Here's How It All Really Works

Joseph Smith starts the church. 

He convinces people that he is a prophet.

He tells them that he will have many enemies because Satan knows the work is true and will plant the spirit of contention into the hearts of evil people in order to stop it.

Smith defrauds people; takes their money, wives, and daughters... All under command by god, of course.

When the people are angry, he shows his loyal followers that his prophecy about enemies came true.

Therefore, people hate the church because they are full of Satan's influence.

No matter what the prophet does, anyone who criticizes him is full of Satan.

The church is innocent and spotless; a victim of persecution and mindless hate.

A Sad Mother's Day Story

Mormonism really is a depressing religion.  You see, in order for a family to be "together forever" they all have to comply to Mormonism.  I have seen people in tears because a certain family member won't join the church. 

Sadly, if a family member won't join, then that person is cut off from the family in the afterlife.  Is that depressing or what?  A person's reward in the afterlife really has nothing to do with how good of a person they were, but is based upon their membership in god's favorite club and how strictly they followed all the rules.

This is wrong.  Instead of allowing family members to enjoy their lives together, the church has everyone convinced that they have to convert everyone in order to save them.  How sad and depressing.

Today for Mother's Day I attended a family dinner where the LDS missionaries attended.  They were each asked to tell everyone about their mothers.  One shared how his mother won't join the church and he is very sad about it because they can't be together if she doesn't join before she dies.  Then in the same breath he testified about how much he loves the church and how true it is.

And I'm just sitting there asking myself, "Why would anyone want to join a religion that alienates family members?  Why would anyone want to promote it?"

Mormonism is a depressing religion.  If parents have a child who falls away, it causes them severe sadness and depression because their child has knowingly walked away from truth and light.  Instead of celebrate that this child has found their own life path, family often alienates said apostate so that his or her "evil influence" cannot be spread to those who are still faithful.

For a religion that trumps such strong family values, they sure do a great job of separating families.  Non-worthy and non-LDS family members are not allowed to view temple weddings.  Mormonism promotes bigotry, ego centrism, and plain arrogant thinking.

I feel so much happier knowing that I don't have to shove my views down everyone's throat!  I find great peace in my view that there is no judgmental god who is so damn petty about what religion someone is.  I can live my life without fear of damnation and that is worth all the family shunning in the world!

*I must make note that my family has not shunned or disowned me and have generally treated me like a normal member of the family.  And while that is great, there are many ex-Mormons who lose everything because of their intolerant, family-oriented families.

It's sad that a religion which promotes so much sadness and dysfunction is celebrated and preached.  Mormons are good people, but their superior mode of thinking is truly dangerous and destructive.

Creation A Miracle?

Is the concept of creation really a miracle?

A miracle is something that happens which is unexplainable by conventional knowledge.  It seems that the creation of the earth is no miracle at all because a being with limitless power created it.  If it is perfectly within his power to make an earth, then there is no miracle.  A god who heals the sick... that is no miracle if that god has the ability to heal the sick.  It's just another day in the life of god.

There is no god in existence who could perform a miracle, because his very ability to perform it disqualifies it as a miracle.  It can be explained.  Therefore, it is not a miracle.

Creationists mock the idea of the universe and life coming into existence by complete random chance.  Of course a god had to do it.  How else could it have possibly been done???  Science never has taught that the evolution of life was random, but let's just say, to make it simple, that it was completely random...

THAT MAKES IT ALL THE MORE MIRACULOUS!!!!!

I propose that the true miracle is the formation of the universe and the beginning of life, all without any diety orchestrating it's events whatsoever.  The very fact that biogenesis (the beginning of life) cannot be explained by conventional knowledge makes it a true miracle.

The idea that a single celled organism randomly gave rise to all the variety of life on Earth is truly miraculous.  It is awesome and mind-blowing!

This completely random world we live in is far more fascinating than anything any religion could ever drum up!

Dogs and Mormons

I was playing with my dog today and I noticed a striking similarity between her behavior and LDS behavior.

I will draw a comparison between myself and the dog and between the church and the members, respectively.  In this case, I am the governing authority over the dog such as the church is the governing authority over the members.

