BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Perspective is everything. Here is a religious body that is not quite as old as Mormonism and yet is surpassing Mormonism in many ways.1. Why do Adventist keep the Word of Wisdom better than Mormons without even having the Word of Wisdom?2. Why is church membership greater for Adventist when they are younger than Mormonism?3. Why do Adventist publicize church membership and financial numbers and Mormons don't?4. Why do Adventist have more humanitarian efforts than Mormons? Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) Hello BOMG...I'd like to see some backup to your list... for instance, how do you know more Adventists keep the WoW better than Mormons?Or that Adventists have more humanitarian efforts than Mormons? After every major diaster, whether here or in another country, the Church is there... sometimes first with aid... to help. Thousands of members volunteer, wearing the yellow T-shirts in some cases, going neighborhood to neighborhood helping people whether members or not. And I just read where in Japan the Church will be assisting in rebuilding parts of the areas affected by the earthquake/tsunami (in addition to clean-up efforts). I'm sure the Adventists do much humanitarian good also... but to state that they do more I believe is questionable. Even at women's conference and Education Week, I enjoyed participating in the humanitarian projects (along with thousands of other sisters/brothers) such as packing hygiene kits, crocheting special bandages for burn victims, making quilts, packing school kits, and many other such projects... many ongoing at the local level also.So... I don't think you can accurately make the sweeping statements you made without providing your source...from the beach on a rainy, cool morning... GG Edited July 15, 2011 by Garden Girl 2 Link to comment
Mola Ram Suda Ram Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 1. Why do Adventist keep the Word of Wisdom better than Mormons without even having the Word of Wisdom?CFR please. 2. Why is church membership greater for Adventist when they are younger than Mormonism?CFR Please3. Why do Adventist publicize church membership and financial numbers and Mormons don't?Because they wanted to.4. Why do Adventist have more humanitarian efforts than Mormons?CFR please. 1 Link to comment
Marcelo Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 At least in one thing the Adventists are better than the Mormons.1) Managering of Schools in underdeveloped countries. In Brazil there are at least 2 a 3 times more adventists than Mormons, mainly converted due to the success of their private schools. The LDS Church forsake their High Scholl's business and closed their scholls in Chile and New Zealand, which for me was a big mistake. In Brazil, the public high scholls are horrible, any family that has a little more money put their children in private scholls, which could range from the lower level classes till elite scholls. The Catholics dominate the elite scholls in major part of the country, but the adventists put their scholls to supply lower levels of the population. I simply cannot understand why the LDS church, with their long background in education from BYU, could not manager better scholls worldwide than adventists, even catholics. The Adventist Scholl Business employed thousands of persons (not only in their scholls, but also in books production, printing and distributions of the whole material to supply hundreds of adventists schools all over the country). Besides that, their scholls is a constant source of converts: Non-adventists pupils enter in touch with adventists ones, and their parents see a "discount" advantage in their tuiton if the family converts to adventism...Bye! Link to comment
Duncan Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Perspective is everything. Here is a religious body that is not quite as old as Mormonism and yet is surpassing Mormonism in many ways.1. Why do Adventist keep the Word of Wisdom better than Mormons without even having the Word of Wisdom?2. Why is church membership greater for Adventist when they are younger than Mormonism?3. Why do Adventist publicize church membership and financial numbers and Mormons don't?4. Why do Adventist have more humanitarian efforts than Mormons?let's say that any of that is true who is to say that when their Church gets as "old" as ours they won't be where we are (assuming we are in a bad spot) Link to comment
BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Hello BOMG...I don't think you can accurately make the sweeping statements you made without providing your source...CFR please. As I said, they publish their numbers: SDAhttp://www.adventist.org/world-church/facts-and-figures/index.htmlLDShttp://lds.org/church/statistics?lang=engWe could add school and hospital differences but lets keep it simple, no offense. Link to comment
BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 let's say that any of that is true who is to say that when their Church gets as "old" as ours they won't be where we are (assuming we are in a bad spot)It's the church, converts come in because of the power of the Book of Mormon, but leave because the church doesn't have the same. SDA retention numbers are like 80% and LDS are around 20% in Latin countries so in 33 years, when the SDA are as old as the LDS, they'll be quite large. Link to comment
