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Steve Benson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning U.S. editorial cartoonist for The Arizona Republic. Benson is the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and LDS prophet Ezra Taft Benson.
Late in 1993, Benson very publicly apostatized from the LDS Church after charging its leadership with covering up his grandfather's senility and allowing church members to believe Ezra Taft was still in charge of the church's day-to-day affairs. Benson had for some time been feeding information on his grandfather's condition to colleagues at The Arizona Republic and in the Associated Press.
Benson and his wife, Mary Ann, have left organized religion, and Benson is now an avowed atheist.
Among Benson's most famous cartoons depicts a firefighter carrying an child from the Oklahoma City bombing similar to a well-known photo of a firefighter's futile rescue of 1-year old Baylee Almon. The child in the cartoon says, "Please, no more killing..." to which the firefighter, labeled "death penalty fanatics," replies, "quit your whining!" The cartoon, published June 11, 1997, angered firefighters nationwide. Almon's mother called for Benson to apologize for using the image. Benson, however, stood firm even as his paper issued an apology for printing the cartoon.
The Mormon Curtain is proud to contain a very large selection of some of Steve's very best.
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| | "The Plagiarizing Moves On:" In The Glorious Tradition Of Mormonism's Unoriginal And Uninspired "Prophets": Joseph Smith, David O. Mckay, Ezra Taft Benson, Merrill J. Bateman And Bruce R. Mcconkie
| | Posted Feb 2, 2006, at 07:43 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
 TOP | | SOLOMON SPAULDING DISGUISED AS JOSEPH SMITH
First and foremost, of course, among Mormonism's persistent plagiarists was its charismatic charlatan and philandering founder, Joseph Smith himself (1805-1844).
Smith (with the conniving assistance of Sidney Rigdon) ripped off the fictional manuscript writings of Congregationalist minister Solomon Spaulding (1761-1816) for the purpose of creating the equally fictional Book of Mormon.
In his devastating expose' of Smith's theft of others' hard-earned intellectual property (since he had no honest intellect of his own), researcher Vernal Holley exposes the spawned-by-Spaulding connection:
"[There are] many similarities between Spaulding's 'Manuscript Story' and the Book of Mormon. These are not vague similariites also found in other adventure stories; they are unique only to the works in question.
"How many books exist that have the same story outline as the Book of Mormon? How many stories tell of a record being written by the ancestors of the American Indians and buried by them to come forth at some future time when other people inherit their lands? How many tell of the same worship ceremonies, cultural technology, seer stones, and give the same descriptions of their fortifications and war stories? How many novels tell of a white God person whose teachings brought about a long period of peace followed by a war between kindred tribes in which the losing people are exterminated? Many similarities in the literary style of the two works have also been identified including identical word combinations, and the geograhpical settings of the two stories appear to be in the same area?
"Most skeptical readers of Spaulding's 'Manuscript Story' encounter difficulty in recognizing similarities between it and the Book of Mormon because they expect it to be written in the King James style complete with sentences beginning with "And it came to pass" and personal names similar to those in the Book of Mormon. When they cannot find these elements, they may lost interest and find it difficult to complete even a first reading. The problem is compounded when the reader is not a veteran student of the Book of Mormon. For example, if the reader is unaware that Gazelem, the Book of Mormon servant of the Lord, possessed a seer stone, the Spaulding seer stone might be passed over as insignificant.
"I believe that anyone who carefully studies all the material in [my] report will see that a relationship does exist between Solomon Spaulding's unpublished writing, called 'Manuscript Story,' and the Book of Mormon. The only significant difference between the two story outlines is the inclusion of the romance between Prince Eleson and Princess Lamess in 'Manuscript Story.' There is no such romance in the Book of Mormon.
"All the same, [Hugh] Nibley's assertion that the similarities between the 'Manuscript Story' and the Book of Mormon 'add up to nothing' seems to me to be an unfair conclusion. I believe the application of Nibley's rule (the closer the resemblance, the closer the connection) leaves little doubt that a connection does exist between Solomon Spaulding's writing and the Book of Mormon.
"So the question remains: How did this relationship come about? And, was the unfinished Spaulding 'Manuscript Story'--or an enlarged version--used by Joseph Smith as the groundwork for the Book of Mormon?"
(Vernal Holley, Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look--A comprehensive study of the similarities between the Book of Mormon and the writings of Solomon Spaulding, 3rd edition, revised and enlarged [Roy, Utah: Vernal Holley, publisher, 1992], pp. 71-72)
For striking examples of parallel word usages, storylines, names, and geographic locales, see:
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP0.htm
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg33
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg28
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP1.htm#pg20
http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP2.htm#pg27
http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/Holley1.JPG
http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/Holley2.JPG and:
Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis and Arthur Vanick, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? (St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 2005)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0758605277/002-1638398-8090404?v=glance&n;=283155
**"Book of Mormon stories that I cribbed--here, look and see . . ."
_____
BENJAMIN DISRAELI DISGUISED AS DAVID O. McKAY
David O. McKay (1873-1970) is perhaps best known for his oft-quoted little couplet (which, come to find out, wasn't his after all):
"No other success can compensate for failure in the home."
(quoted on an official LDS website, from J. E. McCullough, Home: The Savior of Civilization [1924], 42; Conference Report, April 1935, p. 116.)
http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/presidents/controllers/potcController.jsp?leader=9&topic;=quotes
http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2252
_____
McKay had, in fact, infamously ripped line off that famous line from Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), a renowned British politician, novelist and essayist who said:
"No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home."
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Disraeli
**"No success can compensate for words that aren't my own."
_____
C.S. LEWIS DISGUISED AS EZRA TAFT BENSON
In Mormon circles, one of the most beloved sermons attributed to the Mormon Church President Ezra Taft Benson(1899-1994) is the one entitled, "Beware of Pride" (which was actually read on 1 April 1989, at the Saturday morning session of the 159th semi-annual General Conference, not by Benson, but by First Presidency counselor Gordon B. Hinckley, who delivered it in the ailing Benson's behalf).
This talk by my grandfather has been described by LDS devotees as "[p}erhaps the best remembered of all Ezra Taft Benson's talks . . . [Church] [m]embers from all over the political spectrum love and agree with him here. This talk is . . . loved."
http://www.zionsbest.com/pride.html
http://www.zionsbest.com/top25.html
_____
Moreover, in a glowing obituary of my grandfather, the sermon was mentioned as follows:
"Continuing to help set the Church in order and perfect the Saints, he delivered another landmark address entitled 'Beware of Pride' . . ."
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/people/Benson_EOM.htm
_____
Trouble is, much of Benson's pride sermon was a blatant exercise in plagiarism from the writings of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), as found in Lewis' work, Mere Christianity, under the chapter heading, “The Great Sin” (C.S. Lews, Mere Christianity, revised and enlarged [New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952]).
http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/mere_christianity.asp
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060652888/002-1638398-8090404?v=glance&n;=283155
_____
Not only was the sermon delivered by someone else, persuasive evidence has surfaced that a person other than Ezra Taft Benson actually researched and wrote the talk.
Significant portions of Benson’s pride sermon were directly lifted from, influenced by and cobbled together from the writings of Christian apologist C.S. Lewis--
A line-by-line comparison of the text of both documents provides clear and convincing evidence that a major source source for Benson's talk on pride was the earlier work of C.S. Lewis.
Moreover, this blatant and heavy borrowing, both in terms of wording and concept, was done without attribution.
Examples of these plagiarisms are listed below, by category.
Pride is the Ultimate Vice
Lewis
"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride." (p. 109)
Benson
"Pride is the universal sin, the great vice."
_____
The Competitive Nature of Pride
Lewis
"Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by is very nature . . .” (p. 109)
". . . Pride is essentially competitive in a way that other vices are not." (p. 110)
"Pride is competitive by its very nature." (p. 110)
“Once the element of competition has gone, pride is gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not.” (p. 110)
Benson
"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. . . .
”Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled."
_____
The Proud See Themselves Being Above Others
Lewis
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you." (p.111)
Benson
“Most of us consider pride to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us.”
_____
The Proud Also Look From the Bottom Up
Lewis
“When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom.” (p. 112)
Benson
“There is, however, a more common ailment among us and that is pride from the bottom looking up.”
_____
Pride Equals Enmity
Lewis
"Pride always means enmity--it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God." (p.111)
Benson
"The central feature of pride is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowman."
“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.”
“Another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen.”
_____
Pride and Self-Value
Lewis
"You value other people enough to want them to look at you." (p. 112)
Benson
"The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not."
_____
Pride vs. Humility
Lewis
"The virtue opposite to it [pride], in Christian morals, is called Humility." (p. 109)
“ . . . if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightfully humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which had made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible . . .” (p. 114)
Benson
"The antidote for pride is humility . . . "
“Choose to be humble. God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.”
_____
Pride Not Admitted in Self
Lewis
"There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves." (pp. 108-09)
Benson
"Pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves."
_____
Only once in Benson's sermon was proper credit given to C.S. Lewis as a source:
"The proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In the words of C. S. Lewis: 'Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. . . . It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone' (Mere Christianity [New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109-10)."
_____
All in the Family: The Identity of the Individual Who Researched and Wrote Ezra Taft Benson’s “Beware of Pride” Sermon
Several years ago, my wife, Mary Ann, and I visited with May Benson, wife of Reed Benson (Ezra Taft Benson’s oldest child), in their home in Provo, Utah, during which time the subject of pride and my grandfather’s sermon on the matter was a focus of conversation.
The first occasion was prior to the public delivery of Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon by Gordon B. Hinckley in the April 1989 General Conference and the second visit took place after the speech.
May told us she had very strong feelings about the subject of pride. She was especially offended and concerned with what she regarded as the Benson family's own problems with pride.
(In fact, she had gotten up in disgust and walked out of a wedding breakfast for my sister Meg, when one of the daughters of Ezra Taft Benson, Beverly Benson Parker, as she was listening to the father of the groom, Cap Ferry, make some remarks to the assembled, leaned over and whispered self-righteously to others at the table, "Well, we know which family was blessed with the spirituality").
May told us she had put together quite a few thoughts on the subject of pride that she hoped someday to compile and publish in a book.
However, after my grandfather’s pride sermon was delivered, May told us that she no longer felt it necessary to publish her hoped-for book. Why? Because, she informed us, her husband, Reed, had spoken with Ezra Taft Benson about her research on the topic.
May was clearly indicating to us that her information and study efforts had been used in crafting my grandfather’s sermon on pride.
However, the true extent of May Benson's involvement in that effort was not shared with us by her and did not become evident until some time later.
Reliable sources in Provo subsequently informed me of rumors that May herself may have worked on Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon.
This I was able to confirm even more conclusively from a credible source inside the Benson family who knows May quite well, who was directly familiar with the situation and who wishes to remain anonymous.
The source told me in a face-to-face meeting that May Benson, daughter-in-law of Ezra Taft Benson through marriage to his son Reed, traveled to St. George, Utah, where over a period of several weeks “she wrote his talk.”
It appears that those responsible for the production and delivery of Ezra Taft Benson's "Beware of Pride" sermon were themselves too prideful to acknowlege that:
--(1) the sermon was largely plagiarized from the earlier works of a noted Christian writer; and
--(2) the sermon was actually ghost-written by a woman doing research on the talk for an uninspired Mormon "prophet."
**"Praise to the man who depends on a woman."
_____
GERTRUDE HIMMELFARB DISGUISED AS MERRIL J. BATEMAN
At a Sunstone Symposium a few years ago, LDS author Bryan Waterman critically noted the “reliance” of BYU President Merrill Bateman (1936- ) “on the work of [academic conservative] Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922- ) . . .”
http://en.web-blaster.org/www.lds-mormon.com/31076.shtml
_____
Actually, Bateman’s supposed “reliance” took the form of blatant plagiarism.
On 25 April 1996, the then-incoming president of BYU/General Authority Bateman delivered his inaugural address to the student body assembled in the Marriott Center, entitled "Response to Change."
http://www.byu.edu/fc/ee/w_mjb496.htm
_____
Bateman was subsequently accused of stealing--without attribution--portions of his remarks from an article published earlier the same year, authored by conservative philosopher Gertrude Himmelfarb, entitled, "The Christian University: A Call to Counterrevolution." (First Things, no. 59, January 1996, pp. 16-19)
http://www.leaderu.com/ftissues/ft9601/articles/himmelfarb.html
_____
The plagiarism accusation caused an uproar in academic circles, leading Bateman to deny the charge. The accusation was recently mentioned in an article appearing in the Mormon Church-owned Desert News, in conjunction with the end of Bateman's tenure as BYU president:
”Bateman, who served as the LDS Church's presiding bishop until his appointment as university president, was accused of plagiarizing the ideas of neo-conservative scholar Gertrude Himmelfarb during his 1996 inaugural address. Bateman denied the plagiarism charge.”
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,465034158,00.html
_____
Comparing Bateman's inaugural address with Himmelfarb's article proves that Bateman was, well, lying.
Although the manuscript copy of Bateman's 1996 inaugural address offered a single footnote reference to Himmelfarb's ideas (located on p. 18 of her article), Bateman failed in the spoken version of those remarks to acknowledge his reliance on Himmelfarb's ideas--thus, leaving the false impression that her words were his own.
A point-by-point, topical comparison of the Himmelfarb and Bateman texts raises serious questions about Bateman's intellectual honesty:
On Disparaging Truth, Knowledge and Objectivity
Himmelfarb
"Today many eminent professors in some of our most esteemed universities disparage the ideas of truth, knowledge, and objectivity as naive or disingenuous at best, as fraudulent and despotic at worst."
"Above all, it is the truth that is denigrated."
"Finally, and most disastrously, the university, liberated from religious dogma, has also become liberated from the traditional academic dogma, the belief in truth, knowledge, and objectivity."
Bateman
"During the past two decades, however, a number of well-known educators have begun to denigrate truth, knowledge, and objectivity."
On Politicization of the University By Interest Groups
Himmelfarb
"It [the university] is also a highly politicized institution; no longer subject to any religious authority, the university is at the mercy of the whims and wills of interest groups and ideologies."
Bateman
"The university becomes a politicized institution that is at the mercy and whims of various interest groups."
On the Secularization of the University and Its Hostility to Religion
Himmelfarb
"For we are now confronted with a university . . . that has almost totally abandoned its original mission. It is now not merely a secular institution but a secularist one, propagating secularism as a creed, a creed that is not neutral as among religions but is hostile to all religions, indeed to religion itself."
Bateman
"If university scholars reject the notion of ‘truth,’ there is no basis for intellectual and moral integrity. Secularism becomes a creed that is no longer neutral but hostile to religion."
On the Rise of Radical Relativism
Himmelfarb
"The animating spirit of postmodernism is a radical relativism and skepticism that rejects any idea of truth, knowledge, or objectivity."
Bateman
"The driving theory is a radical relativism and skepticism that rejects any idea of truth or knowledge."
_____
Before giving his purloined speech, perhaps Bateman should have review BYU's own Honor Code.
This document on Integrity 101 has the following to say about academic standards:
”The first injunction of the BYU Honor Code is the call to ‘be honest.’ Students come to the university not only to improve their minds, gain knowledge, and develop skills that will assist them in their life's work, but also to build character. ‘President David O. McKay taught that character is the highest aim of education’ (The Aims of a BYU Education, p. 6). It is the purpose of the BYU Academic Honesty Policy to assist in fulfilling that aim.
”BYU students should seek to be totally honest in their dealings with others. They should complete their own work and be evaluated based upon that work. They should avoid academic dishonesty and misconduct in all its forms, including but not limited to ,b>plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, cheating, and other academic misconduct.” (emphasis added)
http://fhss.byu.edu/polsci/Goodliffe/313/2002/syllabus.htm#Plagiarism
_____
Like any good power-mongering Mormon authority figure who couldn't give a flyin' fig leaf apron about adhering to moral principle, fellow Blue Suit Boyd K. Packer rode to Bateman's rescue with a divinely-sounded vengeance.
A few months after exposure of Bateman as a clunky plagiarist, Packer issued what was seen by many as a thinly-veiled attack against Bateman's Mormon critics.
At October 1996 General Conference, in a sermon unsubtley entitled, "The Twelve Apostles," Packer warned:
”Some few within the Church, openly or perhaps far worse, in the darkness of anonymity, reproach their leaders in the wards and stakes and the Church, seeking to make them ‘an offender for a word,’ as Isaiah said. To them the Lord said, ‘Cursed are all those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed, saith the Lord, and cry they have sinned when they have not sinned before me, saith the Lord, but have done that which was meet in mine eyes, and which I commanded them.
"’But those who cry transgression do it because they are the servants of sin, and are the children of disobedience themselves . . .
"’Because they have offended my little ones they shall be severed from the ordinances of mine house.
"’Their basket shall not be full, their houses and their barns shall perish, and they themselves shall be despised by those that flattered them.
"’They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation.’
”That terrible penalty will not apply to those who try as best they can to live the gospel and sustain their leaders. Nor need it apply to those who in the past have been guilty of indifference or even opposition, if they will repent and confess their transgressions, and forsake them.”
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/conferences/96_oct/Packer_Apostles.htm
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For those concerned about fake prophets of God like Packer coming to the defense of other fake Mormon prophets like Bateman, they can rest assured that any LDS leader whom Packer defends probably has done something wrong.
**"(Organ music, please): 'Music and the Stolen Word'"
_____
AN UNKNOWN ARAB DISGUISED AS BRUCE R. McCONKIE
In eulogizing the by-then-dead Apostle/Fossil Bruce R. McConkie (1915-1985) at a BYU fireside, then-member of the First Quorum of the Seventy John K. Carmack offered this glowing tribute to Bruce the Prophetic Plagiarizer, comparing the Mormon Church to a steady-as-she-goes caravan moving forward into the eternal realms of glory:
” . . . [A]s an expression of his confidence in the Church, and as a seer whose words light the pathway we must travel as we endure to the end of that path, Elder McConkie saw the road ahead and the kingdom as a moving caravan triumphantly moving to its destiny.”
http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6933
_____
Carmack was borrowing his in-memorium caravan image from an earlier McConkie sermon entitled “The Caravan Moves On.”
Not to be outdone, McConkie himself had lifted the caravan metaphor (without attribution, of course) from an old Arab proverb.
McConkie’s sermon (which appeared in the November 1984 issue of the Ensign) likened critics of the Mormon Church to dogs yapping at the heels of the caravan of truth as it plodded ahead, undaunted and undeterred by apostate hounds of hell barking in the rear.
Declared McConkie in solemn, plagiarized tones:
”The Church is like a great caravan--organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of tens and captains of hundreds all in place.
”What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way?
"The caravan moves on.
”Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise.
"The caravan moves on.
”Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford? Such is life in this fallen sphere.
"The caravan moves on.
”Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest.
"Thank God that the caravan moves on!
”In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”
http://www.schoolofabraham.com/caravan.htm
_____
Not to put too much of an uninspired point on it, McConkie’s Christly caravan imagery was purloined from an ancient Arab proverb (which, of course, he didn’t have to give credit to because, thus saith the Lard, he was an Apostle of the Lard who didn't have to give credit to anyone if he didn't want to).
In reality, the caravan line has been a popular go-to image used through time to illustrate all kinds of points of view, McConkie’s anti-dog doctrine being just one of them.
In fact, the popularity of this well-known Arab proverb was recently illustrated when Russian President Vladimir Putin was mentioned in a news article as "recit[ing] a long list of Russia's economic accomplishments during his presidency, dismissing foreign critics of Russia's worthiness for Group of Eight membership with a proverb: ‘The dog keeps barking, but the caravan moves on.’"
http://smh.com.au/news/world/hamas-must-change-now-putin-warns/2006/02/01/1138590568294.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-putin1feb01,0,4490127.story?coll=la-news-
_____
But far from him to give thanks to some lowly, brown-skinned Arab. McConkie took the glory unto himself, although he's not named in history as the proverb's originator:
http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/wosdirectoryd.htm
http://www.famous-quotations.com/asp/proverbs.asp?
http://www.worldofquotes.com/proverb/Arabic/1/
_____
Old myths about supposedly inspired Mormon leaders die hard. (As they say, never let the facts get in the way of a good prophet).
In a talk recently delivered at a Brigham Young University-Idaho Devotional, entitled “Obedience to the Commandments of the Lord,” Kim B. Clark soberly invoked the non-original words of non-inspired McConkie to make a nonsensical point.
" . . .I would like to marry Nephi’s metaphor of the iron rod and the strait and narrow path to another image given us by another prophet, seer, and revelator in our day. I think in so doing we may see new dimensions of the journey and gain deeper understanding of what we must do to obtain eternal life.
"The metaphor I have in mind was given to us by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in a talk he gave in general conference in the fall of 1984."
[Editor's note: No, it wasn't, but go ahead, anyway].
"Let’s listen to Elder McConkie:
"'The Church is like a great caravan--organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its captains of ten and captains of hundreds in place.
"‘What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that predators claim those few who fall by the way?
"The caravan moves on.
"'Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep grade to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters wise.
"'The caravan moves on.
"'Are there storms that rage along the way, floods that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, rivers to ford? Such is life in the fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.
“'Ahead is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who maintain their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest.
"'Thank God that the caravan moves on!'”
http://www.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2005_08_30_ClarkK.htm
_____
Sorry to burst your testimonial bubble, Sister Clark, but Bruce R. McConkie did not give you that inspiring metaphor.
An anonymous Arab--one long lost to history--did.
Time to move on.
**"There is no god but Allah and McConkie's not his prophet."
| | | | Book Of Moron Stories: Wicked Brown-Skinned Lemuel Comes Back From The Dead Posing As A Quaker, Buys The Palymra Home Of Shiftless White-Skinned Joseph Smith Posing As A Prophet
| | Posted Jan 31, 2006, at 08:21 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | forces the lazy deadbeat Smiths to live as tenant farmers because of their in-the-toilet credit rating, then returns to his proper place as a super satanic dude in the Book of Mormon, where he got his just desserts for being such a lousy landlord--by being punished by God with a dark complexion.
So there.
At least that's Joseph Smith's story--and he's stickin' to it.
_____
Who Was Lemuel Durfee and How Did He Know Joseph Smith?
. . . [The Smiths] persuaded one Lemuel Durfee to buy the [Palmyra] farm [where the Smiths took up residence], and county records show that he [Lemuel Durfee] took ownership on December 20, 1825, for $1,135. . . .
A Quaker of the Hicksite persuasion, owner of a woods near Palmyra in which the little Quaker church stood, Durfee apparently treated the Smith family with sympathy.
He gave them a lease on the house and they would remain in it another three years, until December 30, 1828, when they would move to another house a little farther south.
http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/first.htm
_____
The Joseph Smith, Sr. family los[t] the the title to their farm in Manchester. Lemuel Durfee, Sr., the new owner, allow[ed] the Smiths to remain on the property as tenant farmers.
http://olivercowdery.com/history/Cdychrn1.htm
_____
The Smith family built a log home, technically just outside their property, in the town of Palmyra . . .
In 1822, the Smiths began building a larger frame house that was actually on their new property . . .
In 1825, the Smiths were unable to raise money for their final mortgage payment, and their creditor foreclosed on the property.
However, the family was able to persuade a local Quaker, Lemuel Durfee, to buy the farm and rent the Smiths the property.
At the end of 1828, the family moved to another house further south, where they remained until 1830.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_Joseph_Smith,_Jr.
____
When [the father of] Samuel [Harrsion Smith, Joseph Smith's younger brother] . . . missed a mortgage payment on the family farm on the outskirts of Manchester Township near Palmyra, a local Quaker named Lemuel Durfee purchased the land and allowed the Smiths to continue to live there in exchange for Samuel's labor at Durfee's store.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_H._Smith
_____
Lucy Mack Smith mentions in her history that in 1829 her family had moved out of the frame house, which belonged to Lemuel Durfee and his heirs, and went back into their previous log house in the township of Manchester where Hyrum Smith and his family had been living. . . . In this building, Oliver Cowdery prepared the Book of Mormon printer's manuscript in 1829-30 and here individuals visited the Smith family until the Smiths moved to Waterloo, NY in the fall of 1830.
http://www.xmission.com/~research/about/manchester.htm
_____
Sometime in late 1826 the Smiths lost their farm. They had been unable to meet their payments and lacked a thousand dollars of completing the purchase when the land agent in Canandaigua foreclosed the property and sold it to Sheriff Lemuel Durfee.
Although Durfee permitted the Smiths to remain in possession, in consideration of a small annual payment sufficient to pay the interest on the balance, . . . the family was heartbroken--their long ordeal by poverty suffered to no purpose. . . .
This is the arrangement described by Thomas L. Cook [in] Palmyra and Vicinity (Palmyra, 1930), p. 219, although he pictures Durfee as owner of the property from the beginning.
Lucy Mack Smith's confused and pathetic account, Biographical Sketches (Liverpool, 1853), pp. 92-98, 129, at any rate agrees that Durfee "became the possessor of the farm," and that the Smiths remained on it thereafter only at Durfee's pleasure.
It would seem that Lucy's pride makes her insist that they missed only the final payment, for it is inconceivable that they could have contracted to buy the farm in no more than five installments, and even more inconceivable that they would have engaged to pay at the rate of a thouand dollars a year, the sum she says they would have needed to save the farm.
http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/dalemorgan/dalechapter4.htm#Chapter4
_____
Lemuel Durfee knew the Smiths indirectly as a landlord from 1825 to 1829 . . .
http://byustudies2.byu.edu/JSChronology/Articles/10.3Anderson.pdf
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What Lemuel Durfee Thought of Joseph Smith
[Sworn affidavit,] Palmyra, Dec. 4, 1833.
We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family, for a number of years, while they resided near this place, and we have no hesitation in saying, that we consider them destitute of that moral character, which ought to entitle them to the confidence of any community.
They were particularly famous for visionary projects, spent much of their time in digging for money which they pretended was hid in the earth; and to this day, large excavations may be seen in the earth, not far from their residence, where they used to spend their time in digging for hidden treasures.
Joseph Smith, Senior, and his son Joseph, were in particular, considered entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits.
Martin Harris was a man who had acquired a handsome property, and in matters of business his word was considered good; but on moral and religious subjects, he was perfectly visionary--sometimes advocating one sentiment, and sometimes another.
And in reference to all with whom we were acquainted, that have embraced Mormonism from this neighborhood, we are compeled to say, were very visionary, and most of them destitute of moral character, and without influence in this community; and this may account why they were permitted to go on with their impositions undisturbed.
It was not supposed that any of them were possessed of sufficient character or influence to make any one believe their book or their sentiments, and we know not of a single individual in this vicinity that puts the least confidence in their pretended revelations.
[signed by]
Lemuel Durfee [and 50 others]
Manchester, Nov. 3d, 1833.
http://www.angelfire.com/az2/arizonadry/truth/howe.html
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How Lemuel Durfee Made It Into the Book of Mormon
[A] source of inspiration for the Book of Mormon may have been Joseph's own life, neighborhood, family, and friends. . . .
[T]here are various Book of Mormon names such as 'Lemuel,' a wicked character.
This may refer to Lemuel Durfee, a neighbor who in 1825 bought the Smith's farm when they could no longer afford it, thus forcing them to live as tenants.
Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 72, and endnote #61, p. 514; see also, Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, vol. 1, p. 321, footnote #128
_____
Lemuel is a Biblical name (Prov. 31:1, 4) but is was also the name of a neighbor of Joseph Smith, Lemuel Durfee, who signed an affidavit in 1833 that denounced Smith's supposed revelations and accused him of immoral character and vicious habits (See Howe's Mormonism Unvailed, p. 261-62).
Lemuel was one of the bad guys that God cursed, causing him and all his descendants to have dark skin.
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/BOM/topics/lemuel.html
_____
(emphasis added)
| | | | To Mormonism's Cry-Baby Apologists At Fair And Farms: Quit Your Grumping About Criticisms Of The Book Of Mormon And Pick Up The Gauntlet Thrown Down By Orson Pratt
| | Posted Jan 30, 2006, at 07:17 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | "This book must be either true or false. If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from God . . . If false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world; calculated to deceive and ruin millions . . .
"The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such that, if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it, if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it. . . .
"If, after a rigid examination, it be found an imposition, it should he extensively published to the world as such. The evidence and arguments upon which the imposture was detected should be clearly and logically stated, that those who have been sincerely, yet unfortunately, deceived may perceive the nature of the deception, and be reclaimed, and that those who continue to publish the delusion may be exposed and silenced, not by physical force, neither by persecutions, bare assertions, nor ridicule, but by strong and powerful arguments--by evidences adduced from scripture and reason . . .
"But on the other hand, if investigations should prove the Book of Mormon true . . . the American and English nations should utterly reject both the Popish [i.e., Roman Catholic] and Protestant ministry, together with all the churches which have been built up by them or that have sprung from them, as being entirely destitute of authority."
(Orson Pratt, Works: Divine Authority of The Book of Mormon [Liverpool, 1851, pp. 1-2, as quoted in Wayne L. Cowdery, Howard A. Davis and Arthur Vanick, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma [St. Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 2005], p. 18)
Jesus Christ-man-to-God/man, if you can't take the heat, get out of that empty stone box.
But a friendly word of advice to you in the process:
Don't waste too much of your valuable tithe-paying time trying to defend the indefensible.
As has been amply demonstrated by incontrovertible evidence, your "sacred" Book of Mormon is not "a valuable, historical record of pre-Columbian North America" but, rather, "a deception of the first order, perpetrated upon the gullible and the credulous by the very founder of the [Mormon] Church himself, [your] Prophet Joseph Smith."
(ibid., p. 17)
Just thought you'd like to know.
Now, relax, change into something more comfortable than that Masonic underwear of yours and go have a beer. :)
| | | | The "Metcalfe Is Butthead" Affair: Why Farms Is In Absolutely No Position To Criticize The Allegedly Immature And Non-Substantive Claims Of Mormonism's Critics
| | Posted Jan 24, 2006, at 07:29 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | FARMS apologists, reviewers and "researchers" are infamous for savaging critics of the Mormon Church for supposedly being puerile and unsophisticated in the conclusions these skeptics reach about LDS doctrine, practice and history.
Case in point: FARMS premiere offensive lineman (and we do mean "offensive") William Hamblin--in ridiculing Jerald and Sandra Tanner's work, Covering up the Black Hole in the Book of Mormon--pompously declared:
"[T]hey [the Tanners] simply refuse to deal with recent serious Latter-day Saint arguments . . . a perfect picture of the Tanners at the height of their ineptitude . . . completely fails to deal with [current LDS scholarly] interpretation of the Book of Mormon geography and archaeology . . . incapable of seriously dealing with academic studies and issues surrounding questions of archaeology and geography of either the New or old World. . . . [they should] stick to their . . . .facile, ad nauseum demonstrations that Latter-day Saint doctrine bears little relationship to fundamentalist Protestant doctrine." (emphasis added)
Hamblin is the last person to be chiding others for not being serious.
Hamblin himself is about as serious as a whoopie cushion in a church pew.
John Weldon, writing for the "Apologetics Index," points to the stupidly childish FARMS case of "Metcalfe Is Butthead," which exposed Hamblin's breathtaking immaturity in dealing with Mormonism's critics:
"FARMS is, as we know, an acronym for the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies.
"Unfortunately, after reading their reviews, etc., and examining their methods, an acronym equally suited for FARMS would often be: 'Frequent Artless Ridicule Made Simple.'
"This is particularly so in light of the 'Metcalfe is Butthead' acronym fiasco, and similar matters. We mean no disrespect toward the more balanced FARMS writers, but FARMS style and antics are often less than scholarly."
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/cpoint10-4.html
_____
Just what, exactly, was this "fiasco" and how was Hamblin involved in it?
An answer to that question exposes the FARMS boys as engaging (and eventually being caught in) some of the most infantile, imbecilic antics imaginable.
Lecturer John Hatch, in an address at a Sunstone symposium entitled "Why I No Longer Trust the FARMS Review of Books," detailed this extremely unprofessional and embarrassing moment in the history of FARMS's juvenile and scurrilous attacks on Mormonism's critics:
"Mormon book collectors know there is one issue of FARMS Review of Books that is extremely rare. It is the first statement of issue 6:1, the issue that was almost entirely dedicated to reviewing Brent Metcalfe's book, New Approaches to the Book of Mormon: Explorations in Critical Methodology.
"The amount of space spent reviewing Metcalfe and his book is almost three hundred pages.
"However, the important point for book collectors is the review by William Hamblin. In his review, Hamblin originally included an acrostic. An acrostic is something of a code or puzzle hidden within a set of paragraphs or lines. When one takes the first or last letter of the line or paragraph and puts them together, they form a word or phrase, similar to an acronym.
"In this instance, by taking the first letter of every paragraph in the first few pages of Hamblin's review the phrase, 'Metcalfe is Butthead' was formed. After the publisher of the book threatened a lawsuit, FARMS reprinted the issue rewording several of the paragraphs.
"It was an incredibly unprofessional and downright immature move on the part of FARMS. Again, the question of 'why' springs to mind. Why is such a childish and personal attack necessary?
"Another disturbing facet of this story is the fact that the reviewer obviously spent the vast majority of his time trying to form the code that would spell out 'Metcalfe is Butthead' rather than trying to formulate a competent, persuasive review.
"Why?
"That is the question I have for FARMS that has never been answered. Why do they feel that scholars, church members, and even human beings can act the way they have at times and still be taken seriously and have the respect of others?" (emphasis added)
http://www.signaturebooks.com/sigstories2.htm
_____
As Hamblin the Hypocrite so amply demonstrates, walking through a FARMS review is like attempting to cross through a farm's barnyard.
You're quite likely to get some unwelcome material on the bottom of your boots.
| | | | The Day Ezra Taft Benson Let Me Feel His Pacemaker
| | Posted Jan 23, 2006, at 07:48 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | It was January 1987 and, as President of the Mormon Church, he had been flown down from Salt Lake City to Phoenix in order to attend, by invitation of Arizona governor-elect and fellow arch-conservative/Mormon Evan Mecham, the governor-in-waiting's swearing-in ceremony (Mecham, by the way, whom my grandfather warmly referred to in our later conversations as "our man," was eventually impeached, convicted and removed from office by the Arizona legislature for high crimes and misdemeanors).
Anyway, knowing that my grandfather would be leaving Phoenix immediately after the inauguration ceremonies, I left my newspaper offices and hurried over to the airport, where my grandfather's commercial flight was sitting, with him aboard, on the tarmac, preparing to taxi out to the runway and take off.
I was allowed to board the aircraft to visit briefly with him prior to his departure. He was seated in the first-class section, with his suit jacket off. We had a pleasant chat, during which our conversation turned to his health.
My grandfather had been having recent problems with an irregular heartbeat and, consequently, had been fitted with a pacemaker. I asked him where it had been implanted and he pointed to an area just below his collarbone. I asked if I could feel it. He smiled and said I could so I gingerly touched the area through his shirt. It was a small, hard lump.
We chatted some more, then I bid him a fond good-bye and off he went.
In a matter of a few short years, my grandfather was completely out of commission.
He began to deteriorate significantly before the decade was out and by 1993 had suffered a couple of severe cerebral hemorrhages, resulting in massive cranial bleeding and blood clots on his brain, as well having been hit with a heart attack.
For all intents and purposes, these health meltdowns destroyed my grandfather's ability to clearly think, meaningfully speak or effectively administer the affairs of the Church. (Even Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell, in private conversations with me, admitted that my grandfather wasn't in any position to carry out his functions as Church president. Oaks said, in fact, that his condition was getting worse, not better. Maxwell chimed in, telling me that when Church members inquired as to my grandfather's health, he [Maxwell] simply replied that Ezra Taft Benson wasn't in pain).
In short, the window in which Ezra Taft Benson was able to actually lead the Church as its president/prophet in any substantive and personal way turned out to be quite small and short-lived.
He eventually died of congestive heart failure, without having had much of an opportunity to run the show on his own.
Which raises the question:
Where was the Lord's hand in guiding the physicians who cared for him?
What the supposedly divinely-appointed doctors did to try to patch up the president of God's church, so that he could run the affairs of the Lord's Kingdom on earth, obviously didn't work very well or last very long.
Where was Jesus to spit in the dirt and rub a little mud on Ezra Taft Benson (kind of like when Jesus healed the blind man), when my grandfather needed it most?
It appears that the Mormon God's heath care system isn't very effective, even for its most favored patients.
| | | | Clear Evidence That Joseph Smith Plagiarized The Writings Of Solomon Spaulding In The Creation Of The Book Of Mormon
| | Posted Jan 23, 2006, at 07:43 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Clear evidence that Joseph Smith plagiarized the writings of Solomon Spaulding in the creation of the Book of Mormon got Dallin Oaks to privately admit that portions of the Book of Mormon may have been ripped off from other sources--but that even if they were, it was no big deal.
Vernal Holley's important work, "Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look," served as a major reference point for my wife Mary Ann and me when we took our concerns about the Book of Mormon and other LDS matters to Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell in September of 1993. We met with them to ask questions and obtain answers to our questions in Maxwell's downtown Salt Lake City office, located at that time in the Church Administration Building.
We, in fact, spent a great deal of time on the subject of Book of Mormon plagiarisms and the "Spaulding Manuscript," much of it precipitated by Holley's research.
Holley's work on parellelisms between the Book of Mormon and the "Spaulding Manuscript" (in terms of both word choice and story narrative) were stunning.
Perhaps even more impressive was a map of the Great Lakes region which Holley had superimposed over a proposed map of Book of Mormon geography. The similarities--not only topographically but also in terms of place names, based on Native American-languaged locations--were undeniable.
It was during our discussion with Oaks and Maxwell about these matters that Oaks ultimately acknowledged that parts of the Book of Mormon might be plagiarzed but compared belief in it to an imperfect marriage: You don't abandon the marriage, he said, just because it's not altogether right.
My wife Mary Ann began our discussion with Oaks and Maxwell on the Book of Mormon by explaining to them that she was sincerely trying to do what the Church had admonished its members to do: namely, study the scriptures.
