I watched this Movie the other day - largely because Ann Hathaway co-stars in the movie, and thought I would write about my observations.
It's about the missionary adventures of a young Mormon "elder" back in the 1950s in the Pacific Islands. Originally chartered to go to the Island of Tonga, he spent most of his time on a small Island some 800 miles to the north.
Here are the things I found interesting...
1) He discovered that most of the natives on the Island were already members of other Churches.
2) He found himself disliked by the more vocal natives - apparently upset at him because of his Mormon religion and because of the subversive activities of a "Christian minister" who was constantly looking for ways to impugn his person and detract from his missionary work.
3) He spent most of his time learning the language at first - apparently from reading the KJV Bible and comparing it verse by verse to a Bible Version written in the native language. Wonder who translated the Bible into their language? Bet you it was not a Mormon.
4) The young elder managed to persuade a few nominal Mormons on the island to organizing and building a church.
5) He demonstrated good character and worked hard at his mission, and was willing to work hard with friends and neighbors - which strengthened his credibility among the general population.
6) The "Christian minister" was suspected of encouraging certain Islanders to beat him up, but his plans were thwarted by a big native who came to his defense.
7) He was totally unprepared to do this mission, not knowing the language and not understanding his responsibilities to the Church, to record his activities and baptisms and other official documentation - however, he made up for these problems by his sincerity and personal commitment to the people.
8) When temped by a pretty native woman he managed to refuse her advances without offending her or her mother, by explaining how he desired to keep his promise to the love of his life waiting for him back in the States.
All in all - I enjoyed the movie. However, there were some things I found that annoyed me about the story.
1) The Mormon Church sent a young college age kid to the south Pacific by himself. Wow. I would NEVER send my son on a mission like that - never.
2) The Mormon Church sent this kid to a Christian Island - I do not condone the practice of evangelizing other Christians. But LDS's standard operating procedure is to evangelize other Christians.
3) I try to seek unity with Christian ministers in my area, rather than seeing them as adversaries - but this young man made no gestures to befriend the "Christian minister" on the Island.
4) Many of his converts eventually immigrated to the USA - all the mission works my previous Churches have been involved with encourage the native peoples in the lands they evangelize to remain where they are, and to build the kingdom of God where they live. The exceptions to this are in lands where the Churches we've helped established came under violent persecution from the majority Muslim populations.
5) I also found the "Gospel Message" as presented in this movie, to be accurate to Mormonism, but to be completely at odds with the Gospel message as preached by the apostles. I guess that was to be expected - but I am constantly amazed when I hear Mormon talk about the Gospel - and then go on to articulate anything but the Gospel.
2) He found himself disliked by the more vocal natives - apparently upset at him because of his Mormon religion and because of the subversive activities of a "Christian minister" who was constantly looking for ways to impugn his person and detract from his missionary work.
You act surprised by this.
Truth is, there are a lot of mainline Christian ministers who out and out hate the church.
As I've mentioned earlier, I can scarcely set foot in a non-Mormon church or the home of a non-Mormon minister without finding at least some sort of anti-Mormon literature or video about.
Did you see my post on C2C about how I picked up 200+ Chick Tracts and 30+ Chick comics at a recent fundraising sale?
5) He demonstrated good character and worked hard at his mission, and was willing to work hard with friends and neighbors - which strengthened his credibility among the general population.
As with the above, people like us until they realize that we're Mormon.
It's a rare few that are willing to accept us if they know that we're Mormon right away.
6) The "Christian minister" was suspected of encouraging certain Islanders to beat him up, but his plans were thwarted by a big native who came to his defense.
Used to know a guy who got jumped by members of his former congregation after he became LDS. Fortunately, the congregants botched the job; they were trying to lynch him but didn't get the ropes tied tightly enough.
1) The Mormon Church sent a young college age kid to the south Pacific by himself. Wow. I would NEVER send my son on a mission like that - never.
Remember, this was almost 60 years ago; back then, you likely could do something like that.
2) The Mormon Church sent this kid to a Christian Island - I do not condone the practice of evangelizing other Christians. But LDS's standard operating procedure is to evangelize other Christians.
The church has been active in the Pacific Islands practically since Day 1. It was inevitable that the island in question was visited.
3) I try to seek unity with Christian ministers in my area, rather than seeing them as adversaries - but this young man made no gestures to befriend the "Christian minister" on the Island.
See above.
Even today, there are ministers who'd rather spit in our faces than play nice with us.
4) Many of his converts eventually immigrated to the USA - all the mission works my previous Churches have been involved with encourage the native peoples in the lands they evangelize to remain where they are, and to build the kingdom of God where they live. The exceptions to this are in lands where the Churches we've helped established came under violent persecution from the majority Muslim populations.
Immigration to the US happens for a lot of different reasons.
It may be as simple as "the converts felt persecuted for their newfound faith and so opted to head for a place where it was stronger".