bluebell Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 As I said, they publish their numbers: SDAhttp://www.adventist.org/world-church/facts-and-figures/index.htmlLDShttp://lds.org/church/statistics?lang=engWe could add school and hospital differences but lets keep it simple, no offense.This seems like trying to compare apples to oranges, and then trying to pick a fight with results that you know aren't accurate.I don't think that Adventists are better than mormons. I don't think that mormons are better than Adventists. The two churches seem to be run in completely different ways but both churches seem to be doing a good job of accomplishing their goals, though i know the mormon church recognizes a need to always be improving and i'm guessing that the Adventists church is always trying to do the same as well. Link to comment
Avatar4321 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 And here we get into the dangerous assumptions that numbers equate somehow to truthfulness.Now I have to as, "the church doesn't have the same" what exactly? Link to comment
Bill “Papa” Lee Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Perspective is everything. Here is a religious body that is not quite as old as Mormonism and yet is surpassing Mormonism in many ways.1. Why do Adventist keep the Word of Wisdom better than Mormons without even having the Word of Wisdom?2. Why is church membership greater for Adventist when they are younger than Mormonism?3. Why do Adventist publicize church membership and financial numbers and Mormons don't?4. Why do Adventist have more humanitarian efforts than Mormons?You paint with a broad brush. I would love a CFR on your number one reason concerning the Word of Wisdom. Link to comment
Mola Ram Suda Ram Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 (edited) As I said, they publish their numbers: SDAhttp://www.adventist.org/world-church/facts-and-figures/index.htmlLDShttp://lds.org/church/statistics?lang=engWe could add school and hospital differences but lets keep it simple, no offense. you have a few more CFR's to answer. But what is the point? Truthfulness is not established because of a published financial record or number of members. It is not established by the number of schools or the amount given to humanitarian efforts. It seems you are trying in vain to smear the church by comparing 2 different churches that have different missions and different ways of doing things. GJ. Edited July 15, 2011 by Mola Ram Suda Ram Link to comment
BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 You paint with a broad brush. I would love a CFR on your number one reason concerning the Word of Wisdom.Sure, SDA are Vegetarians. Link to comment
thesometimesaint Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 BOMG:Seveth Day Adventists do has a type of Word of Wisdom.http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/denominations/seventh_day_adventist.htmSeventh-day Adventist Health Code and Dietary Restrictions Seventh-day Adventists present a health message that recommends vegetarianism and condones abstinence from pork, shellfish, and other foods proscribed as "unclean" in Leviticus. Alcohol and tobacco are also prohibited. Dr. John Kellogg, founder of the Kellogg's company and a major supplier of breakfast cereals, was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Sanitarium Health Food Company, owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is one of Australia's leading manufacturers of health and vegetarian-related products. Link to comment
BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 It seems you are trying in vain to smear the church by comparing 2 different churches that have different missions and different ways of doing things. GJ.If you are not under the delusion that Mormonism is the fast growing church on the earth, or it's somehow outpacing all others, then your perspective does not need adjusting. While the Mormon Church is advertising on the Internet (which reaches the world) of happy young families, the truer picture is of retention numbers and deserves scrutinizing, no offense, but the public deserves to know long term happiness before joining and lifers need not gloat by what is perceived to be a healthy unique tree. Link to comment
Avatar4321 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Sure, SDA are Vegetarians.Which the Word of Wisdom says nothing about becoming Vegetarians. In fact, the scriptures specifically say that those who forbid meat aren't commanded of God. 1 Link to comment
Avatar4321 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 If you are not under the delusion that Mormonism is the fast growing church on the earth, or it's somehow outpacing all others, then your perspective does not need adjusting. While the Mormon Church is advertising on the Internet (which reaches the world) of happy young families, the truer picture is of retention numbers and deserves scrutinizing, no offense, but the public deserves to know long term happiness before joining and lifers need not gloat by what is perceived to be a healthy unique tree.Long term happiness is a matter of using the Atonement and living the Gospel. The inability or lack of will of others to do so has no effect on whether we can do so. Link to comment
