I have a question wrote:Exiled wrote:If you look closely at the missionary program and how it is organized, it really shows how lacking in faith in the message the leaders really are. One doesn't see the mission president leading the charge, knocking on doors. Who has ever seen an apostle knock on a door or make a street contact? They hide in their offices and blame those directly below them when the numbers don't add up, then each in turn blames those lower until it gets to the poor immature missionary. Why don't the apostles continually blast the airwaves with their testimony of the "name" of Jesus and round up leads for the poor young missionaries? Are they afraid they will be exposed?
That’s a very good observation.
When was the last time a missionary got a referral from a General Authority?
When was the last time Nielson went out tracting?
The paid leadership of the Church cosset themselves within groups of people they know won’t challenge them. Imagine the power of the Apostles spending a week a month doing the same missionary work they require of full time missionaries. Leading by example as it were. Of course, when they deliver no better results than anyone else, questions would be asked about their specialness.
This is what really got me every time I had to endure a zone conference where we were blamed for not meeting the outlandish goals set for us by the higher ups. We never saw our leaders out there actually leading in front, showing us the way. Instead it was a game of blaming from the top down and for sure it always had to do with worthiness (masturbation). I spent time in two different missions, one in the states while waiting for a visa and one in Brazil. In the states where there wasn't as much success, the mission pres was obsessed with masturbation. One would have thought that the mission there in the states led the league in masturbatory practices. Not surprisingly, the pres' son was finishing out his mission with his pres father because he had literally cracked under the pressure that his father had probably put on him along with the church pressure/blame culture that already pervaded.
Glad my son won't do that. Would rather he join the military as a rite of passage than a mission.