Cr@ig In The Middle

Is the Book of Mormon Modern or Ancient?

2011-11-22T15:15:00.009-07:00

Is the Book of Mormon Modern or Ancient?

If the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be…a translation of ancient golden plates holding the religious history of the forefathers of the American Indians… then it’s version of Christ’s sermons, found in 3 Nephi , should be the most pure, direct version of Christ’s sermons in existence. For it would not have to gone through all the alterations and human errors that were inherent in the reproduction process that produced our current Bible. In other words the Book of Mormon was not exposed to the errors of men and had the added advantage of coming to man directly through the gift and power of God Himself.

Because of the pure process that gave us the Book of Mormon, one would not expect to find any of the mistakes found in our current Bible’s rendering of Christ’s sermon….because the Book of Mormon was not dependant on the same process that gave us the Bible …right?

Prior to the printing of the Book of Mormon, mankind relied on ancient Greek manuscripts from the second century, translated, transcribed, added to, deleted from through 1000’s of human hands and 1000’s of years to give us the words of Christ. A comparison of the earliest copies of these Greek manuscripts to later copies has shown that there were hundreds of changes, errors and additions from those early manuscripts. Because each of these changes occurred after the original documents were written in the first century AD and after the events supposedly took place in America…one would NOT expect to find the same mistakes, changes and additions that are found in the King James Bible to be found in the Book of Mormon’s versions of christ’s sermon on the mount.

But does this claim stand up to scrutiny? Is the Book of Mormon an actual translation of the abridged written words of an ancient American prophet named Mormon or the product of a talented but flawed mind? Did Mormon abridge plates that he had inherited giving a purer version of Jesus Christ’s sermon or did Joseph Smith merely plagiarize and then change a few words around to produce his version of Christ’s sermon?

A close examination of the various versions of the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew 6 shows some surprising revelations.

We are all familiar with the widely used King James Version of the Lord’s Prayer and the one found in the Book of Mormon.

King James Matthew 6:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

And 3 Nephi 13:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

It’s interesting to note that these two versions differ in several key areas. The Book of Mormon failed to include 2 sentences found in the common KJV of the Lord’s Prayer.

01. Thy kingdom come.
02. Give us this day our daily bread.

So are we to conclude that Christ did not say these words to the Nephites…or had men merely added these words in the many years since Christ had supposedly uttered these words to the masses in Galilee and the Book of Mormon represents a purer form of Christ’s sermon?

But wait…there is more…our current Lord’s Prayer found in today’s King James version…is NOT the same as the original 1611 A.D. first edition copy of the KJV.

The Lord’s Prayer as it was originally printed in the 1611 A.D. KJV

“Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen. “

Note that in the original KJV Both of the sentences left out of the Book of Mormon version were included in the BoM…but the last sentence …” For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” is NOT found in the original first edition 1611 A.D. KJV nor in ANY earlier version of the Lord’s Prayer.

It doesn’t take a Biblical scholar to see that this last line was added…in fact it started to show up in the versions of the KJV of the Bible in 1700 and it is NOT present in any prior version nor in ANY of the original Greek manuscripts.

A simple comparison of the 1611 AD KJV Bible and latter versions show that this line was added by “man” to the JKV of the Lord’s Prayer in the early 1700’s. so it begs the question...why would it be in the Book of Mormon?

But wait these is still more…

An exact translation of the Lord’s Prayer from our earliest Original Greek Manuscripts into English… reads…

"This, then, is how you should pray:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one'

Note how both sentences removed from the Book of Mormon ARE found in translations from our earliest Greek Manuscripts…yet do NOT include the last sentence found in the Book of Mormon’s version which had been added by man in the 1700’s

So is the Book of Mormon what it claims to be?

If it IS a translation of ancient scripture…why does it include man-made additions from the 1700’s?

If it is a more pure rendering of Christ’s sermon, why doesn’t it include the same words given in our earliest Greek formats?

If during the translation process, Joseph took a short cut when he saw Christ familiar sermon being given again to the Nephites, why did he remove those 2 sentences if he was trying to give a more pure form of Christ’s sermon and still leave in the man-made parts?

Same Process-Different Outcome

2011-04-05T14:26:00.004-07:00

Why some people leave Mormonism and others choose to remain when faced with rational challenges to their faith”

Several years ago I had an exchange with several posters on the F.A.I.R. blog. I have gone back recently and re-read my contribution. I believe that those interested my find interest with this exchange.

http://www.fairblog.org/2009/02/12/same-process-different-outcome/

Enjoy
Craig
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An Interesting Encounter

2010-01-05T16:37:00.001-07:00

Earlier today a young man entered my office seeking my advice…This is not unusual for someone in my line of business. But it is a rare day when someone comes to me, in my capacity as an apostate, seeking advice regarding of all subjects…religion…particularly the Mormon religion. But it happened today.

A bit of background:

Several years ago, during the same period of time that I was going through my enlightenment/apostasy, my daughter happened to be dating this same young man. To ease the pain of her father’s loss of belief in the one true church, my daughter poured her TBM heart out to this young man. Needless to say, he remembered that he had once dated the daughter of an apostate and came to me for some apostate advice. You see…he is now, a non believer too.

Flash forward to today, turns out this young Mormon man has fallen head over heels in love with a TBM girl. But as I said, he is anything but TBM. He was baptized …has struggled with wrapping his brain around the Mormon paradigm despite many attempts to do so, as a result did not go on the required mission. (How he dated my daughter I’ll never know) None of this however mattered until he started to date and fall in love with the TBM.

As he entered my office and even before he introduced himself he asked “Do you go to church?” with a smile on my face, I replied “Nope”. He then said, “Good I’m in the right place”.

Over the course of the next hour he poured out his heart about his relationship with this girl, explaining their love for each other and his unsuccessful attempt, at her insistence, to find a way to “believe”. She will not be married in any place other than a Temple built to the Mormon god.

He was aware from his discussions with my daughter, that I have been able to live a happy life with my very TBM wife and wanted to know HOW this was possible. He also wanted to know if faking belief for her sake would work. I shared the following advice with him.

01. I told him that faking belief was a recipe for disaster and would result in the ultimate destruction of his future marriage. That any marriage worth participation in must be built on a foundation of mutual respect for who each partner in the marriage really “IS” rather than on whom one partner wishes their spouse to be.

02. That he was fighting an uphill battle…that the Mormon Church would use all of its cultural influence to destroy his relationship and do everything it can to dissuade his girlfriend from engaging in a relationship with a non-believer. He confirmed that the” Mormon Machine “was already trying to undermine his relationship.

03. That for his relationship to work, his girlfriend must love him more than she loves the church…something that TBM’s are programmed from an early age not to do.

04. That if he can’t get his girlfriend to respect his right to his current worldview as much as she wants her own worldview to be respected…that the relationship is doomed.

05. I also confided in him, that I live everyday knowing that despite the love my wife and I share for each other…we both know that if my wife knew then what she knows now…she would have never agreed to marry me.

We also discussed the many reasons that Mormonism is not what it claims to be…and that a frontal attack on his girlfriends beliefs is futile. For there to be any hope for his relationship to work…both must compromise, respectful of each other’s beliefs (or lack thereof) and abandon all hope of ever dissuading the other.

Following our conversation, this young man…with a somewhat more sober understanding of his situation…thanked me for my candor. I offered to meet with both he and his girlfriend any time should he feel it beneficial. I wished him luck but added that he needs to be prepared for the worst. Thus is a the path of TBM/non-believer relationships…they rarely work out because of the inflexibility of TBM’s...I count my blessing everyday that so far I am an exception…

Dear Abby...Ah I Mean Cr@ig

2009-12-04T10:26:00.004-07:00

Ok I know I said I was done blogging….BUT, I received what I consider a sincere plea for advice from a wife of someone who has discovered that the church is not what it claims to be. Her plea touched my heart; it could have been my own wife for all I know…since it sounds so much like what she and I have talked about so many times before as we have struggled to survive my apostasy.

So I’ve decided to share my advice in a full blown blog post (Maggie I hope that that is ok with you.)

What do you do upon learning that your spouse has lost belief in Mormonism?

Craig,

I have enjoyed your blog. I think you are a great person and I am so sorry for what you have had to go through. I want your advice. I still love the church. I know that everything that is taught is not true but it is such a part of me. It has helped me become the person I am today. I love attending church, singing hymns, listening to the prayers, and enjoy many of the wonderful lessons and talks. It makes me want to be a better person. So I guess you could say it works for me. My problem is that my spouse no longer believes in anything and doesn't want to have anything to do with it anymore. My spouse is so bitter about it all. I am fine with my spouse being a nonbeliever. But it is so difficult living with someone who is so negative about it. I just wished my spouse could say I don't buy it but if it is a good thing for you then that is great. It is so, so, so, so, hard when something that is meaningful to you is hated by your spouse. It is just damned hard. Any advice to someone who is hurting and frustrated?

Dear Maggie,

Much of what you’ve said could have been said by my own wife many times over. Once I came to the conclusion that the church was not what it claimed to be…I too became very bitter and angry and wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with it. But with time…my bitterness has dissipated. I’ll even be attending the First Presidency’s Christmas Fireside this Sunday evening at the conference center with my wife. I do this because I love my wife.

So here is my advice based on having lived on both sides of the fence:

01. If you love your husband and he loves you AND you want your marriage to survive….then love each other for WHOM each of you are … not for whom you want each other to be.

02. Give him the time and space to sort out his pain of discovering that the church isn’t exactly what he had always thought it was…trust me when I say…for those of us who have come to this conclusion…that discovery is very painful.

03. Let your husband know that both of you need to put each other first rather than your respective belief systems. Although as LDS members we’re taught that God and Church come before family…I personally believe that this is backasswards. Put your marriage/family first…before your church.

04. Garner mutual respect…each of you needs to respect that you both have needs. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Let him know that he is always welcome to accompany you to church if and whenever he may desire to do so in the future. But also let him know that you accept that he may never want to do so and that that is ok with you too. Basically mutual respect means that both of you are willing to be less dogmatic and more pragmatic…in other words more willing to make compromise to accommodate each other’s needs (this does not mean that he “must” attend church with you)

05. Don’t use the church as a wedge to divide…rather respect that your husband has legitimate reasons to no longer believe…but at the same time he needs to respect that you too have your reasons to want to continue to associate with the church.

06. Show your husband this post…get his input…be willing to talk about this…kill the 500lbs gorilla in the room.

07. Somehow get to the place where the difference in your beliefs is no bigger of a deal then you choosing to shop at Macy’s while he prefers shopping at Nordstrom’s…both stores have their pluses and minuses…but in the grand scheme of things…who cares which store you shop at, if it makes each of you happy to shop at different stores…it really shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

08. AND again, he needs to respect your desire to remain an active member of the LDS Church and do all he can to support you by not making it difficult for you to attend and participate. But at the same time don’t stand in his way should he chose to go golfing Sunday morning while you attend church. See we’re supporting each other’s respective beliefs…not placing conditions on each other…we love each other in spite of those differences…because we are loving who they are and not what we want them to be.

I might add…that I find it sad when a believing LDS spouse places a religion above a marriage and chooses to end a marriage because of the apostasy of one spouse. I cannot see how someone who is taught that the family is the most important unit of the church…can chose to divide a family because one family member loses belief in said church. (The same can be said of the apostate spouse who chooses to end a marriage over a spouse who wants to remain actively involved in Mormonism…ending a marriage over religion…is just plain stupid)

I hope this helps...

Cr@ig

I‘ve Just Lost Interest in Mormonism

2009-11-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

I’m going to take a hiatus from actively posting on my blog. As the title suggests I’ve just lost interest in discussing Mormonism. As I mark nearly 7 years since exiting the church…It has become an ever decreasing part of my life. To put it frankly, I just don’t give a shit about it anymore. As far as I’m concerned it can wither and die or it can flourish and fill the whole earth…I could absolutely care less…as long as it leaves me alone.

Mormonism is in my rear view mirror.

When I began this blog, I was devastated upon learning that the church I had loved, lived and believed with all my heart was nothing more than a fictional reality… It was nothing more than yet another man made religion created by man to suit the whims and desires of a man. My hero Joseph, turned out to be the ultimate flim flam man…a fraud.

A good friend of mine once said…”Mormonism might just be the greatest church ever invented…but if it was invented, I want nothing to do with it.”
Best wishes to all who have or will venture here…

I wish you nothing but the best in life,
Cr@ig

Spiritual Experiences Can Be Used to Manipulate Us

2009-09-28T10:50:00.003-07:00

I freely admit that the primary basis for my loss of believe in Mormonism is that I took it so literally and blindly. I accepted every pronouncement from church authorities spoken at conference, written in the Ensign, or published in their many books…Hook, Line and Sinker....and as the word of God

When the church and church scriptures taught that Adam left the garden 6,000 ago I literally believed it. When I was taught by the general authorities that there was no death on earth prior to Adams exit from Eden, I accepted it as an essential doctrine for the justification of and evidence for the need of an atonement.

When Spencer Kimble, declared in conference that every native American from Alaska to the tip of South America and the Islands of the Pacific were descendants of Father Lehi…I never questioned. The Prophet had spoken; the thinking had already been done.

When the Book of Mormon established Noah’s universal flood and the Tower of Babel as real historical events I accepted this whole cloth. I now find each of these claims unbelievable and unsubstantiatable.

While serving my mission, I had many so called spiritual experiences. One that stands out in my mind involved a book that shook me to the core. An investigator had given me a copy of Gerald and Sandra Tanners ”Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?” This was considered Hard Core anti Mormon stuff at the time and probably still is. Of course having a firm testimony of the gospel and knowing that real truth can stand up to any scrutiny, I accepted the challenge to read the book and get back with these people. Unfortunately, the book had the opposite effect than I had hoped on me; it exposed the ugly underbelly of Mormonism in a manner of which I had never been informed. The book showed photo copies of all the changes in the D&C, additions inserted in God’s so called revelations made to enhance Joseph Smiths claim to authority, eye witness accounts of Joseph’s drinking and tobacco use after the Word of Wisdom had been revealed. You see I was of that generation when Joseph had been made into a man-god (seemingly without fault) something I now know to not be true…he was very much a man with all the complicated personality traits and flaws all humans have. There were all the prophecies made by Joseph that NEVER came true, even one involving his prophecy regarding church members teaching the inhabitants of the Moon (yeah I know its bizarre, but he actually did prophecy such things) he even went on to describe their dress (like Quakers) so typical of Joseph now when I look back. All the information was documented from church records and accounts…and it blew me out of the water.

In a matter of minutes, I was rocked to the core of my being. I literally crumbled to the floor in a fetal position and shivered…during that HOT summer day.
I KNEW the church was true…I had felt the spirit so many times in my life…but these revelations were so detrimental to the truth claims of the church that if found true drew only one logical conclusion…the church could not be what it claims to be and these things also be true… at the same time.

I retreated to another room…and fell to my knee’s… Dear God, my Father I pleaded…if ever there was a need for You in my life it is now. I have lovingly served you tirelessly and I have asked for nothing in return…but dear Father…I need you now. These things cannot be true AND the church be what it claims to be. So I am telling you what I need from you. If this book is true…you need do nothing…leave it where I let it fall. BUT if it is NOT true…then I plead dear Father, knowing that You have all power to do all things…I ask You to Move that book off my bed and place it across the room to the opposite side of my room and place it on my companions bed. I know it is a sin to ask for a sign…but I NEED this…

I then concluded the most earnest prayer of my life and returned to my room. (I might add that my comp had been in another room studying during this entire incident he was oblivious to what I had been going through). I fully expected to return to my room and find the book laying exactly where I had left it (my faith had been so devastated…where upon I would have packed my suitcase and gone home from my mission a broken man) But as I walked into the room…the book was NOT where I had left it… God in His wisdom had performed my own personal miracle. As I entered the room…the book was on the other side of the room sitting on my companion’s bed. (I know gives you goose bumps doesn’t it) I again fell to my knees thanking God for answering my most fervent prayer…all doubts left…I was filled with the most wonderful spirit I had ever experienced in my life…I knelt there in my room crying, thanking God for His love and knew that the contents of that book was filled with NOTHING but lies and distortions. I went on to serve a wonderful mission serving as District leader, Zone Leader and as Assistant to the President. I returned from my mission with honor.

So why hasn’t this most powerful of spiritual experiences sustained me? Because in the end the claims made by the Tanners had in fact been based in some truth…but what about that book…didn’t it move across the room? Well yes it did. It turns out that while I had been praying my companion had come into our room , picked up the book, looked at it, then sat it back where he had been sitting…on his own bed. Yeah the argument could be made that GOD prompted my companion to do that…at least that’s what I believed at the time…but IF the Tanner material IS factual (and it is) can the church be true and the Tanners be telling the truth as well? Personally, it would be equivalent to having the Sun rise both in the East and the West at the same time.

So, based on my personal experience I’ve concluded that human emotions are a bad device to base truth claim on…Why? Because human emotions can be manipulated, we can deceive ourselves when using the so called prompting of the spirit…it just is not a valid standard upon which to measure truth claims on.

Bottom Line truth and faith must be based (at least on some level) on facts and reality...not fiction...Mormonism is seems...is based on the latter.

Apologizing for Mormon Apologists

2009-08-18T11:55:00.002-07:00

This past week, the apologetic arm of the Mormon Church, (FAIR) Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, met at its annual conference to present its latest apologetic arguments to defend the Mormon Church. The highlights, (I use that term lightly), of the conference were published by Deseret News in the most recent “Church News”. http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/57738/The-Book-of-Abraham-The-larger-issue.html

I feel bad for FAIR, having to defend an institution that hobbles its defenders with one uncompromisable premise. That no matter what the facts, no matter what the reality, no matter what the circumstances…there can be only one answer to all difficult questions…the Mormon Church is true.

In other words, Mormon apologists must start with the answer fixed and immovable and work backwards from that premise BEFORE the question is even asked. They cannot use standard methods usually utilized in truth discovery, such as rigorous examination, questioning, testing and scrutiny to come to a conclusion. No, they must begin all arguments with their conclusion first (that the church, no matter the argument, no matter how absurd the logic used, no matter how painful the mental gymnastics applied ... IS TRUE). The Church requires one uncompromisable rule, start with the desired conclusion (the church is true) and work backwards.

The problem with starting any search for truth using the straight jacket approach employed by Mormon apologists is that it requires them to come up with all kinds of bizarre, unbelievable explanations to defend beliefs that if subjected to any other standard method of examination would simply come to the conclusion that the belief is false…or simply put, Mormonism is not what it claims to be.

Take for example the apologetic augments John Gee used at the recent FAIR conference to apologize for the Book of Abraham.

“While critics of the Church often challenge the authenticity of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price, they attach more importance to it than Church members do themselves” – John Gee, 2009 FAIR Conference

REALLY???? Critics attach more importance to it then Church members?????? WTF???

Sorry John, you’re selling, but I’m not buying. The bogus Book of Abraham is one of four “canonized” books of Mormon scripture. Last time I checked…it wasn’t the critic’s that canonized the Book of Abraham…it was the members of the Mormon Church. The mere fact that the church has made the decision to distant itself from the controversy surrounding the authenticity of the Book of Abraham, by attaching less importance to it…IS the direct cause of Mormon critic’s who have shined the bright light of truth on the bogus Book of Abraham…and it is that truth that has caused the Mormon Church to diminish the importance of the Book of Abraham out of necessity in the hope that by doing so the fraud will not be discovered by the general church membership.

But hey John….knowing that you are bailing water from a ship that is taking on water faster than you can bail…you then turn to your standard uncompromisable premise.

"The book of Abraham is true," said Brother Gee, author of A Guide to the Joseph Smith Papyri, at the end of his presentation. "I think it can be defended. I think it should be defended. But it's not the be-all-and-end-all of either apologetics or research or the scriptures."

There it is…you didn’t disappoint us…the Book of Abraham is true…a total dismissal of reality and its true despite not being what it claims to be….a translation of the writings of Abraham, by his own hand. BUT WAIT do I detect a sign of doubt???
You "THINK" it can be defended? Are you not sure it can be defended…are you growing tired of the fight in defending the undefendable?

But knowing that the Book of Abraham is beyond salvaging…and knowing that the Book of Abraham IS one of the many pieces of the Jig Saw that confirms that Joseph Smith was a complete fraud and charlatan…you then pivot your augment.

You say, "We cannot afford to lose sight of the big picture,"

And what, do tell is that Big Picture? Oh yeah…the answer to the question that was given before the question was even asked…that the church is true no matter what.

So are we done yet? Oh no…we’re only beginning…

Never one to fail…you then offer this gem.

"Now where is the Book of Abraham in this?" he asked. "It isn't. The Book of Abraham is not central to the restored gospel of Christ."

REALLY??? Can the Book of Abraham be a complete and utter fraud and Mormonism still be all it claims to be??? I DON’T THINK SO…

But rather than explore this gapping question you simply choose to continue:

"First, the arguments about the Book of Abraham have become so complex that even the best and brightest of critics end up arguing unwittingly in favor of the LDS position.”The Document of Breathings made by Isis is not the Book of Abraham, and most Latter-day Saints have never claimed it was," he said. "Can we agree on that issue and move on?"

I understand why Mormon apologists want to move on from this embarrassingly impossible to win argument…and of course latter day saints haven’t claimed that the Breathings of Isis were the source of the Book of Abraham for to do so would be to admit defeat…so can we agree on THAT issue and move on? Yeah sure, just as soon as Mormon apologetics admit that the Book of Abraham is a fraud…your getting close to doing so…but come on just come clean and admit it.

"Second, the critics do not deal with the issues arising from the Book of Abraham that Latter-day Saints care about. In that sense, their approach is legerdemain and bait-and-switch".

Are you suggesting that the Mormon faithful don’t really care if the Book of Abraham is what it claims to be? Umm I rather doubt that…

"Third, how the Book of Abraham was translated is unimportant. The Church does not stand or fall on the Book of Abraham".

Of Course, YOU would say that Joseph’s translation process is unimportant…lol…because the real translation confirms that Joseph’s version was completely bogus. This is why Mormon apologist have had to come up with the bizarre notion that Joseph merely used the papyri to “channel” God’s revelation…because the Book of Abraham is nowhere close to a translation of the Egyptian characters found on the papyri. But clearly the record shows that Joseph wanted his associated to think he could translate…(to perpetrate his fraud) why else would he go to such lengths to write long verses from single Egyptian characters that we now know were not even close to what Joseph said they were.

"And fourth, regardless of how the Book of Abraham was translated, it is a remarkable document that tells us more about Abraham's day than Joseph Smith could have known."

There you go again dismissing the translation process…lol…But I do agree with you that it is a remarkable document that makes some of the most bizarre claims in all of Mormondom. i.e., Kolob, loaning its light to our own sun which is just…totally false and just plain bizarre. Or the claim that one day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh….LOL it’s just plain silly gibberish Joseph made up because he thought others would think this was Egyptian talk. So YES it is a remarkable document…ah if one is truly interested in seeking truth rather than defending a fraud.

In defense of John Gee and FAIR, I have sympathy for them; they are bailing water from a ship that is taking on water faster than they can remove it. They have allowed their collective brains to be bent in so many loops and knots that they can no longer think critically. And with the availability of the internet…information is now accessible that had long been held from church membership.

FAIR is at a great disadvantage because it is literally crippled by the agenda restrains placed on it by the Mormon church…and if one of the members of FAIR were to dare come to a conclusion contrary to the “authorized pre-conceived answer”…they would quickly be excommunicated, cast off and dismissed (like we are) as wicked, pathetic, misguided tools of the mythical Satan.

Only In Mormonism Can 2 + 2 = 5

2009-08-12T14:37:00.006-07:00

As a once believing member of the Mormon Church I found the church … Ummm … believable because it added up and made sense. At the time, I was unaware of or had made mental accommodations for all of the many difficult historical skeletons and yet to be discovered false claims that Mormonism is replete with.

Now many years later, I am a longingly, sentimental, non-believer, because the religion of my birth no longer adds up. So you tell me…how does one make Mormonism believable? The Answer...using Mormon Math.

Let’s look at a few examples of Mormon math to see if it adds up:

Joseph Smith was convicted of defrauding unassuming dupes of their money by using a rock he found in the ground claiming he could find them buried treasure + He used this same rock, stuck in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon = Joseph Smith is Credible?????

Does this Mormon math add up for you???? It does if you're a Mormon.

Let’s try another example…

The Book of Mormon describes a bronze aged Jewish civilization living in the Americas + Not one shred of evidence has ever been found to support this claim = The Book of Mormon is REAL History???

No problem here...

One more try…

Joseph Smith married and had sex with women who were already married to other men + D&C 132 requires the first wife’s permission to engage in a second marriage with a virgin +Joseph failed to get this permission and lied to his wife, Emma, and the public about his polygamist marriages = Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God????

Makes perfect sense...

Then again, one more problem that is only solvable using Mormon Math…

The papyri used for the Book of Abraham is a simple Egyptian funeral text + Joseph stated that the papyri was written by the hand of Abraham + The Papyri has been shown to be 1,500 years younger than the time-table of Abraham + his so-called translation has been proven to be nonsense = The Book of Abraham is believable Scripture.

Why would anyone doubt this stuff????

Sorry I could go on and on with these seemingly unsolvable Mormon problems that are only solvable if one uses Mormon Math.

Simply put….Mormonism is only solvable using Mormon math…but then isn’t it comforting to know that 2 + 2 has always equaled 5 and it does if you only use Mormon Math. Isn’t it wonderful… isn’t it marvelous

Caving to Its Critics???

2009-08-11T14:47:00.011-07:00

Much has been posted on the Internet about the changes that have been made to the “Gospel Principles” lesson manual that will become the new lesson material for both Relief Society and Priesthood in 2010.

