This was one thing that struck me even when I was TBM. It disgusted me that so many who considered themselves spiritual giants worried so much about things like how they were dresed on Sunday, the "appearance of evil" and other superficial crap. Yet they wouldn't give a thought to things like helping the poor, financially or otherwise, and they sure wouldn't subscribe to the notion that one's deeds and thoughts matter more than appearance.

Of course, that goes for most "born agains", too, but for them it is mainly a fallout from their "faith not works" BS doctrine.

Frankly, most of the atheists I know are more spiritually deep people than most TBMs I've met.

or thinkers or facts. They trust their feelings. Thinking involves questions and doubts, which are not faith-promoting, therefore they are of Satan.

"Thought-terminating cliches" are essential to Mormonism.

"A thought-terminating cliché is a commonly used phrase, sometimes passing as folk wisdom, used to quell cognitive dissonance. Though the phrase in and of itself may be valid in certain contexts, its application as a means of dismissing dissent or justifying fallacious logic is what makes it thought-terminating."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_and_the_Psychology_of_Totalism

They must conform to the dictates of the Mormon status quo regardless of thinking, facts, OR feelings. Anything contrary to or not faith promoting of Mormonism is devilish. Anything regardless of how rational or sane that contradicts TSCC must be combatted and adherence to the church is all that matters. A member must think and feel along acceptable LDS lines or be condemned.

I think they emphasize feelings because thinking is expected to follow certain logical lines and can be critiqued more easily than can feelings. A person feels what he feels, but his thoughts are subject to scrutiny.

+1

my experience as well. As I grew into the church, I couldn't believe how openly vein it was.

I think a lot of it can be boiled down to this:
Mormon spirituality is feeling good about being the only church with a living prophet and doing what he says brings us closer to God.


As for helping the poor, if they had the gospel things would take care of themselves.

It's damned irritating, too.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2011 01:55PM by helamonster.

That's right. Because if they had the gospel then they'd be blessed and not poor!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2011 06:34AM by Strykary.

"When everybody's thinking alike, somebody isn't thinking" ~Patton

Not thinking, or insisting that everyone in the club think alike or go home, is stunting and limiting, yes. But it is also very useful, isn't it?

Tilting at windmills...straining at gnats. Same $hite, different day.

It's because they put so much enphasis on appareance its created a dissconnect between real spiritualaty and fake spiritualaty.

I was particularly annoyed when my family lived in southern Texas near a medical school. Every Fast Sunday was punctuated by a line of medical school students getting up to proclaim how they were so blessed to be able to study to become doctors. Oh, they were not bragging at all. PLEASE!! We had to endure at least 6 of these every FS. I was a convert and I could not believe how prideful these people were. I grew up in a religion that preached being humble and clearly this was not taught in the Mormon church! I was relieved when we moved, but lo and behold every ward we went to was full of people that bragged about something under the guise
of bearing their testimony.

Wife of patmarrob