One of the most common questions asked of me is, “Do the brethren know that the church isn’t what it claims to be? Are they intentionally misleading the membership at this point?”
Up until recently, my answer has always been, “No. They are sincere men who genuinely believe that the church is true.”
After my recent interview with Shannon Caldwell Montez — about the handling of the B.H. Roberts/Book of Mormon faith crisis affair of 1922 — I started to think about how outrageously dishonest it was for the Mormon church to intentionally withhold from its members the legitimate scientific concerns surrounding the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham for almost 100 years, while also attempting to erase from church membership any memory of the life of B.H. Roberts.
This reflection led me to make a starter-list of the most outrageously dishonest actions by the Mormon church and its leadership over the years. I have created a starter list below. Will you please review my list, and help me include any other actions that seem particularly egregious to you?
It would be amazing to turn this list into a book someday. Does anyone want to help?
- What have I included here that is factually incorrect?
- What should I add?
Thanks in advance.
Top 50 Most Dishonest Acts in Mormon Church History
- The Mormon church teaching its members for decades the story of Joseph Smith declining alcohol as a boy during his surgery (to give the impression that he obeyed the Word of Wisdom during his life), while knowing that Joseph Smith both drank alcohol as an adult (including drinking wine the night before he was killed), and supported alcohol production and sales in Nauvoo, including having a bar in the Nauvoo Mansion.
- Joseph Smith falsely claiming to have the gift and power of God to translate ancient languages into English, when he knew he didn’t have this power, and plagiarized significant portions of his “translations.”
- The Mormon church knowingly deceiving members by portraying Joseph Smith as translating the Book of Mormon using a breast plate and the “Urim and Thumim” when they knew that he actually used a stone in a hat.
- Joseph Smith knowingly and intentionally altering “revelations” written down in both the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants once they were demonstrated to be false or untrue.
- Joseph Smith intentionally defrauding members of the church in Kirland of their savings by knowingly creating a fraudulent bank and then misappropriating the funds.
- Joseph Smith manufacturing the bestowal of the Melchizedek priesthood years after it was supposed to have been given to the church, and then amending the history accordingly.
- Joseph Smith excommunicating Oliver Cowdery for accurately accusing him of an adulterous affair with Fanny Alger in 1838.
- Joseph Smith overtly lying to Emma (his wife) about polygamy, which included Joseph performing a fake sealing of Emily and Eliza Partridge to Joseph after he had already been sealed to them both secretly.
- Joseph Smith overtly lying to LDS Church membership about his practice of polygamy.
- Joseph Smith calling men on foreign missions so that he could proposition their wives for polygamy.
- Joseph Smith publicly maligning women as “whores” who denied his polygamous advances.
- Joseph Smith destroying the Nauvoo Expositor because it accurately reported that Joseph Smith was secretly practicing polygamy, and lying about it.
- The Mormon church continually portraying Joseph Smith as an innocent victim leading up to his death.
- The Mormon church knowingly and falsely portraying Joseph Smith as a monogamist in its curriculum for members for over a century.
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre – Mormon leaders and church members in Southern Utah promising peace (via a white flag) to the besieged members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, and then dressing up as Native Americans so that the Native Americans could be blamed for the massacre. In total, 120 men, women, and children were massacred.
- Brigham Young assisting in the cover-up of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and scapegoating John D. Lee as primarily responsible for the massacre.
- The Mormon church telling the world in 1890 that it was stopping polygamy, and then secretly and intentionally continuing to practice it – at the highest levels – including allowing new polygamous sealings, for several more decades.
- The full leadership of the Mormon church being put on explicit notice by 1922 by B.H. Roberts and others that both the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham contained significant scientific problems, and then hiding this information from members for another almost 100 years, and seeking to suppress the memory of B.H. Roberts. This included the church telling Truman Madsen NOT to publish his biography of B.H. Roberts in 1965, out of fear that it would challenge the faith of its members.
- Mormon church historian and eventual prophet Joseph Fielding Smith encountering the 1832 version of Joseph Smith’s First Vision (which significantly contradicted the later, 1838 “official version” of the First Vision), and thus ripping it out of Joseph’s journal and hiding the account for decades, until he was publicly exposed for having done so, and then taping it back into the journal.
- The Mormon church excommunicating David O. McKay’s niece, Fawn Brodie, for authoring a historically accurate biography of Joseph Smith entitled “No Man Knows My History.”.
- After feeling the need to respond to the rising popularity of Fawn Brodie’s Joseph Smith biography, the Mormon church attempting to become more honest with its history during the Leonard Arrington years (1972 – 1982), only to have the entire initiative scrapped out of fears that church members might lost their faith if they were taught the honest history.
- Mormon Apostle Bruce R. McConkie publicly claiming in 1981 that the Adam-God doctrine was never “known to be taught in the church,” only to acknowledge in private to Eugene England in the same year, “Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the Father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. ” See here and here for more info.
- Boyd K. Packer explicitly justifying the deception of the membership by privately stating in his 1981 talk entitled “The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,” that “Some things that are true are not very useful.”
- The Mormon church attempting to purchase the Mark Hofmann forgeries in an overt attempt to hide the potentially controversial documents from its members.
- The Mormon church enlisting hired apologists (e.g., Nibley, Peterson, Sorenson, Gee, Ash, Bushman, Terryl & Fiona Givens, Fluhman) FOR DECADES to publicly attack the character of honest truth-tellers of Mormon history, and/or to mislead and gaslight its membership regarding problematic church history.
- The Mormon church excommunicating or intimidating honest scholars and activists for openly discussing problematic church history (e.g., Fawn Brodie, Juanita Brooks, Michael Quinn, Maxine Hanks, Brent Metcalfe, Jeremy Runnells, Sam Young).
- Gordon B. Hinckley publicly condemning polygamy on Larry King Live as being “not doctrinal” when the doctrine remains enshrined in D&C 132, and when church leaders including Dallin H. Oaks and Russell M. Nelson continue to live celestial polygamy.
- Gordon B. Hinckley publicly denying that the Mormon church taught that men and women could become Gods by stating, “I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it.”
- Gordon B. Hinckley stating publicly that the members are entitled to know where their tithing goes, when he knew that church financial information is withheld from its members.
Helmut Nemetchek: ‘In my country, we say the people’s Churches–the Protestants, the Catholics–they publish all their budgets, to all the public. ‘ Hinckley: ‘Yeah. Yeah. ‘ Helmut Nemetschek: ‘Why is it impossible for your Church? ‘ Hinckley: ‘Well, we simply think that that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world. That’s the only thing. Yes. ‘” - The Mormon church withholding extensive diaries, journals, and historical records from its members for over a century.- until the Internet forced its hand.