Being a normal dog, she gets excited whenever someone visits, running to the windows and looking out to see who's out there.  Sometimes I tease her by asking "Who's here?" and laughing as she runs to the window every time to check it out.  No matter how many times I do it, she faithfully runs to the window even after I have fooled her 100 times.

I take my teasing a bit further by having her look out the window, where she sees no one, because no one is there.  However, I knock on the wall to imitate a visitor knocking on the door and she goes crazy to find out who is there.  Even though she can see outside and there is clearly no one there, she takes my knocking as evidence that someone is there.

The comparison I wish to make is how members act like this dog when it comes to defending the church.  Even though there is no one there, any small amout of evidence trumps the obvious.  Even though god can not be seen or heard, any type of "evidence" is taken to prove that what can't be seen is really there.

My point is simple, that evidence can be faked.  It can be mis-interpreted.  Evidence of something is not proof of something.  Evidence of my knocking is not proof that someone is outside.  Members of the church often take evidence, such as proverbial knocking, and interpret it as truthfulness of the gospel.

Mormon defenders might have the occassional bit of evidence here and there that puts Joseph Smith or the church in good light, but if they are going to revert to evidence to support the church, then they must be objective and look at all the evidence.  Unfortunately, members only want to see the evidence that works in their favor.  Anything else is brushed off as a lie made up by the devil.  This is not objective.  It is cherry picking and that is a tactic which is highly unfavorable.  Those who engage in cherry picking are never taken seriously.

My dog denies what her own eyes tell her and relies on the false evidence that I am providing for her. People are no different when defending their beliefs!

Many people will look at a tree and say, "The only way that tree could be there is if god put it there.  Therefore, god exists."

The evidence is the existence of a tree.  What does it prove?  That there's a tree. 

Linking the existence of the tree to reach the pre-determined conclusion that there is a god is a logical fallacy.  I could use the existence of this tree to support any radical claim that I want to make.  I could claim that the tree exists because the Flying Spaghetti Monster put it there; therefore, the FSM is real.  This is extremely illogical and yet believers use it all the time to "prove" their points.  They are really proving nothing at all except how ignorant they are.

So the next time someone shows you evidence of something, ask yourself, "Is this just knocking?"

It brings a whole new meaning to the term "dogma".

The Mormon-Hater Show

Weston Krogstadt, a frequent visitor at Mormon411, is the author of The Mormon-Hater Show.  In this blog, he defends Mormonism and shares evidences of the church and the Book of Mormon.  I will respond to some of his claims and positions.  So in the nature of a good, respectful debate, here goes.

 

A recent post is one he has entitled "Cult?" where he defends the position that the LDS church is not a cult with two arguments. While there are far more than two cult charasteristics, I'll address the two that he did.

 

1) Cults tend to dissolve once their charismatic leader dies.

 

A quick internet search brought up several references to this.  However, I noticed that most of them are from religious groups usually thought to be cults that are defending themselves from this claim.  In fact, The Mormon-Hater Show was at the top of the list.  Now, I did not take much time to investigate further.  This finding is based upon the summaries brought up by the search engine.  But here are a few:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult  "Secular cult opponents... tend to define a "cult" as a group that tends to manipulate, exploit, and control its members."

 

While I would argue that the LDS church does indeed "manipulate, exploit, and control its members", I am sure that Weston would disagree. Sadly, cult members do not often realize they are in a cult and will defend it, as I believe is the case here.

 

http://www.mchumor.com/holyrollers/holyrollers_cult_info.html This website states, "Most cults do not last long after their leader dies. If they survive after their leader dies, the cult may eventually be accepted by society as a legitimate religion." (emphasis added)

 

So we can see, depending on how reliable this reference is, that just because the LDS church survived after Smith's death does disqualify it as a cult.  In fact, it seems to hint at the opposite, that it is a cult which has been "accepted by society as a legitimate religion."

 

2) Most cults become obsessed with their members leaving.

 

Frankly, Weston, I am not sure why you used this argument.  It work against you.  How many times did I sit in church or at home being taught that those who leave the church, "it would be better for them had they never been born."  This is taught in the Mormon's scriptures: D&C 76:28-38.  These verses paint a pretty horrible fate for anyone who dares to deny and leave the church. 

