mormonism 2014
Xmormon.net
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Oct 20 2013 Grant Palmer at the ExMormon Foundation
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Mormon Truth Developments 1820 - 2014 > Science tests Faith (Last Update 11 Feb 2014)
The Mormon Church keeps morphing in 2014, but as always in a subtle manner in response to the pressures of public opinion. Hence the top 15 leaders new revelations are often dictated by desperation rather than inspiration.
We value the honest pursuit of truth which lead us to a painful disambiguation of our Mormon beliefs. We belief that Morphonism is the survival strategy of a belief system that is man made and fundamentally flawed. Current leaders have inherited the Mormon dilemma and are playing a delicate game to defend the indefensible with a sanitized version of beliefs designed to prevent major bleeding. Ultimately a Mormon Reformation will replace the current Mormythology and honesty will prevail. The survival of LDS faith requires the dismantling Josephs mantle and lead the church of Joseph King of LDS back to Jesus Christ, just as the RLDS church did to a large degree from its inception in 1860/1872 until it renamed itself CoC in 2001.
The webmaster of this site and xmoblog (Walter) was born in Germany and now lives in Australia. He posts content on Mormonism, the LDS church, RLDS/CoC church, FLDS church and 21st century Christianity. I am a 360 degree convert from Christianity (my story) to Mormonism and back. To understand the Mormon dilemma read Tom Phillips on Mormonthink. Mormon Theology is syncretistic philosophy packaged as revelation. Mormon scripture is fabrication that masks its true evolution - See Grant Palmers Lecture on LDS Theology. Jeremy Runnells letter to CES "Why I lost my testimony" is a great write up that resonates with me. The purpose of this site is to content that truth and faith must be reconciled. Mormons must question and correct their checkered Theology and contaminated God image & experience and revert to traditional Christianity and the historical Jesus. I was borne in Stuttgart, Germany (1949) and am married to Janet (London Temple 1977). In 1977 we have moved to Germany and in 1987 we have migrated to Australia in with our 5 children. We have abandoned the Mormon Church in 1995 and reverted back to our evangelical Christian roots and are in fellowship. Currently (2014) we have 6 children and 3 grand children. The majority of our family have kept their faith in Jesus Christ as our sole hope for redemption. My faith journey / testimony shall be added later. I desire to reflect on Mormon developments and point out a better faith alternative without adherence to Mormon vows. I value complete honesty about faith issues and would like to lead Mormons back to the cross and help family and friends from Germany, UK and Australia understand the religious world of Mormonism vs Christianity. God does not lie. Mormons have been lied to twice (1) by foundational prophet Joseph Smith and (2) by current leaders who subtly manage the dissemination of the truth and the rewriting of the historical record. Finding out that you have been lied to about your salvation and loosing trust is quite depressing and over time we have been able to build a better hope in the Jesus that manifests today in general Christianity. Jesus is very blunt. No oaths, no secrets, let your Yes be a Yes and your No be a No. See also John 8:44. Some may say that God does not change his mind all the time and that he has forsaken the LDS church. But then how can he if he has never ushered it in in the first place. While the system can not be attributed to God I don't think he has forsaking its adherents on a personal level if their hard is pure and sincere.
Mormonism in a nutshell (1820-1830)
Mormonism is a unique composite Pseudo Christian Religion that has evolved from Joseph Smiths' occult paternal roots and his Christian maternal roots and is best described as blended or Syncretistic Christianity. Spiritually conceived from 1820 onwards and formally founded in 1830 it features a composite Jesus rooted in the New Testament and the 1820's protestant revival in the US merged with a revelatory pseudo historical Jesus or New World Messiah (Americas AD30's) as described in the Book of Mormon and claimed to be scripture. In it Jesus appears to be very much like the biblical Jesus, except that he destroys a lot of cities before he recites his biblical sermon on the mount. 80% of the 1830 Book of Mormon is culturally established content. It is clearly anti masonic and anti polygamy, but tolerant of a magic world view. Starting with its foundation in 1830 Mormonism claims to have the fulness of the Gospel (BoM) and sole authority to act in the name of God. A dual layered sole priesthood claim has been added as well (retrospectively). Otherwise the religion appears to be initially a mainline Christian denomination, but not for long . . .
Mormonisms foundational evolution I (1830-1844)
In its formative years 1823-1830 Mormonism was in essence an apocryphal Christian belief system, spiritually only deviant by its claim to divinely mandated exclusivity. Mormonism is also historically deviant claiming historicity for a fabricated record. While the Book of Mormon has the appearance of main stream Christianity with a few subtle deviations (race) that are hard to detect it does nevertheless cast a fictional and hence false Jesus. Josephs later revelations contained in the Book of Moses, Abraham and D&C however depict a deviant revelatory Jesus image, that inspires lies and enforces adultery. Mormonism now embraces Masonic Ritual / Pagan mythology, Polygamy, Exaltation and other esoteric revelations in the name of Christ (US 1830-1844).
