Jeff, as always you state your experiences are not mine or the millions, upon millions who have left lds or deal with it on a daily basis.
My lds family does not and has never referred to themselves as Christians, as they are not. The say they are lds, sometimes they say mormon.
They beleive in the foundation of mormonism, and at its core is anti-Christian. Most of them can trace their line to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
My personal experiences have been going on since 1962, even longer than yours.
In fact Jeff, I have never heard anyone talk about their real experiences with lds as glowingly as you do.
One of my lds cousins says “they are nice to your face, and will cut your spin in two if it benefits them, while they have an “oh I am so good” smile on their faces”.
Link for post #123.
svcw, you are clearly emotionally involved and upset over this (obviously) and probably justafiably so. A such some times you make some very wide ranging and generalized statements, IMHO.
You may have had experiences since 1962...but it has been with a relative few members of the church with whom you have these issues, and then with other discontent folks who also have had bad experiences...and that’s most of your world as regards the LDS Church. So the experiences you have had, and the experiences I have had naturally are with completely different populations. I deal, for the most part, with active, engaged members who are glad they are there and wish to share their happiness with others. You deal with people who are upset at the church and have left it for those reasons. Outside of your own relatives and others who have wronged you, you probably do not deal with active, engaged, and content members of the Church very often.
I have been dealing with Wards and Branches and Stakes all over the country and around the world...and have not seen the types of negative things to the extent you have, though there are certainly, as I stated, some experiences. In my own role as a home teacher, in bishoprics, as a quorum president or leader, I have had to deal with people who were dissaffected for one reason or another, usally some member offended them for some reason or another...somtimes even unaware that ehy had done so. and I have been able to, with a lot of prayer and working with both sides, for the most part help them reconcile their differences. But not always.
But regarding “millions and millions” who have left the church. This is, IMHO, somewhat exagerated when there are only just over 14 million members altogether. Millions and millions implies quite a bit more than three or four million and I believe such a number is an exageration, though I certainly do not know an exact number.
No doubt there are many who have left, whatever that number is...as there are with any large denomination. But the church has continued to grow and retains far more than it looses throughout the time period. Otherwise it could not have grown from a couple or three million in 1970 to 14+ million today.
Anyhow, again, so very sorry for your difficult and untoward experiences, and I pray you and those who have treated you badly can reconcile and be caring and helpful to one another.