"We aren’t good yet at talking about these issues in a healthy way. So we leave young people with two choices: to either shut up and accommodate, even though it hurts, or to leave and become a fierce critic of the church. Those outcomes to me are both tragic outcomes." Chad Ford, Author Dangerous Love
"The tragic reality is that there have been occasions when Church leaders, teachers, and writers have not told the truth they knew about difficulties of the Mormon past, but have offered to the Saints instead a mixture of platitudes, half-truths, omissions, and plausible denials. Elder Packer and others would justify this because "we are at war with the adversary" and must also protect any Latter-day Saint whose "testimony [is] in seedling stage."35 But such a public-relations defense of the Church is actually a Maginot Line of sandy fortifications which "the enemy" can easily breach and which has been built up by digging lethal pits into which the Saints will stumble. A so-called "faith-promoting" Church history which conceals controversies and difficulties of the Mormon past actually undermines the faith of Latter-day Saints who eventually learn about the problems from other sources." Dr D Michael Quinn, Exommunicated Mormon
I was fully invested before my shelf collapsed. – Anonymous Male Faith Crisis Profile – LDS Personal Faith Crisis Report p102
When bearing a nominal amount of “shelf issues,” many members continue with strong faith and active Church participation. Accumulating additional social and historical issues can lead to the weakening—and then catastrophic failure of the member’s faith. – LDS Personal Faith Crisis Report p29
If you can't see the forest for the trees, you are too focused on small details or parts and so you can't understand a situation as a whole: You are missing the big picture.
Blaise Pascal's Wager suggests that it is rational to believe in God, even if there is no conclusive evidence of His existence, because the potential infinite reward outweighs the finite cost of missed opportunities, while the potential infinite loss from not believing in God outweighs the finite gain of living a free lifestyle. Humans wager with their lives that God either exists or does not.
"What if we picked the wrong religion? Every week we're just making God madder and madder." - Homer Simpson
A priest, imam, and rabbi die: they say "at least we shall finally see which of us was right all along." Upon entering the afterlife, they are confronted with Egyptian gods.
A BYU professor who was excommunicated in 1993 for publishing factual history about Mormon Church leaders taking plural wives and secretly encouraging polygamous marriages AFTER publicly renouncing plural marriages. The church would later admit in their own essay that such marriages took place.
"Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain... They leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone." - Elder Neal A Maxwell, Mormon Apostle
"They leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone. Considering their ceaseless preoccupation, one wonders, is there no diversionary activity available to them, especially in such a large building—like a bowling alley? Perhaps in their mockings and beneath the stir are repressed doubts of their doubts." - Elder Neal A Maxwell, Mormon Apostle
"Man has always been man. Dogs have always been dogs. Monkeys have always been monkeys. It’s just the way genetics works." Russell M Nelson, LDS Church President
"Through the ages, some without scriptural understanding... have deduced that, because of certain similarities between different forms of life, there has been a natural selection of the species, or organic evolution from one form to another. To me, such theories are unbelievable!" - LDS Church President Russell M Nelson
"I found out a lot of what I thought to be true was all a lie, I was angry and devastated. I couldn't really talk to anyone about my newfound knowledge, except for my best friend, my uncle and the awesome people of the Exmormon subreddit." - Samuel | https://wasmormon.org/profile/kf7heh/
"I struggled at first but after a lot of self reflection, advice from friends and family drama, I overcame my faith crisis and took my life into the direction I wanted to go. " - Samuel https://wasmormon.org/profile/kf7heh/
"I officially resigned from the church. I'm glad I did it. It's made me the person I am today. Friends and certain family members (you know who you are) helped me more then they'll ever know. They helped me realize that Mormonism didn't define who I was." - Samuel https://wasmormon.org/profile/kf7heh/
"I always tried to stay true to the beliefs, everybody has been told that the church is perfect but the people aren't. I didn't really do a deep dive into the doctrine until I was 21." - Samuel https://wasmormon.org/profile/kf7heh/
"I grew up in a Mormon household, did all the Mormon things. I was a mormon." - Samuel | https://wasmormon.org/profile/kf7heh/
Obi-Wan Kenobi using a jedi mind-trick to convince storm troopers "These aren't the droids you're looking for"
Obi-Wan Kenobi uses a Jedi mind trick to convince storm troopers "These aren't the droids you're looking for"
Please confirm you want to delete the donations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from your 2020 tax return. – “Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money. So they never wanted to be in a position where people felt like, you know, they shouldn’t make a contribution.” – Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak, said he believed church leaders were concerned that public knowledge of the fund’s wealth might discourage tithing.
