I hesitate to endorse this link, since I have heard that Mormons are not supposed to read anything written by ex-Mormons, but what the heck . . . This proves that leaving Mormonism is not easy (not a born-again Christian website) http://www.exmormon.org/stories.htm
That really shouldn’t surprise you. Most of my church friends count their membership as one of the best things in their lives (as I do). Of course it would be hard to leave. Why would we want to?
It isn’t that we aren’t allowed to read anti-Mormon literature. I have never heard anyone forbid it. In fact, many of us do for various reasons. But the thing is, if we already have a testimony of our doctrine, wouldn’t our time be better spent studying the things we have been given and trying to apply it to our lives? Why focus on the negative and the bitter when there is so much good things around? Do you read every piece of literature that is anti-Christian and anti-god?
But no one has yet denied to me that a single, childless woman, according to the LDS church, cannot achieve the highest levels of heavenly joy and purpose.
Neither can a single, childless man.
You know, Sort, I am really starting to sympathize with you and your missionary woes. The more I see MBM advertise Blood of the Prophets as the one and only source of wisdom and knowledge in regards to our understanding of history and the merits of our former prophet, while disregarding any proof to the contrary, the more I want to obtain that book simply so I can have my own private bonfire.
MBM, all joking aside, I am not sure what all your intentions are in insulting most every member of this conversation by claiming higher intelligence, but I will attempt to give you the benefit of the doubt in that you are a good Christian woman who wishes only to enlighten and edify us with the religious truths you have found. But the fact is, no one is likely to be converted by seeing their own viewpoint constantly attacked. If I ever had doubts about my own religion and was interested in exploring another, I would not read all the literature written with the sole purpose of attacking the religion I was investigating. I would go to the primary sources and cannons of that religion to see if what it had to offer was better or rang truer than what I currently had. In fact, merely for curiosity sake, I have done this several times and I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask that others show us the same courtesy. Quite frankly, I was disappointed to see you claim yourself to be such an authority in Mormonism while you have not yet read its standard works, which I would see as some of the most important of the ’fruit ’ our religion has to offer.
In my own experience, discussing religion and sowing seeds of possible conversation works best when you show what you have and then invite others to find the truth of it for themselves, while embracing your common ground. It has to be them seeking their own individual answers directly from the Lord; not having ‘facts’ forced on them. Pseudo-intellectual discussions and mincing with details through obscure doctrine is only going to make you a lot of enemies. Most of the time you are going to have to agree to disagree.
Besides all that, here are my contributions to the discussion. They are well documented as far as I can tell, but they are from LDS scholars/sources so feel free to disregard them if that bothers you.
Matt 22:30/eternal families:
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Brochures/EternalMarriage.pdfhttp://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=5fd30f9856c20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRDhttp://scriptures.lds.org/tg/f/28http://scriptures.lds.org/en/tg/m/41Blood of the Prophets/Massacre:
http://mi.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=15&num=2&id=509http://en.fairmormon.org/Mountain_Meadows_MassacreThere are dozens more, but I simply didn’t want to spend a lot of time here. I think have had enough dinner conversations about the event in question to last a lifetime. My sister married a Lee (yes, those Lees) and they all like to talk about it. Many of them have read such books (and, yes, they are still ‘good’ Mormons). As far as I can tell in my research, this particular one isn’t looked on highly even in the purely academic world as Mr Bagley seemed to have a set agenda and just doesn’t seem to have the credentials/life experience of a man I want to put my trust in.
But if you have some of your own standards that explains your positions without having the primary agenda of attacking my current beliefs (such as the Bible that I already read frequently), I would certainly be interested in that.
Kingdoms in Heaven/ judging based on works:
http://en.fairmormon.org/Three_degrees_of_glory_not_biblicalhttp://scriptures.lds.org/en/dc/76…And several more D&C scriptures. The thing to keep in mind here is that we don’t see it as contradiction to expand doctrine as laid out in the Bible. If God were to touch on a doctrine in the Bible and expand it more fully and with more detail someplace else it is not a contradiction, it is a progression. Principles never change but depending on the time and people, details of application sometimes do.
Christ’s Divinity:
http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=c3c8e257075fb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=024644f8f206c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRDhttp://scriptures.lds.org/tg/j/62Others:
http://en.fairmormon.org/Deification_of_manhttp://en.fairmormon.org/Polytheism…and lots more at fairlds.org.
Sorry, but I feel that I have spent enough time on this for today, but rather than continuing to pull out bits and pieces of doctrine for speculation (an easy way to take things out of context and create misunderstandings IMO) I would again recommend that anyone interested get the complete story all at once by reviewing our standard works (Bible, BOM, D&C, Pearl of Great Price) as available at lds.org at no charge. Additional doctrinal and cultural explanations are also available at mormon.org and more intellectual type proofs at fairlds.org.
I would personally ask MBM, respectively, not to ask any more loaded questions on here until she gains a bit more knowledge from creditable sources. If you continue, you are only going to stir up more hurt feelings and rightly so. I love to answer honest questions, but no one likes to be judged so harshly and so unfairly. At the very least, PMing interested parties works a little better.