That's what makes it so easy for them to believe and so easy for them to deny the stuff they don't want to see. I hear Mormons contradict what the church teaches all the time, while swearing that the church doesn't teach something when, in fact, the church teaches exactly that. Anything they don't want to see is just a member acting out or a leader "speaking as a man" or is denied entirely

The prime example of this is when I point out the church teaches something to DH and it goes against his personal beliefs, he tries to shrug it off as "well, that's what the church means ... people just have trouble living it." Mormon doctrine is just so jello-like that it will fit into any mold of preconception that a person holds, taking the shape of that jello-mold. That's how people on the I'm A Mormon website can brag the church teaches women to get an education and develop their unique talents, the same week an apostle stresses the importance of women staying home with children and keeping house. To hear my mom talk, Mormons all share a more mainstream Christian belief but my raised in Utah in-laws see Mormon beliefs quiet differently.

I'm not explaining this very well but you know what I mean? It seems so easy for people to blow off our complaints about the church, what it teaches, how the members treat others because in their imagination, they see the church the way they want to see it, not as it really is. So they can't see the problems because they are sure the church teaches what they believe, not that they believe what the church teaches.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2012 03:17PM by CA girl.

I had a similar discussion with my wife about my waning belief--we could read the same materials, hear the same lessons, but, to me, it just increased my dissatisfaction and frustration with the church while simultaneously increasing her faith and determination to follow the Prophet.

I found out it was called "confirmation bias"--that we are most likely to single out things that confirm our beliefs while disregarding things that are contradictory to them. I think most of Mormonism operates on this principle, and all justifications of doctrine are an outgrowth of this principle.

They seal of sections of their brains and tap into whichever one works for the occasion. I swear this is why many mormons speak with a drawl. They must process the question and fit it to one of several mormonized answers depending on the situation.

It's like those kiddie mystery books that pair clues with various possible book endings. If the butler winks at the maid --- turn to p. 50 --- it means they killed the milkman.


If a reporter asks about Kolob --- it means a good mormon says, "That's a myth. Mormons don't take it seriously and neither should you."

But if a teen asks a seminary teacher about Kolob he'd get an entirely different answer.

There are differing answers for insiders, outsiders, investigators, priesthood guys, women, and every other group of people mormons happen to meet.

What causes some of us to wake up? How could we have believed such strange things and not realized the motives of the early leaders? Even if we did disagree with the early leaders, how were we able to reconcile prophets' earlier teachings with the current teachings? Or polygamy. How could we have thought that would be of God? Why do some of us wake up and some don't?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/13/2012 03:52PM by suckafoo.

Everyone has a different version of the church in their mind.

I think most members of most religions only see and hear and read what suits them i don't think its specific to mormons

Thanks for bringing this up. For all of the cult's talk about correlation, there is absolutely no correlation in what is taught or what the members believe. That's why you get wards & families where holidays are a big deal, & others where they act like JWs. That's why some members have never heard of Kolob or men bcoming gods, & other members have been taught about those things their entire lives. That's why you have seminary students being taught all kinds of different nonsense from different seminary teachers, & they all contradict each other. Those are just a few examples, but you get what I mean.

as we can ALL SEE, CaGirl, you said it Quite Well!

When my inactive Dad died, I told my sister that he is now bound for the terrestrial kingdom, based on Mormon doctrine. She disputed that and I said, well he never got active and got the priesthood, drank coffee, didn't pay tithing, and never got sealed to my Mom. In the "It's a Miracle to be Forgiven", SWK tells a story about a little ole lady who drank coffee and never went to the temple (but she was a member), "terrestrial kingdom at best!". Also the BOM, in Alma has the words of Amulek saying "this life is the time to prepare, then cometh the night of darkness wherein no work can be performed" (or something like that...).

Anyway, she swore it was not the case. I said, well it says so in your scriptures and by the words of your prophet....