Regrets

Some people say they live life with no regrets. I don't understand that.

This weekend I was watching home videos of Mr. Lover from his early 20's.  He had a speed boat and a great group of friends.  They would take his boat and 2 others out to Mojave Lake a few times each summer and camp out and water ski and have a great time.  Of course, there was lots of food, alcohol and music.

What was I doing in my early 20's?  Serving a mission for the mormon church, getting married and having kids. It's too late now to live that life of freedom and frivolity.  I didn't have the opportunity to have a life free of worry and responsibility.  I didn't have a life full of friends and happiness and carefree. Instead I had a life of paying bills and work and concern for the future.

Why? Because the mormon church said.  They said to get married young, even before you have the ability to sow wild oats, before you have college done, before you are financially settled.  Have children right away, even before you are financially ready for them, before you are done with school, before you are settled in a career.

Regrets? Yes, I have a few.

Historical Accuracy

The internet is open to all who have access to a computer.

I hope that one day, those whom I love will find the information that I have found and will not be afraid of it.
Are these websites accurate? If the mormon church is telling the truth about its history, it will be able to stand up to scrutiny and its leaders and members have nothing to be afraid of if that history is scrutinized:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFT1YUUDIUI&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa60T879hDQ&feature=related

http://www.i4m.com/think/images/JS_Polygamy_Timeline.png

http://sidneyrigdon.com/criddle/rigdon2.htm

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/sci/long.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_wives_of_Joseph_Smith

http://sidneyrigdon.com/criddle/rigdon1.htm

And of course, this one is the most important one:

http://freedomofmind.com/Media/blog.php?id=15&title=An_Expert_Responds_to_the_Cult_Controversy_re%3A_Mormonism

Standing for Truth

Why I am no longer a mormon?

The Church makes no apology for its selective story-telling policies.  Boyd K. Packer, a high church official, has said that “some things which are true are not very useful.”  

These are exact quotes from the following article.  It is time for the people who are members of the mormon church to wake up:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/religion/the-church-of-jesus/the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-b071a.htm
 What is it about the LDS Church which warrants the distinction of being singled out as a ripoff?  Isn’t the Mormon church just like all the others, taking money from members to fund the day-to-day operations of the church? 

Four aspects of how the Mormon Church operates makes it a ripoff:
1.       Since 1959, the LDS Church does not disclose their financial holdings. Why the secrecy? Simple.  They are building an empire.
2.       Members who do not pay the prescribed 10% have privileges withheld.  This is extortion.
3.       New recruits are not informed of the sordid origins and evidence contradicting the foundational claims of the faith.  This is unethical.
4.       Blatant meddling in politics, unethical for a tax-exempt organization.

Since 1959, the LDS has not disclosed their financial vibrancy.  Only in the UK and Canada, where it is required by law, does the church come clean with their financial holdings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints).  The LDS church stands alone among the major religious denominations in the USA in this secrecy....

MONETARY EXTORTION

Tithing in most religions is considered a gift, but the LDS Church makes it an obligation. Fear is often used as a motivator to get people to pay a full tithing. The member often hears the term 'fire insurance' associated with tithing. He who is tithed shall not be burned at Christ's' 2nd coming. Malachi 8:10 is often quoted - "Will a man rob God, yet ye have robbed me".

The guilt placed upon Latter-day Saints can be considerable. Members are not considered in 'good standing' if they are not paying a full 10% tithe. They cannot attend the temple if they do not pay in full. They cannot have temple-related callings or any high-profile positions if not full tithe-payers. And those who are full tithe-payers are often counseled to then start paying generous fast offerings, contributing to the missionary fund, etc. Extracting as much money as possible is the theme, and guilt is always knocking at the door.  This is a destructive mind control technique, which in turn reinforces the escalation of commitment human bias.  

SHAKY FOUNDATION

The Mormon faith is built on the foundation of a latter-day prophet, Joseph Smith, who was purportedly called by God to restore His true church, this being accomplished by direct revelation and restoration of authority through divine messengers from the heavens in 1820.  Besides taking Smith at his word, the primary evidence that the sincere investigator is given to evaluate this claim, are the ‘revelations’ Smith received via translation from Egyptian-type writings; the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham, and other ‘revelations’ from Smith.

What the investigator is NOT told, incredibly, is virtually criminal.  The sincere investigator deserves to know a bit more than just one side of the story, including:

1.       In the trial of 1826, Joseph Smith was brought before the court on charges of fraud (money digging for profit).  At this trial, Smith freely admits, under oath, that he was incapable of locating buried treasures using either his peep stone or while being carried away in vision.

2.       The method of “translation” of the golden plates which supposedly produced the Book of Mormon was Smith looking into his hat through a peep stone.  The golden plates Smith claimed he possessed were never anywhere in sight during the so-called ‘translation’.  Every eyewitness account of the translation of the Book of Mormon describes Smith using this peep stone and hat method.  Russell M. Nelson, Dallin Oaks, and other church leaders have also confirmed this.  Does this sound like a method which would be used by a prophet of God or a con man? 

3.       It is a documented fact (multiple accounts diaries, personal histories, and the LDS family search website) that Joseph Smith Jr. took multiple plural wives without the knowledge or consent of Emma.  If this was a commandment from God, why the secrecy?  He persuaded women who were already married to marry him.  Five different people (Joseph Smith, Joseph F. Smith, Benjamin F. Johnson, Mary Lighter, and Lorenzo Snow) assert that an angel of God with a sword commanded Joseph to institute polygamy or the angel would slay him. 

4.       The Book of Mormon cites cattle, elephants, sheep, horses, wheat, silk, chariots, steel, and glass, yet these things were unknown to native stone-age Americans when the European pioneers arrived.  And the Book of Mormon makes no mention of what DID exist in abundance on this continent; potatoes, corn, llamas, buffalo, etc. Yet the LDS church claims the book represents an accurate depiction of American history.  How does a culture forget how to make wheels?

5.       The other LDS canonized scripture which Smith purportedly ‘translated’ from Egyptian is the “Book of Abraham”.  The original papyrus scrolls that Smith translated into the Book of Abraham were found in 1967 and authenticated by LDS and independent scholars.  Over a half dozen Egyptologists, including the expert hired by the Church, verified that the scrolls are Egyptian funerary documents typically found buried with mummies, and post-date the time of Abraham by 1500 years.  The information contained on these scrolls bears zero resemblance to the Book of Abraham and could not have been “in Abrahams own hand” as asserted by Smith.   Joseph’s own cross-reference showing the characters and the corresponding meanings is complete nonsense, according to every Egyptologist who has examined the documents, some of which are in Smith’s own hand, according to handwriting analysts. 

6.The account of the first vision, where Smith purportedly received, in 1820, his calling from God and Jesus to be a prophet is not reconcilable with historical information.  Neither Joseph Smith nor anyone else prior to 1838 referred to the event at all.  Smith claimed intense persecution due to the vision as a teen, and it was during a time of “great excitement on the subject of religion”. However, no one, friend or foe, remembers any persecution or even a claim to have experienced a vision prior to 1827.