Just a quick one from me today. A few people have said to me that they thought I had left the church for reasons such as being lazy or wanting to sin e.g. drink alcohol, dress sexy and swear like a trooper. Some people have also said things that lead me to believe that I have been unclear about why I left the church.
I left because...
I believe that Joseph Smith lied about the golden plates and angels visiting him. I believe that he wrote the Book of Mormon himself (how? who knows, I am not trying to explain my reasons here I am just stating them, I will explain in the future). I believe that Joseph made up all of his 'revelations'.
A few facts admitted by the church itself:
He married other women without his wife's knowledge. He married women who already had husbands, he sent the husbands off on missions and then had them approve of his own marriage to their spouse (already a done deal) when they returned home. He married young girls, yes even young for the 1830s. He promised Emma (his first wife) that he would stop practicing plural marriage and then he carried on with it behind her back.
Is that enough? well there is more but I would like to get to that in due time.
I did not leave the church to be 'naughty', I left because I believe "with every fibre of my being" (a common phrase in Mormon testimony bearing) that it is all a damned lie!
A good friend of mine was heard to say some time ago that, "Mike" (that's me) "has decided the Church isn't true." Which I thought was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI would have phrased it differently of course. It wasn't that I decided it wasn't true... I discovered it wasn't and my decision was more about where to help promote the lie to another generation or leave.
What blows me away are the number of people who still try to tell me that I really do know the church is true. Are they even listening to anything that I have been saying!
ReplyDeleteI feel awful about some of the things a taught the youth in my last stint with them. They were a smart bunch though, I could see that when I was teaching those lessons on a woman's homemaker role that they were just humouring me. I think the church is going to have a much harder time convincing young people of such outdated ideas.
How does it follow that if Joseph Smith did all those things, that he wasn't a true prophet? Maybe you're just imposing your narrow Victorian view of what a prophet is onto Smith.
ReplyDeleteIt could be that God is a swinging deity who's into group sex and approves of lying to people. Ironically, if you want to 'sin', staying in the church would be a great move, if it stayed true to Joseph's vision. Oh, and if you're a guy.
Ah yes, I didn't follow that line of thought far enough back! Silly me.
ReplyDeleteWell if Mormons are up for that then wow, they need to get some woodstock type music ready for the afterlife. So, if there are still any active female Mormons reading this post, please explain to me how it is that you are ok with this situation!?
Pure irony on their side: "There are many other forms of lying. When we speak untruths, we are guilty of lying. We can also intentionally deceive others by a gesture or a look, by silence, or by telling only part of the truth. Whenever we lead people in any way to believe something that is not true, we are not being honest."
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any firm research on this myself, but it has been said (by peoplefar smarter than me) that it is likely that the so called 'prophets' of yesteryear (all denominations) were men (and sometimes, women) suffering from mental illness, likely to be very similar to what would now be diagnosed as schizophrenia. This theory brings me comfort for a few reasons:
ReplyDeleteA)These so called 'prophets' wre not the evil, malicious ppl I once feared them to be,but rather sick brothers, suffering from a debilitating disease, worthy of my sympathy... and
B)I can sleep at night knowing that the emergence of new 'prophets' and 'religions' to avoid are severely limited now by huge advances in medical science. Phew.
Further, as an armchair psychologist with a Masters Degree from the University of Life, I diagnose fear in the ppl trying to explain ur decision for you M, as a wise man once said "Me thinks thou doth protest too much"
Thank God I'm An Aetheist
(like my new sign off?)
oh yeah! I needed that laugh :)
ReplyDeleteI have read theories that Joe Smith suffered from a mental disorder. I will keep that in mind from now on and learn to love the man as a flawed human being just like myself.
Thank God you're here dear Athiest!!!
Ezekiel from the Old Testament certainly must have been afflicted. He lay on his side for 390 days, eating bread baked with human dung.
ReplyDeleteaaaaaahahahaha. funny shit! I have discovered the post I most wanted to comment on first. This is definitely a cake taker ;)
ReplyDeleteMaureen, I support you and your views. They are very much like mine. I just simply disagree with the idea that Joseph Smith is a great, upstanding guy. Almost everything he did, I disagree with.
ReplyDeleteHi there guy with the hair.. it's great to have you here. I love your blog, I think that it is going to be very helpful for me to follow your journey as we are in similar places right now.
ReplyDelete