"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it," said Joseph Smith Jr.

What do Mormons believe in 2022? They believe that no principle, teaching, claim, fact, or axiom that cannot be appended to the restored gospel as defined by the Brethren can be true, even if the evidence is staring them in the face and the fumes thereof are in their nostrils. They will sneeze, say it isn't real, chase away any of their own number half-persuaded by it, then shoot the messenger and go back to business as usual and try to ignore all the empty seats.

When you hear the hullabaloo about postmodernism, remember that modernism was what Mormonism was founded as a reaction to: as if to say Biblical literalism can be modern. Smith taught that spirits were made of matter and took up space and heaven existed in these three dimensions the same as anything else. He taught that there were certain laws that even God could not break and that heavenly messengers had empirical qualities that could help you detect a true messenger from a devil. He was trying to modernize Christianity with how popular science was understood at the time. The resultant traces of Modernism in Mormonism are why people sometimes say it's a thinking man's religion.

But what is it now? A decaying stump of post-modernist emotions-don't-care-about-your-supposed-facts self-service. They will, if they must, hew down the very mainstream stock of Mormonism and cast it into the fire and only a remnant of true believing lunatics will be left, but they will imagine it to be more than enough to meet the Lord at his coming. There is no saving it. The only thing you can do is leave it, shake the dust of your feet, and then support politicians who will make policy that keeps the freaks away from power. As much as they try to preach the Word, try to reason with people to accept empiricism, logic, and sound education. As much as they call you a liberal devil or a socialist, show forth a humanist example more like what Christ teaches. Make them socially choke on their ego-centrism until they fold like cheap chapel chairs and seek a better project worthy of the human spirit. Mostly just try to forget about them; they aren't that important in the global scheme of things.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2022 05:52PM by Cold-Dodger.

I see the church as a big-tent circus. It's as good as the acts and the sideshows. Now the popcorn is stale and the show sucks.

I have always thought the goofball physical tests of angels, demons, having to have real olive oil or God won’t heal the person, having to get the Sacrament prayer just right, even though we rail against set prayers, as some of the most interesting facets of Mormonism. It really did try to be rational and materialist.

Ok, having a giant box of spare rock for making planets, and s9me of that rock had dinosaur fossils, that kind of pushed the “rational” envelope, though it was an attempt to explain how there could be fossils if there was no death until Eve ate Adam out of house and home.

Hey, they tried to be a rational religion.

You cheaped out and bought fake olive oil? No wonder your priesthood blessings didn’t work.

I am embarrassed to admit that I had one of those little keychain vials with consecrated oil. Of course I also wore my Mormon-endorsed apotropaic underwear. I have much to be embarrassed about.

You are not alone my friend, I too ran that path in an attempt to fit in, and make my parents proud of me and keep the wife happy.

But on the positive side, find satisfaction in that we evolved and moved towards self-actualization, rather that remain in the oil vial carrying crowd of head nodding and weeping of shame in the Bishops office.

So, IOW, if you don’t buy into the mass delusion that you will be saved from death just because Jesus loves you more than anybody else and he was a zombie, then you are headed to the basement forever after this!

There is no amount of evidence that will convince a fool of anything who was never convinced by evidence in the first place.

Post modernism ?
We are no longer modern ?

if you seen the news lately about an underage rape victim who had the wherewithal to represent herself in court successfully all the way to the top of her state's judicial system being ruled too immature to have an abortion...

Or maybe you saw the one about a woman being forced to carry a skull-less fetus to term, which at best can only live one week but is probably already brain dead...

I'd say we aren't modern anymore, but you hear the word "post-modern" thrown around a lot if you pay any attention to conservative media. Even Bill Maher is starting to pick up the tune that Jordan Peterson has been laying down for years now. But the real postmodernists are people who will not accept that objective reality is possible to identify -- they even deny reality as it happens upon their senses as some kind of conspiracy to con them -- and retreat into their own subjective, emotionally-fueled bullshit.

I suppose curent mormonism could qualify as post modernism because it rejects socially accepted facts presented by current schollars and buerocrats, stuff like laminites and DNA, historicity of the bom is questioned by even president Nelson when he said the BOM isn't a history book (which I always thought it was).

But I can't say they reject romantic or modern traditions, they still go for that calvanist doctrine of the elect, works to show you are the elect, pedigree and breeding, they still have a nostalgia in the architecture of congregational new England, white washed church with the big steeple. Definitely classical designs, Roman ideas.

Tell us who won the presidential election since you are so enamored with "socially accepted facts".