The LDS church, it seems, can't help but keep tripping over its shoelaces every other day at least. We have missionaries starving. We have bishops telling rape victims to get over it. We have area presidencies giving the members their marching orders, and those are getting more horrendous every month. We have temple building going crazy. We have tax fraud. We have bullies getting the top positions. The only way to make any sense of it is, in part, to recognize that the only Mormons left are the ones who have decided that the world is in a state of war. I won't go into the logic of such a conclusion. That's a whole other topic. But I just wanted to point out that fact as a way to help sane people comprehend what is going on.

They see themselves as soldiers. Soldiers don't question. Soldiers deal with hardships. Soldiers don't care who gets hurt. And soldiers do not stop until their leaders tell them to.

Have a nice day.

A built-in source of stress - tension - anxiety for ‘the believers’, but logical, non-emotional examination isn’t helpful to the organization

Onward Christian Soldiers! Marching "as to" War. Not marching to a real war. A war in their own minds. A pretend war. And still they can't win.

The Mormons are just a bit "Walter Mitty-esque." No? A lot?

slskipper Wrote:
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> They see themselves as soldiers. Soldiers don't
> question. Soldiers deal with hardships. Soldiers
> don't care who gets hurt. And soldiers do not stop
> until their leaders tell them to.
>

I understand where you are coming from, and I agree with you -- but...

I come from a military family, and soldiers aren't like that.

This should read:

"They see themselves as dogmatic religious fanatics. Fanatics don't question. Fanatics deal with hardships. Fanatics don't care who gets hurt. And fanatics do not stop until their leaders tell them to."

Real life soldiers are expected to follow orders, but are not fanatics or robots. They are trained to think and use their own initiative when the need arises. They care about their comrades.

It's evident when you are looking at Mormonism from the outside that it's not a "peace and love" flavor of Christianity. Instead it is a strict, rule-bound sect that monitors its members closely. IMO a lot of younger people are no longer interested in living like that. Such a strict religion will only have a limited appeal.

The main draws of Mormonism have always been fear, greed, and/or financial or social gain.

So, when the world didn't end and polygamy was no more, why stay in the cult? What do you get out of it?

Fear is still a main component, status (being part of a select group) but now it's just tribalism -- and that doesn't require internal belief, just external performance.

Any millennial apocalyptical religious belief defines believers as being in a state of conflict with a lost and fallen "world."

The huge irony is Mormons most of the time forget this fact, deny they are so separate from the fallen world, and believe themselves more saints than soldiers in it.

The Mormons I know focus on being in the world more than not of it.

That is why Mormonism is so insidious. It makes harmful beliefs so passe.