I was only six the first time I really became aware of the church in a cogent way. On the way to Sunday School up the old country lane one day, walking hand in hand with me, my mother said, “You know, Done, there are many churches in the world, but our church is the only true church. We are the only ones who know the truth.”

That was when I found out that there was more to church than just going to Sunday School to see other people and have a nice lesson about Noah and the ark.

As I grew, I became more and more aware that other churches existed and how lucky I was because I was a member of the only “true” one. There were none of these “other” churches in all of sage County, though. They were in the big cities, but I knew about them because they were often discussed by the people at Sunday School. Everyone was always so relieved that they were Mormons and not from one of those other churches the Devil was using to trick everyone into following his plan instead of Jesus’s plan.

I'm reluctant to trust anyone who says, "Trust me."

olderelder Wrote:
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> I'm reluctant to trust anyone who says, "Trust
> me."
OlderElder you know how I hate it when you state something with which I have not an argument

Times and places, times and places!


I remember a young lady whispering in my ear, "Trust me, you'll like this."

Modesty, and this board's R rating, prevent me from full disclosure, other than to say she was correct.



Think about it: Trust is a word and has a place in the dictionary. And while I believe I understand the OP's point, I'm sure I'm not the only one to have benefited from trust and trusting.

Somewhere there's a person who, when he or she flies, carries a parachute in his or her carry-on bag. The rest of us, not so much, right?


My response to this thread's primary question is, "it depends."

Thus, you could maintain a loving relationship with her, at least up to such time(s) as she has good evidence that the lies she tol you were lies. The situation becomes more compicated then. She is your mother, and there are other, powerful factors which enter into whether you can, or should, maintain a relationship: what you know, what she knows, what she thinks she knows, what she is learning but not assimilating, and so on.

Then there are those who know what they espouse are lies? How far up the foodchain does this go? That's been discussed (better: "speculated about") here on numerous threads, so I won't attempt an answer: just that some people up there have to know.

“We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, but they are still lying.”
-----Solzhenitsyn

Yes. I know my mother was sincere. I have always had a good relationship with her and love her dearly. The post was not to denigrate anyone's parents, but rather to illustrate the conundrum of good intentions versus truth. To this day she tells me that I have no choice but to be in the CK because I am sealed to her. And I smile.

In addition to looking both ways when I cross the street, My parents taught me a lot and 90% or it was a great education. But at the end of the day, a child is subject to his parents and those are the storied formative years after all. Seems like so much is a crap shoot which depends on your own personal set of genes and the propensities you were born with.

One of the men who told me to marry my husband was a good friend from work. I know he "meant well" in whatever he did over the time I've known him. He now helps my disabled brother at the temple and so I talk to him again.

The thing that jumped out at me as a child was when a little kid in the subdivision by us drowned in the creek. He was only like 2 years old. He was from a Catholic family and everyone talked about how Catholics believe in dust to dust and so they wouldn't have their families in the next life. I was so distraught about this. I wasn't that old.

I wonder how many other lies have been told to me. Some HUGE ones. There are very few people I trust, very few.

This man who helps my brother in the temple told me that he really believes life is a crap shoot and that the church leaders wouldn't agree with him. When my husband left, I asked him why I should even go to church any longer and he said, "I have no real answers for you except I know it is the right thing to do." Didn't convince me.

My last “trust” experiment ultimately weighed 9 lbs, 8 oz.

I was about the same age when my dad sat me down and explained the JS story, only true church, obey in this life and continue in the next, etc.

I didn't trust any of it. I told him I didn't believe it, sounded totally made up, why weren't those type of event occurring now days, etc. What he described made me not want to be a mormon.

That pretty much became the basis of our relationship until he died.

That is what gets me. Why oh why did I suck it in wholesale and you rejected it for what it was? What gave you a reason to distrust your father at such a young age? My worse half says the second he heard the flood story he knew it was all made up. Why didn't I?

My post was made with the assumption that in childhood most all kids would trust their parents, so, they don't have a chance. The early teens----Yeah, most question everything but usually more for finding reasons not to follow rules than seeking out truth.

I think the church teachings were a bit of a double edge sword for my parents. My mom had a dream/ vision in which she believed I appeared to her before I was born, letting her know I was waiting to come (perfectly in line with mormonism) after she and dad and her Dr. said no more kids (she had five already).

I grew up hearing that story and it became ingrained in all of us...little Jonny let it be known he needed to come to earth and be with this family.

So when dad told me the churchy stuff and that it now applied to me and the rest of my life, it innately felt wrong and I felt like I knew that I wasn't here to go long with it. That inner feeling of "get away from mormonism" was just there and I went with it.

I didn't want to be a bad kid, I was a very happy cheerful boy and that continues to this day. I just knew mormonism was bunk and it wasn't why I was here.....and maybe that's why I appeared to my mom. We stayed close and by the end of her life, she too felt the church couldn't be what it claimed, one reason was because she said she felt no love in it.

Whoa. This is too parallel.

My parents had four of us. When I was about 15 my parents and others in the family started having dreams that someone was missing. We'd sit down to dinner in the dream or be somewhere else together and everyone would be there but it would just not be right.

Then my mother had another son and all the dreams stopped. My parents thought that he was such a special child that they took 6 months to name him. I thought he was going to be a prophet or something. Then they had a little girl and they considered her a bonus that wasn't able to go where she was originally planned. (Probably her intended parents started drinking coffee haha)

I knew from when I was a pretty young kid that I had to get out and I had dreams of being in a big city with lots of stairs. (We lived in a mountain town. But I never thought what I had to get out of was Mormonism. So when it happened it was a 180 degree spin on a dime.

I don't trust anybody who tells me,, "Trust me for I know everything." Superreligious people are like that.

I also don't trust certain (usually conservative religious talk) radio stations that call themselves "The Truth." Anybody listening to that chatter should have his/her wallet locked away out of view.

The first blind person to head a blindness rehabilitation agency in Arizona once told a blind group whose meeting I attended: "I can solve all of your problems." I knew right away that I couldn't trust him. Maybe he could solve some of my issues with the rehabilitation agency, but all of my problems? Nah! That wasn't gonna happen.

In short, the rule of thumb is: If someone offers you something that sounds too good to be true, you'd better look that gift horse right in the mouth--it is either a lie or the person making that kind of promise to you is trying to fleece you in some way.

Anyone who called me Elder or especially Brother ****.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/2021 08:38PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Done & Done Wrote:
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> I knew about them (these FALSE churches) because they were often discussed by the people at Sunday School. Everyone was always so relieved that they were Mormons and not from one of those other churches the Devil was using to trick everyone into following his plan instead of Jesus’s plan.

Ironically, Joseph Smith created Mormonism JUST TO con those who would believe or follow him or his 'church'... especially when he said they were all BAD, and his "church" was GOOD, even "true", as they were "false", etc., etc., etc.

It's just a con game.
What they say isn't true.
It's really just words.
Mormon used words.

You probably didn't get anything out of it (because there was nothing in it).

Yeah, but . . . Oh, I got plenty out of it haha. Just wasn't anything anyone needs or wants and then is hard to unload.