If you haven’t had a chance to read the many changes to church doctrine now found in the new “GP” manual, you can compare the old “GP” with the new revised version here. http://www.mrm.org/gospel-principles

Like an earlier post I made after viewing the Joseph Smith Movie, I’m left to ask the question WHY? Why would the church make such substantial changes to its age old teachings? What would be their motivation? Why are they willing to expose themselves to other critics for making such obvious changes to their doctrine?

It's actually pretty easy to determine the motivation of the church once you look at the changes that have been made to its Gospel Principles lesson manual. You'll note that they are primarily making changes to areas that have become lighting rods of attention from their most agressive evangelical critics.

For Example:

In lesson 2 and 3, The church has completely caved to its evangelical critics…by eliminating an essential Mormon doctrine … and one of the doctrines that it is criticized the most about…that Satan is Christ’s brother. No longer will the church (at least not in an official setting) teach that Satan and Christ were spirit brothers. Also removed is any hint of a Heavenly Mother.

In lesson 4, Mormon’s are no longer taught that Adam and Eve were the First parents of the entire human race…now they have been relegated to merely “our first parents”. So WHY make this change? Could it be to leave alittle wiggle room for the reality of Evolution? Yeah I think so…

In lesson 47, there seems to be an abandonment of the doctrine of "earning" your eternal reward through good works and movement towards your eternal reward being a gift through Christ...or in other words, "GRACE". Makes me wonder why I used to argue with all those evangelical fundies on my mission...I could have saved myself alot of pain and abuse if I had just waited a few years and allowed the church to officailly conceed the Works vs Grace argument.

The Mormon Church does not live in a vacuum. It can and is influenced by outside pressures. It’s public image is one of its most valued commodities. It appears once again that the church will do anything…even discard many of the foundational doctrines found distasteful by its critic's ...in order to win their approval.

Now to be fair...I must admit that the church more than likly isn't really changing these doctrines...and most seasoned members will still hold onto the original beliefs...but the mere fact that the church is removing these controversal teachings from its lesson manuals...is evidence enough of their desire to water down and further fog non-mormon opinion of themselves.

Arn't you glad that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is unchanging???

10,000 People have Viewed my Blog

2009-06-13T08:26:00.003-07:00

Ok I'm blown away by this number...but according to my counter, this blog has had over 10,000 hits since I began it as a kind of cathartic process to exercise my Mormon demons. And HALF of that number (that’s five thousands for you folks in Utah County) have come this past year alone.

Next time one of you drops by...leave a comment, let me know where I’m right and where I’m wrong….challenge me...I love comments from both the exmormon community, current active LDS members...from you Christian fundies too.

Also if I have helped or hurt any of you or best of all made you THINK…I’d love to hear about that as well…

Who knows I may start writing in my blog more often…but then again maybe not…as most of those demons have become shadows of a former alternative universe existence.

Mormonism must Choose a Side...Damned if they do...Damned if they Don't

2009-06-03T14:03:00.004-07:00

With the scientific reality that there was no universal flood, contrary to Mormon doctrine, Mormon apologists are offering an alternative flood scenario to help those that doubt maintain belief. This new alternative is referred to as a "Regional Flood" or one that still took place...only on a much smaller scale.

But Mormon apologist want to have their cake and eat it too...but by abandoning a universal flood in favor of a regional flood...all kinds of problems begin to unravel.

A few years ago a group of BYU science professor’s bravely placed their neck’s on the Mormon chopping block by publishing an article in “Dialogue” that clearly put a nail in the coffin of Mormonism’s Universal flood doctrine …or did it really only create more cognitive dissonance? See link http://www.dialoguejournal.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/4003-White.pdf

While these professors successfully show why the concept of a universal flood is a naïve one, one that cannot be supported by reality…they dare not come out and disavow a Noahic flood altogether. They still want it both ways.

So once again schizophrenic Mormonism is trying to straddle two completely conflicting positions…one taught in its Sunday Schools and an opposing position being defended by its apologetic community. Neither position can be reconciled against the other nor with science or Book of Mormon claims.

If one accepts reality and rejects the doctrine of a universal flood one must also admit that Mormonism's most priced scripture is well...wrong

Ether 13:2 reads:

“For behold, they rejected all the words of Ether; for he truly told them of all things, from the beginning of man; and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof;

Clearly the Book of Mormon is teaching that the waters of a universal flood (how else could they have receded off of America AND placed Noah's Ark in the Middle East) had engulfed the mythical land of the fictional Ether and had receded off of it…leaving Ether’s America, a land choice above all lands.

This reality check is undefendable. The doctrine of a universal flood is destroyed in the article written by the BYU science professors. Yet the Book of Mormon clearly states that the America’s where subject to this same mythical universal flood.

In one fell swoop...another crack is found in the Mormon foundation.

I just don’t see any wiggle room for Mormon’s apologetic defenders out of this one…

Score one for TRUTH…

It Really Happened

2009-04-02T15:12:00.001-07:00

For the past 5 years I’ve been trying to recover from my Mormon upbringing…I suppose that on some level one never fully recovers from the mind fuck and brainwashing that is the Mormon church. But having said that…something interesting happened today that I felt I needed to blog about. I went to lunch with some friends…and not once did the Mormon Church come up in our conversation. Nothing Nadda, Zilch, Nil, ZERO.

Ok so what’s the big deal you ask? Well this particular group of friends has each struggled with our recovery from Mormonism, all in our own particular way during the past 5 years. At one time ,everyone of us were active believing members of the church, each of us still has members of our families that remain active and believe the church to be “true”. But through a total coincidence, one fateful day 5 years ago, we discovered independently that none of us were believers in the Mormon Church.
Since that day, we have been a support group for each other…helping each other get through the reality that the faith that we had dedicated our life to…was nothing but a false promises, with no hope of any reward.

Over the years we have discussed every aspect of Mormonism in every conceivable way. We have kicked that dead horse so many times, as each of us has felt the need to vent our frustrations due to having to live within the influence of Mormonism, despite not being believers.

But today was different…today there was not even one mention of the church in even the most subtle of ways.

After lunch, as I was walking back to my car, it hit me that we had gone through an entire lunch without any of us bringing up Mormonism. This was a huge and important moment in our recovery. Just as I was about to turn around and announce this wonderful transitional news with my departing friends…I caught myself and just said, “see yea all later”… You see, I didn’t want to spoil that perfect moment by making mention of the church.

A Conversation with a Mormon Apologist

2008-11-26T11:58:00.004-07:00

Buried deep in one of my post is the following joust between me and a poster who goes by the name of "The Blog"...I thought it was worthy of its own post. Enjoy.

The Blog said...
Craig, I was just wondering What foundational history and claims is the church not being honest about?
Sunday, November 16, 2008 2:36:00 PM

Cr@ig said...
Well "the blogger"...I KNOW it is hard for a true believing active member of the church to believe that a former true believing active member of the church could come to a decision that the church is NOT what it claims to be and actually leave the church, resign or just walk away.

Surly there must have been some sin, surly my faith and belief could NOT have been as deep as yours, or maybe it was that I wasn't as committed to the church or I secretly held desires to sin…because it HAD to be something, right? SOMETHING OTHER than the simple reality that the church is NOT what it claims to be.

I was a sixth generation Mormon…have held church callings from the simplest to the most responsible…I was NOT supposed to be the person to leave the church. I am/was immersed in the Utah Mormon culture. I paid my full tithes, I attended the Temple multiple times a month, I read my scriptures daily, I held family home evenings regularly…I STILL want the church to be true.

It was during my research that I encountered information that was not consistent with what I had been taught throughout my life as a 4 year seminary graduate and college institute graduate as well as being a full and active participant in the church since my birth. This is what caused me to start the questioning of my beliefs…conflicting information to the official stories.

I admit that once the questioning began…once the crack in my testimony started, once I started to ask tough questions rather than placing them on the back burner of my mind, the wheels began to fall off. But can’t real truth stand up to questions and scrutiny?

I was not shallow enough to just leave….I fought to maintain my testimony…I DID have long and multiple visits with Bishops, Stake Presidents and YES even General Authorities. I spent time with official church apologist at F.A.R.M.S. as well…I have read volumes of church sponsored explanations for church anomalies…but in the end…not one person, no bishop, SP or GA could answer my questions….in the end the pieces of the puzzle would not fit together the church could not stand up to tough scrutiny nor could it's explanations of reality fit in with what I now know to be the "Real" reality. In the end my faith could not be sustained… “For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope."

The church is either what it claims to be or it is not…there is no middle ground…Joseph either saw God or he did not, the Book of Mormon is either a factual history of a band of Israelites that were the forefathers of the American Indians or it is not…Joseph either translated Abrahams writings from Egyptian Hieroglyphics into the Book of Abraham or he did not. Thomas Monson either talks with God or he does not. As I’ve said before the church may be the greatest thing ever invented by man, but if it was invented…it does not deserve our involvement…for then, it is nothing more than a damnable false hope.
Monday, November 24, 2008 9:24:00 AM

The Blog said...
That wasn't really an answer to my question. What exactly isn't the church being honest about?
Were you inadvertently saying that Joseph Smith didn't see God and Jesus Christ? Were you saying that The Book of Mormon isn't written by a band of Israelites that are descendants of the Indians? Are you saying President Monson doesn't speak with God?
I don't think it's wrong to ask questions and anyone can choose to believe whatever the want to. I do know however, when I think something is wrong I stop associating myself with it. Why waste your time trying to prove something is wrong to everyone else? Why not just drop it?
What I have found is that when people leave the church they just can't stand to leave it alone. Leave it alone. Let people believe what they want to believe.
The way I see it, living the life the church encourages; abstain from drugs, alcohol, premarital sex, immodesty... etc. promotes healthy lifestyle, eat healthy, exercise, pray, read uplifting material (bible, book of mormon, other edifying books) be happy...etc. is the healthiest way to live. Do all members of the church live this way? NO. Would any person in the world be happier if they lived this way? YES.
Even if The LDS church isn't the true church of God on Earth, why try to discourage people from living a life that brings them happiness?
Monday, November 24, 2008 11:04:00 AM

The Blog said... Oh, and I wasn't making any accusations in my first question at all. I was simply wondering.
Monday, November 24, 2008 11:06:00 AM

Cr@ig said... That wasn't really an answer to my question. What exactly isn't the church being honest about?
Well “The Blog” since you’ve asked so kindly, let me try to be more specific. There are so many lies taught as truth in Mormonism…but here are just a few of the lies propagated by the Mormon Church:
*****************************
01. The Mormon Lie

God the Father has a body of flesh and bone

01. The Truth

Joseph Smith taught that God the Father was a body of
spirit, not physical, years after the supposed first vision. Why would he do this if he had in fact seen God and left the grove knowing God had a physical body of flesh and bone? See Lectures on Faith once part of the Mormon D&C now removed because it conflicted with other Mormon claims.

**************************************

02. The Mormon Lie

Joseph was an industrious hard working young man

02. The Truth

Joseph was a glass-looking, literally defrauding people out of their money by claiming to be able to find treasure by placing a rock in his hat.

************************************

03. The Mormon Lie

Joseph had actual Golden Plates in his presence that he translated into the Book of Mormon (think of the famous Mormon picture) Ummm it’s a lie…didn’t happen at all like that.

03. The Truth

Joseph buried his head in a hat on his lap with his peep stone enclosed to dictate the Book of Mormon text to his scribe...there were NO Gold Plates anywhere insight.

******************************

04. The Mormon Lie

Joseph lived the Word of Wisdom after it was revealed to him.

04. The Truth

Joseph never lived the Word of Wisdom and more than likely had an alcohol addiction. He even drank the night he was killed in the gun fight.

******************************

05. The Mormon Lie

Joseph was a virtuous, loving and faithful husband to Emma the perfect example of husbandhood and participated reluctantly in polygamy only after having his life threatened by an angel from God

05. The Truth

Joseph lied to Emma, he was involved with polygamous marriages more than 10 years before ever informing Emma. His first affair was with his own house maid 16 year old Fanny Alger.

******************************

06. The Mormon Lie

There are volumes of archeological evidence to support the historicity of the Book of Mormon.

06. The Truth

There is NO archeological evidence to support the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Nothing, nadda.

******************************

07. The Mormon Lie

Native American’s and Polynesians are descendants of an Israelite named Lehi.

07. The Truth

Native Americans descended from North-West Asia; Polynesians descended from South East Asia... not from an Israelite forefather and certainly not from each other.

****************************

08. The Mormon Lie

The “Nauvoo Expositor” was nothing but lies and a public nuisance.

08. The Truth

The “Nauvoo Expositor” was destroyed for actually exposing the truth about Joseph Smith.

******************************

09. The Mormon Lie

Brigham Young only taught Adam-God as a simple theory not as a binding a doctrine.

09. The Truth

Brigham Young DID teach the Adam-God Theory as church doctrine…those that failed to comply were threatened with excommunication for apsotacy.

******************************

10. The Mormon Lie

Joseph was a prophet of God and was not involved with the Occult

10. The Truth

Joseph died with a Jupiter Talisman (an occult symbol) in his pocket while at Carthage

******************************

11. The Mormon Lie

The Book of Abraham is an inspired translation of the papyrus written by the hand of Abraham.

11. The Truth

The Book of Abraham is a fraud. The papyrus is a common Egyptian funeral text it has nothing what-so-ever to do with Abraham.

******************************

12. The Mormon Lie

The various “First Vision” accounts are harmonious and support each other.

12. The Truth

At least four different "First Vision" stories exist either written or narrated by Joseph Smith which are in complete odds with eachother.

******************************

13. The Mormon Lie

Joseph was a moral man.

13. The Truth

One of Joseph Smith's plural wives was a 14 year old girl named Helen Mar Kimball, daughter of Heber C. Kimball and Vilate Kimball.

******************************

14. The Mormon Lie

The Mountain Meadows Massacre was unfortunate incident perpetrated by Indians and men acting on their own.

14. The Truth

Mormons, acting either under local direction or Young's direction, murdered innocent men, woman and children at the Mountain Meadows in southern Utah.

******************************

15. The Mormon Lie

The Temple Endowment was a restoration of temple ordinances lost from Solomon’s Temple of old.

15. The Truth

Joseph Smith plagiarized Masonic Temple ceremonies from the 1700’s into the LDS endowment within weeks of receiving them.

******************************

16. The Mormon Lie

The fact that we haven’t yet found evidence of these animals does not mean that they did not exist.

16. The Truth

There were no horses, sheep cattle, elephants etc in pre-Columbian America despite BoM claims.

******************************

17. The Mormon Lie

God gave Joseph’s father Lehi’s dream to prepare him for the Book of Mormon.

17. The Truth

Joseph Smith, incorporated his father’s 1813 dream into the Book of Mormon and attributed it to Lehi

******************************

18. The Mormon Lie

Joseph prophesied of the coming of the Civil War years prior to it coming

18. The Truth

Joseph articulated current events that any informed person of the day could have lifted from local news papers

************************************

19. The Mormon Lie

Joseph’s scribe, William Clayton, got it wrong in claiming that Joseph had started the translation of the fraudulent Kinderhook plates.

19. The Truth

William Clayton was good enough as a scribe when he wrote down Smith’s “1820 First Vision” claim in 1838 why not when he also detailed Joseph’s so-called first vision?

******************************
And that is just a few of the many lies.

I’ll share more thoughts when I have the time…
Tuesday, November 25, 2008 4:07:00 PM

The Blog said...
Cr@ig,

I have read through each and every one of your disputations and couldn't help but feel regret that you have placed so much weight on these points.

I have dedicated much of my life to the study of many philosophies, ideas, opinions as well as LDS doctrine coupled with anti-LDS beliefs.

I am easily able to refute each and every single one of your points. Since my time is limited, I thought it would be just as well to go over even the first one.

"01. The Mormon Lie

God the Father has a body of flesh and bone

01. The Truth

Joseph Smith taught that God the Father was a body of
spirit, not physical, years after the supposed first vision. Why would he do this if he had in fact seen God and left the grove knowing God had a physical body of flesh and bone? See Lectures on Faith once part of the Mormon D&C now removed because it conflicted with other Mormon claims."

I have read the entire Lectures on Faith and have it right here with me. Please give me a reference that says God does not have a body of flesh and bone. I am unable to locate any. Also, the Lectures on Faith was removed from the D&C not because they "conflicted with other Mormon claims" but they were "removed because they are not specific revelations to the Church and were never sustained as such" which the Doctrine and Covenants were. If they conflicted, wouldn't the Church not publish them, and even tell the Saints not to read them? I find on the contrary, "these lectures are of great value and should be studied... I consider them to be of extreme value in the study of the gospel of Jesus Christ."-President Joseph Fielding Smith

After I read your first point, it completely removed any credibility you had.

Your tone is the same as many anti-Mormons. In an effort to discredit the Church, you throw out mixed ideas that you think make a point, but in turn expose your weakness in not only study, but in sound reason.

My friend, I hope you can see through the thick cloud of your own pride and repent of your sins, that you can enjoy the light and happiness you once had, instead of trying to justify your actions in vain.

"When once that light which was in them is taken from them they become as much darkened as they were previously enlightened."

"And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things."-Alma 24:30
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 8:50:00 AM

The Blog Said: I have read through each and every one of your disputations and couldn't help but feel regret that you have placed so much weight on these points.

Cr@ig’s Response: Oh please… save your emotions , I’ve only scratched the surface…as to my points holding weight…they speak for themselves…but hey, I have an open mind…so If I am wrong in any of my conclusions…I’d love to be shown the errors of my ways….can you say the same for yourself? Is Truth more important to you than family, culture, religion, tradition and public image? Would you really dare or care to know the truth? Because until you value truth more than these other things…you will not be in a position to accept Truth.

The Blog Said: I have dedicated much of my life to the study of many philosophies, ideas, opinions as well as LDS doctrine coupled with anti-LDS beliefs.

Cr@ig’s Response: Characterizing information that brings into question Mormon claims as “ANTI” is an emotional-think-stopping-question-quelling-tool often used by cults. The Mormon Church and its apologist like to place anything that brings into question their claims…as “ANTI”. A real truth seeker would not. Neither I nor my blog are ANTI-Mormon….I am PRO-TRUTH. I have a very open mind and will gladly correct any posted thought of mine that can be proven to be in error. Why doesn’t the Mormon Church do the same…if they do in fact treasure truth above all other virtues? But instead they prop up their claims even after they have been completely debunked and shown to be false claims.

The Blog Said: I am easily able to refute each and every single one of your points. {REALLY? Be my guest} Since my time is limited, I thought it would be just as well to go over even the first one.

{Ok Bring it on}

"01. The Mormon Lie

God the Father has a body of flesh and bone

01. The Truth

Joseph Smith taught that God the Father was a body of
spirit, not physical, years after the supposed first vision. Why would he do this if he had in fact seen God and left the grove knowing God had a physical body of flesh and bone? See Lectures on Faith once part of the Mormon D&C now removed because it conflicted with other Mormon claims."

I have read the entire Lectures on Faith and have it right here with me. Please give me a reference that says God does not have a body of flesh and bone. I am unable to locate any.

Cr@ig’s Response: Please give you a reference that says that God does not have a body of flesh and bone? This is a classic Mormon Straw man argument, prove a negative. Of course there is NO reference that states emphatically that God “DOES NOT” have a body of flesh and bone and you know it. Rather we have a onetime canonized scripture/ now uncanonized, emphatically stating that “…The Father being {is} a personage of spirit, glory and power: possessing all perfection and fullness: {while} The Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, {is} a personage of tabernacle, made, or fashioned like unto man, or being in the form and likeness of man, or, rather, man was formed after his likeness, and in his image.

How much clearer does it have to be for you “Blog”? Joseph Smith is Juxtaposing the spirit comprised personage of God the Father against the flesh and bone composed Jesus Christ. Had it been Smith’s intent to teach that God had a body of flesh and bone in 1834, when he taught the Lectures on Faith, he could have easily done so…After all, you believe he knew this concept when he emerged from the grove in 1820…but the truth is that his concept of God being like man (with flesh and bone) had not evolved to the point that it eventually did in 1843, when he declaired in D&C 130.

So here’s my challenge to you…”IF” as you seem to believe, this concept of God having a body of Flesh and Bone was a commonly taught doctrine before 1843….show me “Any” reference before 1843 where “Any” Mormon Authority taught that God had a body of Flesh and Bone. Take all the time you’d like…. But it’s not there, because prior to 1843…Mormon’s believed and taught that God the Father was a personage of SPIRIT.

Blog, having dedicated {so} much of your life to the study of many philosophies, ideas, opinions as well as LDS doctrine… I’m sure that you are well aware that during the Kirtland period of church history Joseph Smith taught a traditional trinity view of the Godhead. This is well documented and further supported by the original trinity concepts {now removed} from the first editions of the Book of Mormon.

Blog Stated: Also, the Lectures on Faith was removed from the D&C not because they "conflicted with other Mormon claims" but they were "removed because they are not specific revelations to the Church and were never sustained as such" which the Doctrine and Covenants were.

Cr@ig’s Response: Hummm…The Mormon D&C is FULL of Non revelations…in fact you probably are unaware that one of the most quoted and beloved so-called Mormon canonized scriptures was NOT a revelation at all, but a mere personal letter Smith wrote to his wife Emma while incarcerated in Liberty Jail. The love letter parts were edited out and the well written "scripture quality" prose (something Smith was very good at) was added to the D&C as section 121 in 1880. It was NOT a revelation at all…but a well written love letter from a husband under duress to one of his many wives.

So the Fact that the Lectures on Faith were not so-called revelations is Not the reason they were removed…it was because by 1921when they were removed, the concept of God being a personage of "Spirit" had evolved within Mormonism and it conflicted with the then taught view of the godhead being taught by the church in 1921 when it was removed…otherwise all sections that were included in the D&C that were not-so-called-revelations would have been removed as well. But they were not.

Blog States: After I read your first point, it completely removed any credibility you had.

Cr@ig’s Response: Seriously…you need to redefine your definition of “Credibility” I find myself quite credible…since your premise and claims to my stated Mormon Lie on the godhead…has withstood your sad apologetic attempt.

Blog States: Your tone is the same as many anti-Mormons. In an effort to discredit the Church, you throw out mixed ideas that you think make a point, but in turn expose your weakness in not only study, but in sound reason.

Cr@ig’s Response: Blog your use of Mormon think stopping emotional triggers such as “Anti-Mormon” will NOT be tolerated on MY blog. As for discrediting the so-called church with my mixed ideas, weak study and lack of sound reason…I await your reply to my above mentioned Challenge. We'll see just how weak it really is. Good luck! Next time bring your best game...you're not messing with a neophyte.

Blog States: My friend,{we’re NOT friends…but I’m certainly open to meeting with you over a cup ‘O coffee someday} I hope you can see through the thick cloud of your own pride and repent of your sins, that you can enjoy the light and happiness you once had, instead of trying to justify your actions in vain.

Cr@ig’s Response: Get off your sanctimonious ramiumptum “Blog” and open your own eyes to the reality of the false claims of Mormonism… If you really do cherish truth…you will scrutinize and really examine all of Mormonisms truth claims rather than blindly accepting them because they come from your so-called prophetic leaders or some other emotional faith promoting feeling you might have experienced…for as Thomas Edison so wisely stated “…For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope."

And Mormonism is built on a foundation of myths, historical distortions and down-right lies...it cannot be what it claims to be.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 11:47:00 AM

The Consequences of Supporting California's Prop 8

2008-11-24T09:04:00.003-07:00

The Mormon Church has no one to blame but its own so-called inspired leaders.

With its support of California’s Proposition 8, the Mormon Church has thrown the largest rock into the tumultuous waters of Same Sex marriage … and appropriately is now reaping the tsunami ripples spinning off from this so-called inspired decision. How could God NOT have seen this coming?

Just like the recent Wall Street Market crash… the crash of the “Mormon Brand”, despite years and years of being propped up by its massive public relations effort, has been laid to waist. A vast majority of surveyed Americans have a negitive view of the Mormon Church.

The TSCC wanted to play with the big boys and is now reaping its reward. Evidently it learned NOTHING from the lessons of its own history. People do not like to be carpet bagged by out of state interests or have a minority impose its own personal interests on the majority. How soon TSCC forgets the political lessons of Kirtland, Missouri and Nauvoo.

I don’t claim to be a prophet in any sense of the word, but I can see where all of this is going…why couldn’t God’s so called anointed leaders?

Here are a few of my predictions:

• Unfortunately, the price of the decision will be paid by TSCC’s members through increased public alienation and marginalization. Its leadership will remain couched away in their Phallic Symbol, the COB.

• I foresee an increase in personal harm and attacks to the public face of Mormonism…its missionary force.

• Mormon conversion rates in California will nose-dive.

• All Mormon public buildings, such as churches and temples, will become targets of vandalism and public protests on a regular basis.

• Publically announced visits of Mormon GA’s to California will virtually disappear.

• Individual Mormon members in California will pay the heaviest price being subjected to individual acts of vandalism personally directed at their personal property…such as gratify to their homes and businesses.

• The children of the Mormon faithful in California will be subjected to public ridicule and taunts of bigotry while attending their public schools. Some may even have to be pulled from public schools. Declaring one’s self Mormon, will become even more embarrassing and painful.

• There will be an increase in membership resignations from California members.

• California wards, already divided over this issue, will see a decrease in membership attendance and tithing payments, creating its own ripple effect.

• Evangelical coalition members, who joined the Mormon Church in defense of Marriage, will abandon the Mormon Church (whom they view as a cult) and hang them out to dry.

• Mormon GA’s WILL be subjected to a “Cream Pie in the Face Incident”

• Either a Pro-Gay Marriage Prop will eventually pass or the California Supreme court will over turn Prop 8, but next time the Mormon Church will take a less active roll…having paid such a heavy price to its so coveted public image, tithing payments and membership numbers.

• Same Sex Marriage will eventually become Law in some form in California at some time in the future and all of the Mormon’s Churches efforts will have been for naught. If I can see this coming...why couldn't God's so-called anointed?

