My roommate and I were visited by Mormon missionaries several times. I saw right through the whole thing, especially after they gave me a Book of Mormon and I started noticing that a lot of it is plagiarized from the Bible, and there are too many occurrences of "and it came to pass"--just sounds too nineteenth century America. But I'm here because of my roommate who is insistent about joining the Mormon religion even though she agrees with me about the Book of Mormon not being true. She says she wants to join because of the family values, the large number of opportunities for doing service, the way she feels when she attends church on Sunday (I went and wasn't that impressed), and...get this...the "way the temple looks." We live in Washington, DC--the temple here is a freaking replica of the creepy Wizard of Oz castle, so much that graffiti on a nearby bridge keeps getting painted to say "Surrender Dorothy". I'm not sure if that's the weirdest part, or if the weirdest part is the fact that she thinks Relief Society is EMPOWERING to women! I've been doing lots of research on the Mormons, and when I show her problems with the religion she usually agrees with me. But she tells me, "It's such a beautiful religion and I want it to be true, so maybe it is." Any tips on how I can help her see through this delusion?

You can't make someone use common sense. She is perhaps needy. I don't know. But all you can do is show her facts from LDS sources even that will explain a lot of the fraud to her. Does she know JS married women who were already married and married a 14 yr. old? Is she okay with that? Does she know things like this is the reason he was run out of town. Is that a man sent by God to restore anything?

And tell her about the magic undies you must wear when you convert. Will she like that? So did she not have a happy upbringing? Were her parents not good to her. Has she never gone to a church that provides real service to others and doesn't boss you around. In most mainstream churches you get to decide what you will be involved in. NO ONE tells you that you have to have a certain calling like the LDS do. Is she willing to part with ten percent of her income and then never know where it goes? They do not have to tell where the money goes and they don't. Mormonism is a cult. It is an organization - not a church. I hope she sees the light soon.

This is what I did, and to be honest, it worked for me. I know the book of Mormon is not "true," though I do think I can find lessons in it. I know the truth about Joseph Smith and some of the rotten things he did. I don't like it, but the past is the past.

My boyfriend DID not want me to join. He thought it was an awful idea, now he encourages me to go to church every Sunday because "it makes me nicer."

I have quit smoking. I've gotten into graduate school, and I have friends in the church that I can call upon whenever I need something. All in all, everyone is thrilled with the positive changes it has brought about for me.

I know it's not for everyone and that the church is far from perfect, but it DOES work for some people. It did for me. At least she's going in with her eyes open; that takes away a big chance that she'll end up getting hurt/disillusioned.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 09:30AM by The StalkerDog™.

I just like to read here. I stumbled upon it while investigating and instantly got hooked. The posts are interesting, and I don't mind picking on mormon culture...it fascinates me.

Also, I've learned more about the religion here than I have at church :)

You said the past is the past. WHAT??? Does that make it untrue? That is a very strange comment. If JS did the things he did, are you just to say "oh, well"....you wish to instruct your children of nonsense and encourage them to ask people to join a church whose founder was a fraud? That is truly amazing.

Sad you think you can only be nice if you go to the LDS church....I would suggest trying other churches who really do believe in Jesus Christ and don't force all kinds of things on you. And your man says you can pay 10% to a church that doesn't even tell you where they spend the money. Well, we know they are more interested in purchasing property and building malls than helping the poor. But he is okay with that? Some people are not deep thinkers!!! Find a mirror.

It's asinine to sign up to a faith if you know it to be rubbish - you could get the same thrills out of serving for a local cause or charity. And if you need some leering Bish to tell you to stop smoking on pain of losing a temple recommend then you need help.

The mormon cult wrecks families. Unless each member puts the cult before spouse and other members of the ffamily, there will be trouble. Imagine not being able to attand a wedding of one of your children or siblings simply because you're not paying 10% + of your income to the Cult?

And that's just the begining. The cult will suck the time, energy and life out of each member of your family, keepniogm everyone so busy that nobody has time to think, pray or meditate. Say Goobye to hobbies, interests and to anything that conflicts with what the cult tels you to keeop focus on.

You're fridn may not get it now, but one day, hen the prozac just doesn't seem to work - remember, mormon women are the mentally unhealthiest pozac popping group in the USA - if she even manages to take a long hard look at the facts, the penny will drop.

