What was the first "Anti Mormon" literature you read. How do you feel now looking back at what first brought you out of the cult.

The first time I stumbled on it I was horrified. Then it took me a week to find it again but by then I was ready for it.

Thanks RFM!

Stunted

As it turns out, it was McConkie's Mormon Doctrine. Go figure.

Ron

the first book I read was "Studies of the Book of Mormon"...BH Roberts, Church Historian.

The best "anti-" books are written by mormons, asking honest questions...and getting no answers.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2010 05:47PM by danboyle.

There was a part of it where JS was 'testing' the members' faith by asking them to do weird things in regards to polygamy. My 'wtf radar' went off big time. It took a few years to finally have the courage to research. Now I'm done.

which made me curious enough and brave enough to buy Martha Beck's book "Leaving the Saints." I'd seen it at Barnes and Noble but hadn't had the nerve to even look at it. As a Mormon, I thought she was soooooo bad. I bought two other books I didn't even need, so I could sandwich her book in between them while I walked to the counter, so no one could see me buying it. And, I picked the long haired clerk with a tattoo that couldn't possibly know any of my Mormon friends and tell on me. Silly.

Soon after, I stumbled on RfM and got ideas for gobs of books and websites from the advice here.

My first "anti" book was also 'Leaving the Saints' by Martha Beck...Isn't it ironic that her dad was Hugh Nibley, a "famous" LD$ author. Hey, his only claim to fame was that his great grandad or was it his grandad left the church $500,000 in his will.

That led me to Mormons and Freemasonry, then this sight...and out of the damn cult from there...

An exit story on postmormon.org
I was in shock at first. Now I just feel relieved that I can live my life the way I want to.

it was either Compton's "In Sacred Loneliness" or Grant Palmer's "Insiders View."

This was after I had seen enough questionable bits to get up the courage to read unapproved stuff.

On my mission after reading everything else in the apartment I started in on CES books about polygamy, Brigham Youngs government, Navoo... church history stuff.

I have honestly never read any "anti" literature. much like CA girl, I was afraid. I still am. I don't think I know why either.

Any of you still shy away from it?

I did shy away from it at first, but after a few weeks of secretly researching this stuff on the net I was able to handle it. That however took me about 3 months.

haha, THIS WEBSITE is "anti!" Pretty much anything you read in anti books you'll find on this site. Funny how the brainwashing takes so long to wear off.

Even some of my ex-Mormon friends turn their nose up at books they think are "anti-Mormon" even though they've never even read them and have no idea why they're averse to them.

I read several pamphlets and books by evangelical types and while I learned some faith damaging facts from them, it was the Tanners' book Mormonism Shadow or Reality that really did me in. So comprehensive, so through and so self evident. Half way through that book I finally admitted to myself "I don't believe anymore."

I found lds-mormon.com and that started me down the path to enlightenment.

Hahaha! Ain't that the truth!

I would say Grant Palmer's book "an insider's view of mormon origins." I was already on my way out, he just confirmed what I'd long suspected.

I can just pick up the ol' BoM, read for a few verses, then say to myself: "How the HE** can anyone believe this mess?"

And like you mentioned, Grant Palmer's book is good too. He summarizes a lot of the main issues that "close the lid" on Mormonism.

Journal of Wilford Woodruff, where I discovered the President Kimball and Mark Petersen were either very ignorant or were lying about the Brigham Young not teaching the Adam/God doctrine. This was shortly after I joined the Church and took years to sink in, but it create a doubt that grew.

The Doctrine & Covenants and The Miracle of Forgiveness are the 2 anti- pieces of literature that got me out. I can't call them anti mormon, because they ARE mormon. Calling them anti-humanity I guess would be more accurate.

Looking back I'm very grateful I read them because they were what got me on the 10-year path to waking up out of the fog of the brainwashing. But I also feel some anger that people are still being taught that the ideas in these books are loving and good and perfect. Blecchh!

it was a book called Masonry and Mormonism and actually was an apologetic piece on the subject. It was very poorly written and they had an appendix in the back that was on Navajo Religion and how it showed the church was right and they got it completely wrong.