Isn’t it Wonderful…Isn’t it Marvelous…

I should note that I do not personally advocate vandalism, violence or bodily hard to anything or any person associated with the Mormon Church…I am merely stating the obvious consequences of the Mormon Church’s decision to interject itself into California’s Political arena.

“Acquiring Knowledge…The Mormon Way”

2008-09-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

According to Mormon scripture found in the Book of Mormon …

“faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith you hope for things which are not seen, which are true.”

Note the qualifying statement…Faith is a hope in things that eventually turn out to be true. Or in other words…faith fills the gap between ignorance and knowledge.

But does the Mormon method lead to truthful knowledge?

The B of M goes on to state…” concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge…”

So the B of M states that “Faith” in not perfect…it is flawed.

According to this scripture, to make your faith “flawless” you must exercise a little test.

You must... “awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment… and exercise a particle of [that flawed] faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of [the Mormon truth claim].”

So you must want to believe and let this desire to believe work up in you…until you start to believe…based on information and facts? NO! Based only on your desire to believe. Here in lies the problem...

Is this Mormon methodology trustworthy? Is this a “sure-fire” method of acquiring knowledge and truth? Can this Mormon method fill the gap between ignorance and knowledge?

Thomas Edison offered this alternative…” faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope."

When you exercise faith there has to be the assumption that your faith will ultimately be rewarded with a future confirmation that your faith was not misplaced.

But the Mormon God has stated that if we merely place faith in the words of an individual…and experiment on their words and exercise faith in them…that we can gain knowledge in this manner. But does this make any sense? What if that faith is misplaced? What if we are placing faith in a scam artist or a fraud? How many snake oil salesmen or pyramid scheme promotors have said…”just buy my special elixir or trust me...then you’ll “know” for a surety that I speak the truth…trust me…experiment on my words” Isn’t this really how all scams and fraudulent schemes are run…on a misplaced leap of faith?

Then the B of M goes on to state how to fill the gap between ignorance and knowledge…the Mormon way…

“Now behold, [If you want to believe and let this desire to believe work up in you…until you start to believe] would not this increase your faith? I say unto you, Yea; [and I say hell yes, but is this method trustworthy and failsafe…Hell NO!!] nevertheless it hath not grown up to a perfect knowledge.

But behold, as the seed swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, then you must needs say that the seed is good; for behold it swelleth, and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow. And now, behold, will not this strengthen your faith? Yea, it will strengthen your faith: for ye will say I know that this is a good seed; for behold it sprouteth and beginneth to grow.

And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect [well according to Mormonism it is] in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, [so if you want a thing to be true hard enough…poof…according to Mormonism …it is] for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.”

In other words…your faith has been replaced with Knowledge and faith is no longer needed in that thing which you have experimented on….but is it really? Is this a sure way to replace faith with knowledge?

“Faith is a belief in the absence of evidence, not in a *contradiction* to evidence. And I might add….faith can not make a truth false or a falsehood true…it can not change a fact. No matter how much faith I might exercise that Ireland is an arid desert sand filled void…it just won’t ever become a truth no matter how much faith I exercise…because it is NOT built on a foundation of fact or reality and no matter how much faith I exercise that Mormonism is all it claims to be...it just won't happen because Mormonism is built on a foundation of lies.

The only exercise of faith that will result in the reward of knowledge…is the faith that is built on a foundation of facts…facts that can be tested, scrutinized and subjected to rigorous examination…

The Mormon knowledge quest does not pass this test…and thus fails to qualify as a reliable method to discover knowledge and ultimately truth.

Mormonism's Squishie use of "TRUTH"

2008-08-05T08:38:00.008-07:00

What is Truth?

I posted on this subject back in June of this year...but wanted to add some more comments.

When I was an active believing Mormon, One of my all time favorite church hymn’s was the hymn, “Oh Say What is Truth.”

Oh say, what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem
That the riches of worlds can produce,
And priceless the value of truth will be when
The proud monarch's costliest diadem
Is counted but dross and refuse.
Yes, say, what is truth? 'Tis the brightest prize
To which mortals or Gods can aspire;
Go search in the depths where it glittering lies
Or ascend in pursuit to the loftiest skies.
'Tis an aim for the noblest desire.
The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp
When with winds of stern justice he copes,
But the pillar of truth will endure to the last,
And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast,
And the wreck of the fell tyrant's hopes.
Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first,
For the limits of time it steps o'er.
Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst,
Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst,
Eternal, unchanged, evermore.

I have always placed a high value on being truthful and on the principle of Truth. My favorite stanza’s from this hymn are “But the pillar of truth will endure to the last” and “Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore”

Truth is eternal and unchanging. Truth does not give into public pressure or bow to the whims of man. If something is true, it is absolute, fixed and complete. Truth does not need to be tampered with, edited or changed to accommodate evolving human conditions or perceptions.

The funny thing is that I earned my love of Truth from my Mormon upbringing…but it was also because I love truth that I could not return to Mormonism following my excommunication. My appreciation for truth would not allow me to compromise and accept something that I firmly believed was based on a fraud and built on a foundation of lies.

Joseph Fielding Smith (President of LDS Church in the early 1970's) stated:

"Mormonism must stand or fall on the story of Joseph Smith. He was either a Prophet of God, divinely called, properly appointed and commissioned or he was one of the biggest frauds this world has ever seen. There is no middle ground. If Joseph was a deceiver, who willfully attempted to mislead people, then he should be exposed, his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false..." ("Doctrines of Salvation," vol. 1 pp 188-189.)

Orson Pratt, an early leader in Mormonism added:

" 'The Book of Mormon' must be either true or false. If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from God... If false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world, calculated to deceive and ruin millions... The nature of the "Book of Mormon" is such, that if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it; If false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it... If, after a rigid examination, it be found imposition, it should be extensively published to the world as such; the evidences and arguments on which the imposture was detected, should be clearly and logically stated, that those who have been sincerely yet unfortunately deceived, may perceive the nature of deception, and to be reclaimed, and that those who continue to publish the delusion may be exposed and silenced... by strong and powerful arguments - by evidences adduced from scripture and reason..." (Orson Pratt's Works, "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon": Liverpool, 1851, pp. 1, 2.)

I couldn’t agree more with these esteemed LDS leaders…Mormonism is either what it claims to be or it is a fraud which should be exposed for what it really is.

Bottom Line Mormon’s leaders have taught in their weekly Sunday lesson manuals a version of Mormonism that is a complete myth based on the church they want to exist rather than the one that actually does exist. They put forth a faithful history to promote belief in Mormonism’s claims…they do this knowing that if they told the truth…faith would NOT be promoted, in fact some have even gone so far as to admit that if Mormonism was taught in a truthful manner it would destroy belief.

I once asked a church apologist why the church isn't honest about it's foundational history and claims. He responded by saying..."Oh Cr@ig, don't be silly, if the church was honest...NO one would join the church." Hmmmm.... but at least he was telling the truth. I only wish Mormon's leaders could value truth as much as they claim to.

In one of my favorite quotes Thomas Edison stated: For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope."

Any religion that MUST rely on LIES to build faith and belief in its claims can NOT be what it claims to be and is nothing more than a false hope.

Why I was Excommunicated

2008-07-28T11:16:00.013-07:00

Due to several inquiries asking that I explain the reasons that led to my excommunication, I thought I would make as forthright a confession as possible of all the reasons that led to me being excommunicated from the Mormon Church.

Strike 1:

I was raised in a family of con-men. My grandfather had run various con’s and had involved my father in his schemes as well. These weren’t your typical low level schemes…but full blown frauds with the clear intent to de-fraud other people out of their hard earned money. It’s been said that a sucker is born everyday…I can personally give testimony to the truth of this statement. We were never at a loss of a “mark” to take advantage of. I was brought into the “family business” at a young age…but continued my involvement as a young adult. I entered this family activity with my own mother’s knowledge and blessing.

Despite coming from a very active believing Mormon family, we somehow justified taking money from stupid people … and boy were we good at it. We plied our art on the greedy and gullible people in our community...they deserved it.

As a young man I soon became the instrument through which most of our cons were run. My father would set the stage for me to run my con. We took advantage of what all good con men know to be true… at their core, most people are greedy. We would take advantage of unsuspecting people's greed.

So here is how we set up our cons:

My father got unsuspecting gullible rich people to believe that I had the ability to actually see through solid objects. I know it sounds crazy, but he was very good and remember these “marks” were greedy. The “marks paid us large amounts of money for my ability to find them even more money that we had convinced them lay buried in their back yards.

To demonstrate my abilities my father would bury an object such as a feather in the yard of the “mark“several days in advance. Then we would offer a demonstration of my abilities to find hidden objects to our prospective clients. Knowing exactly where my father had buried the feather, I would use my super human abilities to see through solid objects to find the buried feather… this demonstration usually caused our marks to part with their money since they now had confidence in my abilities.

We tried this con once too often in my neighborhood and finally someone ratted me out. Word soon spread that I really didn’t have super human powers nor the ability to see through solid objects..."Gee Really?" and I had to turn to other ways to make money.

Strike 2:

Ok I’m a horny guy I admit it.

Not many years after I got married, I admit it, I did have a full blown affair…but bare with me…I was justified...

My wife had hired a local neighborhood school-aged girl to help with our household cleaning. She was 16 years old and a real hottie. I knew I was going to be in trouble the moment I laid eyes on her. I fantasized about her continuously. The way she swept and mopped our house...I mean seriously who could fault me. Now I must admit that I have a thing for women of any ages, but young girls really turned my crank. Any way to make a long story short…I was finally able to get our house keeper to succumb to my sexual designs. My little affair would have gone off without a hitch except my wife caught us one night while I was pounding the maid out back in our shed.

After this I continuously lied to my wife and told her that my affair was over and that I had learned my lesson…but it was all a lie. My love of women was insatiable. I think in all, by the time my church court came around, I had slept with about 33 women. Some of the girls I had sex with were as young as 14, some were married at the time and still others where older married woman…hell at the time I didn’t care, If it had a vagina, I wanted to pound it. With each successive conquest I became more bold. I took it as a challenge to bed whomever I wanted. Some of my best sex was with the wives of some of my best friends. Looking back, I still can't believe these happily married women fell for my pick up lines. It all fed my ego. All I wanted was to get laid… I knew I was out of control…but sex had become my life. Fortunately for me, I was able to convince my wife that I just had more love in me than she could provide. Sly dog huh. I was able to convince my wife that I would ONLY sleep with women to which she had given her approval {another lie}. This seemed to work for a while until some of the married women I had slept with started feeling all guilty and told their husbands. Word soon leaked out regarding my activities. Then the members of our neighborhood started the famed Mormon rumor mill...and I was finally outed.

Strike 3:

I think the final straw that led to my church court, as if my fraudulent activities and my multiple affairs weren't enough, the thing that finally broke the camel’s back…and left the church with no alternative but to excommunicate me was ultimately my pride.

I'm a proud man and I loved to boast about myself. I loved to tell other people about how great I am and at first meeting most people actually agree with me. But I now know that all this boasting get's old and eventually people don’t like it.

Yes, I know it was my pride that made me think I could pull off all the other things. I became delusional and even started to claim that I was second in greatness to only Jesus Christ himself. And I don’t think those involved in my church court saw any humor in me crowning myself “King of the World” either.

Bottom Line: I deserved to be Excommunicated...as would any person who did the kinds of dastardly things that I did. People would be "CRAZY" to believe ANY thing I might claim if they were aware of my entire personal history.

I hope this personal confession of the major sins that led to my church court will help quell further questions regarding why I was excommunicated. You see...I deserved it.

A Short List of Some of the Things I would have to Believe in to Accept Mormonism Again

2008-07-22T10:46:00.008-07:00

A recent anonymous poster sugggested that I would someday return to the religion of my birth...I disagree...but it made me think of some of the things I would have to believe to again return...this is a start to the list of things I would have to believe. (I will be adding more items to this list from time to time, as I have the time)

1. That God actually exists, I see no evidence of this. (he never helped me find my car keys I guess)

2. That this non-existing God created our earth, heavens, solar system, universe {again there are better, more logical explanations for how our universe came into existence excluding a God figure}

3. That God created Adam and Eve…the "FIRST" earthly humans.

4. That Adam and Eve, according to Mormon doctrine, exited the Garden of Eden, which was in Missouri, 6,000 years ago, after the Fall. That with the Fall, physical and spiritual death entered the earthly realm for the very first time. This is where the wheels of belief already start to fall off. The evidence so overwhelmingly supports the existence of man on earth for 100’s of thousands of years and death has been a constant part of earthly existence since life began, literally millions and millions of years ago. Only in Mormonism’s “reality suspension” was there no death prior to 6,000 years ago.

5. I would have to believe that the earth is 6,000 years old as stated in Mormon scripture D&C 77, something that I just find totally unbelievable based on all of the examinable evidence to the contrary.

6. That God lives on some actual planet near some planet called Kolob which shares its light with our sun. Now the interesting thing is that the word “Kolob” comes from the Book of Abraham, a book that has been so summarily debunked and proven to any thinking person, to be a fraud…that to again be able to believe in Kolob I’d have to believe in the Book of Abraham.

7. So let me address the Book of Abraham. It claims to be a translation of an Egyptian papyri written by Abraham, in his own hand. (see title page) The book is clearly NOT what it claims to be. Only in Mormonism’s twisted convoluted world, where actual truth and reality don’t matter can the BoA be real. So to believe in the BoA, I can’t believe in it for what it claims to be…but I must make some huge mental gymnastic leap and view the papyri as something it never claims to be…”a mystical revelation channeling device” through which Joseph Smith decoded some secret code, only he could see, imbedded within the papyri. But the evidence doesn’t support this. Joseph claimed to translate the papyri, he even took characters from the papyri and wrote their so-called translations in long hand. Clearly he wanted his audience to think he was making an actual translation of the papyri script. Bottom line, the Book of Abraham is a poorly crafted fraud which I would have to suspend reality in order to regain a belief in.

8. I would also have to believe in the Book of Mormon and believe it is what it claims to be. So let me examine what it claims to be.

A. a translation of a never discovered language

B. a religious history of a bronze-aged civilization living among a stone aged civilization with NO transference of their bronze aged technology.

C. A middle eastern Jewish people that left NO DNA footprint.

D. A people with horses, cows, camels, elephants, goats, yet were able to remove all evidence of their existence.

E. A people that were proficient in the working of metals such as gold, silver, steel, etc yet were able to remove all evidences of excavations, mines pits forges and all other sign of this technology.

F. A people who didn’t eat any of the known fruits and vegetables in the America’s such as the sweet potato, corn/maze…yet ate fruits such as figs, grapes whose pre Columbian existence has NEVER been found.

G. Basically the Book of Mormon describes a bronze aged civilization that thrived in the America’s yet left not one trace of their existence.

9. I would have to believe that the man Joseph Smith who claimed to see the physical God the Father and Jesus Christ couldn't get the details of his story right with each retelling of this fanciful story. (not something one would do if the story was actually true) In fact with each retelling the story only became more glorious and spectacular. I would also have to beleive that this same Joseph, who saw them in their physical bodies would within 10 years teach that God had no physical body and was merely a spirt...THEN...change his story again and claim that No God actually had a physical body. Joseph's godhead in reality...evolved throughout the years.

10. I would need to believe that God would command Joseph to use a stone Joseph had dug up while digging a well, to help in the translation process for the Book of Mormon. That God would instruct Joseph to use this same rock that Joseph had knowingly used to defraud people out of their money in his treasure digging scam. That God would instruct Joseph to place this same stone used in Joseph’s fraud in his hat and by putting his face in the hat with the stone he could also translate golden plates that were given to him by an angel named Moroni.

11. I would also need to believe that Joseph could translate these Golden Plates without the plates actually being present in front of Joseph…as he claimed that sometimes he would place them in a tree truck out in the woods and still be able to translate.

12. I would need to believe that this translation, from God’s mouth to Joseph’s ear via the peep stone, was so perfect that it only required a couple of thousand corrections after God had given Joseph Smith a word for word dictation on special parchment that would appear in his magical hat and then disappear once the correctness had been confirmed.

13. Perhaps the most difficult thing, regarding the translation of the Book of Mormon, I would have to again believe in to be a faithful believing Mormon...is the Official whitewashed translation story...which is actually a bunch of unbelievable bunk and lies...taught as the church had wanted this foundational story to have happened rather than how it actually did happen.

14. I would have to believe in a literal flood and a literal Noah of which even God’s so-called late-prophet believes when he declared…“There was the great Flood, when waters covered the earth and when, as Peter says, only ‘eight souls were saved’” – Gordon B. Hinckley, If We Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear, 175th Annual General Priesthood Meeting.

But was there really a great flood that resulted in only 8 surviving humans as declared by God's so-called prophet? If not, it significantly discredits Christianity in general and Mormonism specifically. Perhaps the greatest arguments against the traditional Mormon view of the universal flood, which supposedly baptized the earth, a doctrine proclaimed by Mormon’s so-called prophets, can be found HERE This article ironically written by two BYU Professors…pretty much sums up the impossibility of Mormonism’s traditional flood doctrine and why I find it impossible to reconcile it with reality.

To be continued…

Be Ye Therefore Perfect...

2008-07-10T14:59:00.003-07:00

And with these words, Mormon’s are reminded that they will NEVER measure up or be good enough….because here’s a little secret…NO HUMAN WILL EVER BE PERFECT. Striving for perfection is a mission in futility and frustration…

As a member of the High Council with the assignment of speaking to my assigned ward on the subject of being perfect, I asked those in the congregation the following question. “By the raise of hands, who here feels that they will inherent the Celestial Kingdom?’ To my utter shock, out of a congregation numbering about 350, only a small smattering of 6-8 hands went up. This Wasatch front ward, full of active Mormon’s…most of whom paid a full tithe, did their monthly home or visiting teaching, held temple recommends, fulfilled callings and held family home evenings…didn’t feel that they were doing enough to reach the highest reward in Mormonism.
Although I admit that my example is anecdotal, I believe it illustrates reality inside Mormonism…the inherent knowledge among active Mormon’s that “Their best efforts are NEVER and will NEVER be good enough”

And no wonder when almost every priesthood leadership meeting is filled with denunciations from the pulpit for the few male leaders in attendance to do better…lengthen their stride…reach higher…jump further. For the field is white, ready to harvest and lo he that thrustest in his sickle with his might…the same layest up…blah blah blah.

As a young Elders Quorum President, trying my hardest to do all that was asked of me while still trying to manage a young, growing family and a growing business, I personally did all of the home teaching that had not been completed by the 25th of each month. But try as I might, I just couldn’t get to 100% [families being gone etc] every month. Each month I knew that the bishop would come down hard on me for not fulfilling my priesthood duties [which I took very seriously]. So each successive month I would rededicate myself and my councilors to once again reaching the coveted 100% home teaching goal....but it never happened, at least not consecutivly.

A few months after I had been released, I was surprised, when a visiting member of our stake high council stopped by our quorum to congratulate the new elder’s quorum presidency for three successive months of 100% home teaching. I felt humiliated and mad for two reasons. First because my presidency had never had successive 100% home teaching months…AND second, because since I had been released…I had NEVER had a home teacher....ever. Rather than put in the effort to reach 100% home teaching…the rather SMART new presidency just lied and turned in false numbers. I remember speaking to my rather stunned former councilors who also admitted that they too had not been receiving home teachers. We all agreed that we had been rather stupid for trying so hard...if all you had to do to get recognition from our inspired priesthood leaders was lie our ass's off.

But the need for perfection had been so great on this new elder’s quorum presidency, they just decided to lie rather than do the work.

As a full time missionary, numbers were very important. And despite claims to the contrary, Numbers were everything. Yes there were the required words to teach by the spirit…but god damn it…the spirit better get you at least 30 teaching opportunities a week or else.

Every Elder was measured against the other. Companionships that worked the most hours, placed the most Book of Mormons, taught the most discussions or if all the stars aligned, actually had a baptism were highlighted in our monthly “Report” Newsletter. Elders that excelled in their work habits advanced…elders that turned in less than stellar numbers…remained Sr Comps or a mere Jr Comp. Numbers mattered. And Boy did I have Numbers. I led the mission month after month… in many of the NUMBER areas and quickly advanced up the leadership ladder….reaching Assistant to the President the last 6 months of my mission. The quest for perfection was everywhere. I now feel bad for playing that game and mentally beating up those elders that just couldn’t or wouldn’t play along with the numbers/perfection game.

Sometimes…someone’s best really is less than some arbitrary number picked by a mission president and his AP’s.

Utah leads the nation in depression. Could this be related to the Mormon perfection quest and the reality of its failure members to actually reach perfection?

As a former Mormon, I now look back on my mormon perfection quest with a sense of glee that I was able to get off the Mormon Perfection Quest Merry Go Round. Knowing that I only have to please myself and no longer have the need to cater to the whims of old men in Salt Lake City and their never ending pleas to do more, give more, be more.

It’s said that water finds its own level, everyone is different, everyone’s needs and abilities are not the same…Living the cookie cutter, one size fits all LIFE offered by Mormonism is NOT an authentic life. It's a fake life. I am so very grateful I discovered this reality…while I was still at an age and had the ability to live an authentic life.

I Wanted Mormonism's Claims to be True...But instead, It Broke My Heart

2008-07-01T14:18:00.004-07:00

I absolutely loved the LDS Church. I loved the culture, I loved the people, I loved and looked up to the GA’s as examples to base my life on and I loved the comfort that I had the TRUTH. I could with an aire of confident pride look at my fellow man and feel sadness and compassion for their lack of belief in accepting Mormonism’s truth. I took comfort in knowing that I was not just another human being walking blindly on the face of the earth... I knew who I was; I was a Child of God... a God in embryo. Yeah, I bought the “Snake Oil” and all its promises of families being together forever.... eternal marriage.... Godhood...eternal progress...That’s what makes it hurt so much even today. To discover the lies, the whitewashing, and the glorification of history to make it more spiritually uplifting, to have been taught the foundational stories as the church wanted its history to have played out rather than how it actually did play out.... I feel lied to and deceived by the very people I had placed such total confidence in. They lied to me and continue to lie to promote their agenda of belief. But belief in lies is just a false hope.

Coming to the realization that the LDS Church is not what it calms to be…has been the most painful experience of my life…yes even more so than being subjected to the church court which led to my excommunication (which was the second most painful experience of my life) Discovering that the church of my birth, has lied about its foundational claims…is more than I care to bare. Yet the facts that lead me to this conclusion seem beyond reproach. I just can’t fake it any longer; I can’t hold the pieces of the puzzle together in my head any longer. Much like the Dutch boy with his fingers in the dike holding back the flood. I had been plugging the many conflicts in my faith in Mormonism since my mission and the dam just finally broke. I can’t hold all the conflicting so called truths…one must be true while the other false. Conflicting claims of truth can’t all be true. I have to accept reality!

Mormonism is amazing to me in that regard...its ability to get its "knowledgeable" members to ignore credible information that conflicts with the offical church scrubed stories. How do these active members maintain these conflicting bits of information in their head while still being able to maintain faith in the church. God bless em I say ...I just couldn't lie to myself any longer. I no longer had the ability to maintain the cognitive dissonance.

Gordon B. Hinckley and many others have said that the church is either the truth or it’s a fraud...its either what it claims to be or it isn't. The fact that the church needs to lie and cover-up and whitewash and doctor and change its history and foundational stories in order to make them more faith promoting, finally collapsed what faith I still had remaining. I asked myself.... Would Jesus need to lie to support belief in Him? I answer that by saying NO, He wouldn't need to lie...which begs the question...then why would HIS church need to lie? Gordon Hinckley challenged members of the church to stand for something…well I decided to stand for TRUTH.

But most active Mormon’s won't expose themselves to the conflicting information.....it’s just too painful. My dear wife, whom I love to death...barely listens to anything I have to say on the subject. I have no credibility with her. It has broken her heart to see me lose the faith and belief I once held so dear, but I couldn't live a lie any longer. I refuse to live a lie for anyone. The church may be the greatest thing ever invented…but if it was invented…and its not what it claims to be, then I want nothing to do with it

The average run of the mill active believing member of the church won't listen to reason....they have been so conditioned by the church that they won’t listen to alternative ideas when they come in conflict with the church’s version of foundational claims. Questioning is not encouraged…if in so doing it questions faith in official stories. Even when confronted with factual documented proof...active members discard it as anti-Mormon falsehoods. How do I know this...that description used to be me.

My ah hah moment was when I finally decided that I had to know the truth no matter what the consequences...When I allowed myself to search for the truth even at the cost of my faith...it was over. The truth won out. I didn't like the truth...the truth was extremely painful, but I couldn't deny it either…the evidence against Mormonism is overwhelming.

I have no agenda against the church...you won't find me at conference holding up signs promoting what I’ve discovered... I just want to live an honest athentic life and be the best person, husband, father I can be….

One thing I’ve learned through this process of discovery is that it is not possible to accept reality unless you are willing to accept the remote possibility that the church may not be what it claims to be. If you can't accept that possibility...then you will never accept reality when it comes to church claims.

.

Mormon Church to Members ... Ignore Reality ... Trust Your Feelings

2008-06-16T15:20:00.009-07:00

"Mormon-Think" can be summed up in one sentence uttered by one of its top 15 leaders, Boyd K. Packer (next in line to assume the presidency of the Mormon Church).

"When confronted by evidence in the rocks below, rely on the witness of the heavens above”

In other words…When confronted with verifiable physical evidence that conflicts any Mormon claim…Ignore it, stick your fingers in your ears, and yell naw, naw, naw, naw…I can’t hear you.

Don’t believe in verifiable, observable, testable, discernable, visible, recognizable evidence. Instead ignore all conflicting evidence and place your faith in your human emotions and feelings that can’t be manipulated, managed and controlled. For you can always rely on your human emotions and feelings as a confirming witness to truth.

I understand why the Mormon Church would want its members to place their faith in something so unstable as their own human emotions and feelings becasue the church knows that it has trademarked its ability to manipulate human feelings.

