Interesting Ex-Mormon Website

http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon505.htm ^

[KJC1]

I decided to search the web for more info on Mormonism, and found this very interesting site.

The page I linked above consists of ex-Mormons posting their stories of when/how they realized something was very wrong with the picture.

A lot of the stuff is just blowing me away.

[Spunky]

Ping to myself for later reading. Off to bed for the night.

[annieokie]

I found this very informative for non mormons, mormons, and those that are thinking of leaving the cult. I am not a mormon but a believer in the one true God, the "I AM".

Thanks for the post, and may it be a eye opening revelation to all.

[GoDuke]

Thanks for the link! If Romney gets the nomination, we’ll be seeing a lot of this stuff in ads.

[unkus]

That’s scary stuff. “Cult” does apply.

[KJC1]

It’s hard to pick what the most disturbing aspects are, but I’d have to say making people do an “enactment” of slitting their own throats and disemboweling themselves if they reveal the “secrets” of Mormonism is up there with heavy-duty SICK.

And the multiple posts about the higher-ups being frauds and Ponzi-scheme artists, and they don’t even try very much to pretend they are for real.

I knew something stunk, but I am truly floored reading this stuff.

[Timaeus]

It’s hard to pick what the most disturbing aspects are, but I’d have to say making people do an “enactment” of slitting their own throats and disemboweling themselves if they reveal the “secrets” of Mormonism is up there with heavy-duty SICK.

Cue the concern trolls to express their "shock" that conservatives could ever be so bigoted etc.

[JediJones]

Of course, the whole idea of Jesus being nailed to the cross, reenacting the stations of the cross and so forth, might look sick to outsiders as well. In the Philippines, people actually nail themselves to crosses to reenact it.

[CT]

American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows.

[CT]

You investigate these people (Mormons), and you find yourself asking: Business? Cult?

Sorry, but that is after reading as much objective material as I can find.

[KJC1]

Just wondering if you misunderstood the previous post (as I did on first read).

The post I made, and to which the previous poster responded, was about Mormons threatening their followers with throat-slitting and disembowelment if they speak the TRUTH about Mormonism and what a sham "religion" it is.

Nothing at all like speaking the TRUTH of Jesus Christ.

[Ace's Dad]

Re: “enactment,” IIRC, that’s stolen, as other things Smith stole.

[mmanager]

Bookmark

[Degaston]

Thoughts on the Mormon church.

1. Their achille’s heel is that the top leadership (i.e. the 15 men in the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve) really does believe that they are God’s true representatives on earth. Any doubts on this are viewed as coming from Satan and quickly self-suppressed. As a result they’re constantly striving to be positive, up beat, and believing that all will work out in the long run with the Lord saving the church from whatever troubles come their way.

2. These men are very much groupthinkers and show tremendous deference/respect to those higher in seniority to themselves. From the time they are little children (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcFks_graPQ) they are taught to follow the most senior member of this body of 15 men who is the church president & called the prophet. Whenever the longest serving of these 15 men dies then the next-in-seniority automatically becomes the next prophet. That’s why since 1975 it’s always been a man over 80 years old and half of the time in the past 27 years its been a man over 90 years of age. Change is slow for them and loyalty to the prophet is paramount. The top 8 in seniority right now are all 79+ years old. Important policy decisions are made by these 15 men with the top 3 in the First Presidency expressing their general opinion to the Quorum and then each member of the Quorum from the most senior to the most junior in order expressing their opinion. Then once the prophet makes a decision then the rest rubberstamp it. The amount of influence on the process for anyone involved depends upon their seniority. It is very rare that any disagreements amongst themselves ever see the light of day outside of their quorum meetings and they present a united front always to the world.

