magic underwear to sneak them over the border.
Posted on 06/16/2011 8:37:35 AM PDT by greyfoxx39
The Mormon subculture has developed a family form
which is both typical of the broader American culture
and unique to itself.
-SNIP-
There are several issues related to this central
ambivalence of Mormons toward gentiles. First,
Mormonism constitutes a divinely instituted restoration
of ancient pure Christianity. A clear implication of this
stance is that other Christian churches are nol divinely
instituted. This stance, of course, does not ingratiate
Mormons to non-Mormons.
Within the Mormon community itself, this has
resulted in the development of a world view which is
another major source of strain and anguish for some Mormons.
This subconsciously scripted world view implies that
Mormons should be more righteous, happier, more in general,
superior to non-Mormons. The paired
assumptions, of course, are that gentiles are more
decadent, less happy, less inclined to honesty and
integrity, less successful and, in general, inferior to
Mormons. On the one hand this suggests an arrogant
ethnocentricity which fights against the friendly,
outgoing missionary spirit. On the other hand, it sets
some Mormons up for painful disillusionment. Our
world view suggests that our way of life is God-inspired
and thus constitutes in its purity the best of all possible
worlds. Any good person of integrity and personal honesty,
we like to tell ourselves, will convert to Mormonism
once he sees how superior it is as a way of life.
This superiority stance applies strain on Mormons
from two different angles. First, we tend to feel we must
live our lives as an example of Mormon superiority. This
tends to place an enormous burden on the shoulders of
many Mormons. When these Mormons see nonmembers
who are not impressed thilt their Mormon way of life is
superior, they feel like failures.
"What am I doing wrong?" they ask themselves. '1
know gospel living is superior, so I just must not be
measuring up."
As an example, I had a woman tell me a while back
about a convention she attended with her husband who
was a salesman. While her husband and the other men
were in their meetings, the wives had a wonderful time
shopping, sightseeing and restaurant hopping-all but
my client. When the others ordered drinks, she ordered
7-Up. When they laughed uproariously over little offcolor
comments, she tried to maintain some dignity, but
without much success. When the others spent money
frivolously, she would prudently refrain. On Sunday,
she went to church among strangers and spent most of
the day alone while the other women enjoyed
themselves.
Most Mormons go through this type of experience
from time to time, but it gets filtered, tempered and reinterpreted
for use in fast and testimony meeting or
elsewhere in Mormon lore so that it always ends with
the defeat of evil and the triumph of righteousness. The
stories as they get retold result in someone getting
interested in the gospel, or in the heroine getting new
insight into how truly shallow and miserable these
people really are, and a new understanding of the
happiness the gospel brings, or by resisting temptation
and sticking to righteous principles, a terrible disaster
will be averted.
It was almost in tears of humiliation and guilt that the
wife cited above confessed to me that in reality those
other women seemed to really have their lives together,
and had a wonderful time, while she was never so
miserable in all her life. The fact that they were happy
and she was miserable in that situation translated to her
as personal failure, both because she was unhappy and
because as a missionary she was a total failure.
The second strain caused by the Mormon world view
of superiority is that many Mormons look around within
their own ranks and see the same problems that are
found in the larger community and become
disillusioned. "How could those who live God's true
religion," this reasoning goes, "be subject to the same
failings and weaknesses as those who don't." Elder
Packer put his finger on this strain this morning as he
told the incident about being asked what is the purpose
for the occurrence of disasters.
I was seeing a teen-aged incest victim a while back.
Her father was a member of the high council in their
Stake, and was a friendly, outgoing, highly respected
and well-loved man in their ward. (I have to admit that as
a relatively new, inexperienced therapist the situation
shocked me a bit. I can imagine what she was going
through.) All during the years the incest was going on,
people would come up to this girl at church and say
things like, "Your father is such a wonderful man. I'm
sure he'll be the next bishop of the ward."
She told me that the only thing that kept her from
losing her testimony during that period was that in spite
of what everyone said about her father, he was never
called as bishop. This is a testimony to me of the
inspiration of priesthood callings, but it is not a sound
basis for a testimony of the gospel.