Morphmonism (1844-2014)
Today's Mormonism consists of the LDS, RLDS (CoC) and FLDS church. This time period is characterized by gradually dismantling some of the evolutionary tenets of the faith's formative period of its first 14 years. Mormonism has claimed revelations and created extra biblical scripture that is binding for its adherents and solidified in personal testimonies. All modern revelations of Joseph Smith and his claim to angelically transferred Priesthood authority are believed to compose the only True and Living Church of Jesus Christ on earth. Modern Mormonism seeks to sanitize its false revelations with subtle corrections and it steers its members faith slowly back into mainline Christianity without giving up its claims and most of its core doctrines. To give credit to the Mormons I must say that their own scholars have done most of the research that examines Mormon Myth. There are a few notable Christian scholars that have done extensive independent research as well. Interesting articles are published by the Mormon History Association.
Today's Mormonism (LDS - RLDS/CoC)
First some stats and websites that help to gage interest: After Mitt Romney Poll Mormonism
The Collapse of Mormonism has not happened and will not happen even in the cyber information age. What we see is an erosion of its claims to authority and a decline in vitality. At the moment this translates to decreased growth rates and quite possibly could end in stagnation. More likely the internet acts as a catalyst and accelerates the creeping evolution in dismantling errant core doctrines. The LDS churches key to survival is change and that is happening gradually. The RLDS are way ahead and have almost completed their transformation. They have provided a precedent that a sudden transformation can cause a break off of an est. 10% in membership ! Watch the courageous transformation of the RLDS church on John Dehlins Mormon Stories on youtube.
I do not agree with sensational videos, such as "The collapse of Mormonism". It remains hard to assess how many long standing highly dedicated members have lost their faith in the truth claims of the LDS church. I recon its under 100 000. For new converts however the drop out figure exceeds 1 Million (see census in Brazil) . Only ca 5 Mio LDS are fully practicing members, which is about a third of the members on record. Less than 10 000 are estimated to have formally resigned due to loss of faith, while 40 000 have left or gone underground to practice polygamy.
Why most of the informed Utah LDS Members stay
Most of the long standing deeply committed LDS Members when facing disillusionment stay LDS because they see enough truth and value in what they can salvage of their LDS faith and LDS culture (social proof). Its a reductionist approach and re-focusing on Christianity in general. Members stay because they want to stay Christians and they learn to fear Science and Research will open the door to a collapse of all faith in Mormonism and Christianity. See Poll Evolution and Evolution and the wages of sin which presents a challenge for Christians and Mormons. Most of the intellectual Mormons spiritualize and socialize controversial truth (morals, values, relationships) while discarding their most unsustainable beliefs and mythical claims. Spiritual truth gets isolated from material truth (scripts, props & artifacts that have been proven false by science and historical research). Here is the 1983 interview with Sterling Mc Murrin (1914-1996), a Mormon agnostic scholar who escaped excommunication because he valued the LDS church for its social proof. In his opinion he was a heretic, but not an apostate, because he still held the LDS church and its Leaders in esteem. We now have a group of Mormons that occupy a Middle path called New Order Mormons founded by the mysterious LDSMan (deseased) while both Christians and traditional Mormons disagree that such a path is even defendable. See also Wiki on Humanistic Mormons. Other movements such as hotm.tv advocate to focus on internal conversion and to go easy on resignation and not to destroy families. Some may look at subtle changes and trust that the church will sooner or later catch up, regardless of whether or not they openly admit it, there is a reductionist official undercurrent to steer the ship towards mainline Christianity.
Is there a Mormon Middleground ?
Mormonisms foundation was based on a radical claim of true or false. Most Mormons still have a very self assured and black and white attitude, but more recently as shown in John Dehlin's March 2012 survey I do see a more widespread shift during the last 20 years of internet proliferation. Before that time there was no middle ground. It' either true or false. Its either God or the devils. If the BoM is false all else is false and Joseph is a false prophet. Now there appears to be room for a middle ground, the wider membership is allowed to have legitimate doubts and is encouraged by the leadership to hang in even if they doubt. We can work it out. Holland (April 2013) and Uchtdorf (October 2013) have urged doubting members not to despair but to fight for their faith and have assured them of their place inside the fold. It is scary to loose your religion, culture and possibly your livelihood. A big fear of doubting Mormons have is that if they apply the same scientific rigor to Christianity then nothing is left. And then there is a real experiential cultural value and comfort in having found certainty, identity and purpose. Besides the LDS faith is making a positive contribution to the American society and Family and after all touches a lot of common ground in defending a literal faith in the God of the Bible in a time where anti Christian agendas political correctness dominates in most western societies. The new Mormon middle ground also shows in John Dehlins work and the acceptance he gets from the top 15 Leaders of the LDS church. See A thoughtful Faith and Mormon Matters. See also Monsons official testimony about the truth of scripture also quoted in Mormon Coffee (critical). So in my opinion there is no spiritually sustainable Mormon middle ground unless Mormonism gets de-mormomonized. We now have New Order Mormons movement Saints may opt to stay by de-mormonizing themselves in the hope that the LDS church will ultimately catch up.
