Hey all, I know there are a lot of us on here who are dealing with family members trying to indoctrinate our kids and one of the tools used is "The Friend" magazine.

I browse through each issue online (I've seen this magazine in my tbm mil's house and well, know thine enemy, right) but, as a nevermo, I don't always realize what's so wrong about the things being said. In another thread someone mentioned the Sept issue saying that people didn't know they could be with their families in the afterlife before Joseph Smith. Coming from a Baptist background, this is idiotic and completely false. But I didn't even notice it the first time I looked through the issue.

Would anyone else be interested in doing a monthly thread with me about each issue of "The Friend" and really tear it apart and discuss *why* it's not really a "friend" at all? I think this would also be helpful to parents with a tbm spouse at home too. I'd like to get deeper into some of the articles and faith promoting stories in the mag and discuss ways to refute the junk in that magazine. I just can't do it alone, I don't have the insider's perspective.

Anyone interested?

Sure!

And why not pull apart McConkie's "MORmON Doctrine" too,
I mean except for the fact that its even more boring than the insanely boring (POS) Book of MORmON.

But somehow there is nothing more damaging to MORmONISM than letting MORmONS themselves speak about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wALvdgurB4

A Mormon girls goes to a non-mormon religious school

A student say that she is said when babies die because they don't get to go to Heaven. One baby she need was dead in a few minute after being born so she knew she would go to hell and it made her said.

lds girl wish she would have spoken up and said that's not true, they go to Heaven.

Then the church taught about the trinity.

She knew that God & Jesus were separate beings with blood and flesh, because Joe saw them in a vision and that the Holy Ghost can speak to our hearts.

She was asked to do a writing assignment about God and she had the courage to correct the teacher.

Because it's necessary for our salvation

Because it's a second witness

Because it gives us the full gospel

This article is more of an image with words on it.

This is mail they receive that's published in the ensign

1st Letter

Sabbath day is special because we spend so much time as a family (yeah right)

2nd Letter

My brother is scare at night and can't sleep. When I pray he sleeps better.

3rd Letter

I love reading the friend. My Dad burns it on a CD so I can listen to it as I go to sleep. (I did't realize you could download it audio file now, plus brainwashing so boring it puts most people to sleep)

Final Paragraph,

Hey friends send us your letters.

Maybe we could discuss these articles more effectively if you simply linked to them, rather than trying to post summaries. Because the summaries are too short and vague to really pick anything apart.

I enjoy exercises like this. Remember that mormon legend about Mick Jagger talking to some prophet on a commercial flight? I went back to the original source of that article and was then able to fact-check it, line by line. I came up with some pretty good corroborative evidence (at the time) to refute the idea that the conversation ever took place.

So... linkies?

oh great idea dogzilla. Tonight when my hands aren't full of baby I'll take another look and link a specific article. They have one on the nauvoo temple and the carthage jail that looks rife with falsehoods and myths. There's so much mind rotting fluff in that magazine, ugh, it's difficult to wade through without losing brain cells.

Or maybe both - a link with a short summary because I can't always comment on every story. Sometimes I have nothing to add so knowing which articles I can legitimately contribute to would be nice.

Other than that, I'm in. I think we need to look carefully at what they are teaching the children.

OMG, I did not know that magazine was still in print!

My TBM parents have sent us everything else, Family Home Evening manuals, the Ensign, BOM movies, etc. They must have forgotten about Friend. One less thing to throw away...

It certainly is hard to choose which "Friend" article I like the least. But, here are two that definitely qualify:

http://www.lds.org/friend/2013/09/jesus-christ-teaches-about-the-temple?lang=eng

Not sure if I dislike the title or the content of this article more. Funny how the title of the article makes you think it might be about Jesus Christ and then ends up being all about Joseph Smith. Apparently, before Joseph Smith received revelations, people believed that they didn't go to heaven if they weren't baptized. They also believed that after they died, they would never see their families again. Score: Joseph Smith 1, Jesus Christ 0.

Next up:

http://www.lds.org/friend/2013/09/faithful-examples?lang=eng

An LDS church magazine wouldn't be an LDS church magazine without an article on tithing. Tithing is, after all, the first commandment. In this probably completely ficticious story, people in a ward in Hong Kong were having a difficult time providing for their families. A GA told the bishop that his ward members needed to pay tithing in order to have blessings.

The bishop of the ward decides to teach this principle to the children first so that they can pay tithing on money that the children most likely earned from their parents. That way, the church will get tithing from the same money twice. Once from the parents and then again from their kids who received money from their parents.

The story ends with the adults following the example of the children and paying tithing also. Certainly a "win win" for the church. And, or course, everyone is blessed.

Just one question, if the story is true, why not add little details like the name of the GA?

On the first- temple - article. The Catholics DID preach that baptism is essential for heaven. Otherwise a good person goes to purgatory. But was it true for all other religions at the time?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2013 03:57PM by karin.

nope, I know baptists for one have always taught that baptism is a public expression of faith and not necessary for salvation

My memory of the articles in The Friend can be categorized into three types:

1) Guilt the kids
2) Create arrogance in the kids
3) Projects which have not-so-subtle lessons

Guilt the kids is easiest to spot. It's always about obeying the commandments even when it's hard, or how some child did something wrong and repented.

Arrogance is usually about how mormons are so wonderful and aren't you lucky to be a part, how mormons know better than the rest of the world, how the mormon way is the bestest.