She informed them that the more she examined Mormonism's scriptural texts, the more she found contradictions between the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. Mary Ann informed the two apostles that she was having a difficult time reconciling those contradictions. Therefore, she said, she decided to undertake her own personal study of the Book of Mormon--but from another point of view.
She took out a well-used, paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and showed Oaks and Maxwell what she had done with it. Opening the book and thumbing through its pages, she demonstrated to them how she, in seminary scripture study cross-referencing style, had color-coded the text for the "Spalding Manuscript," B.H. Roberts' study of parallels between Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon, the King James text of the Book of Isaiah and the King James text of the New Testament--with particular emphasis on the Book of Mormon timeline from 600 BC to 1 BC, when the words of the New Testament had not yet been written.
She then pointed out to Oaks and Maxwell 17 parallels she had discovered between the lives of the Book of Mormon prophet Alma and the New Testament apostle Paul.
She also directed their attention to wording in Alma's letters that was found in exactly the same language as that in Paul's. Mary Ann asked Oaks and Maxwell to explain to her how these things could find their way into the Book of Mormon.
Mary Ann said she noticed how Oaks jumped more eagerly at her question than did Maxwell and how he became quite animated during this portion of the discussion. She also later noted to me that Oaks was, in some ways, "a little condescending" to her.
Oaks told Mary Ann, "Well, you know, as you've thumbed through your book, it only appears to me that 5% of your book has been marked, so I would say don't throw out the 95% because of the 5%. Don't take the 5% that you have serious questions about and cast out the 95% that is unexplained or, as Steve said, divinely inspired."
He continued, "It's like being married to our wives. I'm sure there's more than 5% of me that my wife finds disagreement with, but she puts up with it anyway. It's kind of like being married to the Book of Mormon. Don't let your doubts keep you out of the mainstream."
Oaks and Maxwell challenged Mary Ann to read them something from the "Spalding Manuscript" that she felt found parallel in the Book of Mormon.
Mary Ann initially chose an example in which Spalding described fortresses and earthen banks defended by spikes placed at intervals apart from one another, in order to prevent arrows from coming through. (She later said to me she wished she had offered a better example. Nonetheless, she felt--and I agreed--that it was a comparison of substance).
Mary Ann showed Oaks Holley's "Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look," pamphlet, which laid out, among other things, strikingly parallel word combinations between the "Spalding Manuscript" and The Book of Mormon.
Oaks' response was that many of the comparisons were "insignificant" and "almost superficial." He dismissed them as being unimportant, arguing that they reflected general concepts which were typical of the day in which Joseph Smith lived. I replied that I thought the precise ordering of the words in both texts seemed "more than coincidental." Oaks rejected that position. He insisted that the phrases in question represented "common ideas" one could share "across culture and time."
Further, he noted, there was no doctrinal content in the parallels. He asked, "Where's the doctrine? You've only shown me these technical points."
I therefore mentioned that the doctrine of polygamy--which was expressly forbidden in the Book of Mormon unless specifically authorized by God--was also the same doctrine found in the "Spalding Manuscript"--namely, that the practice was forbidden unless divine permission was granted.
I also pointed out to Oaks the shared centrality between the Book of Mormon and the "Spalding Manuscript" in stories featuring a divine figure (Christ, in the Book of Mormon and Labanska, a great teacher in the "Spalding Manuscript"). I encouraged Oaks to read the "Spalding Manuscript" for himself. Oaks, however, was dismissive of Spalding's work and refused to take the offer seriously.
Instead, Oaks offered me some counsel of his own. "You ought to go through the Book of Mormon," he said, "and color in all the differences and emphasize the unique and special teachings of the Book of Mormon that don't have any similarities to other sources." (However, Mary Ann's point for being at the meeting in the first place, as she herself said, was not to talk about or debate differences between the Book of Mormon and Spalding texts; rather, she wanted to get answers regarding their similarities in areas of story lines, exact wording, etc).
*****
A personal sidenote on Holley:
Holley lived in Roy, Utah, where he died a few years ago. I telephoned him one day and expressed to him my thanks for the research he had done--informing him how pivotal it had been in helping me reach my own conclusions about the falsity of the Book of Mormon.
Holley was quite gracious and shared some of his own experieces regarding his personal sojourn away from Mormonism. He told me that during the course of his own studies, he began asking questions of his local Church leaders about the Book of Mormon which no one could, or seemed willing, to answer.
So, Holley just continued to plug away doing his own research. (A BYU professor eventually referred me to Holley's Book of Mormon studies, telling me that, in this professor's opinion, it significantly undermined the veracity of the Book of Mormon and, in fact, noted that Holley's work had had an effect on the beliefs of some Mormons whom this professor knew).
For a link to the entire contents of Holley's masterful expose' of the Book of Mormon as plagiarized fiction, see:
http://sidneyrigdon.com/vern/vernP0.htm
| | | | From Commie Basher To Rock 'n Roll Trasher: The Legacy Of The Late, Latter-Day Looney Cleon Skousen
| | Posted Jan 21, 2006, at 09:34 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | W. Cleon Skousen was, without a doubt, a real piece of work who, despite his schmoozings of top Mormon leadership, ultimately became an official LDS embarrassment
In the wake of Skousen's recent death, below are some observations assembled from my personal Ezra Taft Benson and Skousen files (combined with research from other sources in my home library) on Skousen's colorful, controversial life and his bizarre mix of apocalyptic religious/political beliefs:
CLEON CLINGS ON TO McKAY: SKOUSEN'S INSIDE TRACK WITH THE MORMON CHURCH HIERARCHY
President David O. McKay's Official Mormon Church Blessing of Skousen's Radical Right-wing Agenda
In 1962 LDS General Conference, McKay recommended that members of the Church avail themselves of Skousen’s book, The Naked Communist, declaring:
“I admonish everybody to read that excellent book of [former FBI agent and then-Salt Lake City Police] Chief Skousen’s.”
(David O. McKay, “Preach the Word,” Improvement Era, 62 [December 1959], p. 912, quoted in D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1997], p. 82)
In his officially Mormon-blessed book, Skousen warned readers to be on the alert against a worldwide Marxist revolution dedicated to:
. . . “the total annihilation of all opposition, the downfall of all existing governments, all economies and all societies,” through the creation of “a regimented breed of Pavlovian men whose minds could be triggered into immediate action by signals from their masters.”
To fight the international Red menace, Skousen extolled Brigham Young University as a pre-eminent religious training ground in the “war of ideologies” and urged concerned parents:
“We should not sit back and wait for our boys and girls to be indoctrinated with materialistic dogma and thereby make themselves vulnerable to a Communist conversion when they are approached by the agents of force and fear who come from across the sea.”
(W. Cleon Skousen, The Naked Communist [Salt Lake City, Utah: Ensign Publishing Company, 1958], pp. 2, 377-378)
_____
SKEPTICAL OF SKOUSEN'S RABID RADICALISM: AN OPPOSING NON-MORMON VIEW
Shining an altogether different light on Skousen’s work, Richard Dudam, author of the book, Men of the Far Right, wrote:
“Skousen’s book, The Naked Communist, is a Bible of the right-wing movement and is promoted heavily by many of the extremist groups. In it, he asserts that the first Russian sputnik was built with plans stolen from the United States after World War II and that President Batista, the former Cuban dictator, was really a sincere, pro-labor, popular ruler.
"Skousen advises legislators to overthrow Supreme Court restrictions on actions against persons suspected of being communists. He urges businessmen . . . to seek help from the American Security Council [a Chicago-based group of ‘right-wing military men and businessmen’ that operated ‘a private loyalty-security blacklist where employers could check their employees and job applicants for indications of left-wing connections.’]”
_____
SKOUSEN'S BEWILDERING BACKGROUND
Salt Lake City’s Fired Totalitarian Police Chief
Skousen was removed from his post as Salt Lake’s police chief by then-city mayor J. Bracken Lee, who called him “an incipient Hitler” who “ran the [SLC] police department in exactly the same manner as the Communists in Russia operate their government.”
(Dudman, Men of the Far Right [New York, New York: Pyramid Books, 1962], pp. 127-28)
_____
Super Supporter of Far-Right Anti-Communist Crusades
Skousen was an active barnstormer and speaker for Fred C. Schwartz’s ”Christian Anti-Communist Crusade.” Life Magazine noted that Schwartz “preached doomsday by Communism in 1973 unless every American starts distrusting his neighbor.”
(Dudman, pp. 8, 118)
_____
Diehard Defender of the John Birch Society Against Alleged International Communist Plotters
Although not an official member of the John Birch Society, Skousen was a die-hard supporter, serving as an active cohort in its “American Opinion Speakers Bureau,” which included among its Far Right allies my uncle and high-ranking Birch Society officer, Reed Benson.
(Benjamin R. Epstein and Arnold Forster, Report on the John Birch Society 1966, [New York, New York: Vintage Books, 1966], p. 95.
In 1963, Skousen published a pamphlet, “The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society,” in which he claimed that the Birch Society had been “dishonestly ridiculed and smeared at the instigation of the international Communist conspiracy.”
He further claimed that the Birch Society was “marked for annihilation because it was becoming highly successful in awakening the American people.”
He also accused Americans who criticized the Bircher Society as “promoting the official Communist party line.”
(Skousen, “The Communist Attack on the John Birch Society” [Salt Lake City, Utah: Ensign Publishing Company, 1963], pp. 11-12)
_____
SKOUSEN'S INCENDIARY CLAIM THAT COMMUNISTS WERE BEHIND ATTACKS ON THE MORMON CHURCH'S RACIST ANTI-BLACK DOCTRINE
In 1970, amid growing college protests against BYU sports teams for the LDS Church’s anti-Black priesthood policy, Skousen published a tabloid featuring the screaming headline, “The Communist Attack on the Mormons.”
The article asserted that:
" . . . [Professional] Communist-oriented revolutionary groups have been spearheading the wave of protests and violence directed toward Brigham Young University and the Mormon Church,” [employing] “Marxism and Maoism as their ideological base and terror tactics as their method . . .”
Skousen warned that Communists were plotting to manipulate press reports into depicting the Mormon Church as being “rich, priest-ridden, racist, super-authoritarian and conservative to the point of being archaically reactionary.”
He claimed that, in fact, the Mormon Church was one of the Communists’ “prime TARGETS FOR ATTACK” because it is “STRONGLY PRO-AMERICAN” and that the ‘Negro-priesthood issue” was being used as a “SMOKESREEN” to “further their ulterior motives.”
Citing Ezra Taft Benson’s speech, “Civil Rights: Tool of Communist Deception,” he warned that Communist-inspired assaults on the Mormon Church were designed to:
" . . . create resentment and hatred between the races by distorting the religious tenet of the Church regarding the Negro and blowing it up to ridiculous proportions."
(“Special Report by National Research Group,” American Fork, Utah, 84003, March 1970, p. 1, emphasis in original)
_____
SKOUSEN'S FOUNDING OF THE EXTREMIST, BOOK OF MORMON-BASED FREEMAN INSTITUTE AND HIS SOLICITATION OF EZRA TAFT BENSON'S SUPPORT
Skousen eventually established the Freeman Institute in Provo, Utah. The group derived its name from the Book of Mormon “freemen” and initially drew many Mormon Birchers into its ranks. My father, Mark Benson, was the Institute’s “Vice President in Charge of Development” and my grandfather formally spoke to its members.
(Quinn, pp. 109-111).
_____
SKOUSEN'S DIRE WARNING TO EZRA TAFT BENSON OF AN INTERNATIONAL SCHEME FOR ONE-WORLD GOVERNMENT, ORCHESTRATED BY WALL STREET BANKERS
In a letter sent to my grandfather (which, despite its form fundraising format, my grandfather marked in red pen with a handwritten notation, “Confidential”), Skousen warned:
". . . [The] so-called ‘Council on Foreign Relations’ [has been] “set up . . . to groom ambitious one-world political personalities for leadership in all major departments of the American government from the President on down. . . .
“Their latest triumph was the election of Jimmy Carter. . . .”
Skousen ominously claimed that “members of the Establishment have directed foreign policy from Wall Street in the past.” He told my grandfather that because of President Gerald R. For, Nelson Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger and other “master-planners,” the “foreign-policy establishment of Wall Street bankers and lawyers . . . moved into the very heart of the Establishment and took over.”
Skousen further declared:
“I wonder how people who say there is ‘no such thing as a conspiracy’ will deal with this one?”
He also forewarned Ezra Taft Benson that the one-world planners intended to celebrate the upcoming “200 anniversary of the United States Constitution by scrapping it.”
In an apocalyptic conclusion to his letter, Skousen, under the sub-heading “We Need Millions of Freeman,” told my grandfather:
“I don’t know how all this affects you, but it puts a fire in my veins. I hope that in this coming year we can double or triple the number of Freeman and eventually we can challenge these advocates of world serfdom and drive them out of power. . . . I pray it will happen soon. And we must do everything we can to help make it happen. That’s what you are helping to accomplish, and I am grateful to you for your support.
“See you next month!”
(W. Cleon Skousen, letter to “Elder Benson,” January 1977, copy in my possession)
_____
SKOUSEN'S FULL-THROATED ASSAULT ON SATANIC ROCK MUSIC--WITH EZRA TAFT BENSON'S FULL-HEARTED ENCOURAGEMENT
In my personal library I discoverd a book that once belonged to my grandfather entitled, Rock 'N' Reality: Mirrors of Rock Music--Its Relationship to Sex, Drugs, Family & Religion, by Mormon author and BYU graduate E. Lynn Balmforth [Hawkes Publications: Salt Lake City, Utah, 1971].
My grandfather apparently had a special fondness for this thin, paperback volume. He had signed his name in his big, flamboyant style above the title on the front cover, along with noting in the upper right-hand corner of same, "Return to E.T.B." He further autographed the inside of the front cover, along with noting the date--February 18, 1972--that he received it. He very much seemed to want to make sure he never lost it.
The book's "Preface" was authored by Skousen, obviously one of Ezra Taft Benson's closest ideological allies. My grandfather had dog-earred the first page of that section and underlined several of its passages in ballpoint pen.
In the left-hand margin next to the third and fourth paragraphs of the first page, respectively, he wrote the words "on card" and "card," indicating that he wanted these particular passages transferred to his typed card file, which he used as a sermon resource.
My grandfather highlighted, via underlining and/or margin brackets, the following from Skousen's words of warning:
"We've combined youth, music, sex, drugs, and rebellion with treason!'
"This was the way Jerry Rubin, chieftain of the Yippies, described the current assault on America's up-coming generation in his book, DO IT!
"Later, in a speech at Salt Lake City, Utah, he said: 'Rock 'n' Roll is the center of the Revolution!'
"Americans are well aware that there has been a revolution. In morals. In manners. In speech. In crime rates. In riots. In violence. In drugs. In sex. In pornography. In politics. In movies. In education. In music.
"What most of us failed to realize at the moment was how important the music revolution would become. It turned out to be the catalyst for all the rest. It became the prod to promote drugs, the advertiser of sex in the hedonism manner, the mind-conditioner for four-letter gutter speech, and eventually the blatant propaganda funnel for political subversion. It also became the seductive Jezebel for a modern philosophy of no God, of Man as merely a graduate beast of the jungle, of Jesus Christ as a phoney actor--a superstar, of peace and prosperity being possible only under communism, of America as the enemy of the world, of Russia as the hope of the world."
(p. 3)
Turning the page, Skousen continued his tirade against rock music, while my grandfather's marking pen took a momentary break:
"Just as a sampler, here are the lyrics to America's number-one-hit-recording at the moment of this writing. It is by John Lennon and is called, 'Imagine.'
'Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people,
Living for today.
'Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.
'Imagine no possessions.
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger--
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world.
'You may say I'm a dreamer,
But I'm not the only one.
I hope someday you'll join us,
And the world will be as one.'"
(p. 4)
Skousen continued his message of clear-and-present danger:
"I observe that many young people have taken from this song only the theme of 'brotherhood' and 'all the world for all the people.'"
At this point, Ezra Taft Benson's marking pen picked up again, as he underlined Skousen's next words:
"However, the professional debunkers who were behind the engineering of this song took colossal satisfaction from the fact that they are succeeding in getting tens of millions of young Americans to mouth the artfully planted brain teasers of 'no heaven,' 'no hell,' 'above us only sky,' 'no countries,' 'nothing to kill or die for,' 'no religion,' 'no possessions,' and 'all the world as one.'"
At this point, my grandfather's marking notes temporarily ceased, as Skousen climatically rolled forth:
"Yes, it's turning out to be quite a revolution."
(p. 5)
Skousen somberly concluded the "Preface" with this gloomy prediction, highlighted once more by Ezra Taft Benson's pen:
"The problem expertly treated in ths book by Mr. Balmforth is of historical significance. This problem may turn out to be a major factor which contributed to the downfall of civilization."
(p. 6)
_____
THE MORMON CHURCH FINALLY PUTS OFFICIAL DISTANCE BETWEEN ITSELF AND SKOUSEN
Following McKay’s death, the LDS Church “found it necessary to counter the now-familiar pattern of Mormon ultra-conservatives to imply church endorsement.”
(Quinn, p. 110)
In a letter “[t]o All Stake Presidents, Bishops, and Branch Presidents in the United States,” the First Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball dictated the following, gingerly-worded order:
“It has come to our attention that in some areas announcements have been made in Church meetings of lectures to be given by those connected with the Freemen Institute. This is to inform you that no announcements should be made in Church meetings of these, or other similar, lectures or events that are not under the sponsorship of the Church.
“This instruction is not intended to express any disapproval of the right of the Freemen Institute and its lecturers to conduct such meetings or of the contents of the lectures. The only purpose is to make certain that neither Church facilities nor Church meetings are used to advertise such events and to avoid any implication that the Church endorses what is said during such lectures.”
(letter from the Office of the First Presidency, Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, Marion G. Romney, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, 15 February 1979, copy in my possession)
| | | | Ezra Taft Benson's Private Temple Meetings With The Quorum Of The Twelve
| | Posted Jan 17, 2006, at 11:31 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | In another thread, "Anon" asked the question:
Steve Benson: Can you comment on whether the special meeting tradition existed when ETB entered the Q12?
I am curious to know how old this doctrine is. I thought perhaps your grandfather may have said something to his family in this regard.
My grandfather used to, on occasion, mention to me and other family members how much he enjoyed and valued assembling with the Quorum of the Twelve in their weekly, private meeting held in the Salt Lake Temple. These meetings, as I recall, were held on Thursdays.
When my grandfather would speak of those meetings, he would frequently emphasize how united the Brethren were; in essence, how they were the Lord's tightly-knit Band of Brothers: unified in purpose in spreading the Gospel as the Lord's special witnesses.
He would also mention how much he loved the Brethren.
In fact, he would speak almost tenderly of the Quorum of the Twelve, as he talked about the temple meetings he had with them. He seemed to have a genuine personal kinship with these fellows that he clearly regarded as both unique and sacred.
Now, on the other hand, when I met privately with Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell in September of 1993, Oaks blurted out to me that his loyalty to the Church president only went so far.
Oaks vowed he would "march from sunup to sundown" in following the prophet on a particular teaching but declared to me that "if the prophet was to come out and say that we are no longer going to preach the Book of Mormon as true," he "would look around for an affirmation of that by the Quorum of the Twelve."
Ultimately, as my grandfather became increasingly enfeebled, he would be wheelchaired into these temple meetings with the Quorum and became less and less involved in the discussions held there.
| | | | What Might Joseph Smith Have Eventually Succumbed To, If Not Bullets?
| | Posted Jan 16, 2006, at 04:12 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Postulating on Joseph Smith's Adulterating
If Mormon charlatan and skirt-chasin' "prophet" Joseph Smith hadn't been shot out of a jail cell window at the tender age of 39 while being held for ordering the destruction a newspaper printshop in a vain and criminal effort to cover his cheatin'-heart tracks, what are the chances that a deadly attack of syphilis might have eventually done him in?
_____
Scientific Evidence That Polygamy is a Prime Spreader of Syphilis
While there is no evidence that at that time of his death Smith was infected with syphilis, it is an historically-documented fact that he was a notoriously lecherous polygamist--and thus a looming target for infection.
It is also a documented fact that polygamy is often a leading cause of syphilis in societies where it is widely practiced.
Recent scientific case studies of communities from Africa to the tropics in which polgyamy is culturally accepted and encouraged indicate that it can be a clear contributor to the onslaught of this dreaded sexually-transmitted disease:
". . . [P]olygamy . . . [is a ] factor aiding the spread of . . . diseases [such as syphilis] . . . "
http://sti.bmjjournals.com/cgi/conten...
_____
". . . [S]yphilis . . . [is] on the increase . . . [where] . . . environmental factors contribut[ing] to [its] . . . . transmission . . . includ[e] polygamy . . ."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/qu...
_____
Joseph Smith: A Deadly Disease Waiting to Happen?
As a matter of record, Mormonism's out-of-control "prophet"/polygamist Joseph Smith had at least 33 wives (in the flesh, so to speak) and engaged in sex with many of them:
"Faithful LDS member and historian Todd Compton has found solid documentation for Smith marriages to 33 women while he was alive. . . .
"Compton writes:
"'In the group of Smith's well-documented wives, eleven (33 percent) were 14 to 20 years old when they married him. Nine wives (27 percent) were twenty-one to thirty years old. Eight wives (24 percent) were in Smith's own peer group, ages thirty-one to forty. In the group aged forty-one to fifty, there is a substantial drop off: two wives, or 6 percent, and three (9 percent) in the group aged fifty-one to sixty.'
"'The teenage representation is the largest, though the twenty-year and thirty-year groups are comparable, which contradicts the Mormon folk-wisdom that sees the beginnings of polygamy was an attempt to care for older, unattached women.
"'These data suggest that sexual attraction was an important part of the motivation for Smith's polygamy. In fact, the command to multiply and replenish the earth was part of the polygamy theology, so non-sexual marriage was generally not in the polygamous program, as Smith taught it.' . . .
"Compton [continues]:
"'. . . Utah Mormons (including Joseph's wives) affirmed repeatedly that Joseph had physical sexual relations with his plural wives-despite the Victorian conventions in nineteenth-century American religion which otherwise would have prevented mention of sexual relations in marriage.'
"- Faithful Mormon Melissa Lott (Smith Willes) testified that she had been Joseph's wife 'in very deed' (affidavit of Melissa Willes, 3 August 1893, Temple Lot case, pp. 98, 105; Foster, Religion and Sexuality, p. 156).
"- In a court affidavit, faithful Mormon Joseph Noble wrote that Joseph told him he had spent the night with Louisa Beaman (Temple Lot Case, p. 427).
"- Emily D. Partridge (Smith Young) said she "roomed" with Joseph the night following her marriage to him and said that she had 'carnal intercourse' with him. (Temple Lot case [complete transcript], pp. 364, 367, 384; see Foster, Religion and Sexuality, p. 15).
"In total, 13 faithful Latter-day Saint women who were married to Joseph Smith swore court affidavits that they had sexual relations with him.
"- Joseph Smith's personal secretary records that on May 22, 1843, Smith's first wife Emma found Joseph and Eliza Partridge secluded in an upstairs bedroom at the Smith home. Emma was devastated (William Clayton's journal entry for 23 May [1843]; see Smith, pp. 105-106).
"- Smith's secretary William Clayton also recorded a visit to young Almera Johnson on May 16, 1843: 'Prest. Joseph and I went to B[enjamin] F. Johnsons to sleep.' Johnson himself later noted that on this visit Smith stayed with Almera 'as man and wife' and 'occupied the same room and bed with my sister, that the previous month he had occupied with the daughter of the late Bishop Partridge as his wife.'
"Almera Johnson also confirmed her secret marriage to Joseph Smith: 'I lived with the prophet Joseph as his wife and he visited me at the home of my brother Benjamin F.' (Zimmerman, I Knew the Prophets, p. 44; see also The Origin of Plural Marriage, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., Deseret News Press, pp. 70-71)
"- Faithful Mormon and Stake President Angus Cannon told Joseph Smith's son: 'Brother Heber C. Kimball, I am informed, asked [Eliza R. Snow] the question if she was not a virgin although married to Joseph Smith and afterwards to Brigham Young, when she replied in a private gathering, "I thought you knew Joseph Smith better than that"' (Stake President Angus M. Cannon, statement of interview with Joseph III, p. 23, LDS archives).
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/joseph_smith_sex.htm
_____
Playing the Odds on Joseph Smith: Modern-day LDS Prophet--or Future-day STD Promoter?
Supposing Latter-day Saint bed-hoppin,' women-boppin' Joseph Smith had somehow managed to dodge those Carthage bullets and lived to philander another day, what are the chances he might have eventually fallen prey to the insidious sexually-transmitted disease of syphilis, thanks to his predatory, promiscuous, polygamous practices?
Talk about spreadin' the Mormon gospel.
| | | | The Day Bruce R. Mcconkie Out-And-Out Lied To My Face
| | Posted Jan 12, 2006, at 08:05 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: A Personal Meeting with Bruce R. McConkie—In Which He Blatantly Lied to Me
When I was a student at Brigham Young University in the 1970s, I decided to do a research paper on the official LDS position on organic evolution. Much of my effort to write an accurate account on the subject involved repeated, and often frustrating, attempts to solicit answers from the Mormon Church hierachy.
During my research, I personally met and spoke with Apostle Bruce R. McConkie.
An account of that meeting follows below, taken from personal notes I made of our discussion, which took place at McConkie's private residence, 260 Dorchester Drive, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, 7 July 1980, from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m.
____
Ezra Taft Benson Arranges the Meeting
On the day of my conversation with McConkie, I had visited earlier, for approximately three-and-a-half hours, with my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, then-president of the Council of the Twelve, in his Salt Lake City apartment, located in the Bonneville Towers, 777 East South Temple.
During that discussion, my grandfather suggested that it might be good for me to speak directly with McConkie on this matter.
Still a true-believing Mormon at the time, I replied that I would consider it to be a great honor to meet a man whom I considered to be one of the greatest living scriptorians in the Church.
I added, however, that I did not want to be an imposition. My grandfather assured me that McConkie would be happy to speak with me, assuming that an appropriate time and place could be arranged.
I told my grandfather I would be available to meet with him anytime, anywhere, and would only want to take a few minutes of his time to clarify in my own mind some of the important questions that seemed (at least to me) to be in need of definitive answers regarding the official position of the Mormon Church on the theory of organic evolution.
At this point (approximately 3:45 p.m.), as I looked on, my grandfather went over to the phone and made a personal call to McConkie, who was still in his Church office.
After chatting with McConkie for a few minutes, my grandfather hung up and informed me that the meeting had been arranged for 5:30 that same afternoon, at McConkie's home.
Once the initial excitement had subsided somewhat, I expressed concern to my grandfather that, in the upcoming question-and-answer session with McConkie, I did not want to appear to be lacking faith and testimony in McConkie's divine calling and apostleship.
In particular, I was somewhat anxious that my inquiries, although sincere, might be misinterpreted and prove offensive to McConkie, who was known for his forthright, umcompromising views--which views appeared to some to reflect a certain degree of sternness and even harshness, when "laying down the line" in areas of Mormon Church doctrine.
My grandfather reassured me that McConkie was "a very gracious man," with sons my own age (I was a 26-year-old BYU student at the time). He encouraged me to be as frank with McConkie in my questioning as I had been with him.
_____
Close Encounters of the Bruce Kind
By coincidence, I had already planned to meet my father in downtown Salt Lake City after my visit with my grandfather and be driven to my parents' residence, where I was staying during summer vacation.
When I slid into the front seat of my father's car at 5:15 that afternoon and informed him of the scheduled meeting with McConkie in 15 minutes, he was pleasantly surprised. He offered to take me to McConkie's home, which I hoped he would do, since I had no other means of getting there in the few minutes remaining before the scheduled appointment.
As we drove to McConkie's home, I told my father that while I was certainly not adverse to having him sit in on my conversation with McConkie, I regarded the visit as a unique one-on-one opportunity to ask McConkie whatever questions I felt were necessary to provide a clearer understanding of Mormon doctrinal matters.
My father said he understood and offered to drop me off at McConkie's home, then return to pick me up after our visit was concluded. I did not feel that was necessary and suggested that we "play it by ear."
If McConkie invited both of us into his home, as I expected he would, I felt I would not be inhibited, as long as my father honored my request to be able to interact freely with McConkie, without interruption--no matter how well-intentioned that interruption might be.
McConkie greeted us warmly at the door, presenting an image quite different from the Bruce the Concrete-Hearted that I, and millions of others, had come to expect from his stiff-as-a-board-for-the-Lord Conference talks.
He was dressed in an open-necked yellow sports shirt, slacks and house slippers. (And all this time I thought he had been born in a dark blue suit).
He turned to me, grinned and asked if there was anything I did not want my father to hear during our conversation.
I said no, whereupon McConkie ushered us into his comfortable, sun-lit living room. My father and I sat on a sofa, approximately ten feet across from McConkie, who seated himself in a chair next to a lampstand on which rested his scriptures and some other papers.
His demeanor was relaxed and served to help put me at ease. The atmosphere throughout our conversation was open and friendly. McConkie encouraged me, on more than one occasion during our discussion, not to hesitate in asking whatever I wanted.
In keeping with my previous request, my father sat and listened silently.
_____
McConkie Manipulates and Misleads on His Mormon Doctrine
During our discussion, which focused primarily on the subject of the Mormon Church’s official position on organic evolution, attention turned briefly to the Roman Catholic Church.
McConkie had asserted to me that while the Mormon Church, institutionally and as a matter of official doctrine, opposed organic evolution, the Church was not going to say so because McConkie, told me, it did not want to pick fights with its vulnerable members.
He explained, "It's a matter of temporizing, of not making a statement to prevent the driving out of the weak Saints. It's a question of wisdom, not of truth."
He compared it to calling the Catholic Church "the Church of the Devil." He said while such a statement was true, one had to be careful about saying it, so as not to offend Catholics.
I asked McConkie why, in fact, his reference to the Roman Catholic Church as the "Church of the Devil" had been removed from the 2nd edition of his book, Mormon Doctrine.
McConkie insisted to me that it was excised not because it was not doctrinally sound but because it was too difficult for people to accept.
In essence, McConkie’s explanation for his original reference (as it appeared in the 1958 first edition of Mormon Doctrine) to the Roman Catholic Church as the "Church of the Devil" being expunged from in its subsequent 1966 re-publication was, he said, a matter of good manners and sensitivity--and had nothing to do with the theological truth of his claim.
At that point in my travels through Mormonism's maze of muck, I didn't know any better but to accept what McConkie told me as being factual.
The trouble was, McConkie’s smiling assertion turned out to be a bald-face lie.
It has been exposed as such by the emergence of documents which were generated at the highest levels of the Mormon Church during the swirl of controversy that erupted when Mormon Doctrine was first published.
____
McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine Was Never Accepted By the LDS Church President As Official Mormon Dogma
Faithful Mormons often cite McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine as an authoritative volume on official LDS doctrine.
However, its initial publication was not only unauthorized, but met by then-President David O. McKay and other General Authorities with both surprise and objection.
In the wake of its unapproved appearance, McKay directed that a review be made of the book’s contents and a report submitted to him, along with recommendations on how to deal with it problematic publication.
_____
A Confidential, Top-Level Analysis of McConkie's Mormon Doctrine Concluded That It Was Full of Misinformation, Insults and Unauthoritative Claims
An analysis of McConkie’s book was subsequently conducted by Apostles Marion G. Romney and Mark E. Petersen, wherein they noted the book’s numerous doctrinal errors, objectionable language, discourteous tone and questionable claims.
Recommendation was made that McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine not be republished, that it be repudiated and that in the future no book be published by any of the Brethren without first obtaining First Presidency approval.
McKay agreed with the suggestion that Mormon Doctrine not be republished and directed that restrictions be placed on future independent book publishing by the General Authorities.
The First Presidency also issued a private, face-to-face reprimand to McConkie, whereupon McConkie promised to behave.
Below are documents which include McKay’s officially-directed report on the book’s contents (authored by Apostle Romney), as well as excerpts from McKay’s contemporary office journal on the controversy surrounding the book and the resolution of the problems its publication had created for McKay and the Church.
(These documents were originally copied with permission of the LDS Church Archivist. The original Romney letter and its attached copy of the Mormon Doctrine manuscript are in the First Presidency’s Office. Reproductions of those copies are in my possession and—as are so many other damning evidences against the Mormon Church—now available on the Internet):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bruce_R._McConkie
Also cited below are letters authorized by McKay which were sent out to inquiring Church members after publication of McConkie's Mormon Doctrine, declaring that it and other books published by individual General Authorities did not represent the official position of the LDS Church.
(Copies of these letters are also in my possession, as well as available via the so-called "Mormon underground").
_____
Report from Marion G. Romney to David O. McKay
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Council of the Twelve
47 E. South Temple
Salt Lake City, Utah
January 28, 1959 . . .
Dear President McKay:
This is my report on MORMON DOCTRINE, by Bruce R. McConkie, which on January 5, you asked me to read.
The book is a 776 page work which, in the words of the author, purports to be, ‘the first major attempt to digest, explain, and analyze all of the important doctrines of the kingdom . . . . . the first extensive compendium of the whole gospel—the first attempt to publish an encyclopedic commentary covering the whole field of revealed religion.’
‘For the work itself,’ the author assumes the ‘sole and full responsibility.’ (Exhibit I) (The exhibits cited in this report consist of printed pages from the book. The statements in point are underscored in red.)
Preparation of the volume has entailed much study and research. Its favorable reception evidences a felt need for such a treatise.
The author is an able and thorough student of the gospel. In many respects he has produced a remarkable book. Properly used, it quickly introduces the student to the authorities on most any gospel subject.
As to the book itself, notwithstanding its many commendable and valuable features and the author’s assumption of ‘sole and full responsibility’ for it, its nature and scope and the authoritative tone of the style in which it is written pose the question as to the propriety of the author’s attempting such a project without assignment and supervision from him whose right and responsibility it is to speak for the Church on ‘Mormon Doctrine.’ Had the work been authoritatively supervised, some of the following matters might have been omitted and the treatment of others modified. [emphasis added]
A. Reference to churches and other groups who do not accept ‘Mormon Doctrine’.
1. ‘Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,’ who sometimes refer to themselves as ‘Josephites’. (Exhibit II-1, pages 50, 141, 362)
2. ‘Christian Churches’ generally. (Exhibit II-2, pages 139, 455)
3. ‘Catholic Church’. (Exhibit II-3, pages 13, 66, 69, 129, 130, 216, 241, 314-15, 342, 346, 350, 422, 499, 511, 697) [emphasis added]
4. Communists and Catholics. (Exhibit II-4, pages 26-7, 131) [emphasis added]
5. Evolution and Evolutionists. (Exhibit II-5, pages 37, 77, 136, 180, 228, 238, 659)
B. Declaration as to ‘Mormon Doctrine’ on controversial issues.
1. ‘Pre-Adamites’. (Exhibit III-1, pages 17, 262)
2. Status of Animals and Plants in the Garden of Eden. (Exhibit III-2, pages 36, 234-35)
3. Meaning of the various accounts of Creation. (exhibit III_3, pages 157-8, 167-8)
4. Dispensation of Abraham. (Exhibit III-4, page 203)
5. Moses a translated being. (Exhibit III_5, pages 206, 445, 466, 727-8)
6. Origin of Individuality. (Exhibit III-6, page 404)
7. Defiling the priesthood. (Exhibit III-7, page 437)
8. Manner in which Jesus was Begotten. (Exhibit III-8, page 494)
9. Written sermons. (Exhibit III-9, pages 634-5, 716)
10. Resurrection of stillborn children. (Exhibit III-10, page 694)
C. Miscellaneous Interpretations (Exhibit IV)
Frequency of Administrations, page 22
Baptism in the ‘molten sea,’ page 98
II Peter 1:19, page 102
Paul married, page 112
Status of those ‘with Christ in His Resurrection', page 128
Consecration of oil, page 147
Councils and schools among the Gods, page 151
Limitations on Deity, page 154
Sunday not a proper day for family reunions, page 254
Geological changes at time of the deluge, page 268
The Holy Ghost a spirit man, page 329
Facing east in temples when giving the Hosanna Shout, page 337
Details on family prayer and asking the blessing on food, page 526
Women to be gods, page 551
Interpretations of the Doctrine and Covenants 93:1, page 581
Interpretation of "Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning," page 606
Status of little children in the celestial kingdom, page 607
Resumption of schools of the prophets, page 613
Time of beginning of seasons, page 616
Interpretation of III Nephi 12:20, page 618
D. Repeated use of the word ‘apostate’ and related terms in a way which to many seems discourteous and to others gives offense. (Exhibit V, pages 123, 125, 160, 169, 212, 223, 383, 538, 546, 548, 596)
Faithfully and Respectfully submitted,
[Signed]
Marion G. Romney
Enc.
P. S.
As per my letter to you of January 9, I have promised to contact Marvin Wallin, manager of Bookcraft Company, by the 9th of February about the 4,000 volume edition of MORMON DOCTRINE which he is holding.
I shall therefore seek to contact you about the matter near the end of next week.
Sincerely,
M. G. R.
_____
Officie Journal of President David O. McKay
THURSDAY, January 7, 1960
10:15 to 12:45 p.m. Re: The book—‘Mormon Doctrine’
The First Presidency met with Elders Mark E. Petersen and Marion G. Romney. They submitted their report upon their examination of the book ‘Mormon Doctrine’ by Elder Bruce McConkie.
These brethren reported that the manuscript of the book ‘Mormon Doctrine’ has not been read by the reading committee; that President Joseph Fielding Smith did not know anything about it until it was published. Elder Petersen stated that the extent of the corrections which he had marked in his copy of the book (1067) affected most of the 776 pages of the book. He also said that he thought the brethren should be under the rule that no book should be published without a specific approval of the First Presidency.
I stated that the decision of the First Presidency and the Committee should be announced to the Twelve.