- The Mormon explicitly forbidding current Mormon apostles and prophets from keeping journals, so as to prevent any future sensitive church information from coming to light.
- The Mormon church attempting to take control over and privatize the Leonard Arrington Records Collection at Utah State University.
- The Mormon church claiming that no tithing funds were used to build City Creek Mall.
- The gaslighting infused into LDS Gospel Topics Essays.
- The Mormon church referring to the lifting of the Black Priesthood Ban as a policy change, when the church knows that the Black Priesthood Ban was declared to be doctrinal by the First Presidency in 1949.
- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland lying publicly when asked if U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney would have taken a blood oath in his Mormon temple endowment.
- Russell M. Nelson claiming that the heinous November 2015 LGBTQ Exclusion policy was inspired of God, only to turn around 3 years later and claim that the rescinding/reversal of the policy was also a revelation from God. See here for more details and analysis. Nelson also claimed that the LGBTQ exclusion policy was “motivated by love.”
- Elder Ballard explicitly denying in November of 2017 that Mormon church leaders have ever attempted to hide any troubling history from its members, ever.”Some are saying that the Church has been hiding the fact that there’s more than one version of the First Vision, which is just not true. The facts are, we don’t study. We don’t go back and search what has been said on the subject. For example, Dr. James B. Allen of BYU, in 1970 he produced an article for the church magazines explaining all about the different versions of the First Vision…But it’s this idea that the Church is hiding something, which we would have to say–as two apostles that have covered the world and know the history of the Church and know the integrity of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve from the beginning of time–there has been no attempt on the part, in any way, of the Church leaders trying to hide anything from anybody. Now we’ve had the Joseph Smith Papers. We didn’t have those where they are in our hands now. And so we’re learning more about the Prophet Joseph…So, just trust us wherever you are in the world. And you share this message with anyone else who raises the question about the Church not being transparent. We’re as transparent as we know how to be in telling the truth. We have to do that. That’s the Lord’s way.”
Honorable Mention
- Prohibiting generations of “non-worthy” LDS and/or non-LDS family and friends in the U.S. from attending the wedding ceremonies of their believing LDS family and friends – including parents and siblings – only to reverse the policy without offering any sort of apology to those who were excluded for decades. See here, here, here and here for details.
- Russell M. Nelson broadly proclaims that Mormons believe that marriage should only be between one man and one woman, all while D&C 132 still teaches polygamy as Mormon doctrine, and Russell M. Nelson himself (as well as Apostle Dallin H. Oaks) are both sealed to multiple women for the eternities.
- When Zimbabwe Vice President Mohandi requested support for clean-water wells, Mormon apostle Neil Anderson said “We are not a wealthy people but we are a good people, and we share what we have.” Less than a month later it is revealed that the Mormon church had/has a $120 Billion+ stockpile of investments through Ensign Peak Advisors, which doesn’t count other assets such as real estate, etc. The annual GDP of Zimbabwe is currently $31 billion USD.
- Ezra Taft Benson attempting to destroy copies of LDS Church-written “The Story of the Latter-day Saints” in 1976 because he was uncomfortable with the candid history and framing.
Other Resources
- Ken Clark’s list of 152 instances of “Lying for the Lord” on the MormonThink web site.
- The Hiding of Church History on “Prove All Things; Hold Fast to Good.”
- Brigham Young seeking to destroy Lucy Mack Smith’s biography.
==========
- What have I included here that is factually incorrect?
- What should I add?
Point 28 was difficult to understand. Gordon Hinkley doesn’t say that financial info is withheld from the members, but from the public. So the dialogue doesn’t support the claim made.
Gordon B. Hinkley said in part: ‘Well, we simply think that that information belongs to those who made the contribution, and not to the world. That’s the only thing. Yes.’ Gordon B Hinkley is saying that the information regarding member contribution belongs to those who made the contributions and not to the public. President Hinkley is not being truthful because the Church also withholds the information from those who made the contributions.
Yes but got to Church headquarters and show them your temple recommend and prove you’re a member and ask to see the books. No way they let you.
Brigham Young collecting and destroying Lucy Mack Smiths autobiography because it contains JSSr dream and other damaging history.
Changing the D&C 7 1829 a sprout or a thing of nature 1832 changes to rod or rod of nature 1835 changed to the gift of Aaron. Totally disgusting manipulative changes from folk magic divining rod to a biblical atomic priesthood.
GBH states that it (the church’s financials) is not public knowledge, because it’s only disclosed to those who make the contributions. That’s untrue, even those who contribute tithes (us members), don’t have any financials disclosed. Ever.
Please include references and sources
Juanita Brooks was not excommunicated from the church. She was threatened, and the church stole historical documents from her, but not excommunicated.
Source?
We know Brooks was not excommunicated. The source on the stolen material is from family history (she was my wife’s aunt). She was promised the journal of a MMM participant, but when he died, the son gave the journal to the church. The church historian, Joseph Fielding Smith, refused to give it to her even though she was the legal owner. The journal has never seen the light of day.
Members discredit the source, always, as a redundant strategy of disqualifying the information – so why bother questioning the source? Because you don’t intend to do the research. LDS follow their leaders blindly & are not encouraged to question or think critically. Just give them your money & shut your mouth!
John – A formal book would be nice but this isn’t really new — google “Lying for the Lord” and you’ll see MormonThink and others have compiled even lengthier lists of clear examples.
I think learning that we’ve been lied to is like the second red pill for some ex-Mormons (other takes this position right away but I resisted it for some time). I left 7 years ago and, like you, have only recently come around to the view that senior leaders have been dishonest from the beginning. Because I know some of the current leaders personally it was really hard for me to accept this because that makes good people seem not so good but the evidence is fairly overwhelming.
You (I presume) and I may be familiar with this content, however as I’ve mentioned to John before, the post Mormon community is not static. We have hundreds, perhaps thousands that are Just coming to this information and need to hear, then discover and swim in these issues. I started my journey when John’s podcasts were about seven, and I’ve reveled in the likes of Coe, Metcalf, Nagel, Ehrman, and others, but realize that this content needs to be revisited and re-presented perhaps by similar scholars often for those that are just coming into this knowledge. Mormonthink is an excellent resource and was themselves just up and going when I first visited them. Yes, nothing new for you and I, but this may be new for a desperate member on a particular trajectory, and finding it may have the same electrifying effect it had on me when I first discovered it, that I was not alone, and that I was not crazy for thinking the things that I was.
