The Internet is an amazing tool for sharing the gospel, preparing talks and lessons, doing family history, and so much more. But like all good things, Satan tries to counterfeit them or use them for his own purposes.
YouTube is a great video sharing site. You can post your own videos for others to watch, and it's free. Unfortunately, many anti-Mormons and others antagonistic to the Church are using it.
For example, if you search for the term "Mormon," many videos turn up that don't show the Church in a good light at best. This includes videos showing or making light of sacred things.
As members, we need to use the Internet for good. If people search YouTube for videos about Mormons, we need to make sure good videos are available. If you have a digital camcorder, make short videos and upload them. You can shoot videos of many things like these:
- Mutual activities
- Skits, plays, talent shows, road shows
- Church history sites
- Temples (exterior!) and visitor centers
- Family activities
- Dances
- "Funniest Home Video" type videos
- Sporting events involving Church members
I'm not advocating censorship, but a chorus of uplifting voices can drown out a few bad ones.
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11 comments:
Fantastic idea!
Great post. I talked with my wife last night about this. I'm going to try and come up with some stuff to upload. Putting positive stuff about the church on there is a great idea.
I wonder if posting a testimony would be a good thing or not? Can you imagine if 10,000 positive and well-presented testimonies of God, Jesus, the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith were on YouTube and Google Video?
On the other hand, would such testimonies end up being mocked? Would it end up being like casting pearls before swine?
P.S. Tyler: you want to exchange links?
Good idea! It’s unbelievable the amount of anti-Mormon videos on YouTube. Fortunately there are some positive videos in the mix.
Why y'all so worried about a little "anti-mormonism"?
Shouldn't there be oppostion in all things?
'Sides, the ONE TRUE CHURCH can take a little criticism.
Or can it?
I've often felt this saame sentiment about the internet in general.
When I first came back to the church (after 3 years away) about a year ago, I ended up googling something about the church, and it was safely one of the most depressing things I've ever done.
It's frustrating to me that friends and family who are curious about the church, about what I believe and what I do, have gotten a great deal of their info from google searches. The problem is that the info that they get is often misleading, some to a disturbing degree--causing unnecessary rifts as they make incorrect assumptions about our beliefs/practices, or even begin arguments trying to tell me what the church 'really' believes.
Remember, you can't put out darkness; all you can do is shine a light.
More positive voices are definitely needed--on YT and other places on the 'net.
To follow my own suggestions and in the spirit of using the Internet for good, I started posting pictures to Flickr and videos to YouTube.
here is my youtube video I put up. It's about people and there church callings. I photographed mormons in 7 diffrent contries for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9QNLk5-Nsc
Ok, this is insanely late for me to comment, but I will. On-line culture is about "discovering" things, and about memes. The Mormons need a really good meme that, no matter how many times new people come across it, they will feel like they've "discovered" something. Things have also got to be quick and dirty, short and 'friggin' sweet' to borrow the slang. This is certainly a step in the right direction. Too bad that most of what is out there so far that folks get to "discover" is generally untrue, misguided garbage.
I have added a few entertaining LDS YouTube videos at:
http://entertainment4lds.com/videos/YouTube
A year ago I decided to create my own website with items I felt were entertaining and according to what members of the church were searching for on the Internet. A big focus of the site is LDS News.
My site is http://entertainment4lds.com
I am trying to do my part with my music on youtube, but it is hard. I get a lot of negative comments which I don't allow to be posted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxdvSTLRXI
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