But there will be a lot of misery for her between now and then.

If it's a fake, stepford family she wants, she'll find one in mormonism.

If it's an authentic family she wants, where she can think and act for yourself, then she really needs to examine the mormon cult in all it's gory detail now.

I lived in the DC area for 8 years and I could never figure out why that bridge said, "Surrender Dorothy". I've never cared for the W of O so that explains why I didn't get it. One more question in my head resolved. I love this board!

She'll find out what Mormonism is really about once she's in it. Just try to keep her from getting married and having any children for, oh, five years so she can get out with less damage.

Tell her if she wants a beautiful, empowering religion that she should look else where. There isnt only one. And there are ALOT that are alot better. Maybe she has a crush on one of the missionaries and wants to impress/support them...? Idk shes not using her brain :(
Also, she needs to relise how racist and sexist this church is and how it will tie her down once she says yes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 02:17PM by missguided.

Love is the difference.

while ChurchCo leaders obfuscate & whitewash 'the gospel' and ChurchCo history... Ask Yrself: WHY? Why do they do that?

Isn't there enuf growth & service & happiness / satisfaction in other churches, in the Kiwanas, Rotary, Red Cross, Habitat etc...?

Love is what drove me OUT OF CHURCHCO; Love for the Truth, Love for my family.

Instead, ChurchCo (attempts to) substitutes a rigid set of Rules & lists; a check-off set of 'Simon Says' procedures for going to their version of Heaven. HT & VT who do little more than serve as Input for the gossip mill that the Phood is.

Sorry; not Good Enuf for this cowboy.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 02:27PM by guynoirprivateeye.

Some people feel the need to join a religion/group because it takes away the need to be a responsible self-starter; I always think of the quote from a young woman who became a muslim, basically saying that she liked the discipline in the faith and it made her feel "free", because it told her how to dress, what to eat, when to pray....in other words, her decisions were made for her, so she was free from actual freedom!

I say if you want that kind of freedom, join the army...

Ask her if she would be one to follow Warren Jeffs as profit -- because he and Joseph Smith were two peas out of the same pod. The missionaries may tell her that polygamy started because there was an excess of widows on the frontier. This was never true -- the percentage of men and of women was always roughly equal. Joseph Smith "married" at least ten teenagers, including one who was 14 years old, at a time when the average age of first marriage for women was 21-22. He was in his mid-thirties at the time! Can you say, "pervert"?

Send her to the website listed below. Tell her to read the stories of Fanny Alger and Helen Mar Kimball in particular.

http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/

She can also read "Wife No. 19" by Ann Eliza Young online through Google books. It's the autobiography of one of Brigham Young's plural wives, and it's an eye opener.

I also like "The Mormon Mirage" by Latayne Colvett Scott. It is written from the perspective of a woman who left Mormonism for mainstream Christianity, and I think your friend could relate to Latayne's story. She lays out the contrast between what Mormons believe vs. the real history of the church quite well.

Your friend can also find a complete transcript of the temple ceremony online. She might as well know what she's getting into. If she marries in the temple, her parents, grandparents, other family members and non-Mormon friends will be excluded from a ceremony in which the word "love" is noticably absent.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2011 03:28PM by summer.

It's always instructive to point out that that wivesofjosephsmith site is run by a TBM.

The OP's roommate said, "It's such a beautiful religion and I want it to be true, so maybe it is."

Well, I say...

"It would be really beautiful to be able to fly like a bird and I really want being able to fly to be true, so maybe it is."

"The Princess Bride is such a beautiful movie and I want it to be true, so maybe it is."

"The idea of being able to eat and drink whatever I want without it adhering to my ass is a beautiful concept and I want it to be true so maybe it is."

etc....

Crazy logic.

I think having her start with this link,

http://home.teleport.com/~packham/tract.htm

then to browse this website,

http://www.mormonthink.com/

should do the trick.

These are both written by Mormons or ex-Mormons.

Believing Mormons will NOT tell her the truth about the religion or what she will be getting into. In fact, they will try to keep her from reading these links. With the Mormons it will be milk before the meat. She has a RIGHT to know what she's getting into BEFORE they pressure her to get baptized.