Testimonies that the LDS church is not true. (retitled)

[_Malcolm]

Hi MCB,

You seem like one gutsy lady who has been through some real rough times.
I can't offer advice.
Mormonism is just one long and whining road, with a lot of toll gates along the way. Thankfully, there are junctions in one's life where you can stop and reflect
and come to the realisation that the road once taken, is not always the correct road. I once had a testimony that the LDS church was true, but life carries on and we gain new strengths on different paths too.

a Big Hug from the UK.

[_MCB]

Well, I notice both "sides" are Mormon. lol. Who's Trevor?

He is now using another account, which I will not name. He occasionally posts as "Trevor" Both identities are respected by many on this board.

Mormonism is just one long and whining road....... Thankfully, there are junctions in one's life where you can stop and reflect and come to the realisation that the road once taken, is not always the correct road.

This is one reason why I resisted doing it before, because Mormons are whiners, and I did not want to appear to be a whiner. Yeah, the book was therapy, and will do other people some good. May never be published on paper, but that is OK. Much better to write a book like that than bomb the temple at Nauvoo. Literacy does that to people. LOL

[_Trevor]

Bump. I think I am finished. Thanks Trevor, for the suggestion.

Hey, MCB--

Thanks so much for sharing. You have been down quite a rough road. And, it sounds like you had some terrible experiences with Mormons along the way. I really had no idea that there were so many Mormons in the Midwest. I thought there were mostly RLDS (CoC).

You were also targeted as a minority and treated like someone who was out of control, couldn't be trusted, wasn't truly American, etc. I find that it really difficult for the lily-white folk around to understand this at all. They take for granted the many advantages, or fewer challenges, that they have. It is good to read your story for a reminder of how not being sufficiently "white" for the bigots can be a huge challenge.

One question: you specifically mentioned not liking the "Skousenites." Are you saying that the LDS people you had difficulty with were also bigots and huge social conservatives?

[_MCB]

One question: you specifically mentioned not liking the "Skousenites." Are you saying that the LDS people you had difficulty with were also bigots and huge social conservatives?

Exactly. The social pressure to buy into that way of thinking was intense. Any person who admitted to having voted for Democratic candidates was looked down upon.

Before Katrina, I heard gossip that New Orleans, being such a sinful city, would have something very bad happen from God, to punish it. Nothing said about criminal negligence by the Corps of Engineers.

In a town that was approaching 50% Hispanic, I knew of very few Catholic Hispanics who worked in the school district. One left, another was a paraprofessional, and her brother was a highly respected teacher who had been there a long time. And the Catholic community was substantially more Hispanic than Anglo.

At one point, I felt like putting up a huge sign just before leaving, saying "30% of this town would willingly follow Hitler to hell." I was told that my estimate was somewhat inflated. As it was, I left quite unexpectedly.

[_emilysmith]

*steps up to the podium*
*noise from the microphone as I pull it down to reach me*

Joseph Smith was a charismatic fraud who perpetrated a great deceit on sincere people who gave everything they had to follow him. That deceit continues today and there have been an active line of deceivers ever since, working the shadows to perpetuate the silly theology of Ol' Joe.

The New Testament was written in a Greek, 100 years after the Jesus supposedly live. There are no first hand accounts of Jesus of Nazareth and most early Christians were completely unaware the Jesus was supposed to be a corporeal being. Of the 100's of gospels written that competed with romantic fiction of the time, the ones we are left with today are those that were determined to be politically useful in that they were palatable to as many groups as possible during the time.

The Old Testament is much the same... written long after the fact and mostly fabricated. The Israelites were never enslaved as an entire race in Egypt. They were pagan nomads that rose up from the surrounding areas, rewriting their history to assign themselves more authority than they really deserved.

Mormonism is bunk, Christianity is bunk, and Judaism is bunk.

I say these things in the name of empiricism and truth.

Amen

[_MCB]

Thank you, Emily, for your sincere statement of belief. I agree with the first paragraph. :)