Mormonism

Not that I am aware of. Any copies should have all the same information, regardless of era printed. Only difference would be the annotation as stated above.

Cool.

Do you have any crazy missionary stories?

What are the younger members like?

I actually didn't serve a mission. It's been a real hamper on trying to even get dates around here.

I have heard a few stories, mostly short, such as one dude I know had a sniper rifle pulled on him while serving in Ukraine.

Younger members are honestly pretty indoctrinated. They aren't really given the opportunity to form their own opinions, not that it's looked down on though. For the most part they are just told, this is the truth, accept it.

Cheers,

How often did people convert into the church/were there many converts in your congregation?

What type of people tended to convert?

Is it true they treat older unmarried people like second class citizens?

I'm in Happy Valley (Utah Valley) so the rate of conversion is fairly low, but there were still a few converts in the ward (our word for congregation). Conversion is common, mostly with hispanics but it doesn't really show here in the valley.

Can confirm that some people do treat older unmarried people like shit. My mom divorced my dad and a handful of people in our ward started treating us differently. It was pretty weird.

Thats ashame about your mother, is there any way to divorce without getting that kind of heat?

Do you ever miss being mormon/ regret leaving?

How much of the tithe actually goes to charity work?

Not that I know of. Divorce is a big deal apparently, even though we have a fairly high divorce rate here.

I'm still technically part of the church, just inactive. I don't necessarily disbelieve it, I just cannot stand being in church. The people bug me and I'm a lazy shit. But I don't regret my choices. It's allowed me to live a bit more freely and more how I feel I should live.

I'm not sure of the exact numbers for the tithe, but it is a decent amount. There is a reason Mormons are at the site of disasters so quickly.

>I just cannot stand being in church. The people bug me and I'm a lazy shit.

Can you expand a bit about this Ive been curious as to whether its a religion I should investigate more personally

For sure. The people in Utah have been born and raised with the church permeating every facet of their life. This makes it so that they usually have fragile testimonies that are based purely on what those around them have done or said. This often leads to very fake people who only do things to impress other members of their particular ward. This doesn't mean everyone is like that though. There were plenty of people in my ward that were fantastic. They would give you the shirt off of their back if you would let them.

Church meetings here in Utah as compared to meetings in other states, or even parts of the world, hold a very different air about them. People have devout faith that they built on their own. They are far more humble and you can tell that they believe the church is absolutely true.

I, being in Utah, have been exposed to a lot of the fake people and the constant influence the church as had on the general community. Due to this, I've just chosen to go my own path instead of living off of a fake testimony that is based in nothing other than the words of those around me.

Thanks, I have to head off but ill check in on this thread if its still alive tomorrow.

What is your own path ?

I still hold many values and beliefs that the church teaches. But I feel that you should do your best to be a good person. That people should find and build their testimony for themselves instead of allowing the words of others to sway them towards something they may not fully believe in.

I suggest that, if you want to read the BoM, be sure to check out the Doctrine and Covenants. It's essentially the history of the church and the revelations that Joseph Smith received. It's written with more modern english and was probably the most interesting portion of the book for me.

Cheers,

What is the deal with the various denominations?

What are your opinions of Briggam Young?

A scholar that studies Mormonism perhaps?

The various denominations basically felt like we should keep polygamy, mainly. They are fairly small in comparison and aren't really brought up that often. But it's part of why people think we still practice polygamy.

Brigham Young was okay I guess. I mean he is the one that lead us to Utah but I don't doubt that there may have been some fucked up stuff he might have done.

How come they changed their stance on Polygamy?

Do you have a favourite book/verse/section from the BoM?

I unironically think the book of mormon is the greatest work of science fiction ever created, and the fact that it's resulted in forming the largest single organization on the planet is a huge part of it. It's worth the read after knowing the context of it's writing, that Joseph Smith is a known con-artist and this religion he invented conveniently allows him to fuck multiple people's daughters simultaneously.

And accidentally, it just werkz.

I remember a friend of mine who was convert to Orthodoxy at a very young age, whom shared his interactions with some "Elders" as a child. Apparently my friend had a very zealous attitude for a child. Apparently he embarrassed the two mormons with his own knowledge of scripture that when he turned to leave, one of the elders being so angry actually threw the book of mormon at him hitting his head.

A little awkward after that, since they would run into each other for years to come... even across state lines.

Check out this book. It simultaneously explores contemporary Mormon fundamentalism and the origins of the movement. After a while I couldn't put it down.

Part of me wonders if the book of Mormon was intended to be an elaborate satire/parody of biblical literature, but when Joseph Smith finished it he thought it would be more self-serving to make a serious religion out of it.

What are the scifi elements of it?

Any highlights?

Not what you asked for, I know, but here are some old songs that give you an idea of what the average person's opinion of Mormonism in the late 19th century was.

levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:132.112
levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/catalog/levy:054.078

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolob

> Kolob is the heavenly body nearest to the throne of God.

This is beyond baffling to me. So The Mercy Seat is a physical location in the Universe and in the Milky Way?

Is that all? That hardly seems like the greatest scifi story ever

It's a very poorly written book.

So its the greatest scifi ever because its got another planet and is very poorly written?

bump

final bump

CES Letter.

Probably not, since chunks of it were plagiarized from other contemporary works.

