21/2011 11:54 am: [Wife just told me she wanted a divorce] Said I will never be able to give her the life style she deserves. She said that after 10 years she's given up and is ready to move on.

I'm beside myself with grief. How long does it take to get over a 10 year relationship?

My response, posted 10/21/2011 12:03 pm: The rest of your life. You will never completely get over it, but with the passage of time, you will take control of the memory, detoxify it, and become thicker-skinned. Handled properly, the experience will be ultimately beneficial. Adversity is our greatest teacher.

At least she dumped you now, while you're still relatively young and probably still competitive in the "meat market". Perhaps you may find some of the articles on this site helpful in beginning the healing process:

http://lds.org/study/topics/divorce?lang=eng

Notice how I start out emphathizing with the guy and then try to redirect his grief and hostility towards beginning to heal. Notice how I refrain from dumping on his wife, which would be judgmental; I strive to focus my counsel exclusively upon him. Notice how I lead him to the link to the LDS site without unleashing a hard sell of the Church. This guy doesn't need a hard core sales pitch for the LDS Church at this time; he simply needs ideas which can help him cope more effectively with this adversity.

Notice how my counsel contrasts quite favorably with that of others who post on thread. The others are planting negative attitudes towards women in general; I don't.

Of course, the F2 Board is a place where there is much discussion, syntax, and even illustrations which many LDS members may find disgusting. But when we reach out to try to pull someone out of the gutter, we inevitably risk getting splashed with some of the runoff. The constant companionship of the Holy Ghost offers us protection against being damaged by the runoff. We can't bring the world to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by staying in our comfort zones and preaching to the choir. We have to go to where the hurt is.

Who knows what will ultimately happen to this guy. Perhaps he'll cater to our ultimate fantasy, and we will read about him in the LDS Church News 20 years from now becoming a Seventy. More likely, he'll continue his life as it is now. What counts is that we sow the seed, and leave it to the Lord to determine how, when, where, or if it germinates. Go forward in faith -- faith precedes the miracle.

Retired Baptist Pastor Howard Bess Speaks Up About Mormons In Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley

Pioneer Peak, the 6,398 ft landmark of the Mat-Su Valley

The Mat-Su Frontiersman has published a column by retired Baptist Pastor Howard Bess entitled "Comfortable or not, the Mormons are with us", in which he delivers his assessment about the impact of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley. He was obviously prompted by the public debate triggered by the presence of two Mormons, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman Jr. in the presidential race. Because Bess is a registered Democrat, neither of the two command his political allegiance at the moment. He does believe religion should be fair game in order to show how a candidate's faith would function in the public political arena, and wants to hear more hard religious questions asked of all candidates.

It's obvious that Howard Bess highly respects the local LDS community and its impact. He writes:

...I live in a community with a heavy Mormon population. There are three large general education public high schools in our area. Near each of them is a beautiful Mormon church. Each is home to multiple congregations. With their distinctive architecture and manicured lawns, a person would have to be blind and uninformed not to recognize the extent of the Mormon presence.

Mormons are an active part of our community structures. Mormons serve on most of our elected boards, councils and assemblies. While I have no research to support my understanding, I strongly suspect Mormons have a much better voting record than the general population. In my own experience, Mormons are responsible public citizens.

Mormons are great supporters of the public school system. Mormon young people bring a strong work ethic and personal discipline to our schools and school activities. Teachers love to have them in their classrooms and coaches are eager to have them on their teams. These kids obviously are coming from stable homes with positive motivations. We have a growing number of Mormon teachers and school administrators. We are a more stable and better functioning community because Mormons are our neighbors. We are blessed by the heavy Mormon presence in our Valley...

Right on all counts, and we appreciate the props. Howard Bess also notes that there are two significant developments taking place among Mormons. First, he notes the significant campaign to identify ourselves more explicitly as Christians, and believes this will ultimately lead to full partnership within the Christian community and our evolution into a large, vigorous and distinct Evangelical Protestant denomination.

Second, he also suggests that we are becoming the model for American family life through our successful faithfulness to the two-parent model at a time when there are so many single-parent families. We show that the two-parent family is doable and that it works better. He concludes by saying "The Mormons are with us. They are our neighbors. We need to know them better. One of them could well be our next president".

What's interesting is that Howard Bess refrained from making any remarks about LDS policy towards homosexuals. This omission is significant because when he was a pastor, Bess was one of their first mainstream Christian pastors in Alaska to call for greater inclusion of gays in Christian churches. In 1995, he even wrote a book entitled "Pastor, I Am Gay" to drive the point home. It was not very well-received by some socially conservative Christians in Alaska. He even ran afoul of Sarah Palin, who allegedly tried to have the book removed from the Wasilla Public Library while she was mayor. Yet Bess respects our church's right to require gays to be celibate in order to be members of our church.

The LDS Church in the Mat-Su Valley is organized under the Wasilla Stake, which has 13 congregations, 11 of which are in the Valley itself. The other two are located in Valdez and Glennallen.