Symbiotic Faith - The Joseph Smith Puzzle
Joseph initially may have set out to forge a second testimony of Jesus to define what he discovered to be salvation truth and true Christianity. Building on that the benefits where (1) to unite his family in belief and salvation and (2) save the world from unitarianism and deism (3) give himself power and authority as a modern day prophet as well as (4) a profession with material benefits from book sales, tithes and enterprises. His charismatic traits and connectedness with the spirit world of the occult as well as the inspirational enabled him to cast his vision high and for some reason succeed in shaping the west of the United States. Mormon turned Atheist Scholar Dan Vogel in the Prophet Puzzle has done a great job explaining the symbiosis between Joseph Smith and his followers in seeing God and Jesus in charge a magical mystical way. Unfortunately this has included major re-imaging work on the historical and traditional Jesus which has turned out to be merely speculative rather than inspired as it has raised more controversy and questions than it answers. Symbiosis equally applies between today's Prophets and Apostles and LDS Members who are now left with the task of dismantling and unteach more and more authoritatively held core doctrines of the past.
Bearing False Witness - Anatomy of my former Mormon Testimony
It is in the 10 commandments. Don't bear false testimony. If a witness bears a false witness and I base my witness on his witness, then my witness becomes not only invalid, but false as well even if I prayerfully sought the witness of the Holy Ghost. For that I apologize. The other issue is that the Mormon Priesthood is linked to receiving Jesus and total severance is regarded unforgivable like a sin against the Holy Ghost. Here again if the link was false then separation from the Mormon Priesthood to cleave to the biblical historical Jesus can not be a separation from today's living Jesus or the Holy Ghost. It is actually vital to dissolve such covenants to correct blasphemy or heresy that allows for a lying God that needs to be devising to save us, but commands us to better than that ! Proselytes are lead to perform their own prayerful truth test on the Book of Mormon. This Holy Ghost truth test is rigged and carefully orchestrated based on information given and information withhold. In hindsight it left me feeling duped and mislead. I had complied and with the results turning out ambiguous I joined the faith. Based on a few passages in the Book of Mormon the reader is suggestively guided to experiment with biblical passages recycled and elaborated on in the Book of Mormon (Alma 32) and then judge as follows: Everything that induces people to belief in Jesus is from God, based on Moroni 7:16 and Moroni 10:4. Once that test has been passed everything else that does not feel right in a prayer test ought to be accepted nevertheless as an extension the divine truth already received. There is another passage on fighting doubts in D&C and so the manipulation continues. This leads to binding the conscience by covenants. Here again the initiate does not know what the covenant is beforehand. It is sacred and that's why it is secret (unless you know its all on the internet). But for me I only learned afterwards that it is a strongly masonic derivative. The initiate goes into the temple and goes through a few feel god washings and anointings. Then he sits down in the lecture theater before an altar and hears that he will now proceed to receive an endowment / covenants (Gods gift) of his own free will if he remains. Otherwise he must withdraw from the temple NOW. Everything felt good so far so continued and ended up taking modified masonic oaths in the Name of Jesus ! This is a manipulative technique and results in "voluntarily" binding the mind under oath before God, Angels and Witnesses at the Altar. See stage magician Derren Brown's Your Mind in Episode 1 of Fear and Faith as well as his conversion debriefing. The point here is that revelatory prayer needs to be congruent with factual examination to be valid. The hardware (Golden plates / Papyri) that Smith introduced has bolstered his prophetic claim initially but has voided or undermined it severely in the information age. The faithful majority continues in their faith, but new proselytes that hop on the internet are very hard to win. Real growth in the US has virtually ceased and maintenance stats are predominantly underpinned by fertility rates.
Scriptural guidance in Contrast: Book of Mormon vs Bible scriptures
When it comes to discernment about Mormonism Mormons and Christians provide very different scriptures to guide the testimonies and prayers of those studying the truth and falsehood in Mormonism. A Mormon testimony is based on deception because Missionaries are withholding the full truth about the so called fullness of the gospel and then making a call to their proselyte to pray about (1) & (2) . Hence when the prospective Mormon gets council from his Christian friends they are compelled to provide a dire warning from scripture (3) & (4). Their still impressive success comes mainly from the strong indoctrination of young people to answer a prophetic call to volunteer in a "sales force" of 80 000 door to door missionaries (marketeers) that target a segment of converts that is mainly (85%) Christian.
(1) Moroni 7:16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
(2) Moroni 10:4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
(3) Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(4) John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources,for he is a liar and the father of it.
