I know you’ve learned new things about church history, or the BoM translation, or the way the modern church operates…
And I know you feel like you can never regain that unique Latter-day fervor you once experienced.
You’ve lost something.
And it hurts. 1/7
Cults don’t build that.
Cults pray on weaklings, offering easy solutions.
They don’t inspire men to risk all, cross the wilderness, carve a thriving civilization from sand and stone, and build a glorious temple to their God with their bear hands.
Only genuine faith does that.
@AnnLesbyPhD
@MattWalshBlog
Omg comments like this scare me.
I’m sorry, but being trans doesn’t mean you get to dictate the terms of every conversation. You can’t actively manipulate language and then call it violence when people notice and don’t agree with you.
@DawgLoko
Good natured racist jokes alleviate actual racial hatred. Just as two friends poking fun at each other actually builds camaraderie.
Our culture doesn’t get this aspect of human interaction anymore because we’re so darn sensitive… and it’s why we hate each other.
You know why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has so much money?
Because in 193 years, millions have devoted their lives to it…
But not a single one has gotten rich off of it.
The fruit of our collective efforts are reinvested back into the kingdom.
Stephen: “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
Christians: “This is absolute truth.”
Joseph Smith: “I saw two personages…”
Christians: “This is heresy.”
Exmos be like:
“I was deep into the ranks of the Mormon church… 1st councilor in my ward’s primary presidency… and we used to make the kids sing ‘popcorn popping on the apricot tree’…
“Popcorn doesn’t come from trees! Still recovering from the trauma…”
My Stake President said this in ward conference today:
“The point of the gospel is not to see how many commandments you can keep. The point is to see what you will become.”
Those who bitterly leave their faith often tell a story beginning with statements meant to demonstrate how “all in” they were:
“I went to church every Sunday!”
“I payed my tithing!”
“I read the scripture 15 times!”
Never have I heard one say:
“I truly loved Jesus Christ.”
Moses: “Look at this serpent on my stick and God will heal you.”
Christians: “God works in mysterious ways.”
Joseph Smith: “I looked at this seer stone in my hat and God helped me translate the BOM.”
Christians: “This is occult!”
Here’s what the devout exmos don’t want to admit:
If LDS theology isn’t everything it claims to be, then at the very least, it’s a religious belief system that produces far better outcomes than most…
Most who follow it have strong families, value education, 1/8
Some Christians are mad about a Sikh offering a prayer at the RNC last night.
While I would love to see more unabashed Christianity, I’d like to point out that Sikhism is not demonic.
Its values closely align with conservatives Christianity, and I hope they vote Republican.
Latter-day Saints are super irrelevant…
Which is why every Evangelical church where I live has an anti-Mormon class, despite LDS being only 1% of the population.
Super irrelevant though…
They hardly even think about us 🤣
I’ve never understood why I should be worried about Joseph Smith “dying in a gun fight.”
He was in a jail cell defending his companions from a murderous mob…
Pretty baller way to go, if you ask me…
And totally in line with the Wild West, frontier ethos of early Mormonism.
@HeathMayo
Nope, wrong.
First of all, conservatives aren’t picking a fight with Disney. Disney is picking a fight with parents.
Second, there is nothing more important to our society than its culture. Because our underlying beliefs and values impact everything else.
Jacob 5 is possibly the most difficult BOM chapter to explain away.
Apart from its rich symbolism, it also accurately describes olive tree husbandry- a subject which few, if any, in JS’s world had any knowledge.
Yet amazingly, it’s all accurate, except one important point:
1/3
I actually love this.
This is how masculine energy is supposed to work itself out.
Two masculine men, in a battle for glory….
A young man- passionate and hot headed.
His elder- composed, mature, puts the younger to shame.
The younger apologizes and they move on.
Beautiful.
Exmos and antis: “Aren’t you disturbed that the Church was avoiding taxes??”
