You wake up in the morning and the first thing you do, out of habit, is get on your knees and say a prayer. It's what you've done your whole life. You pray again before eating breakfast. Then again before driving somewhere. Then again before lunch and dinner. Then a few with the family. Then one before bed.
That's a lot of time spent on a one-sided conversation. Does prayer really do anything?
You prayed for safety and viola, you were safe that day. But does that really mean god protected you or does it just mean you didn't have an accident that day?
What if you prayed for safety and then had an accident? It could mean a whole number of different things. It could mean your prayer didn't work (not enough faith on your part). It could mean god wanted you to have an accident. It could mean prayer doesn't work at all.
And what if the whole entire world said one gigantic prayer for safety? Does that mean that there would not be one single accident anywhere, world-wide?
Mormons think that praying doesn't really change anything. It just allows god to bless you. God wants to bless you and is just waiting for you to ask. So we pray for gods will to happen. What does that really mean?
Does it mean that I am holding god back? He can't do anything until I pray for it? What is the point of praying for "god's will" when god's will is god's will. It will happen whether you pray for it or not. In other words, "god's will" = every day life just taking its course. Whatever happens, happens. And if his will is going to happen, why bother praying to change it?
If praying is supposed to unleash god's blessings, how come it doesn't work? You prayed for safety but still had an accident. That must mean god wanted you to have an accident. How come he wanted you to have an accident today, but not yesterday?
I haven't said a prayer in almost three years. But my life is still going. My food still gives me "health and strength", my car still runs fine in the winter; I still get better when I'm sick. Take it from me, folks. Prayer does nothing. You can pray if you want, but it's not going to do anything.
I was watching a movie once and for the life of me I can't remember which one it was, but a line from that movie goes as follows: "God is just an imaginary friend for grown-ups."
When I heard that line, I knew it was true. When was the last time god personally intervened in your life? Jesus? An angel? Anything?
I have a friend who is Catholic and often prays to Jesus for certain things to happen, like the lawn mower to start, or whatever. How come Jesus always makes the lawn mower start whenever she prays for it, but he doesn't heal her tired feet or make her asshole neighbor drop dead? Why does Jesus only bother to produce "miracles" that would have happened anyway? But he can't make her feet stop hurting?
It's because Jesus isn't real. God is a fraud. And prayer does nothing!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 26, 2007
Guilt From "Sin"
The LDS church functions on two things, fear and guilt. Fear of damnation is a major factor that keeps members obeying. However, tonight I'd like to talk about guilt. There are different kinds of guilt.
One kind of guilt is the guilt felt when one isn't really living up to all the commandments and yet tells little white lies to get by. They really don't do their home teaching; maybe once every couple of months or so. They pay a part tithe just to look good to the bishop, but it's not a full "honest" tithe. This person is "getting by" in the church and looks good to everyone but has that secret, inner torment that eats away at them because they know they might be fooling the bishop and the ward members but they are not fooling god.
Sin in the Mormon church is a big, huge deal. Members are constantly taught all the no no's. If one falls into "sin" it is a lengthy process to repent and come back into full faith. Because of all the pressure all the time, members know it is just plain easier to avoid sin and dealing with it. First of all is the humiliation of confessing to the bishop. What will he say? Will he punish me forever? What if he tells me I can't take the sacrament anymore? Then everyone will know that I sinned. Second, what will my neighbors think? What will they say? I can't believe I was the weak one who fell into sin.
These are the exact things that went through my mind as a Mormon. And I am sure that many other people feel exactly the same way. So how do you deal with it? Just keep your mouth shut. You don't confess the sin because you are too damn ashamed of yourself and are so damn afraid of the punishment from the bishop and the rumors about you in the ward. So you say nothing. You keep that sin all to yourself and just go about the daily routine.
When the bishop calls you in for an interview, you are sweating bullets. The bishop has the power of discernment and will be able to tell if you are lying. He begins asking you questions. When he asks about certain things, which you are guilty of, you just can't bring yourself to tell him. You lie, and amazingly, the power of discernment must have had a glitch just then because he failed to detect it.
So you pass the interview and are declared "worthy" by the bishop. But that sin, and now that lie, are heaping down upon you like a ton of bricks. You feel like a worthless pile of scum. But you smile and go through life as though nothing is wrong. You must keep that air of righteousness, happiness. No one can know that you are secretly suffering inside. After all, you're LDS; you're supposed to be happy all the blankety blank time! So you are determined to keep that sin to yourself because although you are suffering now, the shame and guilt you will feel when everybody finds out what you did will be even worse.
You keep this sin locked away inside you for so long, that being miserable starts to feel normal. You've never committed any sins since and maybe your suffering has been enough punishment. Maybe god has already forgiven you. After all, you've prayed earnestly for years for forgiveness. You've gone through all the steps for repentance, except one. Confession.
Has god forgiven me? You really don't know. Maybe the bishop will know. But you can't go to the bishop now. First you would have to confess your sin and then you would have to admit that you lied about it before. So you go through your life, wondering if god has ever forgiven you. Deep inside, you know he hasn't. You didn't confess it to the proper priesthood authority.
You see, folks, this is the life of a Mormon. You must look good to everyone. You must uphold the standard of righteousness. It's impossible to say how many people feel this way, but I would guess that many, many do. And this is what Mormonism does to people. It makes them hate themselves for a simple sin that they committed many years ago. And ironically, people go back to the church to find strength to overcome this "weakness". The church heaps tons of guilt and pressure on them and they walk away hating themselves even more. This is the nasty, vicious Mormon cycle.
So many people live their lives in a lie. They unworthily partake of the sacrament. They go to the temple; they fulfill callings and give blessings. They bear their testimony about how true it all is and how happy it makes them. But the lie is growing and growing. This person now hates themselves so much that they begin to wonder if god hates them too. Each week they go to church and hear about the damnation that awaits the non-penitent.
What does this person do? Some people in the church are literally driven to suicide. Others take anti-depressant drugs. It is a fact that Utah leads the nation in teen suicides and Prozak consumption. Do we see a correlation here? We can't say for sure that being Mormon causes people to commit suicide and take anti-depressants, but the correlation is undeniable. So for the only "true church" and the only true source of happiness, it sure doesn't appear to work very well, does it?
Instead of producing happy people, Mormonism produces depressed people who know they need to appear happy. So they put on the happy mask and go about their daily duties, secretly miserable but outwardly happy. Their life is a huge lie. But the church is true, and if they are miserable, it's their own fault. Being Mormon is all about living a double life and having the appearance of happiness.
Some people endure this misery all their lives. They cling to the church which gives them strength but at the same time condemns them. They love and hate the church.
Other people, like myself, finally open our eyes and get out of that vicious Mormon cycle. Get out of the organization that dumps fear and guilt on you. You are not a horrible person just because you touched a girls titties once. You are okay! You don't need forgiveness from some jealous, angry god.
Of course, getting out of the church will bring even more gossip and shame upon you. But at this point, you don't care what people think. You are so sick and tired of living a lie that you seriously don't care what it takes. Becoming inactive was the first wonderful step of getting out of that double life as a Mormon. Simply removing the "happy" mask, has been a tremendous relief. No more living a lie, a double standard. You might be inactive, but at least you don't have to pretend that life as a Mormon is wonderful and great.
The fact is, you have been suffering nearly your entire life due to the lies and shame and guilt that the church eagerly dumps upon you. You ate up their lies and believed it with all your heart. The more you believed it, the more you hated yourself. The more you hated yourself, the more you relied on the church to "heal" you. That is why I call it a nasty, vicious cycle. Because that's exactly what it is.
I never did confess that sin and yet the guilt from it is completely gone! It's beyond gone! In fact, I regret that I didn't "sin" a whole hell of a lot more! Why? Because sin is a man-made concept. If two people willingly share a "sexual experience" then there is nothing wrong with it. If I have an occasional beer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. There is no such thing as sin. Many people will not believe me and will cling to their religion to save them, but I can tell you that receiving the enlightenment that there is no such thing as sin, has been the most liberating event of my life.
Of course, Mormons will tell me that I just want to sin. I made all this up to justify myself. They can say whatever they want; the truth is, I just abandoned the fear and guilt of being human and I realized that human nature is exactly that: human nature. Seriously, if I am a sinner just for being human, then the Christian god has an extremely demented sense of humor.
I am okay! I am good! I don't need the approval or forgiveness from some god on a plant millions of miles away. If that god can't even take three seconds to show himself to me, then why should I spend my entire lifetime proving myself to him?
Do you want proof that there is no god? Just think about this simple phrase: "All things die". Plants, animals, planets, even stars. All things die. There is no such thing as an immortal being. It is a fact that all things die. If there is a higher intelligence out there, it is not alive. But how can it be an intelligence if it is not alive? Good question. What's the simple answer? There is no god.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
One kind of guilt is the guilt felt when one isn't really living up to all the commandments and yet tells little white lies to get by. They really don't do their home teaching; maybe once every couple of months or so. They pay a part tithe just to look good to the bishop, but it's not a full "honest" tithe. This person is "getting by" in the church and looks good to everyone but has that secret, inner torment that eats away at them because they know they might be fooling the bishop and the ward members but they are not fooling god.
Sin in the Mormon church is a big, huge deal. Members are constantly taught all the no no's. If one falls into "sin" it is a lengthy process to repent and come back into full faith. Because of all the pressure all the time, members know it is just plain easier to avoid sin and dealing with it. First of all is the humiliation of confessing to the bishop. What will he say? Will he punish me forever? What if he tells me I can't take the sacrament anymore? Then everyone will know that I sinned. Second, what will my neighbors think? What will they say? I can't believe I was the weak one who fell into sin.
These are the exact things that went through my mind as a Mormon. And I am sure that many other people feel exactly the same way. So how do you deal with it? Just keep your mouth shut. You don't confess the sin because you are too damn ashamed of yourself and are so damn afraid of the punishment from the bishop and the rumors about you in the ward. So you say nothing. You keep that sin all to yourself and just go about the daily routine.
When the bishop calls you in for an interview, you are sweating bullets. The bishop has the power of discernment and will be able to tell if you are lying. He begins asking you questions. When he asks about certain things, which you are guilty of, you just can't bring yourself to tell him. You lie, and amazingly, the power of discernment must have had a glitch just then because he failed to detect it.
So you pass the interview and are declared "worthy" by the bishop. But that sin, and now that lie, are heaping down upon you like a ton of bricks. You feel like a worthless pile of scum. But you smile and go through life as though nothing is wrong. You must keep that air of righteousness, happiness. No one can know that you are secretly suffering inside. After all, you're LDS; you're supposed to be happy all the blankety blank time! So you are determined to keep that sin to yourself because although you are suffering now, the shame and guilt you will feel when everybody finds out what you did will be even worse.
You keep this sin locked away inside you for so long, that being miserable starts to feel normal. You've never committed any sins since and maybe your suffering has been enough punishment. Maybe god has already forgiven you. After all, you've prayed earnestly for years for forgiveness. You've gone through all the steps for repentance, except one. Confession.
Has god forgiven me? You really don't know. Maybe the bishop will know. But you can't go to the bishop now. First you would have to confess your sin and then you would have to admit that you lied about it before. So you go through your life, wondering if god has ever forgiven you. Deep inside, you know he hasn't. You didn't confess it to the proper priesthood authority.
You see, folks, this is the life of a Mormon. You must look good to everyone. You must uphold the standard of righteousness. It's impossible to say how many people feel this way, but I would guess that many, many do. And this is what Mormonism does to people. It makes them hate themselves for a simple sin that they committed many years ago. And ironically, people go back to the church to find strength to overcome this "weakness". The church heaps tons of guilt and pressure on them and they walk away hating themselves even more. This is the nasty, vicious Mormon cycle.
So many people live their lives in a lie. They unworthily partake of the sacrament. They go to the temple; they fulfill callings and give blessings. They bear their testimony about how true it all is and how happy it makes them. But the lie is growing and growing. This person now hates themselves so much that they begin to wonder if god hates them too. Each week they go to church and hear about the damnation that awaits the non-penitent.