New Mormon Revelations are subtle, no Mormon Spring
High level church leaders have recently gotten involved in a Swedish Rescue of Faith, which we should welcome even if the result was disappointing for many of the Saints afflicted by doubt and betrayal. It is clear that many of the leaders are just as much a victim as they are an accomplice of fraud. They are not the original perpetrator and like us they would have the good reason to be upset as well since their faith in Joseph is under attack as well. More info in NY Times July 2013 & whymormonsquestion.org where John Dehlin has posted a Survey Result on youtube taken from 3000 Disbelievers. Half of them still attend the LDS church. The LDS church has recently started to partially open its archives and become a little more transparent on its official website. It will continue to be slow and carefully managed process. For a brief status see links below. I was checking online how much momentum the recent subtle reforms may gather. LDS.org quietly morphs a little, but there is not a reformation, much mor likely a comestic restauration of its earlier Christian core. What we see is still often a whitewash of some of the severe problems with its past. The ongoing shift from core doctrinal positions proofs that the church has noticed that it was wrong on major issues, but it falls short of a proper acknowledgement or apology. At the moment it is still very hard to find any substantial utterances from the top (GA's) that would convince me of a significant reform or real openness. The Swedish rescue attracts lots of comments from scholars such as Grant Palmer. I have listened to Grant Palmers very candid life story in an interview on youtube. But the only ones who can speak with authority are the top 15 Leaders or GA's and I believe they are not inclined to elaborate in conference beyond what Dieter Uchtdorf has already said in October. That in itself however was a step in the right direction. What GA's think and say in less public settings remains a mystery to me. You are probably familiar with the Swedish story, but may not have read the script. On burning question is Josephs Polyandry. It was admitted to be factual, but do GA's / you believe it was of God ? The scholars have dodged the question. Polyandry even goes against section 132 (allow for virgins only) and I would have to be excommunicated if I did that. Nobody had the courage to answer this question staged by the Swedish members and I recon that is how it will remain. It appears that the Clayton Diaries (He was Josephs Clark) will not be regarded a part of the Joseph Smith Papers and hence will not published by the Church. Another hot issue for 2014 is why did William Law leave !
Ex Mormonism's most prominent Australian voice (atheist)
Simon Southerton is Australia's most prominent ex Mormon voice. Simon is the author of Loosing a Lost tribe and is well known for his recent DNA research that has dealt the Book of Mormon another devastating scientific blow.
Science tests Faith - The truth will make you free, but it is painful
Applying scientific testing to LDS religious history has been very devastating for the Mormon truth claims. It appears that Mormonism is not a divine restoration of Christs Church, but rather a man made religion and that the character of its controversial founder is dubious at best. To be fair however the same scientific tests need to be applied to Christianity as well and fortunately it fares much better than Mormon Mythology, because (1) the record is older and less susceptible to blatant disproof. The Character of its founders is beyond reproach. The biggest challenge to Christianity is the scientific search for human origins and it is an issue that is openly discussed in Christianity today and monitored in opinion polls. There is still enough of room to spiritualize mysticise the record (re-interpret the scriptures in good faith) to maintain Christian core beliefs in the face of evolution. Sin leads to spiritual death and Jesus said in
John 11:26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. A valid holy Ghost Witness of truth contained in scripture and a living Christ experience remains vital and widespread in Christianity, but appears to rapidly decline in Mormonism. But many Mormons having been strongly conditioned and insulated from the Christian camp feel that if the LDS church is false then there is no more hope to find the living truth in any other church, but that is far from the truth. We have been life long conditioned to accept the LDS church as the only true and living church on the face of the earth. Let me testify that today's LDS church is far less living and true then what I have seen in general Christianity. God and Jesus are very much alive and miracles and revelations outside the LDS church are much more abundant than inside. For example God is changing the nation Mozambique through IRIS Global. Check out my blog here. To become free is usually a painful process that can take up to 5 years for lifelong TBM's like us. I am reminded of the Shawshank redemption (movie and quotes). Heidi Baker dubbed today's Mother Teresa (evangelical) has helped me a lot to restore my confidence in experiencing God's presence in today's world. I now believe in the invisible kingdom of God of all Christ submitted believers rather than an "only true and living church" that is dying. Christians don't aspire to become Gods, they follow Jesus personally and intimately in loving and obedient submission of their lives to God. To see what true Christianity looks like watch this Heidi Baker Interview or Nicole's Africa video & blog settingtheworldonfire. Read also Grant Palmer's article Religious feelings and Truth. Grant has resigned from the LDS church under pressure, but kept his faith in Jesus.
The Mormon Church keeps morphing in 2014, but as always in a subtle manner in response to the pressures of public opinion. Hence the top 15 leaders new revelations are often dictated by desperation rather than inspiration.
We value the honest pursuit of truth which lead us to a painful disambiguation of our Mormon beliefs. We belief that Morphonism is the survival strategy of a belief system that is man made and fundamentally flawed. Current leaders have inherited the Mormon dilemma and are playing a delicate game to defend the indefensible with a sanitized version of beliefs designed to prevent major bleeding. Ultimately a Mormon Reformation will replace the current Mormythology and honesty will prevail. The survival of LDS faith requires the dismantling Josephs mantle and lead the church of Joseph King of LDS back to Jesus Christ, just as the RLDS church did to a large degree from its inception in 1860/1872 until it renamed itself CoC in 2001.