It was agreed that the necessary corrections are so numerous that to republish a corrected edition of the book would be such an extensive repudiation of the original as to destroy the credit of the author; that the republication of the book should be forbidden and that the book should be repudiated in such a way as to save the career of the author as one of the General Authorities of the Church. It was also agreed that this decision should be announced to the Council of the Twelve before I talk to the author.
Elder Petersen will prepare an editorial for publication in the Improvement Era, stating the principle of approval of books on Church doctrine." [emphasis added]
_____
FRIDAY, January 8, 1960
11:55 to 12:15 p.m.
The First Presidency held a meeting. We decided that Bruce R. McConkie’s book, ‘Mormon Doctrine’ recently published by Bookcraft Company, must not be re-published, as it is full of errors and misstatements, and it is most unfortunate that it has received such wide circulation. It is reported to us that Brother McConkie has made corrections to his book, and is now preparing another edition. We decided this morning that we do not want him to publish another edition.
We decided, also, to have no more books published by General Authorities without their first having the consent of the First Presidency. (see January 7, 1960) [emphasis added]
WEDNESDAY, January 27, 1960
3:00 P. M. Conference with Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith re: Bruce R. McConkie’s book, ‘Mormon Doctrine’
At the request of the First Presidency, I called President Joseph Fielding Smith and told him that we are a unit in disapproving of Brother Bruce R. McConkie’s book, ‘Mormon Doctrine,’ as an authoritative exposition of the principles of the gospel.
I then said: ‘Now, Brother Smith, he is a General Authority, and we do not want to give him a public rebuke that would be embarrassing to him and lessen his influence with the members of the Church, so we shall speak to the Twelve at our meeting in the Temple tomorrow, and tell them that Brother McConkie’s book is not approved as an authoritative book and that it should not be republished, even if the errors (some 1,067) are corrected.’
Brother Smith agreed with this suggestion to report to the Twelve, and said, ‘That is the best thing to do. [emphasis added]
I then said that Brother McConkie is advocating by letter some of the [one line of words partially cut off on bottom of the photocopied page of journal] . . . to letters he receives. Brother Smith said, ‘I will speak to him about that.’ I then mentioned that he is also speaking on these subjects, and Brother Smith said, ‘I will speak to him about that also.’
I also said that the First Presidency had decided that General Authorities of the Church should not publish books without submitting them to some member of the General Authorities, and President Smith agreed to this as being wise. [emphasis added]
_____
THURSDAY, January 28, 1960
8:30 to 9 a.m. Bruce R. McConkie’s Book
Was engaged in the meeting of the First Presidency. I reported to my counselors that I had talked with President Joseph Fielding Smith about the decision that the book ‘Mormon Doctrine’ should not be republished and about handling the matter to avoid undermining Brother McConkie’s influence. President Smith agreed that the book should not be republished, and said he would talk with Brother McConkie. It was decided that the First Presidency should inform Brother McConkie before he learns of our decision from some other source, so Brother McConkie was asked to come into our meeting this morning.
When he arrived I informed him of the desire of the First Presidency with reference to h is book not being republished, to which he agreed. The recommendation was also made that he answer inquiries on the subject with care. Brother McConkie said, ‘I am amenable to whatever you Brethren want. I will do exactly what you want. I will be as discreet and as wise as I can.’ In answering letters he said that he would express no views contrary to views which the First Presidency has expressed. He said that he would conform in every respect. . . . [emphasis added]
10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Was engaged in the meeting of the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve in the Salt Lake Temple.
At Council meeting I reported to the Brethren our decision regarding Elder Bruce R. McConkie’s book ‘Mormon Doctrine,’ stating that it had caused considerable comment throughout the Church, and that it has been a source of concern to the Brethren ever since it was published. I said that this book had not been presented to anyone for consideration or approval until after its publication. I further said that the First Presidency have [sic] give it very careful consideration, as undoubtedly have some of the Brethren of the Twelve also, and that the First Presidency now recommend that the book be not republished; that it be not republished even in a corrected form, even though Brother McConkie mentions in the book that he takes all responsibility for it; and that it not be recognized as an authoritative book.
I said further that the question has arisen as to whether a public correction should be made and a addendum given emphasizing the [bottom line of photocopied page of journal cut off] . . . it is felt that that would not be wise because Brother McConkie is one of the General Authorities, and it might lessen his influence. The First Presidency recommend that the situation be left as it is, and whenever a question about it arises, we can answer that it is unauthoritative; that it was issued by Brother McConkie on his own responsibility, and he must answer for it.
I reported that the First Presidency had talked to Brother McConkie this morning, and he said he will do whatever the Brethren want him to do. He will not attempt to republish the book nor to say anything by letter, and if he answers letters or inquiries that he will answer them in accordance with the suggestions made by the Brethren, and not advocate those things concerning which question had been raised as contained in the book.
The Brethren unanimously approved of this.
I then said that the First Presidency further recommend that when any member of the General Authorities desires to write a book, that the Brethren of the Twelve or the First Presidency be consulted regarding it. While the author need not get the approval of these Brethren, they should know before it is published that a member of the General Authorities wants to publish a book. I said it may seem all right for the writer of the book to say, ‘I only am responsible for it,’ but I said ‘you cannot separate your position from your individuality, and we should like the authors to present their books to the Twelve or a Committee appointed.’ I asked the Brethren of the Twelve to convey this information to the other General Authorities. On motion, this became the consensus of the Council. [emphasis added]
_____
Letters from McKay to Mormon Church Members Regarding McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine and Other Books Published by Individual General Authorities
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
47 E. South Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah
David O. McKay, President
February 3, 1959
Dr. A. Kent Christensen
Department of Anatomy
Cornell University Medical College
1300 York Avenue
New York 21, New York
Dear Brother Christensen:
I have your letter of January 23, 1959 in which you ask for a statement of the Church’s position on the subject of evolution.
The Church has issued not official statement on the subject of the theory of evolution.
Neither ‘Man, His Origin and Destiny’ by Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, nor ‘Mormon Doctrine’ by Elder Bruce R. McConkie, is an official publication of the Church. . . . [emphasis added]
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
David O. McKay
(President)
_____
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
47 East South Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah
David O. McKay
September 24, 1964
Dr. Lorenzo Lisonbee, Science Consultant
Phoenix Union High School System
District Adminstration Annex
2042 West Thomas Road
Phoenix, Arizona (85015)
Dear Dr. Lisonbee :
President McKay, who is recuperating at home under doctors’ orders from his recent illness, has asked me to acknowledge for him your letter of September 8, 1964.
I have been directed to say that individual General Authorities of the Church publish books on their own responsibility, the publishing of which is not regarded as Church approval of the books. The Church approves only books which have been authorized for publication by the General Authorities of the Church, such as the Standard Works of the Church and authorized textbooks adopted by official action of the Church for the Priesthood and the organizations fo the Church. [emphasis added]
Sincerely yours,
[signed]
Clare Middlemiss
Secretary to:
President David O. McKay
_____
Conclusion: Bruce R. McConkie, A Special Witness for Deceitfulness
McConkie never told me about any of this, the liar.
Then again, maybe he just forgot.
| | | | That Dark, Damnable Day When, As A TBM I Blurted Out My Secret Temple Name - In The Bathroom
| | Posted Jan 12, 2006, at 07:42 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | It was March of 1973 and I was a freshly-scrubbed, sacred oil-rubbed new missionary, ready to ship off to Japan.
First stop had been the Salt Lake temple for my rags-to-itches garment makeover.
I was herded through my first session ever with several other clumsy but compliant elders. It was one of those now-rare "live" shows, starring real, B-grade actors--temple workers--who played their roles without benefit of a rattly, B-grade film.
Our cast that day featured an old wheezer-geezer who had been assigned the role of Satan. Frankly, he wasn't all that convincing when he hobbled out and weakly muttered, "Now is the great day of my power."
A couple of hours later--after we had been fitted with a baker's cap/green apron ensemble, then sliced and diced, made to pray in the Adamic tongue while doing the hokey-pokey and finally ordered to whisper 6th grader passwords into giant garment holes carved out of an oversized curtain, it was time to head down into the bowels of the temple sporting our new, stylin,' yet unyellowed, one-piece garmies, where we would change out of our white sheets into our white shirts, and prepare to sally forth in unripened righteousness to make the world safe for theocracy.
Still trying to figure out what I had just been through, I was in a changing stall, self-consciously attempting to modestly dress for success without anyone getting a peek at my special underwear.
Across the way in his own stall, an older gentleman (and obvious veteran of many an endowment session) was also changing, while at the same time watching in mild amusement as our band of bungling brothers suited up for battle.
Seeing that we were awkward and uncomfortable at switching from one goofy costume into another, he smiled and began making conversation.
"Did you all get your new names today?" he asked (Like, yeah, right, as if he didn't know the answer to that one).
We all nodded dumbly and said that we had.
Then, without thinking (after all, I was a Mormon), I blurted out, "Mine's 'Ezekiel!'"
Good golly, Miss Folly.
I hadn't even been "Ezekiel" for more than 90 minutes before managing to spill my for-God's-ears-only celestial clubhouse name--my holy handle that I had been commanded only moments earlier never to utter except at an approved temple Veil in this life while doing follow-up work for dead people and, ultimately, at the Super-Dooper Veil when entering through Man's Turnstile of Happiness into post-mortem celestial glory (under, of course, the watchful gaze of Joseph Smith, who was really just checking out the women).
The very instant "Ezekiel" slipped over the edge of my bottom lip and fell to the Salt Lake temple's locker room floor, I felt an awful pit of hell in my stomach.
"Now I've done it," I thought to myself, in silent horror.
The old man kept smiling at me as if nothing of eternal consequence had happened--but it didn't make me feel any better.
I apologized to him for spilling the beans.
He just kept smiling.
For a long time afterward, I felt horribly guilty. Eventually, however, I managed to convince myself that I hadn't really committed the unmentionable sin.
True, although I had blabbed my secret temple name away from the Veil--in technical violation of the offical Handbook of Oh-No No-Nos--I had done so within the sacred walls of the temple.
So what if they happened to be tiled walls in the downstairs bathroom? It was still the temple, for Elohim's sake.
Certainly the Lord would understand and flush my sins away.
Or would he?
On that fateful day in March of 1973, an old Devil-playing geezer wobbled out in front of our missionary group to announce that now was the great day of his power.
In so doing, he succeeded in getting me to blurt out my sacred-secret-don't-repeat-it celestial sign-on.
In, of all places, a bathroom.
OK, a temple bathroom.
Holy sh*t.
And thus offically began my apostasy.
| | | | The Human Side Of "Former Church Insider"--And Why I Think He's Credible
| | Posted Jan 9, 2006, at 07:35 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | There are some on this board persisting in insisting that "Former Church Insider" (FCI) is not what he claims to be: namely, a person who was once employed in important positions within the LDS bureaucracy, who came to witness--first-hand--how the Mormon Church actually operates and who is now talking openly about what he saw and heard.
In response to those skeptics--and as I have said before--I am inclined to conclude that FCI is a legitimate, credible whistleblower.
In the frequent communications he and I have had lately, FCI has given indications of his unique personality, his honest feelings and his challenging circumstances that bolster that opinion.
Below are some odds and ends from our recent correspondence, posted here with FCI's written, but conditional, permission:
"You're free to post anything I tell you in private if you'd like but, for the time being, I'd still like to stay anonymous."
_____
Very well, get out the black magic marker, so to speak, and let's proceed:
FCI's Desire to Get a Lot Off His Chest
"Sometimes my mouth runs faster than my head . . ."
". . . [M]aybe [RfM administrators] think I'm a bit over the top in my willingness to 'sing like a canary,' as one poster put it."
"I can't wait to tell the board what really goes on with the Missionary Committee and how the Lard calls those kids. What a crock. [Y]ou'll see."
_____
FCI's Inner Conflicts About Possibly Being Punished by the Mormon Church Because of His Decision to Go Public with What He Knows
"I just don't want to take the chance of being called into a SP's [stake president's] office and being blindsided before I'm completely ready to make the formal exit . . . ."
"[But] [i]f I get ex'd over all this before I'm ready, maybe it'll be a blessing and someone else can pay the [hundreds of dollars] a month [for supporting my children] . . . on missons . . . .
"My utility bills have been getting higher lately and I'm looking for some relief. [To] [t]ell the truth, [if I] . . . get ex'd, [it would] save an immediate 10%, plus [the monthly mission support expenses]--and [I'd] have my life again.
"[A]ctually it doesn't sound too bad. I'll probably be paying child support and alimony, but may still come out ahead."
"You know, the way I feel now, I'm actually looking forward to the day when I get called in.
"I'll make sure I have an attorney with me when I do, though, and maybe a friend from the press. . . . [M]aybe I'll bring him along for some fun."
_____
Wanting to Know on What Topics He Should Post: Heavy or Light
"I would love to tell the story of a loony apostate in our ward . . ."
"If this [light] stuff is too trivial, let me know. I'll just stick with the hard stuff. [T]here's much more to come, folks."
"The unfortunate result of my not being specific with the names of individuals, is that much of what I bring up will not have as much impact and is less verifiable.
"Are all GAs, for instance, off limits?"
_____
Handling Attacks from Critics on the RfM Board
"It was a bit frustrating at first to be dissed by the majority of the board.
"Like you, there are a lot of things I know and a lot of things I don't.
"However, I did take note of a lot of what went on up there and could go on for hours with stories."
"At least among a core group, it appears that my legitimacy as a former insider has been established and validated through the preponderance of material."
_____
How Mormon Church Employees Advance in the Ranks
"I've also served in leadership callings at the ward and stake level and saw some pretty bizarre things at that level, as well.
"For job security and to ensure advancement within COB [the Church Office Building], you had to hold leadership callings at the ward and stake level. [F]or some positions it was a prerequisite and I'm ashamed to say now that I would have turned down a lot of calls to those positions otherwise, had I not felt the pressure to keep myself in the good graces of my employer.
"I have never looked back [now] that I've left and know that there are a lot of folks up there like me that would jump at an opportunity to leave if they could get out."
_____
FCI's Current Level of Church Activity
"[I] . . . don't wear white shirts to Church when I go and always seem to be sick on Sundays. . . ."
"[M]aybe I'll get sick right before Church tomorrow, so I can stay home and give everyone my 'real' testimony on the [RfM] board."
"I also conveniently skip a lot of meetings that I'm supposed to be to and have happily started getting a reputation in local Church matters of not being very reliable or dependable. [S]eems to keep a lot of the local leaders guessing about me.
"[A]ctually, it's been kind of fun, because they all know . . . [that] in my previous more active life I was, and am, pretty responsible.
"My . . . bishop is afraid of me . . . [T]he guy won't even look me in the eyes . . ."
"There is a guy [I know] who works [for the Church] and is a recent convert. [H]e's going through the same
gyrations that I did and now worries about how to get out with his sanity and his marriage."
". . . My 'Friday night date' [is] one of the few (emphasis on 'few') vestiges of the Church that I can continue to live with."
"It's been a lot of years since I had a beer, but maybe soon. I'll have to break the law if I drink one in Utah, though. [M]y first one will not be a 3.2%, which is all you can get here. I'll have to bring a 'real beer' in as contraband from another state."
_____
Ezra Taft Benson
"You've been pretty outspoken about ETB. I never found ETB to be as bad as some made him out to be but when I knew him and of him, he'd become pretty senile--or at least a feeble old man--and didn't know him in his ultra-conservative heydays.
"There's nothing I would say that would be that negative, just some interesting observations.
"I did, however, know a few folks that about left the Church when [ETB] took the head of the Church.
"I was quite impressed with his 'Pride' talk and was disappointed to learn later that it may have been written by a family member who plagiarized a writing from CS Lewis (at least that's what I've heard but who knows). . . .
"I used to work closely with [name deleted] at COB, what a nice guy. I think you're related to him."
_____
An Assessment of FCI's Credibility from Another Former Church Employee
This e-mail also sent to me recently:
"Reading FCI's posts made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
"I'd bet money he was a Church employee. It sounds way too familiar."
| | | | More From "Former Church Insider"
| | Posted Jan 9, 2006, at 03:13 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: “Former Church Insider” Steps Out from Behind the Zion Curtain with Tales to Tell
For those who may have missed the fireworks, the Recovery from Mormonism board has recently been joined by a former employee of the Mormon Church, known here as “Former Church Insider” (hereafter referred to as FCI).
FCI has expressed a willingness to share details of his personal experiences and observations as related to his past-life involvement in Mormon Church administration.
This board's own administrators have invited FCI in to RfM's midst, as Eric has noted:
”He [FCI] appears to be legitimate and it is exciting to have him here. We welcome him!”
There are, however, as Eric stipulated, some forum ground rules:
" . . . [W]e cannot allow personal names to be on the board [as appeared in some previous posts involving certain allegations which were not seen as verifiable] . . . . We do not wish to edit someone's post and remove only the questionable material. We will remove the entire post by past practice. We ask that it be reposted by the 'Church Insider' with the material removed that could be considered libelous.
"We are trying to be considerate of others here, even Mormons, and also wish to protect exmormon.org as best as we can."
On this point, FCI agrees:
"I really don't want to go there [into libel]--so do what you can to minimize my exposure. It's hard to know where to find the balance: give more information to establish your credibility, but not too much."
_____
From FCI, A Requirement of His Own: Anonymity for Himself and Other Church Workers
FCI has relayed several personal accounts to me, in off-board e-mails, of what he saw and heard while he was an employee of the Mormon Church. He wishes to continue to do so, as long as his privacy is protected. FCI is still a member of the Church who, he says, is “slowly working my way out,” but he must be careful in doing so, due to personal reasons.
As he says:
”[Y]ou can share anything I wrote to you. In fact, if you'll give me your word on keeping my identity private for the time being, I'll share with you . . . what I did for the Church.”
FCI is also concerned about friends of his who are Mormons and who are employed by the Church:
”As I mention names to you, I need you to keep these confidential as well, I don't want to get . . . others in trouble--which could easily happen if someone at the Church gets wind that [they are] talking.”
Given those stipulations, suffice to say that FCI is well-established and deeply-engaged in the LDS community, having, as he notes, “had a great deal of involvement . . . with politicians and legislators and Church officials at some fairly high levels over the years.”
_____
FCI Is Not a Troll
On this point, he is emphatic:
”I appreciate your confidence that maybe I have a few things to share. I'm not a troll. It still amazes me that so many posters think what I'm saying is made up. As I mentioned . . ., the truth is harder to believe than fiction sometimes. . . .
“I worked in an environment where I was exposed to a lot of the inner workings of the Church. Like [Church] security, we were ‘flies on the wall’ and did not exist in the eyes of the Brethren unless they needed something. I'll be happy to continue to share my experiences there if there is an interest.
“But I can assure you if I keep being labeled as a liar and a troll, I'll walk away and move on, shaking my head in disbelief.”
In response to critics on this board who have doubted his veracity, FCI declares:
“Of course, you know . . . I'm making all this up--or will have made it up--according to many who post on the ex-Mo website.
"If I was this good at fiction, I'd retire and write novels.
"The truth is stranger than fiction but they can believe what they want, for all I care."
_____
Some of FCI's Activities and Responsibilites as a Mormon Church Employee
He writes:
”In my capacity at the Church, I worked on a number of committees and interfaced regularly with a lot of the higher ups including, the office of the 12, 1st Presidency, and Presiding Bishopric among others.
“I [was] . . . in the Vault many times [and was] put . . . in the meetings of the 12 and others. I saw times when some of the 12 would ‘lose it’ in there meetings in CAB [the Church Administration Building]--such a positive and uplifting spirit of unison. Oaks and BKP [Boyd K. Packer] going at it could get quite entertaining.”
_____
Getting Down to the Details
As FCI says:
“I have so many stories . . . “
Let's start with the Apostles.
_____
Assessing Boyd K. Packer’s Mental State
”BKP was by far the worst. I genuinely feel that guy has a major mental disorder. [During a private function where a large American corporation made a gift to the Mormon Church], [i]t was so embarrassing. BKP got up and instead of thanking [the corporation] for the gift, [he] berated [a member of the Church in attendance] for what a poor stake president he had been back . . . a few years earlier.”
_____
The Fiasco of Duplicated Mormon Temple Work
”When I get time, I'll tell you about the loss of data for the IGI when the records were converted to electronic form from microfilm.
“A glitch in the software resulted in about five years worth of temple endowment records being erased and unrecoverable. BKP freaked out big-time. The Church decided they'd just have to do them all over again. [Loss was calculated] in terms of the Jordan River Temple running at full capacity for 20 years to make up the error. Much of the data was forever lost.
“Many stalwart Mormons had no ideal that for several years, they were redoing ordinances for the dead that had already been done and lost to a computer glitch! I know this does not sound real or true but I was there and it just blew me away. The error was made by Church-employed programmers.”
“A clarification on the IGI comment[:]
“In the mid-80's the Church began recording temple ordinances on computers. Prior to that time it had been done manually. The IGI began being downloaded onto microfiche and updated about once every year or two with all the new temple work and names that were generated.
“There was then a mass reproduction of these records and sets were sent out to Fam. History libraries across the country to that patrons would have the latest info for their research.
“The computer glitch that I mentioned involved the backup file that stored ordinances on the computer for new work that had been done since the previous IGI had been issued. This was the data that was lost.
“I can't remember how many names/ordinances it involved, but it represented all the temple work that had been done for the dead for at least a couple of years. There was no way to recover most of the data and the work had to be redone at temples to the largest extent.
“. . . [P]rofessional genealogists who are not Church members don't give much weight to the IGI because it contains so many errors and duplications. A lot of the information there is generated by older people called to do ‘name extraction,’-- that is where most temple work names come from and it’s easier to duplicate temple work than verify the correctness of information. Anyway, . . . the IGI is the master record for all temple work.”
_____
No-Bid Contracts in Wardhouse Construction and Poor Management of Mormon Church Investments
”GBH [Gordon B. Hinckley]--being PR savvy--was sitting down one morning reading Barron's, the financial newspaper, and noticed an article in which the Church was mentioned.
“It involved the sale of a company called "[Won] Door,” a privately-held company located in SLC to a firm in NYC. The article described the companies sole business being the selling of large dividing sliding partitions to the LDS church. These happen to be the doors that separate the cultural halls from chapels.
“The Church investment department had been generously given 10 percent stock of the company and it was one of their most profitable investments.
“There also happened to be some minor ownership rights by higher ups in the Church engineering department--the guys who insisted that these doors should never be bid out and that this was the only door the church could use.
“The story continues: GBH noticed in the Barrons article that the firm was sold for a very high price, because it was so profitable. The company grossed in excess of $40 million a year in sales (all to the LDS Church) and had a net annual profit of over 50%!
“The contract had been in place about 20 years or so.
“So go figure, most companies would be happy with 10% net profit annually. $20 million times 20 years equals $400 million, less the $40 million 10% that would have been reasonable. The church had been taken for about $360 Million!!!!!!!!”
“A clarification on the ‘Won Door’ incident . . . [I]t happened in about 1987 or 1988. The figures may not have been exact, but I do remember the 50% net profit. Someone who has access to Lexis Nexis or electronic access to Barron's should be able to find the article that set GBH off.”
“Kind of made the Church look real special in their business dealings--for the whole world to see--you know, keeping that image of savvy stewards of Church tithing funds and all.
“But gee, the 10% investment that the Church owned in the stock had always done so well!! GBH went ballistic and Lawrence Egbert, the Director of Purchasing, became the scapegoat and immediately lost his job and his calling. He had absolutely no say whatsoever in these doors. [T]heir purchases were required by Church engineering with the blessing of the Church investment department but someone's head had to roll and it wasn't anyone who owned any stock in the company and worked for the Church!”
_____
Reporting Mormon Crimes
"Someone in a post said you are required to report a crime. If the Church doesn't deem it a crime, then its not. There were many examples of the 'untouchables' getting away with things. . . at COB [the Church Office Building].
"One of the Seventies got into trouble for using Church funds to buy family members computers--he got his hands slapped by one of the 12, but that was it.
"I can go into much more detail later."
_____
Therefore, in Conclusion . . .
“There's much more," FCI says.
"Later."
|
| | | My Reaction To The Claims Of "Former Church Insider" (re: Mormon Mafia, Inside Stories, Mark Hoffman, Steve Christensen)
| | Posted Jan 6, 2006, at 08:10 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Original Article Steve is commenting on: http://themormoncurtain.blog/topic_ex...
In a now-closed thread, "Former Church Insider" made some very interesting and, in some cases, extraordinary claims.
I was asked in that thread to offer my assessment on those claims and do so below:
CLAIM: I was reading the question about Steve Christensen (who died from the bomb planted in the Judge building by Mark Hoffman) in an earlier post and felt compelled to add more to the story. Steve was a friend of a friend who grew up with the family in Bountiful. Steve was a straight arrow in his church beliefs and was a bishop at the time of his death. His father, Mac Christensen owned the Mr. Mac stores in area, and unlike his brothers, Steve decided to leave the family business to strike out on his own. He was a savvy and successful young businessman and as far as I know was a stalwart in the church in spite of his access to unseemly church records and artifacts. His death was tragic and unfortunate.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have a former Mormon, well-connected source who personally knew Christensen and describes him in much the same way.
_____
CLAIM: As a result of his death, his brother Stan, who manages two of the Mr. Mac stores - and a really nice guy, lost his faith in the church and became inactive - and still is to this day. As far as I know, Steve's family has been well taken care of and remains active.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: At the time of Steve's death, the leadership of the church was in frenzy - especially PR savvy GBH, and control freak BKP. Open access by the public to the church history department (on the first floor of COB)was forever restricted by edict from BKP - with access granted only to those who had a "church" purpose for being there, with IDs and a sign in log.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
My personal conversations with Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell, held in Maxwell's Church office in September of 1993, indicated a real concern on their part with wanting to insure tight control over access by D. Michael Quinn and others to sensitive Church archival material--as well as a stunning and ugly willingness to smear the character of those (Quinn and Brent Metcalf, in particular) who were outspoken critics of the Church.
_____
CLAIM: This stemmed in part from the fact that there was much more to the Mark Hoffman story than is commonly known. Because Mark was the fair haired RM with a talent for digging up the good and bad documents about the Church, he was granted access to many documents and artifacts that were not accessible even to the "Quinn" type historians of the church in their full access heydays (long before they were Exed).
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: The President's vault, otherwise known as "F" vault one of a series of 6 vaults located in the Granite Mountain church site in Little Cottonwood Canyon - next to where the granite blocks used in building the SL Temple were quarried. The front of the vault complex is manned and womened by employees and missionaries who duplicate genealogical microfilms to fulfill orders from church Fam. History libraries all over the world. The six vaults are connected by a corridor protected by a many ton steel door that supposedly can withstand a nuclear blast and are located far into the mountain at the rear of the complex. Each of these 6 vaults is cavernous and contains microfilm, discs, and other data files for financial, membership, genealogical and other church records. Until the Mark Hoffman episode, access to the vault was restricted to those with official church business only (although at one time tours were conducted there for the public).
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: The biggest issue with Mark Hoffman was the Church trying to suppress the "Salamander Letter" - since Joe Smith supposedly spoke to a salamander instead of moroni. I doubt the church would have destroyed it, instead, they would have hidden it away. Why is it that the Michael Quinn types can no longer have access? The church has so many records that it doesnt even know what they have and what are they going to do, have someone go through it all and decide what to keep and what not to keep? - at the expense of someone finding out what is in there?
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Oaks personally admitted to me that the Church did not cooperate fully with a Salt Lake police subpoena regarding its William McClellin document collection because, he said, the Church unilaterally concluded that the police did not need the documents which Oaks said the Church had in its possession.
Despite claiming to me that the McClellin documents in its possession were from McClellin's younger, pro-Mormon days and were not incriminating, Oaks also told me that the Church did not even know what was actually in those documents until they were later examined by the Church during the Hofmann investigation.
In another, previous one-on-one discussion with Oaks in 1985(coming on the heels of the Hofmann bombings and arrest), he was incredibly tight-lipped, refused to speak to a reporter who was with me in Salt Lake and spoke to me stiffly from behind a desk that had been almost completely cleaned off.
_____
CLAIM: Fawn Brodie's book was based on what she had access to because of her relative David O. McKay - Why is it that the Church no longer discloses it's financial reports - because they can control and spin the information in a way that suits them. Hinkley recently said in an interview with AP that church history was an "open book". As long as it's the book that they want you to see, and not the one that exists out of reach of everyone.
Believe what you want to.
_____
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Much of what I know about the inside workings of the Mormon Church hierarchy comes from the fact that, as a member of a well-connected and powerful Church family, I was privy to inside the Cultway information which was gleaned from both my personal observations of the goings-on and from information provided to me by Church employees, Church leaders and family members.
I also know from the personal confessions of Oaks and Maxwell to me that, in fact, Church history is far from being an "open book."
_____
CLAIM: Mark Hoffman was given unfettered access to the remote "F" vault that reminded me of the warehouse in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" where the Ark of the Covenant was eventually placed. It is the only vault that contains artifacts, relics and original church documents such as pioneer journals and anything related to early church history. This is probably the most secure vault in the country - with the possible exception of the US gold reserves storage at Ft. Knox. There are rumors that the vault contains Joseph Smith's Jupiter talisman and seer stones among other items. You'd think the place would be organized and items would be stored logically, but at least at the time I saw it, everything seemed in disarray on dusty shelves and in piles. But it was evident that almost everything in there was "old".
Mark was given access to this vault and apparently had a co-conspirator who worked for him at the vault complex. It was discovered after Mark Hoffman was exposed, but never reported to anyone outside the inner circle of the inner circle of those who worked inside the church around this issue, that the church had actually paid a lot of money to Mark Hoffman for documents that it already owned, and that these documents had been taken out of the "F" vault. This was too embarrassing for the church to admit to anyone, but resulted in unbelievable restrictions to church history documents. The only access by anyone, even GA's to the "F" vault is now granted only by GBH.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: If you'll recall in reading "Angels and Demons", the Dan Brown book, the Catholic Church also has an archives at the Vatican that no one has access to, for the same reason. Documents there have potential for harming the Catholic Church if they are disclosed in any way to the public - so they are controlled solely by the church.
REACTION: I have no sources in the Vatican (although I have a well-known, former Catholic-turned atheist friend who does).
_____
CLAIM: With regard to the Mormon Mafia - another fact about the church that is not commonly known and is a bit scary is that the overwhelming majority of church security are former CIA and FBI agents. The church's security operation is as state of the art and sophisticated as any in the world, with the possible exception of the US security agencies.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Ray Hillam, a former BYU faculty member (for whom I worked as a teaching assistant in the 1970s and who was spied on by the Church, under direction from members of the Quorum of the Twelve, during the Wilkinson era because Hillam was considered to be a liberal threat), confirmed to me that the U.S. intelligence services recruit heavily from the ranks of LDS returned missionaries.
(I was strongly discouraged by my father from enrolling in Hillam's classes but did anyway).
I have had my own run-ins with Church Security personnel on Temple Square in my post-Mormon days. Efforts were made by Church security agents to stop me from talking to Visitor Center missionaries (who actually instigated contact with me and not the other way around). In this episode, evidence of Church security presence was pervasive and obvious, when they chose to make it known. Later on the day of my contact with these Church security agents, a member of my family was approached by a Church security employee and falsely told that I had been asked to leave Temple Square.
_____
CLAIM: Millions have been spent on encryption technology for communications. - (this resulted in part by the media monitoring church security radio traffic and reporting the death of Spencer Kimball, before the news was relayed to the first presidency). At the time of its purchase in the mid-80's for several million dollars, the church was the only owner of an encrypted communication system that was developed for and to a large extent by the CIA.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: Many of you will remember the Clinton white house scandal involving FBI records that resulted in the suspicious death of Vincent Foster. The Clintons were digging up dirt using FBI files on their enemies.
Similarly, the church keeps records of this type on all members of the church as well as non-members whom they deem to be a potential treat to the church. The effort is ongoing and incredibly invasive - I can tell you for a fact that this particular site is monitored for people like me, by church employed hackers who easily find and identify IP addresses of those with opinions not favorable to the church, or even as you'll recall from your recommend interviews, "those who sympathize with apostates".
REACTION: Sounds credible.
Oaks informed me that the Church keeps tabs on troublesome Mormons via the so-called "Strengthening the Members Committee," and provides (he said, benignly) news clippings and other information to the bishops and stake presidents of these targeted members because, Oaks said, the local leadership is too busy to keep files themselves.
I have former Mormon friends (who were highly visible and critical of the Church, specifically D. Michael Quinn, Maxinne Hanks and Martha Beck) who had credible reasons to believe that their phones were tapped by the Church and who so informed me.
In my own experience, I have suspicions that attempts may have been made to monitor my own phone calls around the time that I was openly critical of the Church around the time of my voluntary departure from it ranks over a decade ago.
My public criticisms of Mormon Church public officials and Mormon doctrine also resulted in me being contacted by an official LDS representative, both by letter and in person, exhorting me to back off.
Two of my bishops, as well as two of my stake presidents, also requested to speak directly with me (permission granted).
Because of my public criticisms of Mormon doctrine, one of the stake presidents released me from my position as a high councilman--after he was contacted by H. Burke Peterson of the Presiding Bishopric, who called to make inquiries of my stake president about my activities.
The same stake president was also contacted by a Mormon in the Arizona legislature, who told him that I should not be holding positions of prominent authority in the Church.
The stake president assured me that neither of these contacts had any influence on his decison to release me from my high council position.
I was also contacted directly, via phone, by my grandfather during the Hofmann episode (when I drew critical cartoon commentary of official Mormon response to Hofmann's deceptions) and told to "go easy" on the Church.
Further, after I publicly accused Oaks of lying about what he actually knew regarding Boyd K. Packer's behind-the-scenes efforts to have an outspoken member of the Church excommunicated (Paul Toscano), I was informed by a faculty advisor at BYU's student newspaper, the Daily Universe, that if the newspaper printed my claims (which had already been published in the Salt Lake Tribune), the Universe would be shut down by the university's Board of Trustees--namely, by order of the Quorum of the Twelve.
_____
CLAIM: Membership records are tagged for those who are regarded as a threat to the church - particularly insiders. Those who have been in higher leadership positions, particularly at the Stake Presidency level, will know that new move-ins, or current members records will be sometimes tagged with "do not call to leadership position" notations on them.
There are numerous ways that the church screens for potential treats. Several of the most common are monitoring sites like this one, tracking computer use at porn sites by IP address, stationing "solid" members or older missionaries in places where they can observe and record license plate numbers of individuals who visit porn shops or strip clubs, to match them with members. Persons employed in companies or in the public venue where there salary information is available will have these records compared to tithing records to ensure that tithing is paid on the gross.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I personally know a member of the Church whose temple recommend was taken away by the member's bishop because the member in question was engaged in what the bishop considered to be inappropriate internet communication with another individual. That said, however, the activities of the member were informally reported to the bishop and were not brought to the bishop's attention via any official Church monitoring channels.
From my own personal experience, local ward members spied on activities of my own family and reported these activities to local ward authority, resulting in a reprimanding contact from a local ward leader.
_____
CLAIM: All bishops and stake presidencies are subjected to comprehensive background checks by the church prior to an official call being issued. This is to protect the church from any potential embarrassment later. There have been many frustrated stake presidents over the years who have submitted the name of a potential bishop for approval, only to find out later that the church will not approve the name, for some unknown reason.
REACTION: Don't know.
_____
CLAIM: It is also well known that the wrong remark or comment or dress or look (take your pick) to one of the, GA's, the 12 or even their secretaries, will result in a record being tagged and that individual forever being blessed with an unknown scarlet letter on his/her record. And I do really mean it's a blessing.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have a Mormon Utah source who informed me that an employee of the Church-owned Deseret News eventually lost his job, in all probability for having personally offended Thomas Monson with what Monson regarded as an offensive joke.
_____
CLAIM: In my humble opinion, absent the dead bodies, the church is in many ways much the same as in the avenging angel days of Brigham Young, where church members were so tightly controlled that they feared for their lives if they decided to leave the church or leave the Salt Lake Valley.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
I have personally seen Church employees express real fear and exhibit extreme caution in what they say and do--and where they say and do it, even when far outside Salt Lake City--out of concern that they might be under some sort of Church surveillance.
_____
CLAIM: Somewhere there was a prophesy that the church would fall from within. I have seen a lot of waste, corruption, mismanagement, dishonesty, and particularly cover-ups and some of the most egotistical bastards I've ever encountered in my life at the highest levels of the church.
REACTION: Sounds credible.
A Mormon source has told me that in the process of performing employment duties in behalf of the Church, this source witnessed extravagant, wasteful, thoughtless and needless spending of tithing funds by other Church employees.
_____
CLAIM: Being a former member and convert, I just wish I'd had the internet to help me find out about the "real" moron church before the missionaries talked me into baptism. I've often wondered if my life would have been the worse for not joining, I've finally reached the conclusion that it would have been much, much better.
REACTION: I agree that it probably would have (as would have also been my own).
_____
CLAIM: Steve, [p]lease give me a way to contact you and I'd be happy to either phone you or e-mail you privately. I know mike from snow very well and was acquainted with your grandfather...happened upon him in his office when I was about to visit Howard Hunter right after Spence Kimball passed. ETB was still in his office as the head of the 12, and boy did he looking bad - had his face in hands and looked like he'd been crying....they had not switched offices yet - so my mistake walking in on him.
I've got too much to lose right now with my family, etc. by getting too deep into this. Believe me, I know a lot of folks at COB and CAB, and nothing I said in my post is fabricated - and there is a hell of a lot more that goes on up there that most people don't know about. Remember Mr. Martel Byrd - used to be over Church Security after his stint ruining the self esteem of young men and women in the Salt Lake Mission Home - what an asshole? - would you put anything past that guy?
I may not be back to a computer before morning, but will respond as soon as I can.
