Yearly Archives: 2024

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If people knew that the church had a hundred billion dollars, and they weren't putting it to any use, they would be less inclined to continue donating to the church. A lot of members of the Mormon church have been clamoring to get their tithing back. People are upset about this, they know that the ethics are not Christ's ethics. [The church has] billions of dollars in Apple, and in fossil fuel burning companies, and energy companies. All of these vehicles, you wouldn't think, are what churches would invest in. So that rattled people, and then the lack of activity in doing something that that money is designed to be used for. Nothing religious educational or charitable. Small community congregationalist type churches shouldn't be subjected to a severe burden of reporting. But giga churches have to. There are mega churches in this country, maybe there are a few in Canada too, but in this country, there is one giga church, and it's the Mormon Church. - Lars Nielsen, Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
If people knew that the church had a hundred billion dollars, and they weren't putting it to any use, they would be less inclined to continue donating to the church. A lot of members of the Mormon church have been clamoring to get their tithing back. People are upset about this, they know that the ethics are not Christ's ethics. [The church has] billions of dollars in Apple, and in fossil fuel burning companies, and energy companies. All of these vehicles, you wouldn't think, are what churches would invest in. So that rattled people, and then the lack of activity in doing something that that money is designed to be used for. Nothing religious educational or charitable. Small community congregationalist type churches shouldn't be subjected to a severe burden of reporting. But giga churches have to. There are mega churches in this country, maybe there are a few in Canada too, but in this country, there is one giga church, and it's the Mormon Church. - Lars Nielsen, Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022
There is in [Canada's] tax system a loophole that says if it's used for educational purposes that benefit Canadians outside of Canada, then you can use the money that way. They rationalize, oh, well maybe one percent of BYU is Canadian. They say as long as it's benefiting anyone who is Canadian at BYU... Even if it benefits one student. [My brother] started to hear that the leaders of the Mormon Church were saying things like, not one penny of tithing money was being used to build the City Creek Mall. That, blatantly wasn't true. He had seen the journal ledgers, he had been in on these conversations, he knew that 1.4 billion dollars had been spent to shore up the the City Creek Mall. If they do something that's illegal, I'm going to call them out on it because that's the right thing to do, and they taught me that. - Lars Nielsen, Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
There is in [Canada's] tax system a loophole that says if it's used for educational purposes that benefit Canadians outside of Canada, then you can use the money that way. They rationalize, oh, well maybe one percent of BYU is Canadian. They say as long as it's benefiting anyone who is Canadian at BYU... Even if it benefits one student. [My brother] started to hear that the leaders of the Mormon Church were saying things like, not one penny of tithing money was being used to build the City Creek Mall. That, blatantly wasn't true. He had seen the journal ledgers, he had been in on these conversations, he knew that 1.4 billion dollars had been spent to shore up the the City Creek Mall. If they do something that's illegal, I'm going to call them out on it because that's the right thing to do, and they taught me that. - Lars Nielsen, Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022
The [prosperity gosepl] idea is, if you bring your tithing to God, that he will open the windows of heaven and you will have everything that you need. That is false. Jesus never taught that. It's not the way that the scripture should be interpreted. That's the way that Mormon culture interprets it. When you build out these complex corporate structures, you do it for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to hide. I observed that when there's money and the accumulation of wealth involved, truth and transparency often take a back seat. - Josh Bigley, Canadian Ex-mormon Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
The [prosperity gosepl] idea is, if you bring your tithing to God, that he will open the windows of heaven and you will have everything that you need. That is false. Jesus never taught that. It's not the way that the scripture should be interpreted. That's the way that Mormon culture interprets it. When you build out these complex corporate structures, you do it for one purpose and one purpose only, and that is to hide. I observed that when there's money and the accumulation of wealth involved, truth and transparency often take a back seat. - Josh Bigley, Canadian Ex-mormon Whistleblower - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022
I'm bisexual, I'm not straight. I don't struggle with same-sex attraction, I struggle with people who struggle with my same-sex attraction. [Being bisexual at BYU] is absolutely awful. Because anyone can report you to the honor code office. That's the reality for queer students—we all live with that fear. They allow this atmosphere of homophobia to permeate. - Jeannie Williams, a Bisexual BYU Student. The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
I'm bisexual, I'm not straight. I don't struggle with same-sex attraction, I struggle with people who struggle with my same-sex attraction. [Being bisexual at BYU] is absolutely awful. Because anyone can report you to the honor code office. That's the reality for queer students—we all live with that fear. They allow this atmosphere of homophobia to permeate. - Jeannie Williams, a Bisexual BYU Student. The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022
Starting in 2007, the Mormon Church in Canada began moving mass amounts of money to BYU. The biggest year on record, was 2016, when almost 110 million dollars was gifted to the university. That was nearly 70 percent of all the tithing money collected that year by the Canadian Church... More than one billion dollars, donated by Mormons, all eligible for tax deductions for those donations. When you add it all up, those deductions cost the Canadian treasury as much as 280 million dollars. In an emailed statement to The Fifth Estate, the church said, it is using a legitimate and well-known tax provision to transfer money to BYU and points out more donations were retained and used in Canada than the U.S. We crunched the numbers, since 2007, 46 percent of Canadian tithing money left the country. - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
Starting in 2007, the Mormon Church in Canada began moving mass amounts of money to BYU. The biggest year on record, was 2016, when almost 110 million dollars was gifted to the university. That was nearly 70 percent of all the tithing money collected that year by the Canadian Church... More than one billion dollars, donated by Mormons, all eligible for tax deductions for those donations. When you add it all up, those deductions cost the Canadian treasury as much as 280 million dollars. In an emailed statement to The Fifth Estate, the church said, it is using a legitimate and well-known tax provision to transfer money to BYU and points out more donations were retained and used in Canada than the U.S. We crunched the numbers, since 2007, 46 percent of Canadian tithing money left the country. - The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022
Compared to other religions or Christian denominations, [the LDS church] is actually not a very charitable entity. It doesn't spend a lot of money out there. It doesn't create hospitals, it doesn't create social welfare, it doesn't do soup kitchens, that kind of thing. There's a lot of questions about whether the church has engaged in wide-scale tax avoidance or illegal wide-scale tax evasion. - Ben Schneiders, Investigative Journalist with the Asian Sydney Morning Herald, The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022 | wasmormon.org
Compared to other religions or Christian denominations, [the LDS church] is actually not a very charitable entity. It doesn't spend a lot of money out there. It doesn't create hospitals, it doesn't create social welfare, it doesn't do soup kitchens, that kind of thing. There's a lot of questions about whether the church has engaged in wide-scale tax avoidance or illegal wide-scale tax evasion. - Ben Schneiders, Investigative Journalist with the Asian Sydney Morning Herald, The Fifth Estate, October 27, 2022