What does this person do? Some people in the church are literally driven to suicide. Others take anti-depressant drugs. It is a fact that Utah leads the nation in teen suicides and Prozak consumption. Do we see a correlation here? We can't say for sure that being Mormon causes people to commit suicide and take anti-depressants, but the correlation is undeniable. So for the only "true church" and the only true source of happiness, it sure doesn't appear to work very well, does it?
Instead of producing happy people, Mormonism produces depressed people who know they need to appear happy. So they put on the happy mask and go about their daily duties, secretly miserable but outwardly happy. Their life is a huge lie. But the church is true, and if they are miserable, it's their own fault. Being Mormon is all about living a double life and having the appearance of happiness.
Some people endure this misery all their lives. They cling to the church which gives them strength but at the same time condemns them. They love and hate the church.
Other people, like myself, finally open our eyes and get out of that vicious Mormon cycle. Get out of the organization that dumps fear and guilt on you. You are not a horrible person just because you touched a girls titties once. You are okay! You don't need forgiveness from some jealous, angry god.
Of course, getting out of the church will bring even more gossip and shame upon you. But at this point, you don't care what people think. You are so sick and tired of living a lie that you seriously don't care what it takes. Becoming inactive was the first wonderful step of getting out of that double life as a Mormon. Simply removing the "happy" mask, has been a tremendous relief. No more living a lie, a double standard. You might be inactive, but at least you don't have to pretend that life as a Mormon is wonderful and great.
The fact is, you have been suffering nearly your entire life due to the lies and shame and guilt that the church eagerly dumps upon you. You ate up their lies and believed it with all your heart. The more you believed it, the more you hated yourself. The more you hated yourself, the more you relied on the church to "heal" you. That is why I call it a nasty, vicious cycle. Because that's exactly what it is.
I never did confess that sin and yet the guilt from it is completely gone! It's beyond gone! In fact, I regret that I didn't "sin" a whole hell of a lot more! Why? Because sin is a man-made concept. If two people willingly share a "sexual experience" then there is nothing wrong with it. If I have an occasional beer, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. There is no such thing as sin. Many people will not believe me and will cling to their religion to save them, but I can tell you that receiving the enlightenment that there is no such thing as sin, has been the most liberating event of my life.
Of course, Mormons will tell me that I just want to sin. I made all this up to justify myself. They can say whatever they want; the truth is, I just abandoned the fear and guilt of being human and I realized that human nature is exactly that: human nature. Seriously, if I am a sinner just for being human, then the Christian god has an extremely demented sense of humor.
I am okay! I am good! I don't need the approval or forgiveness from some god on a plant millions of miles away. If that god can't even take three seconds to show himself to me, then why should I spend my entire lifetime proving myself to him?
Do you want proof that there is no god? Just think about this simple phrase: "All things die". Plants, animals, planets, even stars. All things die. There is no such thing as an immortal being. It is a fact that all things die. If there is a higher intelligence out there, it is not alive. But how can it be an intelligence if it is not alive? Good question. What's the simple answer? There is no god.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Friday, November 23, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks, T, for sharing this with me. It's a little late, but this would definitely be a Thankgiving Day to remember!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Who Are The Mormons?
For the benefit of my readers who are unfamiliar with the LDS church and it's basic beliefs, I will detail the Mormon church and tell their story the way they would tell it.
The Mormon story begins in 1820 when Joseph Smith, a boy of 14 who is confused about religion, retires into a grove of trees near his home. His intent, to pray to god and ask which church is true and which he should join. According to the LDS church, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared personally to the boy and instructed him that ALL of the churches were false and that he should join none of them.
A few years later, Joseph Smith is getting ready for bed when an angel suddenly appears in his room. This angel identifies himself as Moroni, an ancient American prophet. Moroni shows Joseph, in vision, where a sacred record is buried; a record that Moroni himself buried 2,000 earlier. Joseph Smith goes to the place the next day and sure enough, he finds the record engraved on plates of pure gold.
After a time, Joseph Smith is allowed by god to take the record. Using the Urim & Thummim, a device found with the plates, Joseph Smith begins translating the record into English. The record contains a story of a family that lived in Jerusalem in the year 600 B.C. The father of this family, Lehi, is a prophet who is warned by god to leave Jerusalem because it will soon be destroyed. Lehi takes his family and travels to the sea, where they build a ship and sail to ancient America. The record contains a history of their wars and prophesies for 1000 years.
When Joseph Smith completes his translation, the resulting "Book of Mormon" is first published in 1830 and the golden record is taken into heaven by Moroni. That same year, Joseph Smith formally organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Due to persecution inspired by the devil, the saints are forced to move from place to place until they eventually cross the country and end up in Salt Lake City, UT.
The LDS revere Joseph Smith as the prophet of the restoration. During the time of Christ, Christ organized a church, but that church eventually fell into apostasy and the real truth was lost. Although great reformers tried to bring it back, they could not do it completely without the authority from god. Joseph Smith restored the true church to the earth along with the priesthood, the holy authority to act in god's name. Because Joseph Smith restored the true church back to the earth, the founding of Mormonism is often called "The Restoration".
The Book of Mormon is viewed as scripture as literally as the Bible. Mormons use both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. By reading and praying, anyone can come to the conviction that the Book of Mormon is true, and therefore by default, the Mormon church is true.
Joseph Smith built temples and introduced all sorts of new doctrines, including baptisms for the dead, the endowment ceremony, and a concept of eternal families. Worthy family members could be "sealed" in the temple, thus carrying a family relationship beyond this life and into the eternities.
A central theme of the church is that of continual revelation. The LDS strongly believe that the prophet leads the church under the direct guidance of Jesus Christ Himself! Worthy LDS members believe that they have the continual companionship of the Holy Ghost, which is a guide and a warner in case of danger. It is only with them if they strictly follow all the rules and commandments set forth by the church.
Just as the LDS believe that their church is literally true, they also believe that anyone who leaves the church has been deceived by satan and will go to hell forever. A person like myself who says negative about the church is literally working for satan to tear down the true kingdom of god.
The privilege of belonging to the Lord's only true church does not come cheap. Members are given many rules to follow and many commandments to fulfill. Mormonism provides much for it's members to do...
Temple attendance. But before a member can attend the temple he or she must pass two "worthiness" interviews. They are asked if they obey all the commandments. Do they pay an honest tithing? Do they believe in the church and follow the leaders? Do they live the Word of Wisdom? Are they sexually moral? Members who are renewing their recommend are also asked additional questions, such as, "Do you wear your garments 24/7 as directed?" and "Do you obey all the covenants you have previously made in the temple?" A negative answer to any of these questions will result in their temple recommend being denied.
In the temple, sacred ordinances are carried out which are necessary for salvation. The first time a person goes, he or she receives these ordinances for themselves. With each subsequent visit, they preform the ordinance on behalf of a deceased person who never got the chance during their lifetime. Mormons believe that before the end of the world, they will baptize and perform these sacred ordinances for every single person who has ever lived on the earth! Of course, the deceased will have the choice as to whether or not to accept those ordinances.
Once a person goes to the temple, they wear garments for the rest of their lives. They are even buried in garments and temple clothing when they die. Garments are a special underwear with markings in them. These markings help remind the wearer of the covenants they have made with god.
Tithing. Members are expected to pay 10% of their gross income to the church. Paying faithfully will bring you blessings, whereas not paying will bring you damnation. Paying a full tithing is definitely a requirement in order to get a temple recommend. It is considered a sin to not pay in full.
Home and visiting teaching. Men home teach and women visit teach. This is where a "home teacher" and his companion make monthly visits to a few assigned families. The purpose of the visit is to share a spiritual message and see to it that the family is living the gospel. Any abnormality is reported to the bishop. Home teaching is a biggie. While there is no direct discipline for not doing it, not doing it is strongly looked down upon.
Callings. All of the Mormon activities that take place at the local level are done completely by volunteer. Members of the ward or congregation are assigned a calling which may include: bishop, bishop's assistants, sunday school teacher, janitor, organist, etc. All positions are fulfilled by members of the ward. It is strongly discouraged to refuse a calling, as it has been extended by Jesus Christ Himself! Faithful fulfillment of one's individual calling is required in order to have a temple recommend.
Church meetings. A normal LDS church service lasts for three hours. There is a sacrament meeting, then sunday school, and then priesthood or relief society; priesthood for the men and relief society for the women. Regular church attendance is required in order to have a temple recommend.
Word of Wisdom. A health code of conduct set in place by Joseph Smith that directs the LDS to abstain from hot drinks, alcohol, and tobacco (the modern church has also included the use of illegal drugs). They are also directed to use meats sparingly. Word of Wisdom compliance is necessary for a temple recommend as well as baptism into the church.
Sexuality. Called the Law of Chastity, sexual activity is restricted ONLY to a married couple between themselves. Any other form of sexual activity is strictly forbidden, including masturbation, viewing of porn or other arousing stimulus, making out with and/or touching the private areas of a non-spouse (which they call "petting"), and even sexual thoughts. A person involved in any type of sexual activity other than intercourse with their legal husband or wife is involved in a serious sin. In fact, murder is the only sin that is more serious than sexual sin. Compliance with the Law of Chastity is definitely a requirement for a temple recommend.
Testimony. Each member is charged with gaining their own personal testimony of the church. It is common to hear people say, "I know the church is true" and they sometimes add, "with every fiber of my being." A testimony is a persons personal conviction that the church is true. It is stronger than any evidence or any criticism. This knowledge can only be given by the Holy Ghost, who, as before mentioned, can only witness of truth as long as the person completely complies with the church. Therefore, in order to have a true testimony, one needs to fully comply with ALL the guidelines of the church. Follow the prophet and do not doubt. Members will often share their testimony in order to convince their family and friends to join the church.
Once a month, on the first sunday of each month, Mormons have what they call Fast and Testimony meeting. During sacrament meeting, no lessons or sermons are taught, but the members take turns voluntarially sharing their testimonies and personal experiences. Even young, young children who can barely talk will share their testimony. "I'd like to bury my testimony. I know the church is twue." (As opposed to "I'd like to bear my testimony...")
Children are taught at a very young age to have a testimony. Boys are instructed that when they turn 19, they will serve a full time, two year mission for the church, where they will devote 100% of their time to finding new members. Young men are STRONGLY encouraged to serve and young women are STRONGLY encouraged to only date and marry a returned missionary. If a Mormon boy decides not to serve, it is very much looked down upon. Young men are under TREMENDOUS pressure to serve a mission. Young women can also serve if they wish but they are not under pressure like the boys are.
Follow the LDS church leaders and you will never go astray. They have the only truth and the only way to make it safely and happily through this mortal life. Only Mormons are truly happy. They have the restored truth and it is their holy mission and calling to share it with everyone. In fact, if you do not share the gospel with everyone, you will be accountable for their sins!
As you can see, life in the Mormon church is full of demands and expectations. Only by 100% compliance can you be saved. That is the life of a Mormon. While this post generalizes the Mormon religion and it's beliefs, it goes much, much deeper, which only a Mormon or a former Mormon can possibly comprehend. It is the truth and it is the only way. If you don't comply 100% you will be damned forever. If you do comply, you will be able to live in bliss with your worthy family members for the rest of forever. Hense the term, "Families Are Forever."
I hope this post has helped with your basic understanding of the Mormon church, how it came to be, and what is expected of the members. It definitely is brief and only lightly touches on the main points, but will give you a fairly good idea of who they are and what they believe.
The Mormon story begins in 1820 when Joseph Smith, a boy of 14 who is confused about religion, retires into a grove of trees near his home. His intent, to pray to god and ask which church is true and which he should join. According to the LDS church, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared personally to the boy and instructed him that ALL of the churches were false and that he should join none of them.
A few years later, Joseph Smith is getting ready for bed when an angel suddenly appears in his room. This angel identifies himself as Moroni, an ancient American prophet. Moroni shows Joseph, in vision, where a sacred record is buried; a record that Moroni himself buried 2,000 earlier. Joseph Smith goes to the place the next day and sure enough, he finds the record engraved on plates of pure gold.
