It would have been much funnier if he had opened to one of the "dark skin" verses

I heard an ad for the upcoming SL temple open house. The ad compared the open house in importance to the Apollo moon landing, the end of WWII, and the Wright Brothers’ inaugural flight.

I was stunned. Seriously, I can’t comprehend the delusional think tank that came up with that idea. The Mormon bubble is a very real thing. 90% of the world’s population has never heard of Mormonism, yet Mormons think the world wants to come see their temple.

And by the way, most of the people who have heard of Mormonism probably know of it from South Park or The Book of Mormon musical.

guess I’ll start paying tithing again

This is the one of the most disgusting chapters of LDS church history-and we were all here to witness it. As I think about those who were complicit in this deception I can’t help but feel disgust towards men that I used to really look up to.

GBH, Thomas S Monson, Faust, Uchtdorf, H David Burton.

Even after I walked away from the church, I still viewed many of these men as the “good guys.” Despite my disagreements with the church, I believed these men were fundamentally (more) decent people.

Can someone explain to me why every Church-approved source I've read describes the age of Helen Mar Kimball at the age of marrying 37-year-old Joseph Smith as a "few months shy of 15"?

Like, the best explanation I could imagine is that it sounds less disgusting... but I feel like this has issues:

1) A few months shy (precise sources say 3–4 months) means almost nothing. Nobody ever says I'm a few months shy of [my age plus one]. If they did, like 30% of people would be saying that. It just seems so unnecessary and weird.

2) When you repeat it everywhere and you describe it as a few months shy of [age plus one], you're reinforcing that same phrase constantly and making it more memorable AND you have to think for a moment what that phrase actually means. Your brain will do: oh, so that means she was 14-years-old at the time. Giving your brain time to actually think about what that means and how that feels to read, not something brief that you skim past without reading. It makes the emotional impact and gravity much stronger.

3) HAVING A 14-YEAR-OLD CHILD BRIDE IS DISGUSTING. HAVING A 15-YEAR-OLD CHILD BRIDE IS DISGUSTING. WHY ARE WE TRYING TO MAKE IT SOUND LESS BAD WHEN THE LESS BAD VERSION IS ABOUT EQUALLY AS HORRIFIC AND GROSS. THOSE TWO AGES ARE LIKE THE SAME IN MY HEAD: CHILD VS CHILD.

Anyways lol, apologies for the yelling,

but is the reasoning really "it sounds less bad"? Because if so, not only is that not true (sounds equally as bad) and has the opposite effect on me (makes it more memorable and impactful), but it also makes it clear that the writers' intent is to make a grown man marrying a young girl look less bad, which isn't a good look on the author either.

It just doesn't make sense from any viewpoint. Or am I missing something?

I’m so confused. Has the church changed its stance on certain rules to get in the temple I’ve had two friends now get sealed in the temple while actively partaking in vaping and drinking. The first friend is addicted to vaping hardcore but got sealed yesterday. The other one drinks very often on top of smoking recreationally. It’s kind of annoying I’m not even Mormon anymore and the only “ rule” I break that would keep my from the temple is not paying my tithing…..

According to the D&C 230:20-11, TBM’s will all get a seer stone when they get to the celestial kingdom.

Hey my cult cousins!!

I am doing a podcast for a class and will have a EXJW and ExMormon friend on it and want to do a who said it this or that JW or Mormon.

I have a bunch on the JW side but don’t know how to find the crazy ones the Mormon leadership has said.

Example of a JW one

“ some may say of a little baby look at that little angel but the more accurate description would be look at that Little enemy of God” - Stephen Lett of JW governing body speaking at a JW convention

If y’all can point me to some quotes from y’all leadership that is just out there I would love it.
I don’t want to ask my exmormon friend as I want him to be able to participate in the game for the podcast.
But I’m not really sure where to find some of these quotes from.

Thanks for your help!

So glad I've had 4 blissful years of not having to think about how to best please an old man.

Wonder how much tithing money that cost.

It’s a Mormon Moment for sure!

https://www.si.com/fannation/college/cfb-hq/news/college-gameday-espn-3-million-kick-byu-spiderman

“Mormons” is no longer offensive!

Did it take anyone awhile to stop wearing their garments? I’m not paying tithing anymore, I’ve tried coffee, and I recently left church employment. But the idea of not wearing garments leaves me conflicted. I find them quite comfy, and it feels annoying to me that I have to stop wearing them just because I won’t pay tithing to an organization that spent half a billion this year alone on real estate. I made covenants with God, not with the old men who lied about the Church’s assets and what they do with my financial sacrifice.

