The FLDS are known for being very secretive. They like to homeschool their children, and they drill propaganda into them. It's hard on boys who can't find wives when all the wives are taken by powerful men. Plural wives who want to leave may not have a social security number or a birth certificate. People who try to leave may not be able to take any money with them, since they gave all their money to the United Effort.

At least the LDS Church members are exposed to the real world.

Remember, the FLDS would not exist without Mormonism. And criticizing them for "falling away" is not right. Many FLDS members were born into their situation. It is very understandable why they broke off from the main body of Saints. Polygamy was taught by the leaders to be a most holy principle, finally revealed to the world after centuries of repression. Just like the Gospel as a whole, polygamy was thought to be a final restoration, not to be taken from the earth until the Millenium. John Taylor said that the Church would never stop practicing polygamy. No wonder people were confused! You are taught from day one that polygamy was one of Joseph Smith's greatest teachings, and you grow up hoping to follow the teaching one day. Then all of sudden the Church says polygamy is off limits! I don't blame the polygamists at all for their feelings on the matter. If Joseph Smith was really a true prophet, then you can make a strong case that the FLDS is right!

They was I see it is the FLDS is a view into the past of what the LDS church used to be like. I believe it has progressed a lot, but hoo-boy it's got a long ways to go.

It's a lot worse for the women than the men. But both have it worse.

I don't think Warren Jeffs lets them have tv or internet. They are not allowed to have pets or bicycles. They are forced into polygamy and the leftover boys are used as slave labor until they say "F@#$ this! I'm never gonna get a wife!" and have to leave and are not allowed contact with their family. Girls as young as 12 are forced into marriages to men in their 50's and 60's. These people have no control over their lives. If Warren Jeffs decides he's mad at a man, he will reassign his wives and children to other 'worthy' men.

Yes, they have it much worse than we ever did in mainstream moism.

I will occasionally see them come into stores in my town in Texas. They have it worse by far.

I read a article a couple of months ago that Jeffs while in prison declared the 2nd coming is imminent and thus all marriages are dissolved.

Therefore any FLDS person caught having sex would be excommunicated (even to your legal or illegal spouse.) E.g. getting pregnant would be an ex communicable offense.

Does anyone know what the current status of this edict is?

If the government hadn't stepped in and put a stop to polygamy, that could have easily been many of us.

I think it depends on what people want in their lives. I'm convinced there are people (no clue how many) who are content and happy with their lives in FLDS and LDS. I'm sure there are people who are not happy with their lives and don't know what to do about it also. I'm convinced that polygamy in some form, with some people will continue to exist regardless of whether it's illegal or not. It's a life style they want to live and they will do it at all costs, sometimes.

SusieQ,

At what point does it go from what people want in their lives to harmful?

At some point it's not just an issue of letting people believe what they believe and there are people using religion to harm others. Bryan David Mitchell & the Lafferty's are some extreme examples.

What is your line? When does it go from people have different belief systems to some belief systems are harmful or at least have harmful aspects to them?

I'm intrigued and would love to hear where that line is for you.

Read escape by merlyn jessip it will turn your guts sour and make you sad.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/2012 09:48PM by templenameaaron.

I lived near Colorado Ciry and believe me when I tell you they have it WORSE!!

I think they have it much worse

anyone remember when they interviewed some of the kids at the yzf compound.. they did not know mickey mouse, Donald duck or ever heard of Disneyland.

The FLDS are extremely dysfunctional now. What has already been said here is true. No pets, no toys for children, no sex, even for married couples. They are MUCH more secretive than they have ever been before. They have a new form of the United Order, and the people had to declare all of their possessions--everything from bras to napkins--so that the leadership could determine what everyone was allowed to keep. Everything they are not allowed to keep had to be turned over to the Bishop's Storehouse.

They are allowed less and less contact with the outside world. I have been told that they are no longer allowed to shop outside, and that any that you see in the stores now are not part of the United Order.

