by JimmyPage 19 Replies latest jw friends
They supported the passage of Prop 8. They had no right to interfere with non-Mormon's lives.
And they will shun ex-Mormons...(They won't admit it though)... I had the pleasure of speaking to a Mormon yesterday. Since he couldn't refute my arguments, he explained:
"Well, if it's not the truth, I will remain a Mormon, since it makes me happy".
Sound familiar? I used to say that as a JW, lol!
Cult? Yes
In order to answer your question, the word "cult" must be defined before it can be used as a benchmark. I'm not going to take the time to do that, as many others such as Steve Hassan has done.
Mormons are a VERY high-control group. To be in good standing, one must give 10% of their gross (not after-tax) income to the Church each month. Rather than trusting their "brothers" to voluntarily do that, the Ward leaders must be shown the member's pay stub to make sure they are paying their required amount. THAT is what I call "high-control."
They do disfellowship, but they don't shun.
They, like the WTS, practice revisionism of their history and downplay the worst of it.
Their "prophet" Joseph Smith made a number of false prophecies (unlike allegedly ANY Biblical prophet)
Their religion is filled with mysticism and secret ceremonies. Members who view these ceremonies swear under penalty of death they will not reveal what goes on in those ceremonies.
The whole foundation of their religion is based upon the most faithful becoming Gods over their own private planets after death. God was once a man, too and had to work his way up to become the God of planet earth. "As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become" is one of their articles of faith. What did the Bible say about humans wanting to become like gods?
"Jehovah" as mentioned in the Bible is really Jesus Christ. "Elohim" is the Creator.
They believe the "Bible is the word of God as long as it is translated correctly." How do they know if it is translated correctly. It is translated correctly if their leaders SAY it is translated correctly! Strangely enough, anything in the Bible that disagrees with their teaching is NOT translated correctly! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
The "most accurate" translation in existence is the King James Bible, they say. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! One third of the Book of Mormon is word-for-word citations from the King James Bible, including many passages that have been found to be spurious or mistranslations! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
They believe that in the afterlife people will still have physical bodies, and still have sex with their spouses. They will have "flesh and bones" in the afterlife, but no "blood" inside that flesh and bones. Strange.
If one is married in the temple, the two spouses are bound to each other for eternity. Joe marries Cathy in the temple, and Cathy turns out to be the bitch from the depths of hell. Joe divorces Cathy and marries Ann, who is Joe's soul mate "sent from Heaven." They live a beautiful life of love, friendship and devotion and have a beautiful family together. Joe dies. The bitch-from-hell dies. Joe and the bitch-from-hell must spend eternity together as husband and wife. Ann is screwed in that arrangement.
There is a lot more I could say about the Mormons. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City and all of my relatives except my parents were and are Mormons. My ancestors came over on hand carts to settle in Utah.
It's a cult by my definition.
Farkel
Their temples are full of Masonic symbolism.
Their strict rules oppress women and children and subjugate them to lives of servitude to the men in the family.
The sects that break off because the mainstream Mormon church has denounced polygamy, practice abject slavery in regards to their wives and children.
Girls are married extremely young to old men, sometimes their uncles, cousins, and sometimes brothers, in these break-off cults.
These sects are also considered Mormons, still practicing the original law of polygamy. One break-off group, the Kingston family, believes that the females in their polygamous sect should only marry within the family to preserve the sect's "true bloodlines" so they have tons of kids born with extreme disability.
There is lots of in-fighting and bloodshed among these groups. Some go so far as to believe in "blood atonement" literally. This concept means:
In Mormonism, blood atonement is the controversial concept that there are certain sins to which the atonement of Jesus does not apply, and that before a Mormon who has committed these sins can achieve the highest degree of salvation, he or she must personally atone for the sin by "hav[ing] their blood spilt upon the ground, that the smoke thereof might ascend to heaven as an offering for their sins". [ 1 ] Blood atonement was to be voluntary by the sinner, but was contemplated as being mandatory in a theoretical theocracy (seeTheodemocracy) planned for the Utah Territory; it was to be carried out with love and compassion for the sinner, not out of vengeance. [ 2 ] The concept was first taught in the mid-1850s by the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) during the Mormon Reformation when Brigham Young governed the Utah Territory as a near-theocracy. [citation needed] Though there was discussion about implementing the doctrine, there is no evidence that it was ever practiced by the Mormon leadership in their capacity as leaders of both church and state. [ 3 ] There is some evidence, however, suggesting that the doctrine was enforced by some Mormon individuals. [ 4 ] Writers have also argued that the doctrine contributed to a culture of violence that, combined with paranoia from the Church's long history of being persecuted, incited the Mountain Meadows massacre. [ 5 ]
Very scary if you dig deeper into it. Is it a cult? I would shout an ecstatic YES! If you go to the XMormon sites and read the testimonials, as someone mentioned earlier, you could swear you were reading the stories of XJW people, or former Moonies, or former <cult> members' testimonials. The damage these high-control groups do to people's psyches is staggering and tragic.
I guess it would depend on your definition of the word cult. As far as what I believe cults are I would consider both Mormons and JWs to be harmful cults. I just read a book by Robert M. Price called Top Secret. It is about today's pop Mysticism such as Rhonda Byrne's The Secret and other things going around these days. The back of the book it has a lot of good information on what a cult is and how some cults eventually become religions. I think that part of the book contains a lot of good information for anyone on this forum.
After reading all your replies ; personally I stand by my statement I've made before : I feel all religions are " mind controlling " cults to one extent or another. One reason I'm not religious
If Rick Ross has a page dedicated to your religion...you might be in a cult.
It's been awhile since I posted here.
As a recovering Mormon, I can say that mormonism is definitely a cult. I occasionally peruse this forum, but am more active on ex LDS sites. There is definitely striking similarities between our respective cults.
To me, what make the LDS church a cult is how the church leverages people against themselves. If you can make a man his own worst enemy through fear, guilt and manipulation, you can really f*ck up his mind. I suppose that is why religious and political leaders encourage religion. It divides us against ourselves, makes us weaker and easier to control.
Are Mormons a cult??? YES--DEFINITELY
Mormon girls are kinda hot.
I sort of figure that all religions are cults, some are just bigger than others, some more controlling.
Hey, there are some hot JW girls out there, for sure. You haven't forgotten district conventions have you??
S4