After a time, Joseph Smith is allowed by god to take the record. Using the Urim & Thummim, a device found with the plates, Joseph Smith begins translating the record into English. The record contains a story of a family that lived in Jerusalem in the year 600 B.C. The father of this family, Lehi, is a prophet who is warned by god to leave Jerusalem because it will soon be destroyed. Lehi takes his family and travels to the sea, where they build a ship and sail to ancient America. The record contains a history of their wars and prophesies for 1000 years.
When Joseph Smith completes his translation, the resulting "Book of Mormon" is first published in 1830 and the golden record is taken into heaven by Moroni. That same year, Joseph Smith formally organizes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Due to persecution inspired by the devil, the saints are forced to move from place to place until they eventually cross the country and end up in Salt Lake City, UT.
The LDS revere Joseph Smith as the prophet of the restoration. During the time of Christ, Christ organized a church, but that church eventually fell into apostasy and the real truth was lost. Although great reformers tried to bring it back, they could not do it completely without the authority from god. Joseph Smith restored the true church to the earth along with the priesthood, the holy authority to act in god's name. Because Joseph Smith restored the true church back to the earth, the founding of Mormonism is often called "The Restoration".
The Book of Mormon is viewed as scripture as literally as the Bible. Mormons use both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. By reading and praying, anyone can come to the conviction that the Book of Mormon is true, and therefore by default, the Mormon church is true.
Joseph Smith built temples and introduced all sorts of new doctrines, including baptisms for the dead, the endowment ceremony, and a concept of eternal families. Worthy family members could be "sealed" in the temple, thus carrying a family relationship beyond this life and into the eternities.
A central theme of the church is that of continual revelation. The LDS strongly believe that the prophet leads the church under the direct guidance of Jesus Christ Himself! Worthy LDS members believe that they have the continual companionship of the Holy Ghost, which is a guide and a warner in case of danger. It is only with them if they strictly follow all the rules and commandments set forth by the church.
Just as the LDS believe that their church is literally true, they also believe that anyone who leaves the church has been deceived by satan and will go to hell forever. A person like myself who says negative about the church is literally working for satan to tear down the true kingdom of god.
The privilege of belonging to the Lord's only true church does not come cheap. Members are given many rules to follow and many commandments to fulfill. Mormonism provides much for it's members to do...
Temple attendance. But before a member can attend the temple he or she must pass two "worthiness" interviews. They are asked if they obey all the commandments. Do they pay an honest tithing? Do they believe in the church and follow the leaders? Do they live the Word of Wisdom? Are they sexually moral? Members who are renewing their recommend are also asked additional questions, such as, "Do you wear your garments 24/7 as directed?" and "Do you obey all the covenants you have previously made in the temple?" A negative answer to any of these questions will result in their temple recommend being denied.
In the temple, sacred ordinances are carried out which are necessary for salvation. The first time a person goes, he or she receives these ordinances for themselves. With each subsequent visit, they preform the ordinance on behalf of a deceased person who never got the chance during their lifetime. Mormons believe that before the end of the world, they will baptize and perform these sacred ordinances for every single person who has ever lived on the earth! Of course, the deceased will have the choice as to whether or not to accept those ordinances.
Once a person goes to the temple, they wear garments for the rest of their lives. They are even buried in garments and temple clothing when they die. Garments are a special underwear with markings in them. These markings help remind the wearer of the covenants they have made with god.
Tithing. Members are expected to pay 10% of their gross income to the church. Paying faithfully will bring you blessings, whereas not paying will bring you damnation. Paying a full tithing is definitely a requirement in order to get a temple recommend. It is considered a sin to not pay in full.
Home and visiting teaching. Men home teach and women visit teach. This is where a "home teacher" and his companion make monthly visits to a few assigned families. The purpose of the visit is to share a spiritual message and see to it that the family is living the gospel. Any abnormality is reported to the bishop. Home teaching is a biggie. While there is no direct discipline for not doing it, not doing it is strongly looked down upon.
Callings. All of the Mormon activities that take place at the local level are done completely by volunteer. Members of the ward or congregation are assigned a calling which may include: bishop, bishop's assistants, sunday school teacher, janitor, organist, etc. All positions are fulfilled by members of the ward. It is strongly discouraged to refuse a calling, as it has been extended by Jesus Christ Himself! Faithful fulfillment of one's individual calling is required in order to have a temple recommend.
Church meetings. A normal LDS church service lasts for three hours. There is a sacrament meeting, then sunday school, and then priesthood or relief society; priesthood for the men and relief society for the women. Regular church attendance is required in order to have a temple recommend.
Word of Wisdom. A health code of conduct set in place by Joseph Smith that directs the LDS to abstain from hot drinks, alcohol, and tobacco (the modern church has also included the use of illegal drugs). They are also directed to use meats sparingly. Word of Wisdom compliance is necessary for a temple recommend as well as baptism into the church.
Sexuality. Called the Law of Chastity, sexual activity is restricted ONLY to a married couple between themselves. Any other form of sexual activity is strictly forbidden, including masturbation, viewing of porn or other arousing stimulus, making out with and/or touching the private areas of a non-spouse (which they call "petting"), and even sexual thoughts. A person involved in any type of sexual activity other than intercourse with their legal husband or wife is involved in a serious sin. In fact, murder is the only sin that is more serious than sexual sin. Compliance with the Law of Chastity is definitely a requirement for a temple recommend.
Testimony. Each member is charged with gaining their own personal testimony of the church. It is common to hear people say, "I know the church is true" and they sometimes add, "with every fiber of my being." A testimony is a persons personal conviction that the church is true. It is stronger than any evidence or any criticism. This knowledge can only be given by the Holy Ghost, who, as before mentioned, can only witness of truth as long as the person completely complies with the church. Therefore, in order to have a true testimony, one needs to fully comply with ALL the guidelines of the church. Follow the prophet and do not doubt. Members will often share their testimony in order to convince their family and friends to join the church.
Once a month, on the first sunday of each month, Mormons have what they call Fast and Testimony meeting. During sacrament meeting, no lessons or sermons are taught, but the members take turns voluntarially sharing their testimonies and personal experiences. Even young, young children who can barely talk will share their testimony. "I'd like to bury my testimony. I know the church is twue." (As opposed to "I'd like to bear my testimony...")
Children are taught at a very young age to have a testimony. Boys are instructed that when they turn 19, they will serve a full time, two year mission for the church, where they will devote 100% of their time to finding new members. Young men are STRONGLY encouraged to serve and young women are STRONGLY encouraged to only date and marry a returned missionary. If a Mormon boy decides not to serve, it is very much looked down upon. Young men are under TREMENDOUS pressure to serve a mission. Young women can also serve if they wish but they are not under pressure like the boys are.
Follow the LDS church leaders and you will never go astray. They have the only truth and the only way to make it safely and happily through this mortal life. Only Mormons are truly happy. They have the restored truth and it is their holy mission and calling to share it with everyone. In fact, if you do not share the gospel with everyone, you will be accountable for their sins!
As you can see, life in the Mormon church is full of demands and expectations. Only by 100% compliance can you be saved. That is the life of a Mormon. While this post generalizes the Mormon religion and it's beliefs, it goes much, much deeper, which only a Mormon or a former Mormon can possibly comprehend. It is the truth and it is the only way. If you don't comply 100% you will be damned forever. If you do comply, you will be able to live in bliss with your worthy family members for the rest of forever. Hense the term, "Families Are Forever."
I hope this post has helped with your basic understanding of the Mormon church, how it came to be, and what is expected of the members. It definitely is brief and only lightly touches on the main points, but will give you a fairly good idea of who they are and what they believe.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Joseph's "Myrterdom"
It is a Mormon myth that Joseph Smith knew that he was going to his death at Carthage, ILL. He predicted that they were going like lambs to the slaughter.But Joseph did not go out anything like a lamb!
The day before they went to prison, Joseph instructed everyone to remove their temple garments!
The day before they died, they were drunk with wine!
Joseph Smith had sent a secret message to the Nauvoo Legion to come and break him out of jail. When the mob first appeared to kill Joseph, he at first thought it was his rescuers. He told everyone in the prison that their salvation had come. Doh!
It is a little known fact that Joseph Smith had a gun. During the attack on the jail, he actually shot and killed two of his attackers.
Like a lamb to the slaughter? Joseph wanted out of that jail because he knew he had a lot of enemies.
There is more on why Joseph Smith was killed and I'll talk about that very soon.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
The day before they went to prison, Joseph instructed everyone to remove their temple garments!
The day before they died, they were drunk with wine!
Joseph Smith had sent a secret message to the Nauvoo Legion to come and break him out of jail. When the mob first appeared to kill Joseph, he at first thought it was his rescuers. He told everyone in the prison that their salvation had come. Doh!
It is a little known fact that Joseph Smith had a gun. During the attack on the jail, he actually shot and killed two of his attackers.
Like a lamb to the slaughter? Joseph wanted out of that jail because he knew he had a lot of enemies.
There is more on why Joseph Smith was killed and I'll talk about that very soon.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Mormonism Is A Prison
The other day I was in the home of an LDS member. I was left alone for a few moments and so had the opportunity to examine the Mormon propaganda adorning every wall. Above an arched door way was a large sign reading, "Remember who you are." On another wall was displayed a picture of a young man putting on a tie and looking in the mirror. The reflection he sees is that of a young man dressed in armor, complete with shield, helmet, and sword.
The Mormons think they are the Jedi Knights defending the galaxy from an invisible but continuous attack from satan and his minions. They literally think there is a battle raging just inches from our faces, but beyond the vail so that we can't actually see it.
They alone have the truth, the power to save the world. It is their holy mission and calling to save as many people as they can from becoming a victim in satan's siege. It is literally in the hands of 4 million active Mormons to defend the world from billions upon billions of evil spirits, devils, and demons.
The only problem is that there is absolutely no evidence for any type of a raging battle. The Mormons are fighting an imaginary battle with an invisible enemy. The only real enemy they can see are the "noble souls" who are deceived by satan's lies and become evil apostates. We are quite literally their enemies. When we try to tell them, "Relax, calm down, there is no battle, they fight us all the more because we are deceived and are in turn trying to deceive them. To a Mormon, the fact that someone leaves the church is proof that satan and this so called "battle" is real.
It's really no wonder then why they hate us. They see us as the enemy. But there is no enemy. The Mormon church is a brainwashing cult that has all it's members engaged in an imaginary war. It's a delusion. In fact, it's not unlike schizophrenia, where the mind produces all sorts of situations that aren't real. Mormons live in a world that is not real. But if you try to tell them that, they think you are trying to deceive them.
It is truly a mind prison, and only a few ever escape it. Those few, the true elite, are labeled apostate. It's ok, Mormons, you can label us with anything you want. But the truth is that we are free and you are not. It's quite ironic how you defend and fight for your own bondage. You live in an imaginary dream world where it is your holy calling to save the world. Sound like a fairy tale? Because it is!
There are several things that need to happen for a person to free themselves from this prison, and the first is knowledge. This is the first step, but unfortunately for most prisoners, it is also the last. People come across the truth about Mormonism and shun it off as lies of the devil. There are only a few who take it to the next level.
The next level, then, is taking that knowledge and thinking about it logically. It is having an open mind and having the desire to learn more. This leads to the next level...
Letting the facts decide the outcome, rather than the outcome decide the facts. It's that simple.
The final step, and probably the most difficult, is standing up with all eyes on you and walking out. Unfortunately, each step gets progressively harder and harder. That is why so many people are comfortable in their imaginary Mormon world. It is a fundamental law of nature for ALL THINGS, living and non-living, to take the path of least resistance. The only way you will reach the next step of enlightenment is to abandon the easy path. (Damn, I sound like a Buddhist monk, LOL!)