That LDS Missionary Who Rings Your Doorbell On Halloween May Not Be A Real Missionary

If your doorbell rings on Halloween and you find someone dressed as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when you answer, chances are it might not be a real missionary. Time magazine reports that missionary costumes are number six on their list of top ten topical Halloween costumes for 2011. Time even conveniently provides a list of articles to make up a credible costume.

KTVX Channel 4 decided to go down to Temple Square in Salt Lake to sample public opinion, and they found a 50-50 split between those who were offended and those who chose to laugh it off.



Of course, if a "missionary" does show up at your door on Halloween, you could put him to the test. You could ask him to recite the 13 Articles of Faith. Or you could even ask him to flash those garments, which will separate the sheep from the goats in a BIG hurry. It is even possible that real Mormons who are not set apart as missionaries might dress up as them, as one woman said she would HERE. Then again, if you know anything about the normal routine of missionaries, you know that they're supposed to be off the street by 9 P.M. -- and that they're generally not allowed to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. But rank-and-file Mormons do celebrate Halloween; there are no doctrinal constraints against it.

Taipei Labor Bureau Fines The Catholic Dominican International School In Taiwan $20,000 For Sacking Two LDS Teachers Because They Are Mormons

The Taipei City Government Bureau of Labor has fined the Catholic Dominican International School in Taipei US$20,000 for sacking two Mormon teachers because of their religion.

The school told the teachers earlier this year that their contracts would not be renewed due to their religion, prompting the teachers to file a complaint with the Bureau of Labor since all schools in Taiwan are banned from discriminating against staff of different faiths or forcing them to attend religious events. After the bureau started to investigate the complaint, the school tried to claim that it was a performance issue and that they were actually "unfit to teach", but other teachers backed their American colleagues, saying their religion had not posed a problem. Labor officials noted that it is the first time that religious discrimination in the workplace has been punished in Taiwan. read a short history of the Catholic Dominican International School HERE.

Taiwan is one of four East Asian countries where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has established a solid presence, the others being the Philippines, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. As of December 31st, 2010, Taiwan has 53,111 LDS members organized into 100 congregations, with a temple in Taipei serving 11 stakes and one district on the island.

LDS Apostle Dallin H. Oaks Testifies Against Barack Obama's Plan To Lower Charity Cap To 28 Percent At Senate Finance Committee Hearing

While there is no known bill pending before Congress to change the charitable tax deduction criteria in the IRS code, President Barack Obama has proposed to cap itemized deductions at 28 percent, including the one for charitable contributions, for individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and married couples earning more than $250,000. This proposal shows up in his tentative budget for FY 2012, and as a provision of the 199-page American Jobs Act. Itemized deductions currently are capped at the top marginal tax rate of 35 percent. The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation says that at present levels of giving, the current tax break will cost the federal government about $230 billion in lost revenue between 2010 and 2014, and Obama wants to plug that hole. Times and Seasons provides a more detailed discussion of the charitable tax deduction.

However, opponents of Obama's proposal are concerned that it could cause charitable giving to decline during time of economic weakness. A George Washington University analysis of Obama's plan estimates that if his proposed limits were adopted, there could be a loss of between $2.9 billion and $5.6 billion in charitable contributions. Depending on how much an organization relies on private donations for individual charities, this could translate into losses as small as 0.1 percent or as great as 8 percent. Furthermore, while unemployment rocketed from 4 to 10 percent from 2008 to 2009, charitable giving dropped 20 percent during that period.

Congress is also interested and aware. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is worried that dropping the cap to 28 percent could cripple the biggest donations. So he and his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee held hearings and took testimony from some important church and nonprofit leaders on October 18th, 2011. Among those giving testimony was Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A KSL Channel 5 news video is available, but we also have a YouTube video of his full testimony:



Five individuals testified before the committee; Elder Oaks' testimony can be reviewed HERE. In summary, Elder Oaks testified that the charitable tax deduction is vital to the private sector, providing much of the funding for countless organizations, both religious and secular, that are responsible for tens of millions of jobs and innumerable services that benefit our citizens at every level. Elder Oaks also noted that the financial well-being of this private sector is dependent upon private contributions that qualify for the charitable deduction, and the impact these private institutions have on those they serve is magnified by the millions of volunteers motivated by the ideals they pursue.

Mormon Vs. Mormon: Jerry Lewis Challenging Incumbent Russell Pearce For Senate Seat In Arizona LD18 Recall Election; Lewis Has Seven-Point Lead

Update November 8th: Jerry Lewis defeats Russell Pearce; updated post HERE.

Update November 4th: Jerry Lewis' lead shrinks to three percentage points; updated post HERE

Russell Pearce

Two members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are squaring off in a contentious recall election for Arizona's LD18, based primarily in Mesa. Senator Russell Pearce, who is President of the Arizona State Senate, has been successfully recalled and has been challenged by Jerry Lewis. The recall election will be held on November 8th. Pearce was recently re-elected to office in November 2010, earning 57 percent of the vote.

For a brief period of time, a third LDS member, Olivia Cortes, was in the race. However, she was relentlessly accused of being a stalking horse planted by the Pearce campaign to take votes from Jerry Lewis, and tiring of the pressure, withdrew on October 6th. But her name will still be on the November 8th ballot.

