You have to wonder about that, when people claim to be religious but do bad things.
I suspect that they are either enjoying a lot of weath and power without believeing we get a new existance. Or, justify what they do as necessary and at God's command.
So either a fraud or self-delusional.......not good choices for most of us.
Actually, they have to be atheists. I left the church when I realized that I could no longer live a lie. Of course, in my case I supported the church rather than the other way around.
If there is a god (which I'm honestly not sure), I would think that knowingly leading others with lies would be one of the greater "sins" resulting in very harsh punishment. Personally, I would be fearful of doing so. I feel bad enough about those that I unknowingly lied to during my mission. I hope that those who lied to me will be more accountable since, at the time, I didn't know the truth.
As He never gets round to talking within any of them, they've probably come to the conclusion he just doesn't exist. And the money and fame are such great substitutes. Party on!
They think that God is powerless, because they've never seen any evidence of his power. In their minds, he's become sort of a 13th apostle, another nonentity who has to go along with whatever the quorum decides.
They probably think that he is filling their heads with inspiration on a minute by minute basis, but yea, they are bummed that they haven't been able to go to a Jazz game with Jesus in the super suite...
My uncle was a SP. He died a year before my dad died. My uncle hung on for YEARS in a nursing home. His daughter told me after he died that he was scared shitless to die.
My dad was not. He wondered what was going to happen, but he wasn't what I'd call afraid. He was a so-so mormon. He didn't attend a lot. Didn't hold high callings. Drank alcohol and coffee, chewed tobacco, and yet wasn't afraid. Neither my mom or dad fought death. I've never seen two people who died in such peaceful ways. No bedside vigil, etc. They both just left within two months of each other.
If they really believed it, they'd be running for the exit. Instead, they keep hanging on.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/2014 03:16PM by cl2.
I agree completely. My guess is they are terrified of death.
I look at it this way....those that have the surest knowledge about what death is like are in for the biggest surprize.
My father was a die hard TBM. When he was younger and healthy, he would say he was ready to meet god and jesus, see dead relatives, etc. As he neared death, he was terrified. You could see it in his eyes and feel it in his energy. He fought it until it just took him.
My mother was a NOM basically by the end of her life. She died peacefully at home of cancer, only lasting a couple months. No fear of death, just peace.
Also, my moms best TBM friend died of cancer. Rabid TMB, terrified of death to the point of paying a quack Dr. $5000 a visit, to have him sit across the room with a box he "invented" that he claimed cured cancer. It was so successful, he had to keep it secret from the medical community because they rejected it out of fear. She died a long agonizing death.
legalism is the belief that you MUST conform to certain standards, and fulfill certain obligations, in order to be saved. Thus, one always wonders if one has measured up; it is easy to think, "No, I didn't do a good enough job. Damn!"
As a Christian, I subscribe to the doctrine of Grace: That it is God's love and forgiveness, combined with my faith, that saves me. And I know that it is infinitely more the former (God's love, Christ's atonement) than my imperfect faith, that does the job.
All religions are prone to a salvation-by-works and/or legalism. This underscores Christ's criticism of the Pharisees, who were experts at "keeping the law."
My FIL, a catholic and former alter boy, is just like that. He is clearly afraid to die. He did some things in his earlier life which may be cause for concern. He has had operation after operation, takes about a dozen different pills and lives on in pain at 88 years of age. To my knowledge, he has never read anything about the afterlife (including the bible) and has never discussed the subject with anyone. He always avoids the subject and refuses to even discuss his funeral or final resting place.
When was the last time a prophet actually said he was a prophet of God..seer, revelator? The 15 are cowards and they sit there spineless. They know God is NOT pleased with them..They will never publically state they are Gods chosen...because they are indeed afraid.
Do you think that maybe they do know and are afraid to say anything? There might be some kind of honor to protect the lie. There are a lot of people who built a life out of this. To suddenly dismiss it all would be catastrophic in so many ways. To think the Government might have to bail out a church. On the other hand they might all be cowards. GBH I think knew, he didn't proclaim to be a prophet when he had the chance to.
I think they are, deep down. They just can't afford to face it.
If you take the position that every soul is priceless, the LDS model falls apart. Why would you want to even enter the CK until every soul was redeemed, if that were the case. And why would you want to rule and reign like some kind of egomaniac?
I found that God was so much bigger and better than the puny Mormon God that their doctrine became nonsense. Maybe the GAs are like the sheriff in the famous Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rabbit Hood". Bugs sells a plot of land to the sheriff, who is busily framing a house when he realizes he's been duped. Then he hits himself in the head with his hammer while saying "I hate myself! I do! (wham) I do (wham)".
I honestly believe there are some who are atheist.
as they are (almost) all from long church backgrounds, they dont have the cultural conditioning that would make (for example) an Anglican or catholic fear hell.
and I cant believe they actually believe in Mormonism
I've mentioned this before, but I'm strongly of the view that most Christian cult leaders and clergy are really atheists. They are generally people who have actually read much of the Bible and therefore understand what a pile of BS it is:
They are totally brainwashed and believe the lie. Hence they believe that by their having the second anointing they are going on high to the top tier in the CK. It's a done deal no matter what.
There was an area seventy who left the church last year and he had no idea the church wasn't true at the time.
I think most of them believe. How exactly do you call someone as a GA and then tell them the church isn't true but ask them to go along with it. That would never work, even with the money involved. Out of the HUNDREDS of GAs, you don't think at least ONE would have had a problem with it? I'm pretty sure most of them believe, and the ones that don't just keep it to themselves and go along with it (just like a lot of us did in the years before we left).
They have been annointed to be gods at the moment of their deaths. They don't have to meet god (as if there were one to meet). They will be busy being gods in the celestial stockyard with their billions of wives. They are just changing saddles.
Each one of them must feel unworthy because they know they aren't talking to jezuz. Its who can put up the biggest front, such small miserable scum buckets they are.
I wonder this often. Aren't they even a little scared there might be a god who actually cares about honesty, theft and so forth? But then again, there are murderers who go to their executions believing God is and will be happy with them. Somehow the human mind is awesome at justifying actions we want to take, whether or not we know they are wrong.
I don't believe anyone takes a new GA aside and tells them the whole thing is a lie. Just being so close to those that make the decisions to lie about this or try to hide that should give one more pause as they move up the chain. The 15 absolutely have to know because they are the ones making those decisions and they would have to know the issues to do so. Some may not have acknowledged to themselves that the whole thing is a lie, but they certainly have to have noticed the Mormon God requires a lot of lying.
well if they are participating in a fraudulent career of fooling a couple of million people about Jesus and God and all the rest, why would they feel bad about it? How do you even know that some of them believe in God?
You were gullibe as a mormon, you no longer believe so quit being so gullible about the rest of life.