I often wonder what makes a fanatic. What indoctrination makes a person crazy enough to fly into the Twin Towers?

How far do you think the most dedicated LDS member would go in obedience to the prophet.

I sometimes feel disgusted with myself for how indoctrinated I was.

On the spectrum of fanaticism, I was an above average TBM, but not a bat **** crazy fanatic. I followed the mission rules. I was a full tithe payer. I was a card carrying temple rec holder, but I would have drawn the line on criminal activity - in the name of Horny Joe Smith. At least I like to think so.

Personally, 1-3% of the population do fanatical crazy type things. I think 1-3% of TBM's are probably capable of bat **** crazy criminal activity in the right circumstances, IMHO, even in the name of Jesus the Christ, Amen.

I was a convert then a missionary. So yes, I was a fanatic. I don't believe I would of ever done anything for the corporation that would of been illegal however. There is quite a bit of disillusionment experienced as a missionary when I saw blatant lying frequently. I became less fanatic after the mission.

I was a skeptic who tried very hard to believe it all because of the family and cultural expectations. I sometimes felt envious of TBM's who seemed able to just accept it all on faith and were never bothered by the contradictions in doctrine and the established historical facts. The more I learned and the more I used my own critical thinking skills the less envious I became of the TBM mentality.
It's really good to be free.

My family harbored some of them. My brother married into a polygamist group and many of his adult plyg children attend regular mormon wards. That includes over half of the members in Mona, Utah for example.

I'd call these people fanatics.

but I did end up marrying someone gay, but it was more about caring about him, getting out from under the lds leaders' insanity and voyeurism. They had told me he was damned if he didn't change. I didn't know what to think. So we got married for oh so many reasons.

BUT I was never a "TBM." I wasn't disgustingly sickeningly mormon like some of my relatives. I wasn't raised that way. I was the most devout in my immediate family, but that isn't saying a whole lot.

Actually, when I met my future husband, I was going inactive and happened to show up at church that day. He was also going inactive and we ended up meeting each other.

I would never fly into a building in a plane. NEVER. All my nonmormon friends always said that I loved them more than my religion and I did. I just didn't want to lose my family and I lived in fear of that. I lived in fear of talking to the bishop--let alone about sexual things--so I lived so I would never have something to repent of out of FEAR.

My daughter tends to look like a TTTBBBMMMM, but I don't think it would take much to topple her testimony. It just has to be the right thing that comes along to do it.

You cannot be a BIC TBM TR holding tithe paying church attending Mormon and NOT be fanatical. Only fanaticals would be willing to jump through so many hoops and wear blindfolds to be lifers.

Or dumb as a doorknob.

I would say that I was more fanatic than some, but tame compared to others. Don't get me wrong, I was EXTREMELY judgey and did some things that haunt me 15 years later, but I never went on a mission (or had any desire to) and I was pretty lax in how I defined "keeping the Sabbath holy."

As a child yes. My life with Mormonism was as a small child I didn't believe it. As a young child and preteen I was obsessed with it like someone into Harry Potter. As a teen I was questioning hard. As an older teen I didn't believe at all. As a young adult I used the memories of when I was young to reignite Mormonism. That carried me through a mission and into a temple marriage. As a young father I was slowly slipping back into disbelief. When I found out true Mormon history as a 30 something I took a nose dive into total and complete disbelief.

I tried to maintain the Jesus thing for some years. It died when I finally accepted that I never really accepted The Atonement. It never made sense. As a newly baptized member (at 8) I had cursed God for making me a fallible child. I was a child and I was dealing with the concept of sin seeing a future of sins extending for the rest of my life.

Nearing 40 I accepted what I knew at 8 - sin and by association Jesus were ridiculous concepts.


In my 40s God died. As a small child I had thought God was the sun. A passive yet powerful influence in my life. Lifegiving and unconcerned with the details of my insignificant existence. Middle age brought me to the conclusion that I really was agnostic. I liked the concept of God as the sun but it didn't make a difference to me personally one way or the other.