1835 edition of Doctrine and Covenants 101 where it states: “ Inasmuch as this church of Christ has been reproached with the crime of fornication, and polygamy: we declare that we believe, that one man should have one wife”
Thank you! This is a good one.
I don’t think that Bushman, Givens, and Fluhman belong on that list with the others. I’ve never seen them attack. And they’ve been pushing the church in the direction of greater transparency.
I, too, was surprised to see these names. John, can you clarify?
I think John added them because their methodology is passive aggressive, which in many ways is more damaging and deceitful than all-out aggression.
Sorry, how is their method passive aggressive? Bushman? Fluhman??
Agreed. In his interview with Shannon Montez he came right out and said that all the apologists material was “garbage”, which it is. Thank you John for having the courage to say the truth.
Well written. I appreciate your thoughts on this. I happen to be friends with two of the apologetics mentioned. I have never seen them advocate for anything but transparency, despite the risk they took in doing so.
This might go along with #17 but seems very significant to me. The church sent and funded certain members to settle in various areas from Juárez Mexico to Southern Utah and Canada with orders to continue polygamy only to later completely shun and disavow the groups.
The church claiming that they did not use any funds or direction from leadership to back Prop 8.
Yes. This absolutely belongs. The mormon church flat out lied about what Prop 8 was about, and its involvement in getting it passed.
Yes, I was floored by your guest who stated that he was assigned to participate in the Prop 8 organization headed up by the church and was told by an apostle that they are not going out on behalf of the church, but just as concerned citizens who are exercising their rights. That struck me as very disingenuous.
which episode is this? I would really like to learn more about Prop 8 and the mormon church involvment in trying to push their own agenda at that time.
Maybe start here, Chris.
https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/9142010-live-interview-with-cary-crall-and-morris-thurston/
– November 2015 policy later revelation and then revelation/cessation of the policy three years later. The church was dishonest by claiming such a short lived revelation and the real reason(s) behind the policy/revelation.
-Temple ordinances. They’ve been dishonest of the origin of these as they were clearly borrowed from freemasonry. They’re also not honest about previous blood oaths and how they’re able to change unalterable ordinances. If ordinances are directly from God, how have they changed? The lack of honesty of what these blood oaths and grips and ordinances really mean and their real purpose.
-Lack of honest answers surrounding controversial historical incidents.
-By withholding information regarding history, character of its current and past leaders, questionable business practices (City Creek), it leads people to devote time, money, land, resources, etc. when they may not have done so if they had full disclosure.
1. Only the faith-promoting facts are told about the Willie/Martin Handcart journey. We aren’t taught that there were plenty of warnings as to why this endeavor was not a wise and safe thing to do.
2. Ronald Eugene Poelman (May 10, 1928 – November 19, 2011) was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1978 until his death. In 1984, he delivered a controversial sermon in the LDS Church’s general conference which the church redacted before publishing.
3. We’re never told about sections of the early Doctrine & Covenants that condemn polygamy and were later taken out during Brigham Young’s presidency. (Section 101 in the 1835 D&C and a Section 109 in the 1844 D&C called The Article on Marriage. Both these sections clearly condemn the practice of polygamy)
4. We’re taught about having one’s calling and election made sure and led to believe that it’s an ordinance in the temple where you actually meet the Savior. We’re never told that it’s not Jesus but just one of the Q15 that does the ordinance.
good catch Garth. That 1984 re-talk was pretty outrageous and audacious. Maybe it’s the fake cough track that puts it over the top for me
Honestly as an ex-Mormon, I think a lot of these are weak and easy fodder for apologetic criticism and desperately need sources and more specifics.
For example, You can’t prove Joseph didn’t think he was translating ancient texts by the gift and power of God. That is your claim but to claim to know Joseph’s intent is dishonest. You can disprove the texts but can’t claim to know what was in Joseph’s head. The Kirtland Safety Society debacle was terribly misguided in hindsight, but these “anti-banks” were not uncommon and widespread runs on banks led to more than just the KSS failure – you can’t assert that JS was “intentionally defrauding members.” That’s intellectually dishonest as you cannot prove someone’s intent.
#13 is too vague to be a real claim – needs to be much more specific and sourced. #23 would need sourcing on “overt attempt to hide the potentially controversial documents.” #24 is an incredibly vague accusation, as is #33.
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. If you hope for a list or even book such as this to penetrate the ex-Mormon echo-chamber (assuming the audience would also include believing members which I think it should), it needs a lot more nuance and context than found here — or even in a lot of other works such as CES Letter. It also might be more productive to focus on specific individuals behind the cover-ups rather than pointing to the church as a whole, especially given the range of disagreement and dissent that occurs among the top leaders?
I think you can imply intent. That happens in law all the time. While you cannot know what was in his mind a reasonable man can infer it from external evidences.
Of course you can prove intent. Murder requires proof of intent, beyond reasonable doubt. How is it proved: by admissions, by conduct that is only explicable by a guilty intent, by inferences from other facts.
Whether in any case intent is proved might be a matter of opinion. But the more lies that are proved (and a lie is an intentional falsification), the easier it is to draw the inference that the falsity wasn’t a mistake, but deliberate.
Making us believe that you had to be sealed in the temple first….and that this was doctrine…But come to find out that other countries (except United States and Canada) allow a civil marriage to be done first and a temple sealing that very same day, or the next….or a week/month later. We were told that it was the Lords commandment/doctrine to have to wait a year before getting sealed if you were married in the Married civilly. There are other varying and different doctrines in other countries as well…so for example in the Phillipines people are able to be baptized even if they are living in “sin” with another person that they are not married to. Any most other countries the prospective members have to get married before being baptized….and many missionaries have used their monthly food allowances and go with out food so they can help the prospective members get married so they can baptize them.
I may have missed it. Did you mention the book of abraham facsimile fabrication.
Also, if you have a handwriting expert analyze the original script of the Book of Abraham, there are clear signs of deception in the handwriting.
Very selective quoting about tithing in Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Lorenzo Snow Chapter 12 where the words “who has means” were removed from the quote.
This may be trivial compared to some
..but I was so irritated when I went through the Beehive House in the late 90’s to find that the tourguide were only talking about ONE wife of Brigham Young…when I distinctly remembered the many times I went through in the years before; and was shoes the other wive’s bedrooms and the guides were open about the fact that several wives lived in the house.
