In his lazy learners and lax disciples talk at the April 2021 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, church President Russell M Nelson emphasized the importance of developing faith in Jesus Christ through intentional effort and action. Those who don’t succeed in this self-administered brainwash he refers to as “lazy …
Continue reading “Demonizing Doubt: Nelson’s Talk on Lazy Learners and Lax Disciples”
In the Mormon community, the practice of putting questions on a shelf refers to the act of setting aside doubts or concerns about the faith in order to maintain belief and avoid conflict with church teachings. Mormons are encouraged to trust in the leadership and authority of the church and to believe that answers to …
Continue reading “Putting Questions on the Shelf is Unhealthy and Doesn’t Work”
Pascal’s Wager is an argument proposed by the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal in the 17th century, which attempts to demonstrate that it is rational to believe in God. It does not provide evidence or proof that God exists, but it sets up belief as a rational choice we can make and outlines the …
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The late Dr. D. Michael Quinn was among the many scholars who were forced to choose between promoting church propaganda and maintaining their integrity as historians in response to Elder Packer’s controversial talk “The Mantle is Far Greater Than the Intellect,”. Quinn delivered a pointed response to Elder Packer’s remarks in his lecture entitled “On …
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BYU–Hawaii presented an international concert and devotional by recording artist, Dr. David Glen Hatch, on Thursday, April 4, 2023, in the McKay Auditorium. Brother Hatch, who has published sheet music as well as recordings at church-owned Deseret Book, performed some piano pieces and spoke to the audience in this devotional. Brother Hatch warns of the …
Continue reading “Mormon Fearmongering & Marginalizing Liberal Agenda at BYU Devotional”
Mormon Church President, Russell M Nelson is being honored by the Martin Luther King Jr International Chapel on Morehouse College Campus in Atlanta, Georgia. He is to receive a new award, the first recipient, which is to be called the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize. This is in coordination with the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Institute at the chapel. What …
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The First Vision of Joseph Smith is told today as an original exact story detailing the unique experience that sets the foundation for Mormonism and the restoration movement. We’ve discussed that even though one version of the story is canonized in Joseph Smith History as the “official” version, there are multiple versions of the first …
Continue reading “Other First Visions, Which are Not of This Fold”
Heidi was a faithful member who enjoyed studying church history. Recently, the “new” church history became disturbing and sounded more like a cult. Through her spouse leaving the church she struggled with the fear-based messages of church leaders and digging in to understand when they are speaking as prophets vs as men, realizing that they …
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What Does Gaslighting Mean? The term “gaslighting” comes from the 1938 play Angel Street, which Alfred Hitchock later adapted into the film Gaslight, in which a man tries to convince his wife that she is going insane so he can steal from her. When he turns on the lights in the attic to search for her jewelry …
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There are myriad warnings against dissension and apostasy by church leaders. Church leaders are afraid of those who leave the church behind. Those who leave have the gumption and the gall to stand up for what they believe in, rather than believing what they are told to believe. Those who leave have the courage to …
Continue reading “Mormon Authorities Threaten Doubters With “Don’t You Dare Bail” Messages”
Elder Jeffrey R Holland gave a fiery talk at a devotional in Tempe, Arizona in April 2016. Tempe Rescue This is a very dynamic address, and he’s quite emotionally charged about those who leave. Though charged, Holland does come off as more intelligent than in his BBC interview where he claims he’s neither an idiot …
Continue reading “Elder Holland’s Taffy-Pulled Devotional – Don’t You Dare Bail & Stay in the Boat!”
As a result of a believing Mormon potentially leading the United States, there was increased scrutiny of the Mormon church. John Sweeny, of the BBC, interviewed LDS Apostle Jeffrey Holland for a program called ‘The Mormon Candidate’ which aired on BBC in 2012. Holland is caught in lies during the interview and resorts to claiming he’s neither an idiot or a dodo.
This faith crisis report next lists many anonymous faith crisis profiles each detailing the exit story of the member (along with precious statistics and demographics the church cares deeply about such as household income). Not to be confused with the actual faith crisis profiles shared on wasmormon.org.
The report defines the stages of such a faith crisis from a true believing member, through a catalyst and traumatization, and then either through a traumatized disbeliever and ex-mormon or a nuanced believer and then secular participant.
