As Mormons we are told to go ahead and question the church. I love that about the church. It is such a confident organization that I never thought too question it. They also tell you not to look at Anti-Mormon literature. I agree. You shouldn't. Anti-Mormon literature is full of half-truths and exaggerations of Mormon faith. But you can not trust BYU either. They don’t tell the whole truth. For anyone out there who is questioning the church I recommend non-bis history of the church. This does mean you need to step outside your comfort zone. You need to look outside the church publications. Every single Mormon should do this. It is not fair to yourself if you don’t. Most Mormons don’t know the difference between ant-Mormon and history. So they shut it all out. Growing up if someone told me Joseph Smith had 33 wives I instantly tuned them out. That is crazy Anti-Mormon history! The reason History and Anti-Mormon are hard to separate from each other is that the actual history of Mormonism is not pretty.
People leave for many reasons. For me the Book of Mormon is the key-stone of the religion. When I researched it I realized that there was no way I believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. There for I could not believe the BOM to be true.
At this point I could raddled off the many hidden jems of the Church. However, the main point of my blog is NOT to prove truth of the universe. However, if wish to do your own research here is the best jumping off point. It is NOT anti-mormon. it's actually Pro Mormons talking about the History of the church! fantastic stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZQJc5SxnVs
http://whytheyleave.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ac_fLUHiBw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZQJc5SxnVs
http://whytheyleave.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ac_fLUHiBw
If you want to study more into this, read Jeremy Runnell's "Letter to a CES Director":
ReplyDeleteA native of Southern California, Jeremy Runnells was born in the covenant. A 6th generation Mormon of Pioneer heritage, Jeremy reached every Mormon youth milestone. An Eagle Scout, Returned Missionary, and BYU Alumnus, Jeremy was married in the San Diego Temple with expectations and plans of living Mormonism for the rest of his life.
In February 2012, Jeremy experienced a crisis of faith, which subsequently led to a faith transition in the summer of 2012. In the spring of 2013, Jeremy was approached and asked by a CES Director to share his concerns and questions about the LDS Church's origins, history, and current practices. In response, Jeremy wrote what later became publicly known as Letter to a CES Director.
Letter to a CES Director very quickly went viral on the internet. The CES Director responded that he read the "very well written" letter and that he would provide Jeremy with a response. No response ever came. Here is the Letter: http://cesletter.com/
In the fall of 2013, LDS apologetic group FairMormon publicly released an analysis of the Letter: http://en.fairmormon.org/Criticism_of_Mormonism/Online_documents/Letter_to_a_CES_Director
If one assumes that FAIR's undisputed silence is acceptance of the facts, FAIR agrees with 79% of Letter to a CES Director. Breakdown can be found here: http://www.cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/donuts-breakdowns.html#cesletter
In response, Jeremy has now released Debunking FAIR's Debunking. http://www.cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/
As Jeremy writes: "After I wrote Letter to a CES Director, I made the personal decision to move on with my life. Unfortunately, FAIR’s 'analysis' of the CES Letter, which include obfuscations, strawmen, ad hominem attacks, and even outright lies/omissions forced me to come 'back into the ring' to write Debunking FAIR’s Debunking. This was a huge project that I really did not want to undertake nor would I have undertaken had FAIR not been so outrageous in some of their responses and claims."