And that is all you need to know about Mormonism.

Seriously- his revelations about theology, morality or eschatology are minuscule and have all been amended or outright denounced by later leaders. The essence of the wonders of The Restoration all boil down to the introduction a few ceremonies. Those ceremonies have attained central place in the theology and organization of the church- the only real measure of a member's value is their permission to do those ceremonies, and the main point of the leadership is to act as gatekeepers over who gets in and who gets excluded.

Some (most) of us wanted so much more from a religion. And that's why we left.

Thank you.

From a Mormon point of view, the Restoration also included new books of scripture, governing structures and the notion of continuing revelation. It is a lot broader than just the Endowment.

Sort of. Almost all the novel doctrines gleaned from those scriptures have been relegated to the trash heapThe modern scriptures are now seen mainly as evidence of the leaders' authority to preside. And, to repeat, the essence of their callings these days is in deciding who stays and who goes. The theological insights and doctrinal discussions are limited to Dialogue magazines. Correlation certainly put a stop to all that nonsense.

The church has always changed. The Brighamite church in Utah is the most successful splinter group. It basically became a theocracy in the American west until the federal government and mining barons wanted to get rid of it. They targeted polygamy by making it a federal crime and sent US Marshals into Utah.

This did scatter the church leadership and eventually twisted the leadership’s arm to where the prophet had a revelation. Polygamy was out. Then debt forced the church to go to cash tithing. Excess funds invested over decades made the church very wealthy changing the dynamic.

The church today is very different than what Brigham Young wanted it to be. It does not have its own country. It does not have its own alphabet. Polygamy is gone because the church leadership caved to the government. The church is now slowly mainstreaming trying to be accepted by the world. It’s very corporate.

The church is being forced to changed even more but the old men who run it fight change. They resist it. Right now the church is led by a man who’s trying to make a legacy for himself. He’s making changes to make changes.

I don’t think the church has any grand plans like Brigham had. I think the church is lost. They have a lot of money but no vision. They can’t do anything inspiring at all.

Lost. Like wandering in a desert for forty years lost. They even have their own "golden calf".

They need to give up on pretend inspiration and get some imagination instead. Perhaps J.K.Rowling could be of assistance?

"Some (most) of us wanted so much more from a religion."

Amen. I wanted "better" from a religion which is the way I interpret your "more from a religion".

At the same time I wanted "more" I also I wanted less. Less judgement. Constantly having to be maintaining your Worthiness Score at the same level of importance as most give to their Credit Score nowadays was dehumanizing.

And the restoration of the temple ceremony? I was always told that it was the restoration of the ceremony from the temple of Solomon. Wasn't that what they were saying? Who knew Solomon was a Mason! And all I did was keep convincing myself I was somehow missing the "inspired" point of the whole dog and pony show complete with green aprons?


The one thing of Mormonism that inspired was the Eternal Progression. Not that I really wanted to be a God or have my own Planet as was taught in my day. But I wanted to just learn more and more---forever. Have more and more talents. I never got excited about some supposed heaven that seemed like a bunch of people milling around in white with holy smiles on their faces stuck in a stupor of supposed happiness as the winners of the game of life.. Kind of scared me.

Mormonism is a strange brew but some people like how it hits.

They took the laughter and sold it for scrap 'mental'...