All of the bizarre secrets of Mormonism are now known to the world. There are few if any converts. It exhibits an influence far greater than the small number of adherents would suggest. It is a fraudulent pseudo-religion run by a multi-national corporation as a source of perpetual investment capital.

Why won't it die?

It's too wealthy to actually die, but not too wealthy to lose all relevance as a religion.

Spot on.

Scientology is even more bold than Mormonism (if that is possible) in being a business trying to pass as a religion.

You are on point.

Sometimes I wonder if TSCC isn't so well capitalized now that the royalty might wish everyone would fall away, and then they could do away with all pretense of religion and simply enjoy the spoils of their "success."

If that's what they wanted, they'd do things like make decisions that aggravate people and drive them away. hmmm...

Or, more drastically, they could receive new "revelation" that says "no new members." No one's joining anyway, but imagine even no more kids born in the covenant!! "It's been revealed to the Profit that all the 'valiant' have already been born." That'd drive people away pretty fast, but basically after a generation there'd be no more rank and file members to worry about.

Now that I think about it, drastic stuff like that will only happen after they tell everyone to buy a house in the new Florida colony!

I think op is right & I think tscc leaders/owners have already begun transitioning back from their front as religious leaders. They have nothing truly inspirational to say and have been phoning it in theologically for years.

Now they've poured billions into a failing mall and are planning to pour more into a likely unnecessary community in Fl, which I've no doubt will somehow end in a financial loss for tscc, while still enriching contractors who turnout to be mostly comprised of their fairly close relatives. And, they've done this with great publicity and fanfare,and absolutely no pretense of any religious purpose for either venture, in an effort, I suspect, to somehow pre-normalize these moves.

IMO they can only be funneling the accumulated wealth of "The Church" into safekeeping for their own futures. It seems clear to me that they see the writing on the wall and are already planning for a severe cutback in tithes and religious pretense. I'm very optimistic that fifty years from now they will be a mostly historical phenomenon; any scraps of religious pretense and a very pared down set of assets consisting of a handful temples and a couple more handfuls of chaples will be left to a few fanatical nut jobs and their followers.

Good question, anybody. They've had 170 years to amass a considerable fortune and build their empire. They no longer depend on the membership as their only source of income.

They did things right, in a business sense.

There are still a large number of true believers. They are passing it onto their children. Even if only half of the next generation believed, they would continue to thrive. Tribal identity is a powerful thing.

Because most people aren't interested in the truth if it hurts their emotionally held beliefs. And humans by nature are tribalistic. They "support their team!" Just like in sports or politics or national patriotism.

That's true, humans generally don't go against the tribe they were raised in, and Mormonism is very much a tribe especially in Utah and other heavily Mormon areas. The most reliable sources of membership is through Mormons having children, since enough BIC's remain in the organization to prevent it from completely dying.

The same reason Catholicism won't die. Fear of the unknown will drive gullible people to believe in just about anything.

There are still plenty of people like my TBM parents (in their late 60's). They will believe in Mormonism NO MATTER WHAT. They will never leave the religion because it guides every aspect of their life. They wouldn't know how to function otherwise. They do live in fear because Mormonism is an absolute mind fuck. I'm hoping it dies off with their generation.

It's crazy that my parents have tried (and continue to try) with every fiber of their being to keep their kids and grandkids in tssc. Yet here I am vigilantly making sure my children never get sucked into it. I'm sure they say that 'Satan is working hard on me'.

bluebutterfly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There are still plenty of people like my TBM
> parents (in their late 60's). They will believe in
> Mormonism NO MATTER WHAT. They will never leave
> the religion because it guides every aspect of
> their life. They wouldn't know how to function
> otherwise. They do live in fear because Mormonism
> is an absolute mind fuck. I'm hoping it dies off
> with their generation.

Hi Blue,
The inverse is true in our family. DH and I are in our 60s, and we are trying like hell to get our kids out of the scam. They are married to extreme TBMs.

My sadness is that I raised them in this crap before I knew better. I have horrible grief over that.

Hopefully, your folks will come around.

Because they were bitten by Zombie Jesus. Seriously, look at the leaders.

"A Modern-Day Prophet" (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/3/letter-to-the-editor-donald-trump-a-modern-day-pro/) described it best when he said" I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters.”