Gift of Crisis

The tumult of a faith deconstruction, especially in the Mormon faith, has been termed as a crisis, it’s often referred to as a faith crisis. There are podcasts focused on this, even books written about it. BYU did a study on the social media impact on a faith crisis which defines how the church views …

Continue reading “Gift of Crisis”

"The Greek root of the word crisis is “to sift.” As in to shake out the excesses and leave only what’s important. That’s what crises do. They shake things up until we are forced to decide and hold onto what matters most." - Carry On Warrior, Thoughts on Life Unarmed: To My Friend, on Her First Sober Morning, by Glennon Doyle | wasmormon.org
"The Greek root of the word crisis is “to sift.” As in to shake out the excesses and leave only what’s important. That’s what crises do. They shake things up until we are forced to decide and hold onto what matters most." - Carry On Warrior, Thoughts on Life Unarmed: To My Friend, on Her First Sober Morning, by Glennon Doyle
A Mormon Faith Crisis can actually be one of the greatest gifts of your lifetime – helping to: • Improve your overall mental and physical health. • Strengthen/deepen your family relationships. • Improve your marriage or your relationship with a significant other. • Find more meaningful and fulfilling friendships and community. • Improve your parenting effectiveness (for current and/or future children). • Develop a more authentic connection with yourself and your life. - John & Margi Dehlin, and Natasha Parker | “The Gift of the Mormon Faith Crisis” Podcast | wasmormon.org
A Mormon Faith Crisis can actually be one of the greatest gifts of your lifetime – helping to: • Improve your overall mental and physical health. • Strengthen/deepen your family relationships. • Improve your marriage or your relationship with a significant other. • Find more meaningful and fulfilling friendships and community. • Improve your parenting effectiveness (for current and/or future children). • Develop a more authentic connection with yourself and your life. - John & Margi Dehlin, and Natasha Parker | “The Gift of the Mormon Faith Crisis” Podcast
Mormon Faith Crisis - A state of intense emotional distress resulting from the discovery of “uncorrelated” Church history facts that do not align with the traditional LDS narrative. This distress—and ensuing analysis of LDS truth claims—often results in members losing literal belief in the LDS truth claims. | wasmormon.org
Mormon Faith Crisis - A state of intense emotional distress resulting from the discovery of “uncorrelated” Church history facts that do not align with the traditional LDS narrative. This distress—and ensuing analysis of LDS truth claims—often results in members losing literal belief in the LDS truth claims.
I had some kid at BYU say to me, “I don’t believe in Joseph Smith anymore, but I still believe in God and Jesus”. And I said, “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you realize how stupid you just sounded?” - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022 | wasmormon.org
I had some kid at BYU say to me, “I don’t believe in Joseph Smith anymore, but I still believe in God and Jesus”. And I said, “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you realize how stupid you just sounded?” - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022
A lot of people get uptight about priesthood issues. It’s one of the most glorious things we have in the church, and yet people want to sit and fight about it and get uptight about it. “How come the blacks didn’t get the priesthood until 1978?” Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Instead of saying, “Why did the Blacks have to wait until 1978?”, maybe what we should be asking is “Why did the whites and other races have to wait until 1829?” - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022 | wasmormon.org
A lot of people get uptight about priesthood issues. It’s one of the most glorious things we have in the church, and yet people want to sit and fight about it and get uptight about it. “How come the blacks didn’t get the priesthood until 1978?” Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Instead of saying, “Why did the Blacks have to wait until 1978?”, maybe what we should be asking is “Why did the whites and other races have to wait until 1829?” - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022
"It’s what most people in the world are doing. They’re playing Church... In our church, we don’t play church." - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022 | wasmormon.org
"It’s what most people in the world are doing. They’re playing Church... In our church, we don’t play church." - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022
