Mormonism is a cult
- Doctor CamNC4Me
- God
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Re: Mormonism is a cult
I asked my wife what she thought a cult was. I didn’t tell her about this thread. This was her answer:
> They demand your time and money.
> They have leader worship, and the leader can gate keep power.
> They have a product you pay for, but you never get.
> Guilt.
She was recently reading up on some Buddhist cults, so her answer may not be directly tied to the Moccult.
- Doc
eta: Holy crap this was timely:
> They demand your time and money.
> They have leader worship, and the leader can gate keep power.
> They have a product you pay for, but you never get.
> Guilt.
She was recently reading up on some Buddhist cults, so her answer may not be directly tied to the Moccult.
- Doc
eta: Holy crap this was timely:
Last edited by Doctor CamNC4Me on Mon Apr 10, 2023 10:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.
Re: Mormonism is a cult
This is the crux of the whole thing, and so yes, dead on. Salvete, MG 2.0, here is an example of somebody who displays reading comprehension before criticizing. The board rules don't force you to do so, but if you're going to rain on somebody's parade, it's always more effective to know what the parade is commemorating.physics guy wrote:Effective cults need no fence. Is this your point, Gadianton?
Talk about knocking it out of the park, I should have just PM'd you and had you write it. The bolded is of particular importance.physics guy wrote:I see two ideas in the OP and I wonder how to relate them. The first is the idea of secrecy, with people who share an unusual background recognizing each other by secret handshakes, as it were, and blowing dog whistles to find each other without anyone else noticing. The second is the idea of people caring much more about something than most people would. The two ideas are connected because people who care especially much about something may try to find each other without betraying their unusual interest to outsiders. I’m not quite sure which idea Gadianton really meant to express in calling Mormonism a cult.
My guess is that his thought was that the secret-handshake dog-whistle behavior of Mormons shows their extreme, cult-like investment in their religion. This is how I interpret the Reptilian analogy. If you just think that of course Reptilians are monsters because they’re Reptilians, duh, then it’s not surprising that they would reveal themselves to each other secretly and chuckle inside about it. If you think about it more seriously, though, it seems childish for a few Reptilians, far from home for so long, to be so excited about eating humans while pretending to be humans. Evil isn’t just banal, it’s idiotic. The Reptilians must in fact be brainwashed culties, and their oh-so-clever signaling to each other just betrays this.
My only hesitation is where you say 'may try to find each other' and the gaydar connection -- In the first instance as the invasion begins, central command likely tries to avoid placing the Reptilian agents in close enough proximity to where they would be able to find each other. And in fact, they avoid looking for each other -- don't want to risk blowing cover, and don't want too be too close if another agent is found out. But all the more satisfying, isn't it, when by whatever happenstance, the two end up in unexpected proximity and share the brief moment of recognition. "yes brother, it is I." And then turn away from each other quickly to get back to their work.
Now think about the Mormon idea of the pre-existence. Was the pre-existence a cult? Perhaps. But God the Father knew that the allegiance of his children meant very little without the possibility of the children being distracted by something else. And so, God really goes way beyond the Reptilians here, because the Reptilians aren't necessarily looking for a challenge to build character, it's existential. Character building (in the way cultists conceive of good character) is secondary. God had to create this big diversion and then everybody goes out blindfolded, and only those with the identity of Godhood printed deepest within their souls will figure out that it's all a ruse and focus on the mission with the fervor to pass the test.
There's some major tension with the idea of free agency. On the one hand, the fence exists within the mind as you observed, so how can anyone who makes it back be anything but the most deeply programmed? But agency is important, because you have to pretend that everything could be otherwise so that the truth of Godhood doesn't appear circular. It's like in the movie Gladiator, when Russell Crow had "seen how they lived" in regards to the barbarians, which justified Rome's dominance and subversion. A "Yankee White" Roman who had never lived abroad can be deeply committed, may never have wandered after other Gods, but can't validate Rome the way the man who lived among the world could. I imagine the Reptilians at some point developed analogous ideas to humanism that justifies their identity from a standpoint of would-be objectivity.
The idea I meant to express, from your first paragraph, I think connects to your last observation -- the secret (as Reverend K distilled it) must be tried from outside the boundaries of the insular community. Hyrum Abiff was confronted by three attackers trying to get the secrets of masonry, and so the importance of his work must have involved Hyrum out and about, facing the dangers of the forest.