REACTION: Sounds increasingly credible.
| | | | A Mormon Apostle Claims That Despite Their Growing Ranks Of Dead And Injured, Being A Full-Time Mormon Missionary Is One Of The Safest Assignments On The Planet
| | Posted Jan 5, 2006, at 07:59 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | This, located on a website dedicated to Mormon missionaries who have been killed, who have otherwise died or who have been severely injured while on their divinely-appointed rounds to convert the planet:
"Since the day of the Prophet Joseph Smith, we've had approximately 447,969 missionaries serve in the world," Elder M. Russell Ballard said in 1989. "Of those 447,969, (some) 525 have lost their lives while serving as full-time missionaries," he added. "When you contemplate that number, it appears that the safest place in the whole world is to be on a full-time mission," concluded the member of the Twelve. [emphasis added)
_____
The website on which this astounding claim is made is called "Mahonri: Finding Light in the Darkness."
http://www.mahonri.org/special/ppplist
_____
In honor of God's young, stripped-of-life, but ever-faithful Mormon missionary Stripling Warriors killed in the line of duty, the site offers the following tribute:
In Memoria
We want to honor and recognize the work of all missionaries on the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, but unfortunately we do not have a complete list of those who have given their lives in the service of the Master.
Nor do we have a complete roster of all missionaries who now face physical, emotional and intellectual challenges as a result of accident or illness suffered on their missions.
Further, we do not have a complete list of those missionaries whose lives were taken before being able to enter the mission field. Your help in compiling a more complete account of those we would honor will be greatly appreciated. . . . .
_____
Up next comes a long list of dead or severely injured missionaries who came to be that way in the glorious field of latter-day, lead-them-into-the-font combat, after which follows this pious pitch for donations:
If you would like to make a contribution towards the recognition of a particular missionary or in the name of your family, company or business, please contact a member of the Board of Directors of the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, a project of the NextLevel Family Foundation.
The NextLevel Family Foundation (NLFF) is a non-profit organization, incorporated in the state of Utah as a 501(c)(3) charitable entity. Adonis Bronze and the Alpine Art Center & Sculpture Park are private businesses.
Neither the Missionary Memorial nor the NextLevel Family Foundation is associated with or sanctioned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . .
To share names of missionaries who may be honored on this memorial, please call David Tuttle 801 768-3933 or e-mail: dtuttle@nlevel.com or direct regular mail to 1593 N. 1400 E. Lehi, UT 84043.
_____
Rest in eternal, proselytizing peace--the hundreds of you who, in the name of your protective, loving, throat-slitting Mormon God, embarked on one of the "safest" assignments in the world.
On second thought, you are not allowed to rest.
You've got discussions to teach and quotas to reach in the spirit world of glorious missionary endeavor.
So, get up, dust yourself off and get a move on.
| | | | Bushman's BS On JS : Desperately Seeking Sympathy By Comparing Mormonism To Other Besieged Cults
| | Posted Jan 4, 2006, at 08:30 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I had the pleasure of discussing with "SLCabbie" the Morg's go-to "historian" Richard Bushman's spinning song, broadcast recently on National Public Radio.
"Cabbie" made some astute observations, portions of which are shared here with his permission:
Bushman's Comparing Persecuted, Criminal, Free-Lovin' Mormons to Persecuted, Criminal, Free-Lovin' Rajneeshis
" . . . Bushman doesn't get a pass from me on . . . his distorted picture of Mormon persecution in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
"He repeats the usual myths and likens the treatment to what the Rajneeshis suffered up in Oregon.
"Only trouble with that one is my younger sister was doing some accounting for the Rajneeshis at the time and spent a lot of time there. I followed events pretty closely because a longtime AA 'spiritual adviser' of mine also spent time there.
"It was basically a free love compound, and besides that and bringing lots of street people in to upset the political applecart, there was an incident of 'biological warfare' where the R's tried to contaminate some salad bars with something like Salmonella bacteria just before a major election.
'"They were also indicted on numerous tax and fraud charges and the Bagwhan was deported.
"Typical cult stuff. It looks to me like 'free love' in one form or another operates in many cults.
"There's probably a book there, but I'm saving my literary talents for the story of how the LDS Church buried the old Salt Lake Tribune."
_____
Joseph Smith's Alcoholic Father's Typical Attraction to Religion
"Bushman [also] made a big deal about JS Sr. and his 'religious searching' . . .
"JS Sr. was an alcoholic, and it's common among late-stage alcoholics to develop strong religious tendencies (probably because of the accumulated build-up of shame; religion affords them a catharsis)."
*****
Thanks, "Cabbie."
You're one of this board's wisest.
| | | | Drawing A Line In The Snow With The Benson Family Over Mormon Xmas Cards
| | Posted Dec 30, 2005, at 08:04 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Prior to Xmas (as many others of you fellow ex-Mos here also experienced as well), I received (as I regularly do) a “Mo! Mo! Mo! Merry Cultmas!” card from a first cousin of mine--Holly Walker Tilleman--and her husband, Karl, along with their children
Holly is a child of my aunt Barbara Benson Walker, the oldest daughter of my grandparents, Ezra Taft and Flora Amussen Benson.
As is customary with some of the more intensely-pushy Mormon evangelizers in the Walker clan, Holly and Karl unloaded their wheelbarrow of self-righteous religious dogmatic doo-doo, via their ‘greeting' card, on me once again.
This year’s stormin’ Mormon Xmas card from them was the final straw for me (as you will see in a moment), prompting me to reply to them in writing, asking that they stop their prayerful and persistent practice of attempting my re-conversion via the post office.
Below are excerpts from the most recent in their series of continuous Christmas Cult card come-ons. It was accompanied by two photographs of their family, one showing them and their children standing in front of a lake somewhere and the other one featuring them all posing in their Sunday best:
”Merry Christmas!!! . . . Our hearts are full of gratitude for blessings of family, friends, the gospel of Jesus Christ, good health, safety and God’s love and protection. . . . [Our children] have kept busy this year with school, music, sports, homework, church and the Book of Mormon challenge. We have experienced a great deal of joy and feel very grateful to our Heavenly Father.
“May the Lord’s blessings of love and peace be yours. One of our favorite promises from ancient scripture is as follows: ‘Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ: for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.’ [2 Nephi 32:3). Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to al of you, our loved ones! “
_____
Now, Holly and Karl know damn well that I am not interested in their multiple Mormon Moment missionary messages.
They know I am no longer a member of the Mormon Cult.
They know enough of how I feel about the Mormon Cult and why to realize (I would hope) that efforts on their part--or anybody else’s--to see me return to the Concentration Camp of the Cult would be unsolicited and fruitless.
Indeed, Holly and Karl are very much aware of how I openly and publicly criticized the Mormon Cult leadership (including then-first counselor in the First Presidency, Gordon B. Sneakily) for deliberately, repeatedly, self-centeredly and manipulatively misrepresenting the declining mental and physical health of my grandfather, who was so profoundly disabled in his final years that he was president of the Mormon Cult in name only.
In fact, Holly was well enough aware of my position on this matter that she wrote me a long letter back in those rather tumultuous days (a mighty Mo missive, supported by her husband Karl’s added hearty hoo-rah).
In her call to repentance, she chastized me for going to the media about the spin-doctoring engaged in by the Cult of Latter-day Liars regarding my grandfather’s actual condition.
She also took me to task for, in her opinion, shaming, disrespecting and hurting the Benson family.
Holly’s message to me was simple and direct: SHUT UP.
Below are excerpts from that letter of hers, written to me in September of 1993:
“It is my understanding that you have a difficult time believing that Grandpa could receive revelation in his state and that the leaders of the Church have deceived the members, leading them to believe that he is indeed a functioning prophet . . .
“Yes, indeed, he is aging . . . [H]e is 94 years old. There is no doubt about that . . . Indeed, it is extremely difficult for him to speak, walk and eat, etc. However, I honestly believer that he is a functioning prophet. I do not believe he performs all the duties which he once did--in fact, he can hardly do anything. BUT there is no doubt in my mind that he can let his counselors know his opinion on a certain issue, whether yea or nea [sic] , by a simple yes or no--or shake of the head or squeeze of the hand . . .
“When I was visiting him, two of the days he was very alert--his eyes were bright, his smile was charming but the other two days he seemed a little tired and not quite as responsive. So, when you see him and he’s not as responsive as you would have hoped him to be, maybe the next time might be a better day for him. Let’s give the good man a break! . . .
“Steve . . . [w]e know that when a Prophet becomes old and even to a state where they cannot say and do anything and are totally non-responsive, who cares? It has happened before and it may happen to Grandpa also but REALLY it does not matter. It is TOTALLY irrelevant. That is why there are counselors, a Quorum of the Twelve and Councils of Seventy.
“As for the leaders’ deception, I don’t agree at all . . . President Hinckley was not deceitful at all. He was very clear and very honest. He was matter-of-fact and tactful at the same time regarding Grandpa’s condition . . .
“The saddest part of your opinions, in my view, is to see your disrespect for Grandpa. Maybe in your mind, you love him and care deeply for him and maybe you think you’re just trying to improve the system--I don’t know . . . Even if you have these opinions strongly formed in your mind, I would be careful in what you say and to whom--because to everyone else who hears, there is no respect . . .
“If you have strong feelings, I think it would be in much better taste to go to the Church officials rather than to the media, which to me and to others is a sign of great disrespect, not only to Grandpa but to all the Benson family.
“Whether you realize it or not, you are representing the family--all of us by going public with our viewpoints; and what is unfortunate is that it is totally unrepresentative of everyone’s feelings! It is one thing to have an opinion--it is another to take it to thousands and in the process of it all, break the hearts over and over again of those people WHO LOVE YOU MOST!
“If I were you, I would LET IT ALONE. You are hurting us, who are your family, MORE THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY REALIZE! If you never change your opinions on these issues, that is your decision but I fail to understand why you have to try to influence others with those opinions.
“I understand that it is your profession to influence others and it is your right as an American in freedom of speech but at what price? The most valuable possession one has is their family and in my opinion you are defending your right of free speech at the expense of your loved ones.”
Karl added his stamp of approval to his wife’s letter with this brief, written comment:
“I agree!”
______
Sigh.
True-Believing Mormons--acting in meekly blind obedience to the commands of their dictatorial leaders and to the marching orders laid down in their cast-iron scriptures--know no personal boundaries, nor do they respect those of others.
This is particularly true when it comes to the state of mind-other-people's-business that clearly afflicts some members of my Benson clan (like Holly and Karl Tilleman, along with others in the same busy-body bloodline).
These folks ramrod-straight ragged on me while I was in the Cult of Joseph Smith of Lathered-Up Saints and have continued their relentless efforts since I made my bolt from that Cult--even up to this day--to recruit me back into its regimented ranks.
Enough, I say.
There comes a time when one needs to take these boundary-bashing Mormons firmly by the shoulders, look them right in the eye, speak slowly and deliberately to them as one would instruct a little child and tell them in no uncertain terms to back off.
In essence, they need to be talked to as one would address a misbehaving juvenile who is clueless about (and who gives every indication of not caring less about) how their invasive behavior is considered by those on the receiving end to be unwarranted, uncouth, unbecoming and unwelcome.
Therefore, in the spirit of water-cannoning the pious pit bulls of Mormonism when nothing else seems to work, this evening I composed the following letter to Holly and Karl:
“Dear Holly and Karl--
“I am happy to hear from you that your family is well, content and happy.
“Speaking of happy, I would like to make a request of you which, if you choose to honor and respect it (which I sincerely hope you do), would make me happy.
“For several years now, in your annual Xmas cards to me and my family, you have promoted and pushed your Mormon faith.
“Please stop this.
“As you know, I am no longer a Mormon, having voluntarily left that religion some years ago and, consequently, do not share your faith.
"To be sure, I will never again share your faith.
“Please allow me to be absolutely clear on this point, so that there will be no future misunderstanding or misconduct on your part:
“I consider Mormonism to be a non-Christian cult that is deeply deceitful, historically dishonest, chauvinistically controlling, absolutely authoritarian, pathologically anti-individual, patronizingly anti-woman, viciously anti-Gay, homophobically anti–Lesbian, racistly anti-Black, obnoxiously pro-White and inherently anti-American in its lack of tolerance and respect for pluralism, diversity and self-expression.
“Put another way, I regard Mormonism to be a clannish, backward religion, founded by a notorious charlatan named Joseph Smith who bedded other men’s wives, who slept with under-aged girls, who mistreated and abused his own spouse, who squinted at so-called 'peep stones' inside of his hat pretending to translate supposed 'ancient scripture,' who invented these alleged 'scriptures' out of the thin air of his own imagination (with the help of his co-conspiring friends), who never saw or talked to God or Jesus floating in the trees behind his house, who never communed with angels, who never dug up any golden plates, who was found guilty of fraud in a New York court for making false treasure-finding claims, whose 'sacred' temple endowment was nothing more than a clunky, amateurish rip-off of secret Masonic rites and who died in a hail of bullets from fellow Masons after being unmasked as a party to a patently unconstitutional effort to shut down a newspaper which had dared publish accounts of his philanderous, adulterous, polygamous behavior and the lies which he told his followers as he denied it all.
“Given my views on these matters, I would sincerely appreciate it if, in the future, you would cease and desist from any and all efforts to bring me back into the Mormon fold.
"In any future communications with me, I ask that you discontinue making reference to your religious faith, to your activities in relation to it and to your LDS 'scriptures'—all of which I personally find offensive, uninvited intrusions into my personal life and space.
“Should you choose to communicate with me in the future, I would be happy to know what you and yours are doing and that you all are hopefully doing well--but only as long as such reports are free from mention of your Mormonism and absent of any attempts on your part to proselytize me.
“That said, I hope that you have had a pleasant Winter Solstice, a Cool Yule and will be enjoying a wonderful, prosperous New Year.
“Best regards,
“Steve Benson
“P.S.--Please feel free to share the contents of this letter with any of your family members who you think may benefit from knowing that I do not wish to receive what amounts to a Mormon missionary door approach every time I open up a Xmas card from them. Thanks. (I’d add ‘God bless,’ but I’m an atheist).“
_____
Lordy, I hope that does the trick.
| | | | Trusting The Google God Or The Mormon God?--Dissecting Gordon B. Hinckley's Latest Media Act, "Lie Upon Lie, Decept Upon Decept" (part One Of Two )
| | Posted Dec 27, 2005, at 07:59 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Hinckley Beguiles and Smiles His Way Through Another Devious Interview with the Press
In a recent conversation with Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner, headlined “Chat with Mormon leader,” LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley uttered some astoundingly false and misleading statements.
(For the complete text of the interview, see:
http://www.harktheherald.com/module...)
_____
Those of us in the ex-Mormon community are not, of course, surprised at Hinckley's misdirects and mischaracterizations. After all, he has proven himself to be the Consumate Carnival Barker of Mormonism.
Just for the record, however (and for those perhaps struggling with their Mormon testimonies in false “prophets” such as Hinckley and all his LDS predecessors), let us dissect Hinckley’s deceits--lie upon lie, "decept" upon "decept."
Below are highlighted Hinckley’s breathtakingly dishonest claims made during that interview, counter-balanced with actual, historical reality--just a click away at Google.
What will be demonstrated by this examination is how the Google God trumps the Mormon God and how, in the process, the Intenet is steadily succeeding in undermining the conniving efforts of the LDS Cult’s highest leadership to lie and deceive in public.
_____
HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT BEING CHRISTIAN
AP: ”Why do you think the LDS Church is not perceived as a Christian church?”
Hinckley: ”Of course we're Christian. The very name of the church declares that. No one believes more strongly in the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more strongly in the power of his redeeming sacrifice.
"The Book of Mormon is another witness for the divinity and reality of Jesus Christ. The more people see us and come to know us, the more I believe they will come to realize that we are trying to exemplify in our lives and in our living the great ideals which he taught.”
GONG!
_____
Google God Fact Check:
According to the “Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry,” Mormonism--doctrinally-speaking--clearly does not qualify as a Christian denomination:
”’Is Mormonism Christian?’ is a very important question. The answer is equally important and simple. No. Mormonism is not Christian. . . .
“The reason Mormonism is not Christian is because it, like any other cult, denies one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Of the essential doctrines (Jesus is God in flesh, forgiveness of sins is by grace alone, and Jesus rose from the dead physically), Mormonism distorts two of them: the person of Jesus, and His work of salvation. [original emphasis]
”Mormonism teaches that God the Father has a body of flesh and bones (Doctrine & Covenants 130:22) and that Jesus is a creation. It teaches that he was begotten in heaven as one of God’s spirit children (See the book, Jesus the Christ, by James Talmage, p. 8).
"This is in strict contrast to the biblical teaching that he [Jesus] is God in flesh (John 1:1, 14), eternal (John 1:1, 2, 15), uncreated, yet born on earth (Col. 1:15), and the creator all (John 1:3; Col. 1;16-17). Jesus cannot be both created and not created at the same time.
"Though Mormonism teaches that Jesus is god in flesh, it teaches that he is ‘a’ god in flesh, one of three gods that comprise the office of the Trinity (Articles of Faith, by Talmage, pp. 35-40, [original emphasis]).
"These three gods are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. This is in direct contradiction of the biblical doctrine that there is only one God (Isaiah 44:6,8; 45:5). . . .
”Because Mormonism errors in who Jesus is, salvation (the forgiveness of sins) does not occur and the Mormon is still in his sins. Christians are saved from their sins and judgment by putting their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. But, faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed. The Mormon Jesus is not the one of the Bible, even though they call him Jesus, say he died for sins, and was born in Bethlehem. The Mormon Jesus does not exist. It is the nature of Jesus that is the issue. Jesus must be God in flesh, (second person of the Trinity) not ‘a’ god in flesh who is the brother of the devil. He must be uncreated, not created. He must be the creator (Col. 1:16-17). This is who the true Jesus really is: God, creator, uncreated, not the brother of the devil. [original emphasis]
”Mormon theology teaches that God used to be a man on another planet, that He became a god by following the laws and ordinances of that god on that world, and that He brought one of His wives to this world with whom He produces spirit children who then inhabit human bodies at birth. The first spirit child to be born was Jesus. Second was Satan, and then we all followed. The Jesus of Mormonism is definitely not the same Jesus of the Bible. Therefore, faith in the Mormon Jesus is faith misplaced because the Mormon Jesus doesn't exist. [original emphasis]
”Mormonism teaches that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross itself (and receiving it by faith) is not sufficient to bring forgiveness of sins. It teaches that the forgiveness of sins is obtained though a cooperative effort with God; that is, we must be good and follow the laws and ordinances of the Mormon church in order to obtain forgiveness. Consider James Talmage, a very important Mormon figure who said, ‘The sectarian dogma of justification by faith alone has exercised an influence for evil’ (Articles, p. 432), and "Hence the justice of the scriptural doctrine that salvation comes to the individual only through obedience" (Articles, p. 81). This contradicts the biblical doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith (Rom. 5:1; 6:23; Eph. 2:8-9) and the doctrine that works are not part of our salvation but a result of them (Rom. 4:5, James 2:14-18).
”To further confuse the matter, Mormonism further states that salvation is two-fold. It maintains that salvation is both forgiveness of sins and universal resurrection. So when a Mormon speaks of salvation by grace, he is usually referring to universal resurrection. But the Bible speaks of salvation as the forgiveness of sins, not simple universal resurrection. Where Mormonism states that forgiveness of sins is not by faith alone, the Bible does teach it. Which is correct? Obviously, it is the Bible.
“Mormonism, to justify its aberrant theology, has undermined the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible. The 8th Article of Faith from the Mormon Church states, ‘We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly.’ The interesting thing is that Joseph Smith allegedly corrected the Bible in what is called the Inspired Version, though it is not used by the LDS church. Though they claim they trust the Bible, in reality they do not. They use Mormon presuppositions to interpret it. For example, where the Bible says there are no other gods in the universe (Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8), they interpret it to mean ‘no other gods of this world.’ They do not trust what it says and they often state that the Bible is not translated correctly. . . .
”Why is Mormonism a non-Christian cult? Because it adds works to salvation. It denies that Jesus is the uncreated creator. It alters the biblical teaching of the atonement. It contradicts the Christian teaching of monotheism. It undermines the authority and reliability of the Bible. [emphasis added]
”[This is not to] deny that Mormons are good people, that they worship ‘a’ god, that they share common words with Christians, that they help their people, and that they do many good things. However, Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, ‘Not everyone who says to Me, “'Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (NKJV). Becoming a Christian does not mean belonging to a church, doing good things, or simply believing in God. Being a Christian means that you have trusted in the true God for salvation, in the True Jesus --not the brother of the devil.” [emphasis added]
http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_christian.htm
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT MORMONISM’S FOUNDATIONAL DOCTRINE THAT THE LDS CHURCH IS THE SINGULARLY—AND ONLY—TRUE CHURCH OF GOD ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH; INDEED, HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE MORMON CHURCH HAS DENOUNCED CHRISTIANITY AS BEING UNGODLY
AP: ”In the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith says the [Mormon] church is ‘the only true and living church upon the whole Earth.’ Where does that leave other denominations?”
Hinckley: ” This is what he said: ‘This is the only true and living church upon the face of the whole Earth which I, the Lord, am pleased.’
"Now, where does that leave other churches? We believe that all churches do great good. We believe in the virtue in the lives of other people in other churches. We acknowledge the tremendous accomplishments of other churches.
"Our position is simply this, we say, you bring all the good that you have, wherever you have acquired it, and see if we may add to it.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the excellent online site, “Rethinking Mormonism,” ”[w]hile some current [Mormon] church leaders portray the LDS Church as Christian, the [LDS] church actually has a long history of condemning Christianity. The [Mormon] church has also stated repeatedly that no one can be saved without the permission of Joseph Smith. . . .
“Mormon Church Condemns Christians
”’This [the Mormon Church] is not just another Church. This is not just one of a family of Christian churches. This is the Church and kingdom of God, the only true Church upon the face of the earth . . . ‘
- Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pp.164-65 [emphasis added]
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“In bearing testimony of [the Mormon Cult’s] Jesus Christ, President Hinckley spoke of those outside the [LDS] Church who say Latter-day Saints ‘do not believe in the traditional Christ:’
“’. . . The traditional Christ of whom they speak is not the Christ of whom I speak. For the Christ of whom I speak has been revealed in this the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. He together with His Father, appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in the year 1820, and when Joseph left the grove that day, he knew more of the nature of God than all the learned ministers of the gospel of the ages.'"
- Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, LDS Church News, June 20, 1998, p. [emphasis added] . . .
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“’What is it that inspires professors of Christianity generally with a hope of salvation? It is that smooth, sophisticated influence of the devil, by which he deceives the whole world.’
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.270, [emphasis added]
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”’ . . . [A]ll the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels.’
- Prophet Joseph Smith , The Elders Journal, Joseph Smith Jr., editor, vol.1, no.4, p.60 . . . [emphasis added]
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“’With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world.’
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 8:199 . . . [emphasis added]
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“’The Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called.’
- Prophet Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, p.196 . . . [emphasis added] . . .
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“’Where shall we look for the true order or authority of God? It cannot be found in any nation of Christendom.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 10:127 [emphasis added]
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”’What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:22 [emphasis added]
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“’What does the Christian world know about God? Nothing . . . Why so far as the things of God are concerned, they are the veriest fools; they know neither God nor the things of God.’
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses 13:225 [emphasis added] . . .
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”’He that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fullness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti-Christ.’
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, p.312 [emphasis added]
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/mormon_christians.htm
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT PRACTICE OF BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD
AP: ”The ordinance of the Baptism for the Dead has been a source of controversy. What is it that people don't understand about it and can you appreciate that some might see it as a form of religious imperialism?”
Hinckley: ”Well, if they wish to so regard it.
"But they must realize the performing of the ordinance does not mean acceptance of the ordinance. Those for who the ordinance is done do not necessarily have to accept it.”
AP: ”On the other side?”
Hinckley: ”On the other side. So there's no injury done to anybody.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
If offending the descendants of Jewish Holocaust victims (whose loved one were first genocidally exterminated by Hitler, then secretly necro-baptized into the Mormon Cult without their families’ knowledge or consent) does not constitute “injury,” then nothing does.
If the Mormon Cult promising these deeply offended Jews that it will discontinue this grossly violative practice in manhandling their dead (then failing to follow through on that promise) does not constitute “injury,” nothing does.
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Google God Fact Check
According to Cable News Network’s international reporting, Jews felt so offensively injured by the boundary-busting practice of Mormon necro-baptism that they demanded (and ultimately received) a meeting with Mormon Cult leaders in their efforts to bring about a cessation of the practice:
”Mormons meet with Jews over baptizing Holocaust victims . . . December 11, 2002 . . .
“SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP)--Mormon and Jewish leaders met Tuesday in New York City to discuss the Mormon church's apparent breach of its agreement not to posthumously baptize Holocaust victims and other deceased Jews.
“Mormon leaders requested the meeting with Ernest Michel, chairman of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors who helped broker the 1995 agreement with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said church spokesman Dale Bills. . . .
“Baptisms for the dead are performed inside Mormon temples, with a church member immersed in water in place of the deceased person. Names of the deceased are gathered by church members from genealogy records as well as death and governmental documents from around the world.
“’For Latter-day Saints, the practice of proxy baptism is a means of expressing love and concern for those who have preceded us. It is a freewill offering,’ Bills said. . . .
“Independent researcher Helen Radkey, who prepared a report for Michel, is certain the agreement has been broken. In her research of the church's extensive genealogical database, she found at least 20,000 Jews-- some of whom died in Nazi concentration camps--were baptized after they died.
“’There shouldn't be one single death camp record in those files,’” Radkey said.
“Radkey has been researching Jews included in the Mormon databases since 1999, when she found Anne Frank and her extended family listed as being baptized.
“Also among those baptized posthumously by the church, according to Radkey's research: Ghengis Khan, Joan of Arc, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Buddha.
“Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said the Mormon church needs to rein in its members if it is serious about its pledge to stop baptizing Holocaust victims.
“’If these people did not contact the Mormons themselves, the adage should be: Don't call me, I'll call you,’ Hier said. ‘With the greatest of respect to them, we do not think they are the exclusive arbitrators of who is saved.’”
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/West/12/10/baptizing.the.dead.ap/
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the online site for National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” the Mormon Cult has re-promised to stop its dunkin-the-dead “in behalf” of Hitler's murdered Jewish victims:
Mormons Aim to Stop 'Baptism' of Holocaust Victims [by Howard Berkes] . . .
“April 12, 2005--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes another attempt to address concerns of Jewish groups who complain that Holocaust victims are showing up on Mormon baptism rolls. Mormons believe that after death, baptisms save souls. Ten years ago, Mormon leaders agreed to try to stop this practice. Now, they vow to try again.” . . .
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4586805
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Google God Fact Check:
According to the online encyclopedia “Wikipedia,” under the heading “Holocaust Victim Controversy, the Mormon Church has violated its own guidelines in performing its necro-baptisms,” the LDS Cult has a bad habit of not honoring its word on the matter:
”It is asserted that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has made it a long term practice to vicariously baptize the Holocaust's Jewish victims and other prominent individuals. However, Church policy states that Church members submit their own names for these type of ordinances, and require that a surviving family member's permission be obtained for any Baptism that is to be performed of deceased individuals that have died within a certain time period (usually 50-75 years). [emphasis added]
“However, some baptisms were done for Holocaust Victims, without proper approval or permission. When this information became public, it generated vocal criticism of the LDS Church . . . from Jewish groups, who found this ritual to be insulting and insensitive. . . .
"Partly as a result of public pressure, [Mormon] Church leaders in 1995 promised to put into place new policies that would help stop the practice, unless specifically requested or approved by relatives of the victims. [emphasis added]
“In late 2002, information surfaced that members of the [Mormon] Church had not stopped this practice despite directives from the [Mormon] Church leadership to its members, and criticism from Jewish groups began again.
"The Simon Wiesenthal Center, Los Angeles, is on record as opposing the vicarious baptism of Holocaust victims. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Center holds: ‘If these people did not contact the Mormons themselves, the adage should be: Don't call me, I'll call you. With the greatest of respect to them, we do not think they are the exclusive arbitrators of who is saved.’ Recently Church leaders have agreed to meet with leaders of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
“In December 2002, independent researcher Helen Radkey published a report showing that the [Mormon] Church's 1995 promise to remove Jewish Nazi victims from its 'International Genealogical Index' was not sufficient; her research of the [Mormon] Church's database uncovered the names of about 19,000 who had a 40 to 50 percent chance of having ‘the potential to be Holocaust victims . . . in Russia, Poland, France, and Austria.’
“Genealogist Bernard Kouchel conducted a search of the 'International Genealogical Index,' and discovered that many well-known Jews have been vicariously baptized, including Rashi, Maimonides, Albert Einstein, Menachem Begin, Irving Berlin, Marc Chagall, and Gilda Radner.
"Some permissions may have been obtained, but there is not currently a system in place to ensure that these permissions have been obtained, which has angered many in various religious and cultural communities. [emphasis added]
“In 2004, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Jewish genealogy columnist for The Jerusalem Post noted that Jews, even those with no Mormon descendants, are being rebaptised after being removed from the rolls. In an interview, D. Todd Christofferson, a [Mormon] church official, told the New York Times that it was not feasible for [Mormon] church to continuously monitor the archives to ensure that no new Jewish names appear. The agreement referred to above did not place this type of responsibility on the centralized [Mormon] Church leadership.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism_for_the_dead
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON DOCTRINE OF POLYGAMY
AP: ”The [Mormon] church seems to have difficulty distancing itself from the its history of polygamy. You've said there are no fundamentalist Mormons, but these groups still practice polygamy and still claim Joseph Smith as their own. How do you resolve that dilemma?”
Hinckley: ”Well, let me just say this, the doctrine came of revelation and was discontinued by revelation. We believe in honoring, obeying and sustaining the law. And so, we have very little sympathy with those who disobey the law in this manner.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
The way Hinckley slyly tells it, Mormons no longer believe that polygamy is revealed doctrine of the Mormon God.
According, however, to an online analysis of a typically-deceptive LDS press release on polygamy:
”Polygamy is still a canonized doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. [emphasis added]
“Many polygamists claim that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church.
“Many members leave the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in order to join Mormon faiths that practice polygamy. Many other LDS practice polygamy very discretely within the [LDS] church.
“Many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are descended from polygamous ancestors. . . .
“New polygamous marriages were solemnized from about 1831 until 1904. . . . After 1904 new polygamous marriages were forbidden, but LDS men still continued to cohabitate with their wives until they died, perhaps as late as 1976.
“The LDS church is one of the few Mormon faiths that caved in to the federal governments demand that polygamy be abandoned. The overwhelming majority of the other Mormon churches still practice polygamy.”
http://www.absalom.com/mormon/apostasy/polygamy.html
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Google God Fact Check:
Another Mormon-exposing website emphasizes the fact that despite excommunicating polygamist today, the Mormon Cult teaches (and its followers blindly believe) that the practice of doctrinal polygamy will eventually be reinstated by divine decree:
”Mormons and Polygamy
“A Mormon person who extolls the virtues of plural marriage . . . would be better described as a lapsed or ex-Mormon, or as just a Utah resident!, since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints generally excommunicates practicing polygamists.
”Mormons do, however, respect the principle of polygamy. They practiced plural marriage in the late 1800s, and they still believe it was ordained by God. The Mormon Prophet Joseph F. Smith felt so strongly about it that, even after our 1890 Manifesto forbidding polygamy, he allowed the practice to continue. In 1904, he even testified falsely before Congress that there had been no authorized plural marriages since 1890. [emphasis added]
”This is difficult to comprehend unless you realize how deeply engrained the principle is in the Mormon religion. They regard it as a divine order, and also still revere those early polygamists. Mormons believe their marriages were sealed for eternity and that polygamy is the order of Heaven. [emphasis added]
”Mormon leaders have taught that God has at least one wife, our Mother in Heaven, and that Jesus Christ has several wives. And Mormons still perform plural marriages in temples today . . . uniting living individuals in polygamous marriages with deceased Mormons. . . . [emphasis added]
”And although there leaders taught that polygamy would someday return, they might be turning over in their graves if they knew the effort would be spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union, which called for legalization in 1991.” [emphasis added]
http://mormonsinthe.blogspot.com/2005/05/mormons-and-polygamy.html
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Google God Fact Check:
On Jerald Sandra Tanner’s online “Utah Lighthouse Ministry” website, the following question is clearly raised--and promptly answered:
”Does the LDS Church still believe in polygamy?
”Yes, the doctrine of polygamy is still in their scriptures, Doctrine and Covenants, section 132. Mormons are instructed not to practice polygamy during this life but the practice will be permitted in heaven. Today if a Mormon man outlives his first wife (after having a temple marriage) he can marry again in the temple. This would guarantee him two wives in heaven.” [emphasis added]
http://www.utlm.org/faqs/faqgeneral.htm#18
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HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE ALLEGED OPENNESS AND HONESTY OF MORMON CULT HISTORY
AP: ”Some scholars say historical records point to discrepancies with the official [Mormon] church history. How do you reconcile the differences? And what is the [Mormon] church's position on historical scholarship?”
Hinckley: ”Well, we have nothing to hide. Our history is an open book. They may find what they are looking for, but the fact is the history of the [Mormon] church is clear and open and leads to faith and strength and virtues.”
AP: “If that's so, why have some people either been disfellowshipped or excommunicated for the things they have written?”
Hinckley: ”There have been very few of them. It's only when they begin to teach what they believe to try to influence others that action is taken against them.” [emphasis added]
AP: ”Because by extension they try to damage the church in some way?”
Hinckley: ”Try to damage the church, yes.”
GONG!
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Google God Fact Check:
As former Mormon Richard Packham states in his website article, “To Those Who Are Investigating ‘Mormonism,’” there are many items of historical reality that the Mormon Cult hides from both members and non-members:
”Since the founding of the [Mormon] church down to the present-day, . . . . [LDS] church leaders have not hesitated to lie, to falsify documents, to rewrite or suppress history, or to do whatever is necessary to protect the image of the [LDS] church. Many Mormon historians have been excommunicated from the church for publishing their findings on the truth of Mormon history.” [emphasis added]
Under the sub-heading, “What the Missionaries Will Not Tell You,” Packham details the official approach of lies and deception that the Mormon Cult employs when recounting its doctrine and “history:”
”Here is a summary of important facts about the Mormon church, its doctrine, and its history that the [Mormon] missionaries will probably not tell you. We are not suggesting that they are intentionally deceiving you--most of the young Mormons serving missions for the [LDS] church are not well-educated in the history of the church or in modern critical studies of the [LDS] church. They probably do not know the all the facts themselves. They have been trained, however, to give investigators ‘milk before meat,’ that is, to postpone revealing anything at all that might make an investigator hesitant, even if it is true. But you should be aware of these facts before you commit yourself.
"Each of the following facts has been substantiated by thorough historical scholarship. And this list is by no means exhaustive! . . .
--“The "First Vision" story in the form presented to you was unknown until 1838, eighteen years after its alleged occurrence and almost ten years after Smith had begun his missionary efforts. The oldest (but quite different) version of the vision is in Smith's own handwriting, dating from about 1832 (still at least eleven years afterwards), and says that only one personage, Jesus Christ, appeared to him. It also mentions nothing about a revival. It also contradicts the later account as to whether Smith had already decided that no church was true. Still a third version of this event is recorded as a recollection in Smith's diary, fifteen years after the alleged vision, where one unidentified ‘personage’ appeared, then another, with a message implying that neither was the Son. They were accompanied by many ‘angels,’ which are not mentioned in the official version you have been told about. Which version is correct, if any? Why was this event, now said by the church to be so important, unknown for so long? . . .
--“Careful study of the religious history of the locale where Smith lived in 1820 casts doubt on whether there actually was such an extensive revival that year as Smith and his family later described as associated with the ‘First Vision.’ The revivals in 1817 and 1824 better fit what Smith described later. . . . [original emphasis]
--“In 1828, eight years after he supposedly had been told by God himself to join no church, Smith applied for membership in a local Methodist church. Other members of his family had joined the Presbyterians. . . .
--“Contemporaries of Smith consistently described him as something of a confidence man, whose chief source of income was hiring out to local farmers to help them find buried treasure by the use of folk magic and ‘seer stones.’ Smith was actually tried in 1826 on a charge of money-digging. . . . It is interesting that none of his critics seemed to be aware of his claim to have been visited by God in 1820, even though in his 1838 account he claimed that he had suffered "great persecution" for telling people of his vision.
--“The only persons who claimed to have actually seen the gold plates were eleven close friends of Smith (many of them related to each other). Their testimonies are printed in the front of every copy of the Book of Mormon. No disinterested third party was ever allowed to examine them. They were retrieved by the angel at some unrecorded point. Most of the witnesses later abandoned Smith and left his movement. Smith then called them ‘liars.’ . . .
--“Smith produced most of the ‘translation’ not by reading the plates through the Urim and Thummim (described as a pair of sacred spectacles), but by gazing at the same 'seer stone' he had used for treasure hunting. He would place the stone into his hat, and then cover his face with it. For much of the time he was dictating, the gold plates were not even present, but in a hiding place. . . .
--“The detailed history and civilization described in the Book of Mormon does not correspond to anything found by archaeologists anywhere in the Americas. The Book of Mormon describes a civilization lasting for a thousand years, covering both North and South America, which was familiar with horses, elephants, cattle, sheep, wheat, barley, steel, wheeled vehicles, shipbuilding, sails, coins, and other elements of Old World culture. But no trace of any of these supposedly very common things has ever been found in the Americas of that period. Nor does the Book of Mormon mention many of the features of the civilizations which really did exist at that time in the Americas. The LDS church has spent millions of dollars over many years trying to prove through archaeological research that the Book of Mormon is an accurate historical record, but they have failed to produce any convincing pre-Columbian archeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon story. In addition, whereas the Book of Mormon presents the picture of a relatively homogeneous people, with a single language and communication between distant parts of the Americas, the pre-Columbian history of the Americas shows the opposite: widely disparate racial types (almost entirely east Asian -definitely not Semitic, as proven by recent DNA studies), and many unrelated native languages, none of which are even remotely related to Hebrew or Egyptian. . . .