Conservative/libertarian members who hate the feds and remember what they did to the early Saints:
Actually, guys… Joseph Smith’s sins are irrelevant when it comes to whether or not the Plan of Salvation is true.
I’m pretty sure Joseph was a flawed but honorable man… But you cannot tell me his revelation is false.
Why not?
Because it works. And it is alive in my life.
I’ve been waiting for more details to come out on Tim Ballard. Now that I know more, let me do something the media and politicians never do…
I’m not going to just casually change my tune like nothing happened…
Here… see this tweet right here 👇🏻
I was incorrect.
Tim Ballard is not a grifter. He’s a hero.
His critics are mostly grifters.
Here’s an example of what the criticisms of Ballard typically look like, if you really dig into them…
1) QAnon claims celebrities are drinking a serum made from the blood of children to achieve 1/4
Level whatever criticism against Joseph Smith you wish. I may care a little. I may disagree sometimes… though some of your criticism may, indeed, be valid. But it ultimately doesn’t matter to me.
It doesn’t change what Joseph has done for me. The fact remains that Joseph
The genius of Joseph Smith is he didn’t just write a captivating religious epic…
He placed his followers directly in one.
It was the American Moses leading the American Israelites to the promised land.
But the thing is, Joseph Smith wasn’t a genius.
It was just true.
@iFyouthful
@JLPtalk
Race means almost nothing biologically. It’s mostly a social construct, and physical differences a product of adaption to environment.
Culture, fine. Preserve that. But racial essentialism is pseudoscientific b.s.
I remember as a kid sitting with my dad, boy cousins and uncles in the chapel watching conference, singing “Ye Elders of Israel,” etc., and then going out to Dairy Queen afterwards.
Honestly, those were pretty formative moments, and I’m sad my son doesn’t get priesthood session.
My cult gave me a family that treats each other as though their bonds are eternal… as though each member’s worth transcends life itself. 4 beautiful children and an incredible spouse.
Your’s carved up your body and gave you madeup pronouns.
Fine… call my beliefs irrational 🤷🏼♂️
LDS have, by far, the best answer for why we suffer…
for why evil is allowed to exist…
for what the heck we’re all doing here.
That’s it. That’s the primary reason I’m LDS and not some other monotheistic religion.
Debate the rest all you want. But we tell the best story.
“Mormon temple ceremonies are just Masonic rituals!”
It’s funny you think Masonic rituals are just Masonic rituals.
The symbols used are of unknown origin, but date back to antiquity.
You could be cynical.
Or you could participate in something older than recorded history.
My church building is now equipped with 3 pickle ball nets and has tape lines on the gym floor for pickle ball courts.
It’s time to accept that our basketball obsession was merely a policy. Not doctrine.
Pickle ball is the new celestial sport.
Christians will soon awaken to their churches overrun with social justice.
And find but one still holding the line.
Then, they must to ask…
“Do Mormons have the ‘wrong Jesus?’
“Or, could their truer doctrine have preserved connection to the Jesus we once loved?”
If Joseph Smith were really as bad as antis say, I’d be all the more sure that the BOM was not of man, but of God.
No evil man could discourse on faith like Alma 32.
Nor pen a religious epic like the Book of Ether.
Nor perfectly capture the character of Christ like 3rd Nephi.
After stewing for far too long, we finally pulled the trigger this week and began homeschooling our 4 kids.
Key in my decision was Elder Uchtdorf’s talk last conference.
I knew we could no longer “delegate”our children’s teaching.
The transformation has been immediate. 1/4
*If LDS were like LGBT activists*
LDS: “I’m LDS, isn’t that great?”
Person: “No, I disagree with LDS.”
LDS: “How dare you try to erase me! We must mandate teaching the BOM to your kids in school and baptize them without telling you!”
Person: “No.”
LDS: “GENOCIDE!!!”
LDS: “Our church is the true church, but there’s so many good people. God will surely look upon their hearts.”
