I keep hearing this from Mormons when someone leaves or expresses disinterest in the church, and it really bothers me. Not following a religion doesn't affect your ability to be a good person. It just affects your ability to follow pointless rules that have nothing to do with being a good person. I'm making a list of Mormon rules and how not believing in god affects my ability to follow them. Add on if you've got any of your own.

1. No sex before marriage. Okay, let's be honest here. MOST Mormons don't actually wait until they're married. They just say they do. So the majority of young people in the LDS faith are actually just following "No admitting you've had sex until marriage." However, waiting to have sex until you're in love and committed to someone is not strictly a religious concept. Lots of people refrain due to health risks, possibilities of getting pregnant, and due to a completely non-god related moral standard of wanting it to be special.

2. No masturbation. Okay, that one's just STUPID. This doesn't help you to lead a happy, clean, healthy life. This ensures that by the time you're ready to have sex you're probably gonna be so uncomfortable with your own body that you won't be able to enjoy it. Not even if it's with your temple-sealed spouse that you're supposed to boink for all eternity.

3. No smoking or drinking. This is a health thing, and one that many atheist follow as well. Not because they believe their body is a sacred gift from god, but because they know it's the only body they'll get and want it to last. Same goes for eating healthy. Are those health freaks that live on wheat germ and algae better people than Mormons because they take better care of their "sacred gifts from god"? And please, for the love of god, don't tell me I'm not a mormon because it's too hard. I'm not a mormon because I think it's dumb. Now if you wanna tell me I'm not a health freak who eats only raw food and runs six miles a day because it's too hard then you might be onto something. But on that note, couldn't we say that every single person on this earth that isn't a vegan is only not a vegan because it's too hard and they're not strong enough? Would anyone really argue that the conditions our food producing animals are subjected to is pretty sick and wrong? Wouldn't the world be a better place if we weren't all torturing and killing miserable little baby cows so that we could have delicious veal? But you know what? I HATE soy milk. Meat substitutes are disgusting. I love a nice steak. But if someone were to ask me if I thought it was morally acceptable to shove cows into overpacked miserable slaughterhouses and then murder them so that I could enjoy a tasty steak, I'd probably say no. Does that stop me from eating steak? Nope. So I'm not strong enough to be a vegan. Okay. I'll take it. Does that make vegans better than me? No, most of them are dicks. I suspect they're so cranky because they're hungry all the time.

But you usually know where you're going, so you don't need to consult it very often.

This is the same argument theists try to throw at atheists... and it doesn't actually solve anything. There is no objective morality, whether a god exists or not. It's always subjective. Even if a god exists and creates laws, those laws are still just the opinion of that god.

If you want to get down to it, most humans are much more moral than any god, especially the christian and mormon versions of god.

I don't know many parents who would build a torture chamber in their basement and torture their children for not loving them, or refuse to allow their children to visit them if they didn't submit 100% to their authority for the rest of their lives...

That's just me.

*nods in agreement for #1 and 2. Just had a discussion on this today and in tscc it is far better to keep your mouth shut than to be branded a deviant and cut off from blessings/responsibilities.

3. Wasn't even a membership/temple requirement till early 20th century.

I'll add some more.

4. 10% tithing on gross income to all go to the church. You are welcome to make other charitable donations, but a minimum of 10% must go to the church. Also consider using the church's charities organizations too. PS We will be following up on you yearly and at temple recommends to make sure you give an honest and full tithe to the Lord's church.

5. Wear your garments all the time except for showers, sex, and some sports. Drives me crazy the mythology around this ugly underwear and then reading the history that it wasn't even revealed through Joseph Smith.

6. Temple Weddings that aren't a public family and social event like every where else in the world as well as in the early church.