This!
Keep pestering the tour guides about the other wives. They will pull you aside and try to guilt you for asking about it. After all, there just may be people in the tour group that need a dose of deception.
When the early missionaries proselytizing over seas were confronted with the question about plural marriages being practiced by the church they denied its being practiced. I found this info on another sight so can verify its accuracy.
During a
debate in France while on his mission to England, he concocted the
following blatant lie where he condemns polygamy, by quoting D&C 101:4
which at that time also condemned polygamy:
“We are accused here of polygamy,… and actions the most indelicate,
If true, this is institutionalized lying. I think I read somewhere “I God cannot lie” and that if he did lie he would cease to be God. Then I remember reading somewhere else “whether by my voice or the voice of my servants, it is the same,” Something doesn’t add up here.
obscene, and disgusting, such that none but a corrupt and depraved
heart could have contrived. These things are too outrageous to admit
of belief;… I shall content myself by reading our views of chastity
and marriage, from a work published by us containing some of the
articles of our Faith. ‘Doctrine and Covenants,’ page 330… Inasmuch
as this Church of Jesus Christ has been reproached with the crime of
fornication and polygamy, we declare that we believe that one man
should have one wife, and one woman but one husband, except in the
case of death,…”‘ (A tract published by John Taylor in 1850, page 8;
found in Orson Pratt’s Works, 1851 edition)
In 1850, John Taylor had married twelve polygamous wives. The
following is a list of those wives and children they eventually bore
him:
Leonora Cannon, md 1833, 4 children
Elizabeth Kaighin, md 1843, 3 children
Jane Ballantyne, md 1844, 3 children
Anna Ballantyne (Allen), md 1844, separated 1845, divorced 1852
Mary A. Oakley, md 1845, 5 children
Mary A. Utley, md 1846
Mary Ramsbottom, md 1846
Sarah Thornton (Coleman) md 1846, div 1852
Lydia Dible (Granger Smith), md 1846
Ann Hughlings (Pitchforth), md 1846
Sophia Whittaker, md 1847, 8 children
Harriet Whittaker, md 1847, 3 children
Claiming to be a legitimate tax exempt organization while not supporting a single charitable cause from a 100 billion stash.
Not ALL of the people from the Baker-Fancher, were killed. Most of the children under the age of eight were spared and adopted temporarily into Mormon homes.
You state that all of the children were killed at mountain meadows massacre. I believe a few of the children were spared.
https://mtnmeadowsmassacredescendants.com/in-memoriam/the-survivors/
The Sweetwater Rescue of 1856: clearly extended over decades from it’s printing in 1914 by Solomon Kimball, then included in Sunday School manuals.
https://www.brycox.com/lds/BryCox-SweetwaterRescue.pdf
False story summary : The 3 young men who died in carrying 500 people across a frozen river. Brigham Y said they would receive exaltation for that act alone.
There’s a 1981 Priesthood session where Hinckley says “… and I quote from the record…” After 20 years of being an apostle, he clearly repeated what he thought was true.
Took until 2006 before being corrected.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2006/12/go-and-bring-them-in?lang=eng
Reality summary: none died from exposure ; 1 was in and out of prison for years; some died after Brigham Young. BY never said anything about exaltation
Result: decades of ‘inspired’ people following a myth.
What about the secret $120 billion investment fund and then Roger Clarke admitting they didn’t tell members about it because they didn’t want members to stop paying tithing.
Using said account for two for- profit expenses.
Paul Dunn’s baseball career and WWII stolen valor.
I did not see the gaslighting by the church essays.
I would be interested to see any evidence that Richard Bushman or Terryl & Fiona Givens “FOR DECADES … publicly attack[ed] the character of honest truth-tellers of Mormon history, and … misl[ed] and gaslight[ed] its membership regarding problematic church history”.
I would also say Holland reporting double digit stake creation “every week of our lives” and also the story that was told to mission presidents about a young man that served a mission and “converted” his hell’s angels older brother that he didn’t know about, both of which have been proven false.
Also, my wife said the story about Nelson when he and his wife were in Africa and were robbed and the inflation of that situation.
Kinderhook Plates
Second Anointing
Several changes to the Temple ordinances
J.Smith tarred and feathered and almost castrated for messing with a young girl ( Johnson’ girl if Iam not mistaken)
Prominent women were married to J.Smith and then B.Young- ie Eliza Snow
Rebaptizing in UT to show obedience to B.Young
Blood atonement
Danonites
Council of 50
Doctrinal. Changes in 1835 edition of the Book of Mormon ( not just grammatical)- modulism
Dispute over polygamy with S.Rigdon and William Law
Witnesses of Book of Mormon- visionary eyes and what did they really see
How church leaders denie Dr. Robert Duane Card’s terrible practices In BYU.
I wasn’t aware of 31:
The Mormon explicitly forbidding current Mormon apostles and prophets from keeping journals, so as to prevent any future sensitive church information from coming to light.
Can anyone shed more light on this for me?
Salt Lake Tribune: https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3386750&itype=CMSID
Joseph Smith did not translate anything with a rock in a hat. It was only another fraud.
While there are valid points of enquiry here for those associated with the church, you might consider the following in the writing and presentation of the list/book:
1) Tone. This reads like it’s written by someone who’s angry with the church and is actively seeking to bring it down. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t truth in what’s been written, but there seems to be a lack of balance in what’s been presented and how.
2) Sources. Some links are provided to outside sources but these are the exception rather than the rule. Mormon history is notoriously polemical and somehow has to straddle the dichotomies of scandal and hagiography, so it’s important to see more detail on the sources supporting these points. Hacking around on google isn’t good research technique, but that is what readers are left to do in the absence of source citations.
3) Representation of intentions. Good historians are particularly careful not to be so forward in stating the intentions of their subjects unless they can be *absolutely certain* with minimal need for conjecture. As I see the list, there’s too much conjecture about Joseph Smith’s intentions. Trusted, tenured historians have written in favour of JS’s belief that he was a prophet of God. A counter-narrative re his intentions needs strong evidence.
Hope that’s useful.
Perhaps you could give us the balance. As to tone, that is in the eye of the beholder is it not? Your comment rather seems like a somewhat disingenuous attempt to discredit the issues by implying the hate motivation defense.
Sorry Saul but you, along with a few others here, seem to be confusing John’s thumbnail sketch for a possible book idea with a finished product. What John is doing here is called brainstorming in my part of the world. You a familiar with the difference between an outline and a finished product, aren’t you?
