Just as the statement from the First Presidency in 1949, there was another statement issued in 1969 regarding the stance of the church on denying the priesthood to any black member of the church. In 1949, the First Presidency consisted of George Albert Smith, J Reuben Clark & David O McKay. In 1969, the presidency …
Tag Archives: love
(Page 4)Byron Marchant, Accused Dissident, Unjustifiably Excommunicated for Opposing Priesthood Ban in 1977
Among the first votes of dissent in the modern Mormon church occurred in 1977, in opposition to the church doctrine banning blacks from any priesthood ordination and temple endowment. A member voted opposed to sustaining church leadership in General Conference 1977 and was subsequently excommunicated. Then less than 1 year later the church downgraded the …
Richard Packham Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Richard Packham is a founding father of the ex-mormon internet. He tells his story of diving deep into church history in order to spread the gospel. He found troubling issues and even wrote to Joseph Fielding Smith to make sense of it all. Everything clicked one moment when he realized all his questions and problems …
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Beth Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Beth converted at a young age and struggled with being fully active, but once she was on her own she dedicated herself to the church, she “fully embraced the gospel” and “loved it”. Raising her own family, however, presented the dissonance of unconditional love and a “scary judgmental God” but she soldiered on because she’d …
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Brigham Young’s Racist Remarks on Slaves, Seed, and Priesthood Doctrines
The church claims in their Gospel Topic Essay on Race and the Priesthood that Brigham Young announced the “policy” to deny priesthood to blacks and that he also said that “at some future day, black Church members would “have [all] the privilege and more” enjoyed by other members”. This is incredibly misleading. They want to …
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1984 Newspeak and the Church Handbook
The church has lately been making regular changes to church policy and the church handbook. Most of these changes are met with praise, such as 2-hour church services! Others seem to simply be bureaucratic noise. Retiring the Home and Visiting Teaching programs, only to replace them with a similar Ministering Program, a big push to …
Tim Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
In Germany, Tim was raised in an atheist family but was intrigued by the church. He met with missionaries and wanted to get baptized at 16 years old. At this age, he needed parental permission, which they did not give but he continued to investigate the church for two more years. He was baptized right …
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The Anachronistic Olive Tree Allegory from Zenos in Jacob 5
Jacob 5 is a story about an orchard of Olive Trees and a servant who grafts branches from wild trees to tame trees and vice versa all according to the commands from the Lord of the Vineyard. The allegory represents the past, and future history of the House of Israel. It discusses the scattering of Israel before …
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Mormon Excommunication For Change – The September Six and More
The September Six were a group of six members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who were excommunicated or disfellowshipped in September 1993 for their intellectual and historical pursuits that were deemed contrary to the teachings and doctrines of the Church. The six members were: The excommunications and disfellowshippings of …
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Andrew was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Story Spotlight
Andrew was raised in a Mormon family but harbored some doubts about the religion, especially when he failed to have spiritual experiences while training to serve a mission. He continued to attend church, get married in the temple, and raise his family in the faith but began to doubt the existence of God – and …
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60 Minutes Transcript: Whistleblower David Nielsen Speaks Out After Reporting the Mormon Church to IRS in 2019
The show 60 Minutes broadcast a segment about the Mormon Billions. Sharyn Alfonsi follows up with whistleblower David Nielsen who resigned from his position at Ensign Peak Advisors and wrote the whistleblower report in 2019. Since then, the Mormon church has been fined 5 million dollars by the SEC for illegal filing practices, but Nielsen …
New Primary Song: Celestial Mothers
This new Celestial Mothers song is a topic that is sadly lacking, while there are many many songs for fathers, fatherhood, and Heavenly Father. This is based upon the LDS children’s song, Fathers. Celestial Mothers in Heaven, begat you and meBut rarely are they mentionedAs part of our heavenly family Why does Church ignore them, is …
Timeline of the First Vision Story and Development
The First Vision is a foundational event in the history and theology of the Church. It refers to an experience Joseph Smith claimed to have had as a young man. In the spring of 1820, he seeks guidance and religious truth. In later accounts, he described going into a grove of trees and praying to …
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More Momon Thoughts on Evolution
Alongside statements from previous church president Joseph Fielding Smith that if evolution is true, the church is false and current church president Russell M Nelson that he finds evolution unbelievable because “Man has always been Man,” “it’s just the way genetics works,” we have other leaders offering their “inspired” views on evolution. Can we dismiss …