I had a similar time-frame. I left god in my 40's.

My TBM family are fanatics. The ones that are still active anyway.

They're so sure they have the only true gospel on the face of the earth, how could they be wrong? Hence why those like me are labelled apostate and mistreated because we had the gall to walk away. How dare we?

They are like the blind leading the blind.

I still believe in God. Only that he is bigger, better (and badder,) than the way LDS portrays him to be. He is master of the Universe, heaven and earth, and all that populates it under the sun. He is a god of diversity. If it weren't so, he would've made it that way. But he didn't.

I believe all converts start as fanatics. When Mormonism is new there is so much to discover. And as I explained to an Institute Director, "God cuts you a couple of aces in the first deal." Everything looks full of promises.

The enduring to the end phase of Mormonism is never a sprint. Eventually you learn to pace yourself. You must learn this lesson for yourself because nobody will officially say, "Don't become too Mormon."

As you learn more about the Church you discover that some points may not be as they seem. Others are flat out wrong.

The Church is a parasitic organization that I must shield my life from becoming totally consumed. If I wanted any time, talents or other resources for myself, I would have to become much more assertive in my limits.

By the time I discovered this principle, I was far, far too deeply involved with an LDS family to leave. I needed to be there to keep my wife from sacrificing our children to the Church.

My experience dealing with born in the covenant members with several generations of LDS history in their families is that they have either their entire self-esteem tied into their standing in the Church or have reached this peaceful co-existence with the Church. Neither are fanatics about LDS doctrine, but some members can become heavily invested in their Church positions that they can't imagine "life without the Church."

Based on the historical Danites,Brigham's assasins, and from bitter observations I say there are members that would do anything that the "profit" told them to if he said it in the name of God.

I was a fanatic convert. So much so, I wanted to teach full time for the Church Education System; and ended up doing that. Which ironically, led me out of the church (again).

I think you have to be extreme, and a fanatic if you work for CES full time. Nothing to be proud of.

My TBM ex-husband once said that he would gladly participate in polygamy if it were reinstated, plus kill nonbelievers if ordered to do so by the leaders. Let's just say that I made sure the divorce was nearly finalized before resigning from the cult even with having a protective order.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2018 08:41PM by doyle18.

Eeeks!

No and no.

The only thing that I did that might put me in the fanatic group was one year when we were behind on our tithing, I was going to pay the balance with one of those high interest credit card checks. My TBM DH said "no way", we will declare it as partial.

If the defining characteristic is serving a mission, going to the house of loud laughter, and serving as Bozo the ward clerk, then that's me!

I was somewhat diligent about mormonism, but my fanaticism regarding masturbation sort of kept me grounded; I wasn't going to the CK, but why not break a few more rules when convenient?

As mentioned on previous occasions, I had a lovely mission!! One year of missionary work, one year of tourism.

Life changed my stricter, idealistic views. I believed in the teachings of Jesus but gradually realized the church had a different agenda. I kept the LDS rules until I resigned about 5 years ago. I’ve adjusted happily to thinking for myself without guilt. I still look to Jesus for how to be a compassionate human being. My husband has been supportive of me and we only attend LDS services to support family members. If anyone remembers me, that’s a lot of progress. Still the only one out from a huge family.

“only attend - - - “
Baby blessings, primary talks, baptisms.
I’m very uncomfortable in Sacrament Meeting, especially over whether to take the Sacrament. It’s THEIR Sacrament but I honor Jesus. What right do they have to interfere? I’ll wait for another thread to discuss it more.

Reflecting back on my life I don't think that I was ever firmly convinced about Mormonism. There always seemed to be something lurking in the back of my mind that whispered "Watch out". Do to economics it is imperative that I still retain membership but the activity is minimal. The Belief? It is mostly nonexistent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2018 12:26PM by thedesertrat1.

