What do you guys know about Mormons? I recently spent a couple of working days with an old acquaintance of mine who is Mormon. The guy is an exemplary human being. He hatched 5 kids and adopted a sixth. He never has anything bad to say about anybody, etc. He runs a successful business and has time for just about anybody. He's a helluva basketball player-- runs like the wind. I've always been very impressed with Mormon people. I have a couple of friends in Salt Lake who speak pretty disparagingly about Mormons.... maybe <b>Achebe</b> can chime in here. One of my friends says that, in-time, Mormonism will dominate the US and eventually the world. They are hard-working, thrifty, compassionate, and often bi-lingual because of their missions. Maybe some of the more devout Christians have an interesting take. I know they have some mysterious tenets of their faith, but I struggle with strictly faith-based asessments of people's goodness. I like to look at the quality of their lives, too and Mormons seem to me to be exceptional as a group.
I'm not Mormon but I have several friends who are and they are exemplary people (although Mormonism has it's share of jerks just like anything else). Most hardcore Christians view it as a cult though, because of the different takes on the bible (Book of Mormon, etc). The thing that interests me most about the LDS church is that they seem to be more tolerant of other religious groups (despite the fact that they try to convert you, but in reality who doesn't). All in all, I have no problem with it. They are people like you and me.
Most Mormons are very good people. I have had 2 VERY negative experiences with Mormons though: 1) I was 17 and befriended a Mormon guy. We spent a lot of time hanging out...we were in the same theater troupe. He knew I was a very devout Catholic. It was never an issue. I was between girlfriends and he invited me to go to a dance at his church. He told me I could meet some cool girls there. We went. I met somebody. My friend was encouraging me to pursue her. I danced with her most of the night and got her number. I was really jazzed because she was very good looking. I was driving us home when I mentioned it...he then said "you know you have to convert in order to date her." WTF???!!!! Things I could have known yesterday!!!! It became very clear to me what his angle was...and he WALKED the last 2 miles home. 2) A good family friend was a very scared college freshman. He had a terrible time adjusting. He was befriended by a Mormon group. That was cool...he had a social outlet. Then he announced that he was leaving the Catholic church to become a Mormon. We all (including his family) thought that was cool. He found a place he felt comfortable. THEN he tried to get his parents to convert. They didn't want to. THEN he told his mother that his friends told him that she didn't want to convert because the Devil is in her...and that HE believed that too. He never even called his mother ever again. BEWARE...this is a VERY evangelical group. I am wary of any faith that refers to evangelical acts as "recruiting" and to converts as "recruits."
My girlfrind is originaly from Salt Lake City, so she has a fairly well developed view of the practical nature of the Church of LDS. I've also done quite a bit of research on the subject... From what I've seen, the average member of the church tends to be more devout and pious than the average mainstream church member. I generally have a lot of respect for the average mormon. BUT, from what I've been able to gather, the leadership of the church is sadly governed not by piety, but rather the intrests of self-preservation. The Mormon church is notorious for reversing it's position of the most sacred of beliefs if it suddently finds that position to be the most profitable. Also, it has a history of excomunicating anybody who questuions the church's leadership even in passing. Regarding official doctrine, I find numerous holes in the official history of the church and its leadership, and I have no doubt that the religion is best characterised as a "breakaway" or "splinter" philosophy that, while developed from the Christian tradition, ultimately is differnet enough that it can not be legitimately described as "under the umbrella" of Christian faiths.
while the Church of LDS is a Christian church, the ideals and history of the church is a complete sham. completely fabricated w/o one iota or shred of hard evidence to substantiate not even one thing the Book of Mormon says. there is so much basic archeological and scientific facts that negate so many of their claims it's unreal. dont even get me started on mormons. BTW, some of my best friends were/are mormons and they're all super-nice people, but the actual religion (dogma, etc.) itself is nothing more than a cult - a very popular cult, IMHO. sorry if i offended anyone, i apologize
They have a secretive hierarchy that outsiders don't usually see. Even average members might not have a clue. There's so much baggage to the name that most people won't touch the subject with a 10ft long pole...
I used to work with a Baptist who swore to me that when Mormons reach the highest level of their church, that their true mission was revealed as Satanism. This experience only strengthened by agnosticism. Well, sort of- I am really not sure.