The church through its own subsidiary,Bonneville Communications , boldly flaunts its ability to manipulate the human heart (feelings) stating its unique strength is their …”ability to touch the hearts and minds of audiences, evoking first feeling, then thought and, finally, action. They call this uniquely powerful brand of creative advertising HeartSell® — strategic emotional advertising that stimulates a response.” Anyone who doubts the Mormon churches ability to evoke emotions may ask the question ... Why do missionaries hand out tissues to audience members viewing the church produced "Joseph Smith Movie"? The movie demonstates the churches ability to manipulate tears, feelings and emotions... AKA "The Spirit"

They proudly proclaim that for over 30 years [their] creative professionals have designed public service and direct response messages for national nonprofit organizations such as the Huntsman Cancer Institute, Boy Scouts of American, National Hospice Foundation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and The Salvation Army.

Yup…don’t trust the observable, verifiable or testable….trust your human emotions. (Just make sure that the church isn’t using its trademarked special human feelings manipulation technique “HeartSell®” on you.

"WTF? - Adam was a "Black" African?"

2008-06-12T09:01:00.003-07:00

A few years ago I read the book "The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey" by Spencer Wells. Wells, a geneticist, traces the DNA forefather of all current living mankind back to a single man who lived in Africa 60,000 years ago.

In a National Geographic article on this subject we read:

“By analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago.

Modern humans, he contends, didn't start their spread across the globe until after that time. Most archaeologists would say the exodus began 100,000 years ago—a 40,000-year discrepancy.

Wells’ take on the origins of modern humans and how they came to populate the rest of the planet is bound to be controversial.

His work adds to an already crowded field of opposing hypotheses proposed by those who seek answers in "stones and bones"—archaeologists and paleoanthropologists—and those who seek them in our blood—population geneticists and molecular biologists.

Over the last decade, major debate on whether early humans evolved in Africa or elsewhere, when they began outward migration, where they went, and whether they interbred with or replaced archaic species has moved out of scientific journals and into the public consciousness.
Wells addresses these issues in a new book, The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey, and a National Geographic documentary of the same title. In a straightforward story, he explains how he traced the exodus of modern humans from Africa by analyzing genetic changes in DNA from the y-chromosome.

"As often happens in science," he said, "technology has opened up a field to new ways of answering old questions—often providing startling answers."

You can read the rest of this article here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html

The poster Zelph, in a comment left on my Mormonism is Dependant on Death First Occurring 6,000 Years Ago post, made the following comment….”on the topic of the first humans, it is evident that the first humans came from Africa. I doubt that the white bread people we see in the temple video would survive the African Sahara. The first humans probably looked like Africans today. Just shows the level of racism to automatically assume that the first parents were white.”

Not only that but…knowing that our first parents were of African descent throws a Huge “WTF” moment at the Mormon ban of Blacks of ONLY African descent holding the so-called super duper magical Mormon priesthood powers. For the Mormon paradigm to work, Adam had to be “White and delightsome” for only then could God have cursed Adam’s son Cain with his dark loathsome skin we find in the African race (according to Mormon doctrine). For it was by being labeled as the descendants of the evil Cain that generations of Blacks {of only African decent} were denied the full rights and so-called privileges of Mormonism's Priesthood.

Once again...the realities of science are screwing with the rational for the Mormon ban against the African race.

Funny how NOTHING discovered by Science confirms ANY of Mormonism’s bizarre core doctrines…

Actually its rather sad...

My 10 Favorite Questions to Ask Mormon's

2008-06-11T15:48:00.003-07:00

01. Describe in detail the Book of Mormon civilizations, their food, money system, animals, modes of transportation, tools, weapon systems etc.
A. Where did this civilization exist?
B. Why have none of these outward signs of this civilization ever been found?
C. Can you name any other civilization that left no earthly footprint of its existence?

02. When did Adam immerge from the Garden of Eden? {If they are stumpt…refer them to their Mormon Bible Concordance which states that Adam immerged from the Garden of Eden 4,000 BCE}
A. Where was the Garden of Eden? {I throw this in for fun}
B. Was there death on the earth before Adam left the Garden?
a. If they say no…have them explain the fossil record
b. If they say yes…have them explain Mormon doctrine that states that physical death was introduced with the Fall of Adam.

03. How old is the earth? {again if they get stumpt refer them to D&C 77}
A. Once they establish 6,000 years have them explain how the archeological record shows modern-man has been in the America’s for nearly 20,000 years and throughout the earth for over 100,000 years and in Africa for over 1,000,000 years.
B. How do you reconcile this with Adam leaving the garden 6,000 years ago?

04. Was there a Universal Flood and a reqal historical Noah?
A. If yes, have them explain how all the animals got to their final destinations i.e., Kangaroo only in Australia, Hummingbirds on in the America’s
B. If there was a central distribution point {AKA Mt Ararat} why don’t we find these unique animals distributed throughout the earth rather than in their isolated locations with no fossil record leading back to the Middle East?
C. If there was a Universal Flood explain the archeological record showing the presents of man in the America’s {and other parts of the world} prior to and following Noah but before the timeline of Jared and Lehi.

05. Are the Pacific Islanders descendants of Lehi?
A. Explain the scientific evidence that shows they descended from Asian forefathers and NOT American forefathers.

06. Explain in detail the method Joseph Smith translated the Golden Plates? The actual mechanics of this process.
A. If they know the actual process congratulates them…if they don’t inform them.
B. Explain how JS accomplished his translation with the plates being nowhere in sight?
C. Explain how the same process Joseph used to “con” local farmer with his treasure digging scam could have been the process God used to translate Golden Plates?

07. Do you believe in Evolution?
A. Explain how mankind and chimpanzees share 98.7% identical DNA?

08. Does the Sun generate its own energy {self contained} or does it borrow its energy from other planets… i.e. Kolob? {see the Book of Abraham}

09. Explain how 18th century man-made additions to the King James Bible found their way into the Book of Mormon?

10. Explain how sections of 2nd Nephi’s Isaiah taken from Laban’s Brass Plates included parts of the Biblical Isaiah that were written after Lehi left Jerusalem?

Of course caution should be used with the use of these questions as they have the terrible side effect of causing your Mormon subject to have to actually **THINK** which could lead to cognitive dissonance...and begin the process that may eventually led to apostasy.

Mormonism is Dependant on Death First Occuring 6,000 Years Ago

2008-06-10T16:12:00.003-07:00

In an October 1996 Conference talk, Mormon Apostle Russell M. Nelson again reiterated a fundamental Mormon doctrine concerning the historicity of The Fall of Adam and the introduction of physical death (November 1996 Ensign beginning on page 33) by stating:

"The Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted.The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to progenitors, worlds without end.This is the great latter-day work of which we are a part. That is why we have missionaries; that is why we have temples-to bring the fullest blessings of the Atonement to faithful children of God."

Section 77 of the Mormon Doctrine and Covenants as well as the official Mormon Church website set in concrete the chronology of Adam's Fall as occurring in the year 4000 BCE, http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bd/chrono , So again we have a FIXED historical date for the introduction of death according to Mormon doctrine.

But any elementary school aged student (unless they were educated in Utah) can tell you that death has existed on the earth as long as life as existed...literally millions of years. Fortunately we have a fossil record to confirm this reality.

So how does the church explain away this huge problem in its foundational doctrine?

Chirp...chirp...chirp....

Complete and utter silence on this obvious (to any thinking person) conflict.

The mere fact that death has existed for millennia, illiminates the Mormon claim for the need of atonement. For if death has existed for literally millions of years...then there was NO Fall of Adam...if there was No Fall of Adam...then according to Mormon doctrine there is no need for an atonement....if no need for an atonement...there is no need for a Christ...

The FACT, that there was never a FALL ,as Mormon's claim, some 6,000 years ago, completely collapses Mormonism's House of Cards.

Maybe Bruce R. McConkie said it better than I...

"If death has always prevailed in the world, there was no fall of Adam which brought death to all forms of life. If Adam did not fall, there is no need for an atonement. If there was no atonement, there is no salvation, no resurrection, no eternal life, nothing in all of the glorious promises that the Lord has given us. If there is no salvation, there is no God. The fall affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself". - Bruce R. McConkie

Hmmm maybe Bruce and I agree on something…

What is Truth?

2008-06-10T10:32:00.002-07:00

What is Truth?

When I was a believing Mormon, one of my favorite hymns was, “Oh Say What is Truth.”

Oh say, what is truth? 'Tis the fairest gem That the riches of worlds can produce, And priceless the value of truth will be when The proud monarch's costliest diadem Is counted but dross and refuse.
Yes, say, what is truth? 'Tis the brightest prize To which mortals or Gods can aspire; Go search in the depths where it glittering lies Or ascend in pursuit to the loftiest skies. 'Tis an aim for the noblest desire.
The sceptre may fall from the despot's grasp When with winds of stern justice he copes, But the pillar of truth will endure to the last, And its firm-rooted bulwarks outstand the rude blast, And the wreck of the fell tyrant's hopes.
Then say, what is truth? 'Tis the last and the first, For the limits of time it steps o'er. Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore.

I was raised to be truthful. I have always placed great value in being truthful and in seeking Truth. There are a few stanzas from this hymn that are of particular interest to me and seem to sum up how I view truth. “But the pillar of truth will endure to the last” and “Though the heavens depart and the earth's fountains burst, Truth, the sum of existence, will weather the worst, Eternal, unchanged, evermore”

Truth is eternal and unchanging. Truth does not cave into public pressure or bow to the whims of man. Truth is timeless, it is absolute, and it is unquestionable and certain. If something is true…you can bank on it forever and even if the heavens depart and earth’s fountains burst, truth will remain unchanged evermore.

I was taught that the tenants of Mormonism met the toughest of truth tests. That Mormonism and truth were synonyms of each other. Mormonism = Truth and Truth = Mormonism. How is it possible that I could have been so wrong?

Discovering that the church was not what it claims was one of the hardest conclusions of my entire life. It has been an extremely excruciating and painful supposition to come to. With all my being, I wanted the church to be all it says it is. To be TRUE. But the depth of the lies, cover-up and whitewashing coupled with so many obvious false claims were just too overwhelming for me to maintain faith in Mormonism. I agonizingly came to the conclusion that despite what I had been taught all my life, the faith of my youth had been built on false and unfulfillable promises of eternal life, eternal families and marriage only by maintaining an allegiance to Mormonism. The abundance of conflicting information to this claim can lead to only one logical conclusion, “The church is not what it claims to be“. It is NOT True.

To me ... this is the underlying evil of Mormonism ... It is equivalent to buying a medical elixir from a snake oil salesman who claims that his elixir and his alone can cure all of your medical ills. You buy into his claim of wonderful medical miracle cures and pay your money. You go home take the elixir exactly as instructed…you have great faith in this salesman and his product, believing that his claims are true. But when the desired cure never takes place…you go to get your money back….but the salesman has skipped town with his fictional claims and your money…you were sold a fiction, and despite his truth claims and your faith…it never was going to be anything other than fiction with no chance of ever delivering on its claims. You were sold a false hope and the salesman never had, nor intended to make good on his promises.
The allure of Mormonism is its claim of truth. The false hope in Mormonism is its ability to pass off to the NEXT life all of its big pay offs. The REAL rewards don’t arrive until you’re dead…when I suggest that none of us will have the ability to ask for a refund…Mormonism is a false hope with no intention of ever being able to make good on its promises.

Like the snake oil salesman promising miracle cures...Mormonism sells its members false hopes in the eternities that it will never have to make payment on. It sells its membership false promises that it will never have to keep.

Some knowledgeable members believe that a lifetime of dedication and obedience to the church is warranted because of the earthly benefits that are inherent in the church in this life. Because the church brings these members closer to Christ...they overlook or ignore the difficult history and false claims of the church. They buy into the claim that the church makes them a better human being. The promises of eternity are merely the “dessert” on an already wonderful lifestyle. In other words, some members are willing to overlook the truth claims of Mormonism because they perceive or reap earthly benefits. So the lifestyle benefits are worth forfeiting so-called earthly gratifications.

So Mormonism is a false religion because its claims are false. It claims to be the only true church on the face of the earth...yet its doctrine is riddled with falsehoods.

Some time ago I compiled some of the false testable claims found in Mormonism... here is a small portion of that effort.

Testable false claims found in Mormonism:

1.) If there was not a universal flood 4000 plus years ago, Mormonism is a fraud.

2.) If there was death of any kind, animal or vegetable, prior to The Fall, 5700 plus years ago, Mormonism is a fraud (check your local fossil record).

3.) If any human being on earth today descended from any human, or humanoid, other than two people who lived in Missouri 5700 years ago, then Mormonism is a fraud.

4.) If there were ANY humans living on earth prior to Adam and Eve 5700 years ago, Mormonism is a fraud.

5.) If the canonized Book of Abraham is not what Joseph claimed it to be (a "translation" of those particular scrolls), then Mormonism is a fraud.

6.) If the Book of Moses is not what JS claimed it to be (a restoration of Moses' original book of Genesis), then Mormonism is a fraud.

7.) If "spirit" is not "matter", then Mormonism is a fraud (that is, we ought to be able to detect the "matter" of "spirit", shouldn't we? Why is it totally invisible and undetectable, that is, IMMATERIAL?)

8.) If the Native Americans are not who "Jesus Christ" in the D&C said they were, namely, "Jews", then Mormonism is a fraud.

9.) If our sun is not drawing its light from a star called Kolob, then Mormonism is a fraud (wording from the facsimile may allow apologist spin job on this one - course, "wording’s never had much of an impact on whether a spin job comes up or not).

10.) If those who currently have themselves sustained as "seers" cannot actually perform the function of a seer by, say, translating unknown languages while looking through a seer stone, as outlined in the BOM and other places, Mormonism is a fraud. (Why haven't they translated the "papyrus scrolls of Joseph" yet?).

11.) If "A" and "not A" can not both be true, then Mormonism is a fraud, since in so many cases Mormonism requires us to believe just that, i.e., "The Lord won't let the prophet lead us astray"/"I don't know that we teach that"..."The Negroes weren't valiant in the pre-existence"..."birth control is an impure and unholy practice"..."plural marriage is necessary to exaltation"...and a million more reversals of previously taught doctrines by sitting church presidents. If the Lord won't let the prophets lead the church astray, how is it that in less than two centuries, the Godhead had been reconfigured by them so often? The Lectures on Faith were even CANONIZED for almost one hundred years! Can you imagine? The Godhead was the trinity for awhile, then it had two people in it, Adam's in there for awhile, JS thinks Jehovah is God the Father in section 109, or at least thinks it's okay to pray to Jesus which now it's not, the Godhead actually has three, James E. Talmage invents "divine investiture"....it's nuts. In which one of those evolutionary stages was the Lord not allowing the prophet to lead us astray? When we worshipped Jehovah? Or Adam, in the endowment ceremony? Or does it not matter who we worship? If not, then what's that commandment doing there in the Ten Commandments? And if it IS the case then that the Lord WILL let the prophets lead the church astray, then that torpedoes the whole thing anyway (as if all the contradictions don't anyway).The funny thing is, you don't even need to go searching around for steel and barley and stuff. You don't even need to go outside Mormonism itself to see that it can't possibly be what it claims to be. You can pretty much establish there is no way just on www.lds.org itself.

12. If the Earth is NOT 6,000 years old (see D&C 77) Mormonism is a fraud

13. If there were not Steal, Horses, Elephants, Wheat, Barley, Wheeled vehicles Figs, Grapes, etc in the Americas during the timeline of the Book of Mormon. Mormonism is a fraud

14. If the island inhabitants of the Pacific are not descended from the population of the Americas and of Hebrew blood, Mormonism is a fraud

15. If Joseph Smith’s claim to have translated Egyptian Papyri is proven a false translation, Mormonism is a fraud

16. If Joseph Smith translated the Kinderhook plates, which have been proved to be a modern day hoax, Mormonism is a fraud.

17. If Jews from the time of Moses until at least 600 B.C. were not proto-Christians, Mormonism is a fraud

18. If Ancient Jews didn’t believe in the Devil/Satan, Mormonism is a fraud

19. If Ancient Jews didn’t believe in an afterlife, Mormonism is a fraud

20. If there wasn’t an original, pristine Christian church started by Jesus Himself which fell into apostasy, Mormonism is a fraud

21. If Joseph Smith used the same method of translation for the BoM that he used to defraud unsuspecting farmers of their hard-earned money with his claim to find treasure, Mormonism is a fraud

22. If the JST of the Bible is found to be totally unsupportable as a translation of any original biblical manuscripts, Mormonism is a fraud

23. If the substantive narration of the BofM - King Benjamin's discussion involving Jesus bleeding from every pore - debunked as a fabrication when Bible scholars learned that the Book of Luke account of Jesus sweating blood was a fabrication inserted by proto-orthodox believers (precursor to Catholic Church) - see research by Bart Ehrman. The plates of brass insertion is also debunked via the 1769 KJV errors. The Nephite sermon on the mount text is also a demonstrated fabrication because of the Lord's Prayer that Bible scholars have found to be partly fabricated during the Middle Ages - see any Bible, like a NIV version or annotated NKJV for a discussion., Mormonism is a fraud

24. If the characters Joseph Smith claimed were on the golden plates bear no resemblance to any ancient writing forms, and particularly no form of Hebrew or Egyptian, Mormonism is a fraud.

25. If the Book of Mormon contains anomalies of history, anachronism, geography, archaeology, etc., and obvious plagiarisms from the Bible and other works, Mormonism is a fraud

26. If changes were made to the original so-called Book of Mormon translation after Moroni declared the translation correct and took back the Golden Plates, Mormonism is a fraud

27. If Joseph Smith did not see God and Jesus Christ in 1820, then Mormonism is a fraud.

28. If Joseph Smith was not persecuted for having claimed to see God and Jesus Christ, then Mormonism is a fraud.

29. If Joseph Smith never told anyone about the "First Vision," then Mormonism is a fraud.

30. If John the Baptist never conferred the Aaronic Priesthood on the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, then Mormonism is a fraud.

31. If Peter, James and John never ordained Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery with the Melchizedek Priesthood, then Mormonism is a fraud.

32. If Joseph Smith attempted to join any religion after being directly told to join none by Jesus Christ, then Mormonism is a fraud.

33. If after 1820. Joseph Smith ever changed his concept of deity from a traditional Trinity belief to a belief of distinct persons of flesh and bone, then Mormonism is a fraud.

34. If there is no steel swords, cows, horses, elephants, etc in ancient America, the Mormonism is a fraud.

35. If the Jews before 400 BC were unfamiliar with Greek names, then Mormonism is a fraud.

36. If God didn't want Joseph Smith to have sex with teenage girls, then Mormonism is a fraud.

37. If Elijah and Elias are the same person, then Mormonism is a fraud.

38. If sacred Mormon temple tokens, oaths and penalties are of Masonic origin, then Mormonism is a fraud.

39. If the living apostles haven't personally visited with Jesus Christ, then Mormonism is a fraud.

40. If a modern day prophet states that no one can see the future, then Mormonism is a fraud.

41. If a modern day prophet does not boldly tell the world that he is a living prophet when asked, but states that "the people sustain him as such", then Mormonism is a fraud.

42. If the only and best example of modern revelation is the decision to build a conference center and build more Temples, then Mormonism is a fraud.

43. If the church requires mandatory belief, Mormonism is a fraud

44. If the church commands mandatory feelings, Mormonism is a fraud.

45. If it claims god is omnipotent and yet must follow some higher law, Mormonism is a fraud.

46. If the church can’t tell the truth regarding its own history, then Mormonism is a hypocritical organization and a fraud.

47. If the Mormon Church is not the restoration of the primitive church (either messianic Judaism or pure Paulism) then Mormonism is a fraud.

And on and on and on...

And cannot be what it claims to be or TRUE

Is the Book of Mormon Modern or Ancient

2008-06-03T14:53:00.009-07:00

If the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be…a translation of ancient golden plates holding the religious history of the forefathers of the American Indians… then it’s version of Christ’s sermons, found in 3 Nephi , should be the most pure, direct copies of Christ’s sermons in existence. For it would not have gone through all the alterations and human errors that were inherent in the reproduction process that produced our current Bible. In other words the Book of Mormon was not exposed to the errors of men and had the added advantage of coming to man directly through the gift and power of God Himself or so Mormon's claim.

Because of the pure process that gave us the Book of Mormon, one would not expect to find any of the mistakes found in our current Bible’s rendering of Christ’s sermon….because the Book of Mormon was not dependant on the same process that gave us the Bible …right?

Prior to the printing of the Book of Mormon, mankind relied on ancient Greek manuscripts from the second century, translated, transcribed, added to, deleted from through 1000’s of human hands and 1000’s of years to give us the words of Christ. A comparison of the earliest copies of these Greek manuscripts to copies that followed, has shown that there were hundreds of changes, errors and additions from those early manuscripts. Because each of these changes occurred after the second century AD and after the events Mormon’s claim took place in America…one would NOT expect to find the same mistakes, changes and additions found in the Bible... in the Book of Mormon’s versions of His sermons.

But does this claim stand up to scrutiny?

Is the Book of Mormon an actual translation of the abridged written words of an ancient American prophet named Mormon or the product of a talented but flawed mind? Did Mormon abridge plates that he had inherited giving a purer version of Jesus Christ’s sermon or did Joseph Smith merely plagiarize and then change a few words around to produce his version of Christ’s sermon in order to give it the appearance of a translation?

A close examination of the various versions of the Lord’s Prayer as found in Matthew 6 shows some surprising revelations.

We are all familiar with the widely used King James Version (KJV) of the Lord’s Prayer and the one found in the Book of Mormon.

Our current KJV - Matthew 6:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

And 3 Nephi 13:9-13

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

It’s interesting to note that these two versions differ in several key areas. The Book of Mormon fails to include 2 sentences found in the common KJV of the Lord’s Prayer.

01. Thy kingdom come.
02. Give us this day our daily bread.

Are missing...

So are we to conclude that Christ did not say these words to the Nephites…or had men merely added these words in the many years since Christ had supposedly uttered these words to the masses in Galilee and the Book of Mormon represents a more pure form of Christ’s sermon?

But wait…there is more…our current Lord’s Prayer found in today’s KJV…is NOT the same as the original 1611 A.D. first edition copy of the KJV.

The Lord’s Prayer as it was originally printed in the 1611 A.D. KJV

“Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. “

Note that in the original KJV Both of the sentences left out of the Book of Mormon version were included in the KJV…but the last sentence …” For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” is NOT found in the original first edition 1611 A.D. KJV.

It doesn’t take a Biblical scholar to see that this last line was added…in fact it started to show up in the versions of the KJV of the Bible in the 1700's and it is NOT present in ANY of the original Greek manuscripts.

A simple comparison of the 1611 AD KJV Bible and latter versions show that this line was added by “man” to the JKV of the Lord’s Prayer in the early 1700’s

But wait, there is still more…

An exact translation of the Lord’s Prayer from our earliest Original Greek Manuscripts into English… reads…

" Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one'

Note how both sentences removed from the Book of Mormon ARE found in translations from our earliest Greek Manuscripts…yet the Book of Mormon DOES include the sentence that Biblical scholar's have shown was added by man to the KJV in the 1600’s

So is the Book of Mormon what it claims to be?

If it IS a translation of ancient scripture…why does it include man-made additions from the 1700’s?

If it is a more pure rendering of Christ’s sermon, why doesn’t it include the same words given in our earliest Greek formats?

If during the translation process, Joseph took a short cut when he saw Christ familiar sermon being given again to the Nephites,(as mormon apologists claim) why did he remove those 2 sentences from the original Greek if he was trying to give a more pure form of Christ’s sermon and then leave in the man-made parts?

The Day I told the Stake President to Kiss my A$$

2008-05-20T15:00:00.006-07:00

Several years ago I received a phone call from the stake executive secretary in the area in which I live. I had been excommunicated maybe 2 years earlier and the new stake president wanted to have me come into his office for an update on where I currently stood with respect to the church. At first I told the Ex Sec that I had no desire to meet the new SP and hung up the phone. But upon further reflection I thought ,what the hell, so I called the Ex Sec back apologized for my curtness and set up an appointment to meet with the SP in his church office (to me his office held no special power or meaning other than a convenient place to meet) I felt he needed to KNOW exactly where I stood with respect to his church.

At the appointed time I arrived in my shorts , tee shirt and flip flops for our meeting. He greeted me warmly (he was a good guy in his pre-SP life). He offered to give an opening prayer to which I responded with “whatever floats your boat…but I won’t be participating”. After his prayer, he started to express his great love and respect for me and asked what my current views of the church were today.

I then went into a 30+ minute discourse of how I no longer viewed the church as being anything other than a man made institution with only imaginary make believe super human powers that he affectionately referrers to as priesthood powers. That it’s foundational scripture, The Book of Mormon, was nothing more than a fictional fairytale. That its so called prophets were merely men and it claims of holding a monopoly on truth was a false claim.

He was somewhat surprised that I had fallen into such a state of complete apostasy and questioned my statement on Mormon priesthood being anything other than what it claims to be. Bad move on his part.

I sat forward in my chair, looked him in the eye, raised my arm to the square and said. “John (not his real name) I am so sure that your so-called Mormon priesthood is nothing more than phony Mormon magical non-sense that I want you right here and now to raise your arm to the square like this and command me with all the super human mormon priesthood you can muster and command me in the name of Jesus Christ to become deaf and dumb just like the fictional Alma did to the fictional Korihor in your Book of Mormon.

As he sat there completely dumb founded I said... "Come on Do it”, then raising my voice ever so slightly I repeated. “Do it!”.

He just sat there looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming semi-tractor-trailer with his mouth wide open. He was obviosly not used to having anyone question his authority.