Many Mormons tend to idealize Church officials at all
levels, and then are shocked and disillusioned when they
find they are human too. But this perfectionist attitude
is not restricted to Church officials. Another
manifestation is the belief that if you just live the gospel.
everything will work out. As therapists you all know the
havoc this can wreak in peoples' lives. But that belief is
widespread and persistent among Mormons--even a lot
who should know better.
When I first went into private practice as a therapist, I
talked to my dentist, who was a regional representative
at the time. As I explained my plans to him, he looked a
little puzzled and said, "Well, fortunately with our
bishops to handle those kinds of problems and the
Church organization what it is, we really have no need
for those kinds of services among Church members."
The strains caused by these two factors--the need to
live a superior life style, and the belief that serious
personal problems should not exist within the Mormon
community--are acute. A great deal of energy is devoted
to establishing and maintaining an image, both for nonMormons
and for Mormons themselves, that the
Mormon way of life is superior.
-SNIP-
Another issue closely related to the place of gentiles in
the Mormon-world view is that of ambivalent loyalties.
It has been explicitly stated and often reinforced in the
Church that a person's prime loyalty is to the family.
This axiomatic stance is challenged, however, by
another axiom that Mormons should always be ready
and willing to make personal sacrifices for the Church.
The law of sacrifice, as we understand it, and the general
willingness of active, converted members to dedicate
enormous amounts of time and energy to the Church
places another strain on the Mormon family. There is an
implicit conflict of loyalties to Church and family.
(More at link)
On all threads, but particularly “open” threads, posters must never “make it personal.” Reading minds and attributing motives are forms of “making it personal.” Making a thread “about” another Freeper is “making it personal.”
When in doubt, review your use of the pronoun “you” before hitting “enter.”
Ping
Bottom line:
When you discuss God, Christianity and the Bible we end up talking as if we are from separate families. Which, of course, we are.
When you say “Your Mormon and I am a Christian”.
They will reply with something like “I’m Christian” as they smile.
Notice the construct of the sentence however.
It is never “I am a Christian too”.
It is never “I’m a Christian”.
It is never “I’m a Christian like you”.
“I’m Christian” is said as an objectified term”
They still believe we are separate and worshiping in an apostate state and dark religion with no keys(whatever that means) and no authority.
In their eyes you may be a lesser Christian but will ultimately have the choice to convert to Mormonism after the 1,000 years of “Spiritual Prison”, where you will be ministered to until you convert.
Personally, when I check out of this life, I feel like my salvation is secure with God and I won’t be presenting a passport to Joseph Smith for inspection. (they really believe you will carry a passport and transmit it to Joseph Smith). Heck, I don’t even wear Nike anymore and carry more than quarters with me every where I go including my Debit Card.
I admire Mormons in many ways but wonder why they can’t see that it’s all made up.
For some reason, this reminds me of when Ahmadinejad came to the U.S. and stated that, "There are no homosexuals in Iran".
What!? These two statements are in conflict with each other. Stake positions are "priesthood callings" and are done so by. IOW, this sicko was placed into a position of authority over potentially thousands of members, all the while abusing his daughter and this clown has the temerity to claim that these callings are done so with "inspiration"? HC's are responsible for assisting the Stake presidency with the so-called "disciplinary proceedings" and that dirtbag was placed into his position through "inspiration" in the first place!
Color me unimpressed with mormon "discernment" and "inspiration".
Thank you God for liberating me from this "church".
The same reason there are so many liberals, they are either brain washed, born into it, have a financial stake in it or are just plain stupid.
IMO it is more instructive to compare Mormonism to Islam than to compare Mormonism to Christianity.
Start with the fact that the holy books of Islam and Mormonism were each written by one man.
Continue with the perception that loyalty of the faithful is projected onto the prophet-founder than to the deity each professes to worship.
Add to that the subtle or more often open hostility and sense of superiority felt by adherents of both Mormonism and Islam towards traditional Christianity.
BTW, I’m a member of what the Book of Mormon calls “the great and abominable church”. Can you guess which one?
