Giving it two days before I'm kicked.

Wow - you're bold :). Care to share any more details like the # of folks on the group? Also, please let us know how it goes.

218 members, 10 people have read the post without comment so far.

Wow... In just 4 minutes, you had 10 people look at it? You must be kind of a popular stud... Please keep us updated. I think you may have just stirred up some entertainment. (headed to the popcorn. ;))



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2014 04:30AM by dejavue.

WOW nice going! I just checked on my mission fb....no CES Letter there :( lol

Never bothered to look to see if there was a facbook group for my mission. It's probably best that I'm not a part of it. I might offend.

Nice! Keep us updated!

I posted the CES letter on my FB page. A few ex-Mormons responded and said it was very interesting. No TBM's did but I'm sure they got curious. Hopefully some seeds were planted.

Up to seen by 33, still no comment. I'd imagine at least someone from my mission agrees with it.

You know...that's a great way to find people who think like you from your mission. I know one mission buddy who is in the same boat as me.

I've found that the best way to find out whether LDS friends on Facebook are now exmo or not is to look at your list of mutual friends. I've done that a few times where I'll reach out with a message of "Hi, its been a while since the days in [name of church unit we were in together]. Life has been treating me well since. What's up with you? I notice that you are also friends with [mutual friend - now exmo] and [mutual friend - now exmo]. I really admire them because they seem like a couple of the most honest people I've ever been acquainted".

The last time I did this was with a fellow missionary in my mission where Brother John Dehlin of Logan, Utah was one of the mutual friends I mentioned. She responded that she and her husband were out of the church for the past 2 years. She certainly didn't beat around the bush on that .... lol.

Great tip, didn't work for John Dehlin :(. I'll keep my eyes open.

Ooof, I'm feeling my age. It never occurred to me that Facebook would have mission pages. Can't imagine one for my best two years of life (he says with a deadpan expression).

I hope we get to hear some fun responses. I shared the CES Letter with a family member but have heard no response. I thought the person would at least let me have it with all guns for littering.

Read by 50 so far. Only response has been:
"I don't know what the point of posting this article is, but one of these articles tries to disprove the Flood, the Tower of Babel and Lot's wife turning into salt, in addition to the Book of Mormon. Is this supposed to be anti-mormon or something or anti-Faith in general?"

Haven't responded yet.

Say, "If logic is anti-mormon and truth is anti faith, then yes."

I might respond with "Note that the sources are almost all from the church."

anti-mormon? anti-faith?

Tell them - it's just truth. These are true statements. Truth isn't anti-mormon, it's just truth. These particular truths may not be friendly to mormonism, but that doesn't make them less true.

Or if you want something maybe a little more erudite, John Dehlin posted on FB and I caught this via Jeremy Runnells.
(https://www.facebook.com/johndehlin/posts/817261710049)

Now that thorough, well-researched, and super-accurate resources like http://cesletter.com and http://mormonthink.com exist, the LDS church appears to be in the very difficult place of feeling the need to condemn a source as "anti-Mormon" when it is (in reality) only speaking the truth about Mormonism....in a way that the church itself has failed to do for decades...if not over a century.

This seems like a very difficult and unenviable place to be.....where telling the truth about Mormonism is considered in and of itself to be an anti-Mormon act.
I hope that someday learning and telling the truth about Mormonism can be labeled as just that....learning and telling the truth about Mormonism.....and that someday, our more informed/open/honest LDS church members are no longer marginalized and/or punished for simply learning and repeating what is undeniably true.

Or a comment in the thread that followed might help you too:
If facts are considered anti-mormon what does that say about things that are pro-mormon?
(I like that one - I will steal it shamelessly)

Lol, that is the exact post I shared with the CES letter to start this all off.

Just respond by saying that after reading the church issued polygamy essays and other essays you have decided to check out other problematic areas of church history and found that the cesletter.com points out some of them.

I would point out that many Christian denominations have no
problem with the stories of the Flood, Tower of Babel, and
Lot's wife, being fictional/allegorical--extended parables, if
you will (does anyone think the story of the Good Samaritan, or
the Prodigal Son had to have actually happened for Jesus to use
them?). The problem with Mormonism is that it has attached its
credibility to the literalness of the Flood and Tower of Babel
stories (and put them into a timeline, that is flatly
contradicted by archaeological, anthropological, geological,
botanical, zoological, and historical evidence).

I would point out that in areas where science and scholarship
cannot answer questions (is there a God? how should we live?
etc.) then FAITH has room to take over. However in areas where
science and scholarship have supplied clear and settled answers
then it is no longer a matter of FAITH, but a matter of DENIAL.

Some chapel mormons dont bother to look up "sources". If the bible or the bom do not mention it then it is too much work.

try posting a synopsis of and link to the new essay. It seems only fair. keep the updates coming

A follow up with links to the LDS.org essays would be in order. To "balance it out".

Thanks for the help everyone.

Just commented with this:

Note that the sources are almost all from the church. Truth isn't anti-mormon, it's just truth. Even the churches' version of the truth is surprisingly different from what I was taught growing up, and then went out and taught during my mission.

Being informed about facts (these are church sources) should be important to us who share the gospel.

If facts are considered anti-mormon, what does that say about things that are pro-mormon?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/22/2014 11:54PM by Steven.

Awesome! :D

I think when a lot of people like that say "anti-mormon" they really mean "anti-testimony". It's true that the CES Letter is devastating to testimonies.

That definitely does seem to be how it is used.

Just posted this as well:

https://www.lds.org/topics/plural-marriage-in-kirtland-and-nauvoo?lang=eng

Is me posting this link anti-mormon? Or me pointing out that Joseph Smith married teenages, other men's wives, and had sexual relations with many of his wives?

On my mission I remember explaining to people he married women to support them because they were old widows. This is not true, when President Matern explained this during one of our zone conferences, I don't think he knew the truth either.

The point is, the truth is important, and the truth is not anti-mormon, it is simply the truth.

Hell-yeah!!! Right on man... keep us posted.

I would've written something like the following:

"Hardly anything will scare investigators more away from learning about the church from the missionaries and getting baptized than to allow the anti-Mormons to get away with having people think that Mormons care more about numbers than they do about being honest and truthful. If we will be diligent in seeking and sharing the truth then we will be able to lead many souls to the truth and be worthy of blessings."

One of the best blessings I got right away from learning the truth was a 10% pay raise :) And there have been many many more blessings :)

Good response.

Holy shit! What you are doing takes a lot of courage! Wow! I'm impressed. This is what I needed today! Thank you!

Any new comments? Are you booted from the FB group?

Not yet, nobody else said anything after the first and I'm still in the group. I'll update when anything else happens.

Wow - I can't believe you survived. I vote polygamy essay next if you're up to it!

Check up a few posts, I posted the polygamy in Nauvoo essay.

Seriously, great job in having the nards to put this stuff up.

You're an example to us all.