To begin with, you do realize that the movie was supposed to be a biographic tale, right?
Have you seen the movie Iron?
I kind of got that the story was supposed to be true - in spite of the choreographed dirty-dancing party depicted at BYU in the opening scene. What surprised me was that Ann Hathaway stared in a pro-Mormon movie. I do not know her religious history, but was surprised nonetheless. The parts about his family, parents and home-life sure brought back memories of my life as a child among my Mormon relatives in Salt Lake and Utah.. albeit the time frame was a little before my day, in as much as I was not born until 1956.
Even today, there are ministers who'd rather spit in our faces than play nice with us.
What do most Mormons do for a living anyway? In my whole working life I have never worked with anyone I knew was a Mormon... I currently work at Boeing and would honestly relished the opportunity to work closely with a Mormon. I think it would be interesting. I've worked with 2 JWs before, closely with 1, and that was interesting too. My LDS brother worked in sales most of his life - is that where lots of other moderately educated Mormons work???
"Truth is, there are a lot of mainline Christian ministers who out and out hate the church.
As I've mentioned earlier, I can scarcely set foot in a non-Mormon church or the home of a non-Mormon minister without finding at least some sort of anti-Mormon literature or video about."
You know, when you believe this malarkey, Iron, it just shows that you are out-of-touch, and come to think of it--out of petrol.
A conservative is someone who believes that firefighters, teachers, and police officers are overpaid.
"Wesley told the early Methodists to gain all they could and save all they could so that they could give all they could. It means that I consider my money to belong to God and I see myself as one of the hungry people who needs to get fed with God’s money. If I really have put all my trust in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, then nothing I have is really my own anymore."
Republicans experience suffering the way they experience all their virtues, i.e. vicariously.
According to "just war" standards of Christian theology, if Saddam Hussein killed 30,000 Iraqis, and the Iraq War killed 120,00, how was the War "just"?
Saw the first half; fell asleep through the second half.
What do most Mormons do for a living anyway?
~ Theophilus
Pretty well whatever we feel like.
Just because you haven't yet met any at Boeing doesn't mean that we aren't around.
It is indeed true that a lot of us go into business, but there's no real push for that to happen; rather, it's likely a cultural hold-over from the 1800s when circumstance forced the church to get directly involved in politics and business in order to meet the needs of the populace (ZCMI, Zion Bancorp, and a number of other companies were all founded by the church during this period; most have since been either sold or spun off as the economic situation in Utah improved).
In my case, however, when I started my degree there was great demand among the FBI and other regulatory agencies for agents with business backgrounds; I anticipated the prospect of following up my business education with some criminal justice courses and seeking a position with the government, but am now looking to either enter Corporate America or academia.
But the truth is, we're practically everywhere.
Just ask around. It could be as simple as "the Mormons are off working on a different assembly line or in a different plant than yours".
"Truth is, there are a lot of mainline Christian ministers who out and out hate the church.
As I've mentioned earlier, I can scarcely set foot in a non-Mormon church or the home of a non-Mormon minister without finding at least some sort of anti-Mormon literature or video about."
You know, when you believe this malarkey, Iron, it just shows that you are out-of-touch, and come to think of it--out of petrol.
I'm actually speaking from experience, there.
There is that much anti-Mormon literature floating around down here.
I've actually got a plastic storage tub full of anti-Mormon books that I've picked up from different garage sales and intend to do up responses to as time permits.
"Truth is, there are a lot of mainline Christian ministers who out and out hate the church.
As I've mentioned earlier, I can scarcely set foot in a non-Mormon church or the home of a non-Mormon minister without finding at least some sort of anti-Mormon literature or video about."
You know, when you believe this malarkey, Iron, it just shows that you are out-of-touch, and come to think of it--out of petrol.
I'm actually speaking from experience, there.
There is that much anti-Mormon literature floating around down here.
I've actually got a plastic storage tub full of anti-Mormon books that I've picked up from different garage sales and intend to do up responses to as time permits.
Iron, at times, you've posted how you go to garage sales to rescue anti-LDS literature from the general circulation. Two thoughts: 1) Garage sales and flea markets are not representative of reality. 2) I know of absolutely no congregation with "anti-LDS literature" on display. -- That's reality. If it's not yours, that speaks the truth.
A conservative is someone who believes that firefighters, teachers, and police officers are overpaid.
"Wesley told the early Methodists to gain all they could and save all they could so that they could give all they could. It means that I consider my money to belong to God and I see myself as one of the hungry people who needs to get fed with God’s money. If I really have put all my trust in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, then nothing I have is really my own anymore."
Republicans experience suffering the way they experience all their virtues, i.e. vicariously.
According to "just war" standards of Christian theology, if Saddam Hussein killed 30,000 Iraqis, and the Iraq War killed 120,00, how was the War "just"?
