The Personal Faith Crisis Report was presented to Elder Uchtdorf in 2013 by Elder Jensen so leaders could better understand what is happening and take appropriate measures to address members leaving the church as a result of a faith crisis. The gospel topic essays were part of the response to this study by the church.
Tag Archives: History
(Page 7)Evolution vs Mormon Truth Claims from Joseph Fielding Smith
Joseph Fielding Smith was the 10th president of the church, the son of Joseph F Smith, the 6th president of the church, and the grandson of Hyrum Smith. He returned from his mission to England in 1901, and began to work in the Churcvh History offices and was later called to the quorum of the …
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Jean Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Jean was impressed with the ‘true religion’ as taught by the missionaries and joined the church with her young family. After serving faithfully for a long time and even serving a senior mission to South Africa, she collected a few issues onto her shelf. She questioned why she and the other missionaries weren’t better protected …
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The Problems with Joseph Smith and Peep Stone Translations
Anyone who was raised Mormon, or even attended the church for any length of time knows the Urim and Thummim story. Joseph Smith is portrayed as having translated the Book of Mormon with some special seer stones which were found with the gold plates. The Book of Mormon translation was possible with this Urim and …
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Garrett Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
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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The Nauvoo Expositor And More Lies From Joseph Smith
!["Joseph had asked [Jane Law] to give him half her love; she was at liberty to keep the other half for her husband." Elder William Law, Mormon Apostle. Defected from the First Presidency and published the Nauvoo Expositor when his wife Jane told him she refused Joseph Smith who came in the night while he was away seeking a polyandrous relationship.](https://i0.wp.com/wasmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/William-Law-Joseph-Smith-sought-polyandry-with-Jane-Law.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1)
What was the Nauvoo Expositor? The Nauvoo Expositor was a four-page newspaper that only printed one issue. It reportedly printed so many vicious lies and slander about Joseph Smith that the prophet of the restoration had the printing press destroyed in retaliation or as the church claims to avoid violence. Somewhat ironic that they destroyed …
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Lindsy Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Lindsy grew up doing all the right things according to the church. She did EFY, BYU, married young and had children. She had normal doubts and things to place on her shelf, but eventually the shelf broke for her and her husband with the CES letter. It gave a new narrative that Joseph Smith just …
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Dominant Narrative of Church is Not True
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 …
Kelly Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Kelly has a story of conversion and deconstruction and deconversion. She went from being a “Golden Convert”, to feeling racist discrimination for the first time in her life in the Mormon church doctrines. She dug in to learn all the hidden issues in church history and despite her best efforts, could no longer believe the …
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More Church Myths – Thomas B Marsh and Milk Strippings
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 …
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Erika Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Being raised in the Mormon church and even serving a foreign language mission and teaching Sunday school gospel principles class kept Erika busy in the church. But when she learned disturbing issues in church history she felt God leading her out of the church. She has issues with the treatment of LGBTQ members by the …
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Merry Christmas
This annual Christmas message I usually sent to the local newspaper’s Letters column. Merry Christmas to all! Christmas is one of the happiest times of year. For most of us, Christmas brings back memories of Christmases past, the Christmases of our childhood, when joy reigned and wishes came true. The fragrance of fresh fir, the …
Tyler Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Tyler thinks logically and teaches his children critical thinking. He studied the church’s truth claims and found them lacking. He felt betrayed and hurt that he was never given a fair chance to make a decision with complete and honest information. We feel lied to because the church has not been transparent about its own …
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Aaron Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Aaron faithfully dug in deep to explain away the anti-mormon lies he was exposed to. The more he studied, the more problems he found until he realized the anti-mormons were the ones being honest and sharing the true history with evidence, not the church to which he’d dedicated his whole life to. This sent him …
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Joseph Smith and “The” “First” “Vision”
Was the first vision a “vision”? Was it the “first” one? Which one is “The” first vision? There are so many different accounts. The gospel topic essay mentions some of the main versions, but they also gloss over the differences and dismiss them all. The First Vision is a total misnomer and can be completely debunked with some simple reading and thinking. Something the church does not want members to do, they do everything they can to keep members from looking at the accounts. They first tried to hide them, and then they dismiss them by saying “we’ve always been honest and transparent about these accounts, and they all tell the same consistent story anyways, so don’t worry, trust us”.
Rodney Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Rodney collected issues onto his shelf while serving in his calling. Eventually, when looking into the origins of the Book of Mormon he found some answers which helped him answer everything on his shelf. The issues were all red flags he’d come across that he couldn’t figure out, but once you see the reality, the …
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Brik Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Being born into the church many have had the thought that they wouldn’t be members had they not been born into it. Brik is among them, but parenting brought her to study the church’s truth claims. She wanted to know deeply before raising her children in the church too. She found that the truth claims …
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Yesterday’s Anti-Mormon “Lies” Are Today’s Church Essays
What are the Church Essays? The church has quietly published some essays discussing some hard-to-reconcile issues. There are multiple topics in these essays, such as Multiple First Vision Accounts, Rock in a Hat Translation & Mormon Institutionalized Racism, a collection of essays about Polygamy referred to as Plural Marriage & even Heavenly Mother. Haven’t heard …
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Gretchen Was a Mormon, an Exmormon Profile Spotlight
Gretchen spells out the insanity in what Joseph Smith did and got away with for a number of years. It does not compute that a prophet of God would do this, or that a good God would command a prophet to do this. Also, that we can’t talk about these problems or think critically about …
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Francis Was a Mormon, an Exmormon Profile Spotlight
The mormon church has hidden the truth and misrepresented church leaders like Joseph Smith while also pressuring members to promise allegiances to the church in the temple. Francis saw leaving the church as a repentant course correction towards a more authentic life! “Throughout the half century of my church membership, officers of the Corporation of …
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Barton Was a Mormon, an Exmormon Profile Spotlight
Barton found the discrepancies in the church’s version of things and in reality after reading the CES letter and all things church history. The church is more interested in protecting its own interests than in teaching truth or being truthful. “I stumbled upon the CES letter and “letter for my wife” by accident. Once I …
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Jim Was a Mormon, an Exmormon Profile Spotlight
Jim methodically studies each truth claim of the church and found them all lacking. Each pillar truth claim the church makes is demonstrably false. The church keeps proclaiming these “truths”, in effect pulling the wool over everyone’s eyes. He was then able to write a whole series of books detailing many of his findings! “Day …
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Brandon Was a Mormon, an Exmormon Profile Spotlight
Brandon dug into church history to help a friend resolve concerns and ended up finding concerns of his own. He was disheartened not that no one had answers, but the marginalization he found in even asking the questions! “I had a close friend leave the church and I decided to learn more about my own …
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BYU honor code dress and grooming standards – Mormon Facial Hair
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 …
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Facts More Important than Cherished, Mistaken Beliefs
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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Canonized Lies About Charles Anthon
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 …
Evolution of the Word of Wisdom – Stories We Tell
The Word of Wisdom is the health code that today is required for full participation in the church. Filled mainly with restrictions on what latter-day saints should eat or drink: no alcohol, tobacco, tea or coffee as every primary child learns. The church uses many stories to encourage members to live this word of wisdom, …
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Murder Among the Mormons, Mark Hofmann fooling the Mormon Church
The latest Mormon-related Netflix hit is live and trending. Murder among the Mormons discusses Mark Hofmann and his selling of forged historical documents. The documentary also covers Hofmann being guilty of making pipe bombs and using them to murder Steve Christensen and Kathy Sheets in 1985. Hofmann feels trapped by his own forgeries and is …
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Weak Foundations Fear Examination
“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 …