Thoughts on Mormonism?

[Slap47]

If you have to uncanonize half of what your founder said (or outright deny he ever said them) in order to remain unostracized from civil society, you're a cult that split from an even more ridiculous cult and your faith is worth nothing. In that regard, along with misreporting (or not reporting) income, they're exactly the same as scientology.

The term cult is not really used in Religious Studies since it only really describes how larger society views a group.

Major religions like Catholicism and Islam practice ostracism (one to a much more deadly degree) and pretty much all religions have harmful beliefs.

 

[Astro Loafo]

Ok as a religion nut all I can say is.

The church of the latter day saints is a form of Satanism because they are anti Christian. Because any thing that warps the image or teachings of Jesus is an anti christ.

 

[RussianParasite]

Because any thing that warps the image or teachings of Jesus is an anti christ.

So, in that way, all other Christian sects of which you are not a part are antichrist too? There are some not so small disconnects between the major ones on Jesus and his image among life-long biblical scholars.

I think Mormon beliefs are wacky too, but where does one draw the line?

 

[Hazel Motes]

I see quite a few in the UK. Usually young men. I think they are nice people from experience. England barely has people who consider religion questions anymore so I'm happy to see it. I'd call myself an atheist but atheists in the UK are usually insufferable, disingenuous, and unwilling to accept certain conclusions. They tend to think in a natural evolution of a Christianity without absolutes and spirituality (that is God Delusion era Dawkins), saying "I don't need morality- I just know what's right and wrong." Secularism is state religion in England, so much so when that MP was murdered a priest was not allowed to give out Last Rites by the police. This would have been scandal in the 1950s, but MPs weren't murdered back then. Most of our heritage, laws stems from Christian thinking, but we live in the shadow of this heritage still. It is no wonder Mormons having been growing in the UK. Our own churches tend to pussified or so lax that they can't inspire. They are subservient to the real power holders.
I remember one girl who said she was a strict atheist but believed in an afterlife and soulmates. That tends to be the standard woffle I get from people who don't really ever think about these matters. Strict implies to me hardened materialism, not wishy washy spirituality.

So yea, more people like Mormons about. People who work in roles not completely focused on monetary gain or humdrum office work. Adds colour to life.

Also, Orson Scott Card is pretty cool.

I understand in might be different in America where explicit religious communities are all around, but the UK is full of religion. People simply refuse to accept it because it gives the illusion of "free thinking." Ideas are entrenched that they seem natural is what I'm getting at.

Someone once said, those who have no philosophy, follow a dead philosophy. Lot of truth to that.

 

[Return of the Freaker]

 

[Astro Loafo]

So, in that way, all other Christian sects of which you are not a part are antichrist too? There are some not so small disconnects between the major ones on Jesus and his image among life-long biblical scholars.

I think Mormon beliefs are wacky too, but where does one draw the line?

This sounds arrogant and dumb but when it comes to Christianity there's only the catholic church, orthodoxy, and the anglican church. After that you could technically be considered Christian because of your baptism, but that's where the line ends.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I was honestly shocked that they started pandering so hard to the LGBWTFBBQ crowd recently. They claim to be the fastest growing religion in the world, so why the sudden desperation to bring degeneracy in? It kind of pisses me off, after being psychologically tortured for years because of how even a minor thing like masturbation is treated like a sin as serious as murder.

TL;DR: Basically I tried pretty hard to get something out of it, but it just felt like a dead end to me, both socially and spiritually.

I grew up among the JWs and felt almost the exact same about them... And while they're more low-key about it, they too seem to be softening greatly on the degenerate classes. I don't care enough about them to be upset about it, but I find it interesting that, much like the CJCLDS, they make such a big deal about being "separate" from "the world" [despite the fact that they're much better at it than the Mormons] and yet they're getting cucked by the same reprobates [albeit more slowly].

 

[Snigger]

There's the controversy and historical accuracy issues with LDS scriptures.

Also issues with taking the Bible too literally (like a literal Flood).

(and the sexual morals can be too prudish like thinking fapping is always a sin)

Flood myths exist across numerous cultures from roughly the same time though

 

[Astro Loafo]

Fapping is a sin except when you need it medically like actually having blue balls.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Flood myths exist across numerous cultures from roughly the same time though

There's still all the scientific objections to a literal global flood. Maybe there was local flooding in reality that inspired them.

Not to mention the mass murder "judgement" of men, women, and innocent children and animals is kind of a dick move.

Also in LDS beliefs, there was mass destruction ("judgement") of the Americas when "Mormon Jesus" resurrected.

 

[Conan O'Barbarian]

Flood myths exist across numerous cultures from roughly the same time though

There's still all the scientific objections to a literal global flood. Maybe there was local flooding in reality that inspired them.

Not to mention the mass murder "judgement" of men, women, and innocent children and animals is kind of a dick move.

Also in LDS beliefs, there was mass destruction ("judgement") of the Americas when "Mormon Jesus" resurrected.

While evidence of a global flood eludes us, there is archaeological evidence of cataclysmic flooding in many areas that were fertile, which also became cradles of early civilizations. Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, the Nile, and even parts of America where flood myths also exist were prone to flooding often, but also periodically experienced long-term flooding after natural disasters and the like.

A global flood likely did not exist, but to a people who settle in one place for generations and see no end to rising water when normally it's only mild flooding once a year, the death of their crops and livestock, the destruction of their homes, it may have seemed that way.

 

[Ughubughughughughughghlug]

This sounds arrogant and dumb but when it comes to Christianity there's only the catholic church, orthodoxy, and the anglican church. After that you could technically be considered Christian because of your baptism, but that's where the line ends.

