Overall Impact of the Church

[Ferdinand55]

I’m just curious what the general opinion of participants on this forum is. I know it’s kinda a fuzzy question, cause what exactly constitutes “the Church” or an “impact” is up for debate, but I’m curious how people will respond nonetheless.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Ferdinand55

[OGHoosier]

I put positive, but only withheld the "very" as a matter of scale. I am quite bullish on the Church's impact being good, but the extent of its impact is not yet complete.

[Pyreaux]

I put very positive, hard to argue even secularly speaking how the church positively impacts in just humanitarian aid and charity, how it feeds LDS and non-LDS poor through a system with no overhead, so 100% of what you put in stays in a separate fund and all of it goes to the poor. Better than any charity with a late-night commercial with a paid actor spokesperson and enough overhead that only 20% get to the poor people. Better than the US government that co-mingles funds and spends it on everything other than what it's supposed to.

Thats just one thing... There might be other perspectives, like for smokers when the church bought the largest tobacco field in Kentucky to do their charity farming on.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Pyreaux

[Mark Beesley]

Given the state the World is in today, and comparing it to the state of things just before the Flood, I have to conclude that the impact the Church has had on the World has been to keep it from being completely destroyed already because of iniquity. I suppose that is a positive impact . . . delaying the inevitable so folks have an opportunity to repent.

[carbon dioxide]

I voted slightly positive based on the fact the church is very small in the world as a whole.  Only perhaps 5-8 million active members in a population of 8 billion is not going to have a widespread impact in the world.  Its impact will grow over time as end time events play out. 

[gav]

Very positive, going with the fact that the work goes forward on both sides of the veil. Given the temple work that has been going on for the last 200 years the potential numbers on the other side must be staggering in comparison to current living membership.

In the purely temporal sphere the rolling forth of the gospel and building of temples brought an end to Apartheid and opened up the African continent and similarly collapsed the Berlin wall that brought an end to the Soviet Union, opening up the Eastern Block and liberating billions from communist clutches

Edited December 2, 2022 by gav
typo

[The Nehor]

8 hours ago, Mark Beesley said:

Given the state the World is in today, and comparing it to the state of things just before the Flood, I have to conclude that the impact the Church has had on the World has been to keep it from being completely destroyed already because of iniquity. I suppose that is a positive impact . . . delaying the inevitable so folks have an opportunity to repent.

Now you have me thinking “very negative” since we might just be prolonging the agony.

[Rivers]

A recent convert in my ward told me that the Church’s ability to foster a good community is what drew him to the Church.