3. Any problems with church history/doctrine are brushed under the rug and officially ignored. Consider the analogy of comparing the church as being the Windows operating system from Microsoft. In the early days of Windows there were tons of bugs that resulted in lots of crashes. Over time these bugs get fixed to provide a better end user experience. Some key components get re-written to work better for users. However these changes get implemented very slowly in order to not scare the end users away by having too much change at a time. Now imagine if Bill Gates had said around 20 years ago that Windows is a perfect operating system that will never change and never has any bugs in it. Anyone who complains about bugs gets berated as lacking faith. Anyone who publishes anything about bugs gets blocked from using Windows and gets denounced in the local community for being a heretic as everyone knows that Windows is a perfect operating system. The only acceptable way of resolving bugs is for a person to quietly go in for a 1:1 meeting with their local Microsoft representative for counseling on their weaknesses. And the level of credibility that a person has depends on how well they know and declare their belief by the Spirit of the Lord that Windows is perfect. Suppose that Windows just freezes up on you one day unexpectedly. The reason this happens is because you were a bad dumb user and its all your fault.

4. Good luck getting any concrete answer on any official church teaching on just about anything anymore. Let’s return to the analogy I provided above with Microsoft Windows. Suppose that some evil anti-Microsoft people had published books exposing bugs, experiences users had where the operating system crashed/froze or just didn’t work how they thought it should, or they heard some Microsoft manager or sales person tell them about some functionality which just didn’t work flawlessly. Or even worse someone got out a copy of Microsoft’s official Windows 2.0 manual and compared it to Windows 7.0 manuals and pointed out all the contradictions even though Bill Gates had promised that Windows would be unchanging forever. As a result the public communications staff at Microsoft decided to take a new approach of not publishing any features list anymore. How can a user complain that things have changed or that the functionality doesn’t work right if there is no official list of features anymore? If someone doesn’t understand a feature then they should go in 1:1 to meet with their local Microsoft rep (who themselves hasn’t been given any documentation) for answers. If a person doesn’t agree with a feature then they have a personal problem which could require disciplinary action if they ever share their concerns with other people. In the meantime Bill Gates and the top brass of Microsoft keep hush-hush in never answering any serious questions on product features. In addition everyone within Microsoft has taken an oath to be 100% loyal to Gates and to never question him on anything and to accept that anything Gates says is the truth and that nobody else on earth is authorized to officially declare what the functionality of Windows is. Sure they’ll still publish some fluffy advertisements showing a smiling person in front of their computer having another flawless day at the office running Windows. But there won’t be any technical details or any official guidance on anything substantive. With Mormon teachings/doctrines its like nailing jello to a wall to figure out exactly what the church believes on something.

My apologies to Microsoft on using them for comparison. I just picked on them instead of other alternatives because they are so well-known and their changes (and history of dealing with stupid end users + bugs) over the years are obvious to many people. If Microsoft had stayed small/insignificant then I would’ve used someone else ;)

[svcw]

You can learn a lot about mormonISM by watching Battlestar Galcatica (new version not the old one).
place marker

[annieokie]

Wow, that was a great anaology. Must have taken you some time to work that out. lol

I especially love the "Nail Jello to the Wall". lol

Somewhere here in FR, (and I will try to find it), is a video of Mitt Romney being questioned by some radio station Host. They were in the studio, and it lasted about 30 mins. or so. The host is asking questions about mormons, Mitt is trying to answer, he gets squirmy, talking fast. The host digs deeper, and Mitt is now really agitated and begins to rise from his chair and walk away, but still hangs around to have a discourse with the host. The host keeps hammering him (very gently mind you) on what Mitts religion means or says. You can tell that Mitt is now furious, but with that smirk still on his face, then he leaves the room.

Obviously Mitt/mormons can't stand the heat, or the light of TRUTH.

I will try to find that video and post here.

[pops88]

My husband’s family was Mormon and his lineage goes back to the 1700’s. Both his father and an uncle quit the church when they got up into the high ranks and discovered what really went on.

[annieokie]

here it is: The Angry Mitt Romney video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFkaCji-UDA

[dragonblustar]

Nothing at all like speaking the TRUTH of Jesus Christ.

What's sad is that there are so many so called "Christians" defending mormonism and its claim to be another form of Christianity.

