Other than Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses...Do you know of any other religious sects that practice...?

Question

the "milk before meat" method of converting people? I know that both LDS and JW's will only tell newcomers studying their religion the general beliefs of their faith, and hold back the more "unique" or strange aspects of their religion and religious history until the person is already somewhat committed to conversion. Or even already baptized. Do you know of any other religious groups that practice this sort of duplicity? Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

scientology for certain, making sure that when you eventually get to the meat, you've already given the organization a small fortune.



The Milk: our little gadget has determined that you are depressed and unsatisfied with your life. we at the church of scientology have the tools to remedy this...



The Meat: the truth that we have guarded for all these years is that.... *deep breath* trillions of years ago an advanced galactic overlord named Xenu dropped billions of brainwashed alien ghosts into volcanoes form his 474 jetplane spaceships which he then dropped hydrogen bombs on top of and thats why people get sad and stuff..... how do we know this? the prohet Hubbord told us this, he was a not very successful science fiction writer who somehow discovered this all true way of life........where are you going? come back!

Answer 2

It depends on the missionaries really. Some will do that milk before meat thing. From my experience it seems to be more to do with not wanting to overwhelm the person with too much info.



But same time I've come across missionaries that will talk about everything except the stuff they can't(like the Temple stuff). So it really depends on your level of knowledge on LDS and if you are taking a slow conversion or fast one.



Catholics do things completely opposite. You have to take a number of classes for half a year on the beliefs of the Catholic church. I entered the program twice though never finished. They really want you to know what the church believes before converting and I noticed it frustrated people who wished to be converted quickly, rather than wait until Easter or Christ(depending on when they entered the program)

Answer 3

Your 'question' is quite misleading, especially as you use words like 'duplicity'



There is no duplicity among Jehovah's Witnesses.



Of course, when learning Bible truths, a person does need to learn basic things before moving onto deeper things. Some people we study with for example have never even opened a Bible before and even need to be instructed in how to look up scriptures.



For myself, I wasn't raised a Jehovah's Witness, but when I stàrtd studying with them, I immediately was interested in the deeper things. Revelation especially interested me. As for our history, it is not hidden from new ones studying as you've implied. All our beliefs, history etc are all open for all to research. As our meetings also are.

Be careful not to be gullible to believe everything you hear/read online though. Only a fool would fall for the deceptiveness of our opposers, much like some people believe Elvis is still alive simply because an internet site says so.



Talking about 'duplicity' reminds me of the decptive lengths that our opposers go to on this site too. Many make multiple accounts & pretend to be interested in our beliefs but have ulterior motives.

At any rate, this is no bother. Jehovah sorts all things out.

He sees all things, even people's motivation & heart condition.

Answer 4

You know what is interesting? The education system does the same thing. Why didn't they teach me about calculus until WAY AFTER they taught me arithmetic and not until WAY AFTER I committed to learning math? Geez! Had I have known what Calculus was before hand, I'd have never learned math! The school system must be a cult.



By the way, showing the endowment video will just be showing people Calculus when they didn't even understand basic arithmetic yet. No wonder people think it is weird. I'd have thought calculus was weird back before I learned arithmetic too.



Edit: To get into a university, do you not have to ALREADY have been in the education system? I'm talking about the Education system in general. In this analogy the "univeristy" isn't the church in general, rather it would be a gospel doctrine class or something else meant for people who already have a lot of knowledge in the Gospel. The education system in general is the Church in general in this analogy. One is put in the Education system(typically age 5) earlier than they are baptized(age 8). You can't use a specific(such as a university) to compare to a general(a religion). One must use a general(school system in general) to compare to another general(LDS church). So, to use your logic: How can you say a 5 year old perfectly understands everything about the education system? Is it not wrong to put them in something that they know very little about? Shouldn't they know everything about the school system before they are put into it?



By the way, it should be noted that someone can look up everything about the church if they so choose. That's what the internet does. It is the fault of the person for not looking up everything, not the fault of the church.



Life is actually all about "milk before meat". Name me a single thing that isn't. When a person raises their child(let's say 6 years old), and they ask how a tv works, will you explain to them every single complication of how a tv works even though it will just go through one ear and out the other? Let's suppose someone wants to learn the history of a country. Will you start off with learning the nit-picky details of one man in that country, or would it be better to start off with generalities and then go specific later? When a person becomes a basketball player for their team, will they automatically know everything there is to being a good basketball player, or will they continually learn new things, even though they are already a basketball player? Honestly, there's not a single thing I can think of that doesn't work this way.

Answer 5

If Jesus asked you to give up everything, to follow Him, would you do it? Or, would you, like the young rich man, turn away sadly because you value your earthly riches rather than treasures in heaven.



Everything we have, comes from God. God blesses us with what we have, so what is the big deal about giving back a measly 10% to Him, thru His church?



In the temple, we make sacred covenants with God. I like to compare how I feel about the temple rites to when a married couple consummate their union. Both are just too sacred to just talk about in a casual manner.



In Old testament times, God required sacrifice of certain animals for certain sins. Today, He asks for sacrifices of us, not animals, but money and time and talents.

Answer 6

There is some truth to that, but not entirely. Mormon missionaries teach the meatiest doctrine of all, that God will answer a sincere prayer, and they teach it first. Once the investigator knows that the church is true, the less important doctrines follow.



This is the meat that people are starving for, and they can only get it from the Mormons.

Answer 7

It's not necessarily a case of duplicity, teaching general beliefs before going on to more 'difficult' ones. The Bible uses the analogy of new Christians feeding on "the milk of the word" before being able to progress to "the meat of the word". That's in 1 Corinthians 3:2 - "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly."



But you can see that that is not the same as deliberately with-holding deep teachings that would never be accepted without a progression of easy stuff first! This speaks of worldly Christians just being immature, spiritually.



The point about all groups like the Mormons, JWs, Scientologists, Masons, Gnostics, Kabbalah etc is that they are not laying the foundation God requires before 'building' on it. In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul continues,

"By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."



Only if the good news about what Jesus did for sinners is established first (the milk of the word) can progress be made. Jesus likened himself to a foundation of rock which, if built upon, will ensure the building remains intact when storms rage against it. Alas, groups often build on a foundation of sand because they have not built the denomination on the reality of just who Jesus is. The Jesus of the Mormons and the JWs is not the Jesus of the Bible, because they have a created Jesus, a creature, a demi-god.



Here is the biblical explanation; "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." (Hebrews 5:11 - 6:3)

Answer 8

All of them, you never get the really crazy stuff until you reach the inner circle.

Answer 9

The reason this is not an issue with most Christian church is because they don't have any meat.

Answer 10

scientology perfected the profitability of this strategy ...