STATISTICAL REPORT: “The number of full-time missionaries serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is 74,079. Most missionaries are young people under the age of 25, serving in more than 400 missions throughout the world. Currently, single men between the ages of 18 and 25 number 48,521 (66 percent). Single women over the age of 19 total 19,543 (26 percent) and retired couples number 6,015 (8 percent) of those serving.” –from the Mormon Newsroom, retrieved 7 August 2016. [source]
COMMENTARY: It’s no accident that the majority of Mormon missionaries are so young. It’s much easier to believably claim ignorance of the church’s doctrinal and historical problems if all you know about life so far is what your parents and church leaders have told you. And when they tell you to bear your testimony even if you don’t yet know if you really have one of your own, you never really stop to question if that’s an ethical action or not. You just trust that it’s the best way to gain a testimony. Here’s a little hint, though: if you bear testimony of something you don’t know, then you’ve just given a false witness. Don’t worry about it too much, though; it happens every month in testimony meeting. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