[Elsie]

What's sad is that there are so many so called "Christians" defending mormonism and its claim to be another form of Christianity.

Like THIS???

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Questions put to Joseph Smith: "'Do you believe the Bible?' [Smith:]'If we do, we are the only people under heaven that does, for there are none of the religious sects of the day that do'. When asked 'Will everybody be damned, but Mormons'? [Smith replied] 'Yes, and a great portion of them, unless they repent, and work righteousness." (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 119).

Joseph Smith: "for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible" (from Pearl of Great Price 1:12). "What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270).

 

 

 

Brigham Young stated this repeatedly: "When the light came to me I saw that all the so-called Christian world was grovelling in darkness" (Journal of Discourses 5:73); "The Christian world, so-called, are heathens as to the knowledge of the salvation of God" (Journal of Discourses 8:171); "With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world" (Journal of Discourses 8:199); "And who is there that acknowledges [God's] hand? ...You may wander east, west, north, and south, and you cannot find it in any church or government on the earth, except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.24); "Should you ask why we differ from other Christians, as they are called, it is simply because they are not Christians as the New Testament defines Christianity" (Journal of Discourses 10:230).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt proclaimed: "Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the 'whore of Babylon' whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. Any person who shall be so corrupt as to receive a holy ordinance of the Gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent" (The Seer, p. 255).

 

 

 

Orson Pratt also said: "This great apostasy commenced about the close of the first century of the Christian era, and it has been waxing worse and worse from then until now" (Journal of Discourses

, vol.18, p.44) and: "But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to be ...But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been cursed with apostate churches in great abundance" (Journal of Discourses , 18:172).

 

 

President John Taylor stated: "Christianity...is a perfect pack of nonsense...the devil could not invent a better engine to spread his work than the Christianity of the nineteenth century." (Journal of Discourses , vol. 6, p.167); "Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom." (Journal of Discourses , 10:127).

 

 

 

James Talmage said: "A self-suggesting interpretation of history indicates that there has been a great departure from the way of salvation as laid down by the Savior, a universal apostasy from the Church of Christ". (A Study of the Articles of Faith, p.182).

 

 

 

President Joseph Fielding Smith said: "Doctrines were corrupted, authority lost, and a false order of religion took the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it had been the case in former dispensations, and the people were left in spiritual darkness." (Doctrines of Salvation, p.266). "For hundreds of years the world was wrapped in a veil of spiritual darkness, until there was not one fundamental truth belonging to the place of salvation ...Joseph Smith declared that in the year 1820 the Lord revealed to him that all the 'Christian' churches were in error, teaching for commandments the doctrines of men" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p.282).

 

 

 

More recent statements by apostle Bruce McConkie are also very clear: "Apostasy was universal...And this darkness still prevails except among those who have come to a knowledge of the restored gospel" (Doctrines of Salvation, vol 3, p.265); "Thus the signs of the times include the prevailing apostate darkness in the sects of Christendom and in the religious world in general" (The Millennial Messiah, p.403); "a perverted Christianity holds sway among the so-called Christians of apostate Christendom" (Mormon Doctrine, p.132); "virtually all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ whom they vainly suppose to be a spirit essence who is incorporeal uncreated, immaterial and three-in-one with the Father and Holy Spirit" (Mormon Doctrine, p.269); "Gnosticism is one of the great pagan philosophies which antedated Christ and the Christian Era and which was later commingled with pure Christianity to form the apostate religion that has prevailed in the world since the early days of that era." (Mormon Doctrine, p.316).

 

 

 

President George Q. Cannon said: "After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, there were only two churches upon the earth. They were known respectively as the Church of the Lamb of God and Babylon. The various organizations which are called churches throughout Christendom, though differing in their creeds and organizations, have one common origin. They all belong to Babylon" (Gospel Truth, p.324).

 

 

President Wilford Woodruff stated: "the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called" (Journal of Discourses , vol. 2, p.196).