Looking at the world without the demented Mormon view is new and beautiful. It's not an evil, horrible, awful place. You are in a strange, but wonderful new world. Where you go from there is up to you. There is no more angry, vengeful god to please all the time. There are new beliefs to discover and form. There is dealing with the labels and social rejection that you will most likely face. But there is no more tithing, hometeaching, temple, church, callings, fasting, praying, reading "scriptures", worthiness interviews, bearing your testimony, trying to convert your neighbors, unquestioned obedience to the "prophet", etc.
I never said it would be easy; I only said it would be worth it.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
The Mormons think they are the Jedi Knights defending the galaxy from an invisible but continuous attack from satan and his minions. They literally think there is a battle raging just inches from our faces, but beyond the vail so that we can't actually see it.
They alone have the truth, the power to save the world. It is their holy mission and calling to save as many people as they can from becoming a victim in satan's siege. It is literally in the hands of 4 million active Mormons to defend the world from billions upon billions of evil spirits, devils, and demons.
The only problem is that there is absolutely no evidence for any type of a raging battle. The Mormons are fighting an imaginary battle with an invisible enemy. The only real enemy they can see are the "noble souls" who are deceived by satan's lies and become evil apostates. We are quite literally their enemies. When we try to tell them, "Relax, calm down, there is no battle, they fight us all the more because we are deceived and are in turn trying to deceive them. To a Mormon, the fact that someone leaves the church is proof that satan and this so called "battle" is real.
It's really no wonder then why they hate us. They see us as the enemy. But there is no enemy. The Mormon church is a brainwashing cult that has all it's members engaged in an imaginary war. It's a delusion. In fact, it's not unlike schizophrenia, where the mind produces all sorts of situations that aren't real. Mormons live in a world that is not real. But if you try to tell them that, they think you are trying to deceive them.
It is truly a mind prison, and only a few ever escape it. Those few, the true elite, are labeled apostate. It's ok, Mormons, you can label us with anything you want. But the truth is that we are free and you are not. It's quite ironic how you defend and fight for your own bondage. You live in an imaginary dream world where it is your holy calling to save the world. Sound like a fairy tale? Because it is!
There are several things that need to happen for a person to free themselves from this prison, and the first is knowledge. This is the first step, but unfortunately for most prisoners, it is also the last. People come across the truth about Mormonism and shun it off as lies of the devil. There are only a few who take it to the next level.
The next level, then, is taking that knowledge and thinking about it logically. It is having an open mind and having the desire to learn more. This leads to the next level...
Letting the facts decide the outcome, rather than the outcome decide the facts. It's that simple.
The final step, and probably the most difficult, is standing up with all eyes on you and walking out. Unfortunately, each step gets progressively harder and harder. That is why so many people are comfortable in their imaginary Mormon world. It is a fundamental law of nature for ALL THINGS, living and non-living, to take the path of least resistance. The only way you will reach the next step of enlightenment is to abandon the easy path. (Damn, I sound like a Buddhist monk, LOL!)
Looking at the world without the demented Mormon view is new and beautiful. It's not an evil, horrible, awful place. You are in a strange, but wonderful new world. Where you go from there is up to you. There is no more angry, vengeful god to please all the time. There are new beliefs to discover and form. There is dealing with the labels and social rejection that you will most likely face. But there is no more tithing, hometeaching, temple, church, callings, fasting, praying, reading "scriptures", worthiness interviews, bearing your testimony, trying to convert your neighbors, unquestioned obedience to the "prophet", etc.
I never said it would be easy; I only said it would be worth it.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Friday, November 9, 2007
A Little About Me
I suppose I should tell you a little about myself. I've had a few commenters now and I enjoy replying to you. Many of you tell me it's apparant that I "have an axe to grind" and that I am "hateful". I thought that if I share a little about myself, hopefully some of you will understand me a little better.
First of all, growing up in the Mormon church I was basically trained to not ask questions, not voice my opinion, and just do what I'm told. As a result, I am somewhat of a people pleaser, afraid of what other people think of me. Of course, I know now that MY opinion of me is the only opinion that really matters and I have been working to overcome that weakness. I've progressed by leaps and bounds since I began my journey.
I have always been a good writer and I have found that I express myself much better through written words rather than spoken words. So I blog and I let my opinions freely flow. I guess the appearance of my axe to grind comes from the fact that my entire life I have always held it in. I have never voiced my opinion and I have never told others how I feel. In the Mormon culture, you just shut up and obey. So I guess that basically I have discovered my "freedom of speech" so to speak, and am just experimenting with it.
There are many who might say that I feel the way I do about the church because I was a weak member and didn't really follow the "commandments". That couldn't be further from the truth. People who had doctrinal questions often asked me. I was, and still am, very knowledgable about the scriptures and the Mormon gospel. I went on a mission for it, I defended it. There was a time when I would have wagered my life that it was true.
On the other hand, I always felt that life as a Mormon was extremely demanding. I used to wish that I had not been born Mormon so that I could "have my fun" and then discover the "truth" later and join. I always believed and obeyed but in the back of my mind, I was resentful that I was born into such a dictatorship. In the "gospel" you really don't have free agency. You obey or you fry. What choice is there really?
The exact reason why I'm right here today is complex. My mission was a HUGE eye opener. It was really the beginning of the end for me. There was clearly no inspiration and even then, I knew that. It was full of politics and manipulation. The mission rules were not inspired of god, because everyone who followed them to the letter was a pure asshole. Follow the little white hand book was more important than following the spirit. On my mission, I saw, for the first time, that the church was definitely flawed. I had strong feelings about things, but I still believed it was true. I finished my whole two years and then got married in the temple.
To be quite honest, I dreaded my mission my whole life. Even though I believed in the church, I didn't want to go. But I knew what the "right thing to do" was so I went anyway. Perhaps if not for my mission, I would still be a TBM to this very day. It's hard to say for sure because there are other factors as well.
One of those factors was that after I returned home and kept attending church, I began to realize how unrealistic everything the church teaches sounded. I began to question the idea that Christ walked on water. Or that he brought people back from the dead. Surely, if he was such a great and powerful man, history would have remembered him a little better.
Then the idea that only Mormons have the true priesthood began to bother me. I began to look around and wonder why I never saw anything miraculous. I was a believer who never asked for signs and still I never saw any signs. I eventually realized that Mormons have no more special powers than anyone else.
Then came the hardest period of my marriage where we did not get along well at all. But every Sunday we would go to church and put on our "happy faces" and pretend that life in the Mormon church was fantastic and wonderful. After doing that for not too long, I got sick of lying and pretending. My life wasn't fantastic and I was miserable.
To top it all off, we would endure Sunday after Sunday of tithing and hometeaching. I went to Elders Quorum and sat there listening to guilt trips week after week. That is all they talked about and I was getting extremely fed up with it. Sunday school started sounding more and more like a trip to fantasy land.
Then I was assigned a calling where I was required to come to church early for PEC meeting and then stay after to run errands for the bishop. I was also required to come to several meetings during the week. I sat through those awful, boring meetings where absolutely nothing got accomplished except a huge waste of time. We talked about the same things again and again, week after week, and it only took a month of that before I was completely sick of it. It was a huge waste of time and nothing was getting accomplished.
It is ironic because all of these things were happening at exactly the same time! It must have been fate. So I stopped going to church, cold turkey, and haven't been back in that building for almost three years now. And shit, I don't miss it for one second. I have had to sit through 3 or 4 sacrament meetings due to a baby blessing or a missionary homecoming and I can honestly say that one sacrament meeting a year is about all I can handle. I don't know how I ever did it before without blowing my top! Before my mission, I was even attending two wards FULL TIME! Six hours of church, completely voluntarially.
So that's why I get pissed off when TBM's accuse me and apostates in general of never having a testimony. I had one and I never questioned or doubted. Even when I quit going to church, I still semi believed it was true.
Right around that same time, the Tsunami hit and Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans. I thought it was ironic that all the Mormons were sitting there saying things like, "It's about time god destroyed that wicked city." But I was asking, shouldn't a true prophet have given them a chance to repent first? Why didn't Gordo warn the world of so many terrible natural disasters? Prophets in the Bible and Book of Mormon did. But Hinckley goes on national television and denys doctrine and constantly says, "I don't know". Then he comes up with the mind blowing ear-ring commandment. At that point, my faith in the man was practically gone. A true prophet of god and all he can say is, "Girls, only one pair of ear-rings." Give me a fucking break! The world is at war and there are natural disasters happening all over the place and all the guy can do is "reveal" gods wishes on ear-rings. What a fraud! What a worthless piece of shit and what pathetic advice! Girls, your eternal salvation depends upon the number of holes in your ears. Truly pathetic. At that point I was 99% convinced that the guy was a fraud and about 50% convinced that the church was not true.
I did hours and hours of reading and studying real church history. Some of the things I discovered left me feeling sick to my stomach. I discovered many horrible things in Mormon history and my testimony was fading quickly. It was barely hanging by a tread when I discovered the Book of Abraham issue as I discussed a few posts back. Needless to say, the thread was broken and my Mormon world came crashing down around me. Mormon "prophets" have been lying for the last 187 years, starting with Joe Smith and ending with Gordo. The entire church is a fraud, a lie, a hoax. Not one word of it is true.
So naturally, when one disovers that the first 30 years of their life was based upon lies and fraud, it tends to upset them. So if I come across as angry, it is because I am. Those lying fuckers stole my youth. I wasted precious years trying to please god and follow every Mormon commandment. I wasted my youth for the sake of obeying all the "commandments". It then turns out I was born into a cult which demands un-questioning obedience from its members. So I fight and I blog against them because they do nothing but take money and steal lives. I blog in the hopes that I can help that person who felt the way I did, a believer who still believes and yet has those subtle doubts and questions.
So excuse me for putting my feelings down into words. Excuse me for wanting to help a doubter. Excuse me for saying "fuck". It's my right, and if "god" wants me to stop, then I will, just as soon as he tells me personally. Until then, I'll just keep on saying whatever the hell I want.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
First of all, growing up in the Mormon church I was basically trained to not ask questions, not voice my opinion, and just do what I'm told. As a result, I am somewhat of a people pleaser, afraid of what other people think of me. Of course, I know now that MY opinion of me is the only opinion that really matters and I have been working to overcome that weakness. I've progressed by leaps and bounds since I began my journey.
I have always been a good writer and I have found that I express myself much better through written words rather than spoken words. So I blog and I let my opinions freely flow. I guess the appearance of my axe to grind comes from the fact that my entire life I have always held it in. I have never voiced my opinion and I have never told others how I feel. In the Mormon culture, you just shut up and obey. So I guess that basically I have discovered my "freedom of speech" so to speak, and am just experimenting with it.
There are many who might say that I feel the way I do about the church because I was a weak member and didn't really follow the "commandments". That couldn't be further from the truth. People who had doctrinal questions often asked me. I was, and still am, very knowledgable about the scriptures and the Mormon gospel. I went on a mission for it, I defended it. There was a time when I would have wagered my life that it was true.
On the other hand, I always felt that life as a Mormon was extremely demanding. I used to wish that I had not been born Mormon so that I could "have my fun" and then discover the "truth" later and join. I always believed and obeyed but in the back of my mind, I was resentful that I was born into such a dictatorship. In the "gospel" you really don't have free agency. You obey or you fry. What choice is there really?
The exact reason why I'm right here today is complex. My mission was a HUGE eye opener. It was really the beginning of the end for me. There was clearly no inspiration and even then, I knew that. It was full of politics and manipulation. The mission rules were not inspired of god, because everyone who followed them to the letter was a pure asshole. Follow the little white hand book was more important than following the spirit. On my mission, I saw, for the first time, that the church was definitely flawed. I had strong feelings about things, but I still believed it was true. I finished my whole two years and then got married in the temple.
To be quite honest, I dreaded my mission my whole life. Even though I believed in the church, I didn't want to go. But I knew what the "right thing to do" was so I went anyway. Perhaps if not for my mission, I would still be a TBM to this very day. It's hard to say for sure because there are other factors as well.
One of those factors was that after I returned home and kept attending church, I began to realize how unrealistic everything the church teaches sounded. I began to question the idea that Christ walked on water. Or that he brought people back from the dead. Surely, if he was such a great and powerful man, history would have remembered him a little better.
