In your experience, have Mormon missionaries and bishops been manipulative?

Question

I'm just asking because throughout my experience of discovering if the church is true I found them to be very manipulative, often using guilt trips and promises to persuade you.

Constant pressure to do more and more to find out if it's true,nevermind that I was already going to church every week, that I was praying everyday,that I read the book of mormon everyday,that I went and helped people I didn't even know with them, that I obeyed every rule they had.

It still wasn't enough for them because I hadn't reached an answer and when I did it was the wrong answer because there was no way they were wrong , they would stake everything they own and their families lives on it, they said to me in front of my face and then asked me if I could do that.

I'm not the kind of person to take a wild gamble like that so I obviously said no, at which point they constantly guilt tripped me and made more promises that I would feel so much better ect.

I've also noticed them manipulating their own people too, young children at the age of 5 being told they needed to go to church or they couldn't be "Saved" there is no way in hell that isn't manipulation. I saw these things and it made me angry, angry how they could get away with all this.

I had a friend who was a long member of the church and was not sold on the idea of going on a 2 year mission. Everytime he would come over he would say about how much pressure he was getting, how the elders kept telling him to go on the mission, that it would make him from a child into a man. Eventually after months of "Persuading" my friend had done his mission papers and was off before the end of the year. I talked to him before he left and it was like he was a different person, he was thrilled and estatic about going on the mission, he gave up his job and gave his car away,gave away all his material items. Nothing mattered anymore unless it was to do with the mission, it was rediculous.

Now another close friend of mine, who didn't want to go on the mission at all, who has only just started University, has only just recently got a job and a house with lots of nice things.

Suddenly as of yesterday, the bishop had a talk to him and "Convinced" him that he should go on the mission. Now my friend was constantly getting pressure from both people in the church and also his mother. You can't tell me no manipulation was involved, my friend had NO intent on going on a mission and suddenly he's as happy as can be taht he's going on this mission.

The people in the church are saying things like "Hell yes!!" and " Don't worry university will still be there when you get back" It's sickening, this guy is a really close friend of mine and I really want to say something to him, but I don't know if I should. Even if University lets him defer for 2 years, his house won't pay itself for 2 years, his job won't be kept for 2 years either.

Really really mad about the way these things happen, and thats why I'm asking around to see if anyone else has experienced things like this.

Seriously from what I have seen, there are 2 types of members.

The ones who genuinely believe in it and the ones who were too weak willed.

I'm not condemning the religion, just the way they recruit and treat their young men.

Answer 1

Mormons think going on a mission one of the most important things someone can do which is why your friends got so much pressure to go.



It is pretty messed up, looking from the outside, how they convince young kids to give up everything for two years and have them pay over $10,000 to go try to recruit people for their church and get nothing in return.



Other churches at least will give scholarships to their members who go out and do stuff like that, and they will even pay for the mission. The Mormon church needs to either change the way it has it has its mission program set up or stop making it mandatory. It really sets back a lot of those kids who get duped into going on a mission.

Answer 2

I know several people who were convinced to leave a spouse when that spouse decided the church wasn't true.



They seem fairly desperate right now. There are signs that growth has stopped, that a lot of the young people are seeing through it all, and that too many people are looking on the internet for the truth. Revenues are down, and they need a lot more money to finish the $4 billion dollar shopping mall.



Wards are getting bigger these days because a smaller percent of the people are actually active, and it takes more people to keep a ward running. It puts a lot of pressure on everyone to take a lot of callings and spend a lot of time on church instead of family.

Answer 3

No manipulation. Only honesty.



Jesus Christ wants people to live His holy and righteous commandments, so that they can get closer to Him by so doing.



Jesus Christ has commandments and expectations, and the road back to Jesus Christ is by living the beautiful and wonderful commandments that Jesus Christ gave to mankind.



That isn't manipulative, that is simple, sensible, and straight forward honesty. What do you want, Mormons to lie to you, and tell you that you should deny the commandments of almighty God, and turn your back on Goodness and Righteousness???



Truth is truth. Doing evil is doing evil. No two ways about it.



There is a lot of suffering in the World. The way to turn the World into a Paradise where everyone is happy and well fed, is to be an example of what living Jesus Christ's holy and righteous commandments can do for a person, and then to help others.



Helping others Spiritually and in their Temporal circumstances, and helping others to prosper is what the teachings of Jesus Christ is all about, and this is the road to happiness.



If you are Guilt trippin' on the whole thing, then step back and relax, and get some perspective, because that is not anyone's intention. The intention is to help other children of God, simple as that.



What is wrong with helping other children of God??? Nothing that is what.



Sometimes it is good to consult your common sense, when all else fails.



God loves you and God wants you to be with Him for all eternal time. To get to the Heaven that God lives in, you need to transform, and become like Him, and look at the World, the way He looks at the World, and see where there are other humans in need, and then to go and help them.



Sometimes the best thing that you can do for others is to pray for them. Sometimes that is all that they need. At other times people need food, so you can help out with that, when there is an opportunity to do that.



That has nothing to do with having a guilt trip of any kind, that is all about celebrating life not the sins of the World, and bringing the World closer to a state of Paradise, one Good Samaritan act at time.



Developing in the gospel of Jesus Christ is a like climbing a stair way to Heaven, and all that it takes, is to take one step at a time, and then God, who is infinitely powerful, will do the rest.



