After resigning from the church and letting everyone in my life know (several years ago now), there's been one thing that doesn't seem to heal up over time. Eventually you stand back, look at the whole scam, and say "wow! That's some scam I fell in to". In my mind, the next step for me should be to expose and bring down this scam so that others don't get harmed as I was. But here's the problem with that. This has happened before. It will happen again. It's like the Matrix. It just keeps repeating until the church gets what it wants.
For now, the church lays low. They take their public beatings for their mis-deeds, and wait for people like us to all die off from old age. The Corporation of the president of the church is immortal. They have all of the time they need. At some point, a new crop of suckers will be born. The church will have 50 to 100 years of adjusting to a life with the internet and Google. They will invent new countermeasures to the things that are bringing them down now. New church leaders with clean public relations records will be in place. And then the scam re-boots. This has happened before. After each "great apostacy", the church comes back with a bigger membership base going in to the next money-harvesting phase of their scam, and they start again with yet a longer history and thus more apparent legitimacy. The fact that past historical church leaders did a lot of bad things in the name of god never seems to matter.
In the next iteration of this scam, the mormon church will be mainstream once again, as it was in the 70's and early 80's. There will be rapid growth. Roumors will abound that "these are the last days", church members will be told that for some of them, christ will return in their lifetimes. There will be ways for the church to hold on to old beliefs, while getting past the stigma that those beliefs would otherwise bring. Just look at what the church really believes concerning polygamy even now. History will be history. No one will care about the damage done to their ancestors. And like the machines in the Matrix, the church wants total control of our lives. They want us to give it to them willingly and irrevocably. They won't quit trying until they control everyone. All we see is our little slice in time of the current iteration of their scam.
So how do we put an end to this? How do we pevent the next re-boot? How do we make mormonism be only a past historical occurance, not a current event for generations to come?
Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2015 10:36AM by azsteve.
Step 1. Find a curious journalist who will do stories in the media as a long term series because there is so much information to share. If you are in Utah, that may be difficult. I live in NYC, and there may be some journalists here or in another major US city who would pick up a scandalous story.
Step 2. Frame the story as Scandal in SLC or Latter-Day Saint Scandal or something that grabs people's attention.
Step 3. Make it your passion to get the truth, whole truth and nothing but the truth out, and just know it will be a long journey.
Step 4. For such a large scale endeavor, you'll need a group effort. So think of putting a team together, and get others involved who can help with funding or fund raising, tech support, etc. There are probably thousands of ex mormons that may help. I would be happy to help on story development from organizational and leadership perspectives. There are many other really sharp, smart, and capable posters on this site that can contribute ideas, too.
Since many members will live across the US who want to help get your project up and running, you'll need to be flexible with a virtual organizational setup, if that is the path you choose to take. So think of putting a five page business plan together to outline goals and streamline costs, etc.
Or you can negotiate with Mormon Think or CES Foundation to work together and go to the media.
. . . every time it reboots by reiterating the documented history of its frontier occultic roots, Smith's proven scams, the demonstrated racism/sexism/homophobic/anti-intellectualism of its core doctrine and its constant historical lying and revisionism.
Every generation needs to be retaught the facts. Mormonism will try to morph with the times in order to survive. That can't be helped. But constant exposure of its inherent fraudulent roots, beliefs and practices can limit its growth and undermine its desperate gropings for credibility.
Mormonism is a disease that can be kept In check, even if it cannot necessarily be completely eradicated.
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/29/2015 05:48PM by steve benson.
That would be like a high level Mafia turning honest. Have you ever seen Sopranos or the Godfather I, II and III, etc? From what these stories portray, the act of betrayal is a death sentence. Nevermind they betrayed us. Your idea would be nice, but highly unlikely.
If one of the big 15 came clean and told the truth it wouldn't even make a small wave. He would be looked at as having a mental breakdown, and prove to the church membership that "even the elect will be deceived". One leader could not do much damage.
I do not think millennials are falling for the scam as other generations. How? We work on it like termites do to a house, millions of small chunks until it crumbles.
What if they "reiterate" themselves into an organization to which it is worth belonging?
If they throw out the D&C and the *Peril* of Great Price, and demote the BofM to a 'guiding principles' fairy tale, and do away with tithing and missions and temples and "modesty bull crap, and make belief in a deity optional, it might give the UU church a serious run for its money!
Baloney. Mormonism is caught in quicksand, and will continue to slowly sink. The internet never forgets, and will outlive the Corporation of the First Presidency.
I'm with you, AZSTEVE! I'd give anything for my loved ones to see the light and to expose the church for what it is! I've been thinking of this too. My initial thought was to follow the money! If the members could see how their money was being spent and how the church operates like a business, people would bolt! I started a petition on We the People to mandate financial transparency for churches and charities. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get the word out the way I would have liked and I doubt we're going to get the necessary 100,000 signatures unless some dedicated, capable people are able to help :)
OP and Texas Sue, if you start a petition, getting 100k signatures may take a year but I have absolute faith, it is possible. More than that number of folks left the church. And if you advertise it on as many sites as possible, you can achieve your goal. Count me in to sign.