The webmaster of this site and xmoblog (Walter) was born in Germany and now lives in Australia. He posts content on Mormonism, the LDS church, RLDS/CoC church, FLDS church and 21st century Christianity. I am a 360 degree convert from Christianity (my story) to Mormonism and back. To understand the Mormon dilemma read Tom Phillips on Mormonthink. Mormon Theology is syncretistic philosophy packaged as revelation. Mormon scripture is fabrication that masks its true evolution - See Grant Palmers Lecture on LDS Theology. Jeremy Runnells letter to CES "Why I lost my testimony" is a great write up that resonates with me. The purpose of this site is to content that truth and faith must be reconciled. Mormons must question and correct their checkered Theology and contaminated God image & experience and revert to traditional Christianity and the historical Jesus. I was borne in Stuttgart, Germany (1949) and am married to Janet (London Temple 1977). In 1977 we have moved to Germany and in 1987 we have migrated to Australia in with our 5 children. We have abandoned the Mormon Church in 1995 and reverted back to our evangelical Christian roots and are in fellowship. Currently (2014) we have 6 children and 3 grand children. The majority of our family have kept their faith in Jesus Christ as our sole hope for redemption. My faith journey / testimony shall be added later. I desire to reflect on Mormon developments and point out a better faith alternative without adherence to Mormon vows. I value complete honesty about faith issues and would like to lead Mormons back to the cross and help family and friends from Germany, UK and Australia understand the religious world of Mormonism vs Christianity. God does not lie. Mormons have been lied to twice (1) by foundational prophet Joseph Smith and (2) by current leaders who subtly manage the dissemination of the truth and the rewriting of the historical record. Finding out that you have been lied to about your salvation and loosing trust is quite depressing and over time we have been able to build a better hope in the Jesus that manifests today in general Christianity. Jesus is very blunt. No oaths, no secrets, let your Yes be a Yes and your No be a No. See also John 8:44. Some may say that God does not change his mind all the time and that he has forsaken the LDS church. But then how can he if he has never ushered it in in the first place. While the system can not be attributed to God I don't think he has forsaking its adherents on a personal level if their hard is pure and sincere.
Mormonism in a nutshell (1820-1830)
Mormonism is a unique composite Pseudo Christian Religion that has evolved from Joseph Smiths' occult paternal roots and his Christian maternal roots and is best described as blended or Syncretistic Christianity. Spiritually conceived from 1820 onwards and formally founded in 1830 it features a composite Jesus rooted in the New Testament and the 1820's protestant revival in the US merged with a revelatory pseudo historical Jesus or New World Messiah (Americas AD30's) as described in the Book of Mormon and claimed to be scripture. In it Jesus appears to be very much like the biblical Jesus, except that he destroys a lot of cities before he recites his biblical sermon on the mount. 80% of the 1830 Book of Mormon is culturally established content. It is clearly anti masonic and anti polygamy, but tolerant of a magic world view. Starting with its foundation in 1830 Mormonism claims to have the fulness of the Gospel (BoM) and sole authority to act in the name of God. A dual layered sole priesthood claim has been added as well (retrospectively). Otherwise the religion appears to be initially a mainline Christian denomination, but not for long . . .
Mormonisms foundational evolution I (1830-1844)
In its formative years 1823-1830 Mormonism was in essence an apocryphal Christian belief system, spiritually only deviant by its claim to divinely mandated exclusivity. Mormonism is also historically deviant claiming historicity for a fabricated record. While the Book of Mormon has the appearance of main stream Christianity with a few subtle deviations (race) that are hard to detect it does nevertheless cast a fictional and hence false Jesus. Josephs later revelations contained in the Book of Moses, Abraham and D&C however depict a deviant revelatory Jesus image, that inspires lies and enforces adultery. Mormonism now embraces Masonic Ritual / Pagan mythology, Polygamy, Exaltation and other esoteric revelations in the name of Christ (US 1830-1844).
Morphmonism (1844-2014)
Today's Mormonism consists of the LDS, RLDS (CoC) and FLDS church. This time period is characterized by gradually dismantling some of the evolutionary tenets of the faith's formative period of its first 14 years. Mormonism has claimed revelations and created extra biblical scripture that is binding for its adherents and solidified in personal testimonies. All modern revelations of Joseph Smith and his claim to angelically transferred Priesthood authority are believed to compose the only True and Living Church of Jesus Christ on earth. Modern Mormonism seeks to sanitize its false revelations with subtle corrections and it steers its members faith slowly back into mainline Christianity without giving up its claims and most of its core doctrines. To give credit to the Mormons I must say that their own scholars have done most of the research that examines Mormon Myth. There are a few notable Christian scholars that have done extensive independent research as well. Interesting articles are published by the Mormon History Association.
Today's Mormonism (LDS - RLDS/CoC)
First some stats and websites that help to gage interest: After Mitt Romney Poll Mormonism
The Collapse of Mormonism has not happened and will not happen even in the cyber information age. What we see is an erosion of its claims to authority and a decline in vitality. At the moment this translates to decreased growth rates and quite possibly could end in stagnation. More likely the internet acts as a catalyst and accelerates the creeping evolution in dismantling errant core doctrines. The LDS churches key to survival is change and that is happening gradually. The RLDS are way ahead and have almost completed their transformation. They have provided a precedent that a sudden transformation can cause a break off of an est. 10% in membership ! Watch the courageous transformation of the RLDS church on John Dehlins Mormon Stories on youtube.
