Mormonism is a cult

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

LDS cult >



MG > not a cult

-_-

[Moksha]

Calling it a cult sounds so pejorative. Why not say it is a church with cult-like behavior?

Within certain parameters, I would agree with this. A cult is a system of religious beliefs and rituals practiced by a certain group of religionists.

One cult-like behavior that I find especially troubling is the willingness to be constantly deceptive, whether in foundational truth claims or even in current finances. Were you troubled by the two-decade-long deceptiveness of the Ensign Peak Associates?

[honorentheos]

MG 2.0 contra MG 2.0.

Yes, the church is peculiar, but it’s not a cult.

vs.

As you have separated yourself from the church you find yourself of/in a different ‘world’ than that which a Latter-day Saint lives in.

That's basically you going, "I'm not saying the church is a cult, but it's a cult."

[MG 2.0]

MG 2.0 contra MG 2.0.

Yes, the church is peculiar, but it’s not a cult.

vs.

As you have separated yourself from the church you find yourself of/in a different ‘world’ than that which a Latter-day Saint lives in.

That's basically you going, "I'm not saying the church is a cult, but it's a cult."

No it’s not.

Regards,
MG

[honorentheos]

I've been thinking about the OP and, while I find PGs comments enlightening, they diverged from my own take.

The person that came to mind while reading the OP for me was my mission president who I would describe as one of the most genuinely Christian human beings I've ever met. He also happened to be a successful businessperson as MPs tend to be, had been a temple president, taught for years in a university on business before his mission call, and was as genuinely humble a person as I could possibly imagine. When his accomplishments came up, he deflected away from his successes in what at least to my young mind seemed more authentic acknowledgment of the multifactorial chance, good fortune, opportunity, and work than I've seen in any person I've met before or since. His ego-suppression was itself contagious in it's depth and authenticity.

And that's where I found myself musing. Ego is difficult to genuinely suppress, yet the successful Mormon business person like my MP found something in his faith that was bigger than himself, and I find myself still benefitting in life from my association with him.

My mentor while serving in the military is different in that I don't think of him as the most Christian person I've known. But I modeled what it meant to be an NCO off of him and his placing mission, personnel, and duty above self yet in a way that made being your best self part of that obligation. He's been a command sergeant major in many posts around the world since I served under him yet he takes time to message me now and again to keep in touch, see how I'm doing. We've chatted about his retirement and it sometimes surprises me he cares about my opinion at all. He was and is a soldier and that meant there is something more than himself that he has subsumed into.

I don't know, Gad. I'm awed by both of them still. I can agree that both the church and the military are cults in their ways. But the sublimation of self to them at authentically high levels while maintaining concern for others is enviable in my experience.

So I'm still chewing on your OP.

[honorentheos]

That's basically you going, "I'm not saying the church is a cult, but it's a cult."

No it’s not.

Regards,
MG

Yes. It is. Telling people their leaving the cult means they live in a different reality is affirming you view the church to be a cult in all the worst possible ways.

[Kishkumen]

That's basically you going, "I'm not saying the church is a cult, but it's a cult."

[Kishkumen]

I don’t think ‘cult’ is being used in a positive and/or neutral sense.

That’s all I’m sayin’. Just calling it like it is. The name of the thread is pejorative in the way it’s being used.

Yes! It is a pejorative because the characteristics associated with it are viewed negatively in our culture. If you don’t accept the negative view, you are on the right track. Just accept that you have different values from those who criticize you. It is tough to be in the minority, but it is better to own it as your reality than to deny it.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

https://tokensandsigns.org/the-267-hidd ... -woodruff/

The 267 Hidden Brides of Wilford Woodruff

Let’s consider a specific example. Lydia Hart was just six years old when she died in 1776, but she was sealed posthumously to Woodruff as a plural wife. Having died before the age of accountability, she has no ordinance records, with the exceptions of her sealing to her parents and her sealing to her Woodruff. Notably, the record of her sealing to Woodruff as his plural wife is now explicitly restricted. Furthermore, Joseph Smith and subsequent church leaders have taught that deceased children will be come forth as children in the resurrection. Thus, according to Mormon doctrine, Lydia Hart will be resurrected as a 6 year old girl and a plural wife of Wilford Woodruff. It goes without saying why the church might not want this particular record to be easily discovered.

Does that qualify as a cult?

- Doc

[Moksha]

Lydia Hart will be resurrected as a 6 year old girl and a plural wife of Wilford Woodruff.
- Doc

Perhaps she was just a few months shy of seven.