“Let me say that we appreciate the truth in all churches and the good which they do. We say to the people, in effect, you bring with you all the good that you have, and then let us see if we can add to it. That is the spirit of this work. That is the essence of our missionary service” (meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 17 Feb. 1998).
https://www.lds.org/ensign/1998/08/excerpts-from-recent-addresses-of-president-gordon-b-hinckley?lang=eng

I've remembered this quote since it was published almost 20 years ago. It seemed like such a lie to me at the time but I placed it up on my mental shelf. It is one of the few things that remains consistent in my exmormonism. That lie. The assertion that Mormonism can add to the goodness of other churches. It is so baldfaced.

It was my belief before hearing this quote that Mormonism had as much goodness as any church could have. I think I believed it had probably not as much good as many service oriented, feed the hunger, clothe the naked kinds of churches but it had something all the other churches didn't have - the plan. What was feeding people compared to helping them understand a grand plan for perfection in the next world?

I had thought that Mormonism was the most saddled with Satanic influences of any church because it had the keys to helping people dead or alive to attain something better in the universe that couldn't be had any. other. way.

Wrong. Missionaries need to get people to join Mormonism just to see if it makes them better people than they were when they were helping living people instead of saving dead people.

And they way he said it, it sounds like if Mormonism fails the "more good" test then ditching it is easy.

What a huge lie. What a scam. What a flim flam man for a prophet.

Hey, the church did take the Protestant minister out of the temple ceremony after years of offering to convert folks for money. Oh, sorry, Elder, I'm not supposed to talk about that, am I? Good to hear from you, Bro!

Is that like making someone's beer better by spitting in it?