I then gave him my "testimony" that Mormonism was a fraud, that he was a smart man and could work his way out of it as well if he really wanted to know the truth. I told him that each and every time he bore testimony stating emphatically that he KNEW the church was true he was lying…he admitted that he believed rather than KNEW…but that it was a tradition in the church to express” knowledge” rather than belief and saw nothing wrong with continuing to do so. I reiterated my statement that it was dishonest to claim as knowledge something he had just told me he did not in fact know. He seemed unfazed with my argument.

We parted with a handshake and the knowledge that he was a product of Mormonism and would remain so…and that he no longer had ANY power or authority over me. Some days are better than others…and on this day it was good to be a Mormon apostate.

Oh one more thing...all future posts to this blog may be posted in brail and grunts...

LOL...

Just kidding :-)

One more thought...knowing that there are many TBM's who visit my blog...PPPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEEE....I don't want to hear all the crap on what an asshole I was that day (granted I was very direct) but that day was all about taking back my power from the Mormon church and letting them know that no longer could they ever feel that they had any power or authority over me.

I set boundaries with the church letting them know that I would no longer be at their beck and call...that in the future, if this SP wanted to meet with me He would have to call me himself rather than have his lacky call and it would be at a location of my choice and the subject of all future meetings would be of my choosing. I never head from him since.

Dispelling Apostasy Stereotypes

2008-05-02T09:01:00.011-07:00

This post is NOT for the weak at heart.

It is very very long but I thought it was worth preserving and sharing.

Recently I stumbled on a Blog operated by some truly believing Mormon's. They had some intereseting sterotypical views on Mormon apostacy and why members of the church are leaving in droves in their area of the world. They had pretty much confirmed their sterotypes before I entered the fray in an effort to correct their "Pigeonholing". I began, what I considered, an interesting discussion hoping to dispell their biases. Some of their assumptions are quite telling...Enjoy.

I haven't gone to the bother of editing for easier rading...but I think you will be rewarded should you venture on...

**EDIT ALERT**

Ok I had cut the entire thread from the TBM blog and pasted it here on my blog for mere convenience BUT.... One of the TBM's came over here to my sand box and scolded me for posting their personal posts without first seeking their permission (see first comment) Did you honestly think an evil apostate would ask permission first?

But Nicko....I actually agree with you... so I have deleted the entire thread from my blog and instead replaced it with a link to your blog.

http://aroundthefireside.blogspot.com/2008/04/apostasy.html

After all this is the wild wild west of the internet where nothing to held sacred... so although I may respect you're wish...Once something has been posted on the internet....it's pretty much OUT THERE for the taking...it's just how things work in the wild west.

Some wise person once told me...If you don't want something on the "NET" don't put it on the net.

So for those of you curious enough...please clink on the link provided and read the thread on apostacy in its original format...

Happy Now Nicko?

The Church "IS NOT" what it claims to be...

2008-03-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

Early in my discovery of the foundational lies Mormonism is built upon, I remember struggling to wrap my brain around the new concept that the church was not true. This alternative world view was as unbelievable to me as if I had witnessed the Sun rising in the West. I remember many dark and depressing weeks as my mind tried to deny the undeniable and make the adjustment to this new reality…what many of us refer to as the “Matrix Effect”, the act of wakening from a false reality. During this difficult and painful time…I kept fighting my birth to non-belief. I would come to a decision then go back and reexamine my conclusions…I never wanted the Church to NOT be true.

During one of my many attempts at re-examining Mormon truth claims…I read a post (on another board) from Tal Bachman. In his post, Tal made, what for me was a very crystal clear statement ... that sent shivers down my spine. He stated, “The church is NOT what it claims to be…” . Even today I don’t know why this statement affected me as it did, but those 9 simple words were like a catalyst in my mind. It took my fussy blurry world into sharp focus. I had been struggling to accept that the “Church was NOT True”…but by merely viewing the Church as NOT what it claimed to be…everything became perfectly clear. Why this made any difference for me I do not know. I even sent Tal an email asking him to explain what exactly he meant by saying that the church is not what it claims to be…his reply was something like…”ah dude, what exactly don’t you understand? (probably thinking...you dumb ass) The church makes many claims about being the only true church on the face of the earth, on having living prophet that speak directly with God, that they have another witness of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, ect ect ect…they are NOT what they claim to be…get it?

The light bulb in my mind turned on…and the darkness of my recurring conflicts disappeared… I moved from struggling doubter…to skeptical thinker… almost in an instant…yeah I got it.

The church is NOT what it claims to be…became the most powerful of power statements in my journey out of the grips of Mormonism. It truly set my mind free…

Is the"Pearl of Great Price" The Ugly Step-Child of Mormonism?

2008-03-20T14:40:00.005-07:00

Every 5-10 years , whatever geriatric-MAN happens to be playing the role of Mormon Prophet at the time, issues a challenge from the pulpit in General Conference to the Mormon faithful, to once again, read the entire Book of Mormon before the end of that given year for the umpteenth time.

Morg-bots then set their collective minds on the task of accomplishing this goal. Families accommodate the mandate by waking their children up earlier in the morning, individuals can be seen reading the book while commuting to work on public transportation, articles in the Ensign and Church News, trumpet the dedication and personal sacrifice of members the world over who once again have suffered through yet another boring ‘READ’ of the Book of Mormon. And those not so faithful ,but still believing Mormon’s, have yet one more thing to feel guilty over when they start but never finish the book.

But…what about the poor ugly red headed step child of Mormonism, "The Pearl of Great Price”. Why is it constantly being left out of the fun? There has NEVER been a challenge issued by Morg Central to read the very book that contains the writings of Abraham…written by his own hand no less… or the Books of Moses…damn Joseph actually received the same exact revelation that Moses did…but Moses screwed up and his revelatory version became tainted and mistranslated by unworthy men. .. Thank GOD, Joseph got his copy directly from GOD…there were no messy rocks in hats or golden plates to get in the way....just Gods mouth directly to Joseph's ears. You’ve got to love pure Revelation. And last, but certainly not least the “History of Joseph Smith” well at least the history HE wanted us to believe. OMG and don't forget all those proclamations on Polygamy and Black men finally receiving the same super human powers as White men...

So WHY is the PoGP ignored and consigned to second class status? Why is it relegated to mere parsing and 'single verse' quotation status? If it truly is a PEARL of such GREAT PRICE why doesn't the Mormon Prophets shout its amazing story from the roof tops as well? Why can't it be the Third Witness for Jesus Christ? Hell one wasn't enough in the first place...why stop at just two? Why aren’t the Mormon faithful challenged to read all of its pages through every 5-10 years….hell it’s small enough that they wouldn’t even need a full year to read it through…they could challenge the Morg-bots to read it through in between conference sessions.

And Hell, think of all the benefits… think of all the extra time families could really spend together…all the extra time individuals could spend on real important things like…making more money to increase tithing revenues…and think of all those poor guilt imbued Mormon’s who will finally have a challenge they can actually complete.

Of course, unless the PoGP REALLY is something the Mormon hierarchy is embarrassed about and doesn’t want its membership to read in one straight sitting? Gee…someone may actually ask some hard questions about what those facsimiles really are.

Best to keep that Ugly Step Child locked up in the morg basement where it belongs I guess….

The Mormon Shell Game

2008-03-19T16:18:00.003-07:00

Once while traveling through Italy, I encountered a group of men gambling their money away at a sidewalk shell game. The ‘dealer’ would place a pea under one of three walnut shells on a board…then quickly shuffle the shells around the board. The other men placed bets on which shell they believed the pea had ended up under. As I watched, I observed the shell with the pea move around the board. As the shell came to a rest I would instinctively pick the correct shell game after game. I was amazed at how easily “I” was able to choose the correct shell while the other men kept losing their money. Somehow...the movement of the pea seemed so obvious, but the otherr men kept losing their money, game after game. After watching 7-8 games and having been able to consistantly guess the correct location of the pea, I decided that I could make some easy money.

I felt I had an edge over the dealer and other gamblers… surly I could NOT lose… I had discovered a way to out smart the dealer. I convinced myself that I had some previously unknown talent to locate concealed peas hidden under walnut shells. Wow what an opportunity had fallen into my lap. My ethnocentric American mind told me I had an advantage over these stupid Italians and their money.

As I reached for my wallet and withdrew a few large bills…one of the men who had been consistently losing his own money… gleefully welcomed me and my money to the board…but something was wrong… maybe it was the collective look in each of their eyes…a misplaced glance or a knowingly collective “We’ve caught another sucker” look on all of their faces…but I knew in an instant…that I had stumbled onto a well crafted “con” and that these men were looking to shear a sheep.

In a moment of clearity I quickly grabbed my money and ran away from the shell game as fast as I could…with them yelling some choice Italian words at me… but I had dodged a bullet.

The Mormon Church is also delft at playing the game of ’Peas and Shells’. Each generation of Mormon faithful are taught doctrines that are in direct conflict with those taught to the older/ previous generation. The church is delft in the duplicity of its multiple doctrines… it is not unusual to find three generations of a single family each having their own conflicting beliefs on such basic doctrines as the Flood, Adam and Eve, Creation, Origin of the Amerindians, the process for the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham etc, just to name a few. But is this any wonder…with the Mormon Church continuously moving the dogma ‘pea’ with every doctrinally conflicting scientific discovery made?

My mother’s generation believed and were taught that all American Indians were descendants of Lehi that these descendants occupied the entire Northern and Southern American Continents, that the earth is 6,000 years old with NO death prior to Adam’s fall and that there was a universal flood that covered the entire earth with water to its highest mountain.

My son believes and has been taught in church that Lehi merely contributed to a vast DNA pool and was only one of many original much diluted forefathers of the Amerindians, that Lehi left no DNA evidence due to this population dilution, That the Nephite and Lamanite Nations occupied a relatively small, yet to be discovered, geographic area somewhere in Central America, that there are 2 Hill Cumorah’s , that the flood was not universal but limited in scope to a small region in the near east and should NOT be taken as a literal event, that the earth has a multi-billion year age and that death has been a part of earth for billions of years. He has also had one very different doctrinal innoculationary dogma pounded into his head… “Prophets are men…and sometimes speak as such”.

Both my mother and son are active believing Mormons with completely conflicting beliefs…they are the result of the success of the Mormon Shell Game… Oh, if they could both wake up and discover that they are pawns in the Mormon Shell Game… a very crafty con game run by a very cunning cult. Run... please run...

The Church Literally Broke My Heart

2008-02-26T16:07:00.003-07:00

It totally crushed me, when I started down this road of discovery, to learn that the Mormon Church had lied, covered up and withheld pertinent, essential information from me to come to an understanding of its truth claims.

I remember sitting in my car one day crying uncontrollably as this reality sunk in. I had given my life to an organization that had made promises to my family and me, I had made real sacrifices in both time talents and money for the church and these bastards didn’t have the moral dignity to tell me the truth?

I had a very difficult time wrapping my brain around this reality…why would they lie to me? I went through long periods of depression… revisiting my conclusions over and over, requestioning them still again and again. Yet each time that I have…I have come back to the conclusion that the leaders of the LDS church have been in a certifiable conspiracy to restrict information and keep it from the general church membership. I can only assume that they feel they have some noble purpose or cause that they feel is more important then my right to know the truth. They must believe they know what is better for me than I do.

They believe their lies are justified because, in their opinions, the church does so many positive things for individuals and families.

Who the fuck do they think they are to use me as a rat in their noble maze? Their lies have exposed my family to untold pain and trauma. And who knows if we’ll have the ability to survive it…all because Joseph lied about his experiences and those who followed him chose to carry on the fraud.

When I discovered the lies about the foundational claims of Mormonism, that church leaders had massaged facts, whitewashed historical events, doctored reality to support their desires to manipulate church membership to their so called higher purpose...it nearly killed me.

What gives them the right to fuck with my life! To make promises to me of an eternal family life ... a promise that they will never have to deliver on. What gives them the right to manipulate reality and restrict our lives, to take our hard earned money…so that their so called higher purposes can be fulfilled.

NO Organization has the moral right to take away a person's moral agency by depriving them of information they need to utilize that agency - and yet that is exactly what the Mormon Church does...They literally broke my heart!

Where is the Footprint?

2008-02-19T11:16:00.002-07:00

The LDS Church claims that the Book of Mormon is an actual, historical account of real people and real events. In other words, a non-fictional historical narrative of “some” of the actual former inhabitants who actually lived on the American Continent between 600 BC and 400 AD.

They also assert that the truth of this claim will not be known through any physical evidence such as DNA, anthropological or archeological means. The truth of the book of Mormon can only be known through the spiritual feelings one receives after one has both read and sincerely prayed about the truthfulness (reality) of the book. And of course, true believing Mormons believe that there is ONLY one possible outcome for this effort…that the truth of the Book of Mormon will be confirmed to you. If you did not receive the “Right” answer, then the problem lays with you…the reader…not the book…you must NOT have been sincere enough or prayed hard enough…it’s NOT that the book is NOT what it claims to be. Thus, you the reader are pushed into the Mormon maze of circular reasoning.

As bazaar as this sounds, most believing Mormons are not totally crazy. They are also intelligent educated people and do use logic based decision tools in other parts of their lives. What follows is my attempt to interject logic into a conversation with your typical Mormon TBM and help them step out of The Book of Mormon circular reasoning process.

TBM Mormon: I know beyond any doubt that the Book of Mormon is all it claims to be and is true.

Cr@ig: So you believe that the characters portrayed in the Book of Mormon were actual living, breathing people who lived somewhere on the American continent? (This is important to establish that they believe that these fictional characters are actually real to them)

TBM Mormon: Yes I do.

Cr@ig: Now I can look at you (Mr./Mrs. TBM Mormon), I see you, you are actually alive, you breathe, you eat, you live in a house, you have a government record, a birth certificate, parents and children, a job, a medical record, an actual historical record of your existence. You are REAL. There is an actual “foot print” of your existence. If you died today, people generations from now could see evidence that you actually existed.

But what about the Book of Mormon people? There is NOT a single site that can be pointed to as having been a confirmed Book of Mormon site. (Cumorah not withstanding) Not a building, not a road, not a city, not a region or country, not even a descendant of these Book of Mormon characters.

There is not a single vestige of this people’s existence. Not a shard of broken pottery, a lost coin, a misplaced tool, a building or house foundation, a garbage pit, a lost weapon from their many wars…nothing, absolutely NOTHING that can be pointed to as a Nephite or Lamanite artifact. It’s as “IF” they NEVER EXISTED. If these Book of Mormon people ever did existed…they left not one single shred of evidence of their existence…they lived and left “No Footprint”.

The Book of Mormon suggests that these people numbered into the millions….yet vanished into thin air. Help me understand HOW any of this is possible?

TBM Mormon: Well, I don’t know…but the spirit confirmed the truth to me.

Cr@ig: And you find this so called spirit reliable in spite of this? Since when does the accommodation of truth require you to suspend reality?

TBM Mormon: Duh……. Ah…..

*************************************************************************************

Now the sad reality is that this line of logic will not affect the true Nazi-Mega-TBM, My own TBM wife chooses to ignore even this line of logic and refuses to even give me an answer to my questions of HOW this is possible. But hey, it could reach some who are willing to open up their minds to reality.

“… faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope" -- Thomas Edison

Haun's Mill Did Not Take Place in a Vacuum

2008-02-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

All my life I was taught that the Mormons were innocent victims in Missouri. These lies began when I was a small child on my mother’s knee... they continued as a member of Jr. Sunday School as I learned how Joseph Smith was innocently sent to Liberty Jail. As I advanced in Seminary the graphic elements of Haun’s Mill were played out over and over again in sickening details. Through out my 4 years of Institute at University more and more of the lies were reiterated and reinforced.

By the time I went out on my mission I had heard “All” the stories or so I thought. The "Hauns Mill Massacre”, Farr West, The Mormon Extermination Order and finally the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri were all burned into my mind. By the time I was an adult Mormon I had a deep inbreed incredulous impression of those Missourians of 1838 for what they had done to my people merely for their desire to practice their religion as they saw fit. How could there be so much evil among men. Lilburn W. Boggs was the ultimate villain; for in these stories, he was the anti-Christ...the very epitome of evil.

I now feel like such a putts for buying everything I was fed hook line and sinker. They say the winners write the history...well when it comes to the Mormon’s...this rule doesn’t apply...I swear these revelations of the "real histroy" make me sick and the Mormon's wonder why former Mormon's get so mad and angry and can’t leave it alone. It's the LIES!!

There is no end to the length the Mormon Church will go to whitewash and rewrite its history. I make no excuses for the actions of the Missourians, they were not innocent either...But the terrible events that took place in 1838 Missouri...DID NOT take place in a vacuum. Haun’s Mill and the events that took place in Farr West were directly in retaliation for actions STARTED by the Mormon’s.

It was the Mormons who FIRST issued an extermination order against the Missourians.

It was the Mormons who gave its own apostate members 24 hours to leave or be killed ... driving them into an alliance with the Missourians.

It was the Mormons who started a secret society of thugs that went on a burning and killing spree against the Apostate and non-Mormons.

The Mormon's ALSO burned and pillaged the homes of innocent Missourians.

Clearly it was the Mormons who fired that first fateful shot across the bow. There were no Innocent parties here... but it was the Mormons who set into motion the events that would have cataclysmic consequences for them as they tried to purge the Mormon counties of all non-Mormons. A lesson they seemed to forget when they eventaully moved to Illinois.

Read the following historical chronology of the events that took place in Missouri after Joseph arrived in 1838 ... fleeing from authorities in Ohio I might add ... who wanted his hide for the failure of his Kirtland anti-bank fraud. I might add one more thing... was it a coincidence that at this time when the church was literally falling apart (1/3 of the 12 apostles and its membership left the church) that Joseph bolstered his image among the extreme faithful with his new and improved First Vision story? (which is now the official story)

It is interesting to follow these events knowing that the Mormons set into motion events that soon sealed their fate in Missouri

14 March 1838 Joseph Smith arrives in Far West.

June Danites organize in Far West.

17 June Sidney Rigdon delivers "Salt Sermon" condemning Mormon dissenters.

19 June After receiving warning, dissenters flee from Caldwell County.

28 June Mormons lay out town and organize a Stake of Zion at Adam-ondi-Ahman in Daviess County.

July Mormons open settlements at DeWitt and throughout northwestern Missouri.

4 July Fourth of July celebration at Far West. Rigdon declares Mormons will wage a "war of extermination" against mobs.

14 July Carroll citizens meet to oppose Mormon settlement at DeWitt. Meetings and threats against Mormons at DeWitt continue throughout the summer.

6 August Gallatin election battle. Daviess settlers talk of organizing against the Mormons.

7 August Joseph Smith leads one hundred fifty Danites to Diahman to protect the Saints. Mormons threaten judge Adam Black and others suspected of anti-Mormon activities. Reports of Mormon "invasion" spread through upper counties.

13 August Daviess County judges issue writs for the arrest of Joseph Smith and Lyman Wight.

13 August Committee of Carroll citizens orders the Saints to leave the county.

20 August One hundred armed men ride into DeWitt and threaten Mormons.

20-30 August Citizen groups and vigilantes meet in upper counties and resolve to assist Daviess and Carroll counties in bringing alleged Mormon criminals to justice.

30 August Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, responding to reports of civil and Indian disturbances in western counties, orders twenty-eight hundred state troops to stand ready to march.

3 September David R. Atchison and Alexander W. Doniphan are hired as lawyers for Smith and Wight.

7 September Smith and Wight are tried at a preliminary hearing in Daviess County. Judge Austin A. King orders the defendants to post bail and appear at the next hearing of the grand jury in Daviess.

9 September Excitement in upper counties continues as Mormons capture three men attempting to transport guns to vigilantes in Daviess County. Mormons and Missourians petition Judge King to quell the disturbances.

10 September Judge King orders General Atchison to raise four hundred troops and disperse the Mormons and non-Mormon vigilantes.

13 September Carroll vigilantes postpone assault on DeWitt and march to Daviess to assist settlers against the Mormons.

18 September After receiving reports of disturbances, Governor Boggs orders out two thousand troops and prepares to lead march to western Missouri.

20 September Atchison disperses vigilantes in Daviess County and leaves one hundred troops under General Parks to maintain peace.

21 September Carroll County vigilantes, returning from Daviess, resolve to expel the Saints from DeWitt.

24 September Governor Boggs receives letter from Atchison stating that vigilantes in Daviess have dispersed. Boggs dismisses troops and returns to Jefferson City.

1 October Vigilantes attack DeWitt, burn the home and stables of Smith Humphrey. During the next several days Mormons appeal to Governor Boggs and other civil authorities for protection.

6 October General Parks arrives in DeWitt with one hundred troops to quell disturbances. Anti-Mormon spirit among troops forces Parks to return to Ray County a few days later.

9 October Messenger reports to Mormons that the governor said they must rely on local authorities for protection. He will not intervene.

11 October Mormons at DeWitt surrender and move to Caldwell and Daviess counties. Carroll vigilantes resolve to help settlers expel Mormons from Daviess.

14-15 October Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon call upon Mormon troops to ride to Diahman to protect the Saints, threatening those who will not join the Mormon army. Four hundred soldiers march to Daviess County.

16-17 October Generals Doniphan and Parks prepare to march with troops to Daviess, but inclement weather and anti-Mormon sentiment in militia causes generals to abandon expedition. Parks continues to Daviess alone.

18 October Mormon soldiers attack Gallatin, Millport, and other settlements in Daviess, driving non-Mormon settlers from their homes, plundering, and burning. Missourians retaliate.

18 October General Parks visits Mormons and Missourians in Daviess. Parks discovers that civil war has broken out and declares that Mormons are now the aggressors.

22 October Mormon troops return to Far West after driving nearly all non-Mormons from Daviess.

24 October Apostles Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde sign affidavits in Ray County describing Mormon activities. Ray committee returns from Daviess with similar reports of depredations. Capt. Samuel Bogart calls out Ray troops to prevent invasion by Mormons.

24 October Bogart and his troops harass Mormon settlers in Ray and Caldwell counties. They capture two Mormon spies and threaten to execute them.

25 October Capt. David W. Patten leads Mormon troops to rescue spies. Troops clash at Crooked River, with three Mormons and one Missourian killed. Exaggerated reports of Crooked River battle spread throughout the state. Fearing the Mormons intend to continue attacks, Generals Atchison, Doniphan, and Parks call out state militia to quell alleged Mormon rebellion.

27 October Governor Boggs, responding to reports of Mormon depredations in Daviess County and their attack on state troops at Crooked River, orders that the Mormons must be "exterminated or driven from the state."

30 October Missouri troops, under command of Gen. Samuel D. Lucas of Jackson County, arrive outside Far West. Mormon leaders send messengers to learn intentions of troops.

30 October Two hundred soldiers from Livingston and nearby counties overrun Mormon village of Haun's Mill, killing eighteen and wounding fifteen.

31 October Col. George Hinkle, John Corrill, and other Mormon representatives attempt to negotiate with General Lucas, but receive demands for surrender. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, and other Mormon leaders give themselves up as hostages. About seventy-five Mormon soldiers, advised of the surrender plans, flee from Far West during the night.

1 November Joseph Smith advises Mormon troops at Far West and Diahman to surrender. Mormon War ends.

1 November General Lucas holds a court-martial of seven Mormon leaders. Opposition of General Doniphan and others prevents the execution of Mormon prisoners.

2 November Mormons forced to deed over their property to pay expenses for the war. This part of the surrender agreement is later declared illegal.

4 November General Clark arrives with troops and announces his intention to carry out the surrender terms exacted by General Lucas.

12-29 November Judge Austin A. King presides at Court of Inquiry held in Richmond, Ray County. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and a number of other Mormons are committed to prison on the basis of testimony against them.

December-February 1839 Missouri legislature debates whether to investigate the disturbances and allow the Mormons to remain. Legislation to investigate is tabled until July, after the Mormons have already left the state.

February Mormons pool resources and organize to leave Missouri.

11 April Joseph Smith and four other Mormons are indicted for crimes in Daviess County, and are granted a change of venue to Boone County.

16 April Smith and other prisoners escape from their guards and return to Saints, who are gathering at Quincy, Illinois.

May Nearly all the Saints have left Missouri.

I find it particularly interesting that the Mormons living in Missouri lived in peace with their neighbors...well at least until Joseph Smith showed up...

Up Close and Personal; The Cr@ig P@xton Story

2007-10-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Having been born in the covenant, I was taught the gospel from my youth. I never had any reason to question or doubt what my parents, seminary teachers or church leaders taught me. I accepted their teachings and testimonies as fact. If I ever had doubts I don’t remember them.

My worldview, filtered through Mormonism, was secure, strong and confident, bordering on the arrogance, of KNOWING that I belonged to the ONLY true church on the face of the earth. I was right and the rest of the world was wrong...it was so black and white to me. An easy and clear choice. The church is true, nothing else matters.

I couldn’t understand how the rest of the world couldn’t see the truth. It was so plain and simple. I knew that if given the chance to have the truths of the gospel explained to them, anyone would readily accept it. I was one of Saturdays Warriors...preparing the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ in these latter days. Little did I know then, that I had been “set up” by the church and my blind faith in it...for a very rude awakening...that would change my world and shake my very core.

From my youth, I prepared to go on a mission. I loved listening to the faith building stories of the returning missionaries as they reported the wonderful experiences from their missions. I would fantasize about the day that I too could serve a mission for the Lord. I knew in my heart that I too would be a great servant for the Lord and would be a valuable tool in His hands to bring many souls to the knowledge of His true church.

When I turned 18, I decided, with only a year to go that I needed to intensify my study of the gospel so that I would be fully prepared for my mission. I immersed myself in the study of the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon. Up until this time in my life I had never read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover. My initial impressions were less than impressed. The characters seemed shallow and almost cartoonish in their behavior. The Book of Mormon lacked depth, it felt fake. But leaning on the faith of those I trusted, I accepted that the Book of Mormon was true. I didn’t allow these first impressions to affect my testimony. Certainly, the fault was in me not the Book of Mormon.

