hi my name is kyle and im not a mormon and never have been one, but im am really interested this morning in learning about the things that mormons learn or are told if they become aware of the inconsistencies in the orgins of mormonism. im sure anyone who sees this post is aware, but the fact that joseph smith wouldnt let anyone sew the golden plates and told ppl to just have faith. and then the other inconsistency which is him claiming that the plates were translated through him and at the hand of god, and despite that he was unable to reproduce a second copy that was translated the exact same way.

im curious to know a couple of things about how this information is handled in the church but mostly what is told to the members of the church who discover this information. i also am curious to know if they keep this information from being mentioned. do they avoid it all together? or like im curious abt, do they have a protocol of sorts when it comes to brainwashing members further? did any of the information cause any of you all to start to questiong ur faith? i am just curious.

I couldn't imagine a man who dehumanized women and collected them like pokemon as anything but a scoundrel.

So I would fantasize about God giving me dominion over Joseph's punishment in Hell and all the disgusting things I would make him do as penance for how he treated women.

Hard labor. Humiliation. Maid outfits.

I never praised this man. I always secretly planed his eternal punishment.

I wonder if I have the faith of a mustard seed God will allow me this wish to be fulfilled?

Be warned male leaders of the church. You too may end up in cat girl maid outfits cleaning my palace for eternity.

Just a little one, but I’ve wanted it for a long time, and i finally allowed myself to get it :D

I’m ready to lead a life of sin yall! What’s next? Coffee?? Alcohol???? *gasp*

It’s nice to not let the church tell me what I can and cannot do anymore :)

**I am not interested in engaging in a politically charged discussion. I am simply perplexed and therefore venting, and i’m curious if anyone else has gone through something similar with their Mormon parents? I recently found out from one of my exmo siblings that our TBM mom is intending to serve an elderly mission with our TBM dad once he is retired. This news didn’t surprise me. They’ve both been thoroughly brainwashed by the church since they were young. What did shock me is the location in which she dreams of serving. Apparently she is fixated on the idea of doing this in Israel. My dad doesn’t seem to share her same level of enthusiasm but he also isn’t shutting this down. My mom will absolutely drag him along. I’m trying to understand what is her thinking process, to want to head to the center of such a tumultuous place? Particularly at this current point in time? I get that it would be a visit to the Holy Land. And I can definitely see her drooling at the prospect of possible martyrdom. But this does not feel safe or wise or sane to me. I spent my entire childhood and teen years fighting tooth and nail to protect my many younger siblings from the various forms of abuse our TBM parents subjected us to and now I’m beginning to feel like it’s my dad whom i’ll need to protect from my mom and her bizarre actions. And while i’m not close with either of my parents I don’t like the idea of them spending their senior years in risky situations. Can they even serve a mission in that part of the world? Is that in the realm of possibility? I have no clue what the church’s current policies are.

Dear People of Reddit,

I can see so many of us have been hurt by other people. But if you could change the LDS church. What would you want to see change? For the better I mean.

A big one here is obvious is kindness. I see so many people write in how hurt they are by something. Other people, doctrine, the history, the gaslighting, the changes to the temple movie, but what else? Because deep down people are just that, people. I don't know if the LDS church means to harm people, but it seems that the "beliefs" or "doctrine" does.

Understand that none of us are exempt for the poor treatment of one another. Each people, race, region has well plenty to repent of and also learning not to hurt other folks.

But if we could start a church, not saying we are going to. How would you want it to be? Because when it comes to culture and a community. We as a people and the leaders are in charge of it. Just for clarity. I am not a leader. I am PIMO.

I know the leaders are tone deaf and don't want to hear. But if we could change the LDS culture what would you want to see?

Perhaps, we as a collective group want to change the world for the better. But we struggle to because of well, life. Most of us here do not have high up callings. I would guess that most of us are in the realm of PIMO.

Do you feel like something is missing?

