I would like to emphasize one particular "experience" that mormonism has used with maximum effect from the early days, and that is the "persecution" experience. There is not a day that goes by that we do not see this "persecution" meme used on these threads as a means to attempt to censor.
In counting up historically all the "experiences", one can find a relatively small number of deaths in this "persecution" directly caused by enemies of mormons and the mormon church over the past 180 years....possibly fewer than the number of victims from the heinous, Mountain Meadows Massacre [The Original 9/11 of American History] and hundreds of thousands fewer that many Christian sects have seen caused directly by enemies in the past hundred years. We have seen the laughable action of a bucket of water thrown at a mormon missionary compared to the worst Christian persecution.
Most of what mormons have used to buttress the persecution claims was brought about by actions by the mormons themselves in setting themselves apart and above the state and federal government laws and above their "gentile" neighbors, that resulted in non-mormons making things so tough on them they felt compelled to leave certain areas.
The commemorating of the hardships in re-enacting the "Pioneer Trek" is an example of the decades old practice of using to the mormon church's advantage the losses that were caused more by poor planning and parsimony of church leaders in funding the ill-conceived and ill-planned journey than any actions by enemies of mormons or mormonism. This commemoration gives members the ability to keep this so-called "proof" of their persecution fresh as a reminder of the "us versus them" factor in the religion.
The Salt Lake mormons completely ignore the fact that the "enemies of mormonism" left Emma Smith and Joseph Smith's family to their own devices and the Smith family kept their lands and properties, unmolested.
It's interesting the way the "persecution card" wasn't dealt to them, wasn't it?
So, in 2010, we have a sect that takes advantage of being seen as different by using the "we are victims" ploy when it suits, and at the same time they demand that Christians not only recognize them as equal, but are expected to grant them equality while the non-Biblical doctrines and practices and denial of Christian beliefs are to be NOW (under the Mormonism Affirmative Action rule), left intact even though they have been inimical to settled and accepted Christianity since the inception of mormonism by Joseph Smith.
Mormonism not only demands a "seat at the Christian banquet table", it demands to set the menu, control the guest list, collect the funds from the ticket sales, and choose its own non-Biblical unedited and false message from its chosen speaker, all the while whining about being persecuted.
The encouragement, from the Mormon leadership, to claim ‘victimization’ keeps the membership under their control as much as the teachings. It is a psychological play which works effectively for those unfamiliar with Christianity and those unacquainted with the scriptures in keeping them “in the dark, thus the leadership becomes their authority of what to believe and how to defend that authority. It has very little to do with the membership itself...they are simply the pawns the leadership uses to retain their power and authority. â€.
Choosing to take up residence in the ‘whiner’s pew’ doesn't make one stronger, it makes many weaker.
Whiner’s never prosper in God's economy. They have a long way to go to suffer to the point of shedding blood if they beginning with whining about be called names.
Does Romans 12:1-2 ever come into their growth process?