It's the greatest sci-fi story ever written because of it's result on society. LDS is the largest single organization on the planet, and most of it's members take the book very seriously. That's not a small feat. It's a book that's very good at appealing to agnostics and non-denominational christians, and the society backing up is sexy as fuck to people who are lonely or struggling.

What makes it science fiction isn't just a simple reference to a fictional planet, but is how it along with footnotes and added canon from church presidents fleshes out the christian religion to have more easily believable axioms, such as splitting God, Jesus and The Holy Ghost, the pre-mortal existence, the outer darkness instead of hell, the three kingdoms of heaven, lots of in-depth detail about these things too. How Jesus and Lucifer are equals created by god, and how god favors jesus's way that souls shall find god(that people should choose), but 2/3rds of pre-mortal souls prefer lucifer's way(that people should be forced to find god), and humans are the 1/3rd that chose jesus's plan, while the other 2/3rds do lucifer's whole deal. Also God was once like us, and we will once be like God. If you really get into it, it's on-par with a PKD novel.

Nice quads

>LDS is the largest single organization on the planet, and most of it's members take the book very seriously. That's not a small feat. It's a book that's very good at appealing to agnostics and non-denominational christians, and the society backing up is sexy as fuck to people who are lonely or struggling.

Isnt it a bit of a myth to call the LDS the largest single orginsiation on the planet? That other stuff you mentioned seemed less sci fi and simpler than Christianity as much as it simply being different like an Eastern Faith

Also do you have any thoughts on Scientology ?

You can try the Skeptics Annotated Book of Mormon:
skepticsannotatedbible.com/BoM/index.htm

I mean, it is an intact organization of fifteen million people where the smallest groups report to the head of the organization in a chain. It's seven times the size of the Chinese military. Can you name a larger organization?

I can't see how LDS is simpler than christianity as it's literally christianity + more stuff. Like, I think it's extremely paradoxical to say christianity + stuff is simpler than christianity. It's science fiction in that it explains reality on the phenomenological level, whereas the bible and most other denominations don't do this or vaguely do this. As well as this, it has answers to a lot of scientific questions people have that usually are at dead conflict with the faith, and will literally cite the bible as being edited by so many people in history for why it's unreliable, making paradoxes that effect other churches not applicable to LDS. The book of mormon is interpreted as the direct word of god and the third testament, so it is higher priority than the bible. The church literally actively works to cover up social and scientific conflicts with their religion, and has similarities to a well-ran business.

I think you might be thinking of science fiction in the spaceships and laser way and not as much the perception and explanation of reality way, more PKD/asimov/hubbard/ellison type stuff than star wars or space jam.

Scientology is cool but it only really appeals to people with issues and bored rich people who want to check out the inner-circles, which are probably reeeeaaally nice considering all of the money pouring into them. I think the whole massive space history thing is interesting but sortof conflicts with observable reality, and the whole thetan system is sortof unappealing to people, and I think for these reasons it's a bit of a poorly constructed universe when compared to the LDS universe.

>I mean, it is an intact organization of fifteen million people where the smallest groups report to the head of the organization in a chain. It's seven times the size of the Chinese military. Can you name a larger organization?

To name a few the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church in Russia The Communist Party of China, the Republican and Democrat political parties. Same with the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Indian political parties which have over 100 million members.

>
Scientology is cool but it only really appeals to people with issues and bored rich people who want to check out the inner-circles, which are probably reeeeaaally nice considering all of the money pouring into them. I think the whole massive space history thing is interesting but sortof conflicts with observable reality, and the whole thetan system is sortof unappealing to people, and I think for these reasons it's a bit of a poorly constructed universe when compared to the LDS universe.

It does what LDS does to Christainity with Freud

None of the organizations you listed answer through a direct chain of command to the core, the "organizations" themselves are much smaller than the numbers you're thinking of. There are a lot of catholics that got jack shit to do with the church. People that vote aren't a part of the organization they're voting for in any way.

Too bad Freud fucking blows.

>None of the organizations you listed answer through a direct chain of command to the core,

How do you come to that conclusion all those institutions have a chain of command. They have charimen, patriarchs and presidents ect.

>here are a lot of catholics that got jack shit to do with the church.

The same is true with Mormons, however with with 1.2 billion members even is only a tiny fraction of them are regular its still head and shoulders above the Mormons same with the Russian Orthodox to a lesser scale.

>People that vote aren't a part of the organization they're voting for in any way.

Those figures dont include voters but actual card carrying members who attend meetings and campaign and vote on policy.

A chain of command that doesn't touch most of the people you're considering a part of the organization.

>The same is true with Mormons
Completely fucking wrong. Read up on LDS, how it works, and what the church itself considers "church membership".

There aren't 100 million people in india who show up to political meetings outside of dropping a vote in a box. It's one-way communication, it's not an organization. You could argue that a government and it's citizens are an organization, but that's just arguing the definition of a word. I clearly stated many posts ago what I defined an organization as "an intact organization where the smallest groups report to the head of the organization in a chain", and everything you have listed does not apply to this definition, whereas the LDS church does, and is the largest instance of this in the world.

> "an intact organization where the smallest groups report to the head of the organization in a chain

How is that not the practice in Catholicism or Russian Orthodxy?