Originally posted by: pinion9
Originally posted by: HBalzer
After seeing this thread i did some Google searching. While there is a ton of crap to sift through some things I thought were interesting Mormons life expectancy is higher than non-Mormons, and I find this hard to believe but Mormons who marry in the ?temple? have a divorce rate of 6% (interesting do to recent thread on divorce rate 1 in 2)
Hmm, could it be that most Mormons live in civilized America and other first world countries? I can assure you there are few Mormons living in Darfur. Are the tallied in with the life expectancy?
My in-laws may be getting a divorce, and my sister-in-law just got a divorce. They were all married in the temple. I agree that it is probably low, but statistics can be skewed. Are they speaking of legal divorce or Temple divorce? They are different...
Actually, over 50% of the membership of the church resides outside of the USA, and the Majority of that 50% are in South America. Over 3 Million members are Spanish Speaking and just under 1 Million speak Portuguese.
See Links
Here and
Here for more precise statistical information
Regarding your allusions to the LDS church owning Coca-Cola, it is complete buckus, as derailed by this Snopes article:
Do Mormons own the Coca-Cola Corporation?
Further to your comments about the finances of the Church and where money is spent, I wll refer you to the Wikipedia article on the subject
Here.
My own thoughts an this subject is that the Church is a living, breathing and growing organization and does in fact have a business side (as ALL churches do). That said, the Church is responsible for a vast sum of money to the tune of around 5 billion dollars, and it should be noted that Tithing money, and Income generated through church investments are kept strictly separate. The church must however ensure that it will be financially viable in the long run, and church members expect those who manage the church assets to make wise investments to ensure this continued stability. Good investments include Land, and yes, even Malls. Commercial property of the like is nearly always a good and sound investment. I would expect no less from the Church.
You know, I find it very interesting that no other organization on this earth is so vehemently attacked and so closely examined as is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Not even the USA Government suffers such strict persecution in my eyes. Every little minute detail of our faith, beliefs, culture, organization, politics, history, leaders, membership, etc is examined down to the finest detail, and if it can be turned into an attack, no matter how small that detail may be, it will be, and it will be used to defame the church and its members to no end.
And why? For what purpose? I've known Mormons from around the entire world, having grown up in a military family, and everywhere I went I was welcomed warmly and treaded with love and respect. Mormons focus on developing strong families, upholding good morals and virtues, having love and charity for their fellow men. So what's so terrible about that? Because they have underwear? or that they believe that god has to live somewhere? be it Kolob or otherwise?
These really are very minor issues. Mormons do NOT have to wear the underwear, if they do not want to make the covenant (i.e. promise) to do so. You want to know what the deal is with the underwear? fine, I'll tell you: It's to serve as a reminder of the promises and covenants you have made with GOD. A physical reminder for a physical existence. Every time you change your pants, you are reminded of those promises. It's a reminder that helps keep GOD in your thoughts. So it can be thought of as a form of PROTECTION from sin.
And yes, we believe that GOD has a physical body, and so, I guess that he's got to live somewhere. but really, who cares? It's a non issue to the majority of Mormons.
I would think that the big issue for most people would be that GOD has a Body, not the fact that he happens to reside somewhere near a place called Kolob according to the scriptures in the Book of Abraham. GOD is Omniscient, and all powerful, so he could live in Kentucky for all I care.
There's a scripture that I'm very fond of: "By their fruits ye shall know them". Are not the fruits of our labor good? Do we not give of our sustenance to help the needy? Do we not help feed and clothe the poor? do we not raise good families? Do we not work hard, and strive to provide a good living for our families and try to live a life free of debt? Are we not assets to our communities?
Are there bad Mormons? Sure there are. we are all people, and are flawed like the rest of humanity. What else can I say about this? No one, save Christ himself, ever came to this earth and lived perfectly. We all Sin. We all have weaknesses, frailties,and other problems.
I live out my life striving to keep Gods commandments, overcome my weaknesses, and to find forgiveness from Him for my Sins.
What are you doing with your life??