I don't want to upset certain people on this site... so here's (some of) what I do know: Some of my best friends are Mormons. As everyone has said, a lot of them are great people. They are not another Christian denomination; I can't speak for the spiritual status of individual members, but as a whole their religion contains lots of "extras" that Christianity does not accept. Some of you may have heard about these. To the average Christian observer, it's pretty weird stuff. I have seen some of their literature and it confirms this (except for the part about the true mission being Satanism, which of course I will classify as a "rumor" since I have no evidence for it). As a female, I'm glad I'm not LDS. The culture seems to encourage an extra-submissive role for the ladies, and I felt that if it was me I would feel smothered and constantly bombarded by their "family" concept. My friend is 27 and feels weird for being a single (divorced) female in that culture... anywhere else in America, it's pretty normal... most guys she dates are eager to get married and start on their family as soon as possible, never mind whether the relationship works out well or not. Also, of course, there is some polygamy in the history of the church, though it's not currently practiced (unless you get to some of those splinter denominations, say, in southern Utah). I think it would feel strange knowing that my church forebears - in this country, only a little over 100 years ago - had multiple wives. Of course, if I'd wanted to have two husbands, that wouldn't have been allowed. Up until <i>very</i> recently, the church did not admit members of certain racial groups. Some of these things are cultural, and are problems that have arisen in other churches. Still, I can't find any rationale for believing the LDS theology and "history" (involving various events in the New World that have no archeological record to back them up). Most of the Mormons I know are decent people, and I do appreciate their values of hard work, clean living and not abusing substances. Though I'll never understand their collective taste for those Jello salads.
<b>refman</b>: One of my dorm-mates at A&M was "recruited" and converted to Mormonism back in 1972. He, too, was a great guy. <b>Isabel</b>: You commentary on polygamy reminds me that the last time I was in Salt Lake (about 1996) is was browsing through the paper and happened upon the obituaries. My eye was caught by a photograph of a very young boy listed in the obits. I read the obit to learn how such a young child had lost his life. The obituary listed his family--- including about 5 "mothers." I was surprised that polygamy was legitimized to that extent by the local paper. One of my friends in SLC tells the story of school dismissal for her two girls. Of course, most of the students are Mormon. In elementary school, at the end of the day students are released in numerical order by Ward (analgous to a church district or something). The non-Mormons are always kept last and their seems to be some kind of delay before that last group goes to seemingly highlight the message. I've heard all of these odd stories about the LDS church's mysteries, dogmas, and scandals but their people seem overall exceptionally strong. I don't know why they stand out to me so much. Every religious group offers outstanding people, I suppose-- except the Satanists, of course.
Bottom line on Mormons (for me anyway): Good people with good hearts, but I truly do not believe in their principles of the bible because I was brought up differently.
Two of my biggest accounts: LDS Church (yes, THE Mormon temple in Salt Lake City), and Utah State University, are great accounts with great people that are easy to work with, and we have great rapport. That's really all I have been exposed to. They have never tried to "convert" me. I do know that I cannot stand Shawn Bradley's game, however.
Mormons are funny, but Jehovah's Witnesses are funnier. About a month ago, a couple of them knocked on my door one Sunday while I was watching the Texans game, and working on my 5th beer. When I opened the door, they immediately went into their spiel. After a minute, I interrupted them and pointed to the mezuzah on my doorpost (yes children I am Jewish). I asked them "Do you know what this means?" They responded "no". I took a swig from my beer and told them... "It means always trust your car to the man who wears the star". Then I shut the door and went back to the Texans game.
i case you guys dont know, i am mormon. i converted to the Church almost three years ago. A lot of what you guys are saying, like Church leaders findiong out the Church is the mission of Satan, are just myths that have existed throughout the Church's history. Granted there will be a lot of people who disagree with our beliefs and i for one am fine with it. I think people have the right to their own beliefs, but if they start making up ideology and pass it off as a LDS belief, i think that is wrong. Many of the critics of our church base their facts on what i believe is half-truths. They dont have a complete understanding of our beliefs and take bits and pieces and contruct some bogus belief up. I am happy with my decision to convert and find the people in the Church to be friendly and honest people.
Believe me...I considered it. I did call the girl, but apparently my "friend" had already told her that I was Catholic...and her dad refused to allow me to even speak to his daughter.
Damn, I went out with this Jewish chick one time until the parents told me if we continued going out they'd have to perform this ceremony called Shiva? which was basically like a funeral where they were giving her up for dead!!
I don't know about Mormons in general, but I was last baptized as a Mormon and am bilingual; and in time, I will dominate the world.
