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.
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