1/3 sealed portion of the BoM.
Temple work.
Take your vitamins.
Further light and knowledge.
A ladder of ritual and ordinance.
That article of faith about things to be revealed.


Joseph Smith started out rough. He actually misunderstood how important the book was over the charlatan selling the book. He thought the book was the key to creating a hive of people who would support him and his writings and his family could share in the windfall.

It took him awhile to figure out that one can't just deliver the goods and expect the people and money to keep rolling in.

There had to be an element of expectations and future enjoyment of a progression towards heaven.

Joseph had to tack on changes that led people towards higher and higher things. Scientology learned the same thing. Can't just be clear. Can't just have another stick of a new testament for the new world. You have to keep changing the show or people will go.

But one thing they have not figured out. You have to upgrade the façade. They have allowed themselves to become old and worn out by eliminating all the things that bonded people to the tribe.

Now its just a bunch of shallow promises. Kind of like an old beach house that is never modernized while you notice the foundation is rotting out, but the owner promises you that WiFi is coming.

Kinda like paying for a seat in a movie theater and watching non-stop previews of upcoming movies.

if you live right, so you are always checking to make sure there can't be a reason you aren't being blessed. I lived so that I wouldn't have to worry about anything bad happening in my life.

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I was finally given a husband after all my friends were married with children, but he happened to be gay and it was my job to save him and then, the obsessive checking to make sure you are doing everything perfect so he can become straight (per them in the 1980s), etc., etc., etc.

My life was a mess before I left mormonism. It hasn't been so very pretty since I left mormonism either. Now, my TBM daughter does everything right now like I did. At least she got a great husband. I couldn't be happier about who she married, but her life isn't easy. And I'm getting pretty sick of my life. I said in another thread, my son is in the behavioral health unit and we are hoping they'll put him in a facility so he can be diagnosed and medicated correctly.

I hate to admit I am counting the years until I can move on. My parents died at 76--both of them. I'm 65. I've had enough.

I for one am glad you are still with us. Your experiences while so hard are very enlightening. Blessings aren't where people told you to look for them.