Faith is the first principle of the Gospel, without it you won't even take the first hesitating step, toward God, and to the infinite paradise that He lives in.

Answer 4

Oh, wow, that is the primary I've heard approximately the shooter being LDS. Wow. No, to my expertise Bishops don't seem to be given any formal coaching in counseling. If missionaries are then it is on the whole handiest to refer them to the Bishop or Mission President. The humans who're relied upon to observe any disorders that maybe taking place are the loved ones individuals and peers of the member first, then the Home Teachers (for each guys and females) and Visiting Teachers (for females) who are meant to have a minimum of per 30 days touch with the member external of the church surroundings, ideally within the house. The HT/VT document any critical issues to both the Bishop or the Relief Society President (who in flip takes it to the Bishop). While I recognize that the Bishop does meet with humans (his "flock" as you name it) almost always as wanted, and he has his counselors and the Stake Presidency to speak with, and he can continuously refer them to LDS Social Services to talk with a proficient counselor, it's mostly up to those who recognize the individual to convey it to the concentration of folks that can support. I recognize of a number of occasions wherein nobody knew some thing used to be flawed, but the Bishop knew anything used to be amiss and talked to the individual and it wound up that it used to be anything that wanted concentration. As for what occurs if a individual misses a few Sundays, most likely - not anything, except the individual's peers name them or give up by means of, or if the HT/VT name to time table a talk over with. Since the younger guy used to be lovely new to the church, he could have nonetheless been aclimating to the church. Unfortunately, regularly HT/VT do not continuously see who they're intended to peer, regularly HT/VT don't seem to be assigned in as well timed a system as one could like. Sometimes a brand new convert attends till the missionaries that taught him/her are reassigned or move house and the brand new convert feels deserted and forestalls coming, falls via the cracks, or deeper into the cracks, and turns into inactive. It's unhappy, but it surely occurs. Given the little know-how within the article, and the truth that we will be able to on the whole not ever recognize what occurred inside the church, it is unattainable to understand what would had been, or if some thing additional might had been performed. Some humans are stricken, severely stricken, but they arrive to church (any church, no longer simply LDS) with variety of a masks on no longer letting anybody see simply how really stricken they quite are, but hoping that given that they are attempting and coming to church that this would be the week that they difference and the whole lot will get all higher. I do not know the younger guy who did all of this, however I have got to feel that might be he knew anything used to be flawed with him, however did not recognize wherein to show or how you can allow any individual in, to peer what used to be flawed. Maybe he joined the church hoping that the missionaries or the church might "repair" him, or that God could heal him simply given that he used to be a member of the church. I recognize a few humans who've joined the church considering that now that they're within the correct church God can have mercy on them and instantly take the trial or ailment, or main issue that they enjoy away and that the whole lot shall be utopic. It's no longer. And after they notice that a few depart the church, others preserve attending church and study extra approximately it and their testimony alterations and grows and via their perserverance and religion and the support of others within the church their potential to manage their trials, ailment or troubleing instances raises they usually study that matters gets higher, simply no longer like that they had firstly was hoping.

Answer 5

It's all about love. None of us want our children to discover the truth the hard way. The word of God is our best tool for conversion. This pressure that you refer to is nothing more than logical persuasion and an appeal to one's own sense of righteousness. We've all been where you are at. Then something changed. There was a moment in our lives, when we suddenly knew that it was all true. Perhaps you are afraid of that moment - it certainly sounds like it in your question. I can testify that there is great joy, when one allows the Holy Ghost to change us into the people that the Lord wants. It is that joy that I sought, and found, because I wanted it more than anything else.

Answer 6

We may read that the Lord will turn the wicked into hell, and all the nations that forget God; but, so far as the Bible and priests are concerned, the world are left in the dark upon what this vision reveals. Fatality is sealed on the world by the priests as an everlasting inheritance and legacy, from which they never can be delivered. Their doom is to dwell in a lake of fire and brimstone. God has created this intelligence to preserve it. If the world, with its present feelings, believed this vision, they would say - "Our condition will be so far better than we had anticipated, that we will continue our course; for we love the world and the things of the world, and we will roll sin as a sweet morsel under our tongues, and delight in all the iniquity we have indulged in from youth, and continue to imbibe the erroneous principles taught by the fathers and others, and will pass on from day to day; for our condition is to be so far better than our priests have taught us." It would have been better for them had they never been born, were it not so.

JD 8:154 - p.155, Brigham Young, August 26, 1860

Answer 7

Parent's gently persuade their children to choose righteousness. It was how Christ taught. Christ asked his Apostles to basically give up their lives to follow him. When the young rich man came to Christ what did Christ say? Give up everything and follow me. Some people can do it, others can't.



Just because you can't doesn't mean others can't willing choose to. Don't condemn your friends or their families for being able to choose something you don't understand or don't have enough faith in. Being stubborn doesn't mean being strong willed. Christ has asked us to have faith like unto little children. Only then can you understand the faith of your friends.

Answer 8

Satan uses addiction, peer pressure, pleasure, etc to lure people into sin and death. Satan tries very hard to get you but God works harder for your happiness and salvation. Don't take offense when His authorized servants do their best to bring you to Christ and happiness and eternal life!

Answer 9

Was your mother manipulative, or guiding? Kind of the same thing.