I don't really know what would happen in this scenario... could anyone speculate from a former insiders view what would happen if an active Profit admitted it was a sham?

I mean Mormons so quickly dismiss stuff from BYU and JS and all the others they don't like... if an active profit said the jig was up... would they just assume demon possession? Would the church immediately lose huge swaths of members? etc. It's so "feeling based" that even a reasoned admission I think would have little effect... thoughts?

There would be a definite fallout from those who have been wrestling with whether to stay or not, or who have been struggling with their belief. Unfortunately I think the majority would simply see it as the work of Satan trying to undermine TSCC, further strengthening their belief through the old rhetoric of, "The closer you are to what is doing/believing what is right the harder the adversary attempts to pull you away."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2012 01:12PM by jah.

I know some people that would most likely have complete mental breakdowns. They have given their children, money, time, labor, and literally their lives to the church. They are at a point in life where there is no time left to rebuild. They aren't the most stable people to begin with, but I think this would be their undoing.

It would be most interesting to see what would happen in Utah.

It would be "Lord of the Flies" meets "The Hunger Games." Anyone sane and/or law-abiding would flee the state.

If the prophet sad it was a sham I believe it would have a significant impact because there is so much indoctrination in the church that the prophet can never lead the people astray.

However, if anyone else came out - even an apostle or a member of the first presidency the impact would be only minimal - the workings of satan.

It would end up being that the prophet really didn't say what he said.

It would be explained that he was showing how dark some people
can get when they lose their testimonies and that how grateful
we must be that we have the gospel.

Although he may have not explained very well (the teleprompter
operator has been disciplined), the prophet never meant to imply
that those were his beliefs. Those dishonest critics of the
Church who take this out of context and try to use it against
the truth will only come to sadness and grief.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2012 01:43PM by baura.

I'm thinking re-activation of the blood atonement. That guy would mysteriously die and the ol' saying, 'the lord will never allow a false prophet to live' would be the next thing out of their mouths.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2012 04:36PM by breatheagain.

Members would look on the prophet as though he had a mental lapse, and he would quietly be taken out of the public's view. Mormon's would feel bad for him, and the church would continue on without missing a beat.

It would probably be similar to what happened with the Jehovah's Witnesses in the late 1970s. When the world didn't end in 1975, Ray Franz, one of the Governing Body, publically left, and so did a large percentage of Witnesses.

Of course, Ray Franz was demonized (completely ridiculous when you speak to anyone who knew him, he was always one of the nicest people they'd met, and only left because the rest of the GBs were stubborn jerks), the issue was swept under the rug, and most current JWs know nothing about the whole mess.

Of course this will not happen. An apostle, I suppose, could "fall" but, as another person said, the members would be told "that in the last days, even the very elect shall fall" (or something like that).

However, I could see another Hinkley type leader who could "poo-poo" stuff and essentially say, "all religions teach men to be good, we are among them". Well, OK, that is what a king of a southeastern Asian nation said while I was a missionary, but the profit could say something like that also. And the effect would be to say we are "something good", striving for something good, but hey, so is everybody else. It would be a way of admitting that Joe was just an ordinary Joe, with extra sexual urges maybe, but nobody special. It would be a way of saying the BOM is allegorical, teaches good stuff, but isn't a real history of a real people. This approach would be a step in helping Mormons step off the "we are special and have the only truth" pedestal. Because let's face it, eventually this realization will broaden and deepen and critical mass of people will realize the church is a sham and it will accelerate and deteriorate rapidly. This would actually not be a good situation for the vast majority of US Mormons. Their lives could be devastated and disrupted by a sudden, frank, admission. The key is to slowly help them realize it is false and help them ease into their new lives.

I could see Oaks standing up and pulling TSM away from the pulpit and announcing publicly his alzheimers, then a big sigh from the audience.

IMHO, That would be an admission of fraud, meaning likely jail time.

It would have NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER.

The spokesperson for the TSCC would simply make an announcement that the beloved GA has been hospitalized for dementia and a possible related disorder, everybody is asked to pray for him. He needs all our support through this time...

Around two weeks later, said GA will be granted emeritus status for health reasons and they will be celebrating his life with videos while he sits, medicated and nodding, with flowers on his lap.

A prepared statement of "his own words" will be read by others and his "personal selection" of his successor will be read by way of introduction and the new puppet will step up.


Anagrammy

True Believer Syndrome

In his book The Psychic Mafia, Keene tells of a psychic medium named Raoul. Some people still believed that Raoul was genuine even after he openly admitted that he was a fake. Keene wrote "I knew how easy it was to make people believe a lie, but I didn't expect the same people, confronted with the lie, would choose it over the truth. ... No amount of logic can shatter a faith consciously based on a lie."

According to The Skeptic's Dictionary, an example of this syndrome is evidenced by an event in 1988 when James Randi, at the request of an Australian news program, coached stage performer José Alvarez to pretend he was channelling a two-thousand-year-old spirit named "Carlos". Even after it was revealed to be a fictional character created by Randi and Alvarez, many people continued to believe that "Carlos" was real.[4] Randi commented: "no amount of evidence, no matter how good it is or how much there is of it, is ever going to convince the true believer to the contrary."[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True-believer_syndrome

1. The plug would be pulled.
2. Second in command would get up and state that the profit had dementia and would be replaced in 15 minutes.
3. Everyone would speak afterwards of how the Lord directed the council of twelve to take steps to guarentee such a thing could never happen again.
4. We will probably find out that what we see on video is with a time delay so that not a word is heard by those of us many miles away, and those who are present will all accept the will of God that the prophet has suffered some kind of mental attack. Hey, they might even spoke the devil manipulating the poor man. The irony is Monson may already to diagnosed....

and its members don't want to admit it being a fraud.

The church has morphed significantly since my prime mormon years, and the members don't care. In fact, most are probably happy when God finally catches His prophets up with the rest of the world.

As far as I'm concerned, Hinckley pretty well denied mormonism. Other than murmurings from a few diehards, most sheep just happily went on.

Do you mean like this:

"We have spent many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance. He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that Joseph Smith was a complete fraud. He lied about the whole thing and we have irrefutable proof that our beliefs are based entirely on fiction. I therefore command that all worthy and not-so-worthy members have their names removed from our membership roles immediately. You should all join other churches, become agnostic, atheists...whatever floats your boat. I will be retiring to my condo in Florida. Well folks, it's been a helluva ride, hasn't it? Hey, have one on me! I'm outta here."

T.$.M.

reposted and edited slightly.

Warren Jeffs already did that one.
Nobody believed his video statement that he had never been a prophet.