# Missionaires to majority Christian nations, why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974 "2012-09-27T05:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rhodes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhodes/32/273_2.png) [@Rhodes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhodes)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/41 "2012-09-28T20:52:40Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > You said they had missions wose basic purpose was to convert Catholic and Protestant Christians to Mormonism. They don’t. They have missions whose basic purpose it convert everyone–you know, including people who are not Catholic or Protestant Christians. Not to mentioon that the LDS do not have missions specifically targeting Catholics or Protestants or both; they have missions targeting everyone in a particular geographic area. Here it seem’s you’ve emphasized the relevance of the OP’s question without attempting to answer the OP’s question. “What is the point of sending missionaries to spread Christianity in [a particular geographic area] where a majority of people are already some flavor of it?” A good example is Tahiti. Joseph Smith sent Addison Pratt on a mission to the Sandwich Islands. Pratt got distracted in Tubuai and pretty much baptized the whole island. From there the faith spread to Tahiti. Then between switching hands between the French and English, everyone became either Catholic or Protestant. The local Mormons went with the RLDS when the LDS had their big scism. JW, Pentacostal, and Adventist missionaries all had some degree of success, and LDS-style Mormonism has made a comeback too. There are virtually no non-Christians in Tahiti. The LDS church maintains a mission in Tahiti, as in most of the Christian world, with the specific goal of “bringing souls to Christ”. Their basic goal, like you said, is to convert everyone in the particular geographic area. As the particular geographic area is 100% Christian, they are certainly targetting Christians. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/42 "2012-09-29T11:39:53Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > I met some in Haiti getting ready for their mission to the US. Missionaries are biblically guided by God to go where He sends for His purpose, Paul being a leading example of this. So with that reasoning the answer is because God is sending them. > > And there is a pretty large difference between cultural christianity and living for Christ. The christian nations you elude to in the OP may have more to do with some flavor of cultural christianity then actually devoting one’s life to Jesus. Since Jesus is quoted as saying," what ever you do to one of your brothers you do unto me" therefore one should treat his friends( and enemies) as if they were Christ.Far too many do not! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/43 "2012-09-29T12:51:22Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Mormons don’t believe that everyone else is “unsaved.” > [@TokyoBayer](#): > > So, the difference is between the words “saved” and salvation. Oooops, I gave incorrect information. The Mormon heaven is complex and really takes [a diagram](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Plan_of_Salvation.jpg) to understand it. [This article explains it](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Degrees_of_glory), so I wonder go over it in detail, but the important part is > [@](#): > > Joseph Smith taught that the celestial kingdom itself is subdivided into three “heavens or degrees”. Only those individuals who are sealed in celestial marriage to a spouse in a temple while alive (or after death by proxy) will be permitted to enter into the highest degree of celestial kingdom. These individuals will eventually become “exalted” and will be permitted to live “the kind of life God lives” as literal gods and goddesses, as Doctrine and Covenants 132 explains. Not all Mormons make it into the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. Only those who have gotten married in the temple; gotten a new, secret name which they can never reveal to anyone, ever (except that wives must tell their husbands theirs, while the husbands can never tell their secret names to their wives); promise to give everything the own to the Church if asked; memorized the secret handshakes which will allow them to get by the angel bouncers; and other such things. The difference between the top of the top and everything else is so huge, that Mormons don’t think of being “saved” or not. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/44 "2012-09-29T15:29:43Z")
My denomination only sends missionaries where they are requested by the local Christians who have need for particular talents. Also, a native Christian pastor from South Africa spent time in Ohio as “missionary” - we can learn from one another! And some times people go as missionaries so they can learn something. A minister I know has made many trips to a Central America village, where she has helped improve the water supply and helped start a school - and returns with her faith nourished by the people there. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/45 "2012-09-30T06:26:57Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > I am not Christian, but I am amazed that people who take the Bible as the word of God, or inspired by God, do not seem to know that the Roman and Orthodox bishops back in the 300’s at Constantine’s suggestion decided what was God’s word, and what was inspired by God. Apparently they don’t realize that they are in reality taking those bishops words and beliefs as Gods! That’s because they don’t recognize the Bible because of those pronouncements. They recognize the Bible for the same reason those people did–that those Scriptures had been accepted as such by Christians for a while. Just because someone is “not a Christian” by your standards doesn’t mean they are wrong. Plus, the number of people who think all Catholics are not Christians is relatively small. Most of us are on the kick that they are Christians who disagree with us, or, at worst, are misled. Their salvation is between them and God. Sharing the gospel is just about making sure of their salvation by helping them not to be misled. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974/46 "2012-09-30T11:28:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That’s because they don’t recognize the Bible because of those pronouncements. They recognize the Bible for the same reason those people did–that those Scriptures had been accepted as such by Christians for a while. Just because someone is “not a Christian” by your standards doesn’t mean they are wrong. > > Plus, the number of people who think all Catholics are not Christians is relatively small. Most of us are on the kick that they are Christians who disagree with us, or, at worst, are misled. Their salvation is between them and God. Sharing the gospel is just about making sure of their salvation by helping them not to be misled. One is still accepting the words of the Roman and Orthodox Bishops as the word of God. So in reality it is not the word or inspiration of God, but other humans, that their belief is based on. Christianity was always divided,that is why Constantine called the Bishops together. For 700 years that was the standard,There is nothing ever written, read, thought or taught that wasn’t from another human and that is a proven fact. I believe if a person wants to call themselves Chriatian that is their right. And why it should bother any other person who calls them selves Christian is hard to understand. There were many writings that were decided at the time of the Council that were disregarded, and some found many years later. Most of the writings were written much later and it is strange that only, Matthew, John,and Peter wrote what Jesus was said to have done or said. Thomas’s was disregarded (as one) who was a witness to Jesus in real life? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missionaires-to-majority-christian-nations-why/635974.md?page=2)