The Mrs. invited the mishies over for dinner recently. They were polite and all but kept on looking over at me (I had a talk with the bish a few months back that i don't believe). After dinner they asked if they could share a message. Truth be told, I don't remember the passage anymore and after they bore their testimonies, they asked me about mine.

I told them how I felt and of course, both said they had felt the same once and understood. That opened the flood gates.. just what I wanted to hear ;)

I asked them how they felt about Jesus Smith marrying other married women. That caused them to look at me and them bearing their testimony again.

"you shall not covet your neighbor's wife is still in practice as far as I know. Do you not agree?" They nodded yes. One looked at me for a while and think I MAY have struck a point.

The mishies said they had to leave then. I told them they were always welcome and I would be up to talking more to them. We shook hands and they left.

The other day, one of my BiL's called me and said he had heard I was struggling with my testimony (it's non existent but hey..;). He bore his testimony and told me to read and pray. Basically, I started off with the same thing I told the mishies about JS polyandry, coveting neighbour's wife etc... he said "Either Joseph Smith was of the Devil or of God. There is no in between."

I told him those could be two choices (am agnostic) followed by "Adultery is adultery. There is no in between." My BiL got very quiet. He's a good guy and hope we have more discussions. I even told him that. That's the update thus far 8)

Wow, you are awesome! Good job!

Yea, there really isn't any good comeback on the Joseph Smith polyandry thing. Lots of things are like that. There is just no faith promoting answer. The only answer is the obvious one, Joseph Smith was not a very good person and the church he started is false, but we were born into it and got suckered by it for years. The end.

Thank you and appreciate it :) The credit should go to the members of this board. I have learned so much since I started posting here!! Thank you to you as well as everyone else!!

It's fun watching Mormons walk over hot rocks. Ouch,ouch,ouch.

Adultery is Adultery - there is no in between. That was a brilliant comeback. Way to think on your feet. Hope you don't mind me stealing that one if I need it.

despite my not wanting to chat with him, he was insistent that I tell him what I learned that made me leave. I told him there was no smoking gun, just a combinations of so many things that I had to reach the conclusion that mormonism was not what I was taught/raised in growing up.

After sharing so many things, he went to meet with his bishop who told him to NOT have ANY more discussions with me. So now 6+ years later we have no religious discussions, except when he wants to tell me his churchy stuff.

Hope things don't backfire with your BIL.

So far, my experience has been that if you hit them with something, they get very quiet. That's usually followed by "I know this church is true; I have seen miracles; Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God etc"

It's funny. It's their indoctrination of so many years being brainwashed. Amazing stuff.

CA girl-- By all means, please do! The posters on this board have been a huge influence to help me and hope what I say can help others as well!!

adamisfree200-- There are so many things that add up. It's funny that if you add them all up, the only counter they have is "I know this church is true blah blah blah."

Thank you and hope things will continue to go well with my BIL.

"I told them how I felt and of course, both said they had felt the same once and understood."

I wonder if them telling you that is a sneaky strategy to win you over -- "hey, we're just like you....we understand you...we're on your side."

They've always had their little tricks -- like any good salesperson.

We have been told this by three different sets of missionaries after we left. I have sat in with investigators when they had deep questions and heard the missionaries say the same thing.

"Adultery is adultery, there is no in between", I love it!! Man oh man, with your facts vs the facts you might get from mishies or the inlaws it's no competition. When tou hit them with contradictions based in reality like that all they are left to fall back on is indoctrination, distortion and fantasy. I remember on my mission being confronted with reality a couple of times and the standard response we were programed to give was to bare our testimony shake hands and run. Of course they probably feel guilty and like it's thier fault that they couldnt project enough spirit to crack your dark shell. I bet they are wondering what evil spirit blocking seceret the other elder is hiding.