There was this story a while back in high school seminary about 10 frat boys who could not decide on what church is the right one. So they decide to wait a decade or two and they come back for a reunion. Then all ten of them find out that they had joined the church and were all married in the Temple.

Has anyone ever heard this story, and if so, then where did it come from and is it true.

Ask who you heard it from, then demand their source.

Odds are it a total FPR

This was a long time ago. I've already graduated from highschool about 8 years ago.

The only church FRATERNITY BOYS would all join is The United Church of Beers,and Babes.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2014 09:40PM by Susan I/S.

I like that church!

Left out boners!

too easy

"who could not decide on what church is the right one"

only mormons and JWs talk like this - the vast majority of religious people in the US just don't think about churches as being "right" or "true" (and don't even get me started on the non-religious...)

when you've been indoctrinated into mormonism it's weird to think that other people don't lay awake at night worrying about if their church has "authority" or not but really... despite some of their petty squabbles about minutia most christian just can't be bothered to even have that discussion - they will talk about if a church or practice is "biblical" or not or, in the case of catholics, if something is "canonical" but yeah... no

This was along time ago, so I may not remember all the details well. What I want to know is, has anyone heard this story before? I think my seminary teacher heard from someone else or pulled it from a church magazine.

I'll tell you where he pulled It from...

( * )

Ha ha...I couldn't have said it better!

grubbygert nli Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> only mormons and JWs talk like this - the vast
> majority of religious people in the US just don't
> think about churches as being "right" or "true"

This is an absolutely true statement.

The presupposition (which is definitely NOT supported by logic) is that ONLY Christian beliefs of some kind can be "right" or "true."

Kind of like trying to decide which kind of white person is "right" or "true"---totally disregarding all other people on the planet, and all (at least visually obvious) mixed race people.

P.S. I just learned that if you list non-Christian religions, one of them is a banned word---and for the life of me I can't figure out why the name of a recognized world religion would be banned here on RfM. Any ideas, anyone???



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/20/2014 09:20PM by tevai.

Only Mormons ponder which church is true. It's a puerile question. Which preference is true? Is vanilla better than chocolate? Which flavor is true? Is sunshine better than showers? Which kind of weather is true?

I heard it about 40 years ago in seminary. Seminary teachers love to pass along faith promoting stories as if they were truthful. A lie is a lie no matter how good the story is.

Sounds like baloney, just like the tales of missionaries converting christian pastors, and then in turn their whole congregations.

http://www.testimonies.20m.com/Seventeen%20Evidences%20of%20the%20True%20Church.htm

It all starts with them deciding what qualities the "true church" should have, and guess what, the Mormon Cult has them.

http://www.mrm.org/17-points
Here's one site of many of responses.

Okay, I tried to read Mr Weston's anecdote. It's a lie, through and through.

In the first place, Einstein absolutely did not believe in a personal God, a Heavenly Father. He eschewed motivations of personal hope and desire represented by a Heavenly Father. Einstein's leading to Mormonism is unlikely.

But the story gets more absurd from there. Supposedly, a smart guy, after 8 weeks of extensive study, discerns all of the principles of the Bible, puts them onto a 5 X 7 card for his buddies, and they go around to different churches trying to find out if those churches fit the biblical principles like, "Jesus came to earth to establish his Church." Oh, brother.

Makes you wonder why JS had to be a prophet inspired by God? All you really've got to do is study the bible, put the principles on a card, and travel around to different churches looking for the principles. When no church's got 'em, you form a church with 'em. Why waste the time of these angels and messengers and Jesus--they really aren't necessary according to Mr Weston. A bible and some cards, anyone can do it!

You can always tell Mormon thinking by its narrowness combined with its being convinced that it's universal. The Utah Mormons and jack Mormons I'm always around are so provincial in their beliefs. They can't understand that others really don't believe as they do. Mr Weston's like this. His story is completely fabricated. No doubt about it. Perhaps, these guys were all Mormons of various levels of activity who went on a journey of discovering a foregone conclusion. That's somewhat believable. But the story as represented? No way.

Yes, I heard this one in a fireside back in the 80s. Pretty sure it was not sourced.

I vaguely remember this. It is not true because if it was the story would have so much exposure in mormondom we would be able to place it.

Here you go. I think I found the source on this. Some guy named Floyd Weston.

http://deseretbook.com/17-Points-True-Church-Floyd-Weston/i/5095536

thanks that is probably the story

See my discussion of Weston's "17 Points" at

http://packham.n4m.org/17points.htm

We had a tract based on the "17 points of the true church". One day on a bus ride out to our area, I decide to actually give it a read along with the scripture references. What a complete load of shit. I couldn't believe I had been telling people that story and giving them the pamphlet. After the first two or three references, I kept thinking, okay, now it will get better, nope okay, next one..hmmm..okay, now it will start being convincing and relevant. Nope. Discussed this with several other missionaries at various times who had also actually read it, we all joked about what crap it was.

Whenever someone would bring it up, I would say, have you ever actually read that? If they had, they knew it was garbage, otherwise they just assumed it was super great at proving mormonism.

try reading Hugh Brown's Profiles of a Prophet...

Monson: A BIG FAT ZERO

You find out your LDS friends have LEFT the church.

Yeah, a lot stay in. But a few find their way out. I haven't heard of any who converted.

What sort of frat boys honestly talk about which church to join? I've talked about that issue one-on-one with a close male friend, but I can't imagine that happening to guys, even friends, in a frat.
I haven't heard this story before, but my bs metre is tingling..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2014 01:38AM by msp.

Whomever made up that silly rumor had never met a frat boy, ever.

I'm assuming we're not talking about a BYU frat -- does BYU even have a Greek system? You'd think the Greek system brainwashing would conflict with the church brainwashing. No nonmormon frat boy would spend 1/10 of a second worrying about which church was "true."

A long, long time ago BYU had fraternities. Ernest Wilkinson wanted to join a fraternity and got turned down. Years later he became president of BYU and banned all the fraternities.

bezoar Wrote:
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> A long, long time ago BYU had fraternities.
> Ernest Wilkinson wanted to join a fraternity and
> got turned down. Years later he became president
> of BYU and banned all the fraternities.


Funny how that works. If only someone who'd been excommunicated would be chosen as president... ;-)

There are dozens of these kinds of stories in the LDS Church narrative. (Other churches have them also).
They are all urban legends and are told to cement the importance of choosing the church they are supporting.

First thing we can do to help ourselves is to stop taking everything we hear and read literally.

I think this has something to do with the "17 points" of a "true church or something.

It was an old tale then. Even if it were true, that had to have happened in the 1960s or earlier.

I'm sure there are a group of friend who all joined the JWs or the Catholics somewhere. You can find anecdotal evidence for almost anything you want to believe. It's called confirmation bias.

Unless you have the names of any of these individuals, then this is just another faithpromoting rumor.

I have done some serious research and I have figured out the conditions that any true church must have.

1. Must be based on revelation from a narcissistic polygamist with a common last name, such as "Jones" or "Smith."
2. Must have a nickname that rhymes with "Norman."
3. Must build shopping malls.

Just follow these basic absolute truths that are in no way subjective or catered to produce a certain result, and you can't go wrong!

By Mr. Westons 17 points:

17. Will be persecuted for beliefs.

The LDS haven't been "persecuted" (more like retaliation for LDS aggressiveness) since the mid 1800s.

The FLDS continues to "persecuted." All Weston's 17 points apply to the LDS, FLDS, and probably dozens of other mormon offshoots. By Mr. Weston's point 17, in that the FLDS have been more persecuted, they must be the "more true" church.

If it sounds too good to be true... it probably is.