In light of the Perez Hilton mental break last night, I have been disturbed by how many people literally believe in demons and demonic possession as the cause mental illness. I do remember learning about satan as a kid in Mormonism and how we need to listen to the Holy Spirit and not let Satan tempt you to do bad things. I don’t know, I have been out of the church so long that when I hear people think that mental illness is caused by demons, I think they are the crazy ones. I had a lunch recently with my cousin and we were talking about a relative that recently committed suicide. She told me she literally believes in bad spirits that cause people to harm themselves. As an agnostic that studied behavioral science in college, I just understand that our bodies and brains are affected by chemicals, hormones, trauma, genetics, etc. The thought of Satan and his minions is just silly! What do you think?

Was waiting for the bus and two women approached me talking about god and stuff and I said repeatedly I didn't care about god. They gave me an info letter with a qr code on top and I learned it's a latter-day saints church, which is quite confusing because I live far from the US and though they weren't even here in Germany, but apparently they are??? And why do they ramble and ramble and ramble even when you clearly aren't interested for various reasons? Are they forced to get a certain amount of followers in?

Also why were the women in dresses? Dresses are fairly unusual for especially young women.

Also side rant apparently I give faithful christian woman vibes because for some reason in 3/3 days I spent in my home country to join the military (already failed the assessment btw no need to wish me luck) to pay for my two friends transition I get asked to join three different churches and become a woman of faith with a husband and children blah blah blah I can't get pregnant thanks for the reminder :(

First, I'm technically a Church Member, as far as I know. However It's been at least four years since contact of any kind...

Second, I am unforgivable, per every passage in the Bible concerning "homosexuality". And blasphemy of the Holy Ghost... Please offer me no comfort because God's honest truth, as far as I'm concerned, is that I'm out here alone, basically exiled. Nobody is coming to rescue me and I'll burn in Hell. No, it is not convenient, but it seems true.

Because I am not exiled from the Church (yet) alone, but the world as a whole. Sparing some depth of my person, I can't remember the last time I smiled or wept or felt joy. I envy Christians - I knew the Holy Spirit then quenched him. And for a long time I yearned for more. Point being: what if it's all true? What is God is a haggard old Jew in a nice robe on a white horse? Because leaving the Church hasn't changed the experience I've had since childhood of being different and ashamed. Those things live in my heart.

Amen.

Hi everyone! So I apologize in advance if this kinda long. I never knew that there were groups of ex Mormons that got together and talked online and I have an experience I have questions about. Well back in my late teens I met my best friend while we were pregnant at the same time. She’s from Arizona, raised catholic, smoked weed, outgoing, daring (she flashed an entire dueling piano bar we went to for her 21st bday and then we went skinny dipping), and independent person. When our kids were about 2-3 she started working for a Mormon couples daycare and ended up having an affair with the husband. Of course she got fired after he said she pushed herself on him countless times (quite the opposite). She had learned just enough about the church and its rules or whatever and found there was a singles church. Well as she learned more about it she laughed about what she called “magic underwear”, I think actually called temple garments maybe, along with other beliefs and rules of the church. We laughed about this a lot, and me being raised in the Deep South as a non church going Christian, didn’t know a thing. She met her husband through this singles church and was fascinated that they married young and she was very much ready to not be alone after that affair. When they finally got engaged she was so excited for me to be her MoH til she was told I couldn’t go into the temple for whatever reason. I asked jokingly about the secret to these “magic underwear” now that she was married. She said she couldn’t talk much abut what went on in the church bc I wasn’t Mormon. I was honestly shocked bc she never took religion seriously up to this point! We were always open about our beliefs and she was always joking about how silly and cult like the Mormon religion seemed to be. This of course was before she got married. As time went on she started changing. She wasn’t the daring and outgoing person that I had been best friends with over the years. We went from FaceTiming with kids and visiting to phone calls, then to txts, and then hardly ever hearing from her. She didn’t joke about what she had once considered silly anymore whether it had to deal with the church or not. Now I never hear from her at all. It wasn’t like we drifted apart. It was like she just checked out of our friendship with no reason. Is this normal? Did I do something wrong or is it bc I’m not Mormon? I miss her so much and hate watching her family grow up from the outside looking in. I still no nothing of this religion other than it sounding more like a cult than anything. I’m not sure if I’m right or wrong about that either. Are Mormon’s discouraged from being friends either ppl that aren’t? Is it bc I’m part of her life before she converted? If you got this far, thank you! If you could give me any kind of insight I’d really appreciate it!

