So today my father took me out to dinner, and we had a conversation about me going on a mission. I stated that I had doubts about the church, and my main gripe was that the church can spend billions more on mall then charity.

He told me that I should pray and fast about it. Soon though, he went off on a tangent that ended up by him bearing his testimonkey. He made sure to sound like "If I believe this, how can you not?"

It was so very frustrating because no matter what I say he will always be right.

Anybody else with this type of thinking? The whole I am right, therefore, you are completely wrong on EVERYTHING.

I think that the way you said it makes it sound like you could be brought back. You told him that you had doubts instead of flat-out saying that you don't believe it. If your main concern is that the church is spending so much on the City Creek Mall, that doesn't sound like such a big deal. It's just something they did once, it's not a core doctrine or anything. You can still be Mormon and not believe in the mall. So your dad is bearing his testimony at you about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the Church is true, Heavenly Father and the Savior, following the prophet etc because if he convinces you of all that, he hopes you will forget about the mall and go on a mission.
Depending on your situation - it might be best to just leave things the way they are. If you tell your dad that you are absolutely sure that it's not true, his reaction might be different, and much worse. Be careful, especially if you're depending on your parents for college money or living at home.

Most of my Mormon family have that similar attitude. I think its a byproduct of "knowing the church is true".

Sometimes it helps me to Just remember that they are a group of people that choose to reject ALL other beliefs because they KNOW that a church started by a guy who got the first doctrines by looking at SEER STONES in a hat is THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH and all others are false because of a FEELING it is true.

They might say its not a feeling its a spiritual witness or something, but with a little more questioning it boils down to them having a feeling its true.

I put seer stone in a hat in there but you can insert many different kooky Mormon beliefs.

Sometimes my dad would say stuff that triggered Mormon beliefs and guilt, but once I put it in the perspective that its just a fairytale the he believes based on good feelings and not any real good facts, it didn't have that power over me and neither did his guilt trips.

By the way, whenever any Mormon wants to bear a testimony to me, I like to get on the same page about making sure we both understand that we are talking about this testimony and how it is based on feelings, not facts.

Then they can say bla bla blah and I can respond with "That's so nice you had a feeling it was true"...LOL...always an anticlimax for them. It makes testimonies fun, too bad no one bears them to me much anymore :)

Yeah, I was trying to talk to my friend last night about the fact that I'm now an atheist. She just kept saying, "Well, you have your agency," as though I was making a deliberate choice to avoid what I actually knew, which is of course her truth.

I managed to control myself and not yell at her, but it was really making me mad because she just kept saying it.

You can't choose to believe anything. You either believe something, or you don't.

One time my dad was on a soapbox at a family thing saying that god's greatest gift was our agency.

I said no way, what about Jesus dying?

He said, oh yeah, that's right. (Whoops...he forgot about Jesus...I wonder why)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2012 08:45AM by smithscars.

Dad, I'm thinking of joining Scientology to see if it's true. A guy I know told me he knew with every fibre of his being that Scientology was true so I guess it must be, right?

No son, you mustn't take somebody's word for it. You need to investigate it.

What, like researching all the official material that Scientology puts out?

No son, you mustn't take their own word for it. You need to go on the internet and find out about all the kooky stuff and other peoples bad experiences.

Dad?

Yes son...

Why don't Mormon's give out the same advice you've just given me to people investigating our Church?

Oh that's easy, because we are right...

"You can talk to a man with a wooden leg, but not one with a wooden head..."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/23/2012 08:51AM by Stumbling.

The friend I was talking to last night went into total silence when I said, "The only real truth is that we don't know. No one does." *silence*

So I continued. "I mean, many believe. They can believe really strongly - be absolutely convinced. But no one knows. That's the only real truth."

*silence*

I thought, "Okay, moving along."

I like to point out the fact that people who blow up airplanes, or who blow up buildings, (like Timothy McVeigh), people who willingly give up their money, passports, and freedom to move to places like Guyana with Jim Jones, all have faith and sureness that is equal to yours.