An uncle passed away recently, leaving behind my dear aunt who is a really kind woman. She is also uber TBM. Drinks the Kool Aid in five gallon buckets. I called her to express condolensces for her loss and we chatted warmly about various things until she got to the topic of church and one of my adult kids who has quit the church (praise be to Odin). She suggested he read the book below by Bruce Hafen. She figures thats all it would take to answer all his supposed questions.

I told her not to bother because he doesnt have questions. He knows the church is a fraud. I find it bizarre that Mormons think a simple faith promoting book would solve the issues an ex member has with TSCC.

So, would this book help you return to the fold? Would you even waste your time reading it? Or would you tell your dear aunt, like i did, to not waste her time and money sending it because you wouldnt read it?



bruce c. hafen the believing heart: four essays on faith

Nope, once you see behind the curtain you can't unsee it.

Are your other kids still in? Are they still TBMs?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 07:59AM by annieg.

Three out. Younger two still believe but it seems to be more about the friendships and community. Same with my wife. They dont care about facts.

They believe the myths about what anti-Mormon material is since they are too afraid to look at the evil stuff. Church leadership has fed the idea that ex-mormons want to sin and are lazy. So yes, they think that we just need a reminder of how great the church feels and that once we start actually doing something with the church then we will be "active". ;)

It doesn't click that ex-mormons have real issues.

Exactly. During the conversation i stated i no longer believe. I wasnt trying to poke the bear, so to speak, but she kept pushing this Hafen book, or asking when i last attended the temple, etc.

So i let her know emphatically that no amount of attendance or reading or praying would help because the church is false. I asked, "Do you know the earth is spheroid, not flat?" She didnt respond. So i said that just as surely as i know the earth is not flat, i know the church is not true. I pointed her to the essays via MormonEssays.com and she said she would at them, but it took 45 minutes of discussion to get her that far. We agreed to drop the conversation and we hung up with her still thinking i could be fixed by going back to church and being an obedient Morgbot.

People who are attracted to members of their own sex can change, an LDS general authority said Saturday, so they shouldn't let Satan persuade them they can't.

This guy? No way.

Elder Bruce C. Hafen, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, spoke at the 19th annual conference of Evergreen International, a nonprofit group that helps Mormons "overcome homosexual behavior" and "diminish same-sex attraction." The event was held at the LDS Church's Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.

Hafen promised attendees, "If you are faithful, on resurrection morning -- and maybe even before then -- you will rise with normal attractions for the opposite sex."

Whenever the devil -- whom Hafen referred to as "the adversary" -- tries to "convince you that you are hopelessly 'that way,' so that acting out your feelings is inevitable, he is lying," Hafen said. "He is the father of lies."

Ironically, Hafen is the liar along with the 12 Liars et al. My aunt kept saying she didnt know who was writing the lies i was reading and i kept saying the lies were written by the church and she could read them on LDS.org. She didnt believe the church had admitted that Smith "translated" with a rock in a hat. All lies she said. She didnt believe the church had admitted the BoA papyri dont translate to what is in the BoA. All lies she said. She didnt believe the church said Smith had sex with other men's wives. More lies. Kept saying it was Satan trying to deceive me.

So i gave her the link and told her to read them herself and if she's honest and thorough in her reading she can realize the liars are leading her church. By their works ye shall know them. It lying continuosly is an attribute of this Satan she speaks of, then the church leaders are pretty durn close to satanic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2015 10:49AM by blankstare.