If my TBM husband is any indication, the LDS church will weather the release of the new essays without a lot of fallout.

We rarely discuss church issues anymore, but I did ask him if he read the new essays on polygamy. He said he did. I mentioned that I told him about Joseph Smith's polygamy, child brides and angel with a flaming sword a couple of years ago and he told me at the time that I was reading anti-Mormon lies. He said that he didn't recall saying that to me and that he's known all about polygamy for a long time. Huh?!

My husband said that the essays change nothing for him. It's all about how you interpret it. He's had so many great spiritual experiences as a Mormon that there's really nothing that anyone can tell him to change his mind about the church. He appreciates the church's attempt at transparency, but the fact that the church wasn't forthcoming in the past means nothing because perhaps it wasn't the "right time" to release such information.

So, it looks like the church may be so good at indoctrination that many of it's members could be completely immune to any real truth about it.

Incidentally, I also asked my husband what he would do if Monson brought back polygamy and wanted our daughters to participate. He said that he wouldn't like it, but would probably have to consider it. Unbelievable. It's frightening...and I'm married to this person.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2014 04:15PM by want2bx.

Yikes...... I think that this is exactly how my husband would react....

My ex-wife as well.

It's simply amazing that TBMs defend polyg; many of them condemn the Wacky Waco bunch over it!

it's like the same choices / actions by others are condemned, but when LDS do it... 180 Different!

effects on children, Anyone?

as has been pointed out, having a large # of wives MAY decrease the birth rates;

I wonder when women started to Know their fertile times of the month?

>Was that a factor of when BY, others had sex with certain of his wives?

> was Briggy still 'gettin it up' later in his life? (lived to ~76) When was his last child born??

> did some Avoid sex with Polyg husbands during their fertile times so they Wouldn't become pregnant???



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2014 04:46PM by GNPE.

along this line. gnpe, is this:

human fertility and gamete quantity and quality decline with age. so in Mo polygamy, we have many fertile women tied up in sexual service to an aging male minority. Inevitably, the offspring of these men will be in every way at risk of being of lesser quality, biologically, that the same number of offspring sired by young men. They will be at risk of greater infant mortality.

Are these the righteous seed that god commanded the prophets to raise up by means of polygamy?

I second the yikes! and hey, I like that word.

I know some TBM's, family and friends, that I believe would also respond this way considering the fate of their own daughters.

It is sad to say, I've said it before, that for some TBM's who are so indoctrinated, I am not sure what could change their mind and help them to realize they are a victim of mind control.

it doesn't bother my Dad either, because he's a man. Thanks Dad.

The really toxic thing about Mormonism is that they hijack all spiritual experiences - all good feelings - and say they are proof Mormonism is true. People in all other religions feel the same sort of "testimony" that Mormons feel. They feel the spirit too. People who are atheists feel moved by good music, a good plot in a book, the majesty of nature. These feelings of being moved are universal to the human condition it's just religions ascribe them to God and Mormonism thinks they are uniquely Mormon. When a TBM says that I want to respond "But EVERYONE feels that way sometimes - it isn't proof of Mormonism. It's just proof you are alive."

Ask your husband if he has ever considered the fact that maybe God watches over him because God feels sorry for him being in a cult and if that might be what he's feeling. Or better yet, don't. It doesn't sound like it would go over well with him.

Good post CA girl.

That is exactly how I would have viewed the essays when I was TBM. Scary.

I traveled in Russia in the aftermath of the fall of the USSR. I noted that the older generation, veterans of the Great Patriotic War, were content with the change as they had the pensions. Their equivalent of Generation X was excited because they had a new world ahead of them. The BabyBoomers were struggling. They knew no other world. They paid their dues as young communists and then one day "poof" it was all gone. A lost generation.

The LDS faith is so controlling and insular that it will be a rare member who relies on reason rather than feelings. Their conentration in a few intermountain states further insulates any external force that will disrupt their belief system. I saw research last year that found 85% of LDS in Utah have no friends beyond the faith. I don't see a lot Utahans using the New York Times for information. It would take a Yeltsin inside its aging leadership to crack open real debate. Outside of Utah, this may foster a further falling away.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/26/2014 07:53PM by unabashed.

So hopefully the younger generations, who haven't invested their lives in mormonism and also have access to outside information, are/will walk away from it. We can lament about folks like the OP's spouse, but hopefully it ends with that generation.