--“The people of the Book of Mormon were supposedly devout Jews observing the Law of Moses, but in the Book of Mormon there is almost no trace of their observance of Mosaic law or even an accurate knowledge of it. . . .
--“Although Joseph Smith said that God had pronounced the completed translation of the plates as published in 1830 ‘correct,’ many changes have been made in later editions. Besides thousands of corrections of poor grammar and awkward wording in the 1830 edition, other changes have been made to reflect subsequent changes in some of the fundamental doctrine of the [Mormon} church.
"For example, an early change in wording modified the 1830 edition's acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, thus allowing Smith to introduce his later doctrine of multiple gods. A more recent change (1981) replaced ‘white’ with ‘pure,’ apparently to reflect the change in the [Mormon] church's stance on the ‘curse.’ of the black race. . . .
--“Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon contained the ‘fulness of the gospel.’ However, its teaching on many doctrinal subjects has been ignored or contradicted by the present LDS church, and many doctrines now said by the church to be essential are not even mentioned there. Examples are the church's position on the nature of God, the Virgin Birth, the Trinity, polygamy, Hell, priesthood, secret organizations, the nature of Heaven and salvation, temples, proxy ordinances for the dead, and many other matters. . . .
--“Many of the basic historical notions found in the Book of Mormon had appeared in print already in 1825, just two years before Smith began producing the Book of Mormon, in a book called View of the Hebrews, by Ethan Smith (no relation) and published just a few miles from where Joseph Smith lived. A careful study of this obscure book led one LDS church official (the historian B. H. Roberts, 1857-1933) to confess that the evidence tended to show that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient record, but concocted by Joseph Smith himself, based on ideas he had read in the earlier book. . . .
--“Although Mormons claim that God is guiding the LDS church through its president (who has the title 'prophet, seer and revelator'), the successive 'prophets' have repeatedly either led the church into undertakings that were dismal failures or failed to see approaching disaster. To mention only a few: the Kirtland Bank, the United Order, the gathering of Zion to Missouri, the Zion's Camp expedition, polygamy, the Deseret Alphabet . . .
"A recent example is the successful hoax perpetrated on the [mORMON] church by manuscript dealer Mark Hofmann in the 1980s. He succeeded in selling the church thousands of dollars worth of manuscripts which he had forged. The [Mormon] church and its ‘prophet, seer and revelator’ accepted them as genuine historical documents. . . . [Mormon] church leaders learned the truth not from God, through revelation, but from non-Mormon experts and the police, after Hofmann was arrested for two murders he committed to cover up his hoax. This scandal was reported nationwide. . . . .
--“The secret temple ritual (the ‘endowment’) was introduced by Smith in May, 1842, just two months after he had been initiated into Freemasonry. The LDS temple ritual closely resembles the Masonic ritual of that day. . . . Smith explained that the Masons had corrupted the ancient (God-given) ritual by changing it and removing parts of it, and that he was restoring it to its ‘pure’ and 'original' (and complete) form, as revealed to him by God. In the years since, the LDS church has made many fundamental changes in the ‘pure and original’ ritual as ‘restored’ by Smith, mostly by removing major parts of it. . . .
--“Many doctrines which were once taught by the LDS church, and held to be fundamental, essential and ‘eternal,’ have been abandoned. Whether we feel that the [Mormon] church was correct in abandoning them is not the point; rather, the point is that a church claiming to be the church of God takes one ‘everlasting’ position at one time and the opposite position at another, all the time claiming to be proclaiming the word of God.
"Some examples are:
*“The Adam-God doctrine (Adam is God the Father); . . .
*”the United Order (all property of church members is to be held in common, with title in the church);
*”Plural Marriage (polygamy; a man must have more than one wife to attain the highest degree of heaven); . . .
*”the Curse of Cain (the black race is not entitled to hold God's priesthood because it is cursed; this doctrine was not abandoned until 1978); . . .
*”Blood Atonement (some sins--apostasy, adultery, murder, interracial marriage-- must be atoned for by the shedding of the sinner's blood, preferably by someone appointed to do so by [Mormon] church authorities); . . .
”All of these doctrines were proclaimed by the reigning prophet to be the Word of God, ‘eternal,’ ‘everlasting,’ to govern the [Mormon] church ‘forevermore.’ All have been abandoned by the present [Mormon] church.
--“Joseph Smith's early revelations were collected and first published in 1833 in the Book of Commandments. God (as recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, Sections 1 and 67) supposedly testified by revelation that the revelations as published were true and correct. Because the Book of Commandments did not receive wide distribution (most copies were destroyed by angry opponents of the Mormons in Missouri, where it was published), they were republished--with additional revelations--as the Doctrine and Covenants in 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. However, many of the revelations as published in Kirtland differed fundamentally from their versions as originally given. The changes generally gave more power and authority to Smith, and justified changes he was making in [LDS] church organization and theology. The question naturally arises as to why revelations which God had pronounced correct needed to be revised. . . .
--“Joseph Smith claimed to be a ‘translator’ by the power of God. In addition to the Book of Mormon, he made several other ‘translations:’
*”The Book of Abraham, from Egyptian papyrus scrolls which came into his possession in 1835. He stated that the scrolls were written by the biblical Abraham ‘by his own hand.’ Smith's translation is now accepted as scripture by the LDS church, as part of its Pearl of Great Price. Smith also produced an ‘Egyptian Grammar’ based on his translation. Modern scholars of ancient Egyptian agree that the scrolls are common Egyptian funeral scrolls, entirely pagan in nature, having nothing to do with Abraham, and from a period 2000 years later than Abraham. The 'Grammar' has been said by Egyptologists to prove that Smith had no notion of the Egyptian language. It is pure fantasy: he made it up. . . . [original emphasis]
*”The ‘Inspired Revision’ of the King James Bible. Smith was commanded by God to retranslate the Bible because the existing translations contained errors. He completed his translation in 1833, but the church still uses the King James Version. . . .
*”The ‘Kinderhook Plates,’ a group of six metal plates with strange engraved characters, unearthed in 1843 near Kinderhook, Illinois, and examined by Smith, who began a ‘translation’ of them. He never completed the translation, but he identified the plates as an ‘ancient record,’ and translated enough to identify the author as a descendant of Pharaoh. Local farmers later confessed that they had manufactured, engraved and buried the plates themselves as a hoax. They had apparently copied the characters from a Chinese tea box. . . .
--“Joseph Smith claimed to be a ‘prophet.’ He frequently prophesied future events ‘by the power of God.’ Many of these prophecies are recorded in the LDS scripture Doctrine and Covenants. Almost none have been fulfilled, and many cannot now be fulfilled because the deeds to be done by the persons named were never done and those persons are now dead. Many prophecies included dates for their fulfillment, and those dates are now long past, the events never having occurred. . . .
--“Joseph Smith died not as a martyr, but in a gun battle in which he fired a number of shots. He was in jail at the time, under arrest for having ordered the destruction of a Nauvoo newspaper which dared to print an exposure (which was true) of his secret sexual liaisons. At that time he had announced his candidacy for the presidency of the United States, set up a secret government, and secretly had himself crowned ‘King of the Kingdom of God.’ . . .
”--Since the founding of the [Mormon] church down to the present day the church leaders have not hesitated to lie, to falsify documents, to rewrite or suppress history, or to do whatever is necessary to protect the image of the church. Many Mormon historians have been excommunicated from the church for publishing their findings on the truth of Mormon history. [emphasis added] . . .
--“Mormonism includes many other unusual doctrines which you will probably not be told about until you have been in the church for a long time. These doctrines are not revealed to investigators or new converts because those people are not yet considered ready to have more than 'milk' as doctrine. The Mormons also probably realize that if investigators knew of these unusual teachings they would not join the [Mormon] church. In addition to those mentioned elsewhere in this article, the following are noteworthy: . . .
"*God was once a man like us.
"*God has a tangible body of flesh and bone.
"*God lives on a planet near the star Kolob.
"*God ("Heavenly Father") has at least one wife, our "Mother in Heaven," but she is so holy that we are not to discuss her nor pray to her.
"*We can become like God and rule over our own universe.
"*There are many gods, ruling over their own worlds.
"*Jesus and Satan ('Lucifer') are brothers, and they are our brothers - we are all spirit children of Heavenly Father.
"*Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father by having sex with Mary, who was temporarily his wife.
"*We should not pray to Jesus, nor try to feel a personal relationship with him.
"*The "Lord" ('Jehovah') in the Old Testament is the being named Jesus in the New Testament, but different from 'God' ('Elohim').
"*In the highest degree of the celestial kingdom some men will have more than one wife.
"*Before coming to this earth we lived as spirits in a ‘pre-existence,’ during which we were tested; our position in this life (whether born to Mormons or savages, or in America or Africa) is our reward or punishment for our obedience in that life.
"*Dark skin is a curse from God, the result of our sin, or the sin of our ancestors. If sufficiently righteous, a dark-skinned person will become light-skinned.
"*The Garden of Eden was in Missouri. All humanity before the Great Flood lived in the western hemisphere. The Ark transported Noah and the other survivors to the eastern hemisphere."
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/tract.htm
_____
HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE MORMON CULT’S BIGOTED INTOLERANCE TOWARD GAYS AND LESBIANS
AP: ”The First Presidency's Proclamation on the Family issued 10 years ago set the nuclear family--husband, wife and children--apart as the idea. But family structures are changing and some of those include gay and lesbian Mormons who are parents. Is there room in the church for those families?”
Hinckley: ”Let me put it this way. Our hearts reach out to those who have this problem. We try to help them. Friendship them. Love them. Work with them. But if they violate moral standards, then they are just like anybody else. They have done that which causes the church to take action, whether they be homosexual or heterosexual.”
GONG!
_____
Google God Fact Check:
An article entitled, “The LDS Church & Homosexuality: Past and Present” (appearing on a website maintained by the “Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance”), lists the damning historical evidence against Hinckley’s claim of the Mormon Cult's supposed love and tolerance for gays and lesbians:
”Recent anti-homosexual statements and positions:
“1976: The [Mormon] Church may have been the leading religious organization in the fight against the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) which would have given equal rights to women in the US. The LDS President at the time, Spencer Kimball, said that a main concern was that the ERA would lead to changes in civil rights laws to give equal rights to gays and lesbians.
“1976: The [Mormon] Church changed its excommunication rules to allow termination of membership of persons with homosexual feelings. Previously, members could only be excommunicated for homosexual acts. This policy was later reversed.
“1976: [Mormon] Church Apostle Boyd K. Packer delivered a speech on October 2, 1976, which was directed to "young men of Aaronic Priesthood age"; i.e. to young men. His talk dealt with sexuality and the young male. It was widely distributed throughout the LDS church at the time. Packer is currently the acting president of the Quorum of 12 Apostles. With reference to homosexual activities, he is reported as saying:
“’I repeat, very plainly, physical mischief with another man is forbidden. It is forbidden by the Lord.
"'There are some men who entice young men to join them in these immoral acts. If you are ever approached to participate in anything like that, it is time to vigorously resist.
"'While I was in a mission on one occasion, a missionary said he had something to confess. I was very worried because he just could not get himself to tell me what he had done.
"After patient encouragement he finally blurted out, 'I hit my companion.'
"’Oh, is that all?’ I said in great relief.
“’But I floored him,’ he said.
“After learning a little more, my response was ‘Well, thanks. Somebody had to do it, and it wouldn't be well for a General Authority to solve the problem that way.’
“I am not recommending that course to you, but I am not omitting it. You must protect yourself.”
"([Packer’s] message has been interpreted in different ways:
“Many in the homosexual community believe that it is inexcusable for a senior official in the LDS church to imply that physical violence can be an appropriate response to an approach by a same-sex individual. A simple ‘No thanks; that is not my orientation’" would probably have sufficed.
“At least one Mormon believes that Packer's message was that anti-gay violence is justified, but only if absolutely needed to avoid becoming a victim of homosexual rape).
"Packer went on to state that the belief that a person has an unchangeable sexual orientation is a malicious lie. [emphasis added]
”1981: LDS President Kimball wrote, ‘The unholy transgression of homosexuality is either rapidly growing or tolerance is giving it wider publicity. . . . The Lord condemns and forbids this practice. . . . “God made me that way,” some say, as they rationalize and excuse themselves . . . . ”I can’t help it,” they add. This is blasphemy. Is man not made in the image of God, and does he think God to be "that way"?' . . .
“1988: [Mormon Church president] Ezra Taft Benson wrote that the Mormon male '. . . will not commit adultery "nor do anything like unto it" (D&C; 59:6). This means fornication, homosexual behavior, self-abuse, child molestation, or any other sexual perversion.' . . .
“1990: A pamphlet sponsored by the First Presidency and titled 'For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God' said, "The Lord specifically forbids certain behaviors, including all sexual relations before marriage, petting, sex perversion (such as homosexuality, rape and incest), masturbation or preoccupation with sex in thought, speech or action . . . Homosexual and lesbian activities are sinful and an abomination of the Lord (see Romans 1:26-27, 31). Unnatural affection including those toward persons of the same gender are counter to God's eternal plan for his children. You are responsible to make right choices. Whether directed toward those of the same or opposite gender, lustful feelings and desires may lead to more serious sins. All Latter-day Saints must learn to control and discipline themselves." (This statement was modified in a more inclusive direction during 2001). . . .
“1991: The First Presidency of the LDS Church stated on November 14, 1991, ‘Sexual relations are proper only between husband and wife appropriately expressed within the bonds of marriage. Any other sexual contact, including fornication, adultery, and homosexuality and lesbian [sic] behavior, is sinful.’
“1994: The First Presidency issued statements condemning same-sex unions and urging its members to do what they could to oppose extending equal marriage rights to gays and lesbians.
“1994 (approximate date): A prominent LDS leader, John A Hoag, became the leader of a new group, ‘Hawaii's Future Today (HFT).’ This was the main organization which fought against same-sex marriages in Hawaii. ‘HFT’ was composed mainly of Mormon and Roman Catholic members. Many professors from Brigham Young University, a Mormon institution, testified in defense of a ban on such marriages.
“1995: Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote a definitive article in the magazine Ensign, titled ‘Same Gender Attraction.’ Some points stated in his article were:
"1. God created attraction between men and women in order to promote marriage .
"2. Any sexual activity other than that between a married heterosexual couple are grave sins.
"3. God permits Satan to tempt humans to ‘choose evil and commit sin.’
"4. The terms ‘homosexual’, ‘lesbian,' and ‘Gay’ are adjectives, (as in ‘homosexual feelings,’ or ‘lesbian behavior’) and should not be used as nouns to describe people.
"5. Some homosexual feelings appear to be caused by genes; others by experiences; others by a complex interaction between ‘nature and nurture.’
"6. A person can "resist and reform" their feelings through:
"*fasting,
"*prayer,
"*adsorbing the truths of the gospel,
"*[Mormon] church attendance and service,
"*counsel of inspired[Mormon] leaders, and
"*professional assistance.
“(These beliefs appear to be at variance with reality. Many deeply devout Mormon and other Christian gays and lesbians have fought against their homosexual feelings and have prayed for ‘deliverance’ for decades without success. The success rate of persons attempting to change their sexual orientation appears to be less than 1%).
"7. The [LDS] church and its members should ‘love the [homosexual] sinner, condemn the sin.’
"8. [Mormon] Church membership is open to homosexuals who are honestly trying to resist and change their feelings; it is closed to practicing homosexuals.
"9. ‘Our doctrines obviously condemn those who engage in so-called 'gay bashing'--physical of verbal attacks on persons thought to be involved in homosexual or lesbian behavior.’
"10. Homosexuality is not based on genetics. If it were, then 100% of identical twins of gays would also be gay.
"(Studies show that it is only a little over 50%).[Oaks] admitted that he had no specialized scientific knowledge in this area, but relied on other experts. Apparently he was misinformed by his consultants; they were apparently unaware of a function of genes called ‘penetrance.’ . . .
“1995: A group of parents of gay/lesbian children sent a letter to President Hinckley and the Quorum of the Twelve. . . . The parents mentioned:
"‘The 1992 church brochure entitled “Understanding and Helping Those Who Have Homosexual Problems” seemed to moderate the position taken by the church as it relates to the parent's role as an etiological factor in homosexuality. A 1995 document, however, published by LDS Social Services for LDS counselors and psychotherapists, attempts to re-establish the position taken by the 1981 [Mormon] church publication on homosexuality which placed most of the blame for homosexuality on poor parenting, i.e. an absent or weak father and a dominant mother.’
“(The 1995 document stated, in part: ‘It is in the three-way relationship between the parents and the child that the homosexual's family background is commonly dysfunctional. Homosexuality is, in part, a symptom of some type of relational deficit.') . . .
“1997: Three Brigham Young University students conducted a student poll at the university.
”One question asked which of four statements best describes the Mormon church's stand on homosexuality. Responses were:
—“41% chose ‘Accepts homosexually oriented persons as long as they change their sexual orientation.’
--“33% selected ‘Accepts in full fellowship homosexually oriented persons who live the Church's law of chastity.’
--“10% believed that the [LDS] church excommunicates gays and lesbians regardless of whether they are celibate or sexually active.
--“10% marked ‘other.’
--“Another question asked whether they knew a gay or lesbian student at BYU. 13% did.
--“80% said that they would not share a room with a gay or lesbian roommate.
--“42% felt that gays and lesbians should not be allowed at BYU, even if they are celibate. The BYU honor code prohibits homosexual behavior, but does not mention homosexual orientation.
“2000: In advance of the annual General Conference in Salt Lake City, UT, some Mormon parents are asking the church to review a group of 20- to 30-year-old pamphlets which they feel condemn their children as ‘latter-day lepers.’ Four brochures mentioned are: ‘To Young Men Only,’ ‘To The One,’ ‘Letter to a Friend,’ and ‘For the Strength of Youth.’
”According [to] David Hardy, a Salt Lake City attorney and former LDS bishop, the [message of these] pamphlets ‘engenders fear and loathing’ toward gays and lesbians. They also convince ‘parents to condemn and turn against their gay children, destroying real families, and drive our gay children to self-loathing, despair and suicide.’ He noted that the ‘To Young Men Only’ pamphlet described, without condemnation, a gay bashing incident. Hardy commented that it is ‘inflammatory, insensitive and troubling.’
”Gary and Milie Watts of Provo, UT said that ‘these pamphlet . . . . characterize our children and other gay and lesbian youth as selfish, perverted, abominable and under the control of Lucifer.’
"Former LDS Church President Spencer Kimball has written that ‘it were better that such a man [a homosexual] were never born.’
"Another tract places homosexuality as a perversion on par with rape and incest. The ‘To The One’ pamphlet describes it as ‘unnatural,’ ‘abnormal’ and ‘an affliction.’
”The parents told reporters, ‘We ask the[Mormon} church leadership to specifically address these pamphlets . . . and either endorse them and everything they say as current, correct and official, or cease their publication and distribution and instruct local church leaders to throw them away.’ . . .
“The LDS church issued a statement saying: ‘These are individuals who are children of God. We love them; we respect them. This [the Mormon] church is a church of inclusion, not exclusion, and we welcome them and want them to be a part of the [Mormon] church.’ . . .
“2001: A new revision to pamphlet sponsored by the First Presidency and titled ‘For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to Go’ says: ‘Homosexual activity is a serious sin. If you find yourself struggling with same-gender attraction, seek counsel from your parents and bishop. They will help you.’
“2002: An article in the February 25, 2002, edition of The Nation by Katherine Rosman, titled ‘Mormon Family Values,’ referred to two LDS pamphlets and one speech on homosexuality by a Mormon leader:
“One pamphlet allegedly says that ‘[h]omosexuality Is Sin: Next to the crime of murder comes the sin of sexual impurity.’
“Another pamphlet, available only to [Mormon] church leaders, states: ‘God has promised to help those who earnestly strive to live his commandments.’ It mentions that if homosexuals repent enough, ‘heterosexual feelings emerge.’ . . . “
http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_lds.htm
| | | | Trusting The Google God Or The Mormon God?--Dissecting Gordon B. Hinckley's Latest Media Act, "Lie Upon Lie, Decept Upon Decept" (part Two Of Two)
| | Posted Dec 27, 2005, at 08:00 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Hinckley Beguiles and Smiles His Way Through Another Devious Interview with the Press
In a recent conversation with Associated Press reporter Jennifer Dobner, headlined “Chat with Mormon leader,” LDS Church president Gordon B. Hinckley uttered some astoundingly false and misleading statements.
(For the complete text of the interview, see:
http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php...)
_____
Those of us in the ex-Mormon community are not, of course, surprised at Hinckley's misdirects and mischaracterizations. After all, he has proven himself to be the Consumate Carnival Barker of Mormonism.
Just for the record, however (and for those perhaps struggling with their Mormon testimonies in false “prophets” such as Hinckley and all his LDS predecessors), let us dissect Hinckley’s deceits--lie upon lie, "decept" upon "decept."
Below are highlighted Hinckley’s breathtakingly dishonest claims made during that interview, counter-balanced with actual, historical reality--just a click away at Google.
What will be demonstrated by this examination is how the Google God trumps the Mormon God and how, in the process, the Intenet is steadily succeeding in undermining the conniving efforts of the LDS Cult’s highest leadership to lie and deceive in public.
_____
HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT MORMON POLITICAL ACTIVITY
AP: ”The [Mormon] church fought against the (Equal Rights Amendment) in the 1970s, has put some weight behind gay marriage laws in California and other states and in Utah, you have weighed in on alcohol law and tax reform. What is the [LDS] church's position on political involvement, nationally or locally?”
Hinckley: ”We do not endorse any political party. We do not endorse any political candidate. We do not permit the use of our buildings for political purposes. The only time the [Mormon] church gets involved in what might be termed political matters is when there are moral issues at stake or when some proposed action directly impinges upon the program of the [Mormon] church.”
GONG!
_____
Google God Fact Check:
For anyone who doubts the historical reality of the Mormon Cult’s inappropriate meddling in politics, recommended book reading is D. Michael Quinn’s extraordinary work, “The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power {Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1997).
A review on Amazon.com reads:
”The Mormon church today is led by an elite group of older men, nearly three-quarters of whom are related to current or past General [LDS] church authorities.
"This dynastic hierarchy meets in private; neither its minutes nor the [LDS] church's finances are available for public review. Members are reassured by public relations spokesmen that all is well and that harmony prevails among the brethren.
"But by interviewing former [Mormon] church aides, examining hundreds of diaries, and drawing from his own past experience as an insider within the Latter-day Saint historical department, Michael Quinn presents a fuller view.
“His extensive research documents how the governing apostles, seventies, and presiding bishops are strong-willed, independent men (much like the directors of a large corporation) who lobby their colleagues, forge alliances, out-maneuver opponents, and broker compromises.
“Quinn's The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions Of Power reveals clandestine political activities, investigative and punitive actions by church security forces, personal ‘loans’ from [LDS] church coffers (later written off as bad debts), and other privileged power-vested activities.
“The Mormon Hierarchy considers the changing role and attitude of the leadership toward visionary experiences, the momentous events which have shaped quorum protocol and doctrine, and day-to-day bureaucratic intrigue from the time of Brigham Young to the dawn of the twenty-first century.”
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1560850604?v=glance
_____
Google God Fact Check:
Other reviews of Quinns’ book expose Hinckley’s blatant lie that the Mormon Church is not inappropriately involved in efforts to manipulate politics across the state and national stage:
--from Publishers Weekly:
”[Quinn’s book] offers a glimpse of the power struggles that often characterize the elite group that leads the [Mormon] Church. In his investigations, he finds evidence of financial mismanagement and political corruption at the highest level of the Mormon hierarchy.”
_____
--from Western Historical Quarterly:
”[Quinn’s book looks] at policies regarding [LDS] church finances, attitudes toward violence, the rule of the male priesthood, and involvement in politics. It documents the increasingly powerful role relatively few Mormons play in determining national policy. The research is so extensive that the text is less than half the book; no history speaks for itself without the aid of historians wiling to organize material in such manner as to give the past a voice.”
_____
--from Latter-day Saint History:
” [Quinn’s book] analyzes the increasing involvement of Mormons within the political realms and studies: early attempts at manipulation, political leveraging in Utah, adjustments to partisan politics, public office and politics after statehood, attempts to control partisan politics . . . and the adoration of the LDS President.”
_____
--from Religious Studies Review:
” . . . Quinn focuses on LDS social, political, and economic dynamics in The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power. Quinn examines the top LDS leadership echelon—the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles, the Presiding Patriarch, the Presiding Bishopric, and the Seventy. . . .More topical than chronological, it includes chapters on apostolic ordination, LDS finances, theocratic authority, partisan politics, and the hierarchy's family ties. Quinn also includes case studies on the hierarchy's internal conflicts (over the conservative political activism of Apostle Ezra Taft Benson) and their efforts to wield power in the larger society (the anti-ERA campaign). “
_____
--from the Journal of Mormon History:
”[Quinn’s book goes] from controversy to controversy: the [Mormon] church and its money; the ‘culture of violence’ that continued from the Joseph Smith period and flourished until 1890, producing not only the Mountain Meadows massacre but also, as Quinn amply documents, numerous murders; [LDS] church ‘shadow governments,’ including the bizarre role of the Council of Fifty; the [Mormon] church's efforts to control politics in its heartland from Brigham Young until the present; and its venture onto a national stage during the Equal Rights Amendment campaign in which it played a possibly decisive role. Quinn presciently ends this chapter with the first signs of the anti-gay rights campaign in which the [LDS] church has, under Gordon B. Hinckley's administration, emerged as a full-blown and well-financed lobbyist.” [emphasis added]
http://www.signaturebooks.com/reviews/hier2.htm
_____
HINCKLEY LIES ABOUT THE REALITY OF MORMON PECULIARITY/WEIRDNESS
AP:: ”So will [the rest of the world] find [the Mormons] a little less peculiar?”
Hinckley: “Oh, I don't mind being called peculiar. We are a little peculiar. We're a little different. We don't smoke. We don't drink. We do things in a little different way. That's not dishonorable. I believe that's to our credit.” [emphasis added]
GONG!
_____
Google God Fact Check:
Despite Hinckley’s claim, he has, in fact, chafed at the fact that Mormons are largely considered to be “peculia--in other words, as synonymously defined, “weird.”
Indeed, in past smooze-fests with the media, Hinckley has gone out of his way to claim that Mormons are NOT a “peculiar/weird” people.
Before quoting Hinckley’s own words denying the peculiarity/weirdness of Mormons, however, it is helpful to define, in dictionary terms, the meaning of the word “peculiar.”
_____
Google God Fact Check:
According to dictionary.com, a common synonym for the word “peculiar” is, in fact, “weird:”
”Main Entry: peculiar
“Part of Speech: adjective
“Definition: bizarre
“Synonyms: abnormal, aired out, beat, bent, character, creep, curious, eccentric, exceptional, extraordinary, far-out, flaky, fly ball, freakish, freaky, funny, idiosyncratic, kinky, kooky, odd, oddball, offbeat, out-of-the-way, outlandish, quaint, queer, singular, spacey, strange, uncommon, unconventional, uncustomary, unusual, way-out, WEIRD, whacky, wonderful [emphasis added]
“Antonyms: normal, ordinary
“Source: Roget's New Millennium Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1)”
_____
Google God Fact Check:
Likewise, Webster’s online dictionary lists in its definition base of “peculiar” the word “weird:”
”Related Words
“aberrant, abnormal, absurd, anomalous, another, appropriate, appropriate to, arbitrary, atypical, bizarre, categorical, characteristic, characterizing, classificational, classificatory, connotative, contrastive, crank, crankish, cranky, crotchety, defining, demonstrative, denominative, denotative, designative, deviant, deviate, deviative, diacritical, diagnostic, differencing, different, differential, differentiative, discriminating, discriminative, distinct, distinguished, distinguishing, divergent, divisional, divisionary, dotty, else, emblematic, erratic, evidential, exhibitive, expressive, fey, figural, figurative, flaky, freaked out, freakish, freaky, funny, identifying, ideographic, idiocratic, idiosyncratic, implicative, in character, indicating, indicative, indicatory, individualizing, individuating, intrinsic, irregular, kinky, kooky, maggoty, marked, meaningful, metaphorical, naming, native to, natural to, not that sort, not the same, not the type, nutty, oddball, of a sort, of another sort, of sorts, off, off the wall, offbeat, ordinal, other, other than, otherwise, out, out-of-the-way, outlandish, passing strange, pathognomonic, personal, personalizing, private, proper, quaint, quintessential, quirky, representative, rum, screwball, screwy, semantic, semiotic, separative, signalizing, significant, significative, signifying, single, singular, sort, special, specific, subdivisional, suggestive, sui generis, symbolic, symbolistic, symbological, symptomatic, symptomatologic, taxonomic, true to form, twisted, typal, typical, unconventional, uncustomary, unearthly, unique, unnatural, unorthodox, wacky, WEIRD, whimsical, wondrous, strange” [emphasis added]
http://www.webster-dictionary.org/definition/peculiar
_____
Using the term “peculiar” to mean “weird,” note how Hinckley tells the Associated Press reporter that Mormons are, on the one hand, a “peculiar people” who are “a little different,” but in a previous media interview had claimed that Mormons are not “weird” (i.e., “peculiar”).
As usual, Hinckley is trying to have his Jell-O and eat it, too.
_____
Google God Fact Check:
In a 1996 interview with CBS’s Mike Wallace for a segment of "60 Minutes," Hinckley said just the opposite:
Hinckley: “We're reaching out across the world. We're not a weird people.”
Wallace: ”A weird people?”
Hinckley: ”Yes."
http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml
_____
Conclusion: the Mormon Cult and Hinckley in Two Words
“Weird” and “lying.”
| | | | The Allegedly Barren Salt Lake Valley: Another Mormon Lie Caught And Treed
| | Posted Dec 27, 2005, at 07:54 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: A Barren Valley--or a Legend Barren of Truth?
Persistently-propagandized Mormons have long claimed that when Brigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, he and his cohorts found the place to be devoid of trees--except, supposedly, for a single cedar, tenaciously clinging to life in a desolate wasteland that the Mormons boast to have (according to scriptural prophesy, of course) resurrected to resplendant glory.
Indeed, even today, Utah promotional shop-and-spend guides portray the Salt Lake Valley of invented 1847 fame to have been a veritable no-man's-land:
"Historically, the one-time desert wilderness [of Utah] was created by settlers seeking refuge from religious persecution, and neither barren land, nor drought or a plague of crickets could dissuade the Mormons from their purpose."
http://www.attractionguide.com/salt_l...
Uh-huh. And if you believe that, I've got thousands of cricket-gorged seagulls to sell ya.
Actually, It's All Kid's Stuff
Here's a dose of reality from a Social Studies unit designed for Utah fourth-graders (which, apparently, is a learning level still far above that of many true-believing Mormons):
"There is a myth about the Salt Lake Valley. It says that the valley was a barren and lifeless desert with only one tree when the first Mormon pioneers arrived.
"Here is what the valley was really like when the Mormon pioneers first came. Much of it had rich, good soil. Wherever sagebrush grew, the soil was good, and sagebrush grew all over the valley. There were also tall grasses. Trees and bushes grew along all the streams and flowed from the mountains to the Jordan River and into the Great Salt Lake. On the mountains were forests of pine trees.
http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresou...
Chopping Away at the Tall Tale
If a basic elementary school lesson isn't enough to convince brain-gutted, gullible Mormons of the facts on the ground, LDS historian Will Bagley put the silly "Lone Tree" fable to rest, once and for all, in an article for the Salt Lake Tribune, entitled "The Lone Tree Shrine: Fact And Fiction:"
"One of the most colorful fights over Utah's history--the Battle of the Cedar Tree Shrine--concerned what the Salt Lake Valley looked like when Brigham Young first saw it . . . .
"Salt Lake City schoolchildren used to be taught that the only tree growing in the valley when the Mormon pioneers arrived was a cedar (actually, a juniper) standing in the middle of what is now 600 East just below 300 South.
"Several 1847 journals reveal this simply wasn't so. The clerk of the Pioneer Camp, Thomas Bullock, wrote that the 'very extensive valley' was 'dotted in three or four places with Timber.'
"But facts seldom get in the way of a beloved legend, especially one that celebrated the belief that the Mormon pioneers found a wasteland and made the desert 'blossom as a rose.'
"True or not, the Lone Tree tale was enshrined in bronze on Pioneer Day in 1934 when the Daughters of Utah Pioneers erected a columned 'peristyle' shrine around what was left of the cedar on the median of 600 East.
"A plaque told how the pioneers of 1847 paused beneath the shade of the lone cedar to offer songs and prayers of gratitude.
"The 1847 Mormons actually missed the tree by a mile, since they followed the Donner Party trail to present-day 1700 South and took 'a strait road to a small Grove of Cotton Wood Trees' on City Creek at 300 South and State streets.
"[Also enshrined on the marker is the exaggeration that] the tree was a favorite 'trysting place' for lovers.
"But then, on the evening of September 21, 1958 . . . someone sawed off and absconded with the Lone Tree. The Daughters' president . . . noted how hard the society worked to preserve old relics and how discouraging it was when 'vandals come along and tear down our good work.'
"That might have been the end of the story had not an enterprising reporter phoned A.R. Mortensen, head of the [Utah] state historical society.
"'Kind of secretly,' the reporter asked the state's chief historian if he believed that the cedar was the only tree growing in the valley in 1847. Mortensen burst out laughing and asked, 'Hell no, do you?'
"That afternoon the front-page of the Deseret News claimed he had called the revered Lone Tree 'a historical fraud' and 'a dead stump with little historical value.'
"These offhand remarks ignited a firestorm and brought down the wrath of . . . 300,000 Daughters [of the Utah Pioneers] on Mortensen's unsuspecting head. The controversy nearly cost him his job and led the historical society's board to denounce the 'wanton destruction' of the Lone Tree and censure Mortensen's 'unfortunate comments.' Mortensen stuck to his guns. He was, after all, right. . . .
"The Lone Stump monument still stands, graced by a 1960 plaque that acknowledged there were other trees in the valley in 1847.
"But there's a part of this tale that has never been told in print--the solution to the mystery of the stolen cedar. Not long after the desecration, Salt Lake Tribune editor Art Deck got a call telling him to check a locker at the Greyhound Depot if he wanted to know the fate of the Lone Tree. Inside the locker was a sack containing the ashes of one of Utah's most beloved landmarks."
http://www.historytogo.utah.gov/salt_lake_tribune/history_matters/072300.html
_____
Conclusion: Getting to the Root of It All
As usual, inconvenient historical facts end up proving just how easily Mormons can make, well, an ash of themselves. :)
| | | | Forget The Eyewash Offered By Hinckley: The Real Reason Why LDS Inc. Is Building More Temples In Utah
| | Posted Dec 20, 2005, at 08:11 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | In the Saturday morning session of the October 2005 General Conference, Gordon B. Hinckley attempted to justify the flurry of even more temple building in Utah:
"We have previously announced a new temple in the southeast quadrant of the Salt Lake Valley. We have two other excellent sites in the west and southwest areas of the valley through the kindness of the developers of these properties. The first one on which we will build is in the so-called Daybreak development, and this morning we make public announcement of that. You may ask why we favor Utah so generously. It is because the degree of activity requires it." (emphasis added)
GONG!
Mormon activity rates in Utah justify more temple building?
There are at least two major reasons to question Hinckley's veracity in making such a claim.
First, how can supposedly busy-bee Utah Mormon activity rates justify Hinckley's insistence that more and more Mormon temples are needed in Utah when, in fact, Utah's Mormon population is steadily declining?
Just three months before Hinckley's defense for putting up more Utah temples, the Salt Lake Tribune reported:
"Within the next three years, the Mormon share of Utah's population is expected to hit its lowest level since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started keeping membership numbers. And if current trends continue, LDS residents no longer will constitute a majority by 2030."
_____
Second, contrary to Hinckley's assertion that the "degree of [Utah Mormon] activity requires" more temple building in the heart of lyin' Zion, is it not more likely that what is really driving urgent temple construction there is LDS Inc.'s increasing dependancy on decreasing member cash to run its corporate empire in a world where Mormonism growth and activity rates are markedly declining?
In the face of these falling rates, the LDS Cult is most likely finding itself increasingly reliant on cash infusions from its core support group: namely, its tried and true Utah Mormon fanatic fan base.
Money from Mormons is exacted through tithing. Tithing is squeezed out of Mormons who are forced to pay in order to qualify for temple (and eventually, Celestial Kingdom) admission.
Therefore, LDS Inc. is almost without question building more temples in Utah in order to shake down Utah Mormons for more money--not (contrary to Hinckley's claim) because Utah Mormon activity rates are blessedly booming.
Again, as the Salt Lake Tribune reported just three months before Hinckley's questionable justification for juiced-up Utah temple building, Mormon activity rates (and, hence, tithe-paying rates) are taking a hit Church-wide:
"The number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total . . ."
Exacerbating Mormonism's member-generated cash-flow problem, the Cult's convert baptism rate is also dropping.
Once more, from the Salt Lake Tribune:
"According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent."
"When the Graduate Center of the City University of New York [CUNY] conducted an American Religious Identification Survey in 2001, it discovered that about the same number of people said they had joined the LDS Church as said they had left it. The CUNY survey reported the church's net growth was zero percent."
_____
Hinckley clearly has profits more than prophets on his mind these days.
The Mormon Cult is taking it on the chin in growth, rates, activity rates and donation rates--all of them closely-intertwined financial facts which are most likely forcing it to throw up more temples in Utah in order to suck more cash out of its core donor base that resides there.
C'mon, Gordon, how dumb do you think we are?
| | | | Trying To Do Editorial Cartoons For A Mormon-Owned Newspaper Can Be Trying
| | Posted Dec 19, 2005, at 08:38 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Cases in point:
--Calvin Grondahl, returned Mormon missionary and premiere editorial cartoonist for BYU's Daily Universe in the 1970s, was hired away by the Deseret News without graduating from college. (His most famous cartoon done on Provo's seminarian school grounds showed a battered and bruised BYU student under a pile of rocks, muttering to a campus policeman, "All I said was, "He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone").