The day I received my mission call was one of the most exciting days of my life. I had prepared for this moment all my life and now it was here. Although I was willing to go wherever the Lord called me, I secretly hoped that I would be called to Australia. It held so many pluses. A distant, exotic, English speaking country...it satisfied every mission wish I ever had. I was thrilled when I read that the Lord had in fact called me to the country of my secret desire.

I took to missionary work like a duck does to water. Through hard work and strict adherence to mission rules I advanced quickly up the ranks of mission leadership. Within a very short time I was serving as a Zone Leader. I guess you could call me a straight arrow. I loved mission work. The years of preparation and an unquestioning devotion were really paying off. I loved teaching the gospel, and although most of the Australians I came in contact with were not interested to listening to my message, the occasional person that would listen made the work worthwhile. It was during such a situation that I came in direct contact with information that was about to change everything I had ever believed about the church.

During a street meeting my companion and I met a very nice Seventh Day Adventists couple that expressed a sincere interest in hearing our message. We looked forward to being able to share the TRUE gospel with them. During the first discussion they showed promise and we looked forward to a future baptism. Then following a dinner date, which had included some interesting meatless dishes done with soy beans, we retired to the living room for another gospel discussion. Our investigator’s mood seemed a bit different this night, on further inquiry, they inform my companion and me that they had discovered some material at the local library that had caused them to doubt some of the information we had taught them. They then presented us with a book entitled “Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?” by Jerald and Sandra Tanner. I assured our investigators that it was nothing to be concerned with. I promised them that I would review its contents and get back with them. Nothing in my years of mission preparation had prepared me for this book and the information that it contained. I cannot begin to describe the massive cognitive dissonance that I experienced as I browsed through this book. My world had been completely knocked off its foundation and I was ill equipped to fix it.

Retuning to my apartment, I read the material in the book. My head swimming as I read for the first time in my life the many changes in the Book of Mormon, the failure of early leaders of the church to live the word of wisdom, promises of missionaries teaching the gospel to men on the moon, changes and additions to the Doctrine and Covenants and on and on and on. I was drowning; I was going down for the third time. I remember being in complete depression, my world had changed in the blink of an eye, the seeds of doubt had been planted, but the fruit would take years to harvest. I had so many questions and no answers...so I did what I had been taught to do...I turned to the Lord for help. If anyone needed help I did, but I wasn’t willing to take any witness as an answer I wanted a specific sign. I told God what was required and said that if He didn’t deliver I was headed home, period.

I placed the “Anti” Mormon book on my bed and retired to another room for the most heartfelt and sincere prayer of my life. I told God in no uncertain terms that I had placed the book on my bed...and that if the things that I discovered in the book were false, then he had to move the book across the room and place it on my companion’s bed. Anything less would be confirmation that the book was true and Mormonism was false. Upon returning to my bedroom, I was relieved to find the Tanner book sitting on my companion’s bed just as I had requested. My prayers had been answered; my personal miracle had taken place. In my mind God himself had proven the book false; I had survived this crisis to my faith. I dismissed the Tanners as liars and frauds...God had given me a personal sign.

In reality my comp had merely picked up the book when I was in the other room praying...he sat on his own bed to browse through the book and then set the book down on his own bed where he had been sitting, unaware of my plea or request for a sign.

With this crisis conquered, I redoubled my dedication to the church working harder than ever...ultimately ascending to serve as Assistant to the President. The church was true.

Like many members of the church first exposed to the truth behind church history, I had to build a defensive wall around this knowledge and file it away in a deep part of my mind. I successfully did this for nearly 10 years, ignoring or denying the facts. Enter Mark Hoffman...

In the fall of 1985 my wife and I were on a visit to Nauvoo when we first heard the news from Salt Lake of the bombings that took the life of Steve Christensen (who had served in my mission) and Kathy Sheets. These bombings eventually led to Mark Hoffman. For months I had been following with interest the documents that Mark Hoffman was discovering and selling to the church. The discovery of these bits and pieces of church history began to undermine the protective wall I had built around my doubts. It caused me great pain when I first heard of a Salamander turning into the Angel Moroni. Once again I was forced to face my fears regarding the church. At the time I was deeply entrenched in my ward as the Elder Quorum President.... but these new confirmations of the church’s secret past continued to haunt me. It was those bombings that saved my faith once more. Discovery and disclosure of the Hoffman forgeries gave me newfound hope that I could once again hide my doubts behind my protective walls. I could once again suspend my doubts.

In the years since 1985, I ascended once again the ladder of Mormon leadership. I have served as a Elders Quorum President, Councilor in a Bishopric, served on the High Council and as Young Men’s President. But in 2002, the planets aligned, the conditions became perfect and the seeds that were planted so many years ago while on my mission bore their first fruit. I was forced to face my greatest fears. I turned to the church for help with a personal problem, naively expecting that I would receive it, but instead was excommunicated. I might add, for the curious, that I never broke my temple covenants. But the reality was that I had been cast off from a church I had dearly loved and had devoted my life to. The process was excruciatingly painful and truly beyond my ability to set in words. But on the bright side, being unencumbered by membership in the church, the binds on my mind were set loose. It was the first time in my life that I actually felt free to honestly investigate the church, confront my doubts and find out for myself if it was truly all it claimed to be.

I became a voracious reader of Mormon history, devouring books by Quinn, Roberts, Larsen, and others. The discovery of the truth was my only mission statement irrespective of where that truth might lead me. I had finally crossed the line into the unofficial secrets of Mormon history. I experienced one epiphany after another, with each succeeding discovery and in the process I learned something else I had not known about myself to that point.... I loved the freedom of free open learning. My mind was expanding with new ideas that I hadn’t allowed myself to entertain in the past as a member of the church. I realized that I was unafraid to face the realities of truth, of the questions and realities of “Life and Death” without them first being processed through the Mormon filter.

I do however continue to experience periods of great pain with my former faith. It hurts me that the church, whom I placed so much trust in; which preaches moral standards and teaches an honest pursuit of truth doesn’t practice what it preaches.

It hurts that the church continues to whitewash and doctor its history even today.

It hurts that those leaders whom millions of faithful church members regard as prophets, seers and revelators and look to as a standard of truth are in fact the ones responsible for keeping the truth from these same members through the practice of promoting a “Faithful History”.

It hurts accepting the realization that those telling the truth about the church were the very ones that the church had accused of doing all the lying.

But most hurtful and painful of all is the reality that the church continues to hold my family…who refuse to listen to anything I have to say regarding the claims of the church…and who remain mega uber active Truly Beliving Mormon’s.

My evolution from the church is still in transition.

As an active member I believed my teachers when they told me that the native inhabitants of the Americas descended from Hebrew bloodlines...I have come to learn that this is false.

The church taught me that Joseph Smith was never involved with money digging.... I have come to learn that this is a lie.

I was taught that the temple ceremony was handed down from Solomon’s Temple...I have come to learn that this is a lie.

I believed Joseph Smith was telling the truth when he denied practicing polygamy before the introduction of Sec 132 of the D&C...I have come to learn that he was was lying.

I believed the church when it taught that wicked apostates were spreading lies about Joseph Smith when he ordered the destruction of the “Nauvoo Expositor”.... I have come to learn that the church did and continues to lie about the truth behind this historical event.

I believed the Church when it said that the re-discovered Egyptian papyri where not the ones that Joseph Smith Translated into the Book of Abraham.... I now know that this was a lie.

I believed the church when it claimed that Brigham Young never taught the concepts in the “Adam-God and Blood Atonement Theories” as doctrine... I now know this was a lie

I believed the church when it claimed that that the stories of Joseph putting his face in a hat during his supposed translation was a false story made up by enemies of the church.... I now know that it was the church that was lying.

I resent that the church still holds power over my family.

I resent that the truth is a lie in Mormonism. As members, we must forsake actual, verifiable fact, for completely unverifiable mythological yarn. I resent that the truth teller is the apostate; the liar is considered righteous. Facts don't matter in the church. If a fact contradicts a blatantly false assertion, the fact is wrong - even more, it is evil. It will kill you spiritually.

I trusted the church to be honest...yet it never taught or told me that Joseph Smith Sr. had the same tree of life dream that Lehi supposedly had, nor told me about the Kinderhook plates or the story of Zelph ... This is a lie of omission

I bought the whole kit and kabutal, I paid my 10%, and I devoted my time, my talents and everything which the Lord had blessed me to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I confessed my sins, I laid myself bare, I believed in the rewards of being a Mormon. But in the end I finally discovered the courage to critically examine the facts and in so doing, I discovered the TRUTH and the TRUTH has made me FREE!

I look forward to each new day with anticipation to the opportunity I’ll have of gaining new knowledge about this world in which we live. I hope someday to be completely free of the influences of Mormonism in my life.... but I’m not holding my breath…

Craig Paxton

The Weakest Link

2007-09-17T15:32:00.000-07:00

According to Mormon teachings, to achieve salvation and exaltation, I must embrace the following chain of doctrinal beliefs. Each link of this chain is connected to form a belief in Mormonism…break one of the chains….and Mormonism falls as a false religion…

I must believe Joseph Smith restored Christ’s true church. For me to believe Joseph Smith restored Christ’s true church, I must believe there was a need for such a restoration. To believe in the need for a restoration, I must believe in the great apostasy. For me to believe in the great apostasy, I must believe a Christ established his church. To believe in a Christ I must believe in the atonement. To believe the atonement, I must believe in the fall of Adam. For me to believe in the fall of Adam I must believe the Adam and Eve story is a literal historical fact, and finally I must believe in the Creation of the earth by a God who was once a man. According to D&C 77, this chain of event happened 6,000 years ago, prior to that there was no death on this earth.

Russell M. Nelson summed up this fundamental linkage of beliefs (October 1996 conference talk entitled “The Atonement”, published in the November 1996 Ensign beginning on page 33) by stating:"The Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted.

The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to progenitors, worlds without end.This is the great latter-day work of which we are a part. That is why we have missionaries; that is why we have temples—to bring the fullest blessings of the Atonement to faithful children of God."

For the Mormon church to be what it claims to be and to be the conduit to salvation and exaltation the story of Adam and Eve must have literally taken place, and for me to accept the story of Adam and Eve as a literal historic fact I must:

1) Discard and disregard ALL historical, anthropological, archeological, and paleontological discoveries, research and records that describe, reference, or refer to the existence of humans prior to 4,000 BCE. (Adam was the first human.)

2) Discard and disregard ALL biological and paleontological discoveries, research and records that describe, reference, and refer to or imply that life forms died prior to 4,000 BCE. (There was no death prior to the fall of Adam.)

3) Accept as fact that prior to 4,000 BCE the planet Earth resided in the vicinity of a distant celestial body named Kolob and that around that time the planet Earth moved away from Kolob (as a result of the fall of Adam) and settled into its current solar orbit.

I cannot accept or embrace these premises. The story of Adam and Eve, therefore, is just that, a story – another creation myth, a metaphor, a parable. With that said this doctrinal chain fails at its weakest link.

If there was no Adam there was no fall of Adam, and without the fall of Adam there was no need for an atonement. If there was no need for an atonement, there was no need for a Christ. If there was no need for a Christ then there was no need to establish an authoritative church of Christ, and if there was no authorized church of Christ there was no great apostasy. Without such an apostasy there was no need for a restoration. If there was no need for a restoration then Joseph Smith was a fraud.

For me the show is over. Somebody turn out the lights and lock the door. Elvis has left the building.

Faith in Fiction is a Damnable False Hope

2007-08-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

As a recently returned missionary and Uber TBM, I was heavily involved in the LDS Institute of Religion as the chairman of one of the student run committees. My committee was called the Sacrament Meeting Committee or something like that. The group was designed to give LDSSA students the opportunity to speak in local congregations. My committee would provide a pre-packaged Mc-program filled with beautiful music and well rehearsed talks that we would regurgitate each week at different wards. This was back in the day when you could actually sing music NOT found in the Mormon Hymnal so the program was always well received and a welcome break from the traditional sacrament meeting fare.

During one particular sacrament meeting my group was surprised to find that General Authority H. Burke Peterson would also be on the stand with us. Wow, a General Authority would sit and witness our program... I’m sure that each student felt a special glow just knowing that we were in the presence of one of the Lord’s anointed, I know I was.

I was one of the main speakers. I remember my talk well even to this day, it was titled “Modern Day Evidences of the Book of Mormon”. During my talk I would give so-called fact after fact of recently discovered modern day proofs that supported the claims made in the Book of Mormon. I would go on and on with Central American archeological evidence and discussed all of the linguistic, plant and animal evidence that had recently been discovered that supported the claims made in the Book of Mormon.

I remember giving particular focus on horses and wheels. It was well known that critics of the church had used the lack of this evidence to destroy testimonies. But I boldly testified that only recently God had allowed new evidence of both horses and wheels in ancient America to be discovered and that this evidence supported the claims of the Book of Mormon.

After sharing all the evidence for the Book of Mormon with my audience I would then caution them... stating that a testimony can not be built on these evidences...but must be soundly built on foundation of faith and through a confirmation from the Holy Ghost as Moroni promised through the Spirit. But know that although a testimony of the Book of Mormon must be based on faith...rest assured that the Lord is slowly revealing factual evidence to support its claims.

To be honest with you... My talked was well rehearsed and it rocked! I always had my audience eating out of the palm of my hand...they loved this shit.

Following my talk, H. Burke Peterson sought me out and placed his arm around my shoulder. He looked me in the eye and complimented me on my talk. He commented that the spirit was so strong during my talk. He thanked me and encouraged me to continue on my path in righteousness...that I was on the pathway to great things inside the church and that the Lord had a great work for me to do. (reading between the lines, I arrogantly interpreted his statement as prophetic, that I was on the road to high church callings in my future...perhaps even becoming a Bishop, SP or even GA someday...every Mormon boy’s dream).

Now the irony. It was all a lode of crap. I was merely regurgitating the shit that I had been fed... there was no archeological, linguistic, plant, animal, horse, wheel or any other modern day evidence that supported the Book of Mormon. In fact there were volumes of evidence that discredited the Book of Mormon’s claims...but I had failed to mention any of those... H. Burke Peterson knew it and allowed me to spew forth that drivel and said nothing... The reason the spirit was so strong when I gave that talk was because I was giving the people what they wanted... its called confirmation bias... they wanted PROOF that the shit was TRUE...but the sad reality is that I was feeding them the same bull shit that I had been fed... Oh the Irony...that I had in fact built my testimony on the assumption that the claims made by the church were supported by some evidence.... In the end.... faith and a spiritual witness were NOT enough to support my beliefs in Mormonism when I discovered that there was no foundational proof to support Mormonism's claims...

Thomas Edison said it best when he said..."For faith, as well intentioned as it may be, must be built on facts, not fiction - faith in fiction is a damnable false hope."

For those of you who want to read what Mormons of today use as proof...read this link...

http://www.ldsmag.com/jsbicentennial/051221traces.html

The Mormon Art of "Spin"

2007-08-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

Somewhere between the truth and a lie, there is "spin." We hear about politicians spinning bad news in their favor. We see journalists and pundits spin news stories to reflect a certain point of view. It’s commonplace and we’ve come to expect it from these people. But what most of us, who have discovered the truth behind Mormonism just weren’t prepared for, was discovering that the Mormon Church is also a master at spinning the truth..

Church Authorities have taken church history, filtered it through their biases, and taught this new and improved church history not as it actually happened but rather how they wish it had happened. The rationale behind this “Wishful History” was that the raw truth just wasn’t faith promoting enough.

The church has sold its soul on this conclusion; that it isn’t really lying… it’s just putting it’s bias, it’s spin on how these historical events should have happened… and besides that, would anybody really want to join the church if the church were honest and told the raw truth? After all the church does make bad men good and good men better right? So don't these end results justify the spinning of the truth? So what's wrong with that?

Here’s what’s wrong. The Mormon Church hold’s itself up as “The” one true church on the face of the earth…the only church that God is pleased with…the only means by which we humans can return to live with God. The Church claims to be the moral authority for the entire earth. One of the most difficult aspects of my discovery of the unspun history of the church was having to conclude that my moral ethical church, was immoral and unethical. It was the realization that the church placed a greater value on control, manipulation and self preservation than on being honest and truthful.

The ends DO NOT justify this unethical communication with its membership…and it is because of this reality that I have concluded that the Mormon Church is morally bankrupt despite it claims to the contrary.

At one time in my life I would have given my life for this church.

The Mormon church taught me that I should be truthful and honest in all my dealings with my fellow man. Yet the Spinning done by the church, is like any other kind of dishonesty, it is wrong. It makes good old fashioned lying sound clever and trendy and it sends a mixed message to the enlightened member that lying is ok…when it is done for the Lord.

By accepting this ethical gray areas as "normal" the Mormon church is talking out of both sides of its mouth. Honesty is always the best policy. When a Church member is taught a lesson at church they have the reasonalbe expectation that they are being taught the truth and not spin.

An orderly society needs to operate on the premise of truth and honesty. Without some standard of truth, people will tend to satisfy their own interests, desires, and feelings. Who wants to live in a world where everyone sets their own behavioral standards? Yet this is exactly the world of Mormonism.Each of us have a universal expectation that people tell the truth.

Fortunately, we don't have to worry about getting ripped off every time we buy something. We can generally trust that when we shake hands on a deal, the other person is being straightforward with us. Of course, wisdom and good judgment still mandate a healthy amount of caution, but you can go through life with a fair amount of trust in your fellow man. But by Spinning its history the Mormon church has thrown its moral authority out the window.

By accepting that a little spin is justified, the Mormon Church has sacrificed it’s precariously balanced moral trust and thrown it out of whack. The urge to spin the truth has worked its way very subtly into the very fabric of Mormonism. The truth is no longer valued…it’s value is now placed in its new and improved faith promoting stories…that are loosly based on the truth or complete fabrications of how they wish things would have happened. It started with Joseph Smith when he stretched the facts or just plain out and out lied about his experiences. He was quick to rationalize and weasel out of jams with his spinning and lies. He became a master at shifting responsibility or leaving out undesirable facts. Before we knew it, spin became a regular part of Mormonisms communication practice with others.

Ethical communication is not only about what IS said, but what is NOT said. Rule #1 in spinning is to only tell people what they need to know. The LDS Church is a master at this. Some very important parts of the truth always seem to get conveniently left out when telling their foundational stories. Withholding information has become so easy to do without guilt or effort because all it requires them to do is to do nothing. No fibbing, no stories, no sweat, just a closed lip and the hope that no one reads between the lines. But make no mistake, lies by omission are still lies and are still wrong. The church fell to the temptation and left out undesirable details that would hinder the conversion of some prospective investigator. They feel their spin and lies are justified.

The moral of this story: Let the words that come out of our mouths be honest and devoid of spin. There should be no higher compliment than to have other people say that they can, "count on you for the truth." You will be believable, trusted, and respected. Ethical communication is an obligation. People expect it from you. In the world of Mormonism, where the spin-doctors operate, keep ourselves in good ethical health. Now that IS a lesson we can learn from our Mormon Experience

I incorporated ideas from and based this post on an original article written by Mark S. Putnam , Ethical Communications: Spinning the Truth.

Open Letter to Gordon Hinckley

2007-07-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

I know that I am just pissng into a stiff wind...but I need to send the following letter to Gordon Hinckley. I can not sit back and take this crap lying down...I am so broken hearted at the prospect of NOT being able to witness my own TBM daughters wedding...I'm hoping that if enough people complain that at some time in the future the mormon church will change yet another long held policy...but I won't hold my breath.

President Gordon B.Hinckley, President
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
50 East North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150

Dear President Hinckley:

It is my hope that those that serve you will not insulate you from my letter…although I am not naïve enough to think that you will actually get and read this correspondence.

On *** July, my daughter will be married in the **** LDS Temple. I, the father of the bride, however will not be admitted to witness my own daughters wedding because I am no longer a member of the LDS Church. I have been relegated to second class status and will stand outside the temple doors as my daughter is married. Instead of this being a joyful day to celebrate my beautiful daughter’s marriage…Our family will have a grey cloud hanging over us. But we will endure this excruciatingly painful process, that is placed on partial LDS families, for the sake of our daughter with class. It is truly sad when children are forced to choose between their religion and their families. More times than not…the non-believing family members become the casualty.

I am writing, as one father to another, in the remote hope that you, as a father, might empathize with the pain I feel by being excluded from my daughters wedding. I can not sit silent to this travesty and say nothing; it is not right, regardless of the LDS Churches motivation for this exclusionary policy, thus my motivation in writing you.

You alone (yes I understand your need to confirm any changes in Church policy with your God) have the authority to change this heartbreaking, exclusionary church policy. The LDS Church has an extensive history of making changes to long standing church policy when pressured by society or when motivated by necessity. (yes I understand that this is not the view you hold regarding changes in church policy)

At my own Temple wedding, all attendees were required to wear white…this policy was changed; attendees can now wear street clothes. African American’s were once excluded from Temple participation…this has changed. And as you are fully aware, many of the offensive elements of the Temple endowment have been removed or changed throughout the years…the most recent in 2005. Change is possible.

So on behalf of all in-active, non-recommend holding or non-member parents of children who choose to be married in an LDS Temple, I plead with you, father to father, to review this policy that prohibits parents from attending their own children’s weddings. Make Temple weddings a wonderful uniting experience, where "families" of all faiths, creeds and persuasions "can" truly "be together".

Sadly, any change in policy will not come soon enough for me…I can only hope that future parents will not suffer this painful exclusion at such an important and otherwise joyful time in their child’s life.

With Sincerity,

Cra@g In the Middle

*************************************************************************************

Some final thoughts:

So my daughter is a married woman ….I took a bullet for my daughter and bit my lip so as not to upset her or my TBM wife on this most special of days. I sat quietly outside the Temple as the ceremony was taking place inside without me…the father of the bride.

As I sat and reflected on my 2nd class status…I suddenly became nauseous…the reality of the exclusionary policy of the Mormon Church swept over me and I became emotionaly sick…all I wanted to do was throw up. But I held my cookies…and sat watching all the Morg-bots exiting the “International House of Handshakes” with their smiles pasted on their faces. (If only they knew the truth...or even cared)

After some time my daughter came out in similar fashion…my beautiful daughter has graduated into a full fledged Mormon….I ran to some bushes and lost my cookies…I wiped my mouth and went to greet my daughter and wife and other family members with that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Surprisingly, no one dared ask me why I hadn’t been in the Temple to witness my daughters wedding….Most people are still unaware that I am no longer a member of the Mormon church…a reality I haven’t gone totally public with at my wife’s request. I guess they assumed that I wasn’t worthy (what ever that is)…and that’s bullshit.

Some points of particular interest:

Last week a close TBM friend of mine informed me that he was having a mini-affair with another woman NOT his wife. He told me how he had felt up this girl at work who had been hitting on him, grabbing her bare breasts, sucking on her nipples and putting his hands down her pants… (well you get the picture) he told me this before the wedding asking what he should do…I insisted he attend the wedding...He did!

My son in law’s RM cousin, who according to my son in law is a closet gay, also attended the Temple wedding…he was accompanied at the reception by his boy friend. YES they’ve had sex. Family pressure requires him to remain closeted and act TBM for the family image...how sad.

Another friend who is a fellow member of my wife’s ward attended the Temple Wedding…he has a very nice wine collection…how do I know? I’ve sampled it often with him...as recently as a week ago...he came to the reception ...Buzzed.

Another attendee at my daughters Temple wedding ...drinks coffee (oh sin of sins) on a daily basis...I don’t judge these people they each have their reason’s to lie…and personally I applaud them and welcomed each of them to the wedding. It’s Mormonism and the pressure it places on people to conform to their artificial standards and hide their true identities that I criticize.

So the moral of this story… all one has to do to get into a Mormon Temple is Lie. Something I refuse to do. Now I don’t fault one of these people for attending my daughters wedding, in fact I’m actually glad that they were able to attend. But it points out the lies and the fraud behind the Mormon’s churches claim that their Temple are Holy and Sacred. This is another Mormon myth. The Temple reflects society. But because a Mormon Temple recommend is also a status symbol…Mormon’s will do anything, yes even lie…to get one…Now I would assume that most Temple attendees meet the Mormon so called worthy standards…but YES there are a lot that merely go through the motions to act Mormon, They have a recommend for appearance purposes only and just don’t want to face the crap that a TBM spouse or family would give them if they didn’t hold a recommend...can you say Cult?

A few years ago in the city where I live, a Temple worker was caught with his pants down …ah should we say at the receiving end…while in a public park having sex with someone NOT his wife or of the opposite sex. He was charged with one count of public ludeness. While on his way to the jail house to be processed, he pulled out his Temple recommend in an effort to influence the policemen that he was a good decent citizen of the city and they should let him go. This all became public when printed in the local paper. And you wonder why they removed the naked touching part of the initiatory. This in a nut shell is what Mormonism is all about…it forces good people to lie about silly things and bad people to lie about gross disgusting things…all so they can have a silly piece of paper. Pay Lay Ale!

What the Hell is Wrong With Being Yourself?

2007-04-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Acting how you want to be…what the world needs is “in-di-vid-u-al-i-ty”.

Yet here we are… the product of a cult built on tearing down and destroying the individual and creating millions of cookie cutter copies of conformity in every ward, stake, district and branch.

Anyone who dares to stick their head up and celebrate their individuality is quickly and summarily whacked back into place…by the Morg’s "Wack-A-Mole" hammer of conformity Gestopo's played willingly by church member’s who impose their scrutiny, judgments and opinions on anyone who choses to be different.

Church leaders are continuously instructing its membership how to be the same. Wearing the same white shirts for men has become a symbol for Mormon men’s cult status. Women are told how many earrings they can wear and the type of clothing they can wear. Mormon youth are instructed in conformity at a very young age. Told what to wear and how to wear it. Conformity and so-called clothing “Standard” are promoted. The Mormon church has even extended it's influence into the school systems of Utah ,imposeing it's dress standards on everyone within the school boundaries. And heaven forbid anyone should express their individuality by sporting a tattoo or wearing a beard or mustache.

