They like to ACT LIKE they do/can...

just sayin'

Elder Eyring visited my mission and all of the missionaries lined up to shake his hand. He gave each missionary a long handshake and just stared into our eyes for several seconds before saying anything. When he spoke he talked about how he could see light or darkness when he looked into our eyes. Every missionary there believed he knew their every sin, every mission rule they were breaking, etc...

He also spoke about how we needed to be perfectly obedient to our mission president. He specifically said to do whatever he said, no matter what it was, even if we KNEW it was wrong. He said we'd be blessed for our obedience and the sin would be on the MP's head. I should have left the church then and there, but I was still mesmerized by his stupid power of discernment act.

I absolutely, whole-heartedly believed in that.

And not just the profit either. That power of "discernment" also applied to any priesthood leader conducting a worthiness interview. So I also believed that my bishops, stake presidents, and mission president also possessed super awesome mind reading powers as well.

It all seems absurd now, and it is, but that's what I believed at the time because that is what I was taught to believe and the scriptures had examples of of it as well.

I was one of those morons that confessed because I was sure that ultimately, it was impossible to hide our sins. They would eventually be discovered and "shouted from the rooftops". I didn't learn until too late that being a "good" Mormon simply meant being a good liar.

Strength in the Loins Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I didn't learn until too late that being a "good" Mormon simply meant being a good liar.

+++

...from its very roots. And now, the fruit has mutated as hideously as one might expect.

Yes - but that was then and this is now and I don't think that has been taught in a long time. Last since right now. Yea - TSCC used to teach a lot of stuff.

That's why in Prophet School they teach you how to wiggle your ears. That way you can rotate your ears like radar antennae to pick up signals from different directions.

Wonder why eyring couldnt see into bedbugs and tommys snake eyes...plygs had their profits too...before i left i tested one out...it was great...after eight hours of him becoming frustrated due to my refusal to say why i was there...i left...just hocus pocus...we did yap for hours about polotics...preesdud organization...history of preesdud...plygs love this stuff...its all they have...hanging it all on taylor in 1886 in what very likely was a shroom induced visitation...not sure what else to make of it...joe and jesus both sposed to be there...yet joes bones were still in the box in 1929 ...maybe ressurections bs too...wouldnt surprise me in the least...speaking of patty cake and taffy pullin....mmmm taffy

No. I didn't even know people thought that.

But I sure believed God/Jeezus and Holy the Ghost could. It is so nice to know my thoughts are my own. No angels are recording them, no one's going to bring it up in the great hereafter. It just never crosses my mind anymore to be afraid of or ashamed of my thoughts.

NO. Of course not. That's some kind of mental illness.
There is an old saying: it's OK to believe in the Old Testament characters, etc. but when you think you are one, you are definitely nutzo!

I was 50. The sp pointed to pics of the 15 and told me that they knew my every thought and deed. I started to laugh. He got angry. I asked him if he really believed that, or was he joking. NO! he was dead serious.

That was the last time I talked to him or set foot in a mormon church. It's a church that's ran by wackos.

If they know my every thought and deed then they are very guilty of indulging in porn.

Yes to the above. When I joined at 18, I thought every other Mormon was better than me, and I believed the bishop had special discernment. Being in a couple of bishoprics cured me of those notions real quick.

I never bought into the "discernment" thing.

When I first joined the church, I had no problem giving up alcohol, because I could take it or leave it. I don't like coffee, so that was OK. I DID have problems giving up tea, as I grew up in a tea-drinking family, but I was good about it for the 17 years that I was in the church.

I never bought the idea of not seeing R-rated movies. I was always honest about this in interviews. I would say that I thought the message of the movie was a worthwhile one, and I was not sorry I had seen it. Surprisingly, nobody ever gave me grief about this.

I think I redeemed myself by looking abashed and admitted that I didn't read scriptures as ardently as I should. (This was quite an understatement, as I didn't read them at all after taking a few sincere shots at the BoM and finding it to be a fabulous soporific.)

I know people who believe that God knows our thoughts BEFORE WE THINK THEM. Eek! I have no trouble with the idea that God knows what we do. BTW I always disliked the idea that Santa Claus knew everything. Did he have spies everywhere?

The creepy bishop I had as a teen would ask us about masturbation and if we necked and petted, and after we said no, he'd stare us down.

Dear rhgc,

Ever read the Ten Commandments? "Thou shall not covet ..." is a thought sin. You don't have to actually do anything.

Maybe the first thought crime.

Coveting usually ends with actions,

our entire economy is based on coveting.

I believed that the 15 could by just looking at you. I also believed that the bishop and stake president could by interviewing you.

I honestly believed that God would give you these powers with the capacity of the calling.

Until I lied and was never called on it.

