I think MANY Mormons don’t realize what their DOCTRINES say.
I agree 100%, or at least they haven't really thought things through and taken them to their ultimate conclusion. For instance, let's delve into this whole Jesus/Satan thing a bit. According to LDS theology, God the Father, a physical being, had sex with umpteen wives (also physical beings) and their offspring were not physical children, but "spirits". Hmm. Ok. Anyway, 3 of those spirit children resulting from physical intimacy were Satan, Jesus, and Mary. Now, stay with me...LDS doctrine also holds that God the Father had sex with Mary to make her pregnant with Jesus. To sum it up, they believe that God had sex with one of his wives to give birth to Jesus' spirit, then had sex with another woman to give birth to Jesus' body. The second person He had sex with was not one of His wives, but was in fact His (spirit) daughter.
Now, seriously, is that twisted or what?!
..and many Baptists, Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists are probably in a similar state of ignorance about THEIR doctrines!! :)
Curiously atheists all know exactly what their doctrines are - they just haven’t thought through the consequences of them.
“I think MANY Mormons don’t realize what their DOCTRINES say.”
You hit the nail on the head! Most Mormons are born into their religion. Their parents are Mormon, their grandparents are Mormons, their great grandparents are Mormons, etc. Very few of them understand their church doctrines. They simply believe what their parents taught them and don’t question the faith they were raised in. I have a very good friend who was raised in a Mormon family. He decided to study the Mormon church doctrine and compare it to Christianity. He concluded that Mormonism is not compatible with Christianity and as a result of his research he became a born again Christian. His family has pretty much shunned him for leaving the Mormon faith. His brother admitted to him that he is troubled with the history of Mormonism and some of their doctrines, but he says that he cannot leave his faith because if he did his family would basically disown him. Mormons who leave their faith know that there is a high price to pay when doing so. For many of them it isn’t worth losing their families over.