Meet the Mormons

[ERCougar]

exmos going to see a church movie and you are asking me about paranoia?? I have no idea why they are paranoid about the church's motives. Every single thing the church does isn't a machination. But to paranoid idiots, there always has to be something more than is on the surface, and more often than not, in the eyes of a paranoid idiots the thing below the surface is somehow directed at them or intended to affect them in some imaginary way. I don't get it, either.

Oh. I thought you were talking about my theory that one of the goals of the documentary might be to draw attention away from the BBC documentary, which makes the church look pretty cultish and creepy. Paranoia is pretty far from what I feel about that. I just think the name choice is curious, particularly in a film that seems pretty desperate to show the opposite.

[TripletDaddy]

Oh. I thought you were talking about my theory that one of the goals of the documentary might be to draw attention away from the BBC documentary, which makes the church look pretty cultish and creepy. Paranoia is pretty far from what I feel about that. I just think the name choice is curious, particularly in a film that seems pretty desperate to show the opposite.

I wasn't referring to you or any specific person anyway.

God makers, south park, Book of Mormon musical, bbc documentaries....none of these things really raise any eyebrows in mass quantities. The church has been The subject of negative media for decades. No rational reason to think that this bbc documentary was the smoking gun that spurred the church into action.

if you are looking for a rational explanation for the movie, how about because the church has made church centric media for decades. Distributing it In a theater was probably a human miscalculation. Human miscalculations...something else the church has been doing for decades!

[jay santos]

I wasn't referring to you or any specific person anyway.

God makers, south park, Book of Mormon musical, bbc documentaries....none of these things really raise any eyebrows in mass quantities. The church has been The subject of negative media for decades. No rational reason to think that this bbc documentary was the smoking gun that spurred the church into action.

if you are looking for a rational explanation for the movie, how about because the church has made church centric media for decades. Distributing it In a theater was probably a human miscalculation. Human miscalculations...something else the church has been doing for decades!

Hmm. Well, Godmakers, South Park, etc, maybe none of these raised eyebrows in mass quantities, but cumulatively you could say they have really damaged the church. Net growth is pretty much down to nothing. I do believe most everything the church does is a machination. The church has a lot of resources and a lot of smart people running it, and I believe they put a lot of time into risk analysis. That said, this particular accusation about matching the title of the BBC documentary just doesn't resonate with me.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hmm. Well, Godmakers, South Park, etc, maybe none of these raised eyebrows in mass quantities, but cumulatively you could say they have really damaged the church. Net growth is pretty much down to nothing. I do believe most everything the church does is a machination. The church has a lot of resources and a lot of smart people running it, and I believe they put a lot of time into risk analysis. That said, this particular accusation about matching the title of the BBC documentary just doesn't resonate with me.

I had never even heard of that BBC documentary until this thread. Sounds like paranoid idiocy to me.

[Goatnapper'96]

Hmm. Well, Godmakers, South Park, etc, maybe none of these raised eyebrows in mass quantities, but cumulatively you could say they have really damaged the church. Net growth is pretty much down to nothing. I do believe most everything the church does is a machination. The church has a lot of resources and a lot of smart people running it, and I believe they put a lot of time into risk analysis. That said, this particular accusation about matching the title of the BBC documentary just doesn't resonate with me.

Your causality goes in the wrong direction. Both declining Church growth, in developed countries, and South Park episodes as well as various other pop culture efforts to mock/attack the LDS faith as well as other religions reflect a culture becoming more secular and skeptical of any faith based belief system. I don't think the efforts to mock have had any impact but they reflect the greater culture at large.

Edit: Godsmakers came out a hell of a long time ago. I saw it when I was a missionary and it was old as shit then. It had to be circa 1970's or mid 80's at the latest. I doubt that flick influenced anyone as it was awful. IIRC wasn't the thesis about "mormon" meaning gates of hell in Chinese or something like that?

[Solon]

I had never even heard of that BBC documentary until this thread. Sounds like paranoid idiocy to me.

How many BBC documentaries on Mormons are there? Apparently, the one where Elder Holland says, "I"m not a dodo" is called "The Mormon Candidate."
Maybe the LDS church owns the BBC.

[YOhio]

How many BBC documentaries on Mormons are there? Apparently, the one where Elder Holland says, "I"m not a dodo" is called "The Mormon Candidate."
Maybe the LDS church owns the BBC.

Solon connecting some dots!

[BigPiney]

How many BBC documentaries on Mormons are there? Apparently, the one where Elder Holland says, "I"m not a dodo" is called "The Mormon Candidate."
Maybe the LDS church owns the BBC.

They are living rent free in the BBC's head.

[Goatnapper'96]

They are living rent free in the BBC's head.

They? Sunday rides to Lone Pine starting to look all too attractive, eh?

[jay santos]

Your causality goes in the wrong direction. Both declining Church growth, in developed countries, and South Park episodes as well as various other pop culture efforts to mock/attack the LDS faith as well as other religions reflect a culture becoming more secular and skeptical of any faith based belief system. I don't think the efforts to mock have had any impact but they reflect the greater culture at large.

Edit: Godsmakers came out a hell of a long time ago. I saw it when I was a missionary and it was old as shit then. It had to be circa 1970's or mid 80's at the latest. I doubt that flick influenced anyone as it was awful. IIRC wasn't the thesis about "mormon" meaning gates of hell in Chinese or something like that?

LDS growth tanking correlates really well with the information age. Tighter correlation I would guess, than with the general secularization of America, which has been going on for decades.

[TripletDaddy]

The Church should make another movie and call it "The Godmakers." That will help confuse anyone searching google for the original Godmakers and it will be a funny "in your face" to Ed Decker, who will only be able to sit there like a fool while the LDS church engages in SEO machinations.

Added bonus: if enough people see The Godmakers, it will get on netflix!

[Pheidippides]

The Church should make another movie and call it "The Godmakers." That will help confuse anyone searching google for the original Godmakers and it will be a funny "in your face" to Ed Decker, who will only be able to sit there like a fool while the LDS church engages in SEO machinations.

Added bonus: if enough people see The Godmakers, it will get on netflix!

Side note: have you ever seen The Godmakers? I can't believe it was so taboo when I was a kid/missionary. It should be classified as poorly done satire. The cartoon makes me laugh every time.

[TripletDaddy]

Side note: have you ever seen The Godmakers? I can't believe it was so taboo when I was a kid/missionary. It should be classified as poorly done satire. The cartoon makes me laugh every time.

I read the book while I was on my mission, never saw the movie. It was stupid. I agree that is good for a laugh and not much else. I also laughed at goat's post above because I recall the dust jacket...it had all these "sensationalist" factoids on it and one of them was that gates of hell thing.

[Pheidippides]

I read the book while I was on my mission, never saw the movie. It was stupid. I agree that is good for a laugh and not much else. I also laughed at goat's post above because I recall the dust jacket...it had all these "sensationalist" factoids on it and one of them was that gates of hell thing.

Back to the topic at hand, while I have also heard the rumor that the title of MtM was to overshadow the BBC MtM, it's far more likely to me that it's a nod to the eponymous missionary filmstrip from the 1970s.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I read the book while I was on my mission, never saw the movie. It was stupid. I agree that is good for a laugh and not much else. I also laughed at goat's post above because I recall the dust jacket...it had all these "sensationalist" factoids on it and one of them was that gates of hell thing.

You read all the anti stuff on your mission, too?

There was an old pamphlet called "The Mind Manipulating Methods of the Mormon Missionaries". Loved that one. Gave me some good pointers.