I think there are several other things.
The constant changes to the Temple and claiming that it is from Solomon.
The statements of Nelson – God is Offended! Mormon is a victory for Satan!
The downplaying of the bishop molestation and Kirton McConkie.
The enacting of the Nov 2015 policy and removal 3 years later.
John, You are doing great work!
I did not see any mention of how tithing has evolved. President Snow said “I plead with you in the name of the Lord, and I pray that every man, woman and child WHO HAS MEANS shall pay one-tenth of their income as tithing. Newer handbooks and the church website removes the words “WHO HAS MEANS.” Church leaders say to pay tithing before basic necessities.
Your #31 has a small typo that you’ll probably want to fix. “The Mormon (needs “church”)…”
In my opinion the first item on the list should be the Book of Mormon itself. The book for which the name they bear whether they like it or not. The church is nothing without the book and the book is nothing without the church. The book claims to be actual history of ancient American peoples and only recently was reduced from all native Americans to some of them. The Mormon church has converted over 5 million people in South America and told them they were descendants of righteous white people who came to America and became dark and loathsome through wickedness. These were ideas common to early 19th century Americans who still accepted slavery and were more on the side of genocide than racism. Parley P Pratt described it as either the most important book in history, or the greatest hoax known to man. Definitely closer to the latter and should be at the top of your list. Just ask any Native American that has converted to Mormonism and then later realized the truth.
Teaching those good people that if the Mormon church isn’t true then nothing is, causing so many fall into atheism or agnosticism. One day Joseph Smith will have to stand before God and answer for that.
Must include something about their flip flop on blacks and the priesthood . ….ie, current leadership saying it wasn’t doctrine just policy. They taught it forever as doctrine and then when they finally were forced to comply or lose tax free status, it was suddenly a policy that could be changed…oops I mean God revealed it was time to lift the ban!!!!
You would come up with a shorter list if you asked for the most honest acts in Mormon church history. They seem to be dishonest at every turn.
Purposely hiding for decades the Seer Stone’s role in the creation of the Book of Mormon, teaching a false narrative of direct translation from gold plates.
Here is a Salt Lake Tribune article published in 2016:
https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3386750&itype=CMSID
How about lying about having the seer stone all these years…
Another might be church correlation and also the Strengthening Church Members Committee.
Another is telling young men and women going to serve a mission that it is about service and love and being like christ….when reality it is about numbers getting yelled at, and learning how to be a mormon for life.
“Intentionally dishonest” is very difficult to definitively demonstrate. You need to establish who knew what and when, and *being aware* of something is not enough to establish dishonesty.
For instance, the leaders knew about BH Roberts list of issues in ~1922, but they weren’t necessarily *convinced* that those were major issues (as evidenced by *how* they responded in testimony)? Unless active steps are taken to suppress something, then it can be the case that they simply did not *emphasize* or make public certain issues. But suppression and failing to make transparent are slightly different.
Here’s an example where I carefully walk through the handling of the 1832 First Vision account to establish a precise and definitive statement on its suppression:
https://faenrandir.github.io/a_careful_examination/1832-first-vision-account-suppressed/
I’m just urging that great caution and circumspection be used in how these issues are discussed, especially as it relates to motivation (I do care about treating others fairly and compassionately, even LDS leadership, but more important than that is building a case that is unassailable because it was constructed with care).
I would argue that “not doing something about Book of Mormon problems” that BH Roberts pointed out to the church Leadership is the same as suppression.
You forgot to mention the Mormon pioneers’ land theft. The version of Mormon pioneer history I learned in church included the story of Brother Brigham spreading his hand over a valley devoid of human habitation. My pioneer ancestors settled eastern Utah. Many of my family members still live on the Ute Indian reservation for crying out loud. Somehow I was able to hold in my mind the contradiction I saw with my own eyes: my grandpa’s neighbor was a Native American man living on his ancestral lands surrounded by the grandchildren of Mormon pioneers. Somehow I thought that the grandparents I visited every few years were living on pristine land that God had set aside for HIS people. (It’s such a mass of confusion I can hardly write this.) Furthermore, the Lamanites would someday be made ‘white and delightsome.’ Talk about cognitive dissonance! So… Please include the theft of Indian lands, the murders, the massacres, the slave tradeing, the destruction of families and culture, and the continual gas lighting of modern Native Americans.
Spelling of “Kirtland” in #5 is wrong
“Milk and strippings” story
On April 6, 1856, George A. Smith claimed that Thomas B. Marsh had left the church because of a dispute between his wife and another female church member over a milk cow, which had escalated all the way up to the First Presidency. LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley has repeated the story.
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1984/05/small-acts-lead-to-great-consequences?lang=eng
https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/54505-restoring-thomas-b-marshs-good-name/
Holland “holding Hyrum’s very Book of Mormon”
At General Conference, Elder Jeffery R. Holland told a moving story of how, before leaving for Carthage and eventual martyrdom, Hyrum Smith read from the Book of Mormon. This story is related in the D&C 135:4 & 5
https://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon587.htm
Hi John,
It strikes me as inherently dishonest that the church labors to project the image that racism was just a common feature of American culture and that, as President Hinckley told Larry King, “That’s all behind us.’
As the church’s last prophet/apologist with the courage to speak directly to the press, he also said in another interview, “I don’t hear any complaint from our black brethren and sisters. I hear only appreciation and gratitude wherever I go,” he said. “But I don’t see anything further that we need to do.”
How about an apology!
During the civil rights movement of the 1960s, when men and women of goodwill in this country were marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. seeking equal human rights for ALL of God’s children. When we saw Catholics, Protestants, Jews, even human secularists display the courage to speak up, we did not hear from Mormons. Rather, they bowed to their prophet and his apostles who continued to preach discriminatory racist doctrines and policies harming persons of color.
Ezra Taft Benson, later to become the president of the LDS church, was one of the Mormon hierarchy’s most strident voices against the national crusade for African American civil rights.
In 1965 and 1967, Benson stated in televised sermons from Temple Square that the ‘so-called’ civil rights movement, as he referred to it, was a Communist program for revolution in America. Benson’s rhetoric intensified after, despite his best efforts, the federal Civil Rights Act was ratified.
It troubles me that someone claiming to speak for God would choose to write the forward for a race hate book, The Black Hammer: A Study of Black Power, Red Influence, and White Alternatives as Benson did. The cover of this vile little book shows a thick-lipped, low-browed, decapitated, bleeding head of an African American man superimposed upon the symbol of Communism – the hammer and sickle.