This is the way things are. Some poeople's beliefs are impenetrable. For church members they only believe the news coming from church sponsored sources. This is just like those that only believe in news from their own personal chosen political sources. With many of my family members there is absolutely no evidence no matter how true and powerful that could be brought up that would get them to slightly question the church. That wall is thicker than any physical wall that could be engineered or imagined.

Just have to hope for slow erosion.

Like many dead zombies, TSCC manages to find brains to consume now and then (converts, BICs). As long as they find brains, they'll continue to shuffle around even though they're already dead.

I thought the same thing I just think its a never-ending beast I even thought if all their buildings were destroyed and every general authority died it still wouldn't go down because mormonism is an idea in the people. I don't know tell me what you think.

The church will never die as long as people feed it. They can loose millions of tithe payers like you and me and keep going strong because the super wealthy mormons are enjoying CRUT and CRUD accounts that have been set up by the Church. Millions of dollars are washed through the US tax system and though the church gets 10% the rest goes back to the wealthy members. In the end it is far cheaper for millionaires to pay tithing and wash their money than to pay US taxes. If you want to know more about CRUD and CRUT accounts please google it.

I knew something like that was going on for the millionares when they paid tithing there had to be a benefit set up somewhere.

Because humans are subject to emotional feelings first and rational thought second.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2017 12:08PM by steve benson.

but no one seems to care now. It's a bizarre, Loony-Tunes cult that entraps people into an alternate existence like the Matrix for the sole purpose of tapping their lives and earnings.

It's like a virus that's found a survival niche via the freedom of religion.


"Zombie Ant" Fungus That Controls Its Hosts

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2730411/Rise-zombie-ants-scientists-animals-infected-mind-controlling-fungus-nest-make-easy-fresh-victims.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/pictures/110303-zombie-ants-fungus-new-species-fungi-bugs-science-brazil/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/11/2017 01:16PM by anybody.

Most staunchly loyal members have way too much invested in the organization emotionally to ever leave. They've placed all of their eggs in that basket and to admit that it's false would terrorize them. What of my afterlife? Is it no longer safe?

That certainly scared me into staying for longer than I should have.

In a word, ego. Some members are like my mom and just love having super-secret knowledge about the universe that others don't. It makes them feel special in their ordinary hum drum lives. Others, like Bishop Jackwagon, need to feel better than other people, like they are Gods in the making, who will rule and reign over the universe someday. It gives them purpose, identity, a feeling of being special, comfort etc. My mom once admitted in a testimony that the two things she loved the most were her family and the church, but the church the most because it gave her life purpose. She's done a ton of genealogy. She seriously thinks she is saving people. Ego also keeps you from being able to admit that everything you've ever believed, every decision you've ever made, every sacrifice ... that's all WRONG. It's a lot to be catastrophically wrong about.

If there were second and third words, I'd say laziness and fear. It's very scary, when you really believe, to take a chance of making an eternal mistake. And also, most Mormons are so busy in their comfortable rut that they don't feel the need to work that hard to make sure they are in the right rut. It feels good to them, why question? It's easier to keep shoveling along rather than to do all the work most ex-Mormons have to do regarding research, redefining their lives, making new friends, facing the truth. They say we aren't Mormon because we don't want to work that hard but the truth is, we are working much, much harder than they are - they are just mindlessly following orders. Just because it keeps them busy doesn't mean that it's the harder sort of work.

^^^THIS^^^

People (men especially) who otherwise have no authority in their lives get to feel super special and "rule" over others. TSCC feeds their egos in ways that their job can't.

And let's not forget the old saying "it's easier to fool a man than convince him he's been fooled."

This was noted by Henry Caswall (who actually travelled to America and met Joseph Smith in Nauvoo) in his 1843 book "The Prophet Of The Nineteenth Century."

Because there's a sucker born every minute, many of them to Mormons.

I think there are a lot of people (more than you can imagine,) that don't want to think, make decisions and be accountable for their lives.

TSCC makes all the decisions for them and the more closely they comply with the expectations, the higher their social status.

I also think that women especially would be attracted because women in western society are still socialized to be passive and to look for someone to take care of them and Mormonism is the perfect system for that.

I know someone who converted at about 40 after his second divorce. Educated, good job, lots of friends, financially secure but does not like to think or make decisions for himself. Craves order and predictability. More than a decade later his life is still wrapped around and defined by TSCC. It's amazing. Probably this is very common with many Mormons, especially those in Utah.

It sinks.

It's only wiggling because it is dying. Give it time. Ignore it. It will go away.

Because the stake has to go through the heart, and Mormonism doesn't have one.