Helping the Public Understand the Church

Today I went to newsroom.lds.org, just to check out the latest happenings with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I read an article that stated that Elder M. Russell Ballard and Quentin R. Cook, the two apostles in control of public affairs for the church, recently announced that they would attempt to increase efforts to help the public better understand the Church. I think is is great The world around us are all too often ignorant to the Church's true beliefs and values. Whether they are misinformed, or misguided by anti-Mormon propaganda, or (most commonly) just do not know about the Church because they have never been told. For that last reason is why the Church has got one of the best (and probably the best well-known) missionary programs in the world. But, the problem lies (many times) with where investigators go to seek out information on the Church.

Put yourself in the shoes of a investigator, you do not really know anything about the Church other than its name, but you wish to learn a little more. Now are you going to:
A)Call your local Stake Center and request the Missionaries visit you?
B)Request a free Book of Mormon?
C)Simply 'Google' Mormons?

Well you, probably like most of America, would simply search for 'the Mormon Church' on the internet. I mean, in all honesty, when I first started talking to my friend about the Church, that's what I did... I looked up 'Mormon', and oh what I found... Lucky for me I did not turn away at the first sight of 'bad' information about the Church. I proceeded to look at the other side of that argument. I always looked at what the Mormons had to say to refute this or that claim. And that in itself is one of the biggest problems. When did we go on the defensive? It seems many times that members of the Church are forced onto their heels with attack after attack on the Church. I guess it is less 'how did we go on the defensive?' and more how are we stuck on the defense, it seems, at all times. By the way, the offensive would not be to attack other churches or religions, that would go against D&C 18:20, "Contend against no church, save it be the church of the devil". It would be nice for our beliefs to be known to the world; this is what Elder M. Russell Ballard and Quentin R. Cook are trying to do, inform the populous of the truth. One could argue it a 'preemptive' strike against further attacks, but really I think it Missionary work; spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ; helping those who are misinformed, uninformed, or misguided; preaching God's true message, and teaching what His true Church is. I cannot tell you how refreshing it would be if I was able to simply ask the 'Average Joe' off the street what he knew about the Church and he was able to rattle off as much information (correct information, that's the key) as most Americans can about other institutions, such as the Roman Catholic Church or Protestant churches.

I lightly touched on the internet. As most members know already the internet--for the most part--is the anti-Mormon catapult in which they can heave tons of misinformation and false information onto those who are looking for legitimate answers. Hopefully this will better in the near future and hopefully Elder M. Russell Ballard and Quentin R. Cook's work will help this too.

I have to say something in relation to my early search for information of the Church. When I first started I of course went to Mormon.org but soon started to branch out and started finding confusing and strange information. I was bewildered and was looking for answers. My friends and their families were always helpful and answered my questions, but I could not go to them with every single one of my thousands of questions, although knowing how nice and supportive they are they would have, no doubt, been more than happy to try to help. So fortunately I stumbled upon this site JeffLindsay.com. It helped me so much. The information Jeff Lindsay compiled on his LDS FAQ and Book of Mormon Evidences helped me get that logical confirmation along with the spiritual one I was already (and still am) receiving. I cannot say how thankful to him I am for all of his help.