Last month I saw a wonderful show in London called “Billy Elliott” one of the show stoppers was a song called “Expressing Yourself” …I have tweaked some of the words for our unique situation…but the message is powerful…What’s the Hell Wrong with Expressing yourself… Enjoy…

Expressing Yourself

What the hells wrong with expressing yourself?

Being who you want to be?

Will anybody die if you have a tattoo?

Who the hell cares if your dress shirt is blue?

Start a new fashion, buck all the trends.

Emphasize in-teg-rit-eeeee.

Cos what the hell is wrong with expressing yourself

For wanting to be me?

What the hells wrong with being yourself …

for wanting to breath free

Who the hell is it you try to impress

All you have to do is learn to care less

Start a new fashion, buck all the trends

Screw, Con-form-i-ty

Cus what the hell is wrong with expressing yourself?

For trying to be me.

If you wanna wear two earrings, fine

Want ideas for tattoos? Look at mine.

If you want to dress like somebody else,Fine! Fine! Fine!

It's not a big statement, it's not a weird act

Just a good idea at the time

We'll not complain about your boring Morg life

If you'll just leave me alone for mine.

If you wanna wear a white shirt, fine

Just don't tell me what to do with mine

Don’t impose your standards on everyone else

I’ll be who I want … You can FUCK Yourself

Everyone is different It's the natural state

It's the facts, it's plain to see,

The world's grey enough … without being the same

What - we - need - is

In-div-id-ual-i-ty.

The Mormon Plan of Happiness

2007-03-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

I don’t understand this “Mormon Plan of Happiness” claim. When 2 mormon missionaries knock on the door of some unsuspecting non-Mormon family, whether they realize it or not, they are doing so with ulterior motives to userp the current foundations of this family and replace it with the so-called Mormon Plan of Happiness. Metaphorically speaking, they are trying to throw a fucking nuclear bomb into an other wise happy family environment. The missionaries have one goal in mind and that is to destroy the current foundations of that happy family and replace it with the Mormon churches cookie cutter, one size fits all worldview by offering their false hope of an eternal family.... Oh and the best part is that the promised pay off only occurs after you are dead. If, as is usually the case with any conversion, the missionaries only convince part of the family to convert, then the missionaries have not brought a plan of happiness ... but a plan of destruction and divisiveness. They have actually destroyed an other wise happy family.

How many families does Mormonism destroy each year because of their message of lies? Having experienced the divisive nature of this so called Mormon Plan of Happiness first hand and know how it actually plays out in a home where two parents believe in two opposite worldviews...I KNOW that Mormonism destroys families with its lies.Oh but I forgot...you do get some nifty magic underwear, the privilege of forgoing 10% of your gross income and the giving of all your time to the Mormon church...I guess there are some bennifits in this life I failed to mention (tongue placed firmly in check)

"Time is a Great Equalizer"

2007-01-08T16:11:00.000-07:00

Its been said that “Time is the Great Equalizer” this being the case then the LDS church has little hope before time takes a huge toll out on Mormonism.

In the early days of the church, Joseph Smith made plausible claims regarding the inhabitants of this continent. At the “time” his explanation, as seen in his Book of Mormon, seemed within the realm of believability. The great American West had only recently been explored and was still slowly releasing its secrets. Other seemingly authoritative figures seemed in sink with Smith’s explanations...after all Native American Populations springing from Israel bloodlines was not an original elucidation on Smith's part.

But Smith made one huge mistake...he didn’t postulate his explanation of the origination of the American Indian as theory...no he stated it as FACT...even worse...it was a fact from God Himself.

At first (as is the case in many frauds) Smith struck gold.... as information coming from Central American explorations seemed to lend support to the claims Smith had made through his Book of Mormon. Reports started to circulate throughout the country of massive, formerly unknown civilizations that had previously existed on the American continent. These extinct societies seemed at first to fit within the parameters set up by Smith in his book. Mormonism thrived. Mormonism’s adherents could look at real cities, actual buildings, artifacts and cultures and boldly proclaim with pride that these are the remnants of the people described in the book Joseph wrote. The prophet Joseph told us they were there...now look here they are. Mormon Missionaries would travel throughout the world spreading the word...that the Native American population consisted of three middle eastern immigrations...and look there are three distinct civilized Central American populations that flourished in the Americas...just like the Book of Mormon claims.

Enterprising Mormons even went so far as to organize tour groups so that the truly believing could walk were Nephi and Lehi had supposedly walked.

But time is the final great equalizer...and time has not been good to the claims of Joseph Smith nor his book.

Today we know that not one single thread of evidence has been found that supports even one of the claims made in the Book of Mormon.

* Millions of so called descendants of father Lehi have simply evaporated into thin air as DNA has confirm that Native American populations are of Asian descent not of Israel bloodlines

* Despite millions of tithing dollars having been spent in a failed attempt to find actual physical proof supporting a Nephite and Lamanites existance...to date nothing supportive has materialized.

* Central American Civilizations formerly tagged by Mormons as proof of Book of Mormon people have been found NOT to support Book of Mormon claims but have actually been shown to support those who theorized that these populations originated in Asia.

* Mormon General Authorities who formerly proudly proclaimed Native Americas as Lamanites, have completely retreated...some have even postulated in private that North American Indians are NOT descended from Lehi...in direct contrast to Mormon Scripture.

* The Mormon Church has even changed the name from its formerly known “Lamanite Generation” dancing troop...removing all reference to the word “Lamanite”

* Pacific Natives also once proudly claimed as descendants of the Americas...have been found to have immigrated from southeast Asia...NOT the Americas...as Mormon theology has claimed for 150 years

* And in a sad attempt to shore up its foundations the Mormon Church has even had to resort to a schizophrenic duel theory for the actual setting of the Book of Mormon...because old Hemispheric setting were being found to be unsupportive of Book of Mormon claims.

Each new discovery seems to whittle away at the very foundations of Mormon dogma...until today the church can not point to a single person alive today say definitively “This is a Lamanite“. Leaving the burning question.... Who the Fuck was the Book of Mormon written for then if not to the so-called descendants of Lehi? Wasn‘t this book of Mormon scripture supposed to help convert Lehi’s offspring? So where the Fuck are they?

No time has NOT been good to the claims of Mormonism...and I dare say this trend will only intensify as TIME goes by.

Joseph Smith Jr vs Charles Darwin

2006-10-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

I’ve been reading a book on the life of Charles Darwin, a contemporary of Joseph Smith. I can’t help but see many of the same thought processes, cognitive dissonance and ah hah moments in Darwin’s life that I have experienced in my life. It is interesting to see Darwin’s thought process “evolve” as he is presented with more and more information that conflicts with what he had been taught throughout his life. Somehow I relate.

Darwin was brought up in a somewhat freethinking family. His father wanted him to study medicine and be a doctor. He didn’t enjoy medicine so after a few years of medical study altered his focus to become a clergyman ... of all things.

At the time of Darwin, society believed that God created all life. Each living creature was His perfect creation. God being perfect , created each living thing to be exactly as it was, there was no variation...each was Gods creation by design.

But as Darwin was soon to discover during his voyage on the Beagle... reality did not support this long held religious explanation for the existance of life on the earth. Facts don’t lie. And as Darwin soon discovered, there was variation within the same species living on different islands. But how could this be? Did God Create different versions of the same animals and place them on different islands? Did Noah place these animals throughout the earth? And how did an original population of finches from the mainland migrate to the Galapagos and then change into several species? Yet there was no denying reality... Darwin could tell which island a particular bird or turtle or lizard lived on based simply on the variations each of these animals held from their cousin species living on different islands.

The light didn’t go on immediately for Darwin. It took months of study before he privately concluded that animal life evolved from one generation to the next through mutation and adaptation, “Natural Selection” and many more years before he took his evolution theory public.
Darwin’s theory of Evolution was heretical. It forever changed how we view the world. TRUTH and ANSWERS to DIFFICULT QUESTIONS drove Darwin irrespective of where they may take him. Society, religion, culture, reputation be damned.

As a former believer in Mormonism, my world was turned upside down as well. When I finally decided to examine the beliefs of my youth and subject them to the buffetings of reality. I placed the foundational claims of Joseph Smith on the “Scales of Truth” and found them out of balance.

Just like Darwin ... each of us has had or is seeking our ah hah moment ... our own epiphany of clarity, when the puzzle pieces of cognitive dissonance finally fall into place and the fog of confusion is lifted.

For those of you still in pursuit of this clarity ... stay focused on your desire for truth; know that there are answers to difficult questions. For those of you have had those puzzle pieces fall into place, well done, you have chosen correctly.

Fighting Through the Darkness

2006-09-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I posted on opportunities I passed on that could have led me out of the church at a much younger age. I detailed some of the difficult feelings I had when I first confronted evidence that conflicted with official foundational stories I had been taught at church. I now know that these feelings were nothing more than my brain reacting, trying to accommodate incompatible information that was at variance with other seemingly true church claims. Black can not be both black and white at the same exact time. The earth can not be both 6 billion years old and 6,000 years old at the same time...sorry folks but I’m just not smart enough to accept this. There can’t both be "no death" prior to Adam and "death" prior to Adam it has to be one or the other. I can't see where the Mormon God, being all-perfect, would use a tool of fraud to translate his so-called sacred scripture and then hide this fact from the general church membership. Yet these are examples of exactly what we were supposed to believe. It was obvious that these claims can not both be true at the same time. Just as two objects can not occupy the same space at the same time...two opposing truth claims can not both be true at the same time. Either one is true or the other is false. or both are false...but both can not both be true. Our minds are incapable of holding two conflicting notions as being true at the same time...we either embrace one or reject the other or merely ignore the reality of the conflicting claim. There is no middle ground.

As TBM’s most of us gave the church the benefit of doubt, at least at first. For me it was just unfathomable that this so-called organization that claimed to be the vessel of all moral, ethical and religious authority in the Universe could be anything other than what it claimed. Yet here I was as a young missionary being exposed to information that was 180 degrees opposite from what I had been taught...and to make matters worse the information seemed so credible...how could this be? Thus the cognitive dissonance and the swing into darkness.

In my own experience, it took years for me to accumulate enough inconsistent information for the scales to finally tip against the church. I fought hard for this not to happen. I compartmentalized, ignored, rationalized and excused everything that conflicted with the official church claim. And even then, I didn’t want to believe that the organization I had given my life to was based on a fraud.

I fought hard NOT to accept the truth. I’ve risked practically everything I value in this life...but in the end the accumulation of knowledge was so overwhelming that I had to finally accept it.

Those who have gone through a near death drowning experience say that once they accepted the reality of death, they found an unbelievable peace. In that place just between consciousness and darkness they find peace. Acceptance of their reality that life was over is part of finding this peace. They fight like hell NOT to die...yet in the end they find peace through acceptance. This is were I am with my loss of belief in Mormonism. I have fought like hell to maintain a belief in unbelievable things... I gave Mormonism over 40 years of my life... I NEVER wanted the church NOT to be everything that it claims to be, yet to my utter surprise it was only after I accepted my reality that I was able to find the light at the end of the tunnel and find peace with my life.

To all of you still fighting to maintain belief...take your time...fight like hell if you must ...but you will only find peace with acceptance of reality.

"Missed Opportunities"

2006-09-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

As I reflect back on my life, I’m reminded of several opportunities I had to see the church for what it is. I now view these moments as opportunities lost...opportunities I let pass...because I was afraid of what the results of a critical examination might bring.

The first missed circumstance occurred while I was serving my mission. An investigator family decided not to take my companions and my word on the historical claims of the church and did some additional research at the local library. The result of this research was the total rejection of the church by this family. Needless to say my comp and I were devastated. We had labored hard to teach this golden family only to have them discover lies about the church. When I pressed this family on their so-called research, they challenged me to read what they had discovered. I agreed to do so. I had a perfect knowledge that the church was all it claimed to be...nothing could dissway me of its truth...or so I naively thought. They presented me with a copy of the Tanner book “Mormonism: Shadow or Reality”.

Nothing in my years of seminary, institute and other church education had prepared me for what I found contained within the pages of this book. To be honest with you, its contents sent unbelievable chills of fear and pain up and down my spine. Every page I read presented me with information that caused my mind to react in a manner I had never experienced in my life. I felt my world literally collapsing in upon itself, literally imploding. Like a car quickly entering a dark black tunnel...yet there was no light at its exit, the foundational basis of my life had disappeared in a flash. I remember the room I was in literally spinning out of control around me. I closed my eyes to gain my balance; my world had turned to blackness in an instant. Looking back now I know that what I was experiencing was a major case of cognitive dissonance.

My young Uber TBM mind could not even fathom the alternative truths contained in that book.Within a split second my life had forever changed...my innocence was gone...despite my denials I knew in my heart that there was something very very ugly and very very secret at the core of Mormonism.

I was an extremely focused, Uber missionary at the top of my game. I was the senior zone leader and I had loved every moment of my mission up to this point. But dear God was it all a lie? How could this be? I turned to God for an answer. I fell to my knees and prayed with ever fiber of my being, demanding that God send me a sign that what I had discovered was not real...I demanded that God put my reality and life back together. At the very moment I was ready to accept the truth, pack my bags, return home and confront the people in SLC who had lied to me, my years of programming kicked into action. And God answered my demand for a sign. I told God that He must move the Tanner Book across the room from where I had placed it prior to my entering my prayer. Upon completion of my prayer...God had in fact answered my prayer...when I entered my bedroom the book was in fact across the room (in the hands of my companion) But holy shit God does work through natural means doesn’t He?

That experience didn’t answer any of the problems I discovered in the Tanner book, but it was enough for me to discard everything I had discovered. I dismissed all of it as anti-Mormon lies. It was my first missed opportunity to discover the truth behind Mormonism. But a seed had been planted.

The second missed opportunity came a few years later during the Mark Hoffman fiasco. Following my mission I had successfully placed all of the difficult discoveries in an airtight compartment in the back of my mind. I had effectively sealed it up with no intention of ever having to repeat that awful experience I had survived as a young missionary. But little did I know that there were microscopic fissures in my testimony and reality was about to make another major frontal attack on those weak spots.

I was serving as a fanatical Elders Quorum President when Mark Hoffman's story erupted or should I say exploded into my life. But this time I was somewhat prepared for the assault to my faith. Those who remember these short but difficult months will remember that we as members of the church had to redefine just about everything we had believed about the foundational claims of the church.

Thanks to Mark Hoffman, church members now had to adjust our understanding of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It was my first exposure to the folklore, back woods occult and magical worldview of the Joseph Smith Sr family. As members we had to somehow find a way to assimilate and accommodate a new worldview, the “White Salamander” changing into the Angel Moroni. All of the “Cog Dis” I thought I had safely placed in the far distant back recesses of my mind were starting to bubble and ooze forth and rumble in the pit of my stomach like a bad Mexican dinner with each new Hoffman discovery. I decided then and there that I had to know the truth, church be damned.

I started on a new mission to discover and examine the foundational claims of the church. I bought and started to read Michael Quinn’s “Early Mormonism and the Magic World View” and I booked tickets to Nauvoo so that I could explore and see first hand what the historical claims of the church were.

My wife and I arrived in Nauvoo on a beautiful October afternoon. The fall colors were at their peak and as fate would have it...the local newspapers were awash with a major breaking news story. Mark Hoffman had just blown himself up in Salt Lake City. Police where pointing their finger at him as the perpetrator of other bombings that had plagued Salt Lake City throughout the preceding months. With this revelation his whole fraud/forgery scheme was exposed...my testimony dodged another bullet and lived to testify another day. The seed, unbeknownst to me, had spouted roots, but would take another 18 years to bare fruit.

I often wonder what might have been had I focused then on church claims and started my discovery of truth. Maybe I could have had a greater influence on people I love...maybe I could have lived a more fuller life...but there is no way I can ever know what might have been.

I now live my life as true as I can... with the heartfelt desire to face reality, enjoy this earth and humanity, be sensitive to others in need and show true compassion and understanding to those who are seeking the truth about Mormonism.The transition out of Mormonism has not been with out its trials...but by “standing for something” (as Gordon B. Hinckley has stated) I hope to set an example for generations to come...that sometimes being “true” is more important then caving into social and cultural norms.

A Visit with Brigham Young

2006-08-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Recently I took an out of town TBM friend of mine to Brigham Young’s Beehive House in down town SLC for the tour offered by the Morg. I’ve been on this tour several times as a TBM myself and remember it as being a very interesting historical informative tour of his home. This was my first experience going through his home since I left the church.

To be fair with the church, maybe I’ve just become very cynical. I know that I no longer share the same worldview as the church...but BOY has this tour changed.

We were greeted by two typical looking sister missionaries (why do they always seem to pair the fat one with the extreemly skinny one) ...and boy were they in their best Stepford Wife form. They had on these forced plastic smiles and seemed somewhat uncomfortable...until they went into their memorized speech.

I told them that both my companion and I were members (just didn’t want the shit) and would appreciate just the historical tour, but they only offered one type of tour.... The missionary so called spiritual tour. Since as one of the sisters explained, we all need to feel the spirit don’t we...I just gave a struggled grimace.

As the tour progressed...it seemed that absolutely every detail shared on the tour had a modern application that could be applied to our lives today. A historical fact (used loosely) would be given then the modern day application expressed.

Here are some examples of how the tour went:

Brigham Young built this home in 1857: Imagine that BY actually talked with God in this very home and because of this you too can know that you can receive revelation for your family as well.

This was BY’s office: Every night he would gather his family here in this room for family prayer, family prayer can strengthen you and your family as well by gathering your family together nightly and praying to God.

This was BY Bedroom: When I asked about him having a separate bedroom from his wife... I joked he must have had about 56 bedrooms spread around SLC ... the sister quickly responded...oh no BY only had 19 wives (this is not true, according to church records he had 56 wives) then she turned my statement into a testimony building experience... Polygamy was an practice received through JS by revelation, it was practiced through 1890 (I didn’t beat this young lady over this misstatement of fact it continued on for 2 more decades ...what was the point) when the Lord again revealed to President Wilford Woodruff that the time for this commandment had been fulfilled, from this we can take comfort in knowing that the Lord is at the head of this church. That he continues to speak to a modern day prophet even Gordon B. Hinckley

This is BY's drawing room: BY would gather his family to be taught and have refreshments: Family Home Evening is provided to us today so that we too can be like BY and teach our families the gospel of JC.

This is the actual wedding dress of BY’s daughter: She knew that by being married in the temple she would be sealed with her family for eternity You too can be married in the temple and have your family trough out eternity and yes families can be together forever only through the temple.

This is BY’s bookcases: Do you what BY’s favorite book was? The book of Mormon, another witness for JC, we too can have this book in our lives as we study it pages and ask God for a witness to know that it is His word.

As the tour progressed I kept pointing our historical facts regarding the home that I had remembered from earlier tours (which they no longer share with the public) such as:

Painting the pinewood to look like oak

The section of wall that has been exposed to show that the home was built of adobe

Painting other areas to look like marble walls

That BY had 20 servants (when I pointed this out the sister said Oh No, BY Never had servants... he didn’t like that word ... he referred to them as helpers) Give me a break!

The beehive carving on the stairs: Which the sister quickly pointed out represented industry and working together and we can use this example in our lives today to be like bees and work hard in our respective vocations.

I kid you not.... Absolutely every fucking thing in that fucking house had a modern lesson application for our lives today...

By the time the tour was over I wanted to go out onto South Temple and throw up in the gutter!

Parody Eclisped by Reality

2006-08-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

I about gagged with laughter recently when I attended F & T meeting with my wife. Some COB employee was baring his testimony when he kind of slipped and announced that the church is thinking of building a temple on a cruise ship. (I think its jsut one of those rumers that gets started and then gets legs) The purpose is to take the temple to the people of the pacific islands.

It was all I could do to keep from busting a gut...Imagine Capt Stubing AKA Temple Captain... all ready dressed in his white uniform and white captains hat putting on his green apron to officiate an endowment ceremony while Yeoman Gopher goes around and give everyone their signs and tokens. The Black Bartender, Isaac (He can go on board now you know)...could hand out tropical drinks with little “Angle Moroni’s” stuck on the top of tiny umbrellas to remind the mind of the Provo Temple...as the patrons enter the Celestial “Cabin”. Cruse Director Julie McCoy...could direct the geriatric throngs in shuffleboard and scripture chases as they wait to enter the endowment “cabins“....

All the while in the back ground could be heard playing on the ship organ ... the tune....

Love, exciting and new,Come aboard.
We're endowing you.
Love, no more touching aloud.
Bow your head, as your instructed to.

The Love Boat ... Endowments for everyone.
The Love Boat ... Pay, Lay Ale-ings have just begun.

Set a course for Indenture,Your mind on Obedience.
Love .. Once endowed you’re ours till the end...
Fake a Smile .. Anti-Depressants Depend.

It's Looooove!Welcome aboard - It's Looooove!

Watching the Joseph Smith Movie

2006-05-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

For months I’ve wanted to go view the multi million dollar Joseph Smith movie produced for the Legacy Theater in the JS Memorial Building. . An enlightened friend who is also a member of my wife’s ward accompanied me. We met for lunch at a local watering hole, knowing that neither of us could view the movie without a toast to Old Joe... so after receiving some appropriate lubrication (I went for the 6 brew sampler); we drove over to the famed theater for our afternoon entertainment.

Upon arrival we went to secure tickets but were told that the entire theater had been booked way in advance and that we would need to get reservations in order to see the movie. Knowing that the movie was full of lies I decided that I would also tell alittle lie of my own... I veined disappointment and told the old missionary lady that the concierge at the Hotel had told us that we wouldn’t have any problem getting tickets.... upon hearing this the old lady perked up and asked... Oh are you from out of town? Why Yes we are, I said (we are, just not out of state and we weren’t staying at a hotel either) Well thats different she said, we reserve a few special tickets for out of state guests.

When the 1:30 show began I fully expected the theater to be bursting at the seams... needless to say... it was barley a third of the way full... what was all the fuss about telling us it was a sold out showing in the first place I wondered? As we entered the theater we were offered a kleenex...I wondered if this was to wipe my ass with?I had been warned in advance that the movie was a propaganda marvel...but I don’t think I was prepared by the amount of literal whitewashing (yeah there's even a metaphorical whitewashing scene in the movie) and depth of emotional manipulations the church would employ to create their fictional embellishment of Joseph’s amazing life. If I didn’t know his history, I would have been overwhelmed... but by the end of the movie I just needed a bag to throw up in.

Through out the movie the church used manipulative emotional triggers in the hope of felicitating some sensation... and in this they were successful... the movie put a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach...but the main thing it did, through out the movie, was cause me to ask the question WHY?? Why was Joseph in Harmony PA? (treasure seeking) Why did his father in law hate him so? (Cuz he didn’t stop glass looking as promised and he eloped with his daughter) Why was Joseph tarred and feathered? (hitting on the Johnson girl) Why did Joseph leave Kirkland? (running from law due to bank fiasco) Why did the Missourians hate the Mormon's so? (complicated but both parties share some blame...Mormon’s weren’t innocently persecuted due to their religion as portrayed in the movie) Why the problems of choosing a successor after Joseph’s death if BY WAS set apart as such as portrayed in the movie? (he wasn’t) Why no gun in Joseph’s hand in Carthage Jail? (whitewash) Why did Joseph go to Carthage? (absolutely no mention that he was being charged with issues related to his polygamy activity).

I give the Morg credit... Their effort would make even Lenin proud... Propaganda is alive and well in America Today... But I was surprised that they left out the scene where Joseph walks on water...

The movie presupposes that Mormon history or more specifically the history of Joseph Smith took place in a vacuum. The movie shows various scenes from the life of JS based on the very scrubbed up version of events generally taught in Mormon Sunday School and Seminary classes etc.

But these things, did no take place in a vacuum... events don’t just take place all by themselves.... they are generally a reaction based on some other event. Much like a queue ball hitting a grouping of pool balls.... human events are generally a reaction to other events....This in my humble opinion is one of the major flaws of this movie.... it is a white washed, scrubbed, distortion of events...and it fails to tell the whole story...the story behind the story... and left me asking.... yeah BUT WHAT caused that to happen...But what can you expect from an organization led by men that publicly dismiss the value of truth in its own history...

Now where is that Bag!

Has Science EVER YEILDED to Mormonism???

2006-04-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that Mormonism is on the run... like the bank of a large river during spring run off... Mormonism’s claims are eroding faster than they can shore up their doctrine. Of course they will never admit this... but have they even gotten one thing right? Anything?Let’s just look at a few examples:

Mormon Claim: Native American’s are descended from an Israelite linage

Science: DNA conclusively proves that Native American’s can trace their ancestry back across the Barring Straight to middle Mongolia.

Mormon Claim: Their was no death on this earth prior to 6,000 years ago, prior to “The Fall of Adam “our first father.

Science: There has been both life and death on the earth for millions of years. Man in his current state has existed for over 80,000 years.

Mormon Claim: The first man and woman (Adam and Eve) lived in what is currently the State of Missouri, USA in the Garden of Eden.

Science: Mankind evolved out of Africa... Through our own DNA, every member of mankind can trace his or her linage back to our common beginnings in southeastern Africa.

Mormon Claim: Polynesians emigrated westward from the American continent to the Islands of the Pacific. They too are descendants of Father Lehi.

Science: Polynesians emigrated eastward from micro-Asia, Linguistic, DNA, plant DNA migration, archeological evidence is overwhelming and undeniable.(except to Mormon faithful)

Mormon Claim: The Sun borrows its light from some mystery planet called Kolob.

Science: This is so ridiculous, it hardly needs comment...however let me just state that the Sun does not borrow any of its power from any other planet or source...and is self powered.

Mormon Claim: Our solar system revolves around the this central planet, Kolob

Science: Our universe is expanding but it does not revolve around any central planet.