 

LDS church members are strongly manipulated into staying active with threats of damnation worse than hell.  They are manipulated using the tactic that they will never be able to see their loved ones if they don't completely conform to Mormonism their entire lives.

 

And for those who do wish to leave the church and have their names removed, it is a lengthy, drawn-out process involving interviews and more manipulation to stay.  Those who leave are painted as evil and angry (just like our friend Weston paints people as "Mormon-Haters").  The members are told that those who fall away were deceived by the devil and are now bitter enemies of god.  This is all completely untrue, of course, but the members believe it and this fear of being drawn in by the devil's sneaky tactics keeps them active and paying.

And the members who are excommunicated are removed from the church for the church's protection.  Anyone openly against it is removed so that the church can say that the person is not affiliated with them.  Anyone who dares openly question is immediately removed and painted up to be evil and angry.

 

The LDS church is very much obsessed with their members leaving.  And it's not a cult?

 

To sum it up, there is an excerpt from the holyrollers link above:

 

How do you tell if a group is a harmless fringe group or a dangerous cult? According to Margaret Thaler Singer, a cult expert and author of Cults in Our Midst, dangerous cults have most of these ten characteristics:

1. A leader who claims divinity or special relationship with God.

2. A leader who is the sole judge of a member's actions or faith.

3. A totalitarian governance.

4. Totalistic control over the member's daily lives.

5. Exclusivity and isolation.

6. Development of deep emotional dependence.

7. Prohibition of critical analysis and independent thinking.

8. Utilization of methods of ego destruction and mind control.

9. Exploitation of a member's finances.

10. Underemployment and exploitative working conditions.

My comments:

1. The LDS church leaders claim to receive direct revelation from god.
2. Members are often determined to be "worthy" by their bishops.
3. When the prophet speaks, the sheep blindly obey.
4. While not completely totalitarian, the LDS church is heavily involved in people's personal lives.
5. Members are taught that life outside of the church is miserable and only by being Mormon can one be truly happy.  Members are encouraged not to mingle with non-members as much as possible unless they are trying to convert them.
6. Members often state how lost they would be without the church.
7. Repeat after me: "I know it's true with every fiber of my being. I know it! I know it! I know it!".  Use feelings to determine truth, not thinking.
8. You are unworthy unless you follow all the commandments all the time.
9. Members are threatened with losing their temple recommend (a huge disgrace) and with buring in a fire if they don't pay their full 10%.
10. This one doesn't apply quite so much, but church members are expected to do all sorts of volunteer work for the church.  Temple endowed Mormons have given an oath to the church to give everything they have, or will have, to the church if necessary.

I resolve that the LDS church is indeed a mind-altering cult.  It's members believe they have the constant companionship of the holy spirit IF they are 100% worthy.  The male members believe they carry the priesthood, the ultimate power and authority to act in god's name.  They literally believe it is the only truth on earth and everyone else is fumbling around in darkness and confusion.  If that's not isolation and mind-alteration, then I don't know what is.

For additional reading on how a cult indoctrinates it's members, especially children, please follow this link: http://griess.st1.at/anne/children%20in%20cults.htm

More to come on my response to The Mormon-Hater Show...

Another Mormon Funeral

An LDS friend of mine recently had a family member pass away, and I attended the funeral to show her some support.

The family has a pre-funeral gathering/viewing where they pray and whatnot.  As I am not family of the deceased, I waited outside in the foyer.  As the mourners gather in an LDS meeting house, they wait in the chapel until the casket is brough in followed by the family.  At this point, I joined my friend and sat with her for the funeral, hoping that the family did not mind that I walked in with them.  She assured me that they did not.

I bought a white shirt for the occasion and I am sure I looked just like a Mormon with my recent hair cut and tie.  Before the funeral started as I was waiting in the foyer, a man came into the building from the January weather wearing a ski jacket and shorts.  His legs were heavily tattoo'd.  He obviously didn't fit into the Mormon mold.  He walked down the hall out of sight for a moment but promptly returned and left the building.

