I'm seeing more and more of this spin lately. This is from Dan Peterson:

"Scriptural prophecies seem to indicate that, while the restored gospel will spread throughout the earth, church members will always be a minority. (See, for example, 1 Nephi 14:12; Matthew 24:37-41; Luke 17:31-36.) Which is to say that the majority of humankind will continue to be either ignorant of or indifferent toward its claims or, as depicted in Lehi's vision (1 Nephi 8:26-28; 11:35-36), will sneer at them and find them (and us) ridiculous. We should not be dismayed when we encounter such reactions. They were predicted many centuries ago."

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/19393/Anti-Mormon-mockery-can-actually-lead-to-teaching-moments

... and another recent one....

"The Lord has never given us a mandate to be the biggest church — in fact, he has said our numbers will be comparatively few — but he has asked that we commit ourselves to living and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ." (M. Russell Ballard)

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/393/Even-with-decline-in-baptisms-the-church-is-still-true

... compare the above two quotes with:

"There are now more than 13 million of us in 176 nations and territories. A marvelous and wonderful thing is coming to pass. The Lord is fulfilling His promise that His gospel shall be as the stone cut out of the mountain without hands which would roll forth and fill the whole earth, as Daniel saw in vision (see Daniel 2:31–45; D&C 65:2). A great miracle is taking place right before our eyes." (Gordon B. Hinckley ... 2007)

For when your Deity goes from Omnipotent to Impotent.

Examples:
He who hesitates is lost.
Look before you leap.


Spin is the operative word here. Whatever happens proves da chuuuch is tawoooo.

Eventually someone will notice that a majority of Russians and chinese are not Mormon.

This is not surprising. It is clearly just a cognitive bias. If TSSC is growing, it is PROOF that it is true because people are accepting it. If TSCC is shrinking, it is PROOF it is true, because Satan is working really hard, and narrow is the way.

It is a dishonest "heads I win, tails you lose" proposition. It is dishonestly set up where they can't lose either way. The only problem is that it can apply to any religion or organization, so it is really meaningless.

So supposedly according to morg doctrine this life is to give us a chance to accept the "truth of the gospel". The whole idea of having the memory of the preexistence wiped from our minds is so that we're on a level playing field for the grand experiment.

Only 0.1%-0.2% of the world population is Mormon and the that number is not increasing. So 99.8% of the everyone born ends up in Spirit Prison to learn the "gospel"? So why send them to earth in the first place? If that's Mormon God's plan, then he is not terribly bright.

That was one thing that bugged me about the morg. If it's so truly true, why isn't it selling like hotcakes? Even if most of the world was under the spell of Satan, the morg would be higher profile and in the news, since there would be a lot of noise made as it was being rejected on a massive scale. It's just not the radar screen at all. Mormonism is a regional American religion that most people see as odd.

This was exactly one of the first realisations I had that the plan of salvation was flawed. I even flagged it to my Bishop one Sunday. He didn't really have an answer and just said, "well you know what, you have to admit that worse case scenario, there's no doubting that the church teaches good principles in raising kids in today's difficult world'

I didn't respond.

Sherlock: 1
Bishop: 0

Always a way out, isn't there?

When a prophecy fails, it is either the members' fault, prophets speaking as men, or a new understanding of the prophecy and reinterpreting the scriptures that were once used to prove it.

Either way, the church is never wrong.

This reverse in rhetoric is Corporate's way of maintaining the faith of those still in the shrinking church. Quite a different tune than the one heard in the 90's, during the church's growth spurt: "Like a stone cut out of the mountain, rolling forth and consuming the earth."

This is just a natural response to the decline in convert baptisms and the increase in people leaving the church.

Gone are the days when Gordon B. Hinckley would read over the statistics and numbers and ask, "Isn't it marvelous?"

i was told that my child knew the molestation would happen and that my child agreed to the whole thing knowing the my child would make it back to the celestial kingdom one day.

But if you think about it, it certainly fits with LDS theology. Blech.

The Bood of Revelation say that only 144,000 will be saved. That is kind of small even if all of them are going to be mormon.

That should read: The Book of Revelation says...
I really need to proof read better.

In my BYU mormon history class Susan Black asserted that the CJCLDS was true because it had more members than any other of the many sects that splintered.

Maybe they're even MORE chosen by god and ridiculed for it.

Its modern day revelation. It only matters what is said today which trumps yesterday.