Cal lasted for only a few years at the Deseret News, where he finally quit in frustration and moved north to work at the Ogden Standard Examiner.
Cal left because the Desert News publisher at the time, Wendell Ashton, informed Cal that he had to choose between competing masters: either working for the Deseret News or doing cartoons that were being picked up by Sunstone magazine. (Many more of Cal's cartoons were also eventually published as collections by Signature Books).
Cal was, in fact, found guilty of having made available to a humor-starved Mormon public some hilariously irreverent cartoon anthologies--such as Freeway to Perfection and Faith Promoting Rumors--cartoons that, nonetheless, some in high Church circles actually secretly enjoyed.
For instance, Jack Goaslind (a personal family friend and eventual member of the Quorum of the Seventy) had visited our home in Arizona some years ago, during a stake-stumping sermon tour. After conference, we invited him over for lunch, where he sat on the couch and nearly laughed his head off, crowing hysterically as he eagerly read through Cal's books.
Apparently, this appreciation for the goofy and inherently spoofy side of Mormonism was not shared by the Deseret News' publisher.
Cal saw the writing on the wall and knew he couldn't last.
_____
--My grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, initially encouraged me to try for the job at the Deseret News and even put in a good word for me there. However, I eventually began doodling cartoons down in Arizona that he found personally troubling and disturbingly out-of-line with his fiery brand of conservative thinking. (On the other hand, my grandfather also derided the Deseret News, telling me it was too liberal).
In the meantime, the editorial page editor of the Deseret News called me and asked me if I would like to come to work for the Deseret News.
He told me that they couldn't give me as much money as I was making in Arizona or as much freedom, but he did say that a benefit of moving to Salt Lake and working there would be that I'd be closer to my family. (Strike three, I thought).
I informed my grandfather that I had turned down the job offer from the Deseret News, to which he replied that it was a decision good for both me--and him.
[By the way, my syndicated editorial cartoons are still published in the Desert News, for which I would be ungrateful if I did not stand this day and give thanks. :)]
_____
--Eventually, I left the Mormon Church in a rather, ahem, outspoken and public fashion--and was thereafer removed from the pages of the Daily Universe, which refused to publish any more of my syndicated work, to which it had subscribed for a number of years.
The straw that ostensibly broke the Daily Universe's back was a cartoon I did criticizing sexual harassment of female military recruits by Army drill instructors. In explaining its decision to bid me adieu, a spokesman for the Daily Universe said my cartoons were no longer suitable for consumption by its student body.
This judgment was rendered, coincidentally enough, soon after a BYU student had written to the Lord's university student newspaper, protesting the use of tithing funds to publish the cartoons of a known apostate. (Some years later, that same individual--now a former student--wrote me to apologize and to acknowledge that he, too, was now a former Mormon. He said that his demand I be removed from the pages of BYU's house organ was a futile attempt on his part to convince himself that he was a stalwart, testimony-holding believer when, in fact, his faith was actually faltering).
_____
Being an editorial "harpoonist" in Zion's Camp can be a tricky business. :)
| | | | Proof That The Missionary Language Training System In God's True Church Is Run By An Out-Of-Touch, Ignorant, Miscalculating, Dumb Deity
| | Posted Dec 13, 2005, at 07:38 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | When I went on my mission to Japan, we did our language training at the then-Church College of Hawaii.
We had one missionary in our original Japan-bound group who could not get a handle on the language, no matter how hard he tried.
Try as he might--including going through long, grueling, specially-tutored lessons and much praying, crying and consternation--he was unable to memorize even a single discussion.
Not so good if you're trying to teach the god-in-the-trees First Vision story.
So, at their uninspired wits end, the Lord's servants in charge of this travesty ended up reassigning him to an English-speaking area of the Phillipines for the remainder of his proselytizing tour. The poor elder didn't even make it off Laie for Japan before he was stopped and rerouted to another country.
What do you bet that his elder's original mission call letter did not read:
"Dear Elder So-and-So:
"This is your prophet, seer and revelator speaking (not really but it got your goose-bumpy attention, didn't it?)
"You are hereby called to preach the Gospel to the people of Japan. You will be sent to Hawaii for two excruciating months, where you will completely and miserably fail in your inept attempts to learn the Japanese language. It will be the closest thing to a personal confidence-destroying hell you have yet experienced in your young mortal existence.
"After thus being frustrated, humiliated and wrung inside out--with all your prayers having gone for naught--you will be pulled up from your bloody knees and unceremoneiously shipped off to the Phillipines, where they speak pigeon English and where we think you can maybe, if you're lucky, handle things.
"We low-level grunts here in the Church Office Building would like to say 'God bless you as you embark on this glorious mission,' but we all know that's not how things work around this place."
Now, if the Moron God was truly on top of things, why would he have his "inspired" minions call this eager beaver, but insufficiently-equipped disaster of a missionary, to serve in Japan when it became clear almost immediately upon landing in Laie that he had hit an insurmountable roadblock when it came to working with nouns and verbs?
"Hey, Jehovah: We've got a problem here. How can your ill-prepared pitchmen serve in Japan when they can't speak Japanese? Why didn't you save us here on the ground a lot of grief by telling us this in the first place?"
So, the upshot of all of this was that the Mormon God ended up wasting everyone's time, energy and money who was involved in this Heruclean, but ultimately futile, effort to get this missionary to the point where he could conjegate simple verbs and parrot basic vocabulary.
Oh, and let's not forget the horrible emotional and mental trauma/drama that Mormonism's King of Kolob not only put the missionary through, but his family as well, trying to get him to a point of minimal language functionality so that he could carry out the divine commission he was mistakenly given.
Hello?
What part of the sentence, "Modern day Mormon revelation is a cruel, inhumane joke," don't Mormons understand?
| | | | Seasons Greetings And Brow-Beatings From The Benson Household To Yours: Using Xmas Cards To Proselytize X-Mormons
| | Posted Dec 12, 2005, at 07:57 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Every year, without fail, my Aunt Barbara Benson Walker (oldest daughter of Ezra Taft Benson) sends us a Xmas card.
In seasons past, she has included with her Xmas card a full-page story purported to detail the Christian conversion of our nation's commander-in-chief (ain't goin' there, though).
This year (complete with its Salt Lake City return address), Barbara sent us a card with a somewhat different testimonial twist.
Her Xmas greeting featured on its cover an in-relief, white-colored house, sporting a green, snow-covered fir tree in its front yard and a full-colored American flag fluttering from its front porch.
Opening the card, the printed message read:
"Wishing you joy in your world and peace in your home at Christmastime and always.
"'God bless us everyone,'
"Love,
"Barbara Benson Walker"
Handwritten beneath this message she had penned:
"Love you,
"Aunt Barbara"
But, oh, brothers and sisters in Satan, it gets better.
Enclosed with the card was a 3 X 5 color photograph of a blonde, smiling, short-haired young man decked out in a dark formal suit, carefully-knotted tie and crisp white shirt, holding up across his chest a copy of the Book of Mormon.
On the back of this photograph was printed the following:
"Our present missionary 2005, Elder Robert Matheny Udall, Philippine Mission"
Also enclosed with Barb's barb was another color photograph--this one of my grandfather and grandmother, Ezra Taft and Flora Amussen Benson, adorning a copy of their stock testimony to non-members, composed several years ago, which read:
"Dear Friends,
"The Book of Mormon has had greater influence in the lives of our family than any other book.
"This record of scripture is the account of God's dealings with His people on the American continent. It also contains an account of the ministry of Jesus Christ to these people after his resurrection in Palestine.
"We testify that the Book of Mormon, like the Bible, is the word of God. As you read it and pray to the Lord to determine it's [sic] truthfulnesss, we are confident He will manifest the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Ghost."
My grandparents Book of Mormon testimony was signed by the autopen of Ezra Taft Benson, as indicated by the fact that his purported signature did not match the typed names of my grandparents that ran directly beneath my grandfather's artificially-imposed name.
Ezra's autopen signature read:
"Ezra Taft Benson"
There was no signature (real or faked) from Flora.
Beneath Ezra's signature was typed:
"Ezra Taft and Flora Benson"
Besides the obnoxiously relentless Ho-Ho-Ho Mo-Mo-Mo message, the card made it clear that in the LDS Cult, equal standing is never afforded the little ladies.
Anyway, folks, have a Merry Mormon Xmas--or you'll be eternally sorry.
| | | | Prominent Modern-Day Mormon General Authorities Who Have Known (And Who Have Secretly Fessed Up To) The Fact That Joseph Smith Was A Liar
| | Posted Dec 9, 2005, at 09:53 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | When it came to the supposed truthfulness of LDS scripture:
**Apostle and First Presidency counselor Hugh B. Brown
who, according to Jerald and Sandra Tanner, admitted to Mormon amateur archaeologist Thomas Ferguson that Smith couldn't
translate ancient Egyptian.
From Ferguson's letter to the Tanners:
"According to Mr. Ferguson, Apostle
Brown had also come to the conclusion that the Book of Abraham was false and was in favor of the church giving it up. A
few years later Hugh B. Brown said he could 'not recall' making the statements Thomas Stuart Ferguson attributed to him.
Ferguson, however, was apparently referring to the same incident in the letter of March 13, 1971, when he stated: 'I must
conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian-hieroglyphics. To my surprise one of the highest
officials in the Mormon Church agreed with that conclusion . . . privately in one-to-one [c]onversation.'"
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no69.htm
_____
**Quorum of the Seventy member B.H. Roberts who, after extensive personal study prompted by questions from a missionary
in the field, concluded that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarized invention of Smith's immature mind.
From
Roberts' own writings in his landmark work, Studies of the Book of Mormon (which remained unpublished until decades after
his death):
"In light of this evidence, there can be no doubt as to the possession of a vividly strong, creative
imagination by Joseph Smith, the Prophet. An imagination, it could with reason be urged, which, given the suggestions that are to
be found in the 'common knowledge' of accepted American Antiquities of the times, supplimented [sic] by such a work as Ethan
Smith's, View of the Hebrews, would make it possible for him to create a book such as the Book of Mormon is. . .
.
" . . . [T]here is a certain lack of perspective in the things the book relates as history that points quite clearly
to an undeveloped mind as their origin, The narrative proceeds in characteristic disregard of conditions necessary to its
reasonableness, as if it were a tale told by a child, with utter disregard for consistency. . . .
"Is this all sober
history . . . or is it a wonder-tale of an immature mind, unconscious of what a test he is laying on human credulity when asking
men to accept his narrative as solemn history."
http://www.neirr.org/bomdiff.htm
| | | | Kill Deer And Instill Fear: In The Mormon Cult, Obedience To Priesthood Authority Trumps Respect For Life Itself
| | Posted Dec 7, 2005, at 08:51 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | When I was a teenager growing up Mormon in Dallas, Texas, an adult priesthood member in our ward took me and several other of the ward's young men on a bow hunting trip for whitetail deer in the eastern part of the state.
We ultimately came up empty-handed as far as bagging any deer was concerned--although a friend of mine pin-cushioned to death an innocent armadillo with target arrows, put the creature's mutilated body in a paper sack and secretly wrapped it up in my sleeping bag while I was out in the bush. I didn't discover its bloody corpse until I unrolled the sleeping bag out in the garage late that evening when I was dropped off home.
The "adult" ward member who took us on this mindless, ooga-ooga hunting trip--(a reasonless ritual that served no purpose except to provide young boys the opportunity to personally, and brutally, kill animals we didn't need for survival)--let us know in no uncertain terms that even though we were getting home late Saturday night, he expected us all to be up bright and early the next morning and in attendance at priesthood meeting.
In fact, he made it crystal, Liahona clear (complete with scowling visage) that if we did not show up at priesthood meeting as commanded, he would never take us hunting again.
Well, I was too damned tired to get up the next morning for priesthood meeting and, frankly, didn't care if I didn't get another chance to go "hunting" again by opting for the covers over the covenant.
I didn't tell my father of our adult leader's order that we either attend priesthood or forego any future deer-killing forays with him; I just sleepily informed my dad when he came into my bedroom on Sunday morning to get me up for priesthood that I was too tired to go.
He let me sleep in.
What skewed priorities the Mormon Cult imposes on the vulnerable children it attempts to warp into mindlessly faithful adherents.
In the Mormon mind, it's acceptable for teenage boys to venture out to slaughter wildlife for no good purpose--but if that search-and-destroy mission causes them to miss priesthood indoctrination camp the next morning, no more deer slaying for them.
Sick.
| | | | The Media Are Beginning To Attentively Prepare For Hinckley's Death
| | Posted Dec 7, 2005, at 08:49 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: Steve Benson | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I cannot go into the details here, but I have learned as of late that elements of the press are entering a heightened stage of alert, as they gear up for the ultimate demise of Hinckley.
Although not at this point earnestly deadline driven (pardon the pun), some suggestion was made that his death might be expected within the next few months.
Whether or not that proves to be the case, in a nutshell, the media do not want to be caught off guard, should Hinckley's passing come sooner than later.
It is common, of course, for pre-fabricated "obits" to be readied for filing as part of breaking news stories when people of note die.
In many newsrooms and broadcast booths nationwide, announcements of Hinckley's eventual death have, no doubt, already been readied for launch with pre-written articles on his life and times.
As a related aside, an earlier post noted that a Hinckley talk from decades earlier has been resurrected and reused in the current issue of the Ensign.
"Hank" wrote:
. . . This month's Ensign [First Presidency] message is a retread of a 1977 talk. I'm sure it's not surprising to most people here, and I'm sure Steve Benson has similar examples from his observations of the inner workings of Mormonism.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
_____
"Hank's: subject line of his post was "Hinckley recycles old talk . . . "
It is not necessarily true that Hinckley himself has personally recycled one of his earlier sermons for use in this month's Ensign.
At his advanced age, Hinckley may not be able to easily pull from his memory bank of past preachings or even do the touch-up inserts and additions to the text that dot the December Ensign's version.
On this matter, I speak from my own knowledge and experience with my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson.
Toward the end of his life when he was no longer mentally or physically capable of effectively delivering his own "prophet-seer-and-revelator" sermons, writing them out or dictating to others what he wanted them to contain and convey, Ensign talks/messages attributed to my grandfather were actually cut-and-paste jobs from old files of previously delivered ETB sermons--as retrieved, reconstituted, rearranged and replayed by his ever-ready, cover-the-rear-of-our-prophet-dear office staff.
The explanation I heard given for reliance on these re-usable retreads was that the Saints could always use reminding of what they should be doing; thus, repeating a "prophet's" earlier admonitions was simply a reiteration of eternal truths for the benefit of the ever-needy Mormon masses.
OK, and if you belief that I've got some gold plates in Palmyra to sell you.
I am not saying, however, that Hinckley has necessarily reached the stage where he is effectively out of the lucid lecture loop and will, any day now, be put out to post-mortem pasture.
What I am saying is that it is conceivable the appearance of Hinckley's recycled 1977 sermon in the Ensign almost 30 years after the fact indicates that all may not be well in Zion.
I suspect that what is happening in media circles with regard to all of this is that astute (and perhaps well-informed) reporters have now begun to connect possible dots--and that the Hinckley death watch may soon begin to take on more focus, if it hasn't already.
| | | | God Tells You To Join Mormonism, God Tells You To Leave Mormonism
| | Posted Nov 30, 2005, at 08:58 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | --God tells you to run for national office.
--God tells you to keep religion out of politics.
--God tells you to attack other countries and kill the infidels.
--God tells you to follow the Prince of Peace and turn the other cheek.
--God tells you he created the world through evolution.
--God tells you to condemn evolutionists to hell.
--God tells you he protected you when your plane crashed and you survived.
--God tells you it's a mystery why he allowed your God-praising church to be destroyed by a tornado and worshippers inside to be killed.
--God tells you he healed you because he needs you on earth.
--God tells you he didn't heal your loved one because he needs him in heaven.
--God tells you the Mormon church is true.
--God tells you that the Christian church down the street is better.
--God tells you where you put your misplaced car keys.
--God tells you to forget about the lost car keys--that without him you're lost.
Good gawd.
| | | | On Sheri Dew's Sanitized Authorship Of Ezra Taft Benson's Biography
| | Posted Nov 28, 2005, at 09:57 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I have it on good authority that my Uncle Reed (ETB's oldest child) was relegated to a somewhat reduced role in helping to put together the final version of my grandfather's biography.
Reed was, at one time, an outrageously right-wing national leader in the John Birch Society and a close political confidant/adviser to ETB. (He, for instance, traveled with ETB to Alabama to negotiate with governor George Wallace over the possible positioning of my grandfather as Wallace's vice-presidential running mate. Also, Reed's fingerprints are evident in such sermons as ETB's "Fourteen Fundamentals of Following the Prophet").
Dew's bio of Ezra Taft Benson is significantly lacking in pertinent detail with regard to my grandfather's deep admiration of and devotion to the John Birch Society, ETB's rabidly conspiratorial anti-Communist views, his embarrassingly racist opposition to the U.S. civil rights movement and his playing footsies in presidential campaign politics with the likes of White supremacist/segregationists Wallace and Wallace's fellow Southerner Strom Thurmond.
Dew's book on my grandfather was a Church-sponsored whitewash, written under the name of a paid LDS propagandist. (By the way, "personal" copies of the book that were distributed to members of the Benson family were signed with an autopen and accompanied by a form letter supposedly from my grandfather, also artificially signatured).
Any informed reader can easily see that the book contains superficial, misleading and doctored accounts of elements of my grandfather's life that the Mormon Church obviously was not enthusiastic about recounting.
On that basis alone, Dew should not be trusted.
She was, after all, merely "dewing" the bidding of a Cult that has never valued the truth.
| | | | Please Gaze Upon My Leg: Excuse Me, But Sheri Dew Is Just Plain Weird
| | Posted Nov 24, 2005, at 09:08 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Channel surfing tonight, I came across her introducing Merrill Bateman at a BYU Women's Conference in 1997.
She said, and I quote:
"President Bateman's list of accomplishments is as long as my leg and, as you can see, that's pretty long."
She paused, cleared her throat, raised an eyebrow slightly and smiled--but there was virtually no reaction from the audience.
For one thing, the audience couldn't even see Sister Dew's leg, since she was standing behind a podium and, moreover, what kind of kinky-kooky Mormon fantasy world does the pent-up Sister Dew live in, where she's imagining people gawking at her leg?
It was bizarre--and should have prompted a bishop's interview, on the spot.
| | | | If The Mormon Church Is Vulnerable Anywhere, It's Vulnerable In The Area Of Sex Abuse
| | Posted Nov 24, 2005, at 09:08 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | With the latest, and quite significant, legal ruling against LDS Inc. stemming from a Seattle-area lawsuit, it would not be at all surprising to see similar allegations of sex abuse (and their attendant lawsuits) brought against the Mormon Church.
This--without exaggeration--could constitute the beginnings of an ominous and threatening legal precedent, one which could conceivably pose a real dagger-thrust not only at the heart of the Mormon Church's supposed moral legitimacy, but at its very financial solvency.
A word of advice to Mormons everywhere: Follow your money, not your prophet. It's starting to swirl down an unrighteous rathole set aside by the leading lights of your Church to pay for guilty verdicts in its name.
Did you ever think your tithing money would be used to defend God's "One and Only True Church" in cases of Mormon sexual abuse of minors and all the dirty cover-ups that followed?
You should have learned from Joseph Smith . . .
| | | | Devastating News for the LDS Cult's Sinister Spin Machine: Mormon Church Growth Rate Is Shrinking, Not Growing
| | Posted Nov 21, 2005, at 08:27 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Below are selected excerpts from a recent news analysis that blows the cover off of Mormonism's Perpetual Public Relations Big Lie--namely, that it is supposedly the planet's fastest-multiplying church.
(Section headings have been inserted for easier reading).
Headline:
"Keeping members a challenge for LDS church
Mormon myth: The belief that the church is the fastest-growing faith in the world doesn't hold up"
by
Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
26 July 2005
The Mormon Church Is Not the World's Fastest-Growing Church
"The claim that Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the world has been repeated so routinely by sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and proud Latter-day Saints as to be perceived as unassailable fact.
"The trouble is, it isn't true."
Other Religious Faiths Are Growing Much Faster Than the Mormon Church
". . . [S]ince 1990, other faiths--Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups-- have grown much faster and in more places around the globe."
High Membership Inactivity Rates Plague the Mormon Church
". . . [M]ost telling, the number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total, or 4 million in the pews every Sunday, researchers say. . . .
"[Estimated] worldwide [Mormon member] activity [is] at about 35 percent - which would give the church about 4 million active members."
The Mormon Church's Convert Baptism Rate Is Declining
"According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent."
The Mormon Conversion Rate Has Actually Been Measured at Zero Percent
"When the Graduate Center of the City University of New York [CUNY]conducted an American Religious Identification Survey in 2001, it discovered that about the same number of people said they had joined the LDS Church as said they had left it. The CUNY survey reported the church's net growth was zero percent."
The Highest Mormon Conversion Areas Show the Lowest Member Retention Rates
"'It is a matter of grave concern that the areas with the most rapid numerical membership increase, Latin America and the Philippines, are also the areas with extremely low convert retention . . . Latter-day Saints lose 70 to 80 percent of their converts . . .'"
The Best Indicator of Actual Mormon Member Growth Rates Is the Number of Stakes Created--and the News Is Not Good
"Perhaps the best measure of LDS Church growth is the rate of new church units, such as . . . stakes . . . Because they are staffed by volunteers, such units cannot function without enough active members.
"In 1980, The Ensign, the LDS Church's official magazine, predicted that . . . [the number of stakes would grow] from 1,190 . . . to 3,600 in 2000. . . . [T]here were 2,602 stakes worldwide at the end of 2002.
"'You can use these trends to say that the percentage is slowing, the numbers have leveled off or they are dropping.'"
The Mormon Church Is Having Difficulty Becoming a Bonafide World Religion
"One key to Mormonism becoming a world religion . . .is how well it can transcend its founding culture to become universal. . . .
"The LDS message has found a ready audience in Latin America and the South Pacific, where Mormon missionaries can tell people God did not neglect them. The Book of Mormon [tells] the story of a Hebrew family that migrated from Jerusalem to the New World and . . . of a visit to their descendants by Jesus Christ after his resurrection.
"Still, the [Mormon] church may not fare as well as other Christian religions in Africa and China, since it has no such reassurance for them . . . ."
Previous Predictions of Phenomenal Future Mormon Membership Growth Were Fanciful, Inaccurate Guesses
"In 1984, University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark . . . estimated that if [the Mormon Church] continued to grow at . . . 30 percent, there would be 60 million Mormons by the year 2080; if 50 percent, the figure would explode to 265 million. . . .
"[Stark said,] 'The [Mormon] church liked the results and people who are against the church are desperate to figure out why it won't happen . . . Everyone takes the thing too seriously. I've tried to make clear all along that I was just trying to bring a little discipline to a lot of crazy conversations.'
"It was a game of 'let's pretend,' Stark says, when he applied [a] compound interest formula and saw huge numbers of Mormons.
"He says he never meant his projections to dictate the future of Mormonism."
_____
For the complete story, see:
http://sltrib.com/ci_2890645
| | | | Light-Mindedess Over Dead Possums And Funky Garments: Stamping Out Ungodly Humor In The Fort Wayne, Indiana, Mission Home
| | Posted Nov 19, 2005, at 08:27 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | When my dad, Mark Benson, was president of the Indiana-Michigan mission in the 1970s (headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana), the expression of appropriate humor within the walls of the mission home was emphatically enforced and reverentially regulated.
The mission home was located at 4700 Old Mill Road, close to Foster Park, off of West Rudisill Boulevard, in a tired, rundown, blue-collar city which I considered at that time in my teenage life to be (for lack of a better description) the cultural armpit of the Western Hemisphere. (The desks in the study hall of our 50-year-old, dilapidated school, Southside High, were bolted to the floor, for gawd's sake).
http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q;=...
The home itself was a sturdy, weathered stone structure, situated in an older part of the city dotted with heavy brick mansions from a bygone era. It was surrounded by thousands of square feet of lawn, landscaped with large trees, featured thick stain-glassed windows, boasted a circular staircase up to the second floor from the spacious living room, had separate living quarters for the mission home staff and sported a large circular driveway that ran between the main house and a roomy, multi-car garage.
The mission staff worked in a step-down office located in the basement, in what was a converted wine cellar.
During the winter of 1971-72, the temperature was particularly cold. It was not uncommon for the mercury to dip well below the 0-degree mark during the harshest months. It was so cold, in fact, that one quick breath of the icy air and your nose hairs would freeze, literally.
One particularly biting, frigid morning (me being 17 years old at the time), I stepped outside and discovered a dead possum--frozen stiff, lying on its back, feet poking into the air--in the middle of the driveway. The poor critter had apparently met its doom during the previous night.
I went back inside, descended the narrow staircase into the basement office and informed the mission staff of this frozen forensic find.
Always looking for something to lighten the load of their otherwise weary and dreary workday, the elders ascended the stairs carrying their scriptures, went outside and formed a small circle around the deceased varmit, whereupon they commenced an impromptu funeral service.
In an air of mock reverence, one of the missionaries opened up his Book of Mormon and, in a slow and solemn voice, quoted some appropriate verses to mark the occasion of the possum's passing.
A eulogy to the departed creature was then offered and a prayer pronounced, as the mission staff commended the spirit of the ice-cubed critter into the hands of our precious Redeemer who, as the Holy Word says, is aware of every sparrow that falls and every possum that freezes.
I was so deeply moved by the experience that I took pictures of the ceremony, in order to preserve it for future posterity hilarity.
_____
On another occasion, members of the mission staff (apparently bored out of their minds and looking for any bit of levity to lighten the load of working long and laboriously for the Lord), cut out pictures from a Sears and Roebuck catalogue featuring young, attractive models in brightly-multi-colored, billowy, one-piece lounge wear, cuffed at the wrists and at the ankles.
They then posted the pictures on the walls of their downstairs office with captions attached, noting that this line of lingerie constituted the latest in Church-approved garments.
My dad did not regard either the possum funeral or the garmie catalogue commentary to have been at all appropriate--and firmly chastized the mission staff for having engaged in such light-minded and sacriligious behavior.
Duly chastened, the mission staff returned to its divinely-decreed drudgery.
Sigh.
Living in that place was the pits.
| | | | Gordon B. Hinckley, In The Supremest Of Ironies, Has A Book Out Titled, "Standing For Something"--But, C'mon, What Has He Really Stood For?
| | Posted Nov 17, 2005, at 09:35 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Applause, maybe.
Or the hanky-waving Hosannah Twist 'N Shout.
In reality, Gordon B. Hinckley has made a comfy career of standing up for nothing--but kissing up to everybody.
It's not as if Hinckley hasn't been given the chance, time and again, to rise from his righteous, revelatin' rear and at least play-act as a prophet of God.
To be sure, Hinckley has had plenty of public opportunities to step forward and make a courageous defense of Mormonism.
Instead, when given that chance, Prophet, Seer and Repudiator Gordon B. Hinckley has chosen to lean back in his Latter-day Lazy-boy and blubber-waffle his way through bland, deceptive, welcome-to-Pleasantville/Wimpoutville answers.
And, in the process, he's ended up standing Mormonism on its head.
_____
Just exactly how has Hinckley refused to take a stand for something?
Let us count some of the ways:
--Hinckley has publicly denied the bedrock Mormon doctrine of eternal progression from humanhood to godhood.
--Hinckley has publicly refused to personally affirm that he is a prophet called of God, only that devoted Mormon sustain him as such.
--Hinckley has publicly been willing only to say that he thinks God speaks through him.
--Hinckley has publicly admitted that his prophetic "revelation" comes only through personal inspiration via the Holy Ghost, which makes his "revelatory" experiences no different that those of the average Mormon layperson.
--Hinckley has publicly insisted that Mormons aren't a weird (i.e., peculiar) people.
--Hinckley has publicly admitted that he doesn't know how the major military conflicts currently raging in the Middle East will be resolved or when.
--Hinckley has publicly been unable to articulate what Mormons' civic duty is with regard to those military conflicts, even though he nonetheless says Mormonas must shoulder such a duty.
--Hinckley has publicly denied that Mormonism's long and historic record of anti-Black bigotry is anything but a momentary blip.
At best, wiggle and jiggle Gordon B. Hinckley--author of Standing for Something--will go down in Mormondumb's history as the "Gawrsh, I just dunno" prophet:
http://home.comcast.net/~zarahemla/ctr/gordon.htm
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/gbh-god.htm
http://www.irr.org/mit/hinckley.html
http://www.lds-mormon.com/gbh.shtml
http://www.lds-mormon.com/lkl_00.shtml
http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon381.htm
http://www.onlineutah.com/polygamyhinckley.shtml
http://www.truthandgrace.com/hinckley.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/real/lds2.htm
http://www.greaterthings.com/Newsletter/49_Man_as_God.htm
http://www.reachouttrust.org/articles/lds/ldshinck.htm
http://www.cesnur.org/2004/lds.htm
http://www.myfortress.org/LarryKingRobertSchuller.html
http://www.i4m.com/think/leaders/Hinckley_lame.htm
http://www.tungate.com/lk_2.htm
*****
You get the drift: "The Spirit of Gord, Like a Liar is Burning."
There are, no doubt, many more examples not cited above of how Gordon B. Hinckley has stood stoutly for nothing and firmly planted his rump on a stump for everything.
Please feel free to add your own.
| | | | Exorcisms, Smexorcisms
| | Posted Nov 14, 2005, at 08:11 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction
Before somone here chokes on green pea soup shooting from their nostrils on a movie set, a reality check on alleged "exorcisms" may be in order.
Exorcisms Are Primitive Rituals Performed on People Who are Often Simply Mentally Ill
A 2001 book on the topic, Michael Cuneo’s American Exorcism: Expelling Demons in the Land of Plenty, found no reason to think that anything supernatural occurs during exorcisms.
After attending fifty exorcisms, Cuneo is unequivocal about the fact that he saw nothing supernatural—and certainly nothing remotely resembling the events depicted in the 1974 blockbuster film, "The Exorcist." No spinning heads, levitation, or poltergeists were seen, though many involved some cursing, spitting, or vomiting.
As far as science is concerned, possession is a mental health issue.
http://www.livescience.com/othernews/050830_emilyrose.html
_____
Belief in Exorcisms is Rooted in Ignorance of Modern Science
Belief in spirit possession flourishes in times and places where there is ignorance about mental states. . . . Psychiatric historians have long attributed demonic manifestations to such aberrant mental conditions as schizophrenia and hysteria, noting that--as mental illness began to be recognized as such after the seventeenth century--there was a consequent decline in demonic superstitions . . .
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
_____
Repetition of Exorcism Tales Has Demonstrably Led to the Creation of False Memories
[Scientific experiments reported in The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied] tell a consistent story.
When people are exposed to a series of articles describing a relatively implausible phenomenon, such as witnessing a possession, they believe the phenomenon is not only more plausible but also are less confident that they had not experienced it in childhood.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_25/ai_68966507
_____
Exorcisms Are Often Merely Learned Behavior
In many cases . . . supposed demonic possession can be a learned role that fulfills certain important functions for those claiming it. In his book Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions from Within, psychologist Robert A. Baker . . . notes that possession was sometimes feigned by nuns to act out sexual frustrations, protest restrictions, escape unpleasant duties, attract attention and sympathy, and fulfill other useful functions.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_25/ai_68966516
_____
Superstitious Belief in Exorcisms is Encouraged by "Modern" Pop Culture
[Author Micahel] Cuneo repeatedly reminds the reader of the role of American media in the resurgence of the belief in demonic possession. Only the most willfully naive reader could overlook the role of motion pictures, TV talk shows, book publishers, and the insatiable appetite for publicity among exorcism authors and self-styled "researchers" after reading Cuneo's perceptive accounts of the rise of demonic awareness in the land of plenty.
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
_____
Exorcisms Can Be--And Have Clearly Been Shown to Have Been--Faked
Possession can be childishly simple to fake. For example, an exorcism broadcast by ABC's "20/20" in 1991 featured a sixteen-year-old girl who, her family claimed, was possessed by ten separate demonic entities. However, to skeptics her alleged possession seemed to be indistinguishable from poor acting. She even stole glances at the camera before affecting convulsions and other "demonic" behavior . . . .
Of course a person with a strong impulse to feign diabolic possession may indeed be mentally disturbed. Although the teenager in the "20/20" episode reportedly improved after the exorcism, it was also pointed out that she continued 'on medication' . . . .
http://www.looksmarttrends.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_1_27/ai_95501854
Conclusion
Silly claims of demonic dispersals are, indeed, enough to make your head spin.
| | | | Yo, Tal, Baby. I'm Cool About All This So What's The Need?
| | Posted Nov 10, 2005, at 08:28 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I know you post some of your comments in "jest," as you respond here and there to a few of my pitiful offerings (like your one on not being able to read your own posts or wishing that you'd get Cult wiretapped like some of my ex-Mo friends).
Your contributions are genuinely funny and many of them contain loads of deep grist.
But, really, man, there's no need (at least as I see it) to jockey for a competitive position in this forum.
For what it's worth, just post about the things that make you the person that you are, that are based on your experiences, insight and observations and that feel good and natural to you.
I'll try to do the same, as I'm sure many others do with regard to their own contributions here.
But I find this not-so-well-disguised Alpha dog posting you've been doing a bit of lately to be a little strained and, ultimately, unnecessary.
So, again, for what it's worth, I say chill, bro.
You've got enough of your own incomparable, genuine, thoughtful and valuable intellectual muscle, combined with your finely-honed, sensitive and keen observational skills, to continue to add a wealth of rock-solid wit, wisdom, assistance and substance to this place.
(By the way, I heard a link of you performing at the ex-Mo conference and, man, are you good on the strings, with a very good sense of rhythm and reason).
Not only that, you're a damn fine writer.
Peace out.
| | | | A Typical Mormon Cover-Up: My First Inkling Of What Went On Behind Closed Temple Doors Came Not From My Family But From...
| | Posted Nov 8, 2005, at 09:33 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | A Typical Mormon Cover-up: My first inkling of what went on behind closed temple doors came not from my family but from a convert whom we fellowshipped into the Cult.
His name was Charlie and, thanks to my younger sister initially inviting one of their kids to Primary, he and his wife were eventually baptized, along with their four daughters.
Charlie was an honest, free-speaking guy, a Korean war vet with a great sense of humor, who had a way of relating to and hitting it off with the teenage young people in our Texas ward (me being one of them at the time).
On MIA nights, for instance, instead of giving the Explorers a boring lesson out of the mind-numbing manual, Charlie would let them shoot hoops and watch "Laugh In" in their classroom, while he'd sit back, shoot the breeze and play it cool.
In short, Charlie was, like, our favorite "old" person in the ward.
After Charlie and his wife had been members for the minimal year-long wait, they went through the temple to be super-glued to each other for time and all eternity, with my parents tagging along as part of the sealing support team.
Figuring I could get a straight answer from Charlie, I asked him what it was like inside the temple.
He smiled, then started hemming and hawing (as, no doubt, visions of slit throrats and disemboweled guts began dancing through his head).
Charlie said he couldn't tell me anything because he wasn't allowed to.
I thought to myself, "Man, if Charlie can't fill me in, then who can? This stuff must be serious."
But, still, I continued to press, pleading for him to at least give me something.
Finally, Charlie relented and said that there was a play inside the temple. He said that there was this Devil character in the play who was pretty neat--but that, Charlie insisted, was all he could tell me.
Fast forward a couple of decades-plus.
Charlie and his wife have left the Cult and are today living happily ever after.
(We've had a chance to chat on the phone a couple of times since he and his wife made their own bolt from the Cult. He had kept a lot of his deep, inner feelings about Mormonism bottled up for years, even after leaving. It was good to hear him finally let loose. It was the old Charlie we kids had come to know and love. :)
| | | | Follow Your Church Leaders Or End Up Dead: The Case Of The Murdered Missionary--And How The Bensons Blamed The Victim
| | Posted Nov 4, 2005, at 08:34 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | When my uncle, Reed Benson, was president of the Louisville KY mission from 1975 to 1978, a horrible and tragic crime occured on his watch--one committed at the hands of a homicidal Mormon missionary.
If I remember correctly, the murder victim (the killer's companion) had been disabled as a youth in some kind of accident (I seem to recall that it involved a collision with a train, if memory serves me right).
The young man, as a result of the accident, was permanently brain damaged but was determined to serve a mission, nonetheless.
He entered the field and was assigned to the elder who eventually killed him. The murdering missionary (who apparently "snapped" from dealing with his impaired companion) horribly abused and eventually scalded him to death in their apartment bathtub.
I recall that the murder occurred, coincidentally enough, on my Uncle Reed's birthday (we share the same birthday, by the way, which accounts for my middle name being "Reed").
I also recollect that the murderer was eventually remanded by the courts to the custody of his parents and did no prison time.
I later heard members of the Benson family talk about this incident where, unbelievably, they essentially blamed the murder victim for his own demise.
They discussed among themselves how, after he was injured in his pre-mission accident, his local Church leaders advised him not to go on a mission but that he ignored their advice and went anyway.
Subsequently, he was killed by his companion, who had a difficult time dealing with the ill-fated missionary's mental impairment (caused by the accident), which slowed the unfortunate young man down and made him an unbearable challenge to work with, at least as far as his companion was concerned.
I was astounded to hear members of the Benson family laying blame for the missionary's death on the missionary himself, saying that he had failed to follow the counsel of his local Church leaders to forego a mission and, consequently, paid with his life.
- -
For an account recently posted on this board by a then-elder in Kentucky who served as a mission assistant to Reed Benson and who describes the circumstances of the murder of an "Elder Christensen, see:
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
A so-called reunion "found list" of missionaries who served under my Uncle Reed in the Louisville KY mission contains the name of one "James Christensen" who, under the category of "Home phone," is simply listed as "deceased," with no other information provided:
http://www.topomap.to/reunion/refound...
