[[Since I'm not sure how many Mormons or ex-Mormons would say something like that, I'm staying anonymous. I'm pretty sure the above statement would immediately give away who I am to this person, if they lurk or post.]]

I was having a discussion with a TBM in my life who's always had a naive/idealistic opinion about what the LDS church believes and teaches. He's very much a laid-back, guy, the opposite of an alpha-male, not interested in power or authority. He has many issues with the teachings, but he seems to "put them on a shelf" as many of you might say.

Anyway, we were having a discussion about his belief in the church, and somehow we got to a point were he said the exact words that I wrote in the subject: "If I weren't a Mormon, I would be a Jew." He gave some scriptural reasons, but sadly, I can't remember them.

So, the point of this thread... Have any of you ex-mos felt the same way? Wanting to become Jewish if you weren't Mormon? Have any of you become Jewish? Why would a Mormon think that the next best religion to be a part of is Judaism?

I've actually heard this quite a bit. I've heard my mom brag about how much the Mormon religion is just like Judaism. It's kind of puzzling to hear a "Christian" brag about ding like those who don't believe in Jesus.

Because Jews and Mormons historically practised polygamy?

I'm gonna be a nothing for the rest of my days....no more stupid church rules...

anon for this Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
...
> Why would a Mormon think that the
> next best religion to be a part of is Judaism?


Jews believe that they are the chosen people and the
inheritors of the ancient prophetic blessings bestowed
upon Israel -- as do the Mormons.

I suppose, in theory, the transition from one group to the
other would be an easy one.

But that is not so in actual practice.

I'm a Latter Day Saint, married to a Jew and have some
experience with these matters.

UD

I've honestly thought about this lol. On my mission I once talked to a Jewish man about Christianity. He asked me why an omnipotent God would need someone to come down to Earth and sacrifice himself for the sins of the world. Why couldn't God just save us himself; why the sacrifice?

Of course there was the Mormon answer of the laws of justice and mercy, which is found in the BoM. Because TSCC answered some of Christianity's flaws, I always had the thought that if Mormonism wasn't true, none of the Christian sects were. Once I found out the truth about Mormonism, I couldn't really accept Christianity anymore.

So, I briefly entertained the idea of converting to Judaism. But, honestly, The old testament makes just about as much sense as the new testament. I think the idea of Judaism kind of appealed to me because I really like the cultural aspects and traditions of the religion.

But if I still believed in a singular omnipotent deity, then yeah, I could see myself as a Jew.

>He asked me why an omnipotent God would need someone to come down to Earth and sacrifice himself for the sins of the world...

Did he forget about all of the animal sacrifices that had to be done in the Jewish Temple for various offerings and forgiveness? Or how the pleasant aromas of burnt lamb or calves ascended to the heavens and pleased the Lord...

Of course, we know that the Priests got to eat all that pleasantly burnt meat, So maybe the Omnipotent being wasn't really involved in that matter either.

Out of the big bag of Mormon theology that we don't emphasize anymore:

When you become a Mormon, you become literally a member one of the lost tribes of Israel. Your blood is actually replaced with pure Jewish blood.

so, no worries! If you're a Mormon, you're already a Jew!

Both our nieghbors when I was a kid were jewish. One of the mothers was a holocaust survivor. I thought we had some things in common. Being a good jew is demanding. The kids had sunday school. Both Mormons and jews have a persecution complex and both prepare for possible bad times. Both believe they are the chosen people. I was just glad all I had to do was memorize some articles of faith and not have to learn hebrew.

As far as I go, I love not being associated with any organized religion. I think all of them suffer from group think and have the guilt complex. I don't need the middle man.

My rabid tbm family members
keep asking me what new church I am attending.
I have repeatedly explained that
thanks to Mormonism,
I'm forever done with ANY organized religion.
They think its terrible.
I think its a gift. :)

I would be a secular Jew. I think the many Jews who gave up on organized religion as myth, like Spinoza. Spinoza got kicked out of the Jewish religion for saying God was not some dude, but rather the scientific laws of nature embedded in the universe. His stance was on the forefront of enlightenment thinking --deism later picked up by Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin who both rejected miracles and the resurrection of the dead (ie Jesus) as rubbish. Miracles were a violation of the laws of nature in their views. After reading Spinoza at BYU I wanted to be like him!