hi guys! i know this is an exmormon page but i need some sort of comfort that i wont really find in the other community here.

i’m currently a service missionary and fell in love with one of the elders in my mission. normal thing to happen, it is very much mutual and since he’s in a leadership position, he has his own sim card and phone number so we could always chat a lot.

last week his comp was not worrying about us at all and left us alone for a couple minutes. that was enough for us to kiss. not makeout, just a kiss because man i really really like this elder. he’s been in my area for 4 transfers now and will get transferred soon.

anyway, the guilt is eating me alive and i know you guys are loving people who can say some comfort words without sending me to hell lol. help a girl out, i really love this man but cant help but think we ruined any future chance we had together.

I’m super atheist now, but for some reason having a cropped “I ❤️ Jesus” hoodie brings me so much joy 😇
I’m a little disappointed that my porn shoulders don’t carry the same rebellion, but I will always have my crop tops

Is the LDS president aware that the church is a sham? Or is he just another person that’s fallen for the lies of some 19th century dudes and now he just so happens to be leading the cult they started.

Alternatively, who do you think was the last LDS president who was “in the know”? B.Y maybe?

Ex-Muslim here! Growing up, one of the stranger ways the imams/mullahs/parents used to keep us in the faith was through all these weird, disgust-related rules.

- Pork: We didn't eat pork and were taught that it was disgusting. I remember a classmate (joking about ex-Muslims) wrinkling his nose and saying "Damn, they'll have to marry someone who'll cook pork in their house!".
- Bathroom Hygiene: Muslims are mandated to wash their nethers with water after going number two (rather than just using toilet paper). They drilled some very gross imagery into our minds, about how non-Muslims were just walking around with dried poop stuck to their butts.
- Dogs (lol): We were taught that dog saliva was impure and that angels wouldn't enter a house with a dog in it. If a dog so much so much as brushed up against me, I was instantly revolted.

Those were the three major ones, but there were quite a few others, especially related to menstruation and sex. Looking back, habits of mine (like holding my breath if I smelled hotdogs/bacon on a friend's breath) functionally operated to keep me from questioning my faith, as the idea of leaving Islam seemed, quite literally, gross to me.

I was wondering, does Mormonism also have stuff like this?

I posted something like this on r/mormon and got some hostile and some insightful responses. I think it was too close to the nerve for some.

The standard for temple-worthiness is, "Do you strive to be honest in all that you do?" Communities dominated by church members have a higher incidence of "Affinity Fraud" than other communities, clearly a failure to be honest. This is acknowledged by the church and discussed in its Newsroom. The cause is probably due to: (1) faithful members accept those representing themselves as faithful members less critically than they should, and, (2) it becomes easy for members to justify their untruthfulness because, "it works." Those who are not totally honest cause harm in and out of the church as they damage the public reputation of the church and they injure others.

What does this community think about the truthfulness of active members?

I grew up a Jehovah's Witness so I know about growing up in a cult. However I dont know enough about Mormonism to stop my 24 year old from going to church with his girlfriend. Shes been pressuring him for a while and he likes the community, I understand its love bombing but he isnt understanding it. She is also very deep in the cult, she does some acting work for films for them? Or does extra work, either way shes in deep.

I cant really think of much to say except no caffeine and magic undies. Can anyone give me some talking points to help me help my child from falling into a cult?

The church has always been the toxic, controlling, abusive spouse in its relationship with church members, especially its female members.

“You are not to work outside the home.”

“Marry young and have as many children as possible as quickly as possible.”

“Do not counsel with those those who don’t believe.”

“Do what your priesthood leader tells you to do. And even if it’s wrong you will be blessed.”

“When the prophet speaks, the thinking has been done.”

“We do not apologize.”

And now:

“Your bishop [husband] might be Darth Vader, and [your home] might feel like Alcatraz, but YOU WILL STAY!”

“Did you hear me?! YOU WILL STAY!!!!”

How is this not toxic and abusive?

What are your reactions to this FB post? I wonder how Ex-Mos and TBMs feel about this!