Mormon Claim: Noah collected two of every species onto an Ark prior to a universal flood, which was also the baptism of the earth.

Science: There is no observable evidence supporting the concept of a universal flood, no evidence supporting the concept of a so-called human bottle neck created with the death of the entire human population 4,000 years ago, no evidence that all earthly animal life migrated from some central final landing area following a flood. And "NO" evidence that Noah strategically placed each species throughout the earth so that their uniqueness would confirm Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

Mormon Claim: Dinosaurs are not native to this earth, but were merely used parts from some other world used by God in the creation of this earth.

Science: Again a ridiculous Mormon claim, the Scientific evidence is overwhelming that dinosaurs are not only native to this planet, but an essential element in the evolutionally chain that reaches back millions of years.

Mormon Claim: Horses were first introduced to the American continant in 2200 BC with the arrival of the Jaredites.

Science: An early ancestor of horses in the Americas were killed off my humans in about 12,000 BC. Horses were not again introduced into the Americas until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500’s AD.(The same could be said about all other Book of Mormon claims regarding sheep, pigs, elephants, barley grapes, figs etc etc)

Mormon Claim: All living things exist in the same form in which they were created by God.All plant, animal and human life is unique unto itself and does not change. Man procreates man. Dogs procreate dogs; corn seeds grow corn etc.

Science: All life is subject to the same forces of natural selection, mutation, genetic drift. Life is always in a constant state of evolution and change. This process has been going on for billions of years.

Mormon Claim: The earth is 6,000 years old.

Science: The earth is billions and billions of years old. This is a confirmed fact.

Science is observable, testable and always subject to question. Mormonism is fixed, absolute and is not subject to any subjective test, skepticism or questioning.

So again I ask the question... Has Science EVER had to YIELD to Mormon Doctrine? Has the Steam Roller of Science ever had to Yeild to the Ant of Mormonism crossing the street and say oops we were wrong... and admit that you Mormon's... you got that right???

Is That All There Is?

2006-04-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Is that all there is? Have I now been exposed to all of Mormonism's problems? Are there no more secrets?

When I first dared to question my faith and venture down this path of critical examination... I was constantly being confronted with revelation after shocking revelation of the cover-up, lies and whitewashing the Mormon Church had perpetrated on its own membership.I remember the disgusting disbelief I experienced as I first discovered the bizarre stories of Joseph‘s glass looking and his head in a hat translation process. I am amazed that through 4 years of seminary and three years of Institute I was never exposed to “Kinderhook” and “Zelph“.

I remember how sick I felt upon learning that there were “other” accounts of the first vision. That there was an island Comoros whose capital was Moroni, that Joseph Sr. had had Lehi’s same dream prior to the writing of the Book of Mormon, That Joseph had married other men’s wife's, missions to the men in the moon, Joseph’s alcohol consumption etc etc etc. I still shake my head in amazement that I had never been exposed to these things or that I had faithfully refrained from an exploration of these difficult matters.

Each day brought a new shocking discovery greater than the day before, the accumulation of which ultimately led to the complete collapse of my faith in Mormonism and the resulting conclusion that the church was not what it claimed to be. That time of discovery, as painful as it was, was also very exhilarating. I felt like a man who finally awakes from a life long coma and experiences reality for the very first time in his life. Each new discovery slowly and sometimes painfully dispelling the darkness... Through this process I lost the faith of my youth. I stepped through a threshold, into a new understanding of life and reality; old understandings were discarded as I underwent this cataclysmic paradigm shift in my life.

So is there no more discovery to be made? Have I reached the bottom of the rotten barrel of Mormonism? Is there nothing more that can shock me?I want to be surprised... but the innocence is gone... and my discoveries now lay in other areas and realms...

My Meeting with a Mormon "General Authority"

2006-04-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Driving east on North Temple, I knew I was going to expose myself to a surreal experience unlike anything I had ever been subjected to. In advance of my arrival, my name had been given to church security, so that as I arrived at the VIP underground parking lot under the controversial main street plaza, I was greeted by a white gloved (yeah that's right, they actually wear white cotton gloves) white shirt, suit and tie garage attendant. He checked my name on a computer against a list of approved guests and directed us to the VIP (red reserved) parking area. There is a basement access to the Administration Building...with more security men there. We reported in and were asked to wait in a richly appointed walnut paneled waiting room. While waiting Elder Faust drove by in a golf cart (see I told you this was going to be surreal) on his way to his car...which I assumed was chauffeur driven. He gave a cute wave to my wife as he passed. He looked particularly old.

We were then directed to the office of my former mission president and current GA, one of the top 22 GA's in the church. While passing time in his waiting area we looked out his north-facing window onto the church office plaza. His office has a commanding view of the best flowerbeds in the COB complex...they were just finishing the fall planting of bulbs and pansies.

Pres. "X" came out and greeted my wife and I with a warm hug and a smile; he was genuine and loving. It was great to be able to have this personal time with him.

After some small talk and family catch-up, Pres "X" asked how he could help us...I reminded him that he had asked for the meeting. I again referred to my earlier letter and again described my situation. For some reason he misunderstood and thought that I was in my current situation because I had been offended...but I assured him that I was where I am currently because of historical facts and not how I have been treated. He seemed to miss this again and felt that how I was treated was the motivation for my loss of belief. He got my letter out and reread a portion of it so as to convince me. I told him that I felt they were not related again.

At this point he asked my wife and me to follow him into a special room down the hall from his office. The large windowless room was much like a conference room except there was no conference table in it. Instead, sitting in the center of the darkened room was a ornately carved mahogany oval table, perhaps 5 feet in diameter. Through the darkness I could see that this room was also richly appointed in fine hard woods and moldings As we entered the room Pres “X” turned the light switch on... a single spot light positioned directly over this table shown a pillar of exacting light down on what can only be described as the most amazing thing I have ever seen with my own two eyes. Lying on a red velvet gold-fringed cloth.... was a single solid “White and Delightsome” Brick.

Turning to me Pres “X” directed me to pound this brick several times into my head...assuring me that once I had done so enough times...my testimony would return. As I sat there in utter shock...he pressed a button on the wall behind us, causing one of the wood paneled walls to slide away, exposing a solid wall made of these same white and delightsome bricks. He told me that if I preferred...instead of hitting my head repeatedly with the single brick, I could instead run headfirst into the brick wall over and over and over again until my testimony returned. He said that the church had had much success with both methods in the past.

Since leaving the church...I have been asked to repeatidly bang my head against that same brick wall... over and over and over again... in the hope that I can somehow believe in the Mormon claims again... My head is so F***ing sore from trying to force belief in things that to me are so unbelievable.

Several times through my interview with this GA, I had to literally grit my teeth. Its time to move on...

PS: I gracefully declined his generous offer for a priesthood blessing...

Looking Over My Shoulder

2006-04-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

I caved into pressure...

Ok here’s the deal... I’ve been out of the church for over 3 years now... but few of my TBM neighbors even know about it. I have no agenda and view my loss of belief as a private matter.
This morning I stopped at a local convenience store to buy a cup of coffee. Just as I was about to walk in, my neighbor and a former bishop’s councilor of my former ward drove up (he is unaware of my apostasy; as he was released before I left the church). For some reason I caved into the pressure and instead of buying that cup 'O Joe I went and bought a cold caffeine beverage. And now I’m pissed at my self. I gave so much power to the Mormon Church to mess with my life for so many years...and I’m still doing it by caving in to pressure...acting as if I was doing something wrong.

I hereby swear that I will live my life honestly, without consideration to what others may think of me. I am giving myself permission to make decisions regarding my life, irrespective of others perceptions. I promise NOT to look over my shoulder when doing something that the Mormon culture frowns on...that is unless I run into someone else from my former ward.

One Size Does NOT Fit All

2006-04-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend my TBM college age daughter went to Las Vegas with her friends. While there the inevitable happened. She Gambled. At the urging of her other TBM friends she placed a $5.00 bet on a 21 Table and let it ride... and ride it did... with in three hours that one $5.00 bet had increased to a total of $250.00. With in an additional hour that amount had taken the proverbial Vegas ride and reduced down to $150.00 at which point my daughter smartly decided to cash in her winnings.

In a moment of unthinking excitement, my daughter called my Uber-Mormon- wife to share her enthusiasm. Upon hearing the news my wife immediately chastised my daughter for not following the council given by Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Mormon Church, “The Prophet”.

Having experienced Mormon enduced guilt trips my entire life...I immediately jumped into the fray... I expressed my view that the Mormon Church‘s, one size fits all, view of gambling is wrong. By placing guilt on adult members of the LDS church who choose to gamble (think Wendover and Mesquite) is just plain misguided. I then went on to express my belief that gambling in and of itself is "NOT" wicked ...it is the uncontrolled or addictive gambling that is immoral. Those who gamble away funds necessary for food, housing and survival are the ones in need of helpful council...not the recreational gambler who might make the occasional weekend trip to one of the afore mentioned cities and blow a few hundred dollars. After all Wendover and Mesquite weren't built from gentile monsy, they were built from funds that were already tithed.

Needless to say... I am now in the dog house for sharing my evil wicked counter Mormon views of gambling...

Literal Belief

2006-04-17T10:51:00.000-07:00

Once a former believer breaks through their Mormon bubble and gets a dose of reality... Life will never be the same again. Once a former believer asks the question "What if the church is not what it claims to be?" they have opened a door that leads from a dark closet out into the bright sunshine of reality. But for those that make this journey without their believing families... This journey is not without its trials

A few days ago my wife and I were once again discussing my apostasy from Mormonism. She wanted to know why I couldn't just compromise and believe something, anything regarding the church. As I contemplated her question I asked her how I could get all the tooth paste back into the tube once its all been squeezed out? The point being, I do not know how to reinvent my former religion to accommodate all the false claims that it has made. I do not know how to again believe in a church that has covered-up or changed important historical evidence that I felt was essential to an honest assessment of its truth claims.

Mormonism is a literal religion. It teaches and believes in a literal universal flood, a literal tower of Babel, a literal 6,000 year earth age, that dinosaurs literally are not of THIS earth but lived on another earth like planet and that their bones were transplanted here during the creation of this earth, that there was no death prior to Adam and Eve some 4,000 years ago, that the Garden of Eden was in the State ofMissouri, that Noah literally carried 2 of ever species on his Ark and then somehow placed them through out the earth so that they reinforced not Noah's story but Darwin's theory of evolution and on and on and on... These are things I can not put back into the tooth paste tube of Mormon faith...To me they are beyond question... And "literally" unbelievable...

Hook, Line and Sinker

2006-03-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

As a ”Truly Believing Member” of the Mormon Church, I admit that I took every thing that the leaders of the church spewed out literally. They had already done the thinking...so I didn’t need to... right? I literally believed everything without ever thinking the claims of the church out in my mine. I believe part of my loss of belief came about because I started to recognize blatant conflicts with the claims of the church and reality... here are a few examples of things that started to really bother me and eventually led to my leaving Mormonism. It is also why Thinking in Mormonism is part of the “Double Bind“.

The Mormon belief that the earth is 6,000 years old (see D&C sec 77)
The whole story of Adam and Eve being our first parents
The story of the Universal Flood (Mormon’s believe that this was a baptism of the earth).
The belief that Dinosaurs came from a different planet
The Garden of Eden being in the State of Missouri
The belief that there was no death before Adam and Eve (fossil remains have proven this to be a false doctrine)
The City of Enoch being a real city that was literally lifted into heaven from its sight where the Gulf of Mexico is currently situated.
That our Sun derives its energy from a planet called Kolob
That the pre-Columbus inhabitants of the America’s and Pacific Islands were descendants of Hebrew bloodlines.
That all languages somehow were changed from a pure Adamic language 4,000 years ago at the “Tower of Babel” to confuse and confound humanity. "Pay Lay Ale" in pure Adamic means "Oh God, hear the words of my mouth" ... Yeah right!
That God somehow showed Noah where to “drop off” the various animals species through out the world, after the flood so that they would conform perfectly with Darwin’s theory of Evolution i.e.: Kangaroos in Australia, Lion’s and Elephants in Africa, Horses and Cows in Mesopotamia etc.

Now that I am free to think and evaluate so many conflicting beliefs found in Mormonism...I am amazed that I ever believed so many silly and stupid doctrines. The only way that Mormonism makes any sense in reality... is to “Leave It”.

Close Encounters of The 5th Kind

2006-03-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

Utah is a unique microcosm. Different from almost any other place in the world because of the overwhelming influence of the Mormon church in personal and public settings. Those who do move into Utah from elsewhere are often overwhelmed by the initial experience of encountering their new Mormon neighbors. While those of us who have left Mormonism continue to be bombarded by the long tentacles of Mormonism at every turn. As an aid to those of us living in Utah...I wanted to give guidance on how to handle these close encounters.

Close Encounters Of A 1st Kind: This is the most common category of close encounter. It involves sensing something from a Mormon while in a public place. It could be a quick turn of a head from someone who saw you drinking an adult beverage in a public restaurant. The avoidance of eye contact from someone you know who sees you drinking out of a Styrofoam cup. That subtle judgmental expression you may receive as you mow your lawn on a Sunday morning as your neighbors drive off to church. Encounters of this type are very slight but evident...more a feeling or a perception - anything like that fits into this section. If you experience this kind of encounter...it is best to raise your adult beverage in the direction of the Mormon and give them a wink of your eye or a flip of your middle finger.

Close Encounters Of A 2nd Kind: A bit deeper than the 1st kind, to have a 2nd class encounter you must have experienced a personal invasion of your private space by a Mormon. You see Mormons are raised to believe that there is no such thing as personal boundaries. Their personal boundaries are violated so often by their own ecclesiastical leaders through invasive interviews through out their own lives that they see nothing wrong with invading others rights to enjoyment of public spaces. You have experienced a close encounter of the 2nd kind if you have been asked to alter your activity or behavior while in a public setting. This close encounter would come in a direct communication to you such as “Could you please refrain from using that kind of language in front of me” or “I saw you jogging without your garments on, What were you thinking?” This kind of encounter is generally best handled by telling the Mormon who wants to alter your behavior to “Fuck Off”.

Close Encounters Of A 3rd Kind: Violation of your most personal private space is involved in this class of encounter. You’ll know that you have had a close encounter of the third kind if you’ve been sitting in the privacy of your own home enjoying a quiet moment reading Carl Sagan’s book “ A Demon Haunted World” or watching an HBO “R” rated movie while enjoying a cold beer, when the door bell rings. This unannounced invasion of your personal space by members of the local bishopric or home teachers is the most common encounter of the third kind. If you do encounter this kind of encounter...it is best dealt with by merely shutting your door in the faces of these unannounced intruders and kindly telling them to stay the Fuck out of your life.

Close Encounters Of A 4th Kind: The rarest of Close Encounters, a class 4 encounter relates to an experience involving personal contact or communication with a Mormon priesthood leader or apologist. These Clashe of the Titan moments are rare because the only thing those who have left Mormonism want is to be left alone. However, members of the Mormon Church can not get this reality through their thick white and delightsome heads. So after having experienced close encounters of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd kind repeatedly, the non-believer generally seeks out an encounter of the 4th kind. These types of encounters are usually an errand in futility... but damn they sure make you feel great after finally being able to kick some major Mormon ass. Just being able to articulate all the reasons to a Mormon of authority as to why Mormonism is NOT what it claims to be can be exhilarating.

Close Encounters Of A 5th Kind: This class of encounter is sometimes used to define Abduction cases involving Mormons. This is perhaps the most insidious encounter. You will know that you have experienced an encounter of the 5th kind if the minds and souls of your family no longer respond to logic, facts and reality when Mormonism is being discussed. In these sad situations your family has been abducted by Mormonism.

Ummmmm... Smell That Aroma...

2006-03-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ok time for true confessions... I’ve been addicted to Coffee for as long as I can remember. Now I never actually consumed any until about 2 years ago, AFTER I left the church. But as a pre teen my never mo grand pa (he may have been necro dunked by now, but I’m sure he’s still resisting) used to give me that yummy coffee candy. It was the perfect mix of a cup o coffee with cream and sugar...yummy. If my TBM mom caught me eating one, she would make me spit it out. Oh that evil vile candy. On the same level as candy cigarettes...

As a teen, I’d linger alittle too long in the grocery store coffee isle as well...especially if someone was grinding some freshly roasted coffee beans. (Yeah they use to sell that at the store even in Utah). I loved the smell of freshly ground coffee, still do. It smelled so good to me...yet I KNEW it was one of the most evil substances on earth. One of the BIG three...after tabacco and alcohol.

Then something happened when I went into my chosen career... I had a weak moment one day and I consumed a caffeinated beverage... not a hard core cola drink mind you...but a carbonated "entry level" caffeinated root beer. The kind of drink those evil manufactures of caffeinated beverages make to hook the weak and unsuspecting. Well that did it... I was on the quick road to hell after that... I soon migrated to stronger caffeine drinks such as Shasta Cola, Mr. Pib and finally the mother of all caffeine drinks.... OH God help me, I consumed a Coca-Cola. Well that eventually led me to much stronger caffeinated drinks such as Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew and my ultimate drug of choice, Diet-Pepsi. I was consuming more and more caffeine drinks...I even did it in public settings...selecting the caffeine brand even when the caffeine free variety was available.

I had a problem... I knew I had a problem... I was a consumer of COLD caffeine. Not to be confused with that evil damned generation who drank their caffeine HOT. Thank God, there was nothing wrong with cold caffeine consumption. I could still get a temple recommend. I could still practice my religion with a clear conscience knowing I was one of God's chosen few because I drank my caffeine COLD. I could still pat myself on my back KNOWING that I was a worthy Mormon...since I had NEVER consumed HOT caffeine. I could keep that chip securly on my shoulder KOWING that I was better than my fellow man because I only consumed my caffeine COLD, never HOT. In fact it quickly became clear to me that THE TEMPERATURE OF THE CAFFEINE CONSUMED COULD DETECT PURE UNADULTERATED EVIL. People who drank HOT caffeine...were clearly the spawn of Satan.

Then something happened... a Never Mo cousin of mine asked me to explain why I could drink cold caffeinated beverages as a Mormon...but would not join him for a cup of hot tea or hot coffee. God Damn him.... How dare he use logic and reason against my God given Mormon rationalizations. I wanted to yell at him and tell him that Hot Caffeine was against the word of wisdom... but as a Never Mo, child of Satan, he would never understand the intricacies of God's plan. Clearly, God made a distinction between being good and being evil based on the temperature of ones caffeine consumption... but how was I going to help him understand God’s convoluted, nonsensical law’s of Love.

I filed this conflict in the back of my mind as a good Mormon always does with all the other stupid conflicting nonsense Mormonism had conflicted me with over the years.

Jump ahead a few years... I now just shake my head and laugh at how totally absurd this Mormon measuring stick for goodness really is. And to think it took my Never-Mo Cousin to point it out to me. Yeah, I was that brainwashed.

So this morning, as I was driving to work with a hot cup ‘o coffee, enjoying the delicious aroma of that HOT caffeine drink... I had a moment of pure joy come across my face as I reflected back on my Mormon upbringing and the absolutely absurd teachings that the worth of an individual can be detected through the temperature of the caffeine in their drink...

Miracles DO Happen

2006-03-06T12:01:00.000-07:00

Since leaving the church, Sundays have been the worst day of the week. I stay at home, relax, and watch TV, read the Sunday paper while my family goes off to do their duty by attending faithfully all 3 hours of their Sunday meetings. Then, they all return with a chip on their shoulder because their apostate husband/father didn’t attend church. The #$%& always seemed to hit the fan...so to speak. Sundays were just plain awful.

Well I’m here to testify that there are still miracles, that there is such a thing as Recovery from Mormonism, that a TBM and an apostate CAN remain married and get along through compromise.

I can’t honestly tell you what it was that created this thawing of feelings and emotions...(but stopping posting on RFM helped) but Sundays have become more relaxed and the #$%& hasn’t hit the fan in three weeks. My wife returns from church happy and somewhat comfortable with my non-attendance. She's Found a Happy Place. We’re actually becoming a normal family again... and rediscovering that we do in fact love each other. Oh there are still some peculiarities... but dogs and cats can get along, the lion and the lamb can lay down with each other...and a TBM and an Apostate can love each other and respect each others perspective. Life is Good.

I haven’t been to a church meeting in four weeks and I have no cause to attend in the future...

Oh Yeah I believe in Miracles!

I've Cancelled my Mormon Prescription

2006-03-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

A few year ago I discovered during a routine medical check up that I had elevated cholesterol. The doctor prescribed one 10 mg of Lipitor on a daily basis along with diet and exercise to bring my reading back within an acceptable level. With the medication, proper diet and daily exercise, my cholesterol quickly dropped to a reading of about 130. Anything under 190 is considered good.

Since I take a pill each morning, I need a steady supply, so I buy my prescription in 3 months refills. 2 weeks ago I sent in my refill request as I was getting low on pills. This morning as part of my daily routine, I brushed my teeth, shaved, then reached over to get my pill. Sitting next to my bottle of pills was another similar looking pill bottle. Not having put my glasses on, I just assumed that my refill had arrived and that my wife had placed it alongside my other pill bottle. I didn’t even give it a second thought as I took a pill from the new bottle and swallowed.

I didn’t need to read the new pill bottle, I KNEW that it was my refill. There was neither doubt nor reason to question my assumption. Only after I had showered, dressed and put on my eyeglasses did I notice a slight difference in the shape of the two bottles. An alarm went off in my head. Upon further examination I discovered to my horror that I had ingested one of my wife’s medications, which she assured me should have no effect on a guy. Whew!

Through out my life I was so sure that Mormonism was all that it claimed to be. I was so sure, that I refrained from even subjecting the faith of my birth to a critical examination. Then I started to pick up on some anomalies. First, during my mission then later through out my life, I’d hear of some bizarre historical events that didn’t seem to fit into my picture of the church that I had been raised in. Things just didn’t add up. Alarms started to go off. Cognitive Dissonance set in. I knew that I needed to subject my faith to an examination. I started using critical eyes and began scrutinizing Mormonisms claims. To my horror, I discovered that the church of my birth had failed to disclose all of the important pertinent information necessary to make an informed honest decision. I had been lied to, misinformed and given false information. But unlike my wife’s pills... this lack of disclosure was not innocuous...it had serious side effects. As a result I've cancelled my Mormon prescription.

Lamanites and Scrapbooking

2006-03-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

My mom, bless her heart, was raised in a time when Mormonism was easy to believe in. Oh sure it still had its detractors, but by god, at least intelligent minds could still point to all those ancient civilizations in Central America and at least debate the question. Facts still mattered. The Mormon Church was so sure of this reality, that it spent millions of dollars on archeological digs and studies to find evidence to support the claims of the Book of Mormon as an ancient historical document. They never doubted for an instant that their investment would not return spectacular evidence to support their claims.

My mom never even had to doubt, with all that proof supporting the claims of the Book of Mormon, who in their right mind would doubt. Mormonism was a fact, a reality, it was testable and supportable...hallelujah the church is true!

Yesterday I visited my parents. In retirement my mom has occupied her time with what she calls doing genealogy. In reality she isn’t searching for family lines to extend our family tree, what in fact she is doing is compiling bits and bobs of pictures and cards, a trip down memory lane, and putting them in a scrapbook...but we all refer to her activity, in her words, as her genealogy.

So yesterday as I made a visit, my mom pulls out her latest compilation of memories (genealogy) and places it front of me. It was a large thick book consisting of about 50 thickly filled pages of family recollections.

As I leafed through the pictures and post cards I came to one page in particular. Mom had cut out a few pictures of American Indians dress in full-feathered headdresses and war regalia and pasted them on a page. I turned to my mother and asked... Ah what are these pictures in here for? “Oh those“, said mom, “those are to remind me of our Jewish ancestry? Your great great great grand mother was Jewish.” “But mom these are American Indians...not Jews.” Her reply was one for the Mormon Hall of Fame. “But Craig, Your great great great grand mother was Lamanite and Lamanites are Jewish.

Yeah got to love that hemispheric Book of Mormon setting taught for over 175 years... Oh how I long for the good old days...

And So It Begins...

2006-03-01T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last Month I had my balls spiritually removed by my Beautiful-Uber-Mormo-Nazi-TBM wife (whom I love with every fiber of my being). She had discovered that I had been posting my thoughts on a sight infamously known to all TBM’s as the spawn of Satan, the evil anti-Mormon sight better known to all free thinkers as “Recovery From Mormonism or RFM for short, www.exmormon.org. In my desire to find common ground I agreed to stop posting my thoughts on RFM. But walking around with a tinfoil hat duct taped over my mind is not very comfortable.

So knowing that I am far from being recovered of my Mormon experience I have decided to establish this blog aptly named “Cr@ig In The Middle” as a safe place where I can come to vent and download my random thoughts from time to time.

My “Cr@ig In The Middle” blog will be about anything my mind congers up, but I suspect that it will dwell mostly on my continued experience of living with my feet planted in two opposing worldviews. One foot is begrudgingly planted in the magic worldview of Mormonism where anything is possible. Up is down, black is white, 2+2 = 5, where reality is suspended to accommodate mind bending belief, where answers to questions are known before questions are asked. This is the world my wife and family still reside within. My other foot is securely planted in the real world. The skeptics world where facts and reality matter. Where truth claims can be questioned and tested and discarded if found lacking or embraced based on testable supporting evidence. It is the world were faith is still valued but is built on a foundation of reality. In this world, to make that leap of faith, one is not required to disregard the laws of nature or the laws of the universe in order to accommodate it. An exercise in Faith is rewarded in additional truth...not the absolute unmoveable, untestable truth of Mormonism, but the honest, real kind of truth that is literally built line upon line, precept upon precept and based in authenticity. That welcomes critical examination and is not afraid of the skeptical mind.

My life in the “Middle” of these two contrasting, conflicting worldviews is a delicate balancing act that I am glad to endure for the sake of my family, whom I continue to love.