Religions of Man » LDS

Interesting Stats on LDS and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Michael — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:38:49 +0000

I recently came across an article in The Salt Lake Tribune in which the author highlighted some statistics about members from the LDS church that came from Pew’s U.S. Religious Landscape in 2007 . I wanted to mention some of the stats that I found interesting:

LDS:
1. The Latter-Day Saints (LDS) are less likely to home school or attend religious schools than the general public.
2. LDS (83%) and Hindus (90%) are the most likely to be married to someone of the same faith.
3. 90% of LDS are Anglo in the U.S.
4. LDS converts tend to be less educated and earn lower incomes than lifelong LDS.
5. 57% of LDS say that their faith is the one true faith while 39% of LDS disagree with this statement.

LDS and JW comparison:
1. LDS make up 1.7% of US population and JW make up .7% of the population.
2. 26% of LDS are converts while 67% of JW are converts.
3. 70% of those raised LDS remain in the church while only 37% of those raised JW remain in the faith.

LDS Contextualization and Christian Missions

Michael — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:48:41 +0000

I came across an interesting article in the Salt Lake Tribune about how the LDS church is seeking to contextualize their faith around the world. From the article, it appears that the church is trying to remove some of the American cultural trappings that have been such an important part of the LDS faith up to this point. It will be interesting to see how much contextualization can take place in light of the ecclesiastical structures that are foundational to the LDS faith.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries many Protestant missionaries failed to contextualize the Gospel. Missionaries, knowingly or unknowingly, often exported not only the Gospel message but also western culture. This often led to syncretism, theological confusion, and surface-level Christianity. Therefore, in many of these places Christianity remained a foreign religion.

Thankfully, since that time, missionaries have realized the need to contextualize the Gospel. The Gospel message stays the same, but the ways in which it is communicated should take different forms depending on the context. However, contextualizing how the Gospel is communicated is not enough.

The ways in which Christians live and worship must also be contextualized. This type of contextualization, although assisted at the start by a missionary, should ultimately be done by the local believers. Local believers, under the guidance of the Bible and the Holy Spirit, are able to best determine how the gospel and their churches are to look in their context. When local believers contextualize the Gospel and their churches, Christianity has a far greater chance of not being seen as a foreign religion. A great resource on Contextualization is David Hesselgrave’s Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally

LDS (Mormonism) and Scientology: A Brief Theological Comparison

Michael — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:44:37 +0000

Similarities:

1. Pre-existence of humanity:
LDS: All humans pre-existed in the spirit world before being born on earth.
Scientology: People were thetans in past lives + belief in reincarnation.

2. Unlimited potential for humans:
LDS: Heavenly Father (God) is an exalted man and LDS men may become gods with omnipotence and omniscience.
Scientology: People may become thetans again, regaining their freedom from matter, energy, space, and time (MEST).

3. “Salvation” only through their Church:
LDS: Exaltation and godhood only through the LDS Church.
Scientology: Recovering one’s thetanhood only possible through Church of Scientology.

Differences:

1. Religious terminology:
LDS: Use of biblical and Christian terminology.
Scientology: Develops own terminology; appealing to science, technology, eastern religions, and the New Age.

2. Knowledge of truth:
LDS: Divine revelation received by Joseph Smith and later LDS prophets.
Scientology: L. Ron Hubbard’s findings through his own studies.

3. God and gods:
LDS: Worship of Heavenly Father, but belief in the existence of multiple gods.
Scientology: Minimal reference to God; not the focus in Scientology.

4. Spirit and matter:
LDS: A physical body is necessary for exaltation to godhood. Heavenly Father has a body with flesh and bones.
Scientology: Being trapped in matter is the problem; the goal is to be set free from a physical body.

5. Attaining “salvation:”
LDS: Faith in Jesus Christ, baptism into the LDS Church, receive Holy Ghost, receive temple endowment, be married in a LDS temple, and follow LDS teachings.
Scientology: Through auditing sessions one’s engrams are erased, making one “clear,” and then by taking additional classes one can become an “Operating Thetan.”

6. The final goal:
LDS: Exaltation to godhood with wife and children.
Scientology: Returning to thetanhood as a disembodied powerful being.