This goes out to all who have born the label “anti-Mormon.”
Sorry. I will continue to be “anti-Mormon”.
Sorry. I will continue to be “anti-Mormon”.
Real question: The Mormons I have met are decent, well educated, intelligent, and neighbor-friendly, so how can such people believe in all the fantastical poppycock that the Book of Mormon is full of? Why are they so deceived?
It’s an incendiary word that is already loaded with negative connotations that arouses in people a reflexive response that is neither necessary or relevant, almost feral in nature.
To elicit a sympathy response from an outsider who may or may not understand what has actually been said in previous discussions, only reflexive outrage. “Propaganda”, “attacker”, “misrepresent”, “twist”, etc. all fall into the same category.
The obstinate and childish nature becomes evident when the poster is confronted. The projection begins, the revision of comments and quotes, the “lols”, etc. All in an attempt to present himself as above the “fray”, better than the opposition because he’s attempting to claim the moral high ground. That he’s just a “poor widdle mormon being persecuted by all those evil evangelicals”.
Attempts to ridicule, deride or malign are the typical response. The choice of words, sentence and comment construction are such that it projects to the reader that only he is noble, that all those who reject his premises are ignoble, are untrustworthy, not sincere. That is a tool of deceit. Deceit is the devil’s playground. Dancing right up to the edge of truth, yet never entering.
All one has to do is follow the trail of comments to see how the poster “responds” to the criticism of his beloved church. Doesn’t matter if the criticism is true or not. The only thing that matters is the source of said criticism. Mormons are NOT permitted by their authorities to question their church.
They have been warned and admonished. IF they choose to do so, they will find themselves before their bishop or a “court of love” to determine whether or not they are disfellowshipped or excommunicated.
So for any who think a TBM will constructively criticize the mormon church, think again. It ain’t gonna happen. But we need to pray for them. If this behavior is the last bastion a mormon has to fall back on, then it should be quite evident to any that they are most certainly led astray.
Here's a "comment" from a FReeper from some time back that I believe accurately reflects that attitude of most who insist on mischaracterizing those of us who are ex-mo's and challenge LDS doctrine..."The anti Mormons here have blood on their hands....... they are the scum left from the Mormon killers of old."
ALL: FYI: Also posted on FR this a.m.: Mormon apologetics group brings conference to Provo [Mormonism being 'disenchanted' on the 'net]
LOTS of school districts get started around the country in August...Time to get "educated" on the REAL MormonISM!
Hey there Boyd!
What about ME??
A fella that never WAS a deceived MORMON??
Everyone else; when you hear a MORMON speak; remember what MORMONism is founded upon:
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).
I’d rather be called Anti-Mormon than Harry Reid. ;)
Does the author mean divining rods?
Almost from the beginning of this blog I've been wanting to write about atheism.
I kept putting it off though, always finding other things to post about.
I think it's kind of telling that I have been more nervous to write about being an atheist than I was to write about why I left the LDS church (which is a very polarizing issue), or about my depression (something that is deeply personal and frequently misunderstood).
I actually really enjoy being an atheist, and find that it has changed my outlook in so many ways, and has made everything around me more meaningful.
So why is it so hard to write about it?
For all who are interested, we are listed as Mormon haters on the following site:
http://framreport.blogspot.com/
I view us as distributors of Mormon doctrine and history which, seems fair, as they are more knowledgeable of our doctrines than 99% of Christians.
I thought for 20 years LDS was just another branch of Christianity. Clearly they are not and they make no bones about that fact.
They are a unique doctrine and faith having nothing in common with Christianity.
I guess I’ll be anti-Mormon until they say otherwise, kinda like everybody on FR is racist for opposing Obama. ‘Haters gonna hate’, as they say on the street. ;)