I said, “In my Church, we get married in the temple, where we are sealed for time and all eternity”, and she went, “Oh! I love that!”... She went to the minister and said, “May I write my own ceremony?” He said, “For an extra fee.” So she paid the extra money and wrote her own ceremony. I sat there in that Protestant church and listened as the preacher sealed them for time and all eternity. I was like, “That is so wrong!” Why? Authority. No authority. They just didn’t have permission to say those words. Because they were playing church, and in our church, we don’t play church. - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022 | wasmormon.org
I said, “In my Church, we get married in the temple, where we are sealed for time and all eternity”, and she went, “Oh! I love that!”... She went to the minister and said, “May I write my own ceremony?” He said, “For an extra fee.” So she paid the extra money and wrote her own ceremony. I sat there in that Protestant church and listened as the preacher sealed them for time and all eternity. I was like, “That is so wrong!” Why? Authority. No authority. They just didn’t have permission to say those words. Because they were playing church, and in our church, we don’t play church. - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022
The BITE model is a framework developed by Steven Hassan, a mental health counselor and former cult member, to analyze and assess the control and influence tactics used by cults or high-control groups. "BITE" stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control, and it serves as a tool to identify the key ways in which cults manipulate and manipulate their members.
The BITE model is a framework developed by Steven Hassan, a mental health counselor and former cult member, to analyze and assess the control and influence tactics used by cults or high-control groups. "BITE" stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control, and it serves as a tool to identify the key ways in which cults manipulate and manipulate their members.
"It requires a great exertion on the parts of wives to keep pace with their husbands. You all perceive more imperfections in those around you than you do in yourselves. It is much more difficult for wives to learn than it is for husbands, because women have not the degree of light and knowledge that their husbands have; they have not the power over their passions that their husbands have: therefore, they have to suffer one for another until they get power over themselves like unto those that have advanced more fully in the knowledge of our God." - President Lorenzo Snow, LDS Church, 1857 - At this time he had married 7 of his 9 wives | wasmormon.org
"It requires a great exertion on the parts of wives to keep pace with their husbands.You all perceive more imperfections in those around you than you do in yourselves. It is much more difficult for wives to learn than it is for husbands, because women have not the degree of light and knowledge that their husbands have; they have not the power over their passions that their husbands have: therefore, they have to suffer one for another until they get power over themselves like unto those that have advanced more fully in the knowledge of our God." - President Lorenzo Snow, LDS Church, 1857 - At this time he had married 7 of his 9 wives
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
This is a spotlight on a profile shared at wasmormon.org. These are just the highlights, so please find the full story at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/. There are over a hundred more stories of Mormon faith journeys contributed by users like you. Come check them out and consider sharing your own story at wasmormon.org!
"I never understood the belief of women being lower than men and having to 'submit' to them. I never understood the lack of diversity (until seminary at least). I never understood their problem with LGBT+ people." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/
"I never understood the belief of women being lower than men and having to 'submit' to them. I never understood the lack of diversity (until seminary at least). I never understood their problem with LGBT+ people." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/
"Growing up in the church, I had a lot of questions. They were either never properly answered or the answer gave me doubts and made me have even more questions about what the hell was going on." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/
"Growing up in the church, I had a lot of questions. They were either never properly answered or the answer gave me doubts and made me have even more questions about what the hell was going on." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/
"There's so much I'm learning about the church after leaving, and so much I'm unlearning about the church's doctrine to better myself and my relationships everyday." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/
"There's so much I'm learning about the church after leaving, and so much I'm unlearning about the church's doctrine to better myself and my relationships everyday." - Bri's "I was a Mormon" story. Read more at https://wasmormon.org/profile/supitsbreezy/