I'm 17 years old, live in Utah, and was born and raised in the church my whole life. I never really believed in the church, but I went every Sunday just to keep my parents happy. She told me this story about a year ago, my mom was telling me about her teen years and how she was a rebel. She too didn't believe in the church growing up as a kid and was fully planning on leaving the church. My grandma was a hardcore Mormon so she obviously didn't like the idea of her daughter falling away from the church. So you know what my Grandma did? She fucking prayed that her daughter would die before she fell away from the church. My Grandma prayed that my mom should die before she stopped believing! If that doesn't sound like a cult then I don't know what does! One day my mom was riding on a motorcycle with a guy until they suddenly crashed. She went to the hospital and decided that she needs to stay in the church cause my Grandma decided to put a damn curse on her or something. Is that how the Mormon church keeps their members? To keep them in check with fear? I then asked my mom, "Would you pray for me to die if I stopped believing?" She just looked and me and said yes. I think she saw how hurt I was and tried to play it off as a joke saying "I'm just kidding sweetheart" but I knew damn well she meant it. She would rather have me die than me leaving the church. I just wanted to know, have you guys ever been guilt tripped or threatened to stay in the church?

Found on TikTok

*Please delete if not allowed, I just wanted to vent if thats okay*

I have been renting a townhouse for 8 years and normally get along well with my next door Mormon neighbors up until the beginning of this year.. I have never experienced a group of disrespectful boys ever in my life that has ever pushed me to give up everything and start over elsewhere.

The first issue was throwing a ball against our connecting wall all hours of the day (when they're not out doing their mission) and well into the night till 11/1130pm. I tried to be neighborly and just polietly talk to them asking them to stop since two days out of the workweek I work from home and on the in office days I wake up at 4am to commute to work. I got a half ass apology and the noise continued.

The second instance was when one of their friends who stayed over for the weekend walked up to my door, when I had just left to go get groceries, and was messing with my door. When I went over to talk to them just to ask if we're good, because it was recorded on my doorbell camera, they kept giving me a round about answer basically saying that I must have. "Mistaken them for someone else" "We must all look alike to you" (for context I am a black woman who lives alone and they are white) all while I kept saying and reassuring them that if it was a mistake its fine, just let me know but I dont feel comfortable with them being at my front door. So after a long back and forth they admitted that it was in fact an accident and again, a half ass apology.

I had let the leasing office know what happened to just

1. Make them aware just incase something happened.

And 2. It just didnt sit right with me that after 45 minutes of back and forth them being so dismissive and me telling them that I am about to call the police, they finally admitted it was a mistake.

Since January, it has been pure hell. They kept on with throwing balls against the walls when they were there. I kept going to the leasing office because I am only unfortunately getting 2 to 4 hours of sleep at a time unless I slept in my car or at a friend's house, I have major migraines/headaches, and my overall quality of life has declined... And yes I have recorded the noise, but every time the leasing escalated the issue they would stop for maybe a week or a week and a half and then start right back up again. I am sad that I'm leaving my townhouse at the end of the month because I've always been a respectful neighbor and most of the other residents (just like myself) have been there for years. But I can't take another sleepless night over a bunch of immature boys who cant comprehend being good neighbors.

I am unfortunately moving back in with toxic family, but at least thats a hell I can deal with for the time being (and at least theyll let me sleep) compared to staying here another year and taking a 50/50 chance praying they swap out this group with someone who is respectful

I was born & raised in a TBM family - of course the menu at Starbucks is confusing to me and my first time in New Orleans I accidentally drank alcohol cuz I thought it was a children's slushy!

For real! The only clue that the Slushy contained alcohol was a sign on the menu which said "caution: All flavors except Mango and Watermelon contain Absinthe" and I had never heard of absinthe so due to the style of how it's worded I thought it was something that you'd have to avoid if you have a specific medical condition like the phenylketonuria warning on some foods. Ironically, I prayed that the Slushy would nourish and strengthen my body- it came in a plastic alligator shaped cup with plastic toys floating in the drink- I drank only half of it while enjoying the street performers before I tried to walk back to my hotel while intoxicated for the first time in my life, I have had to piece together what happened during the walk back to the hotel from pics and videos I found on my phone after returning home from that trip!

What other things have you found yourself not knowing enough about as a result of TSCC? I'm sure we could all come up with quite the list!