I do not agree with sensational videos, such as "The collapse of Mormonism". It remains hard to assess how many long standing highly dedicated members have lost their faith in the truth claims of the LDS church. I recon its under 100 000. For new converts however the drop out figure exceeds 1 Million (see census in Brazil) . Only ca 5 Mio LDS are fully practicing members, which is about a third of the members on record. Less than 10 000 are estimated to have formally resigned due to loss of faith, while 40 000 have left or gone underground to practice polygamy.
Why most of the informed Utah LDS Members stay
Most of the long standing deeply committed LDS Members when facing disillusionment stay LDS because they see enough truth and value in what they can salvage of their LDS faith and LDS culture (social proof). Its a reductionist approach and re-focusing on Christianity in general. Members stay because they want to stay Christians and they learn to fear Science and Research will open the door to a collapse of all faith in Mormonism and Christianity. See Poll Evolution and Evolution and the wages of sin which presents a challenge for Christians and Mormons. Most of the intellectual Mormons spiritualize and socialize controversial truth (morals, values, relationships) while discarding their most unsustainable beliefs and mythical claims. Spiritual truth gets isolated from material truth (scripts, props & artifacts that have been proven false by science and historical research). Here is the 1983 interview with Sterling Mc Murrin (1914-1996), a Mormon agnostic scholar who escaped excommunication because he valued the LDS church for its social proof. In his opinion he was a heretic, but not an apostate, because he still held the LDS church and its Leaders in esteem. We now have a group of Mormons that occupy a Middle path called New Order Mormons founded by the mysterious LDSMan (deseased) while both Christians and traditional Mormons disagree that such a path is even defendable. See also Wiki on Humanistic Mormons. Other movements such as hotm.tv advocate to focus on internal conversion and to go easy on resignation and not to destroy families. Some may look at subtle changes and trust that the church will sooner or later catch up, regardless of whether or not they openly admit it, there is a reductionist official undercurrent to steer the ship towards mainline Christianity.
Is there a Mormon Middleground ?
Mormonisms foundation was based on a radical claim of true or false. Most Mormons still have a very self assured and black and white attitude, but more recently as shown in John Dehlin's March 2012 survey I do see a more widespread shift during the last 20 years of internet proliferation. Before that time there was no middle ground. It' either true or false. Its either God or the devils. If the BoM is false all else is false and Joseph is a false prophet. Now there appears to be room for a middle ground, the wider membership is allowed to have legitimate doubts and is encouraged by the leadership to hang in even if they doubt. We can work it out. Holland (April 2013) and Uchtdorf (October 2013) have urged doubting members not to despair but to fight for their faith and have assured them of their place inside the fold. It is scary to loose your religion, culture and possibly your livelihood. A big fear of doubting Mormons have is that if they apply the same scientific rigor to Christianity then nothing is left. And then there is a real experiential cultural value and comfort in having found certainty, identity and purpose. Besides the LDS faith is making a positive contribution to the American society and Family and after all touches a lot of common ground in defending a literal faith in the God of the Bible in a time where anti Christian agendas political correctness dominates in most western societies. The new Mormon middle ground also shows in John Dehlins work and the acceptance he gets from the top 15 Leaders of the LDS church. See A thoughtful Faith and Mormon Matters. See also Monsons official testimony about the truth of scripture also quoted in Mormon Coffee (critical). So in my opinion there is no spiritually sustainable Mormon middle ground unless Mormonism gets de-mormomonized. We now have New Order Mormons movement Saints may opt to stay by de-mormonizing themselves in the hope that the LDS church will ultimately catch up.
Symbiotic Faith - The Joseph Smith Puzzle
Joseph initially may have set out to forge a second testimony of Jesus to define what he discovered to be salvation truth and true Christianity. Building on that the benefits where (1) to unite his family in belief and salvation and (2) save the world from unitarianism and deism (3) give himself power and authority as a modern day prophet as well as (4) a profession with material benefits from book sales, tithes and enterprises. His charismatic traits and connectedness with the spirit world of the occult as well as the inspirational enabled him to cast his vision high and for some reason succeed in shaping the west of the United States. Mormon turned Atheist Scholar Dan Vogel in the Prophet Puzzle has done a great job explaining the symbiosis between Joseph Smith and his followers in seeing God and Jesus in charge a magical mystical way. Unfortunately this has included major re-imaging work on the historical and traditional Jesus which has turned out to be merely speculative rather than inspired as it has raised more controversy and questions than it answers. Symbiosis equally applies between today's Prophets and Apostles and LDS Members who are now left with the task of dismantling and unteach more and more authoritatively held core doctrines of the past.