"Mormonism- Shadow or Reality" by the Tanners. This was after I saw some things in the Journal of Discourses about the Adam-God theory.

I was blown away and knew I had been conned.


Anagrammy

Irving Wallace's The "27the Wife."That pretty well ended it for me even though I hadn't been active for years.

After reading this board, I wanted to check facts as internet is evil and lying (as they told me). I went to my school library and read "No man knows my history". Turns out anti-Mormons aren't liars after all.

That was the first real thing I read and it scared the crap out of me.
Much of it is also read in Brodies No man Knows... with the stories about treasure Guardians, Bloody spaniards, walking a sheep around the treasure circle, first vision discrepensies.

After reading that I got ahold of Pomeroy Tuckers book.

The story of the Book of Mormon and the Moroni and its plates when told in the light of historical accuracy is much more like a HP Lovecraft story than any of the gauzy lighted heartwarmers we heard all our lives.

In fact, there's almost no such thing, unless you consider alarmist rantings about Mormons from other Christian groups.

Anyway, the first thing I read had to do with inconsistencies with dates regarding the Smith's and Cowdery's ordinations by the angels. According to what I read, they were first purported to have occurred on a certain date. Much later, someone noticed a discrepancy, so the date of the supposed ordinations was changed by two years to make it jibe. In complete innocence, I immediately told my wife who got real mad. A while later I went back to see if I could find any other such discrepancies. I had no idea... On Dec 7, 2007, I typed up a letter to my wife and future bishop (I was overseas and didn't know where I'd turn up in the states), and read it to them in Nov 2008. I resigned in Jan 2009 to start the year off right.

Good point, Cludgie. When someone accuses me of being anti-mormon, I correct them. I'm not anti-mormon, I'm pro-truth.

We used to go every summer when I was a kid because it wasn't too far away from Toronto. It's a couple of hours drive. Any way, before the pageant started you would park across the street and as you walked over to the church over site there were people handing out anti-mo literature.

I remember one time taking some and reading it. My older brother (the only one still in the cult) saw me reading it and took it out of my hands and threw it on the ground. Then told me it was lies and I was wasting my time reading it. I was probably in my early teens when this happened, and I can't recall the details of what was in it.

Nothing proves the church is true like destroying literature! Taking a page from Ol' Joe Smith.

"Secret Ceremonies" by Deborah Laake was also the first "Anti-Mormon" thing I've read. In fact, when I saw a baby blessing and that it was exactly as she described, I realized that she was right about the temple ceremony before the "penalties" were removed. I found RfM from an old AOL message board about the Elizabeth Smart case.

I agree that most of what is known as anti-Mormon literature isn't exactly hate literature. It is simply factual. Anything that doesn't sing the praises of the church is considered anti by many Mormons.Other churches are less sensitive by far.

"The Story of the Latter-day Saints"... back in the days of Leonard Arrington. There was a bunch of good stuff in it that was quite an eye opener. It was approved mission-reading material.

Then there's Joseph's "Lectures on Faith" where he says God is a personage of Spirit, and Jesus has a body. It's footnoted where it says "we have since learned..." That's where I got my testimony of "he made it all up as he went along."

I read three books about the Hofmann murders and cover-up.

And, "Mormon Enigma - Emma Hale Smith."

And subsequently others.

As you can see, it was the regular mormon stuff that did it in for me.