Another website, however, "Mahonri--Finding Light in the Darkness," offers a tribute to Mormon missionaries who have died while serving their Church:
In Memoria
"We want to honor and recognize the work of all missionaries on the Parley P. Pratt Missionary Memorial, but unfortunately we do not have a complete list of those who have given their lives in the service of the Master.
"Nor do we have a complete roster of all missionaries who now face physical, emotional and intellectual challenges as a result of accident or illness suffered on their missions.
"Further, we do not have a complete list of those missionaries whose lives were taken before being able to enter the mission field. Your help in compiling a more complete account of those we would honor will be greatly appreciated."
They did, however, have the following name and brief biographical information:
James E. Christensen, 24, Kentucky Louisville, Moroni, UT 1977
At least it was more than the pathetically meager reference offered up by the Louisville KY mission's reunion website--although the list of dead on the "Mahonri" memorial webpage is followed by a bizarre observation from Apostle M. Russell Ballard:
"'Since the day of the Prophet Joseph Smith, we've had approximately 447,969 missionaries serve in the world,' Elder M. Russell Ballard said in 1989. 'Of those 447,969, (some) 525 have lost their lives while serving as full-time missionaries,' he added. 'When you contemplate that number, it appears that the safest place in the whole world is to be on a full-time mission,' concluded the member of the Twelve."
http://www.mahonri.org/special/ppplis...
Wonderful, tell that to mentally-disabled Elder James E. Christensen: dead at age 24, due--according to family members of Ezra Taft Benson defending their own--his failure to obey priesthood authority.
| | | | "Some Things That Are True Are Not Very Useful:" For Those Who Think Mormonism Does Not Teach Its Followers To Lie About Its History, Doctrine And Leaders
| | Posted Nov 4, 2005, at 08:25 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | "First Caution
"There is no such thing as an accurate, objective history of the Church without consideration of the spiritual powers that attend this work.
"There is no such thing as a scholarly, objective study of the office of bishop without consideration of spiritual guidance, of discernment, and of revelation. That is not scholarship.
"Accordingly, I repeat, there is no such thing as an accurate or objective history of the Church which ignores the Spirit. . . .
"Those of us who are extensively engaged in researching the wisdom of man, including those who write and those who teach Church history, are not immune from these dangers. I have walked that road of scholarly research and study and know something of the dangers. If anything, we are more vulnerable than those in some of the other disciplines.
"Church history can he so interesting and so inspiring as to be a very powerful tool indeed for building faith. If not properly written or properly taught, it may be a faith destroyer. . . .
"If we who research, write, and teach the history of the Church ignore the spiritual on the pretext that the world may not understand it, our work will not be objective.
"And if, for the same reason, we keep it quite secular, we will produce a history that is not accurate and not scholarly--this, in spite of the extent of research or the nature or the individual statements or the incidents which are included as part of it, and notwithstanding the training or scholarly reputation of the one who writes or teaches it. We would end up with a history with the one most essential ingredient left out.
"Those who have the Spirit can recognize very quickly whether something is missing in a written Church history this in spite of the fact that the author may be a highly trained historian and the reader is not. And, I might add, we have been getting a great deal of experience in this regard in the past few year.
"President Wilford Woodruff warned: 'I will here say God has inspired me to keep a Journal and History of this Church, and I warn the future Historians to give Credence to my History of this Church and Kingdom; for my Testimony is true, and the truth of its record will be manifest in the world to Come.' . . .
"Second Caution
"There is a temptation for the writer or the teacher Of Church history to want to tell everything, whether it is worthy or faith promoting or not.
"Some things that are true are not very useful.
"Historians seem to take great pride in publishing something new, particularly if it illustrates a weakness or mistake of a prominent historical figure.
"For some reason, historians and novelists seem to savor such things. If it related to a living person it would come under the heading of gossip.
"History can be as misleading as gossip and much more difficult--often impossible--to verify.
"The writer or the teacher who has an exaggerated loyalty to the theory that everything must be told is laying a foundation for his own judgment. He should not complain if one day he himself receives as he has given.
"Perhaps that is what is contemplated in having one's sins preached from the housetops.
"Some time ago a historian gave a lecture to an audience of college students on one of the past Presidents of the Church. It seemed to be his purpose to show that that President was a man subject to the foibles of men. He introduced many so-called facts that put that President in a very unfavorable light, particularly when they were taken out of the context of the historical period in which he lived.
"Someone who was not theretofore acquainted with this historical figure (particularly someone not mature) must have come away very negatively affected. Those who were unsteady in their convictions surely must have had their faith weakened or destroyed. . . .
"The same point may be made with reference to so-called sex education. There are many things that are factual, even elevating, about this subject. There are other aspects of this subject that are so perverted and ugly it does little good to talk of them at all. Some things cannot be safely taught to little children or to those who are not eligible by virtue of age or maturity or authorizing ordinance to understand them.
"Teaching some things that are true, prematurely or at the wrong time, can invite sorrow and heartbreak instead of the joy intended to accompany learning.
"What is true with these two subjects is, if anything, doubly true in the field of religion. The scriptures teach emphatically that we must give milk before meat. The Lord made it very clear that some things are to be taught selectively and some things are to be given only to those who are worthy.
"It matters very much not only what we are told but when we are told it. Be careful that you build faith rather than destroy it.
"President William E. Berrett has told us how grateful he is that a testimony that the past leaders of the Church were prophets of God was firmly fixed in his mind before he was exposed to some of the so-called facts that historians have put in their published writings.
"This principle of prerequisites is so fundamental to all education that I have never been quite able to understand why historians are so willing to ignore it. And, if those outside the Church have little to guide them but the tenets of their profession, those inside the Church should know better.
"Some historians write and speak as though the only ones to read or listen are mature, experienced historians. They write and speak to a very narrow audience. Unfortunately, many of the things they tell one another are not uplifting, go fat beyond the audience they may have intended, and destroy faith.
"What that historian did with the reputation of the President of the Church was nor worth doing. He seemed determined to convince everyone that the prophet was a man. We knew that already.
"All of the prophets and all of the Apostles have been men. It would have been much more worthwhile for him to have convinced us that the man was a prophet, a fact quite as true as the fact that he was a man. . . .
"The sad thing is that he may have, in years past, taken great interest in those who led the Church and desired to draw close to them.
"But instead of following that long, steep, discouraging, and occasionally dangerous path to spiritual achievement, instead of going up to where they were, he devised a way of collecting mistakes and weaknesses and limitations to compare with his own. In that sense he has attempted to bring a historical figure down to his level and in that way feel close to him and perhaps justify his own weaknesses. . . .
"That historian or scholar who delights in pointing out the weaknesses and frailties of present or past leaders destroys faith--A destroyer of faith--particularly one within the Church, and more particularly one who is employed specifically to build faith--places himself in great spiritual jeopardy. He is serving the wrong master, and unless he repents, he will not be among the faithful in the eternities.
"One who chooses to follow the tenets of his profession, regardless of how they may injure the Church or destroy the faith of those not ready for "advanced history," is himself in spiritual jeopardy. If that one is a member of the Church, he has broken his covenants and will be accountable. After all of the tomorrows of mortality have been finished, he will not stand where be might have stood.
"I recall a conversation with President Henry D. Moyle. We were driving back from Arizona and were talking about a man who destroyed the faith of young people from the vantage point of a teaching position. Someone asked President Moyle why this man was still a member of the Church when he did things like that. 'He is not a member of the Church.' President Moyle answered firmly. Another replied that he bad not heard of his excommunication. 'He has excommunicated himself,' President Moyle responded. 'He cut himself off from the Spirit of God. Whether or not we get around to holding a court doesn't matter that much; he has cut himself off from he Spirit of the Lord.'" . . .
( Boyd K. Packer, "The Mantle is Far, Far Greater Than the Intellect,"
http://www.mormonismi.net/kirjoitukset/bkp_mantteli.shtml )
______
You get Darth Packer's drift: AT THE VERY LEAST, LIE BY OMISSION--OR YOUR HEAD WILL ROLL.
| | | | For All Ezra Taft Benson's Hoo-Rah Talk About Flooding The Earth With The Book Of Mormon
| | Posted Nov 4, 2005, at 08:16 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I rarely saw him actually reading it in his Church apartment or office, nor did he actually preach much from it when we were together in private, face-to-face interaction. or gathered as a clan at family reunions.
Sure, he would occasionally tell me, in person or by letter, that the LDS Church was under condemnation for not more faithfully reading and following the Book of Mormon and quote the D&C; to that effect.
His office would routinely send me manuscript copies of his General Conference talks (including ones on the Book of Mormon); however, that was a routine staff procedure and involved no input or attached personalized comments to me from my grandfather.
My grandfather once wrote to me to say, among other things, that he and my grandmother Flora were reading the Book of Mormon together.
But I very rarely saw him actually doing it. I saw his scripture sets both in his apartment and his office--closed, but hardly ever open.
In reality, my grandfather sent me lots more literature and references to John Birch material and other right-wing extremist propaganda than he ever did the Book of Mormon--TONS more, in fact--and would go on at length about Communist agents in government at home and conspiracies abroad.
I suspect that my grandfather's showy, fiery Book of Mormon orations were more for general Church member consumption (and the image that attended them)--and that, moreover, these sermons were probably largely written for him by his staff and certain family members.
In short, Ezra Taft Benson sure talked a good game about delving into "the keystone of our religion" (as he called the Book of Mormon when quoting Joseph Smith about it), but in practice he was a much more religiously-devoted Bircher magazine man.
| | | | Big John Vs. Little Joe: Comparing Their Dying Declarations
| | Posted Oct 31, 2005, at 08:00 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | The last words of Pope John Paul II:
. . . "Let me go to the house of the Father," according to documents released by the Vatican.
His words were spoken in his native Polish to aides hours before he died last April [2005].
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4257994.stm
[Hearing that the Pope was near death], [t]housands of people rushed to the Vatican, filling St Peter's Square and beyond, and held vigil for two days. At about 15:30 CEST, John Paul II spoke his final words, "Let me go to the house of the Father", to his aides in his native Polish and fell into a coma about four hours later. . . . He died in his private apartments, at 21:37 CEST (19:37 UTC) on 2 April, 46 days short of his 85th birthday.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II
VATICAN CITY - Struggling to swallow and breathe, Pope John Paul II mumbled his final words weakly in Polish: "Let me go to the house of the Father." Six hours later, the comatose pontiff died, the Vatican says.
The account of John Paul’s final hours appears in a meticulously detailed official report on his last weeks just released by the Vatican in what might be an effort to ward off any doubts about how forthcoming it has been about his illness and April 2 death. . . .
Swallowing and breathing problems were consequences of the progression of Parkinson’s disease, which the 84-year-old pope suffered from for years, doctors have said.
Six hours before his death, John Paul said in Polish, "with a very weak voice and with mumbled words, 'Let me go to the house of the Father,'" the report said.
The official account is quite close to one offered last month by John Paul’s longtime personal secretary, now Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. He told an Italian TV interviewer that a nun who was near the pontiff heard him say: “Let me go to the Lord.”
Media accounts published at the time of John Paul’s death said he looked toward the apartment window and whispered "Amen." The Rome newspaper La Repubblica quoted a Polish priest, Jarek Cielecki, as saying the pope died "an instant" after he made a great effort to say, "Amen."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9377134/
_____
The last words of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith:
"Oh Lord, my God!" [as he was] crying out while being shot by a mob inside his room [at Carthage Jail in June 1844].
Some assert Smith's cry was a Masonic distress call for help as Smith and some of those within the mob which assassinated him were Masons.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Famous_last_words
"Joseph Smith's Death—Masonic Cry" (Excerpt Mormonism—Shadow or Reality? p. 485):
"Although Joseph Smith found himself in trouble with the Masons, he gave the Masonic signal of distress just before he was murdered. In his book concerning Masonry, William Morgan gives this information concerning what a Mason is supposed to do "in case of distress": 'The sign is given by raising both hands and arms to the elbows, perpendicularly, one on each side of the head, the elbows forming a square. The words accompanying this sign, in case of distress, are, "O LORD, MY GOD" is there no help for the widow's son?'" (Freemasonry Exposed, p. 76)
"John D. Lee claimed that Joseph Smith used the exact words that a Mason is supposed to use in case of distress: 'Joseph left the door, sprang through the window, and cried out, "OH, LORD, MY GOD, IS THERE NO HELP FOR THE WIDOW'S SON!"' (Confessions of John D. Lee, reprint of 1880 ed., p. 153)
"Other accounts seem to show that Joseph Smith used the first four words of the distress cry. According to the History of the Church, Joseph Smith 'fell outward into the hands of his murderers, exclaiming, "O LORD, MY GOD!"' (History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 618)
"Less than a month after Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered, the following appeared in the Mormon publication, Times and Seasons:
'...with uplifted hands they gave such SIGNS OF DISTRESS as would have commanded the interposition and benevolence of Savages or Pagans. They were both MASONS in good standing. Ye brethren of "the mystic tie" what think ye! Where is our good MASTER Joseph and Hyrum? Is there a pagan, heathen, or savage nation on the globe that would not be moved on this great occasion, as the trees of the forest are moved by a mighty wind? Joseph's last exclamation was "O LORD MY GOD!"' (Times and Seasons, Vol. 5, p. 585)
"The Mormon writer E. Cecil McGavin admitted that Joseph Smith gave the Masonic signal of distress: 'When the enemy surrounded the jail, rushed up the stairway, and killed Hyrum Smith, Joseph stood at the open window, his martyr-cry being these words, "O Lord My God!" This was NOT the beginning of a prayer, because Joseph Smith did not pray in that manner. This brave, young man who knew that death was near, started to repeat THE DISTRESS SIGNAL OF THE MASONS, expecting thereby to gain the protection its members are pledged to give a brother in distress. In 1878, Zina D. Huntington Young said of this theme, "I am the daughter of a Master Mason; I am the widow of the Master Mason who, when leaping from the window of Carthage jail, pierced with bullets, MADE THE MASONIC SIGN OF DISTRESS, but those signs were not heeded except by the God of Heaven."' (Mormonism and Masonry, by E. Cecil McGavin, page 17)
"On page 16 of the same book, Mr. McGavin quotes the following from the Life of Heber C. Kimball, p. 26: 'Joseph, leaping the fatal window, GAVE THE MASONIC SIGNAL OF DISTRESS.'"
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/josephsmithsdeath.htm
******
(Personally, I kinda like actress Joan Crawford's reported final expression):
"Dammit. Don't you dare ask God to help me."
. . . This comment was directed towards her housekeeper who began to pray aloud.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Famous_last_words
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | How The Mormon God Selectively Respects Sexual "Sinners"
| | Posted Oct 27, 2005, at 10:25 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: How the Mormon God Selectively Respects Sexual "Sinners"
Mormons eagerly, and dishonestly,
declare at every turn that they, their God and their Church are "no respecter of persons."
As one devout LDS Cult
member has proclaimed:
God is no respecter of persons, and every soul, in the ultimate sense, is just as precious
in his sight as the souls of those who are called to positions of leadership.
Because he operates on principles of
eternal, universal, and never deviating law, any individual who abides the law that entitles him to get revelation can know
exactly and precisely what President Kimball knows, can entertain angels just as well as Joseph Smith entertained them, and can
be in tune in full measure with all of the things of the Spirit.
(Ted L. Gibbons, “This is the Spirit of
Revelation,” Doctrine and Covenants/Church History, Lesson #5 [Doctrine & Covenants 6, 8, 9; and Joseph Smith
History, vol. 1, pp. 8-17)
_____
The same claim which holds that the Mormon God is supposedly bound to
the eternal law of treating everyone equally is found in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, under the subject heading of
"God."
The Cult-selected author (with an appropriate last name of "Yarn") writes:
The Father, as God,
is omnipotent, omniscient, and, through his spirit, omnipresent (see Light of Christ). He is merciful and gracious, slow to
anger, abundant in goodness. His course is one eternal round. He is a God of truth and no respecter of persons. He personifies
love.
(David H. Yarn, Jr., “God,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, vol. 2, Macmillan Publishing Company,
1992)
_____
Using the Morals Charge to Excommunicate Critics of the Mormon Church and Others Who
Threaten the Cult's Institutional Interests
Those unlucky enough not to be well- and powerfully-connected to the
Mormon Cult's elite inner circles--and who find themselves caught in alleged hanky-panky--can expect to feel the impact of
Mormonism's unholy and hypocritical hammer.
_____
The Case of the Sexually-Active DNA Expert
Take, for instance, the recent fate of Simon Southerton, author of Losing a Lost Tribe. Southerton has been an
outspoken critic of outlandish and discredited Mormon beliefs of non-existent genetic connections between Native American and
Mediterranean-area Semitic peoples.
Southerton explained what eventually happened to him at the hands of a Mormon
ecclesiastical court (known in LDS lingo as a “disciplinary council"):
I was excommunicated for "having an
inappropriate relationship with a woman" when I was:
--a) a member of the church (not attended for 5 years at the
time and no contact from the church in that period);
--b) married to my wife (separated for several months by then);
and
--c) a priesthood holder in the church (they really get into this priesthood, men only crap . . .
The
Stake President denied that they were avoiding the issue of apostasy and that the charge they were investigating was more
important.
I seriously question this claim.
I am now convinced that they were intent on avoiding a
council on the charge of apostasy. I was clearly instructed before the meeting that if I attempted to talk about "DNA" and my
apostasy that the council would be
immediately shut down and that it would be completed in my absence.
http://www.nataliercollins.com/weblog/20..
_____
The Case of the Polygamously-Active Apostle
Even those who happen to be high-ranking members of
Mormonism’s good-ol’-boy inner circle--and who have been convicted of sexually-sinful heresy--find themselves booted from Church
membership when their activities are viewed by Cult leaders as potentially political embarrassments to the interests of the
Cult.
Take, for example, the case of excommunicated Apostle Richard L. Lyman:
In 1943, the First
Presidency discovered that Lyman was cohabitating with a woman other than his legal wife. As it turned out, in 1925 Lyman had
begun a relationship which he defined as a polygamous marriage.
Unable to trust anyone else to officiate, Elder Lyman
and the woman exchanged vows secretly. Despite the fact that both Lyman and the woman were in their seventies, Lyman was
excommunicated on November 12, 1943 at age 73.
The Quorum of the Twelve provided the newspapers with a one-sentence
announcement, stating that the ground for excommunication was violation of the Christian law of chastity, even though many
believe the real reason was his practice of post-Manifesto polygamy.
For years after his excommunication, some
apostles worried that Apostle Lyman might join the Mormon fundamentalist movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_R._Lyman
_____
Reality-Checking the Double Standard: The Mormon God Very Much Respects Persons--As Long as They
Have Important Family/Power Connections to the LDS Cult Which Serve the Cult’s Interests--And Even If They May Have Engaged in
Cult-Condemned Sexual Activities
Two examples come to mind, the details of which I have been provided by
highly-credible sources within the Mormon Church. (Names, detailed family background information and other potentially
identifying factors are withheld here for confidentiality purposes).
_____
The Case of the
Well-Connected, Sexually-Active Returned Missionary
In this case, I personally know, and have spoken directly
with, the individual involved.
This individual is closely related to a former high-ranking (now-deceased) Mormon
Church leader and has a name that would unmistakably identify him as such.
This individual returned from a two-year
mission several years ago and subsequently became sexually-involved with a young woman in his stake.
Eventually, he
went to his stake president, acknowledged that he had been sexually-involved with the woman, informed the stake president that
he had instigated the sexual relationship and requested that he, not the young woman, be punished.
This person told me
that his stake president responded by telling this individual that no person having that young man’s family name would be
excommunicated from the Mormon Church.
_____
The Case of the Well-Connected, Sexually-Active Mission
President’s Wife
In this case, I spoke with sources, very well placed within Mormon circles, whose credibility and
reliability are unimpeachable.
I was informed that several years ago, the wife of a mission president then serving in
a United States mission field, became sexually involved with two Mormon elders in that mission.
The mission
president was related, through family, to prominent authorities in the high ranks of LDS leadership (also now deceased).
Furthermore, the mission president did professional work for the Church that LDS, Inc. viewed as highly important and
necessary.
The wife of the mission president was in a very unhappy personal situation with her husband at the time her
sexual relationships with the young, in-the-field missionaries occurred.
The matter eventually became known to Mormon
Church authorities, a Church disciplinary hearing was held and the woman was not excommunicated.
When later asked by
a personal friend how she was doing, the woman replied that she had contemplated suicide but said that what had prevented her
from doing so was her fear that she might go to the other side and discover that God was related to the family of her husband
_____
Conclusion: How "Respect" Works in the Mormon Cult
For all the high-minded,
moralistic talk of Mormon Church leaders about God supposedly being no respecter of persons, the plain fact of the matter is that
if you want to engage in so-called sexual "hanky-panky" as a Mormon--and happen, at the same time, to be connected by power and
family to the inner circles of Mormondumb--there exists a good chance you’ll get off scot free, to be sent on your way with a
wink and a nod.
In short, with Mormonism, family and business connections talk.
The "guilty" walk.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Dancing With Dictators: Monson Plays Footsies With Commies
| | Posted Oct 25, 2005, at 11:21 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Who cares if you're a murdering Communist dictator, as long as you're making money for Mormon entrepreneurs and providing handshaking photo ops with LDS Cult leaders anxious to set up a prophetless profit-making shop in your country?
Take the case of East Germany's (the German Democratic Republic, or GDR) Soviet-backed henchman, Erich Honecker.
For those who may not be familiar with the professional "accomplishments" of Mr. Honecker, below is a brief synopsis:
In 1961 Honecker was in charge of the building of the Berlin Wall. In 1971, he initiated a political power struggle that led, with Soviet support, to himself becoming the [GDR's] new leader . . . During the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev began his reforms, he remained a hard-line Communist. But popular protest led to his resignation on October 18, 1989, and he was replaced by [a] short-lived successor . . . .
From 1989 until 1993, Honecker avoided prosecution over Cold War crimes, specifically the 192 deaths of those trying to escape over the Berlin Wall.
http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Hon...
. . . [Following his fall] from power . . . after 18 years, Honecker was extradited to Germany from Moscow, where he fled to escape manslaughter charges linked to deaths of defectors at the Berlin Wall. But the trial collapsed in 1993 due to Honecker's terminal illness.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?se...
Oh, but brothers and sisters in the glorious restored Gospel of Jesus Cash Christ, let's not get hung up in the brutal details. Let's put an end to all the negativity and send in the First Presidency to warmly cement a deal with the Communists--against the backdrop of the cold cement of the Berlin Wall.
Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency, eagerly flew to East Germany to schmooze the Russian-backed tyrant and shake Honecker's hand, stained though it was with the blood of innocents.
Even some faithful--albeit ultimately apologetic--Mormons had a real problem with Monson’s dancing-with-dictators routine--a song and dance diabolically designed to get a cash-cow temple in place behind the Iron Curtain.
As LDS writer Eugene England reluctantly observed in an essay entitled, "Give Yourself a Christmas Present:"
President Monson seems more forgiving of the Communists than I'm afraid I could be. It is a little difficult, as he describes the delicate, necessarily secret negotiations that began as early as 1978 and eventually led to the first temple in a Communist nation, to reflect that such delicate diplomacy was perhaps the reason Tom Rogers was asked not to continue to produce for awhile his excellent play about the young German Mormon from Hamburg, Helmut Huebener, who in 1942 rebelled against a tyrannous
dictatorship--Hitler's--and was executed.
And it is a little difficult to read President Monson's account of his genial meeting, along with other Church leaders, in October 1988 with Erich Honecker, the dictator, under Russian direction, of the GDR . . . not far behind Hitler and Stalin in betrayal and even murder of his own people (who only two years after that meeting overthrew him and put him in jail).
President Monson reports that Honecker praised the Mormons because "we taught our members to obey and sustain the law of the land and to be good citizens, that we emphasize the family, and that our Church members were ideal citizens of that land." . . . I'm not entirely certain I could want to be an ideal citizen of Mr. Honecker's utopian dictatorship.
But the fact remains that President Monson's persistent, forgiving geniality and his faithful, repeated prayer to God, "Wilt Thou intervene in the governmental affairs," succeeded where our own government's animosity and threats had not, and the faith of the German Saints was indeed rewarded--not just with the full blessings of the Gospel but, by 1990, with freedom from tyranny and uniting of the separate parts of the Church in Germany along with reunification under a non-Communist government.
That was a miracle that many of us in the Church prayed for for many years because the Brethren asked us to, though I confess I did so without much faith. But it did indeed happen, and the prayers and faith of a prophet and the German people were, I believe, important factors.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/...
And speaking of giving presents, the ever-ready Mormon manufacturers of pretty figurines and other sacred knickknacks have proudly noted on their commercial website that Mormon Mafioso Monson gave Communist Criminal Honecker one of their own celestial creations:
President Thomas S. Monson, second [counselor in the] Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shakes hands with East German state and party leader Erich Honecker. President Monson presented Honecker Friday with a gift sculpture, "In The Family Circle," and praised the East German government for its corporation [yes, that's an actual typo] with church members. (emphasis added)
http://www.hansenclassics.com/news.ht...
Who gives a hoot? Praise the Lord and pass the loot.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Ezra Taft Benson And Tales Of The Fate Of The Persecutors Of The Prophets
| | Posted Oct 18, 2005, at 09:25 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Ezra Taft Benson on the Horrible Fate That Reportedly Befell Assassins of Joseph and Hyrum Smith
During the Benson family reunion in the summer of 1979, our faithful clan took a reverent pilgrimage to the murder site of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at the Carthage, Illinois, jail.
During our visit to this hallowed place in Mormondumb, I witnessed my grandfather’s serious and skeptical reaction to tales describing the gruesome final chapters in the allegedly haunted lives of many of the members of the mob who participated in the murder of the Smith boys in June of 1844.
To my surprise, Ezra Taft Benson thought it was all a buncha bunk.
_____
Touring Carthage Jail and Shuffling Across Hyrum's Blood
Led by my grandfather, we managed to squeeze our sizeable Benson caravan into the small, brick jailhouse.
Our group was led up the narrow staircase from the first floor to the second-story jail cell where Joseph and Hyrum bought the farm by a small, chatty tour guide—a man who stuck close to my grandfather’s side and pointed him through the exhibits with a sober sense of earnestness.
At the top of the stairs, we entered the cramped cell. I had heard that there were still blood stains from the Smiths somewhere on the floor and asked the guide where they were located.
Come to find out, the guide informed us that we were literally standing on top of them. He said that a blood stain was partially covered by a rug spread over the floorboards but was still visible if we looked carefully.
Peering down at my feet, I noticed a large, irregular faded spot, outlined by a darker outer ring encased in the wood grain of the planks.
The guide said that this was Hyrum’s blood, spilled when he was shot in the face and fell to the floor, exclaiming, "I am a dead man."
The guide then turned to my grandfather and informed him that the Church had removed a sheet of plexiglas that had previously been used to cover the blood stain because, he said, the Church did not want to encourage its members to “worship” the blood of the prophets.
The guide said that unless visitors to Carthage Jail specifically asked about the location of the bloodstains, the guides did not point it out and even allowed people to unknowingly walk on it.
My grandfather nodded somberly.
_____
Drum roll: The Reported Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith
On the way down the stairs from our visit to the hallowed upper room where Joseph Smith had tried to save his own skin by jumping out a window while yelling a Masonic cry for help to lodge members in the mob below, the guide began to solemnly speak to my grandfather about stories of ominous, horrible plagues supposedly visited by a wrathful God upon members of the murderous band who had killed the Lord’s chosen prophets.
By way of background, one enthusiast of these post-martyrdom killer karma stories likened the fate of the doomed Carthage mob to that of plundering excavators who had violated the sanctity of the ancient tombs of the Pharaohs in search of treasure:
The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were said to have mystic powers that surrounded them after death. When King Tut's tomb was discovered in the early 1900's, there was a curse that surrounded the tomb and brought death unto all who entered the tomb.
So it was with Joseph Smith. A curse followed members of the mob that murdered Smith and his brother Hyrum.
. . . [M]any witnesses . . . swear that what they saw and heard is true concerning the sufferings of the mobocrats that participated in the murder of Smith and his brother Hyrum.
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/dept/d10...
_____
Gruesome accounts of mob members supposedly becoming marked men by a God who was a-gunnin' for 'em eventually appeared in a sensational book, compiled by N. B. Lundwall, entitled, The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith [Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft Publishers, 1952, 365 pp].
According to the claims in the book by a devout Mormon who supposedly encountered a doomed mob member who had participated in the killings of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the murderer was visited with horrific physical afflictions:
I noticed that the lower part of one ear was gone, a part of the left side of his nose had rotted away, and there were other repulsive sores on his face. He showed me his hands. There was very little solid flesh on them. I expressed my sympathy for him and he said his feet were worse than his hands. I asked him what had caused all this trouble and he replied: 'I don't know unless it was a curse God had placed on me.' He said some men had told him that was it, because he was with the men who killed Joe Smith, the Mormon Prophet.' I guess that was the main reason I drifted out here; I wanted to know how the Mormons made out without Joe Smith to lead them'"
(Lundwall, The Fate of the Persecutors of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 297-98).
_____
Another witness to the heavenly plagues that were said to have befallen Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s assassins described the physical torture dished out upon another mob member:
About the year 1892, when I was eighteen years of age . . . an old man by the name of Brooks moved into[our] neighborhood . . . The old man used to come to my father's home, sit on the porch and talk to my father . . . [about] Joseph Smith the Prophet. On one particular evening after my father had talked about Joseph Smith, the old man . . . said: ‘ . . . I saw the last bullet shot onto the old boy.' After Mr. Brooks had gone to his cabin, my father said: "No wonder he is a miserable old soul. If he saw the last bullet shot into Joseph Smith, he was in that mob. If he was in that mob, it has been prophesied that he will suffer all kinds of torment, his limbs shall rot off of his body and he will not have the courage to take his own life."
. . . [A]fter this conversation I took particular notice of the old man and how he suffered. The old man had a belt which he wore around his waist which the son would take off, then beat the old man with it just to hear him scream and when beating him, the son would laugh and profane and seemed to enjoy it. All of this I saw.
The old man was crippled and could walk with only the aid of two sticks---one in each hand and without aid of these he was totally helpless and unable to walk. The cause of this crippled condition was unknown to me. The son would drive the old man up the coal mine dump about three or four hundred yards from their cabin like he would drive cattle and fill sacks with coal, tie the sacks on the old man's back and drive him back to the cabin. The old man would beg his son not to fill the sacks too full of coal. If he would not go fast enough the son would whip him with his belt which he had taken from the father before going for the coal.
They . . . then moved to Coalville . . . While living here his toes rotted off his feet. Later, a Dr. Cannon . . . who owned a ranch in Weber canyon . . . made arrangements with this old man and his son to start a chicken ranch on Dr. Cannon's premises, on to which the father and son moved. . . . Dr. Cannon made inquiry concerning the disappearance of the chickens on the farm and the old man replied that "The skunks had eaten them up." To which Dr. Cannon replied: "You are the biggest skunk."
The son would often leave his father for three or four days and sometimes a week without food. I was up to my brother-in-law's ranch one fall, in November, when an eight inch snow fell, the weather clearing up in the afternoon, and dropping to zero weather by night. My brother-in-law and I took over an extra quilt and some supper to the old man and also chopped wood which we piled close to the stove so that he could handily keep the fire going during the night without getting out of bed.
After returning home later in the night, I heard him screaming. I awoke my brother-in-law and he said: “Don't take notice of him; he always screams like that.” When we got up the next morning, we looked towards his cabin and saw that the house was gone. We immediately went to where his cabin had been and found it had burned to the ground during the night. All the old man's clothes had burned off of him and he was burned all over his body from his feet to the top of his head. He was alive and lay curled up in ashes of the burned cabin, trying to keep warm.
We secured some quilts and with a team and sleigh we took him to Peoa where we found the son. The people of Peoa took up a collection which amounted to five dollars, gave it to the son and told him to go to Park City for the particular medicine he was directed to buy. With the money the son bought liquor and became drunk and did not return for four days. The old man died on the fourth day after he was burned, before his son returned . . . The son was ordered out of the county and he left immediately for parts unknown.
(ibid., pp. 292-93).
_____
Finally, another devout Mormon laid out--in stark and hark! detail--the supposed horrible fate prepared for yet another hapless prophet-murdering mob member:
One man, a "Jack Reed," an old man who was respected in the valley . . . said that he was a member of the mob who martyred the prophet. He was about fifteen years old at the time. He said he took his gun and marched proudly to Carthage and took part in the killing of the two prophets . . .
About the last of September I heard that Jack Reed was very sick of a strange ailment. He was taken ill in a few days after having made the statement that he took part in the affair at Carthage---but no one had told me of his sickness until I heard it from one of my Indian friends who said he had worms in his flesh. I determined to see him if I could and try to get him to verify the statement he had made . . .
The man had no family . . . . I asked . . . if . . . Mrs. Whitmore and myself [would be allowed] to visit Mr. Reed. [I was told] that Mr. Reed was a sight that no white woman could be allowed to look upon.
He was literally eaten alive by worms. His eyeballs had fallen out, the flesh on his cheeks and neck had fallen off and though he could breathe he could take nourishment only through an opening in his throat . . . and [I was told that] "Pieces of flesh as large as my two hands have fallen off from different parts of his body."
The sick man's farm was given to the white men who attended him in the first of his ailment. Finally when they could no longer endure the ordeal the Indians were called in to pour water into his throat and give him whatever other attention they could and these received the sick man's bunch of horses for their pay. When he finally passed, the Indians carried out the awful remains by the four corners of the blanket upon which he had lain for weeks, and lowered that into the box the white had prepared. The blanket was tucked in over him and the box quickly nailed up and put into the deep grave as soon as possible. No funeral was held.
. . . [I gathered that a] bunch of enemies were heading a petition against me because I was a polygamist. . . .
One called “Jack Longstreet" became Reed's first attendant in company . . . To these men Reed confessed that his participation in the murder of the Prophets was the cause of his affliction. He said to Longstreet: "It is the Mormon curse that is upon me. I cannot live---I must utterly rot before I die."
He said that Brigham Young had pronounced that curse upon all that mob, and he had known thirteen of them to die just as he was dying. But he had lived so long and had passed the unlucky number thirteen, that he had thought to escape the curse. He charged his attendants to never do anything against the Mormons, to be their friends, or said he, "You may suffer the Mormon curse." Longstreet related . . . this confession of Reed's as a warning . . . and declared that he himself would not dare to raise a hand against them. I don't think he ever did.
(ibid., pp. 294-96).
_____
As we followed the Carthage Jail tour guide and Ezra Taft Benson down the stairs, the guide emphasized to my grandfather in no uncertain terms that these graphic accounts supposedly detailing the fate of the Smiths’ murderers were not to be believed.
To the contrary, the guide said that many of the members of the mob who were responsible for the death of Mormonism’s two most prominent founders actually went on to very successful business and political careers.
Well, I'll be.
My grandfather again nodded approvingly, scowling slightly as he listened and voicing his agreement with the guide’s views.
All of which I found quite interesting.
This was the same Ezra Taft Benson who believed unswervingly in the literal truthfulness of Book of Mormon tales vividly describing, say, the gruesome fate of a premier prophet persecutor named Korihor--who was struck dumb through the power of God, reduced to abject beggary and eventually trampled to death for his wickedness.
The same held true for the sinful Book of Mormon Lamanites who because of their wicked, adulterous and murderous ways, were said to have been relegated by a vengeful God to darkened loathsomeness, marked by the finger of an accusing Maker with the curse of a brown skin and consigned to wear loincloths, to shave their heads and to stare into a bleak and miserable future.
Woe, woe and double-whammy woe.
_____
The Moral of the Story for Would-Be Prophet Killers
Thus saith the Mormon God, if you’re going to kill the Lord’s prophets and other anointed ones, you'd be much better off doing it in modern times--you know, when there is an actual, historical paper trail that can be used to document what actually happened in your life following your murderous deeds.
As luck could have it, the evidence might end up showing you became a successful financier or a powerful elected public official.
Whatever you do, don’t be unlucky or dumb enough to choose murderous, wicked ways in the hazy, distant past—whereafter spine-tingling scripture stories can be invented and passed down from generation to generation, describing to wide-eyed little children in Sunday School how you were horribly punished by God for what you did.
That's not good because, with no recent paper trail, there's no way for anyone to prove any different.
_____
"Heh, heh, heh, cackle, cackle, cackle . . ."
(Lo, what's that? Behold, the creeped-out voice of Vincent Price, accompanied by Michael the "Thriller" Jackson and his Tap-Dancing Troupe of Bug-Eyed Corpses):
Darkness falls across the land,
The Prophet's blood against you stands,
Your skin falls off, your sperm's a dud,
Your house is gone, God sent a flood.
And whosoever shall be found
With gun in hand for shooting down my prophet
Shall face the hounds of Hell,
And rot a lot, with feet that smell.
The foulest stench is in the air,
Your eyeballs gone, and so's your hair,
Your ears fall off, I curse your womb,
An unmarked grave will be your tomb.
And even though it's all a lie,
Your body starts to shiver,
For no mere Mormon can resist
God messin' with your liver.
"Heh, heh, heh, cackle, cackle, cackle, HEH, HEH, HEH, CACKLE, CACKLE, CACKLE, HEH, HEH, HEH, CACKLE, CACKLE, CACKLE . . ."
Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeak.
SLAM!
Amen.
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| | | | The Day The Music Died: Efforts To Shut Up Glen Campbell At A Benson Family Reunion
| | Posted Oct 14, 2005, at 12:55 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Our Benson family reunion, under the inspired :) personal leadership of my grandfather Ezra Taft, was held in Nauvoo, Illinois, in the summer of 1979.
One of our activities was a boatride on the Mississippi River. After being out on the Mighty Miss for awhile with Grandpa and the clan, things, quite frankly, got pretty boring so I began looking around for something to liven the place up a bit.