Another man waiting in the foyer came up to me, assuming I am Mormon, and asked me if I had noticed "that guy" and made a comment resembling, "I wonder what he wanted."  Good old Mormon judgments at it's finest.

We presently found ourselves seated on the extremely uncomfortable wooden pews in the chapel.  They are not designed in the slightest to give comfort to the poor behind that has to park on them.  The cushion on which I was steated was not very thick and the back rest had no padding at all.  Throughout the nearly two hour service, I was constantly shifting around trying desperately to get comfortable to no avail.

The service was opened with a prayer offered by a son-in-law of the deceased.  He approached the podium and stood there very quietly for several minutes before beginning.  His prayer was five minutes long and my butt was already getting numb by the time he finished.  He rambled on and on about the power of the gospel and how true it all is and how families can be together after death if they all cling desperately to LDS gospel prinicples.

The prayer was followed by a congregational hymn (#97 in the Mormon hymn book, which I now forget the title of) which hardly anyone sang.  Or if they were singing, it was barely audible.

This was followed by a euligy offered by the deceased's sister which was funny and entertaining.  She talked about growing up together and read passages out of her journal in which she had recorded the very brief meeting, courting, and marrying of her husband.

The 8 grandchildren in attendance then sang the song "Love Is Spoken Here".  As they gathered, the podium was lowered and a grandson lowered the microphone.  Then they did the traditional turn-your-head-and-look-at-the-pianist-to-make-sure-she's-there gesture.  I have never seen a musical number performed in church where this is not done.

The music of the song itself is quite beautiful and the lyrics are equally as enchanting to the young Mormon mind.  They go as follows:

I see my mother kneeling with her family each day.
I hear the words she whispers, as she bows her head to pray.
Her pleas to the father quiet all my fears.
And I am thankful, love is spoken here.

Mine is a home where every hour
Is blessed by the strength of priesthood power.
With father and mother leading the way,
Teaching me how to trust and obey.
And the things they teach are crystal clear,
For love is spoken here.

The girls then sing the first verse together with the boys singing the second, and when done properly, sounds very nice.  However, the boys were all tone deaf and it sounded just awful.  But no one cares because the spirit is so very strong at this point.

This musical number was followed by a son of the deceased who thanked everyone on behalf of the family for the kind support from everyone and then shared favorite moments of his memories with his mother and siblings.  He made sure to throw in lots of preaching and quotes from church leaders.

This was followed by a daughter-in-law who sang a song which I have never heard.  The family all seemed to enjoy it, but to me it honestly sounded just like screeching.  I felt embarrased for the poor woman.  Obviously, it's not easy to preform a musical piece while you are at the height of your emotions, so I tried not to be too critical.

The presiding bishop then made a few short comments (thankfully) and it was time for the closing hymn and prayer.

The five-minute closing prayer was offered by another son-in-law and, naturally, he too paused before he began the prayer, and he made a deliberate attempt to make his prayer even more righteous-sounding than the opening prayer.  The words "in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen." have never sounded so sweet.  It meant I could relieve the pressure on my posterior and allow blood flow to return to the area, which was now feeling nothing.

During the entire funeral, the grandchildren were crying and the atmosphere was sad as funerals usually are.  This heightened sense of emotion is used by the church at funerals to envoke powerful feelings of helpless dependence on the gospel.  It is clearly preached that they will all be reunited with the deceased someday IF they all stay strong in the gospel.

It is sad but true that a Mormon funeral is not used to honor the deceased but to create a stronger emotional attachment to "revealed precious gospel truths".  This particular funeral, while preachy, did actually give me a good sense of what this person was like during her life.

In mentioning the opening and closing prayer givers, it became obvious to me that there is real competition among the priesthood holders to project the most righteousness.  Image is everything in the church, and the person who can offer the most humble yet powerful prayer is highly regarded by everyone.  The feeling of Mormon superiority is futher demonstrated by the comments that were made before the funeral about the improperly dressed man who made a short appearance.

That was about all the Mormon preaching I can handle for a long time.  And my ass is screaming at me to never go there again!

Blog: Of Darkness and Light

http://ldsdarklight.blogspot.com/

I stumbled upon this amazing blog!  The author of this blog is exceptional at making valuable points.  I have often been praised for my ability to write but this author makes me look like an amateur.

