"Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 3

so many people recommend books about the church. I always recommend Orwell, Vonnegut and Hemingway.

When I first read 1984, I wondered if it wasn't God trying to tell me I'd been duped by very obvious methods.

Last year my teen son saw deep parallels between 1984 (novel) and LDSinc...

He chose Orwell's tome for a school assignment. We read it together. He quickly saw the parallels—the history revisionism, the thought crime, Big Brother=god. Goldstein=satan. Control of information (he specifically laughed about how his TBM mom had kept them off the internet with excuses that they didn’t know how to use it correctly, and she adhered to LDS policy on going to approved websites).

The slogans that kept coming up had him baffled.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. WAR IS PEACE. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

“How could anyone not see the silliness in that, Dad? I mean, they are claiming that black is white--anyone could know they’re wrong.”

Me: Oh really, son? Think about this: What is the most important strength a mormon member can show at church?

Son: I dunno. A testimony?

Me: And on what is a testimony based on? Facts or Faith?

Son: Faith, of course.

Me: And what is faith? What’s the definition?

Son: (thinking) Believing when you can’t see.

Me: Yes, that is, believing when the facts say otherwise. In other words, believing on your lack of facts and understanding. On your ignorance to reality.

Son: Wait, so a testimony is showing strength because you are saying it’s stronger to believe in the invisible than the visible.

Me: Yep. Ignorance is strength.

Son: Ohmygod, that’s amazing. What about the others?

Freedom is slavery--don’t follow satan’s temptations to live a free life. Better to bind yourself to commandments. If you follow satan into exercising too much agency, you’ll lose it and be bound to satan’s grasp forever. In other words, freedom is slavery.

(Another: ohmygod!)

War is peace--it all started with a war in heaven. The only way there will be eternal peace is to fight satan and bind him forever through an apocalyptic war. God is always getting his chosen people to war with others.

One of my other favorites is the guy that Winston works with who loves Big Brother and the genius behind the Party but ends up being "too smart for his own good."

Even though he is praising the organization and all the doublethink - it's just that he is too smart that he stands out.

And the protuding nail must be hammered down.

The O'Brien character could be any Bishop. You confess your deepest fears and objections to someone you think you can trust, only to be betrayed to the whole ward within a month.

Fact of the matter is that the Mormon church is merely a vessel for similar memes that have existed for millenia. Orwell could apply to the Catholic church, or any religion or organization that implements or has implemented such practices over the course of human history.