What is a Mormon?

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OT here for a bit but your signature caught my eye. Can you expound upon that?
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I am glad that you have been able to distance yourself from them. Yes, things are changing. With the internet, they are being confronted daily with information that challenges the way that they were taught, issues such as DNA, how the Book of Mormon was written, Mormon financial dealings, and early Mormon history.
 
Jerusha said:
I am glad that you have been able to distance yourself from them. Yes, things are changing. With the internet, they are being confronted daily with information that challenges the way that they were taught, issues such as DNA, how the Book of Mormon was written, Mormon financial dealings, and early Mormon history.
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It was easy to leave.

Are you assoicated with Mormons in your real life or is your contact with them based on internet associations?

My experience was that the issues you bought up, Mormons are good with compartmentalizing such and lean on their testimonies. Denial is a very powerful insulator and protector.

It is my understanding that Greg Dodge, main man in Membership Recorders in SLC, has had to have his department increased, employee-wise, to handle all of the resignations that come into his office.
 
Yep-- Greg Dodge’s department handling resignations is very busy. :cool:

I have never been Mormon. However, I was raised in Hancock County, Illinois, and am a descendant of one of the men who marched to the Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844. I discovered that some hard-core Mormons hold this against me and my family, and the rest of the descendants of those men. This led me to study the Mormon phenomenon.
Denial is a very powerful insulator and protector.
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Yes, but it leads to a lot of anger, confusion, and frustration as the individual’s testimony deteriorates.
your contact with them based on internet associations?
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I am now living in a relatively Mormon-free town. However, a friend in this town recently sent mishies to my door. I turned them away with a polite "You really don’t want to talk to me. At this moment I am working on a comparison of the ‘Book of Mormon’ with Solomon Spalding’s “Oberlin Manuscript Story.” Sure enough, they turned down the veiled challenge. :cool:
 
Jerusha said:
I have never been Mormon. However, I was raised in Hancock County, Illinois, and am a descendant of one of the men who marched to the Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844. I discovered that some hard-core Mormons hold this against me and my family, and the rest of the descendants of those men. This led me to study the Mormon phenomenon.
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Ah…interesting…

I find that you have some hard-core Mormons who hold your ancestry against your family really odd esp how they like to tout the whole “martyrdom” of JSmith and brother so highly, and how all of that eventually lead BYoung to UT territory.

What a weird reaction. 🤷
Thanks for sharing… 👍
 
Jerusha said:
Yes, but it leads to a lot of anger, confusion, and frustration as the individual’s testimony deteriorates.
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Yea, I agree with that part of it, as the denial wears off such feelings will surface.

I was thinking of the still very TBMs. My experience (again sometime ago) was that TBM’s are very happy and contented people in their belief system because they lean on their “testimonies”
 
When I discovered what was happening, I thought it was absolutely bizarre, too. Yeah-- that hereditary guilt thing (which they resolve with baptism for the dead) is in distinct parallel with Christian anti-Semitism which held today’s Jews responsible for the death of Jesus, and which appears in the BoM. :eek:

Yeah. There are internet Mormons who originally went to the internet seeking to evangelize, and found challenging information, and then there are chapel TBM’s who insulate themselves from such challenges to their emotion-based faith.
 
Jerusha said:
I am glad that you have been able to distance yourself from them. Yes, things are changing. With the internet, they are being confronted daily with information that challenges the way that they were taught, issues such as DNA, how the Book of Mormon was written, Mormon financial dealings, and early Mormon history.
Click to expand...
I still can’t help, but think that the Mormans are cult-like. Their beliefs are very…well…uhhh…“unique”.

It just seems wierd to me that this prophet guy wrote a book based on his vision? How did he prove it?
 
How did he prove it?
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He didn’t. He was a con-man from the get-go, and convinced people by his personal charm and charisma. Plus the fact that he was not very literate, and if he was the author, he had to have outside help, which he convinced his followers was divine. He had a core of collaborators who were in on the con-- principally his family, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon. He had a lot of earthly help.
 