I'd much rather be a member of a church whose leaders can't read my mind than a church whose leaders are mind-readers.

The former might be staffed by human beings. The latter most definitely is staffed by creeps.

In that sense I'd be more comfortable with TSCC if only it would admit to its transgressions and start acting like our fellow, fallible human beings instead of the silly faux-superheroes they pretend to be.

When I read Shinehabeam's account of Eyring's prolonged stare into each missionary's eyes, and the missionaries' subsequent belief that he knew their every sin, I thought of a cobra trying to hypnotize its prey.

Actually, some cult leaders are known to use soft hypnosis techniques, whether they pick it up, are naturally skilled at it, or actually study the topic and acquire the skill.

An example of hypnosis techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTwCMX5sUQU

From video description:
*Conversational Hypnosis/Covert hypnosis
*Anchoring (Pavlovian Conditioning)
*Handshake Interrupt/Handshake Induction



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2016 09:45PM by raiku.

I definitely remember discussions amongst my mishie buddies back in the day in a certain European Mission whether shaking hands with GBH would allow Him to search your soul and know your thoughts and level of righteousness.
He came and spoke to our whole mission. I got to ask him some pointed questions. It was cool.
I Shook his hand. Very frail.
I didn't think he could read my thoughts, I just saw a sad doddering man trying to keep it together.

GBH told me he had doubts.

I sorta grew-up with a father, a "bishop", who often abusively boasted that he had power of discernment. He was of course a liar. His dishonest intent was control, and I became an obedient, underdeveloped, fearful, moronic Mormon.

NO, thankfully I never bought into that one. However there are a multitude of other ways one can get mentally fucked over in Mormon Ville.

No!

I HOPED so!

I had struggled with my testimony my whole mission and it was hanging on a thread by the end of it, especially after I had read the Tanners' book Mormonism-Shadow or Reality. I was getting desperate for ANYTHING that could buoy up my belief in the church.

We then were told we would meet the prophet Gordon B Hinckley. This was during the filming of his 60 Minutes meetings with Mike Wallace.

I thought WOW I am going to meet THE PROPHET. If ANYONE had discernment and the spirit of the Lord it would be HIM!! I naively thought that maybe he could sense that I was a truly sincere but struggling missionary who desperately need a sign that the church was really true. We were to line up and he would shake the hands of each missionary. I prayed and prayed and prayed that something spiritual would come out of this moment. I was hoping for something like Hinckley walking up to me and with a twinkle in his eye, whispers "don't worry Elder, its only a trial of faith, the church is true."

What really happened was really disappointing. He walked up to me. There was no twinkle in his eye. He just looked like a tired old man going through the motions. No sense of love or care for me. No thoughts or words were conveyed. He barely looked at me and moved on to the next elder. Very disappointing for me.

I think it was after this meeting that I finally just gave up hope.

They make vague references to having supernatural abilities to give themselves more personal power. My mom often did the same thing, claiming to know by a "feeling" or The Spirit if we as a family should do a particular thing, which I suspect usually had something to do with her personal fears or desires.

This used to work with me, from both self-proclaimed prophets and mom, but I'm glad to know now that it's not real.

It's a very manipulative tactic, and ultimately people using this tactic have some distinctly unhealthy psychological traits.

This was actually taught? Wow, I guess I shouldn't be so surprised because each day, I learn more here about church oddities/ridiculousness that I hadn't known before!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2016 09:50PM by cinda.

I don't recall being taught to believe that. I wonder if this belief is hammered into men more than it is into women.

This staring thing is something that's even noticeable to nevermos who know nothing about Mormons. When someone did it to me, it felt like they were bearing down on me. Other than that, he was kinda normal until he saw I was wearing leggings and nail polish. Then he got flustered and seemed to assume I was a filthy whore. So yeah, they can't discern shit.

Not for one second....

RB

The poor North Koreans, bringing raised that way.

I didn't think the church president could read my mind, but I did think that he could discern whether or not I was a good girl, just by standing near me.

When I was young, yes. Being told the bishop could discern your thoughts was scary for me. And if a bishop could, then a GA could for sure.

There was some building cog dis though. The bishop must not know that I had a wanking problem and I must be good at isolating that thought, but anything else he could no doubt discern. And when I met a few GA's or talked to the MP, they did not pick up on my fun with bad language on the mission, or some of the thoughts I had about killing a few of my companions - fast Sunday's were real bad about that.

Somehow I realized it was all a confidence game. When meeting some of church leadership at local or general level, they are really looking for the good to tout and give church credit for anything good you do. Only if they can pick up on OBVIOUSLY clues that they can use to identify negative, will some one be a target of their "discernment". Don't smell like cigarettes, and if you can hold eye contact, you will not be on their radars of negative discernment. I so testify......