http://www.valpo.edu/geomet/pics/geo200/religion/church_bodies.gif

Secondly, research by everyone’s favorite sociologist of religion, Rodney Stark, shows that most of the immigrants to the US from Ireland and Scotland (in the South) were actually Protestants, not Catholics. This is still a problem today in Northern Ireland, where the Scots-Irish North is mainly Protestant.

If this map is true, then both areas have been reversed in their religious affiliation.

Yes, but we must allow for the possibilty that all may be converted. And, in the event that all are converted I expect that something akin to Zion will be the prevailing order on the earth. I like to believe that the social conditions among the Nephites which were a result of the Lord’s appearance to them will be the prevailing conditions during the millennium. It is important to note that Mormon makes it clear that all were converted. However such was not the case in the days immediately following the Lord’s appearance. There was a huge missionary effort carried out until all were converted in the land. No doubt, such will be the goal during the millennium and indeed is our daunting task at present.

Of course, you are right that one may be a member of the church and not truely converted. But, inasmuch as conversion (for most) is a life long process, IMO most members of the church who are striving to live the gospel are converted to one degree or another in spite of cultural contamination.

I agree with Mark B. that the ordinances of the priesthood are vital. Therefore, it is incumbent upon one who wishes to live the gospel to join the church that he/she may have access to the ordinances which are key to obtaining the knowledge of God. Therefore, if the earth is to be full of the knowledge of God it will be by virtue of the ordinances of the priesthood by which the power of godliness is made manifest.

Because “Living the Gospel” requires accepting baptism and other priesthood ordinances from one having authority from God to perform those ordinances, “joining the LDS Church” is a necessary condition to “living the Gospel”. Because receiving those ordinances is not a sufficient condition therefor, I would grant that diogenes’ statement is correct. Nonetheless, to the extent that it suggests that one could fully live the Gospel without baptism, his statement is false.

That being said, I do not dispute his basic assertion that we often do better when we’re in the “oppressed” minority rather than the “oppressive” majority.

1) Because we’ve been commanded to proclaim it, regardless of whether anyone accepts, let alone lives it.

2) Because of the personal growth that accrues to the proclaimer, again regardless of the degree of acceptance.

3) Because of the justice of God, who gives everyone the opportunity, whether or not they accept the message.

4) Probably lots of other reasons that don’t occur to me off the cuff.

If this is the highest and best reason for missionary work then why should we have any concerns with a majority of people in the earth living the Gospel?

1) As I’ve shown above, your conditional clause is not necessarily correct, but in any event it does not follow from the fact that we must proclaim the Gospel that anyone — let alone a majority of people — will accept it.

2) “Living the Gospel” is not synonymous with “joining the LDS Church.”

3) As a corollary, when a majority of the community is comprised of Mormons, experience indicates that it becomes far more difficult for them to “live the Gospel” (especially in the humility and tolerance department), as I mentioned in my previous post.

4) The salt and leaven metaphors are the Lord’s, not mine, so if you don’t like the implications you’ll have to complain to Him.

Perhaps not. We have long been taught that even during the Millennium, to the extent that we understand conditions during the Millennium, there will be plenty of non-LDS folks around, and members of the LDS church will not necessarily be in the majority. If that is the situation when Christ is personally reigning, I see no reason to believe that we will constitute any kind of majority before then.

Or, as LeGrand Richards used to say, we are the salt of the earth — that means there will be just a little distributed throughout the world. The whole thing is not supposed to become salt. I thnk Not Ophelia mentioned something similar about leaven.