why me

But to seek a spiritual witness? I was referring to my good old days of the 1970s and early 80s. Missionaries usually can encourage quick baptisms. I was encouraged to seek a spiritual witness, I did and got a strong witness which has kept me in the church all these years, although many of them as an inactive member. I even received a powerful witness of the D&C without asking for one. I think that this would retain members. To get a powerful witness of the truth claims.

I think that an important factor is when the missionaries would challenge the investigator to read the BofM and pray about its truthfulness. When the confirmation from the Holy Ghost was received they were encouraged to join. These days, it is my understanding that investigators are encouraged rather soon to join the church. This would influence the retention rates. No witness, why stay?

What I remember is. that the church had inactive members. I knew very few people who left the church. There was a push to activate the inactive. I think that the term inactive is no longer used. It seems to me that people just leave the chrurch and not become inactive.

If people would join after receiving.a witness of the Book of Mormon, the retention would be much better. It was like this in the good old days. The missionaries would encourage investigators to read and pray. People had a hard time forgetting their. confirmation of the truth.

I have a problem with social media in general. I never mentioned mormon stores but there many others who operate on clicks. It seems that people who now are critical of the church can make a fortune if they have charisma and say what there audience wants to hear. It's all about the money. Now if their podcast is not monetised. I would perhaps give it some respect. I guess I am yearning for the good old days when being critical was not for clicks but for good discussion. When I viewed John's podcast again after many years he asked the same questions that he asked years ago....just a different person and different audience. It was deja vu. A part in the film Ground Hog Day. Life is a business perhaps

Thanks. Glad to see that you are still here too.

Perhaps. But I think that the blogs or podcasts are different. In this case, the clicks and subscribers matter most. The more outlandish, the more clicks is all that matters. In the antimormon space, we eee some carrying on for 20 years repeating the same questions, going over the sane topics over and over again. They know the answer they will get even before they ask the question. However, it is about new subs and clicks to keep the money coming in. What I have noticed ia that they are becoming more extreme in their contents and in their responses. More shock value and more hits. And more money coming in.

I understand. I wonder about some of the posters back then. What happened to them? Are they still around? Only questions.

I agree about the good old days. It was quite a time on the FAIR board back then. I am wiriting about the time of 2005+ However, now things are much more peaceful . And thet is not a bad thing. But I can miss the rough and tumble times were exciting. But Dan was also bullied a lot. I am sure that he is not missing those days.

If you read the BofM and prayed about it and received a powerful witness I would recommend joining the church regardless of your questions. There will always be questions and answers. And at times just questions without answers. But a spiritual witness is just that. A spiritual witness from God.

it seems to me that podcasters are all about getting more clicks and subscribers. It is all about the money. I am sure that John maybe making money from all this. On a side note if the money was taking away from most podcasters, they would fold like a house of cards. It would not be worth the time spent. He was interviewed by an anti Mormon podcaster for quite a long time. I can hear the clicks and donations on their patreon link. More subscribers.