What's that saying? "Who you are is who you are when no one is watching." So if you hold the door for little old ladies when there's other people around, but let the same door hit her in the face if there's no one looking, then you're actually a jerk. Being a truly good person involves doing good things even when no one will ever know or praise you for them. So how do you ever realize who you really are if you're completely convinced that god is ALWAYS watching you. You're always waiting to earn a treat for being a good boy, instead of just being good.

#1. Maybe I'm just a huge sucker, but I never had sex before I was married. I still believe that a lot of mormons don't have sex before they're married. I've known some who ended up getting married in the chapel at the last moment, and I'm sure that others have ended up lying and getting married in the temple, but I believe that a lot are able to avoid sex just long enough to get married.

#2. Yes, it's stupid. Whenever a bishop would ask me if I had problems with masturbation I was always able to honestly answer no. It works just fine for me :)

#3. The WoW is stupid. The advice in it isn't all bad, but the current status of the "commandment" is.

As a teenager, my friend was dating my female cousin. My cousins father was the bishop. When my uncle would interview him and ask "Do you have a problem with masturbation?", he would honestly answer "no". (while thinking..... "your daughter does it for me"

As a teenager I was lucky to have a bishop who didn't really want to get into it. In the interview he would ask "Do you know what it means to be morally clean?", and that was where he left it. At the time I thought he just didn't have the nerve to discuss it. Now, I like to think that he knew a lot more than I gave him credit for at the time.

I wish I had had bishops like that. I had one bishop who even asked about bestiality (is it really that common, or was he just weird)?

It's better to to good for the sake of goodeness rather than for avoiding punishment.

I don't buy into the whole "morality" bullshit because it's too closely tied into sex. I do, however, strive to be an ethical and kind human. If people don't like that answer, fuck 'em.
I don't steal, cheat, kick puppies, and I try to avoid lying.
If you need a god to prevent you from doing these things, you're the one with the problem.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2011 08:05PM by itzpapalotl.

AS IF the highest MORmON leaders like pervert Joe, Brig Young, Gordon BS Hinckley, and the rest ever had any moral bearings! any person wanting moral bearing would do well to avoid these evil LDS idiots & their ways!

Considering the enormous influence that various belief systems had on the content of mormon theology, I'd have to say that I'll just get my moral compass from the same folks the mormons got theirs from- the world in general...minus the concept that the Priesthood overrules the Law, of course.

GPS is mainstream - with electronic compass, vibrator, light, AA batteries, touch screens.

encumbered by the overlay of unnecessary rules and regulations from religion. Works for me!
I find a lot of questions from some folks are best left alone, ignored, not answered.
I suggest getting really good at changing the subject! :-)

When i studied joes life for my thesis i soon realised that he only had a con compass. Broken bent twisted and insane. Oh maybe it wasnt his fault maybe he REALLY was insane!!!!

Being in a mood tonight, I'd suggest Cabella's.

stormy

Isn't this the crap we always get from mormons ?

Well I've seen their so called moral compass and it is dishonesty at its worst.

Yeah I was thinking about this today. The angle was that now out of the church, I can recognize my essential goodness and native kindness as from me. I'm a good, friendly, helpful, fun loving person without having the Mormon doctrines shoved up my nose. I do not need the crutch or need some corporate shills in SLC to tell me what to think, who to associate with, and what to value in life. Now I like what I am about and am interested in other people as who they are and not what their worth to the church might be. The church has nothing to do with my friendships. I am much more liberal too now that I am out of the church. I am much more accepting of other people now too than when I was in the church.

Oh my sons and daughters of Zion! When will ye throw off the shackles of Victorian reason, for Victor is not of my flesh. When wilt thou doff thy knickers and get jiggy wid it without thought nor guilt nor fear of repercussion? Oh that thou wouldst know the will of the Lard Almighty! I yam what I yam and commandeth my servants to make plentiful use of their little factories lest I smite their genitals with a curse. Yea, a curse so foul that little blue pills will be the only remedy for man and Astroglide the balm of Gilead for woman.

Thus sayeth the Lard!

Ron