Then the idea that only Mormons have the true priesthood began to bother me. I began to look around and wonder why I never saw anything miraculous. I was a believer who never asked for signs and still I never saw any signs. I eventually realized that Mormons have no more special powers than anyone else.
Then came the hardest period of my marriage where we did not get along well at all. But every Sunday we would go to church and put on our "happy faces" and pretend that life in the Mormon church was fantastic and wonderful. After doing that for not too long, I got sick of lying and pretending. My life wasn't fantastic and I was miserable.
To top it all off, we would endure Sunday after Sunday of tithing and hometeaching. I went to Elders Quorum and sat there listening to guilt trips week after week. That is all they talked about and I was getting extremely fed up with it. Sunday school started sounding more and more like a trip to fantasy land.
Then I was assigned a calling where I was required to come to church early for PEC meeting and then stay after to run errands for the bishop. I was also required to come to several meetings during the week. I sat through those awful, boring meetings where absolutely nothing got accomplished except a huge waste of time. We talked about the same things again and again, week after week, and it only took a month of that before I was completely sick of it. It was a huge waste of time and nothing was getting accomplished.
It is ironic because all of these things were happening at exactly the same time! It must have been fate. So I stopped going to church, cold turkey, and haven't been back in that building for almost three years now. And shit, I don't miss it for one second. I have had to sit through 3 or 4 sacrament meetings due to a baby blessing or a missionary homecoming and I can honestly say that one sacrament meeting a year is about all I can handle. I don't know how I ever did it before without blowing my top! Before my mission, I was even attending two wards FULL TIME! Six hours of church, completely voluntarially.
So that's why I get pissed off when TBM's accuse me and apostates in general of never having a testimony. I had one and I never questioned or doubted. Even when I quit going to church, I still semi believed it was true.
Right around that same time, the Tsunami hit and Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans. I thought it was ironic that all the Mormons were sitting there saying things like, "It's about time god destroyed that wicked city." But I was asking, shouldn't a true prophet have given them a chance to repent first? Why didn't Gordo warn the world of so many terrible natural disasters? Prophets in the Bible and Book of Mormon did. But Hinckley goes on national television and denys doctrine and constantly says, "I don't know". Then he comes up with the mind blowing ear-ring commandment. At that point, my faith in the man was practically gone. A true prophet of god and all he can say is, "Girls, only one pair of ear-rings." Give me a fucking break! The world is at war and there are natural disasters happening all over the place and all the guy can do is "reveal" gods wishes on ear-rings. What a fraud! What a worthless piece of shit and what pathetic advice! Girls, your eternal salvation depends upon the number of holes in your ears. Truly pathetic. At that point I was 99% convinced that the guy was a fraud and about 50% convinced that the church was not true.
I did hours and hours of reading and studying real church history. Some of the things I discovered left me feeling sick to my stomach. I discovered many horrible things in Mormon history and my testimony was fading quickly. It was barely hanging by a tread when I discovered the Book of Abraham issue as I discussed a few posts back. Needless to say, the thread was broken and my Mormon world came crashing down around me. Mormon "prophets" have been lying for the last 187 years, starting with Joe Smith and ending with Gordo. The entire church is a fraud, a lie, a hoax. Not one word of it is true.
So naturally, when one disovers that the first 30 years of their life was based upon lies and fraud, it tends to upset them. So if I come across as angry, it is because I am. Those lying fuckers stole my youth. I wasted precious years trying to please god and follow every Mormon commandment. I wasted my youth for the sake of obeying all the "commandments". It then turns out I was born into a cult which demands un-questioning obedience from its members. So I fight and I blog against them because they do nothing but take money and steal lives. I blog in the hopes that I can help that person who felt the way I did, a believer who still believes and yet has those subtle doubts and questions.
So excuse me for putting my feelings down into words. Excuse me for wanting to help a doubter. Excuse me for saying "fuck". It's my right, and if "god" wants me to stop, then I will, just as soon as he tells me personally. Until then, I'll just keep on saying whatever the hell I want.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Tithing, Charity, and PR
I guess I need to talk about tithing since it is an important issue that I haven't really touched upon yet. Some of it you may have already heard, but I think I have a few interesting twists to take.
We all know about the churches law of tithing. Pay 10% of your gross income to the church before you pay for anything else. If you have to choose between paying tithing and buying groceries, you pay tithing. God doesn't care if your family starves just as long as that tithing is paid. It doesn't matter if you have to foreclose your home or declare bankruptsy. Tithing is the most important thing. Remember, if you think you can't afford to pay it, you really can't afford NOT to pay it!
My first real problem with tithing is that the LDS make it a requirement for salvation. If you don't pay tithing, you can't go to the temple. If you don't go to the temple, you can't go to the Celestial Kingdom. Therefore, tithing is indirectly related to your personal salvation.
However, this teaching contradicts scriptures found in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon:
Isaiah 55:1
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
It is obvious here that Isaiah is using an analogy of food and water to represent the gospel. In other words, the gospel is FREE.
Nephi quotes Isaiah:
2 Nephi 9:50
50 Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
And again:
2 Nephi 26:25
25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
Jesus even said the gospel is free:
John 4:14
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
False churches will forgive your sins for money:
Mormon 8:32
32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
And finally, gospel teachers should not charge because if they do, they have their reward:
1 Cor. 9:18
18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
Sadly, the Mormons contradict their own scriptures with the tithing. In fact, tithing was not so strict once upon a time. There were talks given from the pulpit in the tabernacle that said things to the effect of "take care of your personal needs first, and then pay tithing on the remaining" and "the poor and the destitute are exempt from tithing".
Nowadays, however, it doesn't matter if a hurricane just ripped your house out of the ground. You'd still better pay! Clearly, the church really doesn't care about it's members. Those tithing dollars are the most important. The Mormon Jesus loves your money more than your soul.
Let's talk about the fear factor that keeps many people faithfully paying: fire. If you don't pay, you will burn. I have jokingly heard tithing referred to as "fire insurance". It is a teaching of the church that those who do not pay their tithing will literally burn in a fire at the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is the cleansing fire that will destroy all wickedness off the earth. Apparently, those who do not pay tithing are quite evil and wicked. No other sin is threatened with a punishment of literal fire. Even though this fire is supposed to destroy all evil, the only specific sin that is threatened with fire is... you guessed it.... Tithing. If a person commits adultry, they will be punished, but not with fire. It seems that the Mormon church has almost created this fire EXCLUSIVELY FOR NON-TITHE PAYERS.
Yes, in Mal. 3:10 it talks about tithes, and it does promise great blessings but it DOES NOT threaten burning to those who do not pay. Yes, the Bible talks about burning evil, but it DOES NOT specify non-tithe payers! I dare say, the Bible almost makes it sound like paying tithing is optional: if you pay you will be blessed, and if you don't pay, then you simply won't be blessed. The Mormon church has taken it far beyond that and made the paying of tithes an absolute requirement for heaven. This is unbiblical! In fact, it is ONLY Mormon scripture that connects tithing with burning. D&C 64:23, D&C 85:3. Even D&C 119:5 talks about how a non-tithe payer is unworthy. Again, it is only Mormon scripture that condemns the non-payment of tithes.
It is remarkable how members continue to believe and pay tithing even after they do not receive the promised blessings. I have never seen anyone so blessed that they had to go get a storage unit to make room for all the blessings. This has never happened. I was asking a certain person one time if he could point out to me ONE THING that he had received because of paying tithing that he would not have received otherwise. He threw out a few answers like "house" or "job" but I reminded him that those things would have come anyway. After a lengthy discussion, he had to admit that he couldn't think of anything! The Mormon God is a liar; not only because this person has not been showered with blessings, he hasn't even received one stinking thing! Talk about a poor return on his investment!
LDS, Inc. ultimately exists for one reason: money. It's why Joseph Smith started it and it's why it's alive and well today.
The church proudly boasts 13 million members. Let's assume that only one million have a $30,000 income per year. One million members paying $3,000 each is a total of $3,000,000,000 per year ($3 billion)! That is over $8 million per day!!!! And that is a very low estimate. A more accurate figure is around $7 billion per year! The LDS church is swimming in money and yet they still demand every penny their brainwashed members are willing to fork over.
To the crazed member, tithing means blessings and salvation. To an enlightened apostate, tithing screams of cult and fraud.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
We all know about the churches law of tithing. Pay 10% of your gross income to the church before you pay for anything else. If you have to choose between paying tithing and buying groceries, you pay tithing. God doesn't care if your family starves just as long as that tithing is paid. It doesn't matter if you have to foreclose your home or declare bankruptsy. Tithing is the most important thing. Remember, if you think you can't afford to pay it, you really can't afford NOT to pay it!
My first real problem with tithing is that the LDS make it a requirement for salvation. If you don't pay tithing, you can't go to the temple. If you don't go to the temple, you can't go to the Celestial Kingdom. Therefore, tithing is indirectly related to your personal salvation.
However, this teaching contradicts scriptures found in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon:
Isaiah 55:1
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
It is obvious here that Isaiah is using an analogy of food and water to represent the gospel. In other words, the gospel is FREE.
Nephi quotes Isaiah:
2 Nephi 9:50
50 Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
And again:
2 Nephi 26:25
25 Behold, doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price.
Jesus even said the gospel is free:
John 4:14
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
False churches will forgive your sins for money:
Mormon 8:32
32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
And finally, gospel teachers should not charge because if they do, they have their reward:
1 Cor. 9:18
18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
Sadly, the Mormons contradict their own scriptures with the tithing. In fact, tithing was not so strict once upon a time. There were talks given from the pulpit in the tabernacle that said things to the effect of "take care of your personal needs first, and then pay tithing on the remaining" and "the poor and the destitute are exempt from tithing".
Nowadays, however, it doesn't matter if a hurricane just ripped your house out of the ground. You'd still better pay! Clearly, the church really doesn't care about it's members. Those tithing dollars are the most important. The Mormon Jesus loves your money more than your soul.
Let's talk about the fear factor that keeps many people faithfully paying: fire. If you don't pay, you will burn. I have jokingly heard tithing referred to as "fire insurance". It is a teaching of the church that those who do not pay their tithing will literally burn in a fire at the second coming of Jesus Christ. This is the cleansing fire that will destroy all wickedness off the earth. Apparently, those who do not pay tithing are quite evil and wicked. No other sin is threatened with a punishment of literal fire. Even though this fire is supposed to destroy all evil, the only specific sin that is threatened with fire is... you guessed it.... Tithing. If a person commits adultry, they will be punished, but not with fire. It seems that the Mormon church has almost created this fire EXCLUSIVELY FOR NON-TITHE PAYERS.
Yes, in Mal. 3:10 it talks about tithes, and it does promise great blessings but it DOES NOT threaten burning to those who do not pay. Yes, the Bible talks about burning evil, but it DOES NOT specify non-tithe payers! I dare say, the Bible almost makes it sound like paying tithing is optional: if you pay you will be blessed, and if you don't pay, then you simply won't be blessed. The Mormon church has taken it far beyond that and made the paying of tithes an absolute requirement for heaven. This is unbiblical! In fact, it is ONLY Mormon scripture that connects tithing with burning. D&C 64:23, D&C 85:3. Even D&C 119:5 talks about how a non-tithe payer is unworthy. Again, it is only Mormon scripture that condemns the non-payment of tithes.
It is remarkable how members continue to believe and pay tithing even after they do not receive the promised blessings. I have never seen anyone so blessed that they had to go get a storage unit to make room for all the blessings. This has never happened. I was asking a certain person one time if he could point out to me ONE THING that he had received because of paying tithing that he would not have received otherwise. He threw out a few answers like "house" or "job" but I reminded him that those things would have come anyway. After a lengthy discussion, he had to admit that he couldn't think of anything! The Mormon God is a liar; not only because this person has not been showered with blessings, he hasn't even received one stinking thing! Talk about a poor return on his investment!
LDS, Inc. ultimately exists for one reason: money. It's why Joseph Smith started it and it's why it's alive and well today.