In 1966, the NAACP issued a statement criticizing the LDS church, saying the church maintained a rigid and continuous segregation stand “and that the church had made “no effort to counteract [its] widespread discriminatory practices in education, in housing, in employment, and other areas of life.”
In the 1970s the Mormon church banned any Black boy from becoming a boy scout troop leader. These leadership positions were reserved exclusively for White priesthood-holding Mormon boys. It took the NAACP to file a federal lawsuit against the church in 1974, to force the church to reverse this hurtful and discriminatory policy.
As we are all aware in 1978 president Spencer W. Kimball announced he had received a ‘revelation’ reversing the priesthood ban on African Americans?
The nature of this change, like the ban on polygamy, and more recently the reversal of the unpopular ban on the membership of the children of gay parents can lead one to question if these changes were in truth a direct response to American political pressure.
On the question of Blacks in the priesthood, some of the church’s apologists deny that president Carter’s meeting with Kimball had anything to do with this timely, ‘revelation.’ Some even claiming that the president never even broached the subject.
This is not true.
You can view a note President Carter wrote to me at:
https://wordpress.com/page/lettertoanapostle.org/2825
But one must ask why the Lord’s true church would not have led the charge for greater equality, integration, and acceptance rather than lagging decades behind?
The problem the church still has to deal with is the unbridled racism forming an integral part of the Book of Mormon itself.
The Book of Mormon paints a very narrow viewpoint regarding the concept of beauty. That white is good and black is bad. It teaches that those whose skin pigmentation is darker is also “filthy”, “loathsome” or at the least “not enticing.”
Is the condemnation of another human being, solely because of the color of their skin, something the Lord would give such prominence to in ‘another testament to Him?’
I think the discounting of its racist past and its attempts at gaslighting is hugely dishonest.
John, this is a very worthy start. Here are my two bits.
I don’t know about other generations, but for those of us raised in the church in the 80’s and 90’s, we were saturated with the idea that Christ is at the helm. There was a palpable, implicit understanding that the Apostles have seen Jesus. I and many others around me firmly believed that church leaders were somehow meeting with Christ, or at least meeting with someone like Moroni as an angelic messenger directly from Heaven. That is what made us the one and only true church of God on the earth–we were the only one that actually had contact with Jesus. This is the biggest deception of them all for me. I held all my items on the shelf under the assumption that the presidents of the church have a literal direct line of verbal, plenary communication with Jesus. Any doubt versus that fact must come from Satan, I thought. For example, I ignored my doubts about the Book of Abraham translation fraud because (I thought) Gordon Hinckley knows all about that situation and he isn’t shaken–how could he be shaken when he meets with Christ?
This deception goes right up to the present day, with the yellow notebook. Kicking Wendy out of bed and coming out some time later proudly waving a yellow notebook, and (paraphrasing) isn’t it wonderful, Wendy, here we have a bunch of new instructions from Jesus in this notebook. This is a sickening overstating of the definiteness of communication between heaven and earth. That it is overstated is made obvious when you look at a clear and present example. The infamous November 2015 policy, and its roll back in April 2019 make it clear that the brethren are no better at sussing out the truth by wrestling with God than I am.
The deliberate avoidance of answering the question “Have you ever seen Jesus?” is a furtherance of a related major deception. My understanding is (and I believe you can effortlessly find this yourself using Google) that Boyd K. Packer publicly scolded someone for asking him that question, rather than politely answer the question “Yes” or “No.”
The doctrine and covenants distinguishes those destined for the Celestial Kingdom as those who are valiant in the testimony of Christ. Those who aren’t valiant in their testimony of Christ are going to a lesser kingdom.
What good then is an Apostle who has seen Christ, but refuses to tell anyone about it? The new testament apostles did not hide the fact that they had seen Him, shaken his hand, etc. Why would it now become super-secret whether or not an apostle has seen Him?
But even worse is this: what is the point of an Apostle who has NOT seen Christ, but who benefits from the ambiguity of never admitting that fact? All the while he knows there are people out there who believe he has seen Christ…
By either type of apostle, the members are deceived.
Your comment reminded me that I once believed that, as well. I grew up in the church, and it wasn’t until I was a missionary listening to M. Russell Ballard in a stake center state what I understood to clearly be that he had not seen Christ, nor literally speak with Christ, while he spoke about being a “special witness for Christ”. I remember wondering at that time how he could be any more a special witness than I was, since we were both just leaning on our “spiritual experiences” with Christ. I, like you, had never considered that they weren’t actually interacting personally and literally with Christ. In fact, I believe I had been taught that the upper room of the temple was where the prophet would go to meet with Christ. I remember some story about how President Kimball, I think it was, had been in the temple when Christ appeared to him. It has been so long, though, that I couldn’t tell you the source of it… probably my mom.
Sam, I appreciate you and your comment. I think this is a pretty common phenomenon, so common that I believe all 15 of the apostles know all about it. As far as a story of Kimball seeing Christ in the temple, I am not sure about that–there could be a story about that. I have heard stories about strange lights in the temples after hours. There is a fairly well known story about Lorenzo Snow seeing Christ in the Salt Lake temple, not in the upper room, but in one of the lower hallways. His granddaughter wrote about it in her journal. I believe she was a child going there to see her grandfather, so they were in a part of the temple where you do not need a recommend. I believe the story goes, President Snow stopped at a point in the hallway and told her this is where the Savior appeared to me. It is not clear to me whether he believes he saw Christ in the flesh, whether he was telling her about a dream he had, or what.
Please put this on audio I don’t have time to read it
Faithful exaggeration of “Miracle Of The Gulls”.
https://digitallibrary.utah.gov/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=34706
(Utah Historical Quarterly Vol. 38 No. 3, 1970, start at pg. 224)
Current research alters the traditional sea gull-cricket story in many respects while substantiating its basic facts. As a result the following information should be taken into account in credible versions of the dramatic struggle:
(1) The gulls were not strangers to the Valley. Records before and since show that various types of gulls, including the California gull involved in 1848, regularly inhabit the Great Salt Lake area. These birds are natural enemies of various insects, including crickets.
(2) Gulls habitually regurgitate the indigestible parts of insects they have swallowed. This action was unusual to the pioneers but standard eating procedure for gulls.
(3) Gulls did not arrive until after severe cricket damage had occurred. Even after the gulls had been “feasting” on crickets for two weeks, the insects still were “quite numerous and busy eating.”