So what is about Methodism, Baptists, Lutherans, etc. that makes them not count? Because whether the wine magically turns into blood that's not blood or the specific magic words you say is a huge part of the Christ story, right?

 

[Astro Loafo]

So what is about Methodism, Baptists, Lutherans, etc. that makes them not count? Because whether the wine magically turns into blood that's not blood or the specific magic words you say is a huge part of the Christ story, right?

Actually it is. In those particular churches they only celebrate the feast once a year and say it only happens during the last supper. Despite this particular occurrence happens every Sunday after Jesus is resurrected until he ascends to heaven.

Which is one reason why they can't really be Christian, they don't actually follow the Bible.

The other reason is because Jesus established a church at the end of his life. The leadership was passed down to Peter then to the popes and so on. After that people can argue that the only the Bible is the true faith or the majority of bishops but to turn away from what Jesus left us is the very reason why they aren't true churches.

 

[TiggerNits]

I grew up with a catholic dad and a southern baptist mother, so my bar for sanity and kindness in religion is hysterically low for anyone not named "Mohammed". I live in an area now with a solid Mormon population after spending my childhood with no idea they even existed back in the 70s & 80s. When I did meet my first mormon it was when I was 16 it was another guy in my AP math class that I instantly became friends with. His family was kind and he quickly integrated in to my friend group because he was a great dude. His religion didn't seem all the wacky or strict to me, what because of my background and one of my aunts going hardcore Jehovah's Witness and the dude never pushed it on anyone. A few years after graduation he ended up accidentally converting a mutual friend of ours and from then on that guy seemed a lot happier too with no negative side-effects.

Now all that said d I think Joey SMith was a grifter and a pedophile? Of course, David Koresh literally copied the guy's playbook page for page.

Do I think the Mormon church pre-1965 was a dangerous cult? Probably

Do I think Mitt Romney and Orrin Hatch should burn in hell? Yeah, fuck'em

Do I think John Browning might have been divinely inspired? Yeah

But all that said, what it became and has come to represent are wonderful and they do a lot to help people in and out of their flock, so I respect the hell out of them and admire the fact that they aren't raping kids or pushing preachers who have 2 divorces and a handful of larceny convictions as the best thing ever. They treat the family unit as the most sacred part of the individual's life and I have seen then tell people to STOP tithing because they feared that the money could be better used to help their own families. When I was in the Marines every Mormon I met was an upstanding dude that was competent and disciplined with a focus on his men and the mission with little tolerance for anything else.

 

[GoysGoneWild]

Multiple levels of thoughts.

Socially - good for them. They've managed to hold things together and maintain something resembling a healthy society significantly better than most others in the west. Maybe still not great and not without internal flaws, but the results speak for themselves.

Theologically, they get a LOT of shit from other Christians. Mainly over stuff like the Trinity, or lack thereof. Typically, the more serious a Trinitarian Christian is, the more they despise Mormonism, especially the Tradcath and Orthobro faggots. I find this to be pretty despicable. Most Christians are perfectly fine calling the Trinity "mysterious" or mystical or even actually unknowable because God or some shit. I personally don't have a problem with this - good for you for having the honesty to say "idk lol", spirituality is hard after all. BUT to me, the flipside of that is that means you don't get to shit on others that actually stake a more concrete theological claim like the Mormons do. I mean you just said you don't know, how can you shit on others that think they do?

Plus theres some surprising gold in there about stuff like you literally becoming a God after death and other stuff. It does start to diverge from traditional Christianity in big ways - ways that as I have distanced myself from my personal theological upbringing, I've been more open to, or at least view as less out there.

Anyway, I do still see them as rooted in Abrahamic/Yahwist shit, so I still overall see them negatively. But I've grown more sympathetic in recent years. They are misrepresented and maligned by both the ridiculous ultra-Christians and the faggy atheist South Park loving types, that makes me feel bad for them. If I had to "convert" to some Desert Cult church, they would probably be it, because fuck it, they keep themselves together and their women are at least skinnier and probably freaks in bed with their future literal God-husband.

 

[Sealbaby]

Fake and gay.

Nasty wilfully ignorant passive-aggressive people.

The Deseret nationalists are even worse.

 

[Amerikaner Teddybär]

Personally, I wouldn't call them "Christian" due to the fact that 1, they recognize a prophet post-Jesus which many mainstream Christians see as heretical and 2, they're bordering on polytheism since they see Jesus as another god, which again very heretical and goes against Christianity being a monotheistic faith. I'm glossing over a bit because I'm currently not in the mood for a deep dive into theological discussion but the 2 aforementioned reasons is why I don't see Mormons as Christian.

 

[CiaphasCain]

Mormonism is an absurd cult. How Joseph Smith managed to convince anyone to follow that shit to begin with is hilarious though.

 

[Sugriva]

I was honestly shocked that they started pandering so hard to the LGBWTFBBQ crowd recently. They claim to be the fastest growing religion in the world, so why the sudden desperation to bring degeneracy in?

Because the Mormon church requires you to give them 10% of your income as "holy tithing." Any new families they can manage to wrangle in means a huge boost to their cash flow. That's why they're so aggressive about trying to find new members, and why they require all children to go on a 2 year "mission" to recruit people when they turn 18.

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

I grew up in a place that had a small but influential Mormon community. They were very nice but was clear that a poor gentile like me could never be one of them. I resented them at first but the results of their lifestyle are hard to deny. But seeing them go hard in the paint for Mitt Romney...I get that he’s their guy but some of the Mormons I knew pretended he had no flaws whatsoever and it was hard to take them seriously again. I don’t really care about their religion as people believe all kinds of retarded shit (like a man could really be a woman) but they seem to be one of the few groups of white people who not just survive but thrive.