As a previous Church employee I can fully relate to the economic side of things keeping you in. I thought at least I am getting well paid to believe this crap. Then I hated what I had become. A Whore.

Alan Robinson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I sometimes feel disgusted with myself for how
> indoctrinated I was.

I ALWAYS feel disgusted by how susceptible that I was to MORmON idiocy / dogma / doctUrine.


my only excuse is being conditioned from infancy which tends to make a person very vulnerable, because MORmONISM really is STUPID OF STUPID !!!! .........THANKS, MOM and MALE PARENT !!!

As a convert, I've often said that I could never learn to think like a "born in the bed" Mormon. Naturally, my efforts to live The Gospel aka The Commandments, were more about using good sense, or it seemed to me. If something sounded outrageous and ridiculous, I chalked it up to being a little too strict and ultra religious and fanatical. And,I remember plenty fanatics. One of them was Bruce Longo who was our Home Teacher at one time at a married student ward in about 1983. Knew his wife and we were at the blessing of his son who he blessed to be a prophet, or words to that effect. Some of you may remember him and what happened to him and his family.

In talking with my kids, now days, we were more liberal in how we lived The Gospel. My husband and I kept the Word of Wisdom, kept Sunday as Family Day, didn't shop on Sunday,(many places were not open anyhow,) and were OK with the kids not dating until 16. We went to the temple regularly. He was more orthodox than I was as he was born into it from generations going back to the early days of the church. We didn't have early morning family prayer and singing, like some did - which I considered a bit fanatic.

Fortunately, when I recognized that JS Jr made it all up, and the BOM was about imaginary people, places and things, and plagiarized other works, and got away with it, it struck me funny. After the shock wore off, I knew I was OK. I tend to see the humor when other's don't and I could laugh at myself, consequently, while leaving was a difficult process, I did it with my self esteem and self respect sent on high as well as a lot of snickering and laughing.

Some of our extended family could be considered a bit fanatic. They wouldn't miss a meeting even to attend a meeting in our town (down the road a bit) for the blessings of our babies. We considered that over-the-top fanatical and weird. I know of many more. There was a little joke in the family about one husband and wife who we claimed "laid awake nights thinking of ways to be more righteous."

I have often said that there are as many kinds of Mormonism as there are Mormons. People live the religion very differently, especially in different areas of the US and other countries.

SusieQ, I'd love to learn more about your experiences with Bruce Longo from BYU days. I'm working on a book about the family and in need of firsthand observations and recollections about Longo, his wife Margit (later Rachel) and the children. If anyone else has had the same experience, I'd like to hear from you, too.

For anyone interested in the tragedy of the children of Immanuel David, and on the fate of the daughter Rachel (Eva by birth), I can testify that she died in 2016 at age fifty-six and is buried in Idaho.

DNW

SusieQ passed away early this year.

Thanks Susie I always look forward to reading your well thought out opinions.

I knew one family in my ward that was fanatic. Other members thought this family was weird as well. This family is staunchly conservative, as seen on their FB pages. What's the first argument that pops into your mind when you think of conservatives? Abortion. Normal people express feelings about abortion on both sides, with arguments backing up their views. Feelings may run strong, but are otherwise debated in a civil manner. This family? Blindly and passionately against abortion. Like, picture them holding spears and wearing warrior face paint. They don't acknowledge gray area (i.e. mothers who want to stay pregnant, but have to abort because the baby will be born with severe, life-threatening complications), even if they were to disagree with it. This family is weird because they're so militant about this particular belief. They're unusual fanatics in other ways too, but this was the most obvious give-away.

Here’s my perspective. On September 11, 2001, I remember having the distinct thought that I would possibly die for the LDS Church if I thought it was necessary, but even if the “prophet” himself asked me to, I wouldn’t kill for the church.

Fanatic? Yes, but I did have some limits.