Re: Mormonism is a cult
“If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don’t have to worry about the answers.”~Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow
Re: Mormonism is a cult
I’m responding to the title of your thread.Gadianton wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 7:20 pmMy OP wasn't about the RSC article. Please start a new thread if you'd like to discuss that article. If the article relates to any of the points I made in the OP, please go back and actually read the OP and then cite the portion of my OP that relates to the RSC material.MG 2.0 wrote: You can weasel word your way this way and that to make a predetermined point based on your current worldview. THAT was the point of my post and the highlighted portions of the RSC article
As you can see, this board is very tolerant, and so I don't want to hear complaints from you in the future about being discriminated against when you derail , troll threads without reading the OP, and avoid the OP like Salvete at all costs, and are allowed to do so without consequence.
Enjoy the generosity of the moderators, MG.
Maybe you ought to change it?
Regards,
MG
Re: Mormonism is a cult
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.
My concern was simply with the title of the thread. I suppose that Gadianton could say that there is no pejorative meaning in the title, but then I read this:
I don’t think ‘cult’ is being used in a positive and/or neutral sense.Here is a world-class engineer who centered his life around a guy who couldn't even cook up a fake set of plates that would convince anybody and just used a tile brick as a prop most of the time. It's really mind boggling.
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.
Regards,
MG
Re: Mormonism is a cult
Post 1970’s is when this negative mindset of a cult started sinking in to the overall culture(s). And then you need to consider the perception factor. Those living in one of two worlds are going to see things differently in some respects than those in another world.Doctor CamNC4Me wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 7:38 pmI asked my wife what she thought a cult was. I didn’t tell her about this thread. This was her answer:
> They demand your time and money.
> They have leader worship, and the leader can gate keep power.
> They have a product you pay for, but you never get.
> Guilt.
As described in the quoted material in my initial post on this thread.
Regards,
MG
Re: Mormonism is a cult
And that's why there's so much religious persecution and intolerance in the world, MG. Because people like you shoot from the hip at the slightest glimpse of something you don't like rather than take the time to understand.I’m responding to the title of your thread.
Don't shoot the messenger, MG. It's not my fault you were born into a cult. I was also, and so I'm no better than you in that regard.
Re: Mormonism is a cult
Just calling it like I see it. I believe you are inaccurate in your portrayal of the LDS Church as being cultish in the pejorative sense that you seem to prefer.Gadianton wrote: ↑Mon Apr 10, 2023 11:35 pmAnd that's why there's so much religious persecution and intolerance in the world, MG. Because people like you shoot from the hip at the slightest glimpse of something you don't like rather than take the time to understand.I’m responding to the title of your thread.
If the shoe fits you ought to be willing to wear it.
It is your inaccurate portrayal of the church and its members that I am calling out.
As I said, we are of two different worlds. We will see things differently. This doesn’t excuse your pejorative use of the word ‘cult’
Key point, “was”. You are of a different ‘mind’ now. That mind separates you from the world of the CofJCofLDS. That changes everything.
It’s just the way it is.
I’m merely pointing that out.
I don’t want to continue to belabor the point that I’m making. I do need to point out, again, that your thread heading has a negative connotation. I’m not arguing in opposition to the word ‘cult’ and the neutral and/or positive connotation that the word can also have.
Regards,
MG
Re: Mormonism is a cult
Right. The mob that shot Joseph Smith was also just calling it like they saw it.MG wrote:Just calling it like I see it. I believe you are inaccurate in your portrayal of the LDS Church as being cultish in the pejorative sense that you seem to prefer.
I have worn it, I've read you complaints, not just the title to your complaints.MG wrote:If the shoe fits you ought to be willing to wear it.
But you haven't read my OP or any other posts in this thread. You're going entirely by the thread title. So you don't know how I've portrayed the Church. You don't know how I've defined a cult. You don't even know if you really disagree with me or not. You might actually agree.MG wrote:It is your inaccurate portrayal of the church and its members that I am calling out.
- Doctor CamNC4Me
- God
- Posts: 9057
- Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2020 2:04 am
Re: Mormonism is a cult
LDS cult > Oath of Vengeance on the United States
MG > not a cult
-_-
MG > not a cult
-_-
Hugh Nibley claimed he bumped into Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Gertrude Stein, and the Grand Duke Vladimir Romanoff. Dishonesty is baked into Mormonism.