Should we include these deductions in your tax return for 2020? Do the donations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still apply? – “Paying tithing is more of a sense of commitment than it is the church needing the money. So they never wanted to be in a position where people felt like, you know, they shouldn’t make a contribution.” – Roger Clarke, the head of Ensign Peak | wasmormon.org
"The Church has no paid ministry" - Thomas S Monson, President of the Church. "The annual General Authority base living allowance has been increased from $116,400 to $120,000" - Letter to Quorum of Seventy, the General Authorities via mormonleaks.io. https://missedinsunday.com/memes/finances/no-paid-ministry/
Doctrinal Mastery Core DocumentAcquiring Spiritual KnowledgePrinciple 2: Examine Concepts and Questions with an Eternal Perspective To examine doctrinal concepts, questions, and social issues with an eternal perspective, we consider them in the context of the plan of salvation and the teachings of the Savior. We seek the help of the Holy Ghost in order to see things as the Lord sees them. This allows us to reframe the question (to see the question differently) and view ideas based on the Lord’s standard of truth rather than accepting the world’s premises or assumptions. We can do this by asking questions such as “What do I already know about Heavenly Father, His plan, and how He deals with His children?” and “What gospel teachings relate to or clarify this concept or issue?”Even questions that relate to historical events may need to be examined with an eternal perspective. As we stay anchored to our trust in our Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation, we are able to see issues more clearly. It may also help to examine historical questions in the proper historical context by considering the culture and norms of the time period rather than imposing current perspectives and attitudes.It is important to remember that historical details do not carry the saving power of covenants, ordinances, and doctrine. To be distracted by less significant details at the expense of missing the unfolding miracle of the Restoration is like spending time analyzing a gift box and ignoring the wonder of the gift itself.
"It is important to remember that historical details do not carry the saving power of covenants, ordinances, and doctrine. To be distracted by less significant details at the expense of missing the unfolding miracle of the Restoration is like spending time analyzing a gift box and ignoring the wonder of the gift itself." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church
"[Joseph] was deceived himself but did not intend to deceive others. He intended to quit the business, (of peeping) and labor for his livelihood." - Alva Hale, Emma's Brother, Joseph's Brother-in-law
"[Joseph Smith] told [me] his gift in seeing with a stone and hat... this 'peeping' was all damned nonsense." - Alva Hale, Emma's Brother, Joseph's Brother-in-law
"During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined: he would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent; their dress, mode of travelling, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, and their buildings, with every particular; he would describe their <mode of> warfare, as also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life with them." - Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Smith's Mother
"It implies it’s like darkening a room when we show slides. It implies that there is an image appearing in that stone and the light would make it more difficult to see that image. So, that implies a translation that’s a reading and so gives us a little clue about the whole translation process.But it also raises the strange question, ‘What in the world are the plates for? Why do we need them on the table if they are just wrapped up into a cloth while he looks into a seer stone?’" - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian
I am not sure we need a lot of pictures in our chapels of Joseph looking into his hat, but we certainly should tell our children that is how it worked.[Blair Hodges] Do you think that's really unusual? I mean, that's a strange...It’s weird. It’s a weird picture." - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian
"We still have pictures on our ward bulletin boards of Joseph Smith with the Gold Plates in front of him. That has become an irksome point and I think it is something the church should pay attention to. Because anyone who studies the history knows that is not what happened. There is no church historian who says that is what happened and yet it is being propagated by the church and it feeds into the notion that the church is trying to cover up embarrassing episodes and is sort of prettifying its own history." - Richard Bushman, Mormon Historian
"The whole Book of Mormon (so called) is a silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness, got up for speculation, and with a design to dupe the credulous and unwary — and in order that its fabricators may live upon the spoils of those who swallow the deception." - Isaac Hale | wasmormon.org
"The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in the woods!" - Isaac Hale, Father of Emma Hale and Father-in-Law to Joseph Smith