He was way ahead of his time.

He loved the "chosen people" idea, called non-Mos "gentiles," etc. When Mos think about their "persecution" they compare themselves to the Jews. There's still a lot of sympathy for this throughout the modern church.

I can fully understand this.Perhaps I had some idea that I could not join the apostate churches but could return to the original story........ don´t really know. Only reason I did not convert to judaism (after I left the mormon church) is because finally I came to accept that I am an atheist (which at first was just too "horrible" to admit to myself).
I do love many aspects of the jewish culture and still wonder how so many scientists and artists have risen amongst them (compared to mormonism ---- close to zero really important scientists or artist)

I can understand this mentality. I went through this phase. As a mormon, I revered the Jews. Once I realized TSCC was bogus I thought I had to be something else. Judaism made sense to me because I thought if mormonism were false, maybe I should go back to the original. I studied conversion to Judaism but soon realized that the Torah really didn't appeal to me. It was no more true than the book of mormon. Just a lot older and a lot of history behind it.

So, I went through other phases for awhile, buddhism, hindu, catholicism, etc. I finally decided that I didn't need anything. I still love to study religion but have no desire to join anything.

Mormonism teaches you that all other religions are false.

When you discover mormonism is a fraud, there's nowhere to go.

That's one reason why so many exmos are agnostic or atheists.

Why would you assume that all religions are false just because "Mormonism teaches you that all other religions are false" ? Like you said, Mormonism is a fraud. So go find out for yourself what is true or not true, instead of taking their word for it.

Do you believe there is a "true" religion out there?

Yes, but according to the rules of this board, I'm not supposed to be leading people toward belief in any religion. So, I'm just going to encourage you to keep seeking truth. I believe that anyone who earnestly seeks truth with an open mind will find it. My point was just to find out for yourself instead of trusting the Mormon church.

It is ALWAYS uttered by some rube who has no idea what any form of Judaism actually IS or ENTAILS.

If your mother is Jewish, you are a Jew. If not, you have to convert and conversion are rare and discouraged. Most conversions are for marital purposes.

I have lots of Jewish friends. I'd estimate that 1/3 of my friends here are Jewish. I do not see many Mormons fitting into Jewish culture, unless they were born and raised into a Jewish family.

"...since Mormonism claims to have some kind of affinity with Judaism, and it's not one of the abominable apostate religions, I guess it would be a suitable second place religion. But, really, I don't know sh!t."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2012 10:39AM by Stray Mutt.

When I was a teenage convert, I would tell my Jewish friend that Mormons were "adopted Jews", so we had a lot in common. Good grief, I was arrogant. But I was told that at church frequently. At that time it was said often.

I used to say that if I was not Mormon, I'd be Catholic, as I was first baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church and my mother was raised as a Catholic. I used to call myself a Catholic as a child, although I was never taken to that church once I was baptized. My brother and sister were never baptized.

I also saw the Protestant churches as just offshoots of the mother church, so why go to them when you could have the original?

I now realize that was never going to happen though. I never believed in the Trinity and I didn't want to pray to Saints and to Mary. I didn't like the Hail Mary stuff.

I wouldn't have thought about becoming Jewish, because that meant turning my back on my Saviour. Of course, as Nancy Rigdon mentioned, ex-Mos often find that once they leave Mormonism behind, they really have nowhere else to go, so they end up exiting religion entirely, which is what I ended up doing.

....would be willing to reject Jesus Christ in the event they discovered the fraudulent nature of Mormonism is that Mormonism totally poisons its members' minds against all other Christian churches. Further, Mormon testimony in actuality revolves around Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Church, and the Prophets, rather than Jesus Christ.

Mormons always want to pretend that they are god's special pets, so they can feel superior to everyone else. It's a childish notion given to the world by the ancient jews.

I guess if you weren't into the whole Jesus thing and you were into following a bunch of weird rules then you might want to be Jewish. I've never understood why someone would convert to Judaism unless you were trying to make a significant other happy.