He wrote a post which he called The Source of All Knowledge, and it is so amazing that I am going to share it in it's entirety here. This post talks about the use of emotions.  I especially love the analogy of the feather in the wind:

I believe that the single most significant and influential teaching of the LDS church, and the reason that it is as large as it is today, is the idea that an emotion is a communication from God. Not only that the emotion is from God, but also that anything else is of no value. To break it down, the LDS church teaches that (a) an emotional reaction is a message from the creator of the universe, (b) no matter what the emotion is it leads to the conclusion that the Church is true, and (c) declaring that all other sources of information are irrelevant unless they are in sync with the Church being true.

The problem is that it is one of the easiest things in the world to evoke an emotional response. A few notes on the piano will easily move one emotionally. A single look from another person can cause one to feel fear, lust, anger, peace, etc. A few lines of a poem can bring one to tears. A scene in a movie can evoke these same emotions.

The missionaries teach investigators that good feelings about some Church teachings witness that the teachings are true. But if one hears another doctrine of the Church that evokes a different emotional response, like disgust, that is apparently not a message from God, because it might lead one to conclude that the Church is not what it claims to be. Then, when someone such as I tries to investigate the real history and teachings of the Church, and finds strong physical, archaeological, or logical evidence that it is not what it claims to be, the Church insists that all those clues are irrelevant compared to the emotional conviction they have. Doctrine & Covenants, for example, states:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things (Section 6:22).

In other words, if something seems like it's not right - if it seems like you need more from the Church to keep following it - what you are supposed to do is recall the one time you did feel good about it. If you feel bad about it now, there's nothing wrong with the Church, you just need to start feeling good again.

 

In brief, if you ever have a positive feeling about any part of the Church, it must be true. Any bad feelings you have about it are distractions from Satan. I've spent a very long time trying to come up with an adequate analogy, but it's so nonsensical that nothing fits. So here's a try:

 

Emotions are easily swayed, much like a feather moving in the breeze. So imagine a feather tied to a string, hanging from a tree branch. A man sits under the tree and watches the feather one day. A bird up on the branch tells the man that it is a magic feather - it can predict the weather. If the feather moves to the north, there is a thunderstorm coming. If it moves south, there will be sunshine. If it moves east, there will be snow, and if it moves west, there will be rain. The man watches for a while and the feather dances mostly Northwest. He sees some storm clouds off in the distance and concludes that the feather is magic. The next day, the feather sways eastward, but it stays sunny and warm. The man says, "Well, I already know it's a magic feather." So when he learns later in the day that it snowed in Alaska that day, his conclusion is confirmed. "The feather's magic is so powerful, that it could see it was snowing hundreds of miles away!" The next day, the feather moves to the south, and the sun shines. It is indeed a magic feather! The next day it blows to the west, but the sun shines again. A week later, it finally does rain and the man is awestruck that it not only predicted the weather, but that it did it a week in advance!

 

An easily-influenced variable is given ultimate authority. But when the easily-influenced variable acts unpredictably it is meaningless, or still evidence of the purported source's authenticity. This logic contains no real connection between what happens and what is real.

Every Member a Toilet Scrubber

https://www.lds.org/callings/meetinghouse-care/reverence?lang=eng

What do I even say?

In addition to the exorbitant amount of time that LDS church membership requires, you can now add janitorial work to your list of endless things to do.

Before the church decided to make care of their meeting houses the responsibility of the members, someone had a job; not the most glamorous job in the world and certainly low paying, but still a job.  An honest way to earn a living.

Watch this video.  Only a cult could find a way to make someone find a spiritual experience out of scrubbing a toilet.

I understand the church's reasoning though.  Give the members a little bit of personal attachment to the building.  This will guarantee that they are emotionally connected with it and they will want to stay and keep giving their time and money.

About 1:20 into the video, one gentleman said it best, "People need to feel needed."  Exactly, even if that "needed" feeling comes from a shit job, literally.

This tear-jerking video, complete with touching music, starts out by stating how sacred these buildings are.  They are the places were the true doctrine of Jesus Christ is taught and shared; therefore, they deserve to be well maintained.