Some ppl at the Chicago Temple parking lot handed out books and tracts during open house. I thought they were
Mormons, so I took them, lol! When I realized they weren't, I asked my son to ditch them. Well, we didn't wanted to litter, and forgot all about them. When I cleaned the ar, I saw them again. I recall one of the tracts had something about the Salamander letter on it. I never heard about that. One of the books, titled "God the Same, Today and Forever" or something like that didn't seem that threatening to me, so instead of ditching it, I leaved trough a bit. The last half had quotes from early leaders and I thought 'what a lie.' I did research from books I got from the ward library which took my breath away. Those quotes weren't lies. I kept searching at the exstensive library at our University and actually started to cry. I was SO upset! I confronted my VT's, Bishop, SP and you name it. I gave my last testimony, where I told what I learned and I'm saved by Jesus and noone else, no church, Smith, ritals and what ave you, and that I thanked them for their friendship, helps and kindness, but I can't stay in the Mormon church anymore. I left the stunned meeting and never returned, I resigned with my kids, but mom freaked after reading about Danites, LOL! And didn't wanted to see, talk, write to anyone or whatever, just leave quietly. Well, they hounded her 'til the day she died. A rabbi and a pastor recited the Kadish did the eulogy and not one Mo showed up. Good! but she's still listed on their ancestry list :( All in all, It took me a long ime to get over it. I'm still angry at times. Not so much at fellow regular members, but the leaders,who in my mind just have GOT to know the truth! I believe in the Lord, but am not into 'Religion'.

I just finished it this week. It was very eye opening and interesting to learn more about what really happened in the churches history.

The first "anti" literature I read was the New Testament, specifically the Gospels. I was reading what Jesus supposedly taught and compared it to modern Mormonism. There were so many inconstancies in the teachings that it made a huge dent in my testimony and eventually led me out.

I read stuff online against Mormonism in college before the mission, but it was just other Christian sects saying crap about Mormon beliefs. It just seemed like a difference of opinion to me and didn't have an affect on me.

First thing I read that a Mormon would consider anti, though, was lds-mormon.com. I had already been out for a good year or more, but I had no clue about Mormonism's shady history. I still had no clue Joe Smith had practiced polygamy or polyandry until I went to that website.

"Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. Such a damn good book. It really opened my eyes to what bothered me the most about the mormon church: polygamy. After that book, it was all downhill from there, I read book after book, and eventually found this site not too long after.

Kind of a pop-lit biography of Ann Eliza Young. I was about 12. The description of the Endowment ceremony was kind of shocking, so next I ordered the Tanners' "Mormonism Shadow or Reality" from Interlibrary Loan (early 80s). Oh, the librarian gave me the stinkeye!

But after that there was no going back. All illusions gone.

Not having been raised in the church; and having been raised by two Nevermo parents who were strongly against book and press censorship, it never would have occurred to me, even as a TBM, to avoid reading something just because church leaders said to!!! I simply had no interest in other points of view until my "shelf" got so heavy that it fell off the wall.

Once that happened, however, I plunged right in to get the answers that the wimpy Church would not address. I read anything that looked at all helpful with no guilt whatsoever!

Sonia Johnson's book, recommended on a book thread on this (RfM) fabulous website, was the first relevant full-length book I read. Boy, was I mad! Had I heard of and read this book before joining, I would never have joined the church. Sonia's experience was a real eye opener as far as the REAL attitude & treatment of church leaders toward women is concerned!

On my mission I was went to libraries with 2 other elders and our job was to destroy anti Mormon lit.
I was told to take " The lion of the Lord" biography of Bring'em Young but I kept it and read parts of it. It had lots of illustrations of temple stuff.

I am ashamed I did that but I had been the kool aid intravenously those first few months. My mission and that act got me top question everything.

I am not kidding. I heard about the second anointing from a close friend and tried to learn about it on only pro-mormon sites. Boy, I sure learned a lot more once there.

Mormon Murders, about the Hoffman scandal. Mine eyes were opened to the Hinkster and his underhandedness. Up to that point, I thought highly of GBH (mainly because I had no reason to think otherwise). But to see Hoffman pass forgeries under the Hinkster's nose without the 'spirit alarm bells' going off really struck me hard.

My husband was reading No Man Knows My History and we'd get together and share what we'd learned over a glass of wine. Fun times. Now we discuss different threads here on exmormon.org over wine or vodka.

I gobbled up as much info as I could get my hands on...to include interlibrary loans and everything I could find on the net.