The church proudly boasts 13 million members. Let's assume that only one million have a $30,000 income per year. One million members paying $3,000 each is a total of $3,000,000,000 per year ($3 billion)! That is over $8 million per day!!!! And that is a very low estimate. A more accurate figure is around $7 billion per year! The LDS church is swimming in money and yet they still demand every penny their brainwashed members are willing to fork over.
To the crazed member, tithing means blessings and salvation. To an enlightened apostate, tithing screams of cult and fraud.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Monday, November 5, 2007
The Problem With The Book of Abraham
The issue with the Book of Abraham, that many TBM's are not even aware of, is solid proof that Joseph Smith lied about it's origin. If he lied about that, it leaves one wondering, "What else did he lie about?" It turns out he lied about a lot of things. But we'll explore those later. I am going to outline the story behind the BoA and show the world the literal proof that Joseph Smith made it up. It's not pretty if you are a believing Mormon. As I was doing my research into everything, I heard a lot of things, but none of them had me 100% convinced that the church was not true... until I learned about the Book of Abraham. It is solid, indisputable proof as you will see.
After I present my case, I will discuss a few Mormon "rebuttals" if they are even worthy to be called that. The evidence is overwhelming and only a TBM with their head stuck in the sand won't be able to understand it. Here we go, without further adu...
Joseph Smith was intrigued by an Egyptian display containing a mummy and several scrolls of papyrus. Jumping on the chance to further dazzle his followers, he spent money he really didn't have (it was the member's money) and purchased everything. As a "true prophet" he set about immediately to produce a "translation" of the scrolls. Back in the day of Joseph Smith, no one could read or translate Egyptian hieroglyphics through regular means. Therefore, the translation that he provided could not be disputed. The scrolls could not be examined by professionals. It was Joseph at his word.
Over time, through the Mormons moving around a lot, the scrolls were eventually lost and were presumed destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1860. All of my life growing up, I always heard that they were lost, but I never heard that they eventually turned up. Ironic, because they were found before I was even born and yet, for some strange and unexplainable reason, I had never heard about them.
They turned up in 1967 in a museum in New York. Of course by this time, Egyptologists had learned how to read and translate ancient Egyptian. Believe it or not, the LDS church was very excited by this discovery. They were anxious to have the scrolls examined by professionals, as it would be definite proof that Joseph was indeed a true prophet who could indeed translate ancient documents.
But they were sorely disappointed when reports started coming in, from LDS and non-LDS scholars, that the translation provided by Joseph Smith did not match the translations provided by scholars. It wasn't even close! The scrolls turned out to be common Egyptian funary documents which contained prayers for the deceased and instructions to find the afterlife, in a book called The Book of Breathings. It had NOTHING to do with Abraham. In fact, dating of the scrolls aged them 2,000 years after the time of Abraham. In order for Abraham to have written them, he would have had to live 2,000 years!
This is definitive proof that the translation provided by Joseph Smith was entirely fabricated. Not only was the text incorrect, but the date as well. It is clear that instead of translating, Joseph Smith made up the Book of Abraham while pretending to translate.
Other factors indicate fraud as well. The picture in fascimile 1 was incomplete in the original scroll. The picture provided by Joseph Smith was complete; someone drew in the missing portion. The parts that were drawn in were done completely wrong when compared to similar documents (remember this scroll is commonly found). Even before the scrolls were found, many people had recognized that this drawing had been completed by a novice who clearly had no idea as to real Egyptian culture.
There is the proof, folks. And it leaves one asking the question, if Joseph Smith lied about the origin of the Book of Abraham, what else did he lie about? A true prophet of god should not have to lie and write scripture. If a man who claims divine revelation is caught in a HUGE lie producing false scriptures, then it STRONGLY discredits his other productions, such as the Book of Mormon.
When I found out this stuff, my Mormon world shattered. I could no longer believe in this lying fraud that called himself a prophet.
Mormons have attempted to refute this evidence. Of course, their explanations are iffy and desperate.
The first pathetic defense is that all the scrolls were not found. Some are still missing. This is true; they were not all found. They then take this to mean that the parts Joseph translated are the parts still missing. However, fascimile 1 is not missing and how much more proof do you need to see? Then they make the rediculous claim that it is common for Egyptians to put their pictures in a totally different place than the text (to make sure the reader is nice and confused). This is rediculous as well.
To quote Mormon missionaries all over the world, "Do you need to eat the whole cake to know that it tastes good?" This is what they tell potential members when they first introduce the Book of Mormon. According to their logic, you don't need to read the whole book to know it's true. You just need to read a little bit. They use this logic when it works for them, but apparently reject it when it works against them.
Their second pathetic defence is that Joseph Smith was able to translate the deeper meaning. In otherwords, the Book of Abraham was somehow encoded in the scrolls and a regular professional Egyptologist can't desipher it. That's just pathetic. It's a common scroll, people. And it's dated 2000 years too late!
Their third, and probably most pathetic excuse, is that it really doesn't matter! Joseph Smith was a true prophet no matter what the evidence says! Can you believe it? Joseph Smith is a fraud just like the creep Warren Jeffs!
In the July 1988 issue of the Ensign, the church actually ADMITS that the text of the scrolls found do not match the text of the Book of Abraham. They subtly try to convince the readers that the scrolls are not the originals. Then they just try to persuade their members to keep believing anyway! Don't believe me? I'll link you over to lds.org where the article is available. If it's found right on the churches official website, then how can I possibly be lying? Just read it and you will see how pathetic it is and how it reeks of apologetics.
July 1988 Ensign "I Have A Question"
When you click the link, notice in the address bar that it is indeed located at lds.org. I like their little disclaimer: "Questions of general gospel interest answered for guidance, not as official statements of Church policy."
Of course it's not "official". Then it can't come back to bite them in the ass!
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
After I present my case, I will discuss a few Mormon "rebuttals" if they are even worthy to be called that. The evidence is overwhelming and only a TBM with their head stuck in the sand won't be able to understand it. Here we go, without further adu...
Joseph Smith was intrigued by an Egyptian display containing a mummy and several scrolls of papyrus. Jumping on the chance to further dazzle his followers, he spent money he really didn't have (it was the member's money) and purchased everything. As a "true prophet" he set about immediately to produce a "translation" of the scrolls. Back in the day of Joseph Smith, no one could read or translate Egyptian hieroglyphics through regular means. Therefore, the translation that he provided could not be disputed. The scrolls could not be examined by professionals. It was Joseph at his word.
Over time, through the Mormons moving around a lot, the scrolls were eventually lost and were presumed destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1860. All of my life growing up, I always heard that they were lost, but I never heard that they eventually turned up. Ironic, because they were found before I was even born and yet, for some strange and unexplainable reason, I had never heard about them.
They turned up in 1967 in a museum in New York. Of course by this time, Egyptologists had learned how to read and translate ancient Egyptian. Believe it or not, the LDS church was very excited by this discovery. They were anxious to have the scrolls examined by professionals, as it would be definite proof that Joseph was indeed a true prophet who could indeed translate ancient documents.
But they were sorely disappointed when reports started coming in, from LDS and non-LDS scholars, that the translation provided by Joseph Smith did not match the translations provided by scholars. It wasn't even close! The scrolls turned out to be common Egyptian funary documents which contained prayers for the deceased and instructions to find the afterlife, in a book called The Book of Breathings. It had NOTHING to do with Abraham. In fact, dating of the scrolls aged them 2,000 years after the time of Abraham. In order for Abraham to have written them, he would have had to live 2,000 years!
This is definitive proof that the translation provided by Joseph Smith was entirely fabricated. Not only was the text incorrect, but the date as well. It is clear that instead of translating, Joseph Smith made up the Book of Abraham while pretending to translate.
Other factors indicate fraud as well. The picture in fascimile 1 was incomplete in the original scroll. The picture provided by Joseph Smith was complete; someone drew in the missing portion. The parts that were drawn in were done completely wrong when compared to similar documents (remember this scroll is commonly found). Even before the scrolls were found, many people had recognized that this drawing had been completed by a novice who clearly had no idea as to real Egyptian culture.
There is the proof, folks. And it leaves one asking the question, if Joseph Smith lied about the origin of the Book of Abraham, what else did he lie about? A true prophet of god should not have to lie and write scripture. If a man who claims divine revelation is caught in a HUGE lie producing false scriptures, then it STRONGLY discredits his other productions, such as the Book of Mormon.
When I found out this stuff, my Mormon world shattered. I could no longer believe in this lying fraud that called himself a prophet.
Mormons have attempted to refute this evidence. Of course, their explanations are iffy and desperate.
The first pathetic defense is that all the scrolls were not found. Some are still missing. This is true; they were not all found. They then take this to mean that the parts Joseph translated are the parts still missing. However, fascimile 1 is not missing and how much more proof do you need to see? Then they make the rediculous claim that it is common for Egyptians to put their pictures in a totally different place than the text (to make sure the reader is nice and confused). This is rediculous as well.
To quote Mormon missionaries all over the world, "Do you need to eat the whole cake to know that it tastes good?" This is what they tell potential members when they first introduce the Book of Mormon. According to their logic, you don't need to read the whole book to know it's true. You just need to read a little bit. They use this logic when it works for them, but apparently reject it when it works against them.
Their second pathetic defence is that Joseph Smith was able to translate the deeper meaning. In otherwords, the Book of Abraham was somehow encoded in the scrolls and a regular professional Egyptologist can't desipher it. That's just pathetic. It's a common scroll, people. And it's dated 2000 years too late!
Their third, and probably most pathetic excuse, is that it really doesn't matter! Joseph Smith was a true prophet no matter what the evidence says! Can you believe it? Joseph Smith is a fraud just like the creep Warren Jeffs!
In the July 1988 issue of the Ensign, the church actually ADMITS that the text of the scrolls found do not match the text of the Book of Abraham. They subtly try to convince the readers that the scrolls are not the originals. Then they just try to persuade their members to keep believing anyway! Don't believe me? I'll link you over to lds.org where the article is available. If it's found right on the churches official website, then how can I possibly be lying? Just read it and you will see how pathetic it is and how it reeks of apologetics.
July 1988 Ensign "I Have A Question"
When you click the link, notice in the address bar that it is indeed located at lds.org. I like their little disclaimer: "Questions of general gospel interest answered for guidance, not as official statements of Church policy."
Of course it's not "official". Then it can't come back to bite them in the ass!
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Jesus Is A Sith Lord!
In Episode III of Starwars, just before Anakin and Obi-wan duel, Anakin makes the remark, "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." To which Obi-wan replies, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."
Jesus makes a very similar statement in Matt 12:30
"He that is not with me is against me..."
Hmmm... Didn't Joseph Smith claim he was threatened by an angel with a flaming sword? It was Darth Jesus with his glowing red lightsaber!
Jesus makes a very similar statement in Matt 12:30
"He that is not with me is against me..."
Hmmm... Didn't Joseph Smith claim he was threatened by an angel with a flaming sword? It was Darth Jesus with his glowing red lightsaber!
Saturday, November 3, 2007
It Takes Balls To Leave The Church
People accuse us ex-mo's of taking the easy path. We just couldn't hack it; couldn't live all the commandments. So we wussed out and took the easy way.
Ha! It's anything but easy. In fact, it's harder. Sure, the burden of LDS life is gone, no argument there. But just imagine being surrounded by friends, family, and neighbors who all expect you to act a certain way and believe a certain thing.
Just imagine the rumors that go around when you refuse to give someone a priesthood blessing. Or when you are invited to a baby blessing and you refuse to stand in the circle or take the sacrament.
I have always been a person who is especially afraid of what other people think of me. And so leaving LDS, Inc. has been a tremendous challenge. It has been extremely liberating and at the same time very difficult. Just imagine telling your TBM father that you do not wish to participate in a priesthood blessing. If you are a people pleaser, like I am, that is extremely difficult. This experience has been a tremendous challenge, and therefore learning experience. I have had to overcome the fear of what other people think. I'm not completely there yet, but I am much better than I ever was before.
