Does anything strike you as odd about a church having enemies? Presbyterians don't have enemies. Buddhists don't have enemies. But somehow, Mormonism has lots of enemies. Because it's soooo natural for a church to have enemies.

Cults have enemies.

Truth is an enemy of mormonism.

I was always curious about TSCC claiming to have enemies. Especially when I would go temple recommend interviews and I would get asked if I "partook" in any anti-mormon literature. It made me curious as to what that was, and why there would be books out there dedicated to damning mormonism.
I didn't hear anything as such while growing up as a Catholic.
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But of course, I learned that "anti-mormon literature" was pretty much the truth about mormonism. The truth that the church tries to hide.

I remember a part of a talk by a GA several years ago. He referred to the worst of the anti-mormons as having been "bred by the church". I know that my former membership in this cult gave me years of experience that now works against the church. But I would not ever accept the title of 'anti-mormon' anymore than the church will accept the title of 'cult'. I am not going to let the church off of the hook that easily. They do not get to set up the rules nor to create labels on people. They are responsible for their own wrong-doing which led to my resignation and brought harm to others. I talk about that to anyone who is interested in listening. Let each individual decide for themselves if I am an anti-mormon or if the mormon church is a cult. Inside of the church, you will usually not win these battles anyway. But outside of the church, where people still use real critical thinking skills, you'll win most of the time. The church can't win these kinds of battles most of the time. Never let the church set the rules, create the labels on people, or even to decide on the use of the terms that are used in any discussions.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2017 11:43AM by azsteve.

You can't be the one true church unless the devil is out to destroy you. These other religions are doing themselves no favors by not stirring up indignation in the hosts of Satan.

And Lucifer is a master of disguises. Right now for example the Adversary looks a lot like Google. So important not to be fooled by Google.

When I was a young Mormon we reveled in our persecution because that is how we knew we were the true church. Proof is in the pudding!

I think maybe the Mormons get their views about enemies from the Bible.

At Bible Gateway I searched for "enemies" and got 253 passages from the OT, and many of them were about God helping them get back at their enemies. In the NT I got 24 passages. One from Matthew was about loving enemies, and maybe a couple others didn't vilify enemies. However, the others were about people who do not agree being enemies, protection from enemies, and punishment of enemies.

I think this is another case where other religions cherry pick when it is clear the Bible has a lot to say about enemies right and left.

One of the main selling points of religion is to create enemies and then protect from them. Examples might be sin, "Barbarians at the gate" or heretics. Mormons do teach to pray for their enemies and (unfortunately) can be persistent at it.

Babyloncansuckit Wrote:
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> Does anything strike you as odd about a church
> having enemies?

No. Every destructive cult needs them to insulate adherents.

Elder Berry Wrote:
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> Babyloncansuckit Wrote:

> No. Every destructive cult needs them to insulate
> adherents.


This ^^^

One of the "beauties" of starting a religious cult is that you can claim that you will be persecuted. Because the religion you are trying to expropriate will not like it. The response will be "persecution." A self-fulfilling prophesy. Perhaps the only "true" prophesy of Mormonism. ;)

I was surprised that for being a relatively small denomination, Mormons have such an amazing security organization.

The presiding bishop of my national denomination is a woman. I doubt that she has body guards. I've also been to my national church headquarters where a kindly receptionist greated me and helped me find my way to the chapel. I doubt she was packing heat, but you never know!

I have seen metal detectors at large gatherings. The one that sticks out was a joint worship service with Christians, Jews, and Muslims at National Cathedral. Unfortunately, preventative security was necessary.

Our Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers may also have to have preventative security Due to the hate and misunderstanding that's common in today's crazy world. Sometimes, other faith communities will make a presence and support other worshippers if there have been threats or incidents.

Mormonism, however, takes church security to new heights!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/04/2017 02:56PM by BYU Boner.

Yes they do probably because they pissed a ton of people off and they know it.

It's those Episcopalians, I tell ya.

They're behind everything.

They're out to get everybody.....

The worst are Canadian Anglicans! They love everybody.

Oh my god yer right.

A priest'll come right to a gay guy and give him a big hug.

You bet. My rector was ordained as a Canadian Anglican and I've seen him give hugs to gay parishioners many times. He's been in the South so long that the occasional ya'll slips out. It's a hoot.

Don't forget those "Radical Lutherans"

...and if they don't actually have any, they make some up.
Because nothing brings a group together like a common enemy.
Or even better, enemies.

Enemies and war. Mormons are always fighting a war.....war against Satan, war against porn, war against the anti-mormons, etc.

Enemies and waging war are main themes in mormonism.

I apologize for not remembering the source, but I recall a quote by Brigham Young where he basically said that he relished the persecution that Mormons received because it strengthened the resolve of the faithful.

