We’re not a cult. I’m not an idiot, you know. I’ve read a couple of books and I’ve been to a pretty good school, and I have chosen to be in this church because of the faith that I feel and the inspiration that comes. I’ve met people, and if people want to call us a cult, they can call us a cult and you can call us a cult, but we are 14-million and growing, and I’d like to think that your respect for me would be enough to know that this man doesn’t seem like a dodo. Elder Jeffrey ‘Dodo’ Holland, interview This World: The Mormon Candidate, BBC 2012
People think in a very critical way before they come into this Church. When they come into this Church they’re expected to conform. And they find happiness in that conformity. Gordon B Hinckley, interview David Ransom, ABC 1997
I knew a so-called intellectual who said the Church was trapped by its history. My response was that without that history we have nothing. Gordon B Hinckley, article Ensign November 2002, ‘The Marvelous Foundation of Our Faith’
A Mormon student surfs the Internet for a school assignment and discovers that Mormon founder Joseph Smith had multiple wives, even marrying a 14-year-old.
A returned Mormon missionary, preparing a Sunday school lesson, comes across a website alleging that the Book of Mormon was plagiarized from a novel.
Surprised by what they find so easily online, more and more Mormons are encountering crises of faith. Some even leave the fold and, feeling betrayed, join the ranks of Mormon opponents. Peggy Fletcher Stack, article 1 February 2012 The Washington Post, ‘Mormons Confront Epidemic on Online Misinformation’
The Mormon Church is not only wealthy but it’s unusually secretive about the extent of this wealth. Richard Ostling, co-author Mormon America
As I say, it never ceases to amaze me how gullible some of our Church members are. Harold B Lee, article Ensign January 1973, ‘Admonitions for the Priesthood of God’
In affidavit after affidavit the young Smith was depicted as a liar and self-confessed fraud, a cunning and callous knave who delighted in nothing so much as preying upon the credulity of his neighbors.
A money-digger by profession, Smith spent his nights and his days lounging about the local grocery story entertaining his fellow tipplers with tales of midnight enchantments and bleeding ghosts, the affidavits maintained ...
In a statement dated 4 December 1833 and signed by 51 residents of Palmyra New York, Smith was described as being ‘entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits’. Rodger I Anderson, ‘Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Re-Examined’ p2-3 & 8; viz also Eber D Howe, Mormonism Unveiled 1834
I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith junior in November, 1825. He was at that time in the employ of a set of men who were called ‘money diggers’; and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see by means of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover minerals and hidden treasure. His appearance at this time, was that of a careless young man, not very well educated, and very saucy and insolent to his father. Isaac Hale, Joseph Smith’s father-in-law, sworn statement
The principle, the only one that beats and throbs through the heart of the entire inhabitants of this Territory, is simply this: The man who seduces his neighbor’s wife must die, and her nearest relative must kill him! Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses I:97
I have many a time, in this stand, dared the world to produce as mean devils as we can; we can beat them at anything. We have the greatest and smoothest liars in the world, the cunningest and most adroit thieves, and any other shade of character that you can mention ... I can produce Elders here who can shave their smartest shavers, and take their money from them. We can beat the world at any game. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses IV:77
We are called ignorant; so we are: but what of it? Are not all ignorant? I rather think so. Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed ‘the man in the moon’, and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then. Christ is the light of this planet. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses XIII:271
No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God without the consent of Joseph Smith ... every man and woman must have the certificate of Joseph Smith, Junior as a passport to their entrance into the mansion where God and Christ are ... [Joseph Smith] reigns there as supreme a being in his sphere, capacity, and calling, as God does in heaven. Many will exclaim – ‘Oh, that is very disagreeable! It is preposterous! We cannot bear the thought!’ But it is true. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses VII:289
I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bear your spirit, you will see Mother Eve. Brigham Young 8th October 1854, The Essential Brigham Young 1992 pp86-103
The idea that the Lord our God is not a personage of tabernacle is entirely a mistaken notion. He was once a man ... He once possessed a body, as we now do; and our bodies are as much to us, as his body to him. Every iota of this organization is necessary to secure for us an exaltation with the Gods. Brigham Young, Salt Lake Tabernacle 23rd February 1862 & Journal of Discourses IX:286, ‘True Character of God’
As long as people want the Mormon Church to be true, more than they are willing to face the possibility that it is not, they will not entertain evidence or reason. Delusion becomes a choice. Jim Whitefield
Mormonism, it seems to me, is – objectively just a little more idiotic than Christianity is. It has to be: because it is Christianity plus some very stupid ideas. Sam Harris, The Problem With Atheism, September 2007
Image was everything. Appearances were paramount. One said the right things, wore the right clothes, and went to the right places. Being caught out of the pattern could be damning. Heaven help the poor backslider who gets caught with coffee in their shopping cart. Such a thing could ruin a reputation, and cause a complete loss of friends. The suits were dark, the shirts were white, and the lives were regulated.
Even things from a person’s past could haunt them. I recall a lovely woman in ‘the ward’, who had been excommunicated years before. Soon, word got around, and she fell several pegs in many people’s eyes. And it was not kept secret. Nothing was kept secret. All sins were public, all confessions common knowledge, and all lives were an open book.
So many things felt wrong, because they were wrong. A person is not supposed to be owned by a religion, or turned into a robot. People were meant to enjoy life, and think for themselves. You cannot do that in Mormonism. lightfingerlouie, board post, ‘The Stuff I Couldn’t Take, And Still Can’t Forget’
When I was a Mormon I was always told that I was not good enough. I was never worthy enough. And even if I did everything 100% right, I was always a sinner and I would never be a worthy servant ... ‘I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants’. (Mosiah 2:21) No matter what you do as a Mormon, you will never be profitable. You will never be worthy. You will always be a sinner
… Mormonism LIES when it says that you are not a good person. Mormonism LIES when it says you are not worthy. Mormonism LIES when it says that the only reason you have ANYTHING or have gotten ANYWHERE in life is because of God. When you leave Mormonism you realize that YOU were ultimately responsible for your own actions. YOU are the reason that you have succeeded in life. Take credit in yourself. Believe in yourself. Mormons suffer ‘brain cramps’ when they try to comprehend leaving Mormonism. The years of imperial conditioning take effect. What God Giveth God Taketh Away. What if? What if? God will punish ....
Mormonism teaches that you must love God before you can love yourself. This is an impossible goal. You must love yourself FIRST.
Mormonism is a LIE from the roots to the branches to the fruit. It is a religion based on control, not on love and becoming closer to deity. It is a religion full of cognitive dissonance designed to demoralize, create guilt, and keep the member in isolation from the reality and truth of what life is all about.
Pay ... Pray ... Obey ... Break the cycle of Mormonism. Infymus, board post 20th May 2005 ‘Mormon Conditions Mormons to Believe They are Unworthy’
This is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth. Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson from p164