The Strange Hidden First Vision Account of 1832
There are multiple accounts of Joseph Smith’s “first vision”. This is a fact and today the church admits it. The church wants to dismiss these different accounts though by claiming that they really aren’t different because they tell the same consistent story. The details are in fact very different though. The earliest version of this …
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These Are Not the Droids You’re Looking For
May the Fourth be with you. In honor of today – which is commonly known as Star Wars Day, because May the Fourth sounds like “May the Force be with you” – let’s look at a simple example of gaslighting, or as it can be referred to when aided by the Force, Jedi mind-tricks. May …
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Stay in the Boat or Follow Jesus Out
Considering the demeaning parable from Elder Renlund about the spoiled boy leaving the boat and Elder Holland being furious with members who “bail” and imploring members to “Stay in the Boat” as well as The Old Ship Zion references from Brigham Young, Mormon church culture has a lot of imagery around boats, and staying in …
Demonizing Doubt: Nelson’s Talk on Lazy Learners and Lax Disciples
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 …
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Putting Questions on the Shelf is Unhealthy and Doesn’t Work
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 …
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Explore the Origin Story of wasmormon.org – A Mormon Book Reviews Podcast Episode
A recent episode of the Mormon Book Reviews podcast features an interview with Evan, the creator of wasmormon.org, and his brother Garrett. Evan shares the story of how he came to create the website and why he chose to share his experience of leaving the Mormon church. The interview includes the personal stories of faith …
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On Being a Mormon Historian from Michael Quinn
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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Russell M Nelson Continues Mormon Tradition To Deny Evolution
Joseph Fielding Smith wasn’t the only church leader that didn’t accept evolution. He claimed, “if evolution is true, the church is false.” He could be dismissed as a “man of his times”, especially now that it’s been a lifetime since he published that statement in his Doctrines of Salvation book. We have this same sentiment …
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Brendan Was a Mormon, a Post-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Brendan was raised in the church but from early on saw things that didn’t sit well with his soul. He recognizes many instances in his life where cognitive dissonance was telling him something wasn’t right. This led him to study deeply and even pursue a study of history, which led him to an internship with …
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Church and its Inoculation Approach to Addressing Historical Details
The church is working hard to inoculate the youth from the disease of church history. They are teaching seminary students in the scripture mastery program that historical details are not important since they can’t provide salvation, so let’s not get distracted by these less significant details. This conditions young members to ignore the troubling issues …
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Sally Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
Sally believed in real love and integrity, but no longer saw those values at church. What she found was a Corporate Mormon Jesus that was not living the Golden Rule or living the rules it subjects its own members to. She resigned because “although it’s easier to walk away, I don’t want my name associated …
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Mormon Fearmongering & Marginalizing Liberal Agenda at BYU Devotional
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 …
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Russell Nelson to receive the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize
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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Dallin Oaks Lectures Senate Committee regarding Honesty
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, previous Justice of the State of Utah Supreme Court, but currently in the First Presidency of the Mormon church, submitted a “testimony” to the Senate Finance Committee Hearing in 2011 regarding the debate on whether charitable deductions should be considered when calculating taxes. In other words, he’s talking about the tax-exempt …
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Writing Your Traumatic Faith Crisis Experience is Healthy and Healing
Do you have exmormon trauma? Try writing your story. Write about your faith deconstruction or crisis. wasmormon.org gives you a place to do this important and healing writing. Consider contributing your story to the site so others can read it and find community and validation as well! Suppressing the trauma is bad for us and …
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Bill Reel Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight
As a convert in his late teens, Bill Reel learned early that church history was messy, but loved it. He began a podcast (which has now grown to host over a dozen individual podcasts) to discuss and explore this messy mormon history. Over the years through examining the church, he discovered that the Mormon church …
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