Jerry Lewis

According to the Tucson Citizen, a recent poll shows Lewis leading Pearce by seven percentage points. However, both the poll and the source are suspect -- it's being reported by DeeDee Garcia, a notorious anti-Pearce activist. Still, there is evidence that Russell Pearce's re-election is by no means assured, and it will be close.

Russell Pearce is one of 31 Arizona lawmakers to come under fire for involvement in a Fiesta Bowl scandal. For his part, Pearce stayed at luxury hotels and took family members with him on bowl-sponsored trips from 2002 to 2009. In total, the bowl said it spent more on Pearce than any other individual lawmaker: $39,347. Pearce has since repaid some of the money. But the big Kahuna is Pearce's immigration legislation. Not only was he the primary force behind SB 1070, the toughest immigration law in the nation at the time, but he also unsuccessfully pushed several additional immigration measures this year, including a bill to change how children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants are granted citizenship. This attracted the ire of Hispanic activists and their leftist allies, most notably Phoenix New Times blogger Stephen Lemons, who's been relentlessly stalking him in the journalistic sense.

Then on July 27th, 2011, Jerry Lewis entered the race, and the Hispanic activists and their leftist allies found Their Great Hero. Actually, Lewis is a standup guy who's well-qualified to serve in the state legislature. He is an assistant superintendent for Sequoia Schools, a Mesa-based charter school chain with 13 Arizona locations. He is also a former certified public accountant and has been a vice president with the Grand Canyon Council of the Boy Scouts. Lewis also served as president of the Maricopa Arizona LDS Stake until released on February 27th, 2011. Like Pearce, Lewis believes in closing the border and working with federal officials to improve border security, but he does not support SB 1070. Lewis is supported by SOMOS Republicans, the largest group of Hispanic Republicans in the state. Mesa City Councilman Dave Richins is one of many who have endorsed Lewis, but not over the SB 1070 issue.

Modesty Can Be Both Smart And Sexy: The Daily Mail Reports On The Proliferation Of Mormon Modesty Blogs

Several members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are attempting to demonstrate that modesty can be both smart and sexy. On October 14th, 2011, the Daily Mail reported on a proliferation of Mormon Modesty blogs designed to communicate this positive message.

In general, these Mormon Modesty bloggers believe that their bodies are temples and should be treated with respect. While LDS dress standards don't dictate personal style, LDS standards provide guidelines for what is considered appropriate and respectful. And this doesn't just include clothing; tattoos, heavy jewelry and body piercing are also discouraged by Church leaders, although not necessarily issues of temple worthiness. Modesty is actually much more than rules; modesty is actually about showing respect for our bodies because they are a sacred gift from God and should be treated accordingly.

So who are these modesty bloggers? Here's the list of those presented in the story:

-- Clothed Much: Edited by Elaine Hearn, a 23-year-old account coordinator. Also has a Facebook page.

-- North Meets South: Edited by Erica Ricks, an accountant based in New York City.

-- Wearing It On My Sleeves: Edited by Sarah Morales.

-- No More Mom Jeans: Edited by Jae Curtis, a 27-year old freelance writer.

-- Cats And Cardigans: Edited by Brandilyn Haynes.

-- Writing Rainbows: Edited by Ashley Nielson.

All six of these bloggers show that modesty can be both smart and sexy, effectively countering the sleazy propaganda put forth by both the fashion business and the entertainment industry.

This is a welcome development, because as a man, I find it more difficult to respect a woman who dresses suggestively than one who dresses modestly. Why is this? It's because of acculturation and opportunism. I actually get turned on more by a secretary wearing a short skirt in a typical office than by a woman wearing a bikini down at the beach. This is attributable to the fact that bikinis fit in with the beach and numerous women wear them, while a single woman wearing a short skirt in an office environment stands out and detracts from professionalism. Married women who dress suggestively may be more prone to illicit affairs than married women who dress modestly, although I know of no objective statistics to back this up.

Obviously, we men have the primary responsibility for being the guardians of our own virtue. But as Young Women President Elaine Dalton suggested during the General Young Women Meeting in April 2011, women have a secondary responsibility to be guardians of our virtue as well. This means women should avoid dressing and behaving in a manner which tempts us beyond our ability to bear it. The unspoken assumption is that we men also have a secondary responsibility to serve as guardians of women's virtue; we serve this purpose best by treating women like ladies even when they don't behave like ladies. This is the most effective antidote to feminism.

One supportive comment was posted on the Daily Mail website by a non-Mormon:

It's not just LDS who have modesty rules, many Conservative Baptists, Pentecostals, Assembly of God, Catholics and other Christian women try to dress modestly! I'm plain-old C of E [Church of England] but I would never wear a skirt that wasn't at least below my knees, or a t-shirt that was too tight or didn't cover the tops of my arms and exposed too much of my 'cleavage'. Basically, it's about self-respect, and also about 'not having everything on show' to the world. There are things I like to keep for my husband! I do the same with my children, they are brought up to respect themselves!

- Anna, Newcastle, 16/10/2011 13:45