I read this once and wondered if a anyone else was told this. I believe it was a coworker who told the person that they were too smart to believe Smiths stories.
When I started looking into Mormonism, I was truly incredulous that any educated person could possibly buy into the drivel. The picture of Mitt Romney in the temple doing weird handshakes, putting on his holy underwear every morning and teaching his grand kids that the garden of Eden is somewhere in Missouri and that Joseph Smith translated these golden plates with his head stuffed in a hat, is one of the biggest reasons he didn't get my vote. And to think there are highly educated professors at BYU who believe this stuff as well!
Raptor Jesus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > But I have been told by Mormons that I was "too > smart for my own good."
you sure the smart part they were referring to, wasnt your you ass?! And you were certainly smart enough to emerge from the rabbit hole, to the benefit of exmos and nomos who want the no holds barred truth about lds corp. Do you think the big boys have read your book, or have heard of it?
Yup. On my mission. A male investigator said to me and my companion, "Why do you put up with the inequality of the sexes in your church?" We gave him the whole separate but equal spiel. And, then he said. "You're such smart ladies. One day separate but equal won't be enough." He was half right. I'm out, and my old companion is still in.
Believing crazy stuff doesn't require that you're not smart, just that you want to believe it. When you want truth more than belief, then smarts start working against Mormonism.
Not with those exact words, but I was told (by a tbm) that I think "too rationally/logically" or "too much like a scientist". I took it as a compliment.
Once I told some of my non-mo friends that I left mormonism, they congratulated me and told me how happy they were for me. My belief in mormonism, in their opinion, really didn't fit with the "smart" person I was. (Their words).
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2014 12:43PM by msp.
Nobody ever told me that...but I figured it out by myself....and I'm not bragging here. I've always had an inquisitive mind. "Just because" has never been a satisfactory answer so I go looking for answers and I've never been afraid of what truths I may uncover and how they might contradict with what I'm told is the truth by someone elses measure. And I've always gotten a certain perverse pleasure from poking conventional wisdom in the eye.
Lethbridge Reprobate Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Nobody ever told me that...but I figured it out by > myself....and I'm not bragging here. I've always > had an inquisitive mind. "Just because" has never > been a satisfactory answer so I go looking for > answers and I've never been afraid of what truths > I may uncover and how they might contradict with > what I'm told is the truth by someone elses > measure. And I've always gotten a certain perverse > pleasure from poking conventional wisdom in the > eye. > > Ron Burr
I know the pain of not settling for the easy answer. My mother used to say to me that if god told everyone be quiet, I would ask, why? Everyone would laugh and I would indignantly say, well, of course I would ask.
Well when I was TBM many years ago, there were certain people who I did avoid sharing the gospel (actually pretty much anyone, except when I was on my mission) to avoid getting laughed at.
I wasn't told that by non-Mormons, but my TBM ex-husband said that I was too intellectual, and that I shouldn't ask too many questions. I ended up studying my way out of the church, since I didn't just rely on the whitewashed history that was taught in church. I took my ex-husband's comment about being "too intellectual" as a compliment.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2014 01:12PM by adoylelb.
I have been told, as a nevermo, on several occasions that I was a smart girl - I would "see the light" and convert to mormonism eventually by mormon family and friends.
As a never-mo who grew up in Salt Lake City, I was frequently told by Mormon kids it was a shame that such a sweet, moral girl wasn't a Mormon. I'd tell them that Mormons didn't have a corner on morality - I'd just get a blank stare back. Once, a middle-aged TBM high-priest coworker made this type of comment and asked if I was interested in joining "the church", to which I responded "I've been so thoroughly inoculated against Mormonism that I wouldn't be able to believe it even if an angel appeared to me telling me it was true." He left me alone after that.
Yes in high school my two best friends told me I was so smart and asked how I could believe that a man in Utah talks to god. I had no response. If only I had been brave enough to start working my way out then.
I don't think I was TOLD, but I specifically remember one time being ASKED, "Aren't you too smart to be a Mormon.?" Because I remember thinking, "probably." Then shelved it.
After I gave a GD class I had an ubber TBM tell me I needed to do a more in depth study of the church. I told her that if I did that I wouldn't be a mormon anymore. :) she turned and walked away.
I was never told that, but I am embarrassed at how long I was a member. Why did it take me so long to see the light? I'm ordinarily a skeptical, questioning person. I consider myself thoughtful and educated, so it's doubly embarrassing that I believed for so long.
While nobody ever said anything patronizing or insulting like this while I was a TBM, I did get a few, "what took you so long" responses when I left last year.
There are a lot of intelligent TBMs out there. But the forces of indoctrination and the ability to rationalize away any cognitive dissonance are powerful - especially if you are BIC.
An sharp mind capable of dispassionate analysis was my key tool to finally realizing that TSCC is a fraud. There are many TBMs that aren't all that sharp, don't have inquisitive minds, and are therefore unlikely to ever find their way out. They are quite content belonging to a church where they are told what to do and how to think. It makes life much simpler for them.
There are a lot of people that prefer a false certainty to uncertainty.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2014 08:48PM by Strength in the Loins.
Yes. My former coworker told me that he was a "recovering Catholic". When he asked to what religion I belonged, I told him. His reponse: "Oh, come on, Nancy, you are too smart for that!"
I was told by a lot of non-LDS that I didn't seem like a Mormons or that I wasn't like the other Mormons they knew. I couldn't figure this out because I didn't drink or smoke or party or sleep around or wear revealing clothes or even have any piercings. I was totally in line with BYU standards. But they all assured me it was a definite compliment that I wasn't like other Mormons.
My Mormon friends told me I thought too much. Maybe that's what my non-LDS friends were saying - that I thought to much and was too smart to be LDS.