I might be out of line to post this, so I apologize if that is true, but when I typed "BYU is a joke" into Google, it led me here. I hope that is a good thing for y'all. So let me get this out there, I am not a Mormon, one of my Heroes that I look up to is a Mormon. I knew the whole Mormon thing was pretty much a joke before I learned anything about it, that's just how it was told to me, it was never taken seriously. I promise this leads to where I'm getting at, I just needed to say how difficult Mormonism has made my career and if anybody else feels the same. Again I am not Mormon, Mormonism was taught to me from the beginning as a joke, however I have taken time out to actually learn a bit about it, and how deep the rabbit hole goes (I thought BYU was a joke for several years, that's how much I couldn't believe there is an entire community (more than one really) that teaches the horribly extremely flawed Mormon view of History), and that's the point of why I'm here, History.

I won't give much detail except I'm a Researcher and History teacher, and that goes for all grades and all people, I also do speeches and give public discussions and teachings, I'm just passionate about History. So when someone came up to me and started talking about some shit going on out west and how I was more wrong than they had the time to explain, I had to check what the hell is up. Holy Shit there is people that believe that?!.

No, that's not a question I'm asking, I'm just trying to get you (the reader) to understand exactly how shocking it was to learn that Mormonism is a big thing, and a lot of people take it very, VERY seriously, even "historical" wise, which is a big part of Mormonism to begin with, I think.

I'm not here to really ask questions, or anything like that. I just want to know if anybody else is tired of mainstream America thinking that everybody who is religious believes the "Mormon" version of History. That statement might be really confusing, so please let me clarify it. As a Historian (I am very young, 20's) I kept getting asked to explain, and I'm putting that very politely, I do not make religious seminars or anything, but I believe in god, that's as far as I'm going. I kept getting asked to explain why the hell does people think the Earth is only 6,000 years old. My reply is "Who the hell says that", again, obviously in a more polite tone. Well the answer to that question is Mormons say that, and virtually the entire American population including sadly the three colleges I have access too, believes anybody who remotely even wears a cross on their neck, also believes the Earth is only 6,000 years old. This has absolutely caused me so much chaos in my career its not even funny. I now have a standard response to people who ask that, and thankfully most people are intelligent enough (that's a relative term, after-all my degree does say liberal arts, as a Historian I want to almost try to erase that part) to understand that the majority of people can't possibly believe such ridiculous claims.

So it was the damn Mormons, the people I never took seriously, who has actually damaged the United States to the point I'm going to end up putting out more papers on "Why the 6,000 year Earth thing is wrong" than Abe fucking Lincoln. So that's it, I apologize if I've posted on the wrong board to even begin with. Also I am interested in actually being ON this board as far as reading and maybe asking a question or two, as this whole Mormonism thing really is astounding, I feel absolutely horrible for that guy I read on here that spent and paid five years at BYU for a PhD in chemistry only to get turned down from every job he tried to apply at, and eventually got his CDL and drives semi's but now loves life, so this is quite interesting, almost as much as scientology, but I refuse to put y'all into the same basket with them people, that's a whole other rabbit hole

Hola, U.

Good luck.

I don't think that Mormons came up with the idea that the earth is only 6000 years old. There are lots of Christians who believe that, and Mormons are a very small percentage of the religious people in US, and an even smaller percentage of the religious people in the world.

Google the "age of the earth according to the Bible", you'll get treated to a lovely explanation of how you can use the genealogy in the Bible to calculate how long ago Adam and Even lived. And this is apparently proof positive for the age of the earth. Most of the young earth creationists are NOT Mormon. However, if the origin of this idea can be traced back to Mormonism, I'd be interested in seeing the evidence for it.

I was raised as a young earth creationist (I grew up Protestant) and was taught that dinosaurs and humans coexisted, that evolution was bunk and that the earth was only about 6,000 years old. I think Mormons feed off of Protestants in this area especially when it comes to "research."

