I have to admit that I found the last part of his interview a little strange. He almost seemed to be defending the LDS church. He sees their changes as very positive and that might be true for someone like him who is out for twenty plus years. But to me the "changes" in the church are desperation measures to keep its power at all costs. There is nothing the LDS church won't sacrific
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One reason I hate the LDS church. I was so in love with a beautiful girl. She was in love with me. We were obviously drawn together physically. I loved her so damned much. Dated her for a year and a half. Then our "leaders" and parents decided they needed to intervene. I had to go on a mission after all. Physical love was sin after all. We were separated, families moved us physically
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I've thought of this many times before, never laid it out so formally. Well done. And I do mean done.
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We know that William Clayton wrote in his personal diary about a threesome he had with two of his wives. He asked his first wife if he could bed two of his other wives at the same time and she replied "do as you have a mind to"... Clayton was closer to Joseph Smith than almost anyone else. Where did he get the idea that it would be fine to have a threesome? They were men. Of cours
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Come to think of it, I think Joseph smith would not have liked Adam language if it was as compact as he said it was. Because it seems to me that Joseph loved the sound of his own voice more than anything else I. The whole world. More than all the women, more than the general uniforms, more than the beer at Moesssrs, he loved to hear himself or read himself ramble on and on and on....
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Thanks for posting this. It is indeed a fine summary. I'd never thought is the church = the brethren as succinctly as this. And if hats he case, what are LDS people following?
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I grew up with stories of the remarkably concise and compact and yet infinitely more expressive "language of Adam" that Joseph Smith wrote about. This language was to be the pure language of heaven, and could say much more in a few words than any other tongue. And as proof of this, here are some samples from the non translated book of Abraham 3:13: "Shinehah" = sun &
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I have a son who goes to byu and said that his biology teacher was convinced of "the truths of the gospel" (TM) by his study of organic chemistry. The same teacher also said how grateful he is that LDS church is "pro-science" and "seeking all truth". This sounds bizarre to me, as I think of the LDS church as such a head-in-the-sand science denying organizati
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Great list nonsequiter! I think stop destroying families is first in my mind, but many of the things you cited are the reason they destroy families in the first place.
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Did you hear about the Thomas Monson wind-up? Wind it up and it comes up with a thousand ways to close a talk without saying, "I know the Church is true". Did you hear about the Jeffrey Holland wind-up? Wind it up and its jowels function as a sex toy. Wind it up and it feels threatened and gets defensive. Did you hear about the Richard G. Scott wind-up? Wind it up and it steal
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I read a great quote from a Christian that says: "He who begins with loving his own view of truth more than the truth itself, will end in loving his own denomination more than Christ, and ultimately in loving himself most of all." It sounded good but I wonder if it is true. I think generally there is a strong self-righteousness and arrogance to many of the TBMs I've met, but eve
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So Jews have the Star of David in their temple. Christians have the cross on their church. Hindu temples have gods and goddesses. Islam has the star and crescent. Mormons have the steeple. Why the steeple? What on earth does it mean? Seriously, it seems phallic, a giant unit pointing the way to heaven? What are you supposed to tell your kids about it? "Each day I look to th
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Haha on my mission we had to wear a jock over our garmies because we got hard in a stiff breeze!! Could have used some of these helpful slogans: Softiest is loftiest Pray yourself flaccid You'll lose the spirit if she gets near it Jesus can see your lump School thy trout my brother You look awesome when it plays possum
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Is it possible to develop PTSD from the exiting of Mormonism. I feel like I have so many "triggers" between church things, my spouses spiritual abuse, and my family's reactions. They make me angry, afraid, and feel like I am in great danger. Does anyone know a good therapist for these symptoms of a faith transition and spiritual abuse?
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From the article: Underlying High-Conflict Personality Pattern 1. Rigid and Uncompromising, Repeating Failed Strategies 2. Difficulty Accepting and Healing Loss 3. Negative Emotions Dominate their Thinking 4. Inability to Reflect on their Own Behavior 5. Difficulty Empathizing With Others 6. Preoccupied with Blaming Others 7. Avoids Any Responsibilit
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Excellent post thank you!
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Off color:). A Mormon a Protestant and a Catholic are fishing. The Protestant feels like bragging a little and says, "You know guys, if I had one more son I'd have a basketball team". The Mormon and Catholic are not impressed. The Catholic says, "That's nothing. If I had one more son, I'd have a football team!" The Protestant's eyes go wide, but the Mormon is sti
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It sounds like you live with an HCP...high conflict person. They don't change because they never see themselves as the problem. They are professional victims and borderlines and you need to have good strategies for dealing with them unless you cut them off completely. There are so any of these in the church. I am sorry to say its like my own wife acts like she read the article and modeled her
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In our gospel doctrine lesson today we "studied" the story of Deborah. It does not fit the LDS paradigm at all. Deborah was a prophetess, and she even went so far as to tell her general that a woman would be given the chance to slay the opposing general. The teacher spent the whole first part of the class talking about how "sad" it was that there were no men to lead Israel
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Haha this is the funniest thread! "The Vick's vapo-rub of spooks" That's the best don!!!!!!!!
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Yes, but I have to walk a fine line. I don't want to seem disingenuous and get people to close down. I could point out so many "truths" that have changed, even things that Joseph Fielding Smith said himself (as the lesson is about him), but I worry that it will be too strong and raise people's hackles.
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Well done. I agree that the tendency to black and white thinking is encouraged by the church. Luckily, not many of its members actually live their lives this way and seem better adjusted than the rhetoric of the church would make them. I think it is encouraging a pathology to encourage this black and white thinking, but nuance is not a friend to an organization that wants all your love an
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I am going to go to priesthood tomorrow and want to be able to ask some good questions in the lesson about LDS ideas about truth. The lesson is predictable: we should learn all truth, but especially the "truths" of the revealed gospel; we learn those through the scriptures and prayer; we learn more as we do what we are told; etc. I was going to bring up D&C 93 and how its defi
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This might be more interesting if the bible were more than a record concocted out of whole cloth by Jewish priests using Babylonian material. Since the bible is a fabrication, what evidentiary value could there possibly be for the Book of Mormon in trying to ride its coat tails? It's like saying that a certain medical book is impressive because it shares elements with the work of ancient
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I love this idea. We are always told to "love the sinner but hate the sin" and next time I hear that I am going to say, "Yes, just as I must love the Mormon but hate the Mormonism."
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"To me belief is a choice." Maybe in very limited circumstances. But I disagree that it is usually a real choice. When something is nonsensical and when there is overwhelming evidence against it, belief is not an option and therefore the choice isn't there. I can't choose to believe in a pre-Einstein world view, unless evidence came in from reliable sources that was overwhelming.
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Thanks for the great insights btw
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Was the pain and sacrifice of others even real to him? I can't tell.
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As a spouse to a TBM woman, I can tell you that she (a) absolutely believes the truth of the "gospel", and (b) will not vouch for the truth of any particular part of the "gospel". So in other words, the parts are all weird and phony, but the gospel as a whole is perfect. A veritable gourmet feast made of turds.
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All right, as an amateur psychologist I diagnose Joseph Smith with: borderline personality disorder sociopathic tendencies severe, crippling, and ultimately terminal narcissism delusional thought distortions--although I am not sure about this one because there is at least a 50/50 chance that he was 100% cynical in everything he said, didn't mean or believe a word of it, and could in n
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