Christian: “You’re all going to hell if don’t profess the Trinity!”
Exmo: “Other Christians are so much more open-minded and don’t claim to be the one true church.”
🤦🏼♂️
Name another organization worth this much money that no one has gotten rich off of.
You think their recent tax issues were nefarious and not simply oversight?
Then, tell me the motive.
Who stands to personally benefit?
The only motive I see is genuine religious conviction.
On its current path, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could be worth at least a trillion dollars by 2044, up from more than $200 billion today.
I don’t think there’s anything more degrading to Heavenly Mother than progmos acting like she’s oppressed by Heavenly Father.
Come on… you really think a Goddess is oppressed by the patriarchy?
You’re essentially saying the ultimate state of women is to be subservient to men.
Go listen to the stories from the young female athletes who had to compete and share a locker room with Lia Thomas.
Listen to what happened to the All-American swimmer, Riley Gaines, when she tried to speak publicly about her experience…
Dreams crushed, privacy violated, 1/2
Woke exmo…
-Leaves Mormonism because in the 1800’s Joseph Smith was sealed to a 14-year-old girl who remained with her parents and never had a sexual relationship with him.
-Embraces Queer Theory, grandfathered by a man who, in the 1970’s, liked to fly to Tunisia and rape 1/3
We don’t live the WOW for the health benefits.
“And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.”
As with ancient Israel, our dietary restrictions are a sign of our covenant.
Critics of the Book of Mormon must always scrounge about for arguments in the periphery because the whole of the text, and the manner of its production, still remains utterly impossible.
And yet, there it is.
I can just imagine them concocting the great scheme known as Mormonism…
A: “Ok, brethren… Here’s how we do it. We tell them their salvation depends on tithing, and after many decades careful saving and investing, it’s a multibillion $ organization.”
B: “And what’s in it 1/5
The Book of Mormon, cherry picked, can be made to look like a racist book.
The Book of Mormon, taken as an entire narrative, is the most anti-racist sacred text in the world. 1/2
“Mormons are going to hell because they don’t follow the real Jesus!”
If the true God would really send me to hell over doctrinal misunderstandings, after a lifetime of striving, repenting, and striving again… then he’s not the kind of god I want to spend eternity with. 1/2
“There’s no archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon.”
How about this Jewish settlement outside Jerusalem they discovered called Beit Lehi, which means “House of Lehi,” which was settled around 800 B.C. and abandoned during the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C.?
1/2
Wait… he was an inactive Mormon?
That must mean that those who fall away from the Church are guilty of inciting violence.
Inactive Mormons… you can do better.
… or, alternatively, this is a stupid way to see the world and inactive members have nothing to do with it.
I was sitting here trying to figure out my opinion on the controversy between Tim Ballard and the Church… and then I realized…
I don’t have one.
And I’m not sure why we all think we need to have one. 🤷🏼♂️
@SamHarrisOrg
@RealCandaceO
I’m no conspiracy theorist, but showing graphs from “reputable” sources isn’t good enough anymore. When our institutions keep lying, you’re going to have to demonstrate why this isn’t also a lie.
I’m not saying it is. But I’m no longer immediately convinced by supposed facts.
Sorry, but no cult is responsible for an entire state.
And a particularly vibrant one, at that.
At some point, you have to acknowledge this has become mainstream enough, and proven productive enough, that you can’t really call it a cult.
I wish I knew more about the behind-the-scenes history of the church.
Like, when did we first start putting basketball courts in our buildings?
Or, when did we decide RS gets their own room with plush chairs while the EQ meets on the stage with hard metal chairs?
The most militant exmos will act like the church is among the most evil forces on earth.
Yet, if you were a dispassionate outsider organizing a cooperative and productive society, you almost couldn’t ask for anything better than a community of faithful Saints. 1/2
I don’t care if you’re gay or straight… I don’t care what religion you are, or if you’re not religious…
Once you have kids, your personal fulfillment is no longer your main priority.
