My husband and I took our kids to my parents' ward/neighborhood trunk or treat Halloween night, and one thing really stood out to my husband and I.

As we were walking from car to car and interacting with the people I grew up with, one thing was SO obvious- everyone was so simple minded. They had a glazed look in their eyes, and the way they talked... they seemed uneducated and uninformed- just off.

My parents live in a very affluent ward with physicians and lawyers and accountants, but even then those members had eyes that were glazed over and blank.

I notice this look in young Mormon mothers, but its the first time I've really noticed it in white collar/upper class professionals.

I know this isn't the case everywhere, but here in SE Idaho its pretty noticeable- or maybe I've just been out for so long I can detect it better now than before.

The church likes its members to have a child like faith, be humble, meek, and mild. I honestly think my parents' ward has achieved this standard of faith keeping the people very simple minded. Like drones or zombies. Yep. zombies.

Fitting because it was damn scary on Halloween night.

Definitely. When I left the Church, I began to notice that I had started feeling like a grown-up for the first time in my life. And I was 50!

No text here.

Well said!

I don't think that's entirely fair to say, it's offensive to people who've been brainwashed from birth like I was. I consider myself intelligent and I didn't realize the truth until I was 31. I was simple minded exactly because of my upbringing in the church.

dp



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/2014 11:36PM by exldsdudeinslc.

The reason that some religions, including Mormonism, like to keep people simple-minded is that simple-minded people do not question things such as the doctrine or the behavior of the leadership. The whole concept of faith is believing in something when the evidence against that belief is overwhelming. It was to keep people simple-minded and faithful that has led the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to routinely scour its ranks of questioning intellectuals.

Converts have been exposed to other faiths. They may be very well educated. They are generally not accustomed to the blind, unquestioning faith and obedience demanded by the Morg.

With these things in mind, I'm not so sure that converts are a good investment in the long term.

How many of us here were converts? I was, and having seen how other churches worked, it wasn't too hard to get in trouble by asking questions, and then getting pissed off at being told to shut up and conform.

My MIL was like that, a great grand daughter of Utah pioneers, a real follower, always looking for an assignment, with a child's view of the world and an infant's understanding of science and history. Whatever the prophet said was all right with her. Her argument would go like this.

me: You know, mom, there were no horses in the new world.

MIL: The Book of Mormon says there were, and so there were.


All so very simple.

My friend just says, "Heavenly Father will explain it to us someday. I'm not worried about it."

All of my maturation as a human happened post Mormon. And it's been slow going after that. I would say that personal growth is difficult under the best circumstances. It's got to be nearly impossible for a member of an obedience cult.

I'm definitely noticing the residual affects of being raised in the church as a 32 year old and I see it in my social interactions, work interactions, and even on the Internet. It's probably always been there but since leaving TSCC I've become really aware of it and it bothers me a lot. I feel clueless, like I've been spending all my life in a hazy fog and a lot of times in social situations or even in watching sitcoms and movies things pass right by me like I'm a dumb blonde. I'm intelligent and there are flashes of it occasionally, but the way I was raised really stunted my social growth and complex reasoning abilities.

As I say this, I must hedge myself because I can hold my own in most social situations very well and most people see me as a very confident individual, but there are certain times where I'm just lost and I feel so dumb. I've just learned how to manage around it I guess.

Kinda sucks for me when all of my 7 siblings are that way and raising children to be the same. Kinda why I found these boards because I just want to scream wake the fuck up! Where are you?!

Maybe it's all about wisdom, or all about wising up...all about seeing things for what they are. It's the difference between eating the fruit and staying in the garden. It's not that they're bad, still thinking like children. It's just that they aren't wise. Their eyes are not yet opened. So, yeah, there's a look in their eyes. I know exactly what you mean.