As an agnostic I wonder why all the good Protestants, Catholics, Methodists, Mormons, etc. don’t see that they are all under attack by the God-hating progressive National Socialists and band together against them. Ya’ll nitpick each other to death as the modern day Nazis prepare your demise.
I have had friends in pretty much every religious sect in our country (except muzzies) and we agreed on most subjects important to us. It would be nice to see the folks concentrate on crushing the Nazi bastards enslaving us instead of damning each other for eternity. You would think that folks would have enough faith to leave that stuff to God.
Is this any different than what some anti-Mormon antagonists say about the Mormon church being of the devil and in every other way tearing down their beliefs including saying they're not Christian despite their clear worship of Christ? Frankly, Mormons are far more respectful of the beliefs of others while asserting the truth that this is the Lord's restored church than many non-Mormons are about the Mormon faith. Evidence of that is I never see Mormons posting articles on Free Republic ripping the beliefs of other Christian churches like this little core group of bashers such as yourself, Colorfonia, etc do with Mormon beliefs.
Further, the LDS Church does not assert there is no divine influence in other faiths. Far from it. We merely say bring the truth you have and let's see if we can't add to it.
You sub title this piece as showing an attitude of "Mormon superiority" yet how is that different than the assertion that all Mormons are going to hell or are not "saved" or "not Christians" because they have in some instances a differing interpretation of the Bible, as do many Christian faiths by the way?? Isn't that an attitude of superiority?
Let's not pretend that there isn't room for improvement on both sides in showing a more Christ-like love and understanding for the other, including the need for some on Free Republic to end their obsessive and unseemly crusade against the LDS Church and their posting of Mormon bashing nonsense. You are certainly welcome to oppose Mitt Romney. I happen to oppose him myself. But find an alternative means of doing so than coming through the back door of bashing his faith. We know afterall this is what this Mormon bashing on Free Republic is really all about.
I'm also curious why you didn't post the entire piece so some context was given to the excerpts you chose to emphasize. Certainly the BYU publication that published this articles shows a williness by Mormons to self-examine their approach. I would that Christians who bash the Mormon faith would do so well and realize how counter productive it truly is, not to mention unChristian.
Finally, as usual I will not read any replies nor respond to them. I do not believe anything productive comes in having a mutual bash fest. This is one way we can begin to work towards ending this silly and incessant need to tear down other faiths rather than working to build up our own.
Well said. Bravo.
Well said. I have tried to emphasize this point—the battle should be not between Christians, but the Godly vs. the ungodly. We live in a world of increasingly slippery morals and questioning of the existence of God. It is against these things we should be using our energies, not against each other. Some just don’t get it.
I've always wondered why that is because while I think the Mormons are wrong on this point, I feel exactly the same way about the need to accept Christ as Savior.
Yet I do not resent the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, or even Muslims, for telling me I going to Hell, or whatever their equivalent is.
But some people, Jewish people seem particularly prone to this, along with most agnostics that I have talked to, and amazingly some Hindus that I knew in college, along with some other Christian groups, feel that I am a bigot for thinking so.
Why? It's God's choice, after all, not mine, but I would be remiss if I didn't share the Gospel as I knew it. I don't push it on people, and only bring it up if they ask. Why is incumbent on me to change my mind to suit their ideas?
Thus, while I have no use for Mormon theology, I don't mind them talking about it or even trying to convert me. When I tire of it, I tell them so, and they politely leave. I never have seen the problem of the intolerant who would have people deny their faith, even a mistaken one, to suit their own comfort.
Well, shucks!
I'm uncomfortable with 53,000 missionaries sent out 24/7 worldwide, plus multi-million dollar TV and radio ads, plus thousands of internet sites sending out the message to Christians that the mormon church is the ONLY way to salvation, while "lying for the Lord" in the presentation of their doctrine.
Too bad that the "comfort" of some is disturbed by a handful of Christians posting actual mormon doctrine, and as in the article above, messages FROM MORMONS.
We don't ask that anyone "deny their faith"...we provide information to those who might be sucked into the mormon religion without knowing what it really is.
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