Throughout my case study I have looked at the Mormon messages videos:
The first week centered around the video, "Choose This Day" I classified this video as light in doctrine.

The second week I looked at a video of Elder Holland's testimony of the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. I classified this video as heavier in doctrine.

This past week I looked at the video "Lessons I learned as a Boy" by the late prophet Gordon B. Hinkley. I classified this video as light in doctrine, but heavy in authority.

My observations show that there is generally very little response to strong anti comments from non-member, but when there is a response it is never vengeful.

The responses were usually just answers to the questions asked and though they defended the faith they members did not engage in arguments. 

In the last video I was surprised to read responses to this negative statement about the church. Could it be because these were the words of a (somewhat) recently deceased prophet that people became more defensive? If that is the case, I would have expected to find more defensive responses closer to Hinkley's passing, but I did not see that.

In the October 2013 Ensign (Church Magazine) there is an article  by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Tweleve-Apostles that has to do with Internet usage. He advises members to not act out of charachter and to not hide their identity online using "black painted faces". He points out that those who dragged Joseph Smith into the night to tar and feather him had black-painted faces, and  those who killed the Prophet in Carthage also painted their faces to hide their identity.

"One of your greatest protections against making bad choices is not to put on any mask of anonymity. If you ever find yourself wanting to do so, please know it is a serious sign of danger and one of the adversary’s tools to get you to do something you should not do.

It is common today to hide one’s identity when writing hateful, vitriolic, bigoted communications anonymously online. Some refer to it as flaming.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God” (1 Corinthians 15:33–34).

It is clear that evil communications are not just a matter of bad manners. If practiced by Latter-day Saints, they can adversely affect those who do not have knowledge of God or a testimony of the Savior.

Any use of the Internet to bully, destroy a reputation, or place a person in a bad light is reprehensible. What we are seeing in society is that when people wear the mask of anonymity, they are more likely to engage in this kind of conduct, which is so destructive of civil discourse. It also violates the basic principles the Savior taught."

The council to "try to show kindness in all that you do, be gentle and loving in deed and in thought"and to avoid contention is not new. The reference to persecution and the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith is also not new. 

It is easy to say that members react how they do because they are specifically counciled to react in a certain way and because of teachings about the spirit (that it is through the spirit that people know the truth, and that the spirit fleas from contention) but there is another aspect to it that I hadn't considered before. That is the role of persecution.

In my last post I mentioned that there were more comments about those who persecute than comments persecuting. 

We Thank Thee, O God, for a Propeht.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naqX9iYE0V0
This week I looked at the Mormon Messages video, “Lessons I Learned as a Boy” which was taken from a talk given by the late president Gordon B. Hinkley in the April 1993 General Conference. The message is not particularly heavy in doctrine like Elder Holland’s testimony of the Book of Mormon was, but it is a message coming from a former prophet which adds an element of Authority that wasn’t present in “Choose This Day” (though Henry B. Eyring has a lot of Authority as well)

The first non-member comment I saw was this one:

 

It is pretty recent and very harsh. Judging from my past observations I didn't expect it to get any response, but it did. 

 

This response seemed particularly out of place because it invites a sort of back and forth argument and there is no invitation for the original poster to find more information but there is a bit of humor in that it is an exact reciprocation.

I was surprised that there was even one response to smedlyb's comment, but there were actually 3. The fact that there are three responses to smedlyb's comment and that it has only been 3 weeks since smedlyb posted it seems very out of the ordinary. Smedlyb accuses the church of being false but the phrase "false religion" implies more than just not believing that the church is true but it is a phrase often interchanged with the word "cult".

This example is more in line with what I saw in the other two videos and what I would generally expect. This comment is not hostile and asks a question, based on my studies in the previous weeks this kind of comment should get the most responses, and it does.  

All responses to this comment explain to some extent, the doctrine of "The Plan of Salvation" also known as "God's Plan of Happiness". 

Before our souls came to Earth we all lived with our heavenly parents. Just by coming to Earth we showed a great amount of faith, we knew life on Earth was going to be hard and 1/3 of the spirits would not come. We entered mortality to learn and progress, prepare to return to live with Heavenly Father, and most importantly to have Joy. "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25) After death souls go to the "Postmortal Spirit World" which consists of spirit paradise and spirit prison. Many souls will accept the gospel in the spirit world. After Christ's second coming, there will be a resurrection and the souls be reunited with the body and stand before the judgement of God and inherit one of three kingdoms or be cast into outer darkness. (Outer Darkness is reserved for the sons of perdition or 1/3 who never came to Earth, and not something any of you should worry about!)

So that is how I explain the Plan of Salavation, but how and to what extent do the respondents use it to answer TheScriptureMan's question?

 

Drtruth8, 1974spr, and Joshua Jorgensen explain important parts of the Plan of Salvation. 1974spr stresses that the Gospel will be made avaliable to all in this world and in the next. He goes even further and explains the necessity of Temple ordinances for the dead. 

Drtruth8 explains that it is at the second coming rather than at death that souls inherit their kingdoms of glory and emphasizes happiness. He also ends by inviting the person to pray in order to find answers. 