So I left the church 16 years ago. Im gay, my Dad was the bishop etc. Tons of neurodivergence as a result.

I’ve since realized though: it’s good for my family. They need the religion. What’s abusive to me is medicinal for them. I accept that they need this level of structure in their personal lives.

They got temple recommends in their wallet; I got a red speedo in mine in case I need it.

They sign hymns about Joseph smith while I rollerblade to my pole dancing class.

My Dad literally officiated a Mormon wedding while I won my friends free drinks from a booty shaking contest.

Humans are so different from each other, they have such different needs.

Let’s step out of “us vs them” and into collective radical understanding that some people need organized religion even though that organized religion deeply hurts people.

We’re all different.

I’m married, I’m gay, and I’m in an interracial marriage at that; and I still love my devout Mormon parents. And I will always love them and they will always love me. What was beyond abusive to me is beyond medicinal for them and that’s ok. Big structural things ( a 9-5, military service, religion) it’s abusive to some yet medicinal for others.

In middle school on east coast, kids would punch me and shout “mormon” and sing the South Park song making fun of Mormons. As a kid, I got bullied for being Mormon. It was awful. Then I used my story “my dad was the bishop and in gay” to deflect accountability for years. It stopped being cute. I love my parents. They are good people who try their best. They need their religion. I’ve forgiven the religion and them for raising me in it.

It’s true: what’s abusive to some is medicinal for others. Love everyone. Give radical compassion.

Evil works to split humans into different groups that’s fight each other because fighting all of humanity is too hard.

I’ve chosen to live and let live.

I was so deeply hurt by Mormonism (almost didn’t survive my adolescence); but it’s very medicinal for my parents. And I accept them for who they are and they accept me for who I am.

Love, compassion. So important.

I just watched “Agent Cody Banks” with my 6 year old daughter tonight. It Is rated PG so I felt it would be fine to show her, but there was a lot of sexual stuff in there that kind of made me uncomfortable so I skipped one of the scenes. It made me realize that I don’t actually know what “normal” people watch with their young kids and what is considered appropriate at a young age or if anything even matters. I know one family down the street from me growing up would let their kids as young as 4 watch rated r movies. Is that normal? Is my subconscious still reacting like I’m Mormon or is it ”normal” to not let young kids watch certain things and to have boundaries in place? I really have no clue. I’m guessing a lot of people might say that it’s completely up to me and what I’m comfortable with, but that I probably shouldn’t be too controlling about stuff like the church was. Or maybe I should just try to be very open about adult stuff with my child and not try to make it feel like certain topics are forbidden. I hope I’m making sense. I guess my basic question is what is considered “normal” appropriate for a 6 year old? Is it rated r with a parent present to explain stuff? Is it rated G only? Or is it somewhere in between? And some of you might think I’m crazy to think that ”Agent Cody Banks” is too sexual, but my family was very very sensitive to any tiny amount of sexual content in movies growing up. It’s something I definitely have to work through.

None of my favorite exmo sites and podcasters has pointed out the elephant in the room: that half of the speakers in Oct general conference were people of color, many of them from countries not the U.S.

Surely this is a turning point-- the church bending its focus away from US wards + members toward a Third World identity. Additional evidence of such refocusing is the increasingly noticeable decay of US wardhouses along with the diminishing relevance to US members of church programs and community.

Have others noted this shift? Have I missed an important discussion?

EDIT: thanks everyone for the advice!! i was hoping to turn this whole experience into material for one of my sociology classes at uni, but judging by your replies, it sounds like i’m in for something even more boring than the classes i teach 😭 wont go!

hi so i’m going to a mormon church service on sunday purely out of curiosity. what should i expect? what’s it like? What should i wear? what am i supposed to do? sit in the back? show up late? Wear running shoes in case curiosity turns into cardio and i need to run for my life?

Video of groundbreaking of the Vienna, Austria Temple, a temple without any steeple.

I added the following commentary in German, let's wait for their reaction:

In Fairview, the Church claims that sacred ordinances are valid only if performed in a temple with a tall steeple. However, the Vienna Temple has no steeple at all. Will all ordinances performed in Vienna therefore be invalid, or did the lawyers in Fairview deliberately lie to the public? Does the Church of Jesus Christ lie to the public when it comes to construction projects ("lying for the Lord")?

Please like my comment under the video. 😉

In Mr Beast’s most recent video, he gives a couple a prize of a paid honeymoon in Hawaii “Thanks to the Polynesian Cultural Center. “ Looks like his partnership with the Mormon church goes beyond simply promoting JustServe.org.