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Tebowing: Is praying in public over the top?
November 18, 2011 in Faith, Prayer | 9 comments
If you're an NFL fan, like I am, you've probably been amazed by the turnaround of the Denver Broncos season since their evangelical Quarterback, Tim Tebow began starting for them. Watching him for most of a football game is painful. He misses passes constantly, hardly converts on 3rd downs, and overthrows his wide-receivers. On paper his statistics from a passing perspective look awful.
Yet, somehow he keeps pulling wins out by some miracle in every game.
When he scores a touchdown, he drops to a knee and starts praying. This is his signature thing to do and it actually has a nickname now. People call it "Tebowing". Here's an example:
Some people like it, and some people are highly annoyed by it.
When we look in the scriptures, we see some examples of people being condemned for praying in public such as when Jesus tells us to pray in our closets rather than making it a big scene in public, but also many instances where people prayed in public such as Daniel in the Bible and Nephi in the Book of Mormon.
So where do you stand on the issue? Do you feel it's over the top to pray in public (i.e. "Tebowing") or do you feel it's o.k.?
Cast your vote below:
Avoiding Mormon Missionary "Bait and Switch" Tactics
November 17, 2011 in Mormon Missionaries | 11 comments
In sales a bait and switch is when the salesman promises a potential customer one thing and then after the sale is made the customer finds out it is different than the expectations and promises given by the salesman. This is something Mormons have also been accused of.
The "basic" doctrines of faith, repentance, baptism, prayer, salvation through Christ, etc. are found in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. From my experience, people who are searching for true doctrine are very attracted to these concepts. They are found throughout the Bible, but in the Book of Mormon these doctrines are more clearly defined.
In addition to these doctrines, I think investigators are also attracted to the family values, moral living standards, and the structure and organization of the LDS Church.
Mormon missionaries are taught to teach these doctrines and concepts and then invite the people to pray to God about being baptized as soon as possible. The theory behind that is that the Spirit will give them a witness of the truth and then all other things taught after that witness will then be considered true. Many people then join the church based on this.
After people join the church though, I think on some occasions people feel that things aren't the way they were described and/or portrayed while they were investigators. I have heard quite a few people say that they thought they were getting one thing with joining the Mormon Church, but then after joining the church felt that things were very different.
Since I have always been familiar with the Mormon church, I'm not the best person to bring up what people think are different than what they were told while investigating. I would be interested though in hearing from other people who are either former LDS people or Mormon converts and if they thought there was a "bait and switch" after they joined. Also, what can LDS members and missionaries do to avoid "bait and switch" tactics?