LDS Indoctrination and Retentive Socialization Introduction In A Message To The Most Ardent Critic Of The Mormon Church, Ben Arkell quotes a nameless member of the church who had recently dropped off their daughter and son at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (emphasis added): “I wish I could go to those who have walked away from the Church, and those who are its ardent critics, and say, “Come with me to the MTC on a Wednesday morning and let’s just watch. Let’s stand together and watch these families say goodbye to their sons and daughte ..read more

Photograph by Welden C. Andersen and Richard E. Turley Jr. Former LDS Church historian D Michael Quinn has quoted the following remarks given to him during the course of an interview with Elder Boyd K Packer, then an Apostle of the LDS Church; “I have a hard time with historians… because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. Historians should tell only that part of the truth that is inspiring and uplifting.”[1] In a “personal memo” another Apostle, J Reuben Clark is quoted as saying the following: “If we have truth, it cannot be harmed by investigatio ..read more

Book of Mormon parallels to 1800s thought Richard Bushman, well-known Mormon historian, recently stated: … there is phrasing everywhere–long phrases that if you google them you will find them in 19th century writings. The theology of the Book of Mormon is very much 19th century theology, and it reads like a 19th century understanding of the Hebrew Bible as an Old Testament … And Blake Ostler, another well-known Mormon scholar, has noted: Many Book of Mormon doctrines are best explained by the nineteenth-century theological milieu. It appears that many, if not all, theological doctrines an ..read more

Introduction These questions are designed to probe various aspects of the LDS Church’s history and truth-claims.1 The list was made for 1) investigators to ask the missionaries, 2) active members to ask themselves, or 3) those experiencing a faith transition to ask their parents or ecclesiastical leaders. The majority of links provided are to LDS approved sources or to relatively neutral information repositories (such as wikipedia). If any question contains incorrect information or is misleading in any way, please contact me, and I will fix it. Approaches to difficult questions One general wa ..read more

Swords and Spears For over a decade I’ve been hung up on the dearth of physical evidence, particularly Iron Age artifacts, supporting the Book of Mormon.  Recently I had a mini-enlightenment in this regard: swords and spears do not grow on trees; they do nor fall as manna from Heaven.  They are made,  by men. Without pretending to know more than I do about mining and metallurgy, as I understand, iron implements are the product of a complex, labor-intensive process.  Their genesis lies in rock, hard rock,  hematite, magnetite, picked, hacked, gouged, blasted from the e ..read more

Fourteen years down the road, the questions and issues raised in this letter remain substantially unanswered, to my knowledge unaddressed, by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. August 30, 2003 153 Canemah Way Oregon City, OR 97045 President Gordon B. Hinckley The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 50 East North Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84150 Dear President Hinckley: I have questions regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ doctrine and history.  While even science must fall back on faith—axioms not verifiable by empirical means—“worldly” m ..read more

I considered titling this “Too Big to Fail?”  But no, with billions in assets, millions of Saints tithing ten percent, and catastrophic cultural implications, like Chase Manhattan and Goldman Sacks, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is too big to fail. While fiscal failure of the Mormon church portends economic shockwaves beyond reckoning, such a collapse would mean dollars in the pockets of rank-and-file members: No more ten percent to the Prophet.  No more $10,000 to bankroll an offspring on a mission.  No more thousands for Church-related programs. Nevertheless ..read more

I’m new to this site and happy to share my experience. Five years ago my wife and I were very active, both holding callings and trying to get out to activities often. Even share the gospel a little. But one day just suddenly at the same time we both felt like we really didn’t want to go to church that Sunday. I guess you could say we felt burnt out or just needed a break. We were honest with our selves. We never really felt good at or after church. Never had that spiritually high even though we did our best. After so many years going as a married couple and now past the fun YSA years we ..read more

There are hundreds of reasons to believe or not believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. For me I no longer believe it is true in the way it teaches it is true.   How did I come to this conclusion? I could give a list of issues and concerns just like the cesletter.com. But ultimately it all comes down to trust.   The mormon leaders have lost my trust.   And in losing my trust, I don’t automatically assume that what they say is true and everyone else is lying. Conversely I also don’t automatically assume that they are lying in everything that they sa ..read more

The Shunning Key: Whom Mormons shun and why Introduction The leaders and manuals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints frequently emphasize brotherly love and charity to all. Consider this statement by Elder M. Russell Ballard: Let us reach out in friendship and love to our neighbors, including those of other faiths, thus helping to build better family-to-family relationships and greater harmony in our neighborhoods. Remember, too often our behavior is a bigger deterrent to others than is our doctrine. In the spirit of love for all men, women, and children, help them to understa ..read more