Jerusha said:
He didn’t. He was a con-man from the get-go, and convinced people by his personal charm and charisma. Plus the fact that he was not very literate, and if he was the author, he had to have outside help, which he convinced his followers was divine. He had a core of collaborators who were in on the con-- principally his family, Oliver Cowdery, and Sidney Rigdon. He had a lot of earthly help.
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I don’t mean to be disprespectful to any Mormons viewing

This kind of reminds me of the Davidians in Waco, Texas. He believed that God was talking to him and he convinced others that his word was God’s word.
 
Jerusha said:
When I discovered what was happening, I thought it was absolutely bizarre, too. Yeah-- that hereditary guilt thing (which they resolve with baptism for the dead)
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Uh…no. Baptism for the dead has nothing to do with “hereditary guilt”.
 
Serap said:
Do mormons believe in not using electricity, dressing like the 1800’s and using horse drawn carriage? Or is this the break off groups?

I still don’t really understand how they live.

Is Mennonite the same as Mormon?
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No, Mennonite is not the same as Mormon.

Mormons live in the world just like you do. I live, study, and work in New York City. If you visit mormon.org (as others have suggested), you can see videos from various Mormons that show a little of their lives.
 
Serap said:
This kind of reminds me of the Davidians in Waco, Texas. He believed that God was talking to him and he convinced others that his word was God’s word.
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Naw…that would be more like one of the break off groups in exsistance, not the main LDS Church.

Back in the 19th century, sure, you could make that argument that they were cultish, but not 21st century mainstream Mormonism.

Serap where do you live? It’s plausible that you know or have met Mormons in your life don’t know it. They aren’t confined into a Waco-like compound. They are not isolationists. They live in neighborhoods just like the one you live in.

Again, think Gov. Mitt Romney, Celebrities Donny and Marie Osmond, Glenn Beck, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, (Is Huntsman still in the Obama Administration?..He is a Mormon too)

Ever heard of Marriott hotel chain?..The Marriots are the Mormon family similar to the Catholic Kennedys…

Nothing like the Davidians…Not even close
 
Marie5890 said:
Naw…that would be more like one of the break off groups in exsistance, not the main LDS Church.

Back in the 19th century, sure, you could make that argument that they were cultish, but not 21st century mainstream Mormonism.

Serap where do you live? It’s plausible that you know or have met Mormons in your life don’t know it. They aren’t confined into a Waco-like compound. They are not isolationists. They live in neighborhoods just like the one you live in.

Again, think Gov. Mitt Romney, Celebrities Donny and Marie Osmond, Glenn Beck, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, (Is Huntsman still in the Obama Administration?..He is a Mormon too)

Ever heard of Marriott hotel chain?..The Marriots are the Mormon family similar to the Catholic Kennedys…

Nothing like the Davidians…Not even close
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I live in the 5th largest city in North America, so yes, I’m sure I have met many LDS. I was on the website and it just seems like a strange belief system to me, but it’s b/c it’s entirely new to me.

Why did you leave the LDS?
 
Serap said:
Why did you leave the LDS?
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No longer believed in the most basic of Mormon foundational beliefs. IE No longer believe Joseph Smith was a prophet, or that the Book of Mormon was inspired sacred scriptures, the need for temples and the idea of having to be “sealed under priesthood authority” in order to be a family forever. That present day leadership were “prophets, seers and revelators”…(and I had the opportunity of when I lived in Provo of knowing now Elder Jeff Holland, member of the Quorum of 12 Apostles and his lovely wife Pat. Absolutely lovely people. 👍 )

So I left. Sent in my resignation of membership etc. It was simple. No hassles, no harassment.
 
Serap said:
I don’t mean to be disprespectful to any Mormons viewing

This kind of reminds me of the Davidians in Waco, Texas. He believed that God was talking to him and he convinced others that his word was God’s word.
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I don’t think there is much comparison between the Branch Dividians and the LDS church. Branch Davidians were always a relatively small group and the LDS church at one time was one of the fastest growing denominations for a while in the 90s.

As for Mormons being frustrated and confused I just don’t think that’s true for most of the active TBM population. They go about their lives, perform their callings, etc not thinking much about these issues. A lot of then consider challenges to the church to be rubbish and not worth looking at. I have seen this time and time again in the wards I’ve been a member of. They think they are the true church and not much can deter them from this belief.
 
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