It then shows several members, including young children, happily washing windows, vacuuming floors, and yes, even scrubbing toilets.  Occasionally, a testimonial is given about how much a person's testimony has grown from a result of selfless service to the church.

I have nothing against people who really want to help out and clean the building they worship in.  They view it as a way to help the lord's kingdom move forward.  But are they doing it because they want to?  Or are they doing it because it's just another commandment that must be fulfilled in order to gain Jesus' approval?

I would think the latter, because before this change took place, how many members excitedly and voluntarially showed up on Saturday morning with brooms and toilet brushes in hand? 

My point exactly.  But as soon as the executive order is given, the masses flock to answer the call!

The latest revelation from Temple Square: Jesus wants you for a toilet scrubber!

The Problem... is a Godless Society

Whoever created this graphic was an idiot.

They claim that the godless are to blame for all the crimes and bad things that happen.  But did they stop to consider that:

Timothy McVeigh was a Roman Catholic?

9-11 terrorists were acting out of devotion to Allah?  While not the Christian god, it's still a god.

Adolf Hitler's Religious Views  The Nazis killed millions of Jews under Hitler's direction because they were "fighting for the work of the Lord"?

The god of the Bible himself is guilty for the deaths of thousands of people. 

Clearly the problem is the non-religious!

The Tragedy at Sandy Hook

In light of the Sandy Hook shootings, I am amazed how the community has blamed this tragedy on the "godless". 

This angers me!  This is wrong!  To blame our society's problems on the "godless"!  First of all, religious people DO ALL SORTS OF EVIL THINGS ALL THE TIME!  Secondly, the godless of this nation are an overwhelming minority.  Only about 5 percent of the population claims to have no god in their life.  Are you honestly telling me that god allows 20 innocent children to be slaughtered because of that 5 percent?  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that is no god that I will ever worship!

When something goes wrong, blame the atheists!  When something goes right, give god all the credit!  This type of thinking is what will cause these very types of problems to get worse and worse. 

What we need to do is stop relying on our imaginary friends to solve all our problems for us and start taking a little action. 

While this is a tragedy, I have not read or heard one kind thing said about the shooter.  He was obviously a very distrubed person, who just needed love.  And in the wake of this tragedy, all that is said about him is how evil he was.  THIS IS THE PROBLEM!  Our society has responded to this person with anger and hatred, when it should be an out pouring of love on him and his family.  I have no doubt that god-fearing Christians contributed to this tragedy by judging this young man all his life and telling him how puny and unworthy he was.

So while this nation turns to "god" for comfort, I think it is only compounding the problem. 

We live in a society that wants to deal with the symptoms of a problem rather than the problem itself.  We would rather respond once a tragedy occurs than take the steps to prevent it by making sure that every child receives the love they deserve.  But this young man was shunned and pushed away by this society until it drove him to commit horrible things.  And while the 27 deaths is tragic and sad, the true tragedy is that we allowed this young man to get to the point where he felt that this was his only course of action.  He did it to get the attention he so badly needed.

So while our "god" society blames his "godlessness" for what he did, I blame the god-fearing people of this nation for putting it into the hands of "god", which is to say they ignored the problem and did nothing!

It has been said that the person who needs love the most, deserves it the least.

So I predict that we will see more and more of this type of thing happen, because the people of this country just want to point fingers at someone else.  They want to cry over how sad it all is, point fingers at the ones who don't believe in their imaginary friend, and then turn around and let it happen again and again!

The part that truly stumps me is how they all turn to god for comfort when this type of thing happens, when god allowed it to happen.  Their all-powerful god could have stopped this deranged killer.  God did nothing to prevent it, and yet they praise him all the more for his goodness and mercy.  I don't see a merciful god... I see a society living in a delusion that their invisible god gives a damn.

I see a whole society of delusional people plugged into a hypothetical matrix, living in a dream world where all good that happens was made by god, and all the bad that happens was made by those who don't believe in him.

The true tragedy is this delusion.  This dream world.  These kinds of problems will stop once we collectively unplug ourselves from it and start taking accountibility for our own actions.  Oh, and giving out a little bit of love instead of judging everyone who isn't just like us.