Garrett stumbled into the rabbit hole of doctrine inconsistencies while doing his best to teach the youth of the church. He studied deeply and what he was finding troubled him enough to stop. He felt the prompting to continue to “seek truth. [He] felt assured that if the church was true, if the restoration was …
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Prominent LDS historian Richard Bushman and famed author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling notes, “I think that for the Church to remain strong, it has to reconstruct its narrative. The dominant narrative is not true; it can’t be sustained. The Church has to absorb all this new information or it will be on very shaky grounds …
The church wants us to leave the church alone. Do they leave “apostates” alone? Have they ever left apostates alone? The church tells stories about those who leave to discredit them and instill fear into their congregations. They are seeking to control members and keep them “in”. Plugging holes in a leaking ship. They will …
Continue reading “More Church Myths – Thomas B Marsh and Milk Strippings”
FreeAtLast shares the resignation letter sent to his bishop after struggling with being gay and Mormon. He couldn’t be gay, Mormon and happy. After trying, here couldn’t not be gay but he could be not Mormon and still find happiness. Born and raised in the lds church in the Midwest. Very faithful family. Served a …
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The church is famous for strongly pressuring members to follow a dress and grooming standards and whenever possible requiring it. They suggest that members follow the grooming standards but require every volunteer missionary who are paying their own way (or at least their parents are in many cases), every volunteer temple worker, and every student …
Continue reading “BYU honor code dress and grooming standards – Mormon Facial Hair”
The honest investigator must be prepared to follow wherever the search of truth may lead. Truth is often found in the most unexpected places. He must, with fearless and open mind insist that facts are more important than any cherished, mistaken beliefs, no matter how unpleasant the facts or how delightful the beliefs. Hugh B …
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The Book of Mormon is purportedly “translated” from the gold plates which Joseph Smith discovered in the hill Cumorah. These writings of the gold plates were in “Reformed Egyptian”. At the time no Egyptian language was translatable, but Joseph could translate them with his seer stone in a hat. In order to prove that the …
The current president of the mormon church, Russell M Nelson, shared a thought in the October 2020 General Conference. After the world has dealt with the pandemic of Covid-19 and the US is in the throes of a heated election cycle, and much of the world is facing a racial reckoning and awakening, the self-proclaimed …
Continue reading “Mormons are Taught that outside the church is life filled with fear”
Do religions take advantage of the innate human desire to matter, to have purpose and to exist beyond death? Was this nefarious? As all religions are different, it may not be a blanket statement that could be made. It does stand though that we must take the word of leaders who tell us how to …
Must there be a purpose to have a meaningful life? Some of us find purpose and meaning in a faith transition after navigating groundlessness of a faith crisis and stages of grief. Others still debate whether this purpose is objective or subjective to each of us. Can we have different purposes? Is there one universally …
In a faith transition many face feelings of groundlessness akin to crisis level vertigo. They may feel that their life is completely falling apart; that nothing is what it seemed and they struggle to cope with such a huge shift. They face reprocessing every principle, every value and potentially every reason for every thing in …
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A faith crisis may be hard, but it does get better – like wading past the crashing waves. We struggle with many difficulties navigating a mormon faith crisis. It is quite tumultuous, as the phrase ‘crisis’ implies. We often hear the advice that “it gets better” – which is helpful, but it does take time. …
In the story of Dumbo, we have the little elephant with giant ears (even for an elephant) born into a circus family. His ears are so big that while his name is Jumbo, he earns the nickname Dumbo. His mother is soon imprisoned for standing up for him when he is ridiculed. Maybe she overreacts …
“If a faith will not bear to be investigated: if its preachers and professors are afraid to have it examined, their foundation must be very weak.” George Albert Smith Journal of Discourses, v. 14, p. 216 We are encouraged to examine and investigate everything. Especially our faith & our church. This is in line with what …
President Oaks acknowledged that some Latter-Saint couples face conflicts over important values and priorities. Matters of Church history and doctrinal issues have led some spouses to inactivity. Some spouses wonder how to best go about researching and responding to such issues. “I suggest that research is not the answer,” he said. “But the best answer …
Continue reading “Dallin Oaks Teaches “Research Is Not The Answer””