The selfishness of adults, and their disregard for kids, in our generation astonishes me.
“We were creating the perfect Mormon family, and then I fell in love with my friend.”
The life-changing story of two women who left the Mormon church and found love.
The all-new documentary “Mormon No More” is streaming June 24 only on
@Hulu
.
#PrideNeverStops
On Mother’s Day, don’t let the progmos ruin the idea of Heavenly Mother.
She is not an eternally oppressed feminist.
She is the Divine Feminine.
She is a Goddess, Queen and Priestess on High.
I know we don’t know much about her, but here’s something to consider:
1/5
“Jesus would use the church’s funds to clothe the naked and feed the hungry.”
Let’s clear something up… Christian charity is a time honored tradition, and certainly part of a Christian life. But let’s talk about what Christ actually did and did not do. 1/6
Don’t believe the Left’s lies about this SCOTUS decision.
The ruling actually does 3 things:
1. Says the President is immune from criminal prosecution for actions clearly under his constitutional authority. Legit military decisions, for example.
2. Says the President has 1/5
Conservative Christian: “I must oppose Mormonism with all my zeal, or else… or else…”
Or else, what?
We’ll keep agreeing your social views?
We’ll keep advocating free markets?
We’ll keep raising large families on biblical morality?
We’ll keep refuting atheism? 1/3
Tim Ballard is not a grifter. He’s a hero.
His critics are mostly grifters.
Here’s an example of what the criticisms of Ballard typically look like, if you really dig into them…
1) QAnon claims celebrities are drinking a serum made from the blood of children to achieve 1/4
Baptized and confirmed my oldest daughter this morning. Seriously…nothing better.
After such experiences, you can’t tell me there isn’t goodness here. You can’t tell me this isn’t where I’m supposed to be.
It is good. It is true.
Church canceled today because it’s -30 degrees in Minnesota…
But sometimes, at-home church is the best.
Feeling the Spirit of Elijah in our home this Sabbath.
“Can you believe the church makes poor people pay tithing??”
First of all, no one makes you do anything.
But, if you’re financially struggling, you can actually offset the burden of tithing with church welfare.
It’s not about your money.
It’s about being part of Zion.
I’ve never understood the anti-semitism among some of the more nationalist/populist Latter-day Saints.
Like… oh, you think you’re based LDS?
The BOM explicitly condemns your bs.
Try again.
@joshnaa2gez
That serpent was out in the open, and Jesus did his miracles in public.
Muhammed and Joseph Smith got their "revelations" in the dark where the devil hides :
Giving black people the priesthood is nothing like allowing same-sex marriage.
Who has held, and not held, the priesthood has changed many times throughout scriptural history.
Even in this dispensation, Joseph originally gave black men the priesthood.
But the union of man 1/2
My family doesn’t live in a heavily LDS area, and we’ve developed a friends group with non-LDS.
All of them are practicing Lutherans.
All are totally respectful and seek common ground. They see us as Christian.
Because these are normal Christians. Not social media Christians.
@sltrib
Why is a news paper from SLC commenting on a minor dress code dispute at a small university in Hawaii?
Are you a legitimate newspaper, or is bashing LDS your primary purpose?
A prominent LDS musician publicly leaves his faith, and then releases social media videos and an entire album bashing that faith…
And all the exmos/antis in the comments 👇🏻 expect LDS to shut up and not have an opinion. 😂
“Leave him alone!”
He doesn’t want to be left alone.
David Archuleta doesn’t look happy.
His new look is slimy and creepy.
And his vibe is awkwardly performative.
I don’t say this to be mean. I say it to point out that he doesn’t look like he’s doing well, and maybe people shouldn’t cheer it on.
Why did we change from “Mormon Tabernacle Choir” to “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square?”
Neither of these names include the name of Christ.