Money Mormons have. Members believing in this stuff don't compare to what other "religions" have in the way of doubters of Science in favor of fairy tales.

I'm all for doubting Science within reason. But if you have something ready made to explain stuff that involves more fantasy than thinking something through....

Well, there is the right to believe anything is true.

uloveme Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So it was the damn Mormons, the people I never
> took seriously, who has actually damaged the
> United States to the point I'm going to end up
> putting out more papers on "Why the 6,000 year
> Earth thing is wrong" than Abe fucking Lincoln.

Nope, sorry. While the mormons are indeed bat-shit crazy, and do indeed (though apparently no longer "officially") believe the earth is 6,000 years old...that idea certainly didn't originate with them, and they're far from the biggest promoters of it in the US.

The biggest promotes are "evangelical" (fundamentalist) christians. They make up about, oh, 20-30% of the population at most, but they're loud and obnoxious, and very dedicated trying to get their nonsense taught in public schools. They absolutely teach it in private christian schools. They even have a "Creation Museum" that has dinosaurs with saddles for humans to ride. If mormons are bat-shit crazy (and they are), these people dinosaur-shit crazy. Pooploads beyond the mormons.

Look up the Creation Museum. Look up "Answers in Genesis." Prepare to have your head explode at the dishonesty, fallacy, ignorance, and outright stupidity.

Then stop blaming the mormons. They're certainly not helping the situation -- but they're far from the cause of it. They're only about 1% of the US population.

Oh, and welcome! Please do hang around, post, and discuss. We'd love to have you :)

It is official Mormon doctrine that the Bible is quite literal and the world was created 6000 years ago. But the more educated and enlightened Mormons disbelieve this doctrine and accept that the earth is several billion years old. Many of them believe that God used evolution to slowly create life as we see it now over millions of years. But these Mormons don't talk about their forbidden beliefs when at church or with the most devout of Mormons.

I am baffled by the stiff-neckedness, pride, and willful ignorance of the Young Earth Creationist Mormons.

Before the development of scientific methods to date the age of the earth, Archbishop James Ussher published a chronology of earth history based on a literalist reading of the Bible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher_chronology


Many fundamentalist Christians still follow this chronology.

The Mormon church take is a little different, though. According to Mormon theology, the 6,000 years relates to the earth's "temporal existence" between the "Fall of Adam" and the beginning of the Millennium (which will last another 1,000 years, for a total of 7,000 years).

From the Mormon scriptures:

"Q. What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed on the back with seven seals?
"A. We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries, and the works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence." (Doctrine and Covenants | Section 77:6)

There is no official teaching in the Mormon church on the "age" of the earth. Mormonism leaves open the possibility that before the Fall of Adam, the earth could have existed a very long time. However, Mormon teachings are clear that before the Fall (less than 6,000 years ago), there was no death (or procreation) on the earth, which, of course, in itself is problematic:

“3. Mortality. Mortal life comes because of the fall. If there had been no fall, there would be no mortal life of any sort on earth. Mortal life is life where there is death. Death must enter the world to bring mortality into being.

“4. Procreation. Before the fall there was no procreation. … Adam and Eve, in their Edenic state, could not have children, nor, as we shall see, could any form of life when first placed on the newly created paradisiacal earth.

https://www.lds.org/manual/print/old-testament-seminary-teacher-manual/lessons-1-5/lesson-2-the-plan-of-salvation?lang=eng

It is interesting that Mormonism believes that there was no death in the Garden of Eden. I once objected in a GD class that it was wrong. One sister indicated agreement with me and her husband was furious. They are planning on a "senior mission" right now. If one so much as reads the Bible it is self-evident that the stories of the creation are NOT literal. It is also self-evident that there was no Tower of Babel which was merely a local myth that got inserted.

Any faith which teaches the "young earth" is setting up their members for cog-dis down the road.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 09:04AM by rhgc.