(4) In 1848 the Mormon crops were seriously damaged by three ruthless enemies — frost, crickets, and drought — and the gulls dealt with only one of these.
(5) The “miraculousness” of the event was not clearly recognized by contemporaries. The Mormon church’s First Presidency was notably silent concerning any “Miracle of the Gulls” in its letters. Likewise, the Millennial Star never told the English Saints about such a miracle. Diarists who detailed the cricket advance did not mention the gulls.
(6) Since 1848 gulls frequently have been on the wing to feast on crickets and other insects, making the 1848 encounter hardly unique.
“Miracle Of The Gulls and Other Utah Legends”
(Radio West July 2020)
https://radiowest.kuer.org/post/miracle-gulls-and-other-utah-legends
“What happens when the LDS Prophet Becomes Mentally Incapacitated?”
https://www.mrm.org/lds-prophet-incapacitated
Pres. Benson:
Steve Benson’s son (great-grand son of President Benson) asked Steve the following, “Dad, why do they call him prophet when he can’t do anything?”
Steve’s reply:
“I believe the church strives mightily to perpetuate the myth, the fable, the fantasy that President Benson, if not operating on all cylinders, at least is functioning effectively enough . . . to be regarded by the Saints as a living, functioning prophet (Salt Lake Tribune, October 12, 1993, D-1).”
Pres. Monson:
“His two talks at the April 2016 conference were scaled down to an average of 4 minutes each, as his handlers knelt behind and beside him as he spoke from the conference pulpit. When he was finished, the lights were dimmed and he was helped back to his seat.”
Pres. McKay
“McKay had a short-term memory loss and “would forget within minutes after a decision was made.””
Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith
“In 1970, Joseph Fielding Smith became the LDS president at 93, suffering from confusion and memory loss until he died in 1972.”
Pres. Kimball
“Spencer Kimball became the twelfth president in 1973 at the age of 78, later becoming incapacitated mentally after suffering a subdural hematoma in 1982. He remained in this state until his death in 1985.”
Church film “Ancient America Speaks” is wrong on many counts. But more specifically Quetzalcoatl, the Maya Maize God and Jesus are the same. I taught this concept and used the film on my mission with confidence many times. It was taught up though 2002 or longer.
“Ancient America Speaks (Archaeological evidence of the Book of Mormon) 1972”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I9LDLcIh9g
Lying about lying…. a cover up in 2017….?
“There has been no attempt, on the part, in any way, of the church leaders, trying to hide anything from anybody”.
(Elder Ballard, “Apostles Answer Questions about Standards, Doubts during YSA Face to Face”, Nov. 19, 2017)
Radio Free Mormon: https://radiofreemormon.org/2017/11/radio-free-mormon-021-elder-ballard-blows-church/
and…
“I think we’d also have to be honest, there maybe some of these questions [from young members] there is no answer to. Those are going to be the ones we are going to avoid.”
(Elder Ballard, Advertisement for “Apostles Answer Questions about Standards, Doubts during YSA Face to Face”, few days before Nov. 19, 2017)
Radio Free Mormon: https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/2017/11/radio-free-mormon-019-table-scraps-train-wrecks-information-avoidance/
It was also amazing in that same announcement to hear Elder Oaks state his blatant preference for those who do not ask questions, suggesting the ones without questions are confident or secure or whatever, while the ones with questions are not….
One that I would have at least given an honorable mention is in the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Brigham Young there is a sermon included about us all being spiritual children of our Heavenly Father. It cuts right off at where Brigham Young teaches that Adam who is Michael the Ancient of Days is our Father and our God and the only God with whom we have to do (in other words were are LITERALLY offspring of God). Radio Free Mormon mentioned this clear withholding of information by the Church when he was doing his podcasts every week down during the quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. I thought that was an important one because it showed that several people in the Church including those of authority to approve Church manuals for publication literally have no problem re-editing information in a misleading way to suggest early Church Presidents taught things the LDS Church teaches today even though that is not true at all.
That is a big one!
As far as gaslighting in the essays, an example off the top of my head is in the two essays where they mention Helen Mar Kimball, they never state outright that she was 14. In one essay they mention her as 9 years old in a certain year, and then in the next paragraph they say she became a polygamous wife in a certain year, meaning I would have to do the math to know she was 14. Obviously I can do the math, but when writing an informative essay, this is manipulation, especially when assuming the need for this essay is in fact issues with her age. The other essay speaks further to this, when they describe her age as “…several months before her 15th birthday.” It is misleading and manipulative and honestly juvenile, it is worded very carefully to at once tell the truth, with out telling the truth. If you aren’t critically thinking, you may not notice what is being said. Another example of gaslighting in the essays is the first paragraph in the Race and the Priesthood essay, it immediately primes your mind to assume the best. If I was unaware of how the teachings that have been disavowed in that essay were taught, I may come away feeling up-lifted and validated, when in fact they are glossing over the horrific things that were said and taught in conjunction with their “well-thought-out theories.” (< this wording itself is another example of gaslighting.)
The Church does not and never has had a paid ministry
Sir…. The entire first presidency and 12 and 70 and mission President and area authorities all receive some benefits, compensations, or reimbursements…. The church is full of Priestcraft. If you read Priestcraft in the Book of Mormon next time, please add LDS church right next to it. You’ll find that the Book of Mormon will change. The great and spacious building…. The people in fine clothing (only church on the planet dressing in fine clothing is the LDS) the scorning because “we are the only true church”. It’s blinded millions of people and caused so much fraud.
Yes they do. Look it up
From April 9, 1852 until his death in 1877 Brigham Young taught that Adam was God.
(Journal of Discourses 1:50-51; 6:275; unpublished Brigham Young Discourse LDS 24th Semiannual General Conference, October 8, 1854 https://www.adamgod.com/evidence/1854-10-08-brigham-young.html ; Journal of Discourses 3:319-320; 4:217-219, 271; 5:331-332; 7:285-290; 13:311; 14:111; June 8 and 18, 1873 Deseret News vol. 22 no. 308 https://www.adamgod.com/evidence/1873-06-08-brigham-young.html ; Journal of Discourses 16:167. Then in 1925 The one-volume Discourses of Brigham Young with all references to Adam-God edited out by John A. Widtsoe was published by the LDS Church. The Church did this so that Brigham Young’s teachings could be researched by Latter-day Saints with no worries that they would learn anything about the Adam-God teaching. Fortunately, Widtsoe was honest enough to provide citations from the Journal of Discourses from which he obtained his information so discerning readers who don’t accept everything on blind faith and who have access to the Journal of Discourses can go back and check his work and discover the parts he deleted. In his Preface to Discourses of Brigham Young, Widtsoe endorsed the Journal of Discourses which shows that he (and the LDS Church) accept and use the Journal of Discourses as a trustworthy source of information, unlike modern day Mormon apologists who often dismiss it as untrustworthy.