I thought the point was to emphasize Christ, not erase the word “Mormon.”
This isn’t a criticism. I really just don’t understand.
In order to succeed, cults must isolate members from their families and the broader community.
"They don't care about you... You're one of us now."
So, where exactly do we find the cultish behavior?
Is it in the LDS Church who, from the outset, has placed family and civic 1/6
In any other situation, I would have said President Oaks forgot to write his talk. But since it’s Oaks, I’m guessing there’s a very specific reason he devoted an entire talk to quoting Jesus.
Thoughts?
#GeneralConference
“Joseph Smith didn’t do anything that great or monumental… Only Mormons think Mormonism is important.”
And yet, here you are, 200 years later, still tweeting about it every single day.
I heard a Jewish man say he keeps kosher because every time he goes out to eat, he’s reminded of who his is. He’s reminded that he is a Jew.
For me, every time friends or coworkers go out to coffee, I’m reminded of who I am. I am a Latter-day Saint.
That is reason enough.
“It’s not about the money for church leaders. It’s about power!”
Really? If you were seeking worldly power, would you be an apostle or a Supreme Court Justice?
The latter allows you to exercise actual control. Your rulings must be followed. And it gets you connected to 1/4
Omg, right??? It’s… like… ONLY the Mormons! Everyone else in our modern culture is just so willing to admit when they’re wrong. The Mormons are the problem, I’m sure.
“Why the Latter-day Saints and not some other Christian church?”
Because I don’t believe Joel Osteen is heaven bound, but Mahatma Gandhi is damned to hell for not “accepting Christ.”
(Lots of reasons, actually, but that’s a pretty good one.)
“I prefer a president who isn’t a convicted felon!”
Interesting.
I prefer a president who doesn’t weaponize the justice system to convict his political opponents of felonies on bogus and/or frivolous charges.
To each his own, I guess. 🤷♂️
As you settle into fatherhood, you start to realize…
No one cares if you’re sad.
No one cares if you’re discouraged.
No one cares if you’re scared.
Fathers have to be strong. Im not saying that’s not true.
But be kind to the men in your life.
I promise, they feel alone.
Christianity is based on the claim that a man rose from the dead 2000 years ago and appeared to a few people, but since then, refuses to appear or speak to the world, choosing instead to speak through his followers who can’t seem to agree on much of anything. After walking away
1. The fact that the Colorado Springs shooter’s mom is LDS doesn’t mean he is.
2. The fact that some people from the area found his name on LDS Tools also doesn’t mean he’s definitely LDS, and certainly doesn’t tell us anything about his own beliefs. Stop pretending like 1/5
I believe the BOM is based in actual accounts of literal, historical events.
But, if you don’t… the least you can reasonably say is that it’s genius level myth-making, filled with inexhaustible wisdom.
And if you believe in God, it’s hard not to see His hand in it.
Christians-
I once cried to God in prayer for many hours over a personal issue…
The spirit answered by placing an LDS scripture reference (D&C) into my mind, which I had no knowledge of.
It was an explicit answer to my prayer.
At the very least, God doesn’t care if I’m LDS.
Just gonna say it… while it’s true pressuring young men to serve a mission can go too far, these days it doesn’t happen nearly enough.
Young men need pressure to grow up.
I know through experience that life continues after death, and that prayer connects us that spirit world.
I was close with my grandfather and he died suddenly of a heart attack when I was 16.
I remember standing at his casket regretting that I never got to say goodbye, and 1/6
On the other hand, if the Latter-day Saints are “right,” then you should rejoice… because the God we worship will judge your heart, and what you did with the knowledge you had.
Because that’s the only thing a merciful and just God would do. 2/2
Just as wool stained crimson cannot again become white…
So too, a wild olive branch cannot become tame…
Except
through the atoning grace of Christ.
Who makes stained wool white…
wild branches tame…
and fallen men born again.
Don’t tell me Joseph Smith made this up. 3/3