There may be several hundred men now who have been expelled from the community, and their families (wives and children) reassigned to another man or a "caretaker," often an adult son of one of the wives. The men are sent away with the idea that they can "repent" of whatever wrong they committed, but in reality they are rarely allowed back. In the past their wives would likely have been reassigned to another man who would "marry" the wives and take the place of the husband and father. The men who were sent out lost their wives and children, often with great heartache. The no-marriage-no-sex rule now in effect means there is a moratorium on reassigning women to "new" husbands, but the families are broken up nevertheless.

The one plus to the current situation is that no "marriages" are taking place, including marriages to underage girls. Warren is the only person who has "authority" to perform marriages, so with him in prison there is no marrying or giving in marriage.

When marriages were taking place, they were all arranged. Almost all, at least. Occasionally a couple might have asked if they could marry, but for the most part there was no courting and interaction with the opposite sex was discouraged. Warren was known to tell boys that girls were snakes.

All of this is not to say that everyone in Hildale/Colorado City is miserable. There are families that are relatively happy. But there is a lot of fear, because at any time Warren could order the husband/father out of the community, or the family could be kicked out of the United Order. So lots of people are constantly walking on eggshells.

They pray constantly for deliverance of Uncle Warren. I am told they believe God is going to deliver him from prison, which is going to be a good trick because the Appeals Court just denied his latest attempt at appealing his conviction today. But the true believers think that God is going to make the prison walls fall down.

Warren's "appeal" (he did it pro se--without an attorney) was a series of "revelations" he had in which he told the court that that God ("Jesus Christ, Son Ahman") commanded the court should let him and his fellow-FLDS prisoners go free, and if they were not released God would visit whirlwind judgments on the US or the courts (I don't remember who exactly God is threatening).

Warren's "revelations" are becoming more bizarre and incoherent. He is in his cell 23 out of 24 hours a day, and I think he is becoming more and more delusional in his confinement.

Suzie Q, like families everywhere, people often love and care about each other. They stay together because of that love and because leaving means not just getting out, but leaving behind an entire way of life. Those who leave are apostates, and are deeply shunned by their families--parents, children, spouses--so the cost of leaving is very high. So the fact that they stay doesn't mean they are happy, though surely some are. But the group as a whole is extremely dysfunctional.

There is widespread denial about Warren's predatory sexual practices. For any who don't know, he was convicted of raping two girls, ages 12 and 14 or 15. He audio-recorded the rape of the 12-year-old and in the midst of his heavy breathing he gave her a priesthood blessing. The rape of the 15-year-old was proved by the fact that his DNA showed he fathered her baby.

They believe that Warren is God's holy prophet and that he is in prison because wicked people made up the evidence used to convict him.

Open discussion is discouraged. Education of children is limited and heavily controlled by the church. Indoctrination is heavy and secrecy is the rule. The conditions there are rife for exploitation of children and, for that matter, adults.

I know a few polygamists who I would describe as happy with their lifestyle. But the FLDS are nothing like Big Love or the Browns. Warren Jeffs has managed to exercise a degree of mind control that is rare in as group as large as the FLDS (estimated at around 10,000 people).

Worse than the LDS? I won't say there is no comparison, because there is. But anything the LDS do pales in comparison to the FLDS, which is currently a sick, sick society.

I decline to state how I know all of this, but most of what I have said here has been written about in the mainstream press.

For anyone who is interested, the following interview is very informative about life among the FLDS, from a guy who asked too many questions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56jd4Jzs1LI

IMO, things are a lot worse there now than they were when he did the interview.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2012 12:37AM by sophia.

Thanks for the info.

The FLDS are the ones most closely following JS, unfortunately. At least they have the (&*(#$& to do it. NOT THAT I AGREE WITH ANYTHING THEY DO. They are secretive (seems to be a serious Mo trait) and they molest children just like JS did and marry whoever the profit says to marry etc. just like he days of JS.
The so called mainstream TSCC are not really following the original doctrines (of course the doctrines change more often than my socks.)

They really do have it rough.

http://www.childbrides.org/boys.html