Joshua Jorgensen focuses on the Postmortal Spirit World pointing out that everybody will have an oppertunity to hear the Gospel and to learn from Christ himself.

These three responses contain a lot of doctrine, and when put together give a pretty complete picture of the Plan of Salvation. Some responses were less doctrinal though:

Ronnie Kelly's response doesn't really explain the Plan of Salvation and is much more alligned with a Protestant understanding of the final Judgement. In fact, had he not used such Mormon language like, "Testify to the truthfulness of all things" and "endure to the end" I would assume he was Protestant. "Good people who love the Lord" really constrains what it means to be "Good" and in a way denies that there are good people who do not love the Lord. Does Christ love only they that love him? Surely not, for he said, "For if yee loue them which loue you, what reward haue yee? Doe not euen the Publicanes the same?" (Matthew 5:46) 

The difference in responses is a good example of people having the same doctrine yet a different understanding of that doctrine. 

The third comment I examined for this week was by MultiFagman. It got 228 likes and a lot of interesting responses.

 

There was one reaction from another non-member, but this is difficult to analyze because I'm not really sure how to take it. 

The LDS responses to this comment, as I had expected, were very positive. I was a little surprised that nobody encouraged MultiFagman to learn more, read the Book of Mormon, or visit mormon.org.

 I found the response by Jaeden Carpenter especially interesting. It thanks MultiFagman for not putting negative comments on the video. There were other comments by LDS (not in reaction to MultiFagman) that mention how people could be so hateful, and several people referenced the amount of dislikes the video got. However, I really did not see that many negative comments. I saw more comments about how many negative comments there were than actual negative comments. Maybe they were deleted but as far as I know likes and dislikes are permanent and the video got 4,654 likes and only 187 dislikes. That along with something Elder Hales said during the Saturday morning session of General Conference last weekend and really doing this whole study in general has made me begin to look at persecution and it's role in the church differently. I'd like to go deeper into that later on.

Comparing and rethinking

By looking at the comments and responses to comments on the Mormon Messages videos, “Choose this Day” and “A Testimony of the Book of Mormon” I was struck by the diversity of the comments left by non-members and the uniformity of the LDS responses to those comments.

I think we gain valuable insight when we look at the anti-Mormon comments that did not get any response. In fact, I in some ways what isn’t said is more telling than what is said. Take the comments of “truthdottcom” from “Choose This Day” as an example.

This shows two very different responses from non-members. Castheman1050 is a non-member but appreciates the message and draws a lot of similarities between Catholicism and Mormonism. Out of all the comments from non-members this kind is the most common and gains the most “likes”. For the video “Choose This Day” The two top comments are from non-members one from a Buddhist that got 115 likes and Castheman1050’s comment with 74 likes. Most people are kind, loving, and open albeit sometimes heavily misinformed. Even though the focuses of my study are the non-members who are more critical, it’s important to not forget the goodness.

Through Truthdottcom’s  reaction to Castheman1050’s comment we see two contrasting ends of the spectrum. Truthdottcom brings up the issues quite frequently brought forth in Anti-Mormon literature and evangelical campaigns against the LDS (and apparently Islam and Jehovah’s Witness as well) He received one response, but it is difficult to judge whether the responder was LDS or not and received 0 likes. As I pointed out last week the juvenile or outright vicious comments don’t get much of a response, especially those who don’t ask a question.

A major finding of my case study has been: if you want an answer, then ask a question. It seems really simple but it is something I had overlooked before. I attributed the lack of response to the aggressiveness of the comment and did not even realise that those comments that were very vicious or juvenile usually had no question attached. Even the questions that had elements of criticism or accusation tied into them received answers. The doctrine is not secret, and members are very willing teach others about it.

Questions are important because they give members an opportunity to share the gospel. What is at the centre of every LDS response to non-member comments has been focused on proselytizing and directing people to the Book of Mormon.

I had concluded last week that the comments from the Book of Mormon video did not show a better understanding of the Church and I stand by that but if we look at it from a different angel, from an angle of who is more open to learning more about the Church instead of  who already knows more about the church it is different. Going back to the example of truthdottcom v. Castheman1050 neither show a willingness to learn more. By assuming that Catholicism and Mormonism are basically the same Castheman1050 shows just as much willingness to learn more about the Gospel as truthdottcom. Though some were a rudely framed, the questions from the video of Holland’s testimony of the Book of Mormon opened the door to let members teach.

There has been a huge push for missionary work in the church. This time last year at General Conference President Monson announced a lowering of missionary age. Males would be eligible at 18 (down from 19) and females at 19 (down from 21). This summer it was announced that Missionaries would be able to use Social Media on their missions and members are also encouraged to be more outgoing in sharing the gospel online.

My case study has evolved a bit from when I started and I’ve been looking more at the responses of members to non-member comments in general and not just those that seem anti. How do members share their faith and encourage others in the gospel through YouTube.

I will continue my research next week by looking at a Mormon Messages video from the Prophet. This time,  instead of looking at a video that delves deeper into doctrine and it's effect on the openness of non-members, I will instead focus on the impact of a video that pulls from higher authority.