The easy way, my ass! The easy way would be to go back to church and conform to what everyone wants me to do. People who leave the church gain their freedom but run the risk of losing family, friends, jobs, etc.
It's funny because they believe that if you leave the church you will lose everything. When you leave the church, they shun you and then say, "See? He lost all his friends." Your intolerant TBM wife divorces you and they all say, "See? He lost his family." Your TBM boss finds out you are an apostate and he fires you. Then they all say, "See? He lost his job." Since you're now jobless and your ex-wife took the house, they all say, "See? He lost everything."
They predict that you will lose everything and then they work hard to make sure you do. When you end up broke and alone, they are all so thankful for the gospel in their lives. But ironically, if your wife is tolerant, and your friends are not TBM, it's amazing how you manage to keep your life! The Mormons take it away from you. They strip you naked and throw you in the street. Then they tell you that god is punishing you.
Fortunately, this has not happened to me. But I know people personally that it has happened to. If you leave the church, Mormons will ruin your life and then say, "See? Look what happens when you abandon the true church." Perhaps it hasn't happened yet because I have kept my apostasy fairly quiet. Most people just think I am just inactive and I would prefer that it stay that way.
The LDS church is such a fraud that I want to scream! The LDS church ruins lives, destroys personalities, and defrauds people of their time and money. It brainwashes you and puts a blind fold on you. It is a cult. It teaches it's members that they alone are the elite. They alone, have the only truth and the only power of god. According to cult experts, that is exactly what cults do. They brainwash their members into believing that they alone belong to the one organization that has the ability to save the world. And that is exactly what Mormons believe.
It's not easy to leave the church. It hasn't been easy for me and compaired to most ex-mo's, I've had it very easy. That is just sad. It really happens because the Mormons are taught to be intolerant by their holy, righteous, inspired prophet. The prophet of fraud. The clones of Joseph's myth.
Free yourself from the LDS lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Ha! It's anything but easy. In fact, it's harder. Sure, the burden of LDS life is gone, no argument there. But just imagine being surrounded by friends, family, and neighbors who all expect you to act a certain way and believe a certain thing.
Just imagine the rumors that go around when you refuse to give someone a priesthood blessing. Or when you are invited to a baby blessing and you refuse to stand in the circle or take the sacrament.
I have always been a person who is especially afraid of what other people think of me. And so leaving LDS, Inc. has been a tremendous challenge. It has been extremely liberating and at the same time very difficult. Just imagine telling your TBM father that you do not wish to participate in a priesthood blessing. If you are a people pleaser, like I am, that is extremely difficult. This experience has been a tremendous challenge, and therefore learning experience. I have had to overcome the fear of what other people think. I'm not completely there yet, but I am much better than I ever was before.
The easy way, my ass! The easy way would be to go back to church and conform to what everyone wants me to do. People who leave the church gain their freedom but run the risk of losing family, friends, jobs, etc.
It's funny because they believe that if you leave the church you will lose everything. When you leave the church, they shun you and then say, "See? He lost all his friends." Your intolerant TBM wife divorces you and they all say, "See? He lost his family." Your TBM boss finds out you are an apostate and he fires you. Then they all say, "See? He lost his job." Since you're now jobless and your ex-wife took the house, they all say, "See? He lost everything."
They predict that you will lose everything and then they work hard to make sure you do. When you end up broke and alone, they are all so thankful for the gospel in their lives. But ironically, if your wife is tolerant, and your friends are not TBM, it's amazing how you manage to keep your life! The Mormons take it away from you. They strip you naked and throw you in the street. Then they tell you that god is punishing you.
Fortunately, this has not happened to me. But I know people personally that it has happened to. If you leave the church, Mormons will ruin your life and then say, "See? Look what happens when you abandon the true church." Perhaps it hasn't happened yet because I have kept my apostasy fairly quiet. Most people just think I am just inactive and I would prefer that it stay that way.
The LDS church is such a fraud that I want to scream! The LDS church ruins lives, destroys personalities, and defrauds people of their time and money. It brainwashes you and puts a blind fold on you. It is a cult. It teaches it's members that they alone are the elite. They alone, have the only truth and the only power of god. According to cult experts, that is exactly what cults do. They brainwash their members into believing that they alone belong to the one organization that has the ability to save the world. And that is exactly what Mormons believe.
It's not easy to leave the church. It hasn't been easy for me and compaired to most ex-mo's, I've had it very easy. That is just sad. It really happens because the Mormons are taught to be intolerant by their holy, righteous, inspired prophet. The prophet of fraud. The clones of Joseph's myth.
Free yourself from the LDS lies and discover a whole new world!
Just another evil apostate...
Friday, November 2, 2007
Why Do Mormons Hate Apostates?
The answer is simple... because their leaders tell them to.
The Mormons view themselves as literally the only true church of the only true god. Therefore anyone that leaves them is an enemy because they have been deceived by the devil.
Mormon leaders tell their members that apostates:
But why do they really hate us? Mormonism is a system. People are comfortable in that system. Mormonism is a system that especially discourages asking questions. Don't ask why; just do as you're told. Mormonism is a great system for anybody who likes to have someone else dictate everything for them. Do what you're told and all will be fine. Since the system works so well, anyone who fights against it must be crazy. Any one who breaks free and decides to take their own path rather than "follow the prophet" is truly a fool. So it is no wonder that they have complete condescending attitudes when they engage us.
Here is the ironic part. Mormons claim to believe in Jesus who talked and ate with sinners. And yet they hate us because their leaders, who are inspired by Jesus, tell them to. We apostates, many of whom no longer believe in Jesus, become some of his best disciples. We do not hate Mormons. We saw the lies of the Mormon church and we got out. It doesn't mean we are evil. It doesn't mean we are "disease germs who not only have an absence of light, but a presence of darkess." (Boyd K. Packer)
Mormons, your leaders are lying to you. They know that we will tell you the truth about Mormonism and they know that the things we know are very damning to the church. Therefore, to keep you ignorant and under control, they tell you that we are disease germs who are full of satan's evil influence. You accuse us of lying but the real liars are your so called prophets, seers, and revelators. They want you to stay away from us because there is a real threat that you might hear the truth and leave the church too.
Think about it. If the church really was true, they would have nothing to hide. Instead of teaching you to hate, avoid, and despise apostates, they would tell you, as would Jesus, to associate with us, love us, and be one with us. That is what Jesus would say and if you deny it, then you are the one who is deceived. When the Pharisees asked Jesus why he was eating with sinners, he simply replied, "Those who are whole are in no need of a physician." Jesus didn't call the sinners "disease germs". He ate and talked with them.
The example of your own leaders on how to treat apostates is enough to show you that they are not men of god. They are business men who want your obedience and your tithing dollars.
Therefore, our dispute against the Mormon church is not with it's individual members. It is with the fraud, cult leaders who pretend to be prophets and are no better than the Pharisees who Jesus repeatedly called hypocrites.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world.
The Mormons view themselves as literally the only true church of the only true god. Therefore anyone that leaves them is an enemy because they have been deceived by the devil.
Mormon leaders tell their members that apostates:
- are full of hate and anger.
- have been deceived by satan.
- lost the spirit because of a sin that they were too proud to repent of.
- quit going to church because someone offended them.
- masturbate and look at porn obsessively (See? I said masturbate so I am obviously obsessed with it.)
- will have an evil influence on believers.
- never had a real testimony.
But why do they really hate us? Mormonism is a system. People are comfortable in that system. Mormonism is a system that especially discourages asking questions. Don't ask why; just do as you're told. Mormonism is a great system for anybody who likes to have someone else dictate everything for them. Do what you're told and all will be fine. Since the system works so well, anyone who fights against it must be crazy. Any one who breaks free and decides to take their own path rather than "follow the prophet" is truly a fool. So it is no wonder that they have complete condescending attitudes when they engage us.
Here is the ironic part. Mormons claim to believe in Jesus who talked and ate with sinners. And yet they hate us because their leaders, who are inspired by Jesus, tell them to. We apostates, many of whom no longer believe in Jesus, become some of his best disciples. We do not hate Mormons. We saw the lies of the Mormon church and we got out. It doesn't mean we are evil. It doesn't mean we are "disease germs who not only have an absence of light, but a presence of darkess." (Boyd K. Packer)
Mormons, your leaders are lying to you. They know that we will tell you the truth about Mormonism and they know that the things we know are very damning to the church. Therefore, to keep you ignorant and under control, they tell you that we are disease germs who are full of satan's evil influence. You accuse us of lying but the real liars are your so called prophets, seers, and revelators. They want you to stay away from us because there is a real threat that you might hear the truth and leave the church too.
Think about it. If the church really was true, they would have nothing to hide. Instead of teaching you to hate, avoid, and despise apostates, they would tell you, as would Jesus, to associate with us, love us, and be one with us. That is what Jesus would say and if you deny it, then you are the one who is deceived. When the Pharisees asked Jesus why he was eating with sinners, he simply replied, "Those who are whole are in no need of a physician." Jesus didn't call the sinners "disease germs". He ate and talked with them.
The example of your own leaders on how to treat apostates is enough to show you that they are not men of god. They are business men who want your obedience and your tithing dollars.
Therefore, our dispute against the Mormon church is not with it's individual members. It is with the fraud, cult leaders who pretend to be prophets and are no better than the Pharisees who Jesus repeatedly called hypocrites.
Free yourself from the Mormon lies and discover a whole new world.
Why The Priesthood Isn't Real
This is an issue that I've wanted to address for a while now. That is the issue of the holy priesthood and how it doesn't do shit for anyone.
Mormons, and myself included when I was a believer, think that they have the holy priesthood, the literal power to act in behalf of god himself. This is a very real power. One has the ability to do anything, if it is the will of god.
But the problem, is that you don't ever see Mormons moving mountains. You don't ever see them using any type of supernatural power to do anything. All you see is a bunch of guys running around thinking they have all this tremendous power at their disposal.
Let's take an imaginary trip, for a moment, to a galaxy far, far away. We live in the Starwars world, and if you become a bad guy, a Jedi Knight will kick your ass. People fear and respect the Jedi because their power is real. They can deflect bullets back at you and they can pull your weapon right out of your hand with some unseen power. It is not some power that they all pretend to have. It's power that they really do have and people respect them because of it.
I dare say that if the Mormons really had the power of god, they would not be unlike Jedi Knights. Everyone would have no doubts that this elite group of people do indeed have some terrible power, and everyone would fear and respect them. The whole world would know who the Mormons are, and people would be lined up by the thousands to be baptized.
No one on this planet has any special, supernatural powers. It is a fantasy fairy tale. As a Mormon, I used to believe that I was truly special, a Jedi Knight if you will. I really did believe it.
Of course, now that my eyes are opened, I can see that I was just living in a made up fantasy world. I didn't have any special powers. I couldn't heal anyone any better than the next guy. Let's talk for a moment about how Mormons view healing and why it works sometimes and why it doesn't sometimes...
A Mormon is sick and asks for a blessing. Two priesthood holders come and annoint their head with special oil. They then place their hands upon the persons head and proceed to give a blessing where they command the person to "become whole". There are two possible outcomes. First, the person will get better, and second, the person will not get better. No matter what happens, Mormons rationalize about it.
If the person got better, then it was a miracle. The blessing obviously worked and the church must be true!
If the person doesn't get better, then either the person giving the blessing was not worthy to do so, OR it wasn't god's will that the person be healed and the church must be true.
Now don't you see that this type of thinking is terribly flawed? Sometimes the person gets better and sometimes they don't. It sounds like random chance to me. If the person got better after the blessing, he would have gotten better anyway. If the person did not get better after the blessing, then he wouldn't have gotten better anyway.
It is just a matter of how severe the person's ailment is. The blessing does nothing to actually cure the person, and the outcome manifests itself. No matter what the outcome, it is taken as proof that the church is true; that the priesthood is real.
Isn't it repeated over and over that faith can move mountains? Well, how about if you mix faith along with the true power of god? That should make a mighty powerful individual! But have you ever seen in the news that a mountain was moved? That even a stone or pebble was moved? You don't, because it doesn't really happen. Faith doesn't do shit and the priesthood doesn't do shit! We all know that if the Mormons really had that type of power, the whole world would know it! They would be moving mountains and preforming all kinds of miraculous feats. But they don't! They don't do anything special except give a blessing that depends upon the "will" of god.