Bearing False Witness - Anatomy of my former Mormon Testimony
It is in the 10 commandments. Don't bear false testimony. If a witness bears a false witness and I base my witness on his witness, then my witness becomes not only invalid, but false as well even if I prayerfully sought the witness of the Holy Ghost. For that I apologize. The other issue is that the Mormon Priesthood is linked to receiving Jesus and total severance is regarded unforgivable like a sin against the Holy Ghost. Here again if the link was false then separation from the Mormon Priesthood to cleave to the biblical historical Jesus can not be a separation from today's living Jesus or the Holy Ghost. It is actually vital to dissolve such covenants to correct blasphemy or heresy that allows for a lying God that needs to be devising to save us, but commands us to better than that ! Proselytes are lead to perform their own prayerful truth test on the Book of Mormon. This Holy Ghost truth test is rigged and carefully orchestrated based on information given and information withhold. In hindsight it left me feeling duped and mislead. I had complied and with the results turning out ambiguous I joined the faith. Based on a few passages in the Book of Mormon the reader is suggestively guided to experiment with biblical passages recycled and elaborated on in the Book of Mormon (Alma 32) and then judge as follows: Everything that induces people to belief in Jesus is from God, based on Moroni 7:16 and Moroni 10:4. Once that test has been passed everything else that does not feel right in a prayer test ought to be accepted nevertheless as an extension the divine truth already received. There is another passage on fighting doubts in D&C and so the manipulation continues. This leads to binding the conscience by covenants. Here again the initiate does not know what the covenant is beforehand. It is sacred and that's why it is secret (unless you know its all on the internet). But for me I only learned afterwards that it is a strongly masonic derivative. The initiate goes into the temple and goes through a few feel god washings and anointings. Then he sits down in the lecture theater before an altar and hears that he will now proceed to receive an endowment / covenants (Gods gift) of his own free will if he remains. Otherwise he must withdraw from the temple NOW. Everything felt good so far so continued and ended up taking modified masonic oaths in the Name of Jesus ! This is a manipulative technique and results in "voluntarily" binding the mind under oath before God, Angels and Witnesses at the Altar. See stage magician Derren Brown's Your Mind in Episode 1 of Fear and Faith as well as his conversion debriefing. The point here is that revelatory prayer needs to be congruent with factual examination to be valid. The hardware (Golden plates / Papyri) that Smith introduced has bolstered his prophetic claim initially but has voided or undermined it severely in the information age. The faithful majority continues in their faith, but new proselytes that hop on the internet are very hard to win. Real growth in the US has virtually ceased and maintenance stats are predominantly underpinned by fertility rates.
Scriptural guidance in Contrast: Book of Mormon vs Bible scriptures
When it comes to discernment about Mormonism Mormons and Christians provide very different scriptures to guide the testimonies and prayers of those studying the truth and falsehood in Mormonism. A Mormon testimony is based on deception because Missionaries are withholding the full truth about the so called fullness of the gospel and then making a call to their proselyte to pray about (1) & (2) . Hence when the prospective Mormon gets council from his Christian friends they are compelled to provide a dire warning from scripture (3) & (4). Their still impressive success comes mainly from the strong indoctrination of young people to answer a prophetic call to volunteer in a "sales force" of 80 000 door to door missionaries (marketeers) that target a segment of converts that is mainly (85%) Christian.
(1) Moroni 7:16 For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.
(2) Moroni 10:4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
(3) Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
(4) John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources,for he is a liar and the father of it.
New Mormon Revelations are subtle, no Mormon Spring
High level church leaders have recently gotten involved in a Swedish Rescue of Faith, which we should welcome even if the result was disappointing for many of the Saints afflicted by doubt and betrayal. It is clear that many of the leaders are just as much a victim as they are an accomplice of fraud. They are not the original perpetrator and like us they would have the good reason to be upset as well since their faith in Joseph is under attack as well. More info in NY Times July 2013 & whymormonsquestion.org where John Dehlin has posted a Survey Result on youtube taken from 3000 Disbelievers. Half of them still attend the LDS church. The LDS church has recently started to partially open its archives and become a little more transparent on its official website. It will continue to be slow and carefully managed process. For a brief status see links below. I was checking online how much momentum the recent subtle reforms may gather. LDS.org quietly morphs a little, but there is not a reformation, much mor likely a comestic restauration of its earlier Christian core. What we see is still often a whitewash of some of the severe problems with its past. The ongoing shift from core doctrinal positions proofs that the church has noticed that it was wrong on major issues, but it falls short of a proper acknowledgement or apology. At the moment it is still very hard to find any substantial utterances from the top (GA's) that would convince me of a significant reform or real openness. The Swedish rescue attracts lots of comments from scholars such as Grant Palmer. I have listened to Grant Palmers very candid life story in an interview on youtube. But the only ones who can speak with authority are the top 15 Leaders or GA's and I believe they are not inclined to elaborate in conference beyond what Dieter Uchtdorf has already said in October. That in itself however was a step in the right direction. What GA's think and say in less public settings remains a mystery to me. You are probably familiar with the Swedish story, but may not have read the script. On burning question is Josephs Polyandry. It was admitted to be factual, but do GA's / you believe it was of God ? The scholars have dodged the question. Polyandry even goes against section 132 (allow for virgins only) and I would have to be excommunicated if I did that. Nobody had the courage to answer this question staged by the Swedish members and I recon that is how it will remain. It appears that the Clayton Diaries (He was Josephs Clark) will not be regarded a part of the Joseph Smith Papers and hence will not published by the Church. Another hot issue for 2014 is why did William Law leave !
