My exit from Mormonism: My final sacrament meeting

[Nan_S]

I have to admit, when I was LDS, I had never heard of the term “chief prophet”…That must be a newer terms (newer being the past 20 years or so)

There terms back then were

The prophet,
The 1st presidency
an apostle
The 12 (or the quroum of the 12…Mormons know what was being referenced)
The 70, (now there are 2 quorum of 70s, only 1 when I was LDS)

But never heard “chief prophet”

(Edit to add: I did a google search; nothing shows up for “mormon chief prophet” )

You would know better than I. Thank you. Technically the correct term is simply Prophet. However it does get confusing because the Prophet’s counselors (the other members of the triune 1st Presidency) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are also considered prophets. So we have a “Big P” Prophet, and 14 “small p” prophets assisting him.

mormon.org/faq/present-day-prophet

 

[Marie5890]

You would know better than I. Thank you. Technically the correct term is simply Prophet. However it does get confusing because the Prophet’s counselors (the other members of the triune 1st Presidency) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are also considered prophets. So we have a “Big P” Prophet, and 14 “small p” prophets assisting him.

mormon.org/faq/present-day-prophet

I do understand what you are saying.

To a Mormon however, although both the 1st Pres. and the 12 are all sustained as “prophets, seers, and revelators” only one is actually referred to as “the prophet”…There is only “one mouthpiece” of God

The others are referred to as apostles, not prophets…

(and for a bit of trivia, even though it is the norm for the "prophet to have 2 counselors, thus making the 1st Presidency 3 in #, that is not written in stone. When I was LDS there was a time when there were 3 counselors, thus a total of 4 making up the 1st pres. )

 

[garyo49]

Makes sense to me. I researched mormonism for a very long time while I was dating a mormon boy in highschool, and this was one of the topics that I just couldn’t figure out. Listening to LDS friends speak about being sealed and being with their family for eternity, seems to be more important to them than finally being in the presence of God. God IS love, and once we reach the Beatific Vision and be with God, we will all be ONE family, one in the presence of Love! A good friend of mine once remarked to me that the reason she gets up every morning, what keeps her going day after day after day, is that she has been sealed to her husband and children, and b/c of that sealing they will always be together as a family. Problem is, what if one of the children ends up leaving the faith, breaking their covenants, and is now no longer in the same kingdom as the rest of the family? The sealing is not a guarantee of anything really, and I felt sad for my friend that this is what kept her going, she didn’t mention being with God at all.
I love my husband, and I love my children too, and someday, with the grace and mercy of our Lord, we will all be together in heaven, with no divisions to separate us.

I don’t know if many people have thought of this, but it is the eternal marriage/sealed to each other that locks mormons in to the system. Think about it. It’s not just mom and dad that are sealed for eternity, it is all of your family. If great grandma and great grandpa were sealed to each other then grandpa and grandma were sealed to them by marriage and on and on and on. If you are in one of these so called eternal families, you don’t know how hard it is for someone who has lost their faith to leave. A lot of mormons that have lost their faith remain for just this reason. Most people that leave an eternal family are ostracized or suffer extreme guilt. I’ve seen this happen. Mormons will get all over you if you call them a cult, but they are an example of a “classic” cult. I know all of this because sadly my wife is a TBM and always will be Mormon. :slapfight:

 

[Nan_S]

I don’t know if many people have thought of this, but it is the eternal marriage/sealed to each other that locks mormons in to the system. Think about it. It’s not just mom and dad that are sealed for eternity, it is all of your family. If great grandma and great grandpa were sealed to each other then grandpa and grandma were sealed to them by marriage and on and on and on. If you are in one of these so called eternal families, you don’t know how hard it is for someone who has lost their faith to leave. A lot of mormons that have lost their faith remain for just this reason. Most people that leave an eternal family are ostracized or suffer extreme guilt. I’ve seen this happen. Mormons will get all over you if you call them a cult, but they are an example of a “classic” cult. I know all of this because sadly my wife is a TBM and always will be Mormon. :slapfight:

Thus, even though you question or doubt the teaching of the church, there is still the behind-the-scenes conviction that what you were taught about eternity is true. We reluctantly remain in our beliefs, despite our doubts, because we have accepted the teachings regarding our souls. Who wants to sacrifice heaven? Who wants to think that we’re going to a different kind of heaven than the one we learned about and believed from childhood? Hmmm?

The same problem exists with people leaving the JWs. You are either with them or you are annihilated; this they learned as preschoolers. Thus, many former JWs turn to atheism instead of Christianity because it is more comforting to think of “no heaven or hell” than to think of going to the “wrong heaven” which (by basic definition) would be hell.

 

[runningdude]

You would know better than I. Thank you. Technically the correct term is simply Prophet. However it does get confusing because the Prophet’s counselors (the other members of the triune 1st Presidency) and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are also considered prophets. So we have a “Big P” Prophet, and 14 “small p” prophets assisting him.

mormon.org/faq/present-day-prophet

Ah.