Mormons, your priesthood is an illusion. It's not real. You don't have any special powers. I know that you all view me as deceived by the devil and inspired to write lies and spew hate, but if you stop and think about it, it is you who are deceived. You have been lead to believe that you have special powers. But you don't. I'm not spreading lies; I am spreading common sense. If you really think you have the magical power of god, and I am the enemy of god, then use your power to strike me down. I challenge anyone. Shock me with your amazing power like Nephi did to his brothers.
If anyone of you can do anything supernatural, then I will take back everything I've said. If you have the awesome power of god, then prove it. And don't tell me "Why should we prove it? You are wicked because you want proof." You will refuse to give me proof, just because I asked for it. Then you will go to testimony meeting and share sob stories about how this happened and that happened. But if the priesthood was real, testimony meeting would not be all about sharing stories about the priesthood; it would be all about doing miracles, right there in front of everyone.
You all want proof and stories to make you feel that it really is true. General authorities get up in general conference and "spew" miracles (otherwise known as Faith Promoting Rumors) to the members, who lap it up and go home having been edified and uplifted.
It's all a bunch of bullshit and the occasional "miracle" that does happen is nothing more than a coincidence. It would have happened anyway. "Miracles" happen to everyone all around the world, no matter what religion they are; not just to Mormons. So stop getting all puffed up with your self-back patting. Miracles that occur in the Mormon church are no more miraculous than a miracle that happens somewhere else, so get over yourselves!
Free yourself from the Mormon lies.
Just another evil apostate...
Mormons, and myself included when I was a believer, think that they have the holy priesthood, the literal power to act in behalf of god himself. This is a very real power. One has the ability to do anything, if it is the will of god.
But the problem, is that you don't ever see Mormons moving mountains. You don't ever see them using any type of supernatural power to do anything. All you see is a bunch of guys running around thinking they have all this tremendous power at their disposal.
Let's take an imaginary trip, for a moment, to a galaxy far, far away. We live in the Starwars world, and if you become a bad guy, a Jedi Knight will kick your ass. People fear and respect the Jedi because their power is real. They can deflect bullets back at you and they can pull your weapon right out of your hand with some unseen power. It is not some power that they all pretend to have. It's power that they really do have and people respect them because of it.
I dare say that if the Mormons really had the power of god, they would not be unlike Jedi Knights. Everyone would have no doubts that this elite group of people do indeed have some terrible power, and everyone would fear and respect them. The whole world would know who the Mormons are, and people would be lined up by the thousands to be baptized.
No one on this planet has any special, supernatural powers. It is a fantasy fairy tale. As a Mormon, I used to believe that I was truly special, a Jedi Knight if you will. I really did believe it.
Of course, now that my eyes are opened, I can see that I was just living in a made up fantasy world. I didn't have any special powers. I couldn't heal anyone any better than the next guy. Let's talk for a moment about how Mormons view healing and why it works sometimes and why it doesn't sometimes...
A Mormon is sick and asks for a blessing. Two priesthood holders come and annoint their head with special oil. They then place their hands upon the persons head and proceed to give a blessing where they command the person to "become whole". There are two possible outcomes. First, the person will get better, and second, the person will not get better. No matter what happens, Mormons rationalize about it.
If the person got better, then it was a miracle. The blessing obviously worked and the church must be true!
If the person doesn't get better, then either the person giving the blessing was not worthy to do so, OR it wasn't god's will that the person be healed and the church must be true.
Now don't you see that this type of thinking is terribly flawed? Sometimes the person gets better and sometimes they don't. It sounds like random chance to me. If the person got better after the blessing, he would have gotten better anyway. If the person did not get better after the blessing, then he wouldn't have gotten better anyway.
It is just a matter of how severe the person's ailment is. The blessing does nothing to actually cure the person, and the outcome manifests itself. No matter what the outcome, it is taken as proof that the church is true; that the priesthood is real.
Isn't it repeated over and over that faith can move mountains? Well, how about if you mix faith along with the true power of god? That should make a mighty powerful individual! But have you ever seen in the news that a mountain was moved? That even a stone or pebble was moved? You don't, because it doesn't really happen. Faith doesn't do shit and the priesthood doesn't do shit! We all know that if the Mormons really had that type of power, the whole world would know it! They would be moving mountains and preforming all kinds of miraculous feats. But they don't! They don't do anything special except give a blessing that depends upon the "will" of god.
Mormons, your priesthood is an illusion. It's not real. You don't have any special powers. I know that you all view me as deceived by the devil and inspired to write lies and spew hate, but if you stop and think about it, it is you who are deceived. You have been lead to believe that you have special powers. But you don't. I'm not spreading lies; I am spreading common sense. If you really think you have the magical power of god, and I am the enemy of god, then use your power to strike me down. I challenge anyone. Shock me with your amazing power like Nephi did to his brothers.
If anyone of you can do anything supernatural, then I will take back everything I've said. If you have the awesome power of god, then prove it. And don't tell me "Why should we prove it? You are wicked because you want proof." You will refuse to give me proof, just because I asked for it. Then you will go to testimony meeting and share sob stories about how this happened and that happened. But if the priesthood was real, testimony meeting would not be all about sharing stories about the priesthood; it would be all about doing miracles, right there in front of everyone.
You all want proof and stories to make you feel that it really is true. General authorities get up in general conference and "spew" miracles (otherwise known as Faith Promoting Rumors) to the members, who lap it up and go home having been edified and uplifted.
It's all a bunch of bullshit and the occasional "miracle" that does happen is nothing more than a coincidence. It would have happened anyway. "Miracles" happen to everyone all around the world, no matter what religion they are; not just to Mormons. So stop getting all puffed up with your self-back patting. Miracles that occur in the Mormon church are no more miraculous than a miracle that happens somewhere else, so get over yourselves!
Free yourself from the Mormon lies.
Just another evil apostate...
Thursday, November 1, 2007
I Am Now Full Of Hate
That's right! It's official! In response to my last post entitled, "Is There An Afterlife?", an annonymous commenter left the following:
"It's sad to see how much hate has built up inside of you. So much so that it has taken over your entire life. Are you really happy? Do you really feel like you are doind "good" or "helping someone"? It just sounds like you're a hateful bitter human being who is now waisting all of their time spewing hate. Don't bother rebutting because I won't ever be here again."
This person isn't coming back. Isn't that too bad? because I am going to bash the hell out of him!
Wow, this guy really knows me well, doesn't he? "it has taken over your entire life." That's right, anon, I just sit here in front of my computer red-faced and pissed off all the time. I am completely unproductive because all I can think about is how much I hate everything.
A few posts back, I stated that the more a religion believes they have the only truth, the more intolerant they become. This person is stating his intolerance with me, simply because I choose to no longer believe in Mormonism. He accuses me of being a "hate spewing" individual simply because I no longer walk the LDS path and because I no longer believe in his god.
I challenge anyone so show me one item of hate I have posted on this blog, anywhere. This person is simply stating how ignorant he is by buying into the churches propaganda that all who leave the church are filled with hate and anger. It is glaringly obvious that this person bites hook, line, and sinker every word that "spews" from downtown SLC.
I have news for you, anon. I am around true believing Mormons every single day, and not one of them has detected my evilness and hatefulness. In fact, they all assume that I am Mormon and still a believer! What happened to the warning spirit that a son of perdition is just a few feet away? I don't decieve or lie to them. I just act like myself and they all think I'm Mormon. Just imagine that!
But the leaders of your cult have spoken it, and since they are never wrong it means that I just sit here and type lie after lie after lie. The only way I can feel any type of self accomplishment is to sit here in my hate and write lies, lies, lies. You are truly an ignorant person.
This blog is full of common sense and, in some cases, out right proof that the church is not true. This person, or any TBM thus far, has not addressed a single one of those issues. They just come in here with their holier-than-thou guns blazing, calling me names and bearing their testimonies to me. If I'm so wrong and so full of lies, why don't any of you dispute me?
I mean, really! I write a post just musing about the possibility of an after life and some TBM asshole comes marching in telling me I am a "hateful bitter human being". Excuse me, anon, but who died and made you the judge? Even IF your claim against me is true, you are still a hypocrite for judging me, since the scriptures forbid it. Didn't Jesus say to love your enemies? I mean, I sit here and write words on a little blog and you damn me to hell for it. Jesus got nailed to a cross and he frankly forgave those who did it to him. You sure are some follower! Did Jesus say, "whatever you see me do, you must do the opposite?" He must have because that's what you're doing!
So pull the beam out of your own eye and practice what you profess to believe! I dare say it is you who is full of hate, since you have no tolerance for anyone who doesn't believe exactly what you do. You see, people, this is the fruits of Mormonism: people who are intolerant, judgmental, and ignorant know-it-all's.
St. Matthew 7:1-2
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Thank you, anon, for showing the entire world just how ignorant you really are! If I had left a comment like yours, I would have kept myself annonymous too!
Just another evil apostate...
"It's sad to see how much hate has built up inside of you. So much so that it has taken over your entire life. Are you really happy? Do you really feel like you are doind "good" or "helping someone"? It just sounds like you're a hateful bitter human being who is now waisting all of their time spewing hate. Don't bother rebutting because I won't ever be here again."
This person isn't coming back. Isn't that too bad? because I am going to bash the hell out of him!
Wow, this guy really knows me well, doesn't he? "it has taken over your entire life." That's right, anon, I just sit here in front of my computer red-faced and pissed off all the time. I am completely unproductive because all I can think about is how much I hate everything.
A few posts back, I stated that the more a religion believes they have the only truth, the more intolerant they become. This person is stating his intolerance with me, simply because I choose to no longer believe in Mormonism. He accuses me of being a "hate spewing" individual simply because I no longer walk the LDS path and because I no longer believe in his god.
I challenge anyone so show me one item of hate I have posted on this blog, anywhere. This person is simply stating how ignorant he is by buying into the churches propaganda that all who leave the church are filled with hate and anger. It is glaringly obvious that this person bites hook, line, and sinker every word that "spews" from downtown SLC.
I have news for you, anon. I am around true believing Mormons every single day, and not one of them has detected my evilness and hatefulness. In fact, they all assume that I am Mormon and still a believer! What happened to the warning spirit that a son of perdition is just a few feet away? I don't decieve or lie to them. I just act like myself and they all think I'm Mormon. Just imagine that!
But the leaders of your cult have spoken it, and since they are never wrong it means that I just sit here and type lie after lie after lie. The only way I can feel any type of self accomplishment is to sit here in my hate and write lies, lies, lies. You are truly an ignorant person.
This blog is full of common sense and, in some cases, out right proof that the church is not true. This person, or any TBM thus far, has not addressed a single one of those issues. They just come in here with their holier-than-thou guns blazing, calling me names and bearing their testimonies to me. If I'm so wrong and so full of lies, why don't any of you dispute me?
I mean, really! I write a post just musing about the possibility of an after life and some TBM asshole comes marching in telling me I am a "hateful bitter human being". Excuse me, anon, but who died and made you the judge? Even IF your claim against me is true, you are still a hypocrite for judging me, since the scriptures forbid it. Didn't Jesus say to love your enemies? I mean, I sit here and write words on a little blog and you damn me to hell for it. Jesus got nailed to a cross and he frankly forgave those who did it to him. You sure are some follower! Did Jesus say, "whatever you see me do, you must do the opposite?" He must have because that's what you're doing!
So pull the beam out of your own eye and practice what you profess to believe! I dare say it is you who is full of hate, since you have no tolerance for anyone who doesn't believe exactly what you do. You see, people, this is the fruits of Mormonism: people who are intolerant, judgmental, and ignorant know-it-all's.
St. Matthew 7:1-2
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Thank you, anon, for showing the entire world just how ignorant you really are! If I had left a comment like yours, I would have kept myself annonymous too!
Just another evil apostate...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)