Ex Mormonism's most prominent Australian voice (atheist)
Simon Southerton is Australia's most prominent ex Mormon voice. Simon is the author of Loosing a Lost tribe and is well known for his recent DNA research that has dealt the Book of Mormon another devastating scientific blow.
Science tests Faith - The truth will make you free, but it is painful
Applying scientific testing to LDS religious history has been very devastating for the Mormon truth claims. It appears that Mormonism is not a divine restoration of Christs Church, but rather a man made religion and that the character of its controversial founder is dubious at best. To be fair however the same scientific tests need to be applied to Christianity as well and fortunately it fares much better than Mormon Mythology, because (1) the record is older and less susceptible to blatant disproof. The Character of its founders is beyond reproach. The biggest challenge to Christianity is the scientific search for human origins and it is an issue that is openly discussed in Christianity today and monitored in opinion polls. There is still enough of room to spiritualize mysticise the record (re-interpret the scriptures in good faith) to maintain Christian core beliefs in the face of evolution. Sin leads to spiritual death and Jesus said in
John 11:26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. A valid holy Ghost Witness of truth contained in scripture and a living Christ experience remains vital and widespread in Christianity, but appears to rapidly decline in Mormonism. But many Mormons having been strongly conditioned and insulated from the Christian camp feel that if the LDS church is false then there is no more hope to find the living truth in any other church, but that is far from the truth. We have been life long conditioned to accept the LDS church as the only true and living church on the face of the earth. Let me testify that today's LDS church is far less living and true then what I have seen in general Christianity. God and Jesus are very much alive and miracles and revelations outside the LDS church are much more abundant than inside. For example God is changing the nation Mozambique through IRIS Global. Check out my blog here. To become free is usually a painful process that can take up to 5 years for lifelong TBM's like us. I am reminded of the Shawshank redemption (movie and quotes). Heidi Baker dubbed today's Mother Teresa (evangelical) has helped me a lot to restore my confidence in experiencing God's presence in today's world. I now believe in the invisible kingdom of God of all Christ submitted believers rather than an "only true and living church" that is dying. Christians don't aspire to become Gods, they follow Jesus personally and intimately in loving and obedient submission of their lives to God. To see what true Christianity looks like watch this Heidi Baker Interview or Nicole's Africa video & blog settingtheworldonfire. Read also Grant Palmer's article Religious feelings and Truth. Grant has resigned from the LDS church under pressure, but kept his faith in Jesus.
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Transition - Is there a better alternative ?
After loosing faith in the LDS leaders its easy to become a spiritual orphan. Whom can I trust now and what will be my Credo ? Is God still real and alive ? Is there enough remaining truth to allow Christian Apologetics to offer me solid truth and a sustainable foundation for faith ? Leaving your old illusionary identity behind comes with a great sense of loss, grief and disorientation Furthermore if Mormonism can not be trusted and you have been taught that Christianity can not be trusted either, what then is left ? Is there a better and trustworthy faith alternative - For me its in love, honesty and humility and I now support IRIS Global ! >> |
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New Video Docu: One life surrendered … One nation transformed
Compelled by Love (2014) is a powerful, inspiring and definitive portrait of Heidi Baker, a modern day Mother Teresa, whose ministry is based in over 30 nations around the world. Shot on the run over a period of 20 years, in 10 countries and on 4 continents in war zones, brothels, bushes, and Ivy League campuses, from Hollywood to Mozambique, this film transcends all political, religious and social barriers. Follow Rolland and Heidi Baker’s journey into the world's darkest and most desperate places, as their pursuit of the presence of God has transformed a nation through love in action. The film chronicles the power of one life fully yielded to God and the truth that love wins.
Planned Reviews on Champions of honesty in faith matters (such as Palmer)
Cult case studies #1 Lafferty (murder) #2 A false Australian Messiah AJ Miller on Inside #3 Armstrong
Compelled by Love (2014) is a powerful, inspiring and definitive portrait of Heidi Baker, a modern day Mother Teresa, whose ministry is based in over 30 nations around the world. Shot on the run over a period of 20 years, in 10 countries and on 4 continents in war zones, brothels, bushes, and Ivy League campuses, from Hollywood to Mozambique, this film transcends all political, religious and social barriers. Follow Rolland and Heidi Baker’s journey into the world's darkest and most desperate places, as their pursuit of the presence of God has transformed a nation through love in action. The film chronicles the power of one life fully yielded to God and the truth that love wins.
Planned Reviews on Champions of honesty in faith matters (such as Palmer)
Cult case studies #1 Lafferty (murder) #2 A false Australian Messiah AJ Miller on Inside #3 Armstrong
(c) 2014 Mormon Truth & Xmormon