It's actually live right now. The admins have asked me not to link to it on this website. You can search for "Mandate Financial Transparency for Churches and Charities" on the We the People website. The 100,000 signatures must be obtained in 30 days and we're already 1/3 of the way into that time frame. We would need to get some publicity and get the petition to go viral!
I did on Red*it and that's it. I've been taking care of sick young children and really haven't had the time needed to devote to it. If anyone wants to take over the reins, they are more than welcome!
I followed your information and signed the petition on We the People. It took a couple of minutes and I was happy to do it. Can you create a new thread here and advertise this process as well as on the other ex mormon sites? I think a lot of people would sign up in second if they knew.
The cult will continue to crumble. My city used to have 4 wards, a Spanish branch, and a ysa branch. It then dropped to 3 wards with the 2 branches, now only 2 wards with the 2 branches.
The question is, will the cult tranform itself or not, and if it does, will that stop he crumbling.
Easy information online is the death of Mormonism. That opens the door of stepping out if the box to Mormons noticing the victimization they've endured, and wondering if it's all worth it, for an organization that hat has lied to them for decades.
People don't like being treated like second class citizens. The tainted history is bad, but being lied to, and having this bad info suppressed by the cult, is worse, imo.
It is extremely offensive to me that they treated me like a second class citizen by suppressing tainted history. I can't forgive the cult for lieing to me. Who are they to control my access to facts?
People in 2015 no longer put up with dictatorial leadership. You can't stop information, and you can't stop cultural shifts. That is a stone rolling down a mountain filling the world. Information, and cultural shifts are non stoppable.
I don't think that lds Inc is progressive enough to adapt in a timely fashion, so it will crumble. The essays are a lame attempt at liability issues. It is still an offensive cult that denies parents from their own childrens weddings. It still is an us vs them cult that will only attract the gullible or the controlling narcissist types.
Imo, it would totally have to change into a mainstream Christian church, eliminate JS's weirdness, to survive in a legitimate business way. Otherwise, it will continue to crumble.
Only problem is that you can get rid of Mormonism and we'll just fall for other scams. Why? Because reality sucks, and we're all looking for comfort, or safety, or supposed easier life. So salesmen of various types just have to speak to our fantasies.
The scam which greatly exceeds Mormonism, and which most americans believe in, is our government. Government is now god. It can supposedly provide for all our needs - food, healthcare, education and safety from bad people all over the world.
Upon closer inspection, the war against terrorism makes more terrorists, the war on poverty creates more poverty (more single parent homes as gov't check replaces dads), the war on drugs does not reduce drugs but increases crime. Government involvement in healthcare and education drives up prices so they can offer more 'help'. And to top it off, most people think these programs are free. Of course, they don't see how money is taken from the economy and reduced prosperity costs jobs and wages. People also don't understand how money is printed to pay for the 'free' stuff, which causes inflation and increased cost of living.
By using fear to get us to fall for the scams, many are able to make big money. Brilliant scam!
Anyway, there are plenty of other scams like feminism, which only tells one side of the story. Good money to be made off of victimhood.
This quote from a Nazi after WW2 illustrates how to play people. Religion uses the same fear tactics, as do those who promote gov't welfare (without gov't programs we will die, or you hate children or old people or whatever...)
"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY." --Goering at the Nuremberg Trials
Another push at mainstreaming would likely seek to preserve the authority of LDS leaders.
As Steve Benson noted, we need to remind people that this authority continues to rest on the hopelessly flawed worldviews of the Mormon past, which are informed by magic stones, the leadership's special access to sexual favors, blood atonement, phony translations, bashing science, racism, "For strength of the Youth," the Proclamation on the Family, homophobic attitudes, and financial opacity.
There cannot be any oxygen for "that was then this is now," "they were only speaking as men," and "God works through imperfect instruments." Those are only allowed as post-hoc explanations of the follies of Mormon prophets seers and revelators among TBMs. But if a member pulls that stuff while the prophesying, seeing and revealing is going on, then it's heresy!
LDS members should not feel they owe allegiance to men, who have an unbroken line of deception as a track record.
I don't think it can recover from information spread on the internet. What's happening now is lots are leaving even normal churches. So, what chance does Mormonism have?
Maybe I'm too hopeful, but it may go the way of the Shakers and the Zoroastrians. Among other cults/religions that no one follows anymore.
Don't be afraid to disclose all the nitty gritty to anyone who asks, and be sure to spell out to your children why you left. They need to be as armed as possible on how to avoid cults (not just the Mormon one). I've told some what I thought was just plain and simple obvious things about Mormonism and they were flabbergasted, thought I was making stuff up. So, it pays to educate others.