Thank you for sharing that SZ.
And I think many ex-lds recongize/remember the anger. To find out your CHURCH, the one thing you should be able to trust more than anything else, has been lying to you is very angering.
Peace, my brother, your family is in my prayers.
Resty either doesn’t get it or refuses to, I don’t know which. But the fact remains, the lds do hide the truth with investigators and even with active members. The missionaries are taught to “skim the surface” with investigators. I recall how they spent the majority of the discussions explaining how “similar” lds were with Christianity.
I sometimes wonder if many of the mormons really dig deep into their scriptures and really study what it is they believe.
I am of the opinion that many don’t, because if they truly compared all of the books the inconsistencies will show themselves. My wife and son “read” their scriptures daily(bom mainly) but when I bring up things like men becoming gods, she looks at me quizzically, like “what the heck are you talking about?” I don’t touch the polygamy topic because she’s always trying to “defend” the church by noting that it’s not practiced anymore. She doesn’t see the contradiction in regards to D&C 132 still being in their scriptures and the words “spoken” within. I also mentioned BY’s statement about none entering the CK without JS’s approval and she didn’t have an answer.
What this indicates to me is a lack of understanding of her beliefs. Which also shows that they’re not being taught all that there is within their scriptures when they do attend services. Is it her fault? Partly, but she has naively placed her faith in the church and honestly expects them to return that faith.
I know she’s only one example, but she professes to be devout, she’s very active, etc., etc. I bring this up only because I don’t think many mormons honestly study the foundation of their beliefs. That a 14 year old with a shady past is at the core of their beliefs. That everything they believe is predicated upon him and him alone. If he’s not what he says, then the whole thing comes crashing down. But many won’t look at this. In fact, they refuse to even acknowledge his past and even go so far as to promulgate revisionist history with his life.
Whether or not she’s representative of the whole, I don’t know, but it is an insight as to how some do not comprehend what it is they are reading(bom) and what they believe(moromonism).
Thanks for the prayers and support. I am still working on my own education as it relates to scripture, but as long as I realize that Jesus is the way, I should be able to figure it out.
SZ