Sneeky LDS Conversion Tactics

http://www.mormon.org/ Click on the "Basic Beliefs" tab and then on the "Membership In Christ's Church" link.

Here you will find a nice little summary of LDS beliefs and lifestyle. They keep it simple and short. But this page is dangerously deceiving.

You see, life as a Mormon is anything but simple. It is amazingly complex and members are taught that they must conform with all the rules and expectations or they won't be saved. Don't you dare say no to your bishop for anything because if you are saying no to the bishop, then you are saying no to Jesus himself.

This page shares the "basic beliefs" of Mormonism which are not too far fetched when compared with other religions. They want to appear to be normal.

However, this simple page leaves out many, many important details of standard Mormon life. The first is tithing. Members are expected to pay 10% of their gross earnings to the church. They do not force you to do so, but highly guilt-trip it out of you. If you don't pay, then you will not be allowed to attend the temple, which is the ultimate goal of Mormonism.

This simple page says nothing about home and visiting teaching. Active members are actually assigned a few member families that they are required to visit in their homes each month. A spiritual message is taught and the home or visiting teacher is required to report to the bishop anything that is out of the ordinary. Again, this activity is not forced, but the members are highly guilt-tripped into doing it.

This simple page also says nothing about the temple itself. Mormons view their holy temples as being the literal house of god on earth. It is such a holy place that evil spirits and any other influence of the devil is physically unable to come inside. In the temple, many different saving ordinances are carried out. In order to be "temple worthy" a member must fully comply with all the teachings of the church and pass two worthiness interviews. In order to get a temple recommend (a piece of paper given to you by the bishop stating that you have been found worthy to enter the temple) the member must comply to the following requirements:

- Pay a full and honest tithe
- Be sexually pure (no sex of any kind unless with your spouse)
- Profess faith and a belief in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit
- Sustain LDS leadership as prophets and apostles
- Confess and repent of any sins
- Be active in church and fulfill all callings and assignments
- Must not associate with any group whos teachings are against or contrary to LDS teachings
- Profess to have a testimony of the restored gospel
- Obey the Word of Wisdom
- Profess to be honest in all your dealings
- Overall consider yourself to be worthy to enter the temple

This is the life of a Mormon in a nutshell. However, our simple, feel-good web page in question does not talk about any of this stuff. This page is deceiving and dishonest. If people knew that all of these things would be expected of them, I am sure that far fewer would join. So the LDS church must engage in dishonest tactics in order to get people to join.

That's just sad. Isn't it ironic that the church which expects honesty of its members is anything but honest!

Their conversion process and logic goes as follows:

- Read and pray about the Book of Mormon
- Ask god and find out for yourself if it is true
- If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith was a true prophet
- If JS was a true prophet, then the LDS church is the true church
- If the LDS church is true, then all of its teachings are true
- Since all of its teaching are true, then you must comply or fry

So you see, they get the unsuspecting convert addicted to the church by means of the Book of Mormon. Once that person has a basic understanding and testimony of its truth, they can be easily manipulated into believing more "deep" doctrines. However, if these "deep" doctrines were introduced at the beginning, the potential convert would tell the church to take a hike. This is referred to as the "milk before meat" principle.

In other words, it is actually okay to withhold certain information from new converts. Wait until the hook is nice and deep before you pummel them with all the amazing extras!

Sneeky little fuckers!

An Interesting Observation

Wow the time flies and I just realized that it's been almost a month since my last post.

Yesterday, a friend pointed out a very interesting observation...

At Temple Square in downtown SLC on the corner of South Temple Street and Main Street, there is a statue of Brigham Young. The statue is on the north side of the street and is facing south with an outstretched hand.

Basically, he has his back to the holy temple and is reaching in a south-easterly direction towards...

...ZION'S BANK!

Brigham Young died owing the church more than a million dollars!

No more needs to be said.

Religion vs. Science

I went to see "Ultimate Universe" at the Clark Planetarium near downtown SLC the other day.

Science, whether viewed through a telescope or through a microscope, is absolutely incredible. Whether we're talking about galaxies that are 300 million light years apart from each other or molecules of DNA which are small enough to easily fit on the head of a pin, science is remarkable and mind blowing.

God is supposed to be the greatest thing around, right? Well, the marvel of science completely blows away any idea or superstition that religion can come up with. Heaven is the place where god lives. Yet, what do we know about it? Nothing, except that we want to be there. But there is no scientific evidence that heaven even exists.

I recommend that you go see this film. It is remarkable. The study of our world and our universe is beautiful beyond description. Yet it is real. Space is really out there and so are the trillions of stars that decorate the night sky. You can't see your DNA, but without it, you would not be alive. Is it science or religion that has brought these things to our attention?

God exists because humans needed an explanation. Now, god is no longer necessary because science gives us the true answers. We might not know everything yet, but that is the marvel of science. What we didn't know yesterday, we know today. What we don't know today, we will probably know tomorrow.

Science gives us the true answers and the more we learn of it, the less need there is for god. It won't be long before science can explain how life began and where we came from. Sorry, god. You had your glory. Now we don't need you anymore.

I hate to be the one to burst your religious bubble, but that's just the way it is.

Why Do We Go To Church?

It is human nature to not put any effort into something unless there is the promise of a return; something that will be beneficial to us. Those people in the religion business know this and ask that we attend their meetings and give them money. What they offer in return is salvation.

Would you go to church if there wasn't something in it for you? We all say we go because "we love the lord" but if there wasn't a fantastic reward for our unconditional obedience, would we bother putting in the time and effort?

Mormonism offers quite elaborate rewards for your unconditional obedience: mansions, riches, power, and royalty.

Now the problem, is that you are taking a gamble. If the church is true, then everything they promise will be yours if you comply all your life. However, if the church is not true, then you've wasted your life in a cult.

And the catch is that you have to die before you get to know for sure. Once you're dead, you're dead. You can't come back and demand a refund of your life and money if it turns out to not be true.

Religion is a business where the product is salvation. You get to cash in on your reward after you die, so guess what?!?! There is a 100% customer satisfaction rate because those who are dead can't complain! They can't sue! They can't demand their money back. They can't expose the religious frauds for what they are.

So religion takes advantage of our humanly greediness. They promise salvation, knowing that by the time you learn the truth, it will be too late to do anything about it.