thesometimesaint Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 BOMG:The Church doesn't claim to be the fastest growing religion. But we are amoung the fastest. The simple fact is that overall we are healthier and happier than the general population. Link to comment
Mola Ram Suda Ram Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 If you are not under the delusion that Mormonism is the fast growing church on the earth, or it's somehow outpacing all others, then your perspective does not need adjusting. While the Mormon Church is advertising on the Internet (which reaches the world) of happy young families, the truer picture is of retention numbers and deserves scrutinizing, no offense, but the public deserves to know long term happiness before joining and lifers need not gloat by what is perceived to be a healthy unique tree.I have not heard that phrase since the 90's. So you can just pipe down dude. But this church is healthy and unique despite your rant. Link to comment
Mola Ram Suda Ram Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Sure, SDA are Vegetarians.Which has nothing what so ever to do with the WoW. Link to comment
Deborah Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 but the public deserves to know long term happiness before joining....What the heck does that mean? Why would the church not advertise happy families? Of course there are unhappy families but if you think the Adventists don't have any then you must be very naive. I'm curious as to what the point of this thread is. So what if other churches have a higher growth rate or also live health laws? I've known lots of 7th Day Adventists and they are fine people. I've known lots of Catholics. So are they. And I've known lots of Mormons and likewise. If a church helps someone live a better life why should we play an "I'm better than you game"? The thing that distinguishes the LDS church is the claim to living prophets and authorized Priesthood and ordinances necessary for salvation. 1 Link to comment
bluebell Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Sure, SDA are Vegetarians.The WoW declares that meat can be eaten sparingly. Therefore, someone who is a vegetarian cannot be keeping the WoW better just because they don't eat meat at all. Link to comment
thesometimesaint Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 bluebell:I think it is entirely possible to be a vegetarian and a good LDS. It is more work to get a balanced diet, but doable. Particularly if they live in an area where the cost of meat is prohibitively expensive. I think a problem would come in in stating vegetarianism is Church doctrine. Link to comment
Garden Girl Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 I do have to say... when my husband and I were first married, we lived in Loma Linda, CA for about two years. I would normally do my shopping at the "regular" market, but I would also shop in this 7th DA market where instead of a meat counter they had the most marvelous cases of all kinds of nuts and seeds. I would buy several different types for cooking as well as eating. Makes my mouth water just thinking about them... beautiful cases of cashews, walnets, pecans, etc etc... but, on the other hand, they can keep their Loma Linda brand "meats"... billed as tasting "just like chicken" or "beef." They went to a lot of trouble to make a product that tasted like meat even though they didn't believe in eating meat. Used to make me chuckle. However, we appreciated our kind and friendly SDA neighbors, and tried to be good neighbors in return.GG Link to comment
bluebell Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 bluebell:I think it is entirely possible to be a vegetarian and a good LDS. Of course. I know a couple.They aren't keeping the WoW better just because they don't eat meat, however, and that was my point to BOMG. Link to comment
BOMG Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Which the Word of Wisdom says nothing about becoming Vegetarians. In fact, the scriptures specifically say that those who forbid meat aren't commanded of God.Which has nothing what so ever to do with the WoW.The WoW declares that meat can be eaten sparingly. Therefore, someone who is a vegetarian cannot be keeping the WoW better just because they don't eat meat at all.bluebell:I think it is entirely possible to be a vegetarian and a good LDS. It is more work to get a balanced diet, I do have to say... when my husband and I were first married, we lived in Loma Linda, ..they can keep their Loma Linda brand "meats"... billed as tasting "just like chicken" or "beef." However, we appreciated our kind and friendly SDA neighborsI know a couple. They aren't keeping the WoW better just because they don't eat meatWhat century is this? No one schooled you clan on the correct understanding of the WoW? Even without the JST of Genesis 9, the SDA figured out God's law of health and I suggest you read that and reread D&C 49:18 which means the opposite of what you've been taught. Link to comment
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