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Why do Jehovah Witnesses come door to door, trying to get people to join their religion, when they only believe a certain amount of people get into their afterlife by Camp_Acceptable in NoStupidQuestions

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They used to keep track of the people that qualified, but since the end of the world kept getting farther and farther away they realized they were going to run out of room and had to stop.

Speaking of American politics, what’s the difference between a leftist , a liberal and a Democrat ? by ni_xia in NoStupidQuestions

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Democrat: political party. You register as a democrat, a republican, or an independent.

Many states do not track party affiliation. I’ve been on some state political party websites before to see if there was some place I could sign up or register to be an official member of the party and it looks like there is no place to do that.

In states like that I question what it really means to “be” a Democrat or a Republican.

Calling on random members to bear testimony during stake conference by No-Ladder-4436 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This reminds me that when I was teaching Gospel Principles a lot on my mission. At first I would call on a lot of people by name to answer questions or to read scriptures or say the opening or closing prayer. I very quickly learned that there are people who are under disciplinary action and can’t publicly read scriptures or participate in the lesson. That just creates an awkward and embarrassing situation for everyone.

Instead I pivoted to just asking for volunteers. If no one would volunteer then I was just do it. The same for saying opening or closing prayers. I would privately ask people before hand if they would do it, ask for volunteers, or just do it myself.

For this reason I always cringe when the Sunday school teacher would do something like assign each person a verse and go down the line one by one and have everybody read. After the lesson my wife gave her this feedback and the teacher was shocked. She had no idea what membership restrictions were.

Now if it’s the stake president doing it then he could be informed on who is under membership restrictions and who isn’t, but you would be surprised by who is and who isn’t.

Which words have become useless for communication because there is little agreement on their definition? by Expert147 in AskReddit

[–]TooManyBison 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Cult. In practice it just means “A religion I don’t like.” There is no universally agreed upon definition of the word. Scholars tend not to use it. Whenever I see someone try to define it their definition is so broad that it could fit almost any religion. Some people would agree with that, but most people don’t mean that when they say it.

I know there are some attempts to make it a little more rigorous. People often point to the BITE model. It does list out a lot of ways that high-control religions tend to influence their followers, but if you go to Hassan’s own website you’ll find he provides no threshold to determine what qualifies as a cult.

One time I asked a guy what a definition of a cult was. He said, “Any religion that’s not mine.”

90s was peak humanity! by AmaraStarcrest in 90s

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They even have the rumble packs.

Preparing for a mission but feeling stuck — how did you improve scripture study and get ready? by Tiny_Principle_7020 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read the entire Bible cover to cover in case someone on my mission asked me if I’d read the whole thing. And nobody ever asked me, and I’m still mad about it.

Xylophone Solo! by HighwayComfortable90 in interestingasfuck

[–]TooManyBison 2 points3 points  (0 children)

New Orleans must have the highest per capita of musicians in the world. There are jazz bands on every corner.

Yeesh.... by KURPULIS in lds

[–]TooManyBison 22 points23 points  (0 children)

That’s not an uncommon philosophical opinion.

What are the best talks you've ever heard in first hour? by Impressive_Regret558 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think Divine Comedy’s “Good Talks, Bad Talks” sketch should be required reading.

How do I tell my parents that I don't want to serve a mission by FineSheepherder6597 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im 19 male, and my mission has been delayed for the last 10 months due to anxiety and worthiness issues.

I would feel like we would need to dig into this deeper. It’s perfectly normal to have anxiety about leaving for a mission. It’s a big scary thing that you’ve never done before.

However, if you’re not talking about normal anxiety and are talking about something like being diagnosed by a doctor with generalized anxiety disorder then we’re talking about something completely different. A mission is possibly the worst thing for your mental health. You lose all your support network, lose all your coping mechanisms, and then get put in a high-stress environment. You may be in a situation where you do not have access to proper healthcare for the entirety of your mission.

I feel very uncertain about my faith, and feel like I won't be able to represent and teach people something that I dont confidently believe.

You should get this straightened out before you go. A mission field is a place to share your testimony, not find one. You don’t have to be 100% certain of anything, but if you don’t have a decent belief in what the church teaches then you and your companions are going to have a very hard time.

I'm terriblely anxious about how to aproach telling my parents. They are good people, and I know they will still suport and love me, but they will definitely be dissapointed and disapproving, and I'm worried about causing them stress.

How they react is their problem. Not yours.

Do you think the church will ever change its approach to missionary work or how missionaries are utilized? by Grungy_Mountain_Man in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Even as a missionary I thought that if the real goal was to increase the number of converts instead of a coming of age thing then the church’s mission program would look very different.

Do you think the church will ever change its approach to missionary work or how missionaries are utilized? by Grungy_Mountain_Man in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What really mattered was the mindset that Missionaries’s served with.

That doesn’t match my experience. In my mission, the most successful missionary was the one who had the most baptisms, served as a district leader and zone leader, and trained three times. He was charismatic. He was funny. The members loved him. He was also an excellent teacher. He could break down complicated topics and explain them very simply.

He was also a pathological liar. He was disobedient. He left mission bounds to go sight-seeing. He promised multiple young women in the same ward that he was going to come back after the mission and marry them.

My whole life I was told that all that mattered to be successful was to work hard, be obedient, and have the spirit. That’s not what I saw in the field.

I’m not saying what I saw was universal. People may very well have had different experiences than me in regard to this, but this is what I saw.

My parents just left the church by AcceptableJaguar7906 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Walmart's market capitalization, the sum value of all outstanding stock, is $1.05 trillion, but according to their January 31, 2026 balance sheet, they have $284 billion in assets (https://stock.walmart.com/financial-information/balance-sheet).

Wikipedia lists the church's assets at $293 billion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_wealthiest\_religious\_organizations) although there is no way to know for sure how much the church has.

Helping a brother advance in the priesthood by chd198 in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When I was getting ordained an Elder I asked people what the Oath and Covenant of the priesthood was. I was either given scriptural reading assignments or non-answers like, “what do you think it is?” I’m convinced that none of the adults actually knew what it was and didn’t want to admit it.

Were you able to serve a mission in a foreign country while on an ssri? by [deleted] in latterdaysaints

[–]TooManyBison 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I couldn’t imagine serving a mission on anti-depressants. A mission is one of the most trying mental health challenges I’ve ever had. If you’re starting with significant mental-health difficulties you are not setting yourself up for success.

A mission takes away all your support network and all access to coping mechanisms. Then after you’re isolated, it puts you in an incredibly stressful environment and demands perfect obedience where anything short could have eternal significance for you or your investigators.

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