I often read comments on RFM that it would irresponsible and actually dangerous for the church leadership to come out publicly and proclaim the religion a hoax due to the fact that there would be thousands of die in the wool members who are so tied to Mormonism that there would be mass suicides and upheaval; that people literally couldn't live without knowing the church was true. Some have suggested that they need to very slowly let the truth out over many years in order to not "shock" the members too much.

I think I might disagree. Humans have an incredible ability to overcome adversity and trauma in their lives. I would have to think that if people can move on after a horrible accident or the death of a loved one, they can move from hearing their church is not what it claimed.

Much of the trauma from finding out the church isn't true is due to the perceived SOCIAL implications. When I began learning the true history of the church it was troubling to me, but it was mostly due to the fact that my life revolved around believers in it. I didn't want others to know I didn't have faith in it. I didn't want to appear weak spiritually or an apostate. I was stressed out about participating because of being worried about getting called to bear my testimony or having to give someone an "inspired" blessing. The hard part was being "in the middle" and not really know if it was true or not, trying to have faith in something I didn't REALLY know was true or not.

I dreaded the moment of having to tell someone I no longer believed in it. I didn't want to disappoint my parents or friends. Functioning socially outside of my Mormon circle was foreign. I never drank or hung out at bars. It was easy to have ready made friends in the ward. Social activities were planned for me.

In addition, most of my friends and social contacts were Mormon. I was afraid of losing all that if I stopped being Mormon. I didn't want to be shunned or judged. I didn't want to become a project, or worse, ostracized. But faking it was a living hell.

I think THAT is the reason finding out the church is false is the main reason it is hard. We've all been through that AND SURVIVED. However, if the church all at once let the membership as a whole know the truth, the members wouldn't have to deal with the social backlash like we did. They would all know together, at the same time, and in turn have a HUGE church wide instant social support system to deal with this new found knowledge. They would have something the rest of us didn't have. They wouldn't to secretly deal with their doubts alone. All their friends in the ward and family members to support each other. Not only that, but they could continue to meet together, just as they did while active in the church.

In my opinion Mormonism is more a social thing than anything. Its the security of belonging and being a PART of something. Its the whole tribal mentality. The trauma is having to leave the tribe, not the beliefs. But if the tribe leaves TOGETHER, then the worst part of it is already gone.

It certainly would stop the very real harm that LDS Inc continues to inflict upon people.

Suicides? LDS Inc already causes them.

These reasons for not admitting the truth certainly do not trump the harm that is caused by the continuance of this hoax.

Certainly the liquidation of LDS assets, if there is much, which I am beginning to doubt more every day, could help a lot of people.

If it came from ANY of the Church sponsored employees lets look at the outcome..

CERTAIN EXCOMMUNICATION --LEADING TO
INSTANT DIVORCE
LOSS OF JOB OR POSITION
LOSS OF HEALTH CARE BENEFITS
DISOWNED BY FAMILY
LOSS OF PENSIONS
LOSS OF CREDIT CARDS
LOSS OF MORTGAGE THROUGH ZIONS BANK
DISGRACED IN THE COMMUNITY .

The "Church" is their life and religion !!!

JB

And that's only if the leadership actually admitted to any false claims, which would never happen IMO, since they are also sheeple.

There is a historical precedent of doomsday cults predicting the end of the world on a certain day that passes uneventfully. You would thing that would be a dealbreaker for the followers, but for most it's not. They come up with lots of rationalizations. It's about belief primarily and not about so much about a search for truth.

I just don't see that happening. I don't think that the fogey fifteen would ever agree to make that statement together. If one or more of the GA made such a statement the rest would declare them apostate and continue without them. There are plenty of sheeple to take their place.

I don't think TSCC is going to fail any time soon. The best thing we can do is enjoy life on the outside and encourage anyone who'll listen to do likewise.

I know people who would have such severe nervous breakdowns that they would be hospitalized.

I also know people who would be very very angry.However they would also be so thrilled they wouldn't know which sin to do first.

There are others that I think would be chronically sad and depressed.

I think there would be a ton of new churches started up in Utah. There would be so many unused church buildings, that they would just pick one to use.

I think there would be a lot of vandalism of empty churches and temples.

Not sure we would even need 15.

One would do it, providing he secured enough internal documents.

It would be tough on some people, however, it would be the right thing to do.

I cannot imagine how much respect that person would get by outside society, and also most mormons.

Grace International (formerly Worldwide Church of God founded by Herbert W. Armstrong) is an example of what happens to a cult when it changes doctrine and mainstreams too quickly.

"In general, Tkach Sr. directed the church theology towards mainstream evangelical Christian belief. This caused much disillusionment among the membership and another rise of splinter groups. All these changes, the church admits, have organizationally brought about "catastrophic results," though they believe that it is spiritually the best thing that ever happened to them.[13] During the tenure of Joseph Tkach Sr., the church's membership declined by about 50 percent."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Communion_International

The damage that is done to members for not knowing the church is a scam is worse, in accumulated effect over decades of a person's life, than the damage that would be done in the few weeks after a big anouncement came from a unified Q12 that the whole thing is a lie.

For a few weeks there would be considerable depression and perhaps even a few suicides.

Contrast that with the years of depression of young persons forced on a mission, split member families, struggling poor tithing families, and many dozens of suicides by gays already on the books.

No, the elongated damage they cause perpetuating this lie is worse than a relative moment of difficulty honesty would spur.

The Q12 may justify their keeping it a secret for the benefit of insecure members, but it's a lie they tell themselves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2013 04:26PM by Jesux of Nazdaq.

"What a ripoff!

In summary, all the LDS church has to do is discontinue these four practices, and I will gladly retract this ripoff report. The following actions are required:

1. Disclose their full financial holdings, independently audited, each year.
2. Make paying 10% tithing voluntary, no privileges would be withheld from those who do not pay.
3. Inform all current membership and new recruit prospects of the sordid origins and evidence contradicting the foundational claims of the faith. Balanced story-telling is part and parcel to basic ethics.
4. Cease the meddling in politics. "

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-Day-Saints/Salt-Lake-City-Utah-/The-Church-of-Jesus-Christ-of-Latter-Day-Saints-Mormon-Mormon-Church-LDS-Church-LDS-church-799959

And this isn't going to happen and isn't even admitting they are a fraud.

Never going to happen.

I honestly don't think it would make a difference.

Let's just pretend for a second that this October, Tom Monson stands up and says that the church is 100% false - Joseph Smith was a conman and the ruse outlived him. Now, you'd probably have the "rational" faction of the church membership slipping into inactivity with that statement, but you'd have the die-hard priesthood boners who NEED the church to be true for them to have any worth in the world dismissing it. "His mind must be failing..." "the Lord must be testing us...." "I can't deny the spirit, even if the prophet has..." and so on. You would probably have a smaller church, but it would continue on. Look at all the old, "dead" religions that still manage to have followers.

In reality, even if the entire 15 stood up and admitted that it was all a joke gone too far, no one outside of Utah (and the posters on this board) would really even notice. The church would go supernova without so much as a blip on the world-wide radar.