Posted by:
Pooped
(
)
Date: September 11, 2017 08:19AM
It's been bothering me a lot that so many of us here have found the truth about Mormonism but we can't get through to the ones we love and care about the most.
The missionaries are frustrating to talk with because they have no concept of any other life outside Mormonism if they are BIC. Their parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, almost everyone they know are Mormon. How horrible it is to be different when you are a kid. The thought of going outside the social norms is unthinkable to most teens. They cannot even imagine you, an outsider, could possibly have their best interest in mind. This makes a lot of sense for why they shut down when you approach them with facts about Mormonism.
But then there are the older, wiser ones. Our parents, siblings and dear friends who have lived a little. They know there is a wider world with information that might expand their lives. They know you and your character. Why won't they at least open their minds a crack and listen? Give us half a chance at convincing them? I think the answer lies in the phrase that goes constantly through my mind whenever I think of TBM Mormons: "There are none so blind as they who will not see."
Blind, deaf, and dumb they are because they want to be. They don't want you rocking their world. They like the regimented way they were taught to raise their kids. Their kids have turned out to be obedient, traditional, hard working, and reliable. They succeeded as parents thanks to Mormonism. How can you argue with that? Now you want to mess with their family harmony and certainty of success. It's a trifling matter that their kids are afraid or unhappy living outside of Utah or the Morridor. It may not be great to see their gay kids suffer in this life but the next will bring them happiness for their suffering today.
Then there are the neat freaks. The ones who have to have every question answered and every duck in its appropriate row for life to function. If they aren't headed for the celestial kingdom, praying to the correct god, aligned with the right social order, and progressing along the right path, what kingdom, god, order, and path are you going to replace all this certainty with? You don't have anything better to plug into those holes you just shot into their life that makes them superior to all others on earth and protected from all harm for eternity? That cannot be right. You must be evil if you don't have a map that draws their life out into perfect harmony with promises of a happily ever after forever. Satan get thee behind them! Mormonism has such power to protect, guide, and comfort them. You are asking them to embark on a life without certainty and clearly marked roads with honeysuckle fields at the end. Get lost!
Yes, reality is a harsh replacement for fantasy. We are asking Mormons to enter a world of uncertainty, fear, and unanswered questions about life's purpose and destination. It's a lot to ask of someone who has been sheltered from life and reality for a lifetime. If you are going to ask it of them they will expect something better. What do you have to offer? Just because we prefer mental clarity, freedom, truth, and reality doesn't mean everyone does.
I watched a video of Sam Harris trying to explain the human degradations and horrors against women taught in the Quran to a Muslim woman. She refused to listen. She couldn't defend it in any other way but to point out that the Old Testament was just as bad. Yes, she was right but that doesn't make Islam any better. I could tell Sam was frustrated. This woman took every misogynist doctrine he showed her in her own religion and just ignored it or proclaimed it was misunderstood. Yet, she could not intelligently defend it.
We must not give up. Yes, deconstructing Mormonism with truth is a bitter pill to offer many Mormons. But if we don't do it, who will save the ones suffocating, stagnating, and mentally dying each day from lack of truth? The ones who just can't understand why their fantastic religion offers them no substance are waiting for the truth but don't quite know where it is.
Friends, keep up the fight. It won't be won until the last Mormon on earth at least hears the truth about their bogus religion. If even one person hears the truth you have to offer and finds their way out of the cult, think how much good you will have done.