John, I respectfully agree with you statements about the church. They have lied about a lot of things. The most destructive lies were about the most virtuous man of that era, Jospeh Smith. He never had plural wives. He never participated in adultery. Jospeh truly was who he said he was. Brigham Young and crew murdered Jospeh in Cathage because the 12 had been secretly engaging in adultery and plural wives. They doctored most of the church history to fit the narrative that Joseph taught them. It’s time to clear Jospeh’s name and for the great and abominable church to fall. The church can’t even correct the history that Nephi appeared to Jospeh instead of Moroni. There is so much bad the church has done.
It looks like for nearly 200 years, the conspiracy theories of dishonesty within the leadership of the church, ranks way up there with dishonesty, fraud, and mismanagement of the United States Government. And yet, we still live within the so-called privileges of this democracy. There will always be a pattern of good and bad in “People” that makes these decisions, I am not to judge, that is left to higher powers that be. But, if we look, feel and see , separated from the people that want to expose their truths and views on others, We can stand on our own views and opinions of others. What I see, feel and have determined ,that for all the exposed “Bad” that this writer has uncovered, he failed to mention ALL the good that this religion has done and continues to do for its fellowman, a global reach for members and non-members of this faith. I invite all that are reading to the challenge , you won’t be surprised to see the real golden nuggets of truth, born out of faith, now in action from a people who are not perfect, but try everyday to be better for themselves, family and their community. I am a returned to the “Faith” after 20 years of standing on others ‘Truth”, what I have discovered is that truth was with me all the time,
I left the Mormon church. IVE GOT 212 FAMILY MEMBERS WHO ARE MORMON.my grandmother ,myrtle hood bennett died in 2009 she was Mormon all her life .she was 99 years old .berried in her temple gaurments .I learned the Mormon church is only about money not human life .IN the state of Utah…it is a cult….IF you believe in god leave the Mormon church now. MANY MEMBERS OF THAT CHURCH SPREAD VISIOUS LIES ABOUT ME….ALL LIES…NO ONE TOOK THE TIME TO ASK ME WHAT REALLY HAPPENED…I BELEIVE IN THE GREAT SPIRIT….I PRAISE GOD NOT CHURCH….
This is SO biased and a perfect example mixing truth with falshood. You even twisted the truth on easy to prove facts like the one about Russell M. Nelson being sealed to more than one woman, making it seem like he is living a life with more than one wife.
He was sealed to his first wife in the temple. Then she died. He then met his second wife, Wendy, years later. And they then were sealed in the temple, and rightfully so.
Its like me writting about a widowed man who remarried and then I go and report that he was married to more than one woman without explaining the details.
If hiding and twisting the facts is what you hate, than why have you done the same yourself?
Thanks for your input Kenny! The article specifically refers to “celestial polygamy” and makes it clear that Nelson and Oaks are “sealed to multiple women for the eternities.” There are links included for more information if anyone is confused.
Polygamy is a problematic doctrine regardless of its practice in mortality or the eternities and is misogynistic in nature, basically turning women into objects/property of men. This is very clearly laid out in Doctrine & Covenants 132. Women are objects to be given & taken away from men according to God’s favor. More righteousness = more women in the eternities.
As far as number 3 is concerned. “The Mormon church knowingly deceiving members by portraying Joseph Smith as translating the Book of Mormon using a breast plate and the “Urim and Thumim” when they knew that he actually used a stone in a hat.” The error is that the Book of Mormon was NEVER translated–it was made up. Therefore, they could not have known that he “actually used a stone in a hat.” It was all a deception.
I just came here to say Brigham Young had Joseph Smith your leader murdered.
OK, What is factually incorrect let’s start with that perhaps.
I am not LDS anymore and yet I find that you have “Zero” citations of the claims that you make above. That is like the LDS “Just believe what we tell you” doctrine we hear without citation of scriptures.
Citations allow others to verify what you are saying is truth and seems to be a more honest approach.
Otherwise, it looks like you may be saying “The LDS church excommunicated me and I am trying to get even”.
Tbh the leaders probably are allowed to break the word of wisdom while everyone else is required to follow it as long as they lie that they are also doing it. I think they want people to think Joseph did not get away with drinking after he created the Word of Wisdom but it is likely he even got away with getting drunk deliberately which certain church leaders might be doing on occasion while expecting everyone else to obey their rules.
My main concern is that members of the church outside of the United States of America are mostly excluded from knowing the reality about how the church distorts and portrays the facts to make them look different from what they really are. Speaking from my perspective here in Brazil, where most members are poor and uneducated and are not proficient in English, they only have one view, the view the church provides them, and are brainwashed to believe in things like The Brethren “seeing” Jesus Christ in person within the Salt Lake Temple. I was raised in the church since the age of 7, baptized when I was 8, both my parents and siblings are all baptized, temple-worthy members. Now, at the age of 33, I can see there are some things wrong, especially when it comes to the abuse hidden within the Mormon culture of communities in the United States. In Brazil, the members of the church, as a community, reproduce the worst in society by reinforcing social inequalities, racism, and political extremism, using the doctrine to brainwash and manipulate people. It is not a coincidence that the whiter you are, the better opportunities you get within the church, especially when conforming to North American-like cultural behavior.
Creating a cozy reading nook can be a wonderful way to unwind. Choose a comfortable chair, add soft blankets and cushions, and surround yourself with your favorite books. Immerse yourself in captivating stories or explore new worlds through literature. The tactile experience of turning pages and the mental escape into fictional realms provide a perfect avenue for relaxation. Enhance the ambiance with soft lighting and perhaps a soothing cup of tea.
You guys are sick
It helps to point out what someone is doing wrong specifically if you’re willing to type a comment at all.
17. The Mormon church telling the world in 1890 that it was stopping polygamy, and then secretly and intentionally continuing to practice it – at the highest levels – including allowing new polygamous sealings, for several more decades.
Interesting this was going on during 1890 when Jesus was suppose to return in 1890 according to Joseph Smith. Could stopping polygamy in 1890 possibly be used to draw members attention away from the second coming of Jesus Christ that was suppose to happen?
Is there an updated version of this list with references and links? I’d love to have it. Please update and publish!