EDIT: The quotes here (https://www.lds.org/manual/teachings-brigham-young/chapter-35?lang=eng) are similar to what I alluded to, but not nearly as cynical.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2017 01:08PM by GregS.

A nevermo atheist woman from The Netherlands who spent a few years in Utah summarized TSCC in a very few words. Let me paraphrase what she said:

"It's a man's world. Not so much on the outside, as their men don't look macho and their women don't try to be bimbos, but very much on the inside. The mindset is masculine. It's all about protecting your people from the enemies outside TSCC. It's about keeping your virginity, and those of others, until marriage. It's about climbing ladders and stepping over others. It's not about keeping the herd together, about caring for and aiding others, about building communities. And it's anti-intellectual. In every family, any decision that should be discussed and debated can be deferred to the leader of the family. And that's usually the oldest man rather than whoever is an expert on the topic at hand."

Well yes, that describes Utah mormons on their home turf, or while invading our mission field ;)

I am an enemy of the church in as much as it has been deceitful, continues to promote false claims and doesn't acknowledge its mistakes and apologize to its victims both past and present. They won't do it because it would diminish their power and subsequently their wealth.

Those which are dishonest, hateful, contentious, self important, ostentatious, bigoted, unhelpful, overly expensive, demanding, or unfair in their dealings.

They literally burned them at the stake.

The Church has enemies because the Church makes enemies.

yah, and did it ever occur to anyone that the outside anti MORmON groups never did succeed in raping, robbing, and killing MORmON members to the extent that (ultra predatory) MORmON leaders did, NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Brigham Young killed more MORmON members with his westward MORmON migration to Utah than any of the mobs in Missouri ever did. Its NOT EVEN CLOSE!!

with enemies like MORmON leaders, only MORmON leaders need other supposed enemies of MORmONISM to keep (brain dead) MORmON followers distracted from the concentrated raping, robbing, and Killing of MORmONS that MORmON leaders are doing in the name of MORmONISM and MORmON Jesus.

MORmONS: their own worst enemy since day one !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1car5aCGE6E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FONmqt385U

Enemies of the MormonCult, real or manufactured, bring the saints together in a rallying cohesive circle around their leaders who dictate instructions on how to survive and beat those damn enemies.

Where would the Cult be without Satan, the embodiment of evil, to fight or porn or apostate parents? The Cult's Authoritarian Set-Up makes them the top rung on the ladder inserting themselves into their members' lives insuring these members become the weakened middlemen. Families become units of control where OBEDIENT FAMILIES are the goal whose duty it is to fight the enemies the authoritarian rulers tell them to fight and in the manner they tell to accomplish it.

Remember Prop 8 in California? The rules were laid out on how the saints were to help and how much money it would take to fight the enemy, Prop 8, who the church declared was going to stomp the "proper" family structure into the ground.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2017 03:21PM by presleynfactsrock.

Aw done seen the enemy is it is US! And ain't that wonderful!

One of my TBM sisters mentioned something interesting to me recently. Her daughter dances for a dance company that is Christian-based. At first I found this a bit odd, being that they are Mormon, but she said it's the only good dance studio where they live. So she recently found out that one of the places they were to have a rehearsal was in a building where this denomination has "anti-Mormon meetings". Wow. Talk about conflict of interest! LOL I actually feel bad because this sibling is the one I'm closest with and she is not an arrogant Mormon whatsoever. I believe she's just gullible. She will find her way out of Mo-ism eventually. But for now she's dealing with 'enemies of the church'!

bluebutterfly Wrote:
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> ...was in a building where this
> denomination has "anti-Mormon meetings".

I'm curious, what's an "anti-Mormon meeting?"
Is this one of the evangelical groups who are adamant that mormons aren't "true" christians, and they plot to convert all the mormons to their own version of christianity?

One of the most marvelous defenses against the anti-Mormons is being able to say that from Day One that Joseph Smith and the rest of the prophet-seer-revelators have always tried super hard for themselves and the Church to be as completely honest and truthful about everything. Why we call it the "true" Church is first and foremost because of the solid constant expectation and fulfillment that the Church is so super honest, transparent, and truthful :)

Thus its obvious that the biggest enemies are those who may ever try to suggest or cause the Church to be at all dishonest or deceitful about anything. I can imagine that the Brethren might be tempted from time to time to be dishonest about little stuff. But it would be unthinkable, unless it was a total fraud, to suggest that they would be dishonest about any big matter or for any long period of time to be dishonest about little matters.

Honest TBM Wrote:
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> I can imagine that the Brethren might be
> tempted from time to time to be dishonest about
> little stuff. But it would be unthinkable, unless
> it was a total fraud,

And, since the Church is true, then they're NOT dishonest.

Isn't logic wonderful?

Remember the old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is....my friend" :)