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What do you think of the faith? Do you have any personal contradictions? testimonies? Are you a member of this faith?

I live in a town of about 90% LDS members. I myself am agnostic/atheist, and it gets hard to go to school with 1000 LDS members that I can't identify with from a faithful perspective.
So I want to know what you all think of this faith. Good? Bad? why? wink

Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
I actually do not know anything about this religion but the both of you do and I wouldn't mind learning if you don't mind sweatdrop

I myself have not read the book of Mormon. I've tried, but never could get myself to finish. I have, however, attending many religious gatherings such as Girls camp, EFY, Firesides, Hikes, Young Womens, etc...

Heres my own personal views.

Positive: Great for unity in a community (ha. I rhyme), Good standards, faithful members, very family oriented.

Negative: Not publicly accepting to certain communities (Gays, for example), Too strict of standards (No Tanktops (or anything else revealing shoulders), caffeine, no excercising or purchasing things on Sunday, Not dating until 16, and not being in a monogamous relationship until after a mission), and its very sexist. Men are the heads of the homes, and only men can hold the priesthood (The highest ranking in the church, or ability to give blessings), and in Temple ceremony, men and women are divided, and men get to go first in most activities. Oh, and tattoos and unnatural hair colors and piercings are very much frowned upon.

My grandmother has done quite a bit of research on this faith, and one thing she found in her searching was evidence of the church's founder, Joseph Smith, to send husbands on religious missions, and while the husbands were away, he would convince the wives of these men to sleep with him because they were "spiritually married". The truth to these accusations however, I'm not sure of. Which brings about another topic. Polygamy. You will constantly hear mormons defending the hype that their religion practices polygamy, and they claim they do not. What more than 90% of mormons don't know, is that, they in fact, do. To be officially married, a mormon couple must go through the temple ceremony, and be sealed together. Well, if a man and woman are sealed, and the woman dies, the man can be sealed to another woman for all eternity, thus sealing him to two women. However, if the husband were to die, and the woman were to get engaged to another man, she would have to choose which man she wanted to be sealed to. Again, very sexist. Well, thats my bit. toodles.

Baptisms for the dead is another issue that bothers me quite a bit.

They take deceased peoples names, and baptise them in the name of the LDS church, because they were never baptised in their "mortal" lives.

CELLO. Baptisms have been around for ages. If a person WANTED to be baptised when they were alive, they would have been baptised! Its an insult to their memory, I believe. Babies, and young children however, are a different story, and should be left up to the family. They shouldn't just pull random names and baptise people. mad

yes utah is a mormon dominated state...my dads side of the family is mormon so i know a thing or two about the religeon in genaral

Alright, lets see... to start with, I will let you know that I am a member of the LDS/Mormon faith and I would consider myself pretty active/devout at this point in my life (though I have not always been). However, as often happens, I do have my own *personal* perspective on a lot of things that differ from others of the same church. So don't take my word as absolute Mormon "doctrine." BUT, I will definitely weigh in on a lot of this stuff. mrgreen

However, Dorkyfish, I cwrtainly feel for you being the "odd man out" in a very Mormon area. I live in Utah presently, but I was born in Chicago, so you better believe I have been in the religious minorty before! It can feel MIGHTY lonely!


Granted, there are strict rules, it's true. However, I do have to say that we agree to keep those rules when we join the church., so it is sort of a matter of "you made your bed, now sleep in it." wink Hee hee! However, some of those things are really more like rules FAMILIES make in order to follow the rules of the actual Church. For instance, that whole not being in a serious relationship till after serving a mission. That is not a rule of the Church. But it is a rule for many families. Why? Well, it IS strongly encouraged for young men to go on missions when they are about 19. That means leaving for 2 years... and it is a LOT easier to do if they aren't whining and pining over their girlfriend back home.

So some of the rules you mentioned aren't exactly COMMANDMENTS, more like rules particular families and wards (congregations) make to help members ACHIEVE those commandments they strive toward, if that makes sense.

Anyway, more of my Mormonisms and 2 cents another time! I should go to bed. That has nothing to do with church doctrine though... and everything to do with the fact that is is 3 am and I am still messing around on the computer! redface

Very true. Just wanted to clarify that there IS a difference between Mormon Culture and Mormon Commandments. (I make the distinction OFTEN because, while I follow the teachings of the FAITH, I often go against the CULTURE (and therefore tick of my padres, but anyway mrgreen )!)

ANYWAY, moving on...
I can definitely see that happening. One of my best friends eventually moved back to Indiana because she felt like she was judged at every turn. She is Wiccan and bisexual, to boot, so living in Provo, Utah she felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. I have no doubt she did... but I miss her and wish she felt happier in Utah. It is an unhappy truth that while the church teaches acceptance of others, the more common thing is to act like everybody who believes/looks/acts differently is wicked. Especially here in very conservative Utah!



Just so those not as familiar with Mormon scriptures, a little explanation. We believe that Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon from gold plates (the record of a group from Jerusalem who traveled to the American Continent), wrote the Doctrine and Covenants about inspirations received from the Lord about how to organize the church, and then received inspiration about various parts of the Bible, later called, The Joseph Smith Translation. Most are simple corrections in the translation (King James), and often changing back to certain things BEFORE the counsel at Nicea. However, there ARE some translations of what God wanted originally (and thus not "changing" the book, but rather restoring it) that might require more, ummm, faith/imagination to believe.

(Mind you, by describing this way, I may not sound as "Mormon" as I am. I DO believe this... I just also know how it sounds to others. I don't expect anyone to agree... merely to offer me the same respect for crazy beliefs are are afforded other major religions of the world. ie, to "agree to disagree" xd )

I think the biggest problem with discussing polygamy with Mormons is that we are a bit DEFENSIVE about it. Because, well, 1. Yes, we did have it. (In life, I mean) 2. There are people in offshoot groups who still DO. 3. We catch a lot of flack for it and so, for better or worse, when people say "Nya Nya you're plygies" most have a knee jerk reaction and say "No! We aren't! It's Bad! We're good!" It's silly, but often true. I don't know if it's really all of NINETY percent, but I get your point. So here's the deal. YES, we DID practice Polygamy 100 years ago. We believe SOMEDAY the Lord might allow that again. And, yep, there is some tricky business of being able to be sealed to more than one wife after they are dead. I don't quite get that, but whatever.

One minor gripe though, just so you know "To be officially married, a mormon couple must go through the temple ceremony, and be sealed together." is not QUITE right. You can be "officially married" outside the temple. For "time"... your basic till death do us part type agreement. But to be married BEYOND that, for "time and all eternity," we must be married/sealed in the temple. It's basically a marriage with MORE promises. But, yes, a temple ceremony is VERY important to a lot of us of the more devout LDS. It's something I strive for... eventually. Because, well, when I am really in love I can't imagine standing for Death Do Us Part!

And with that, I will end for tonight. (Dive into Baptisms for the Dead another day. Hee hee hee!)

Thanks for the posts and such Kipluck. I couldn't talk to my friends about this, so it's nice to know you'll answer my questions. 3nodding