Posted by:
RPackham
(
)
Date: May 22, 2020 05:28PM
I have long believed this. In my article debunking the idea that raising children in the church is good for them (at
http://packham.n4m.org/children.htm ), I wrote:
Mormons subtly (and probably unintentionally) teach children to lie.
Mormons, including children, are interviewed by the bishop as to their "worthiness" for every step of their progress in the church, starting at the age of eight, when preparing for baptism into the church. In these interviews the Mormon child is faced with the choice of telling the truth "Yes, Bishop, I masturbate once in a while" and thus being declared unworthy for the next advancement, or of lying to the bishop. Many children thus learn to lie: "No, bishop, I do not masturbate." This is not a lesson, I think, that children should learn: you get punished (or at least scolded) for telling the truth, you get advancement (and praise for your "righteous obedience to the commandments") for lying.
Jarom Smith, a former Mormon who was raised in the church, made this comment (used with permission):
"And I was one of the dumb-asses that told the truth...
"If I had to put it in one word, I would say that my integrity led me out of the LDS organization. There were so many times that I could have lied my way through a priesthood interview or given people the answer that I knew they wanted to hear, but my internal moral compass wouldn't allow me to do so. The ironic thing, and the thing that caused me to start to question the LDS church, was that instead of being rewarded (or at least commended) for my honesty I was punished. Meanwhile, I saw others lie their way through the organization with impunity. This taught me two things: A) the leaders had no "spirit of discernment" and B) the organization valued lip-service over honesty.
"After figuring out that the LDS church was a fraud, I was still encouraged by family/friends to retain my membership in the church, even though I no longer believed. I guess they saw it as a less drastic step than full resignation. Perhaps some of them thought that at some point in the future I would "see the light" and return to full fellowship. What they didn't understand is that they were asking me to lie -- AGAIN!! -- by professing to have a belief in an organization/theology in which I clearly had none."
It still astonishes me how rampant lying is in the Mormon church, at the most subtle levels. Mormons teach their children to lie when they teach them to bear their testimony. It just snowballs from there....
As soon as they are able to talk, Mormon children are urged to "bear their testimony" in testimony meeting. They are usually just mouthing the words put into their ears by a parent: "I know that Joseph Smiff was a pwoffut and the Book Mommum is twoo. Nameofjesuschristamen!" They know nothing of the sort. But they are praised for saying something they do not even understand. They are being encouraged to lie. (This kind of repetition of meaningless mantras is, of course, one of the techniques in brainwashing.)