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.

The Beginning of the Blog

Well I won't try to fool anyone, this is my first blog, so please bear with me. One big influence I have for starting a blog is to shed some light on an ever growing, controversial subject of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I say controversial because it seems more and more (especially on this great 'internet highway' we travel on) misinformation, false information, and simply ignorant and bigoted information are being spread around by "anti-Mormons" (for lack of a better term).

I myself am no stranger to the--at times hostile--attacks on the Church. I was introduced to the Gospel in my senior year of high school, by long time friends who were LDS (life-long members). One of them gave me the Book of Mormon, upon my request. I was curious to see just what the deal was with this church. What I had learned of the church was mostly hearsay and from such great outlets like South Park (which does not exactly accurately represent the faith...). Once I picked up the Book of Mormon I immediately felt the Spirit. I learned so much from my reading. I took the challenge posed by Moroni, and was answered back a resounding "Yes", the Book of Mormon is in fact true and was divinely translated by Joseph Smith Jun. I was ready to join the Church, be baptized, but apparently my parents were not (and still are not) ready for me to do so. They became worried about my interest in the Church and started looking at the all too readily available anti-Mormon rhetoric out there. So now I am somewhat "forbidden" from going to Church; I have thus far respected my parents wishes and plan on continuing to do so.

Enough background history on myself. Another driving force I have for starting a blog is from a speech by Elder Russel M. Ballard. In which he stated, "The Lord over the centuries has had a hand in inspiring people to invent tools that facilitate the spreading of the gospel. The Church has adopted and embraced those tools, including print, broadcast media, and now the Internet... Now, to you... and all other faithful members of the Church, as you graduate from this wonderful university, may I ask that you join the conversation by participating on the Internet...".

Well that's about it for my 'introduction'. Hopefully I'll be able to clear up some misconceptions of the Church, as well as talk a bit about myself.

Lastly I just wanted to make it clear that I am NOT affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the views I share are my own.