Clambake, you made a good point. That is why they say pray to Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit will tell you if it is true or not. That is more important than historical evidence. So why does the scriptures say test what you are hearing is true? To me a form of testing is to research the history, and in the LDS case, the archeology.
There is a good film out there called Latter Days. It's about this Mormon Missionary who ends up coming out of the closet as gay and faces excommunication and the ordeal he has to go through with his parents. His father distances himself from the family spending most of his time at the church, the mother falls apart yelling at her son. He is brought before a 'court' (their version of JW judicial committee) and formally excommunicated. Just to let you know if you do watch it it;s rated R with some gay love scenes in but they are accurate in a lot of ways by showing the Missionary with his 'magic' underwear. Growing up a JW I saw a huge parallel in how the guy was treated vs. how JW's treat their own who do not agree.
Mormons may not destroy lives to the extent the JW's do (Like breaking up families by encouraging JW members not to socialize with non-JW/excommunicated family) but it is there if one decides to leave the church. They may not have a church practice of shunning but all church rites are stripped and the emotional impact is just as bad on families. I saw the LDS 'true colors' when the LDS church supported Proposition 8 in California a few years ago and most recently it's public announcement for same sex couples who were married with children at home who are wanting to join the LDS church could not get baptized until they were of mature age (18 in the USA) and renounce their same sex parents.
In my opinion, any religion that says you have to believe a certain way or threatens you with excommunication is enough to define it a cult. I was watching an LDS sermon once and the 'apostle' even stated that one of the ways a member can get excommunicated is by teaching doctrines that aren't true (aka true according to LDS theology). He even mentioned the word apostasy in his sermon. The cult red flat raised so fast it flew off the pole after watching that sermon.
Think about it... if a church is spiritually strong, why do they need to silence those who may teach something that is not in line with the church teachings? Only if they are trying to hide something.