I spotted a jukebox at the rear of the boat, on the main deck, so I went over and checked out the selections.
Being a child of the '70s who loved good ol' rock and roll like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Sly and the Family Stone and Chicago, I was disappointed in the old machine's meager offerings.
Finally, out of desperation, I settled on a Glen Campbell tune that I had never heard before--"Southern Nights"--and dropped in a quarter.
The tune had a mild rock beat--and, as I was soon to find out, unacceptably suggestive lyrics.
Below are the words. See if you can pick out the Satanic verses:
Southern nights,
Have you ever felt a southern night,
Free as a breeze,
Not to mention the trees
Whistling tunes that you know and love so.
Southern nights,
Just as good even when closed your eyes,
I apologize
To any one who can truly say
That he's found a better way.
Southern skies,
Have you ever noticed
Southersn skies,
Its precious beauty
Lies just beyone the eye,
It goes running through the soul,
Like the stories told of old.
Old man,
He and his dog that walk the old land,
Every flower touched his cold hand,
As he slowly walked by,
Weeping willows would cry for joy.
Joy . . .
Feels so good,
Feels so good it's frightening,
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting,
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da,
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da.
Mystery,
Like this and many others
In the trees,
Blow in the night,
In the southern skies.
Southern nights,
They feel so good it's frightening,
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting,
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da,
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da.
So, where's the beef?
If you're puzzled over proof of the song's perniciousness, you obviously are stumbling around in sinful darkness, utterly bereft of the guiding light of the Holy Ghost.
The tune was just getting into its oh-so-nasty "feels so good" part when my Aunt Beverly Benson Parker (daughter of Ezra Taft and Flora) came marching over to the jukebox, where I was standing trying to connect to the jungle throbbing of Campbell's corrupt crooning.
Aunt Beverly--smothered as she always was in thick layers of make-up and hair-sprayed so thoroughly that she snapped, crackled and popped when she moved--was a walking, stalking case of Mormon sexual hang-ups on a mission from God.
In short, the Aunt from Hell.
(This, by the way, was the same Aunt Beverly who, at a wedding banquet for my younger sister Meg, had, after listening to the father of the groom get up and offer a few remarks, leaned over and smugly observed, "Well, we know which family was blessed with the spirituality," causing one of the Benson sisters-in-law--May Hinckley who was married to my Uncle Reed--to get up in disgust and leave the table).
But I digress.
Scowling so deeply that I was worried huge slabs of her make-up might fall off, crash through the deck and sink our boat, Bevy the Heavy told me in no uncertain terms that the song's lyrics were completely unacceptable and sternly ordered me to turn off the jukebox.
I informed her that the jukebox could not be stopped in mid-song and that the tune would have to play itself out.
Frustrated, Aunt Beverly suggested that I unplug the contraption but I did not consider that to be a reasonable option.
She became quite perturbed and waited impatiently until the jukebox had stopped its Luciferian lyrics.
In the meantime, I spotted my grandfather up toward the front of the boat, dancing to "Southern Nights" with one of the grandkids.
Which, I guess, made him a fallen prophet and led him to give the sermon, "The Fourteen Fundamentals of Dancing with the Devil."
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| | | | Reflections On Visiting The Site Of The Mountain Meadows Massacre
| | Posted Oct 7, 2005, at 07:01 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | While still fresh in my mind, below are some lingering thoughts and images of my visit on October 3rd, 2005, to the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
The highway signs indicating one's approach to the Mountain Meadows Massacre site are innocuous and give absolutely no hint of the horrible atrocity that occurred there. The roadside signs, at both the one mile and half-mile mark on opposite sides of the highway, simply say, "Mountain Meadows."
No mention of "Massacre."
Once one leaves the highway to follow the "Mountain Meadows" sign, one enters a weathered asphalt parking lot. There are no parking lot lights in this area and a wooden, informational backboard covered with plexiglas at the parking lot site is completely empty of maps, brochures or any other informational material.
From the parking lot, a narrow, asphalted footpath snakes up a small hill, with a sign indicating by arrow the direction to a "Mountain Meadows Monument."
This sign, as well, makes no mention of a "Massacre."
Ascending the small hill, one comes upon two small, black-colored, separate signs, mounted on bases at about waist level, on the left side of the trail. The signage indicates that local Mormon settlers, along with native Indians from the area, laid siege to the Fancher party for several days at the Fancher campsite, killing 15 men in that party during that initial period, then negotiating an arrangement with the Fancher party under which the migrants surrendered to the Mormons.
The informational signage indicates that the Fancher migrants were led out by Mormon escort under a white flag and then, without warning, were shot and killed by their LDS escorts.
The posted account records that a total of 120 members of the Fancher party were killed, that several surviving children of the Massacre were eventually returned to Arkansas and that at least one child from the Fancher group remained behind in Utah.
The walkway information says that the Massacre occurred during the "so-called Utah War" and that the reasons for the Massacre's occurrence are not known to this day.
One of the pathway signs indicates that the Massacre occurred on September 11, 1857. Someone has permanently etched a scratchy line in the metal under the date "September 11."
Upon reaching the summit of the hill, one comes upon a granite plaque, several feet in length, upon which are listed in capital letters the names (in some cases, by first name only) and ages of the Massacre's murder victims. This plaque was erected by descendants of the Mountain Meadows Massacre victims in 1990.
Some of the victims identified on the plaque are children, as young as five years of age.
The plaque looks out on the Mountain Meadows Massacre site, which is located in a flat, wind-swept stretch of land that runs for what appears to be about two miles. The Meadow itself butts up against a backdrop ridge of low-lying, sage- and cedar-covered hills. The Meadow is on private property, with a few farm buildings dotting the area near the Massacre site. The Meadow features tall, bent-over grass and squatty brush, is rooted in rocky soil and shows some signs of farming.
Close to the plaque, atop the hill, are three informational signs, facing outward toward the Meadow and located at approximately knee-high level, which provide details about the settlement of the area by the Mormons, together with maps of where the Fancher Party initially camped and faced siege, where from the campsite its ill-fated members were led away to be massacred and where the actual spot of the Massacre site is situated, together with locations of early memorials and burial plots for the victims.
Also atop the hill are two fixed, simple pipes, attached to metal poles. Through the pipe on the left, one can view the Mormon Church-dedicated memorial site, established in 1999 at the site of initial siege at the Fancher campsite. Through the other pipe, one can see the actual site of the Massacre, which is out in the open Meadow, near the right sloping edge of the ridge.
From the hill, one then descends by foot back to the parking lot and follows a vehicular dirt road down to the Mormon-dedicated site, which is also the burial spot for 29 victims of the Massacre.
This site is flanked by a parking lot, with another wooden plexiglas-covered informational backboard that is completely devoid of any information.
The LDS-erected memorial site is surrounded by a wrought-iron fence and gate with a heavy latch. A sign on the fence near the gate requests that one close the gate when leaving.
An American flag snaps and flutters in the strong wind on a pole located outside the fence.
The memorial site features a large mound of stones, approximately 15 to 20 feet tall, in the center of the fenced-in area. On opposite ends from each other, separated by this rock mound, are two informational stones at the base of the rock pile, on which are etched details, among other memorial-related points, of the eventual dedication of the site by Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley on September 11th, 1999.
In one corner of the enclosed memorial is a small, metal plaque, embedded at ground level, indicating in small print that the remains of 29 victims are actually buried at this site. (The remains of these murder victims are, in fact, entombed--along with some Arkansas soil--in a vault at this location after having been accidentally unearthed by a backhoe in the late 1990s during efforts to shore up a retaining wall that undergirds the memorial. Information on the hill up behind the memorial indicates that these victims were originally buried by Federal troops after the Massacre, before being inadvertently uncovered by the earthmover).
Returning to the highway and heading north, the road skirts the area where the members of the Fancher party were actually massacred. After the Mormon attackers duped the Fancher migrants into surrendering, they were escorted by their Mormon murderers several hundred yards away to an area out of sight of the Fancher encampment and, there, brutally massacred.
Although the highway runs very close to, and within clear line of sight of, the spot of the Massacre, there is no signage or other indicators provided to identify this spot from the roadway.
As a personal afterthought, down from the Mormon Church memorial area, off-site, is a small stream, from which I collected three small stones by which to remember my visit. These stones had been washed clean through the years by the waters of that tiny tributary.
The Mormon Church, in contrast, will never be able to wash the blood off its hands for what occurred on September 11th, 1857, at Mountain Meadows.
_____
For more information on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain...
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| | | | Never Let Them See You Sweat: Watching My Grandfather Worry That He Couldn't Deliver
| | Posted Sep 26, 2005, at 08:24 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I recall an unusual and illuminating moment where I saw my grandfather and then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve, Ezra Taft Benson, consumed by worry and self-doubt.
It happened while I was visiting with him one afternoon in his downtown Salt Lake City Church office.
My grandfather asked me to read a planned talk he was to give shortly to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. The sermon had been prepared for him by his staff in a loose-leafed, ringed binder, featuring extra large print. I quickly scanned the talk, gave it back to my grandfather and told him I thought it was good.
Nonetheless, my grandfather continued to fret, displaying genuine concern that he would not be able to deliver the sermon the way in which he wanted, and was expected, to. He told me that his eyesight was deteriorating and that he didn't know if he was going to be able to do the remarks justice or present them in a way that would benefit members of the Church who heard it.
He expressed appreciation to his office personnel for having helped put the talk together, but was in a state of obvious worry--bordering on agitation--that I had never seen him in before. My father, Mark Benson, was also present during this ongoing moment of consternation and kept reassuring my grandfather that he would do fine.
It was a very human, non-prophetic moment.
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| | | | Secret Inside Stories of Mormon Prophet Glory: Faithful Saints Share with Me Inspiring Myths Involving Ezra Taft Benson
| | Posted Sep 26, 2005, at 08:24 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Tantalizing, Mysterious Tales from the Secret "Reality Files" of President Ezra Taft Benson
Over the years, I have had various rock-ribbed Mormons contact me, directly or by correspondence, claiming to have been privy to special inside information regarding certain alleged occurences in the life, times and prophesies of my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson.
These stories have been said by their perpetrators to either be true on their face or to at least be deserving of serious consideration.
Below are some of the tall tales in this vein that have been relayed to me in the dedicated Mormon spirit of awe and conviction.
They are offered here for the purpose of building up Zion in the last days by deepening faith in the wild and wondrous world of Mormon make-believe, as practiced by its desparately-seeking Saints.
President Benson Was Brutally Bludgeoned by Members of the Quorum of the Twelve, Resulting in Permanent Brain Damage
One Mormon breathlessly phoned me from the Northwest, asking me if the following story was true.
It seems, according to this account, that a so-called "Pink Room" had been clandestinely constructed in the upper reaches of the Salt Lake City Temple during the administration of Mormon Church President Wilford Woodruff.
There, in absolute secrecy, members of the Quorum of the Twelve would gather to perform dark and solemn rituals, dressed for the occasion in hooded cloaks.
President Ezra Taft Benson was supposedly brought into this "Pink Room," where it was demanded of him that he go along with certain evil designs of the the Twelve.
President Benson refused, whereupon he was stuffed into a gunny sack by his hooded tormentors and mercilessly pummeled, resulting in permanent brain damage that kept him from leading the Church.
I told the inquiring Saint that Ezra Taft Benson had indeed suffered severe cerebral strokes, but that there was no evidence they were caused by him having been mugged by members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
President Benson Was Spotted in a Las Vegas Casino, Where He Held a Secret Meeting with a Young Mormon Boy
According to this tale passed on to me by an incredulous Mormon, an LDS father and his son happened to be on the main floor of a Las Vegas casino, when they spied Mormon Church President Benson, accompanied by his security detail, walking through the casino.
The LDS father pointed out President Benson to his young son, whereupon the boy said he wanted to meet him. His father took his son and they followed the President Benson entourage up the elevator to a hotel room.
After President Benson and company entered the room and shut the door, the father knocked on the door and asked if his son could meet the LDS Church President. The father was told to wait outside, while the young boy was allowed to enter President Benson's hotel room.
The door closed and the young boy was in President Benson's hotel room for two hours, as the father remained outside in the hallway.
When the boy finally emerged from the hotel room, his father asked him what had transpired. His son told him that President Benson had spent the whole time talking to him and that President Benson had told the child that it was good to be able to talk, since he was not allowed to do so.
However, the boy would not tell his father any more about his behind-closed-doors encounter with the Lord's anointed prophet.
The purveyor of this story asked me if it was true. I replied that I had never heard of any episode involving Ezra Taft Benson being spotted visiting, or staying in, a Las Vegas casino.
President Benson Issued an Inside-the-Temple Warning That It Is Too Late to Start Storing a Year's Supply of Food
According to this faith-promoting fable, President Benson was encountered in an elevator in the South Jordan, Utah, temple.
There, a member of the Church told him that he was accumulating his food storage. President Benson reportedly replied that it was too late to begin that task, given that the end of the world was at hand and that time had run out.
President Benson Ordered Christmas Gifts from Deseret Book, Despite Being Mentally and Physically Incapacitated at the Time
The faithful Mormon relaying this story told me that they knew a fellow Latter-day Saint who worked in one of Salt Lake City's Deseret Bookstores. The employee was said to have answered the phone at work one day, only to hear the voice of President Benson, who identified himself, and then who proceeded to order books as Christmas presents for family and friends.
My response to this story was that, based on my direct observation of my grandfather's severely deteriorated state of physical and mental health at the time that this phone conversation allegedly took place, he would not have been able to find the phone in his apartment, much less have been able to have used it.
President Benson's Private Apartment Nursing Staff Witnessed Him Performing His Prophetic Role but Given The Sacred Nature of These Acts, Has Chosen Not to Talk About What They Beheld
I was told by a devout Mormon that, based on inside information relayed to this believing Saint, one of President Benson's attending domestic nurses saw President Benson do things in his apartment as she cared for him that definitely testified to his calling as God's prophet.
What those things were, however, were never explained.
Personally, I saw my grandfather's nurses patiently feed him by spoon as he sat, stooped over and silent, at the kitchen table in his Church apartment.
I also saw them take President Benson, dressed in a sweatsuit and diapers and wrapped in a blanket, and prop him in a reclining chair so that he could stare out, unspeaking, through the window of his upper-story Eagle Gate apartment toward Temple Square.
I saw his nurses plant him in a soft recliner next to a radio in his aparment studio, so that he could listen to sessions of General Conference he was too weak to attend, as I sat by his side.
I never saw my grandfather do anything remotely prophetic in his apartment.
President Benson Appeared in a Dream to a Faithful Latter-day Saint in Order to Pressure Me to Rejoin the Mormon Church
After I left Mormonism in 1993, a Mormon called me anonymously from California and left two voice messages on my phone. This person informed me that my grandfather had appeared to him in a dream, instructing him to tell me that my grandfather wanted me to return to the Mormon fold.
I figured that if my grandfather wished for me to be re-baptized, he could have appeared in a dream to me--or better yet, in spirit person form--rather than to a complete stranger, where he could have told me directly to my face what he wanted and, in the process, cut out the middleman.
Conclusion: What Can I Say?
Other than, in the name of Jesus Christ, ahem. :)
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| | | | Joseph Smith's Arrest Record On Glass-Looking Charges--And Hugh Nibley's Warnings About Their Serious Nature, If Proven True
| | Posted Sep 17, 2005, at 07:27 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Recent news accounts have reported the "re-discovery" of original court documents which confirm that Joseph Smith--Mormonism's
founding prophet, seer and prevaricator--was arrested multiple times in the 1820s for the crime of "glass-looking," or
fraudulently claiming to be able to find hidden treasure by the means of magically-imbued rocks.
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What is particularly damning about these press revelations is that they further validate the devastating nature of the
crimes that Smith committed--as, in fact, admitted by Mormonism's historically pre-eminent apologist and water carrier, Hugh
Nibley.
In 1961, Nibley authored a book entitled The Mythmakers, in which he ventured to boldly debunk
assertions that Joseph Smith had committed, or had been arrested for, the crime of "glass-looking." Nibley (in words he probably
later wished he could retract) went so far as to declare that if, in fact, Smith was actually proven guilty of such nefarious
activity, it would constitute the most damning blow that could be imagined to Smith's claim of divine prophetship.
Derick S. Hartshorn, in his work, Bearing the Testimony of Truth, reviews the history of apologetic denials uttered by
Mormonism's stoutest defenders--and then compares those desperate defenses to the actual evidence found--evidence that cuts Smith
off at the knees.
Under the sub-section, Guilty! Next Case!, Hartshorn exposes the serious nature of the
charges against Smith and how they have plunged a dagger into the heart of Smith's claims to divine guidance:
"It
was charged that Joseph Smith was accused and found guilt of parting a local farmer from his money in a less than honest scheme,
commonly known as 'money-digging' or 'glass-looking.' It was reported to have been an activity that brought him rebuke from his
soon-to-be father-in-law, Isaac Hale. It is also historically recorded that he was removed from membership in a local Methodist
church because of the activity and trial results.
"Joseph Smith skims over the specific event leading to the trial in
the Pearl of Great Price, explaining that he was only a day worker for the man so engaged and not personally involved.
"Mormon writers have continually challenged its doubters to find the records (seemingly lost) and prove Joseph Smith
a liar or stop the attacks. Mormon writer Hugh Nibley, the most prolific defender of the Mormon faith, used almost 20 pages in
his book, The Mythmakers, in an attempt to discredit this 'alleged' court trial. On page 142 we find:
"'. . .
If this court record is authentic it is the most damning evidence in existence against Joseph Smith' and would be 'the most
devastating blow to Smith ever delivered.' [emphasis added]
"Of course, when that was first published back
in 1961, Dr. Nibley undoubtedly felt that after 130 years no such record would turn up in 1971. Once again, the actual evidence,
which the Mormon Church had denied ever existed came to light in 1971. You can read about how it was discovered as well as the
relevance of other historical documents of that time that Joseph used a 'seer' stone to find money, etc. in the 54=page brochure
'Joseph Smith’s Bainbridge, N.Y., Court Trials.'
"One might wonder why this should be cause for concern among
investigators of Mormonism. The fact is the up to then, the Mormon Leaders had denied that there WAS such a trial. Indeed, they
claim that the story of Joseph’s arrest was a 'fabrication of unknown authorship and never in a court record at all.'
"The charge that Joseph was known to hunt treasure with 'peep' or 'seer' stones, etc., was serious enough that Mormon scholar
Francis W. Kirkham stated that if the court record could be found, it would show that the Mormon Church was false:
"'Careful study of all facts regarding this alleged confession of Joseph Smith in a court of law that he had used a seer stone
to find hidden treasure for purposes of fraud, must come to the conclusion that no such record was ever made, and therefore, is
not in existence . . .
"'If any evidence had been in existence that Joseph Smith had used a seer stone for fraud and
deception, and especially had he made this confession in a court of law as early as 1826, or four years before the Book of
Mormon was printed, and this confession was in a court record, it would have been impossible for him to have organized the
restored Church.'
"Later, in the same book, Mr. Kirkham states:
"'. . . [I]f a court record could be
identified, and if it contained a confession by Joseph Smith which revealed him to be a poor, ignorant, deluded, and
superstitious person unable himself to write a book of any consequence, and whose Church could not endure because it attracted
only similar persons of low mentality if such a court record confession could be identified and proved, then it follows that his
believers must deny his claimed divine guidance which led them to follow him. . . . How could he be a prophet of God, the leader
of the Restored Church to these tens of thousands, if he had been superstitious fraud which the pages from a book declared he
confessed to be? . . . '
"Well, in spite of 140 years of silence, the records did surface. Rev. Wesley Walters
discovered the documents in the basement of the Chenango County, New York, jailhouse at Norwich, N.Y. in 1971. The records,
affidavits, and other data show conclusively that Joseph Smith was arrested, went to trial, was found guilty as an imposter in
the Stowell matter of "glass-looking." It is not a matter of debate, opinion or religious preference. It is a proven historical
fact.
"Initially Mormons denied that Joseph ever participated in 'money-digging' activities, saying that would
invalidate his claim as a prophet. Now that indisputable evidence confirms that Joseph was a convicted 'money- digger' Mormons
have taken a 'so what' attitude. At least one says, now that the evidence proves that Joseph was a 'money-digger' that it really
doesn’t matter. (What could a BYU professor say?) Mormon scholar Marvin Hill says:
"'There may be little doubt now, as
I have indicated elsewhere, that Joseph Smith was brought to trial in 1826 on a charge, not exactly clear, associated with money
digging.' [Fawn] Brodie’s thesis that the prophet grew from necromancer to prophet assumes that the two were mutually
exclusive, that if Smith were a money-digger he could not have been religiously sincere.
'This does not necessarily
follow. Many believers active in their churches, were money-diggers in New England and western New York in this period. Few
contemporaries regard these money-diggers as irreligious, only implying so if their religious views seemed too radical . . . For
the historian interested in Joseph Smith the man, it does not seem incongruous for him to have hunted for treasure with a seer
stone and then to use with full faith to receive revelations from the Lord.'
"Marvin Hill’s appraisal of the treasure
seeking activities make it appear that contemporaries of Joseph Smith treated this enterprise with a casual air. One such
contemporary that was closer to Joseph than most, could hardly disguise his disdain. This was Isaac Hale, father of the girl that
Joseph would later elope with. In an affidavit signed by Hale and published in the Susquehanna Register, May 1, 1834, Joseph’s
father-in-law said:
"'I first became acquainted with Joseph Smith, Jr. in November, 1825. He was at that time in the
employ of a set of men who were called ‘money diggers’; and his occupation was that of seeing, or pretending to see by what means
of a stone placed in his hat, and his hat closed over his face. In this way he pretended to discover minerals and hidden
treasure.
"'Smith and his father, with several other money-diggers boarded at my house while they were employed in
digging for a mine that they supposed had been opened and worked by the Spaniards. Young Smith made several visits at my house,
and at length asked my consent to his marrying my daughter Emma. This I refused . . . [H]e was a stranger, and followed a
business that I could not approve. . . . Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called "glass-looking," and that he
expected to work hard for a living . . .
"'Soon after this, I was informed that they had brought a wonderful book of
plates down with them . . . The manner in which he pretended to read and interpret, was the same as when he looked for the
money-diggers, with the stone in his hat, and his hat over his face, while the Book of Plates were at the same time hid in
the woods.'"
http://www.saintsalive.com/mormonism/ftruth/ft1.doc
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Drawing The Line On Religion
| | Posted Sep 16, 2005, at 08:15 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | This afternoon I received a letter from a colleague of mine in the news business, mentioning an article written less than a year after Mary Ann and I had our names removed from the membership rolls of the Mormon Church. I had not thought about that interview piece for awhile so I looked it up and, for what it’s worth, offer it below:
Drawing the Line on Religion
By Walt Jayroe
for Editor & Publisher
1994
Editorial cartoonist Steve Benson has steered through a stormy year marked by "great distress" in the wake of his 1993 Pulitzer Prize. He now faces the prospect of being remembered more for the spoken word than any of his drawings.
Less than three months after winning the Pulitzer, Benson, now in his second stint at the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, found himself embroiled in a highly publicized feud with the Mormon Church about what he calls a "cocoon of deceit," a flap that brought him to grips with his journalistic principles on one side and his religious faith on the other.
Benson recently traced his post-Pulitzer year in a four-hour interview, a session in which the aftershocks of his emotional odyssey often rose to the surface.
"My training as a journalist began to compel me to seek honest answers to my questions. I wanted the Church to shoot straight with me, and it wasn't," he said.
The cost proved dear. Benson renounced his membership in the Church in October [1993] and to a great extent was ostracized by his family and Mormon friends.
Though a self-described "opinionator," Benson said he knows a hard, objective fact when he meets one.
Few journalists have seen the inside of Church power in the way that Benson has, via family ties. His grandfather, 94-year-old Ezra Taft Benson, is the president and prophet of the Mormon Church, a worldwide religious organization based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and officially known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At one time, the elder Benson was a national political figure and served two terms as secretary of agriculture under President Eisenhower.
"A born-in-the-bed Mormon," the younger Benson calls himself. His father, Mark, is a stake president, and an uncle, Reed, is a professor of ancient scriptures at Brigham Young University, the Mormon-run school in Provo, Utah.
The younger Benson was baptized in the Church, graduated from BYU and did missionary duty in Japan. He once held a seat on his stake's High Council in Arizona.
"Cut me," he said, "and I bleed Mormonism. Even though I'm out of the Church, I'll still be, in a cultural sense and a moral sense, a Mormon to the day I die."
The decisive episode in Benson's discontent with the Church arose not long after his grandfather ascended to the presidency in 1985. Family and others of the inner circle noticed a decline in the elder Benson's mental and physical state.
Benson said his grandfather would stumble through sermons and sometimes lose track of his words, leading to long silences and discomfort of audiences. A series of strokes led to impaired speech and invalid status. Personal letters to family began to arrive signed by signature machine, Benson said.
While his grandfather slipped into a "semisenile" condition, Benson said, Church leaders acted as if all was well, that the prophet was in charge of Church affairs. Benson said he soon began to see it as a hoax, a giant cover-up from rank-and-file members. The Church, he believed, had boxed itself into a theological corner.
Benson said Mormons sell their Church on the premise that "it is being led today by a modern-day, living prophet . . . and his name is Ezra Taft Benson. And he is the sole mouthpiece to whom God reveals his truth to a troubled, searching world.
"As long as the prophet's alive, he's got to be functioning, he's got to be leading, he's got to be revealing."
Fearing a loss of power and validation if they admitted that the prophet was incapacitated, Mormon leaders went to great lengths to perpetuate an illusion, Benson said.
"They'd take him out to a function where he's supposed to turn a spade of earth," he said. "They'd put his foot on the shovel and take a picture. Or he'd be seen waving to a crowd with a handler manipulating his arm."
All photos were taken from his grandfather's left side to hide the medical tube permanently affixed to the right nostril, Benson said.
"He's been treated like a dimestore mannequin in a window while the business of the enterprise has been conducted behind closed doors, " he said.
At the interview, Benson wore a cap with "Dave" written in front, an allusion to the movie by that name in which the U.S. president is incapacitated and a look-alike takes over.
Benson said he remained silent for a long time about his grandfather' s condition. He at first thought that if the Church was not open about it, there must be a reason. He said his father urged him to remain silent, saying the press couldn't be trusted.
"And here I was," Benson said, "a member of the press and the oldest grandchild of Ezra Taft Benson. I found myself caught in this quagmire, this dilemma."
Contacted about his grandfather's health by reporters in Utah, Benson said, he soon fell into a role as "deep throat," an anonymous guide.
"I felt," he said, "I had this obligation as a journalist not to hide the truth, to go after the truth, to try to be honest and forthright and deliberate in everything that I said. So rather than tell untruths, I went off the record with reporters and encouraged them through their own investigative effort to come up with the story, and then I would confirm it on conditions of anonymity."
A Sunday morning question from his son, Eric, provided the last straw, Benson said. "He asked, 'Why do they call [great-] grandpa a prophet when he can't do anything?' His great-grandchildren could see it; anyone could see it. It was a dirty family secret."
A short time later, Benson said he called Vern Anderson, an Associated Press reporter in Salt Lake City, and told him that he would speak on the record for the first time about his grandfather's condition should he want to do a story.
"D-Day," as Benson called it, was July 10, 1993. With the Republic' s blessing, Benson said, he first told his story to Anderson. The Republic used Anderson's story as a basis for its own, he said.
The stories revealed a prophet too weak to run the Church. An uproar quickly followed.
Benson said he received more than 100 letters condemning him. One critic wrote, "Quite a guy. He wins the Pulitzer and thinks he can run the Mormon Church."
Benson's cartoons regularly home in on religious issues, including Mormon ones. He rendered numerous unflattering cartoons in the mid-1980s of then-Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, a Mormon.
But this time, Benson refrained, a noticeable departure from his credo, "I don't aim. I just shoot."
"It was determined," he said, "because I was a player in this story, I was a source, I was a family member close to my grandfather, that it might appear to be self-serving if I were to do an editorial cartoon on it . . .. I think I made my stand unequivocably clear in the observations I gave to the reporters."
Those observations caught many by surprise, especially his parents and siblings.
"My family was dumbstruck," Benson said. "They were aghast. They were angry, disappointed. They could not understand why I would undermine the family."
Benson said a family member told him that he would not be allowed to see his grandfather again, that he couldn't be trusted. The threat later was withdrawn, he said.
"The issue to me was the Church as an institution, taking tithe-payers at the rate of upwards of $15 million a day and doing it in the name of supporting a prophet-led Church," he said.
Though some Church members supported him, harassment continued on a local and individual basis. He was criticized by his local bishop, and fliers attacking his statements were disseminated. Then his alma mater's Brigham Young Magazine decided to delay publication of a profile of him, written in light of his Pulitzer.
The magazine's action stung. Benson has fond memories of his years at BYU and "the glory days of the student newspaper," the Daily Universe. "I still have my pica pole I was given when I left BYU, which says on the back, 'Truth, energy and talent.'"
Benson said he received a review copy of the manuscript, "a pleasant puff piece." The magazine's editor admitted that Benson's public comments about the Church were responsible for the delay in publication, Benson said. He requested that the article be scrapped permanently, and it was.
"I didn't want to be a part of any enterprise allegedly done in the name of good journalism that was kowtowing to fear and pulling its punches . . . for fear of what the boys with the hands on the purse strings might think.
"Ironically, the thrust of the article was 'Steve Benson made his reputation at BYU by poking pontificating balloons of self-importance, goring sacred cows and troubling the administration . . .."
Benson's views seemingly were verified by an article in the Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City. A reporter at the paper sifted some eye-popping information from Utah's corporation records. The published report said the corporation that manages the Church effected in 1989 a transfer of power from Ezra Taft Benson to his two counselors, Gordon Hinckley and Thomas Monson. That was done the same year that his grandfather last was seen in public, Benson said.
"This is what's so ironic," he said. "The Church leaders and members are saying, 'Steve, where's your faith? Don't you have faith God could raise Ezra Taft Benson to speak and lead the Church?' But in secret the leaders of the Church had amended the faith that God would do that . . .. They put their faith not in God but in the lawyers who transacted the papers and who actually assured the transfer of power to them."
Benson has made himself available to media in Utah and to other groups interested in hearing his story. He helped line up interviews for a Republic reporter doing a story on the Church's recent wave of excommunications.
In September [1993], Benson was granted a special audience in Salt Lake City with two of the Church's leading apostles, Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell. He was allowed to ask questions of a confidential nature about Church matters only because of his family ties to the prophet and his professional status as a member of the media. Later, Benson said, he broke the confidence when he believed that Oaks had lied to a reporter about what was said in the meeting.
"He has committed a public act of deception, dishonesty and moral criminality," Benson said. "What do you do? I really wrestled with that."
Not long after that, he and his wife submitted their resignations from the Church, and in November [1993], the resignations were accepted. The couple will let their children decide on their own whether to stay in the Church, he said.
"I will not allow myself to be abused in this kind of dysfunctional system, where they try to manipulate me, control me, silence me, try to deny my right to speak out," Benson said. "Because if we don't have the individual right to speak out, what are we?"
Months later, old family ties continue to fester, he said, especially those with his parents.
"There's a sense of pain and a loss I detect every time I talk with them. I think they kinda wish things would be back the way they were, but they never will. I know there's a price to be paid."
His grandfather's condition remains unchanged, Benson said.
"This is really the ironic and wonderful thing," he said. "He's the one who encouraged me to go into editorial cartooning. He said, 'We need people to stand up against the established order and tell us the truth as they see it.'"
Benson said he did not time his public criticism of the Church to follow his winning the Pulitzer.
"All the Pulitzer did," he said, "was give additional focus to what I was saying. It was an amplifier. I didn't use the Pulitzer as a platform."
He now refers to his former Church as "Red Square on Temple Square," a reference to the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City. The Church is going through "a totalitarian mode," he said. "I wanted to be a good Mormon, but at the same time, I wanted to be truthful, I wanted to be honest and I wanted to be a good journalist. I found over time I could not be a good Mormon and an honest individual. I kinda had to make a choice."
http://www.lds-mormon.com/benson1.sht...
Steve Benson http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | The Case Of Stormin' Ex-Mormon Norman Hancock: Heralding The Courageous Ex-Mo Who Helped Bring To A Halt The LDS Cult's Arrogant Abuse Of The Excommunication Process
| | Posted Sep 14, 2005, at 08:12 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | For decades, the Mormon Cult, as a matter of course, used the unjust, immoral, vindictive and personally-violative sledgehammer of excommunicating dissidents as a way to publicly humiliate and punish them--while at the same time sending a not-so-subtle message to other members of the LDS faith that they faced a similar fate should they dare go "too far" in messin' with the Mormon Mafia.
However, this punitive and pernicious process was dealt a formidable body blow when resigned Arizona Mormon and former bishop Norman Hancock boldly stood up to the Latter-day Saint inquisitional hatchetmen and told them in no uncertain terms to take their dirty hands off him, keep their prying noses out of his decision to voluntarily exit the Mormon Cult, do not dare excommunicate him in the process--or face a hefty lawsuit if they didn't back off.
Mormonism's arrogant hitmen made the serious mistake of not taking Hancock seriously.
As one would expect of "we-thank-thee-oh-God-for-our-profits" LDS, Inc., money eventually talked and Hancock walked.
Below are eye-opening and informative links to Hancock's story of personal bravery, resolute determination and independence of spirit in facing down the Mormon Cult's attempt to belittle, besmirch and behead him. They include pertinent suggestions on how to effectively go about kicking the Mormon theological thugs out of the way as one goes about clearing the path for escaping from the LDS Alcatraz.
For those who today are able to leave Mormonism's clutches by simply sending in their resignation directive to the LDS Cult's increasingly busy Membership Removal Department :), they have, in large measure, Stormin' Ex-Mormon Norman Hancock to thank.
http://www.mormonalliance.org/caserep...
http://www.geocities.com/kathywut/htm...
http://home.teleport.com/~packham/lea...
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | The Victims Of Hurricane Katrina Vs. The Self-Sanctified Saints Of Crime-Ridden Utah: Who Are The Real "Wicked"?
| | Posted Sep 1, 2005, at 09:53 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Forget New Orleans and Those Surrounding Swamps of "Sin"--Utah is the Den of Iniquity Ripening for Godly
Destruction
Arrogant Mormons wax obnoxiously confident in their bigoted belief that the catastrophic sufferings
currently being experienced by millions of Americans unfortunate enough to have been caught, injured, killed and/or rendered
possession-less in the path of Hurricane Katrina are nothing less than a sure-fire Latter-day sign of God's punishment of the
wicked.
Mormon smug self-righteousness is fueled by the bloated boastings of high LDS Church leaders themselves.
Exhibit A in this regard is the cocky observation of Joseph Fielding Smith, eventual Dictator of Mormondumb, who declared:
"[Mormons] are, notwithstanding our weaknesses, the best people in the world. I do not say this boastingly, for I
believe that this truth is evident to all who are willing to observe for themselves. We are morally clean, in every way equal,
and in many ways superior to any other people."
(Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, vol.1,
p.236)
_____
This kind of insulting swagger is manifest today in the hateful judgments made of Katrina's
non-Mormon victims by pompous Latter-day "Ain't Saints." Sitting contentedly on the sidelines, casting their supposedly
sinless stones at those who suffer, they make fools of themselves and disgrace humanity in the process.
Permit a few
examples, from their own mouths.
In an earlier RFM post, "Rationalis" noted that on the
"we-are-far-holier-than-the-rest-of-the-world" FAIR board, members of the LDS Cult are currently weighing in mercilessly on the
plight of those suffering at the hands of Nature.
One monstrous Mormon preached:
”"I think you guys are
looking at this in the wrong light. Do I think God sent a vast amount of storms to destroy New Orleans and the surrounding area?
No. Could it have been prevented had it been a more Christ-like area? . . . yes."
Another obnoxious "Saint"
opined:
"80% of New Orleans is now flooded. A friend expressed to me that it was his understanding that New Orleans
is one of--or perhaps the most wicked--city in the USA."
("Here they go again. New Orleans was wicked and so . .
. . . . . .," post by "Rationalis," mail address: perapera77@yahoo.com, Recovery from Mormonism board, http://www.exmormon.org, 30 August 2005, 23:03 hours)
_____
Similarly, "Battle-Ax,” in a previous RfM post, detailed the heartless response of a TBM to news that killer storm
Katrina had violently slammed into the coastal regions of the United States:
"Early Monday morning I was talking to
a TBM business associate about the hurricane that was hitting the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. I was shocked when he started to
joke about it and say that, 'Well, I guess God is going to Baptize New Orleans whether they want it or not.' He also said 'it
was about time God cleaned out that pit of sin.’
"I was shocked, this was right when we were not sure if we were going
to loose thousands of lives. Now we know that New Orleans missed a direct hit and instead hit Mississippi. I guess God has a hook
in his aim and he needs to work on it.
"How can someone think this way? As I watch the devastation in New Orleans and
in Mississippi today it makes me sick to see what has happened to peoples' lives.
"I bet you money that in many wards
this coming week someone will make a comment that, 'Well, this is the last days and God will punish the wicked.'
"How
can normal generally good people be trained to think this way? This attitude is not only in the Mormon Church but when the
tsunami hit, some Christian leaders said God was punishing Islam.
"The one thing I'm ashamed of is I sat there and
said nothing back. Later, I was mad at myself for not saying anything, that will not happen again. In a sick way, I think some
Church members take delight in seeing this because it proves the Church is true and the last days are just around the corner.
"It will also be interesting to see that next month in Conference if there is a talk that will express sympathy for the
victims and will brag how much the Church has helped out but then go on to say, well you shouldn't be surprised these are the
last days."
("A Mormons view on Katrina," posted by "Battle-Ax," Recovery from Mormonism board, http://www.exmormon.org, 30 August 2005, 12:09 hours)
_____
Hold your high-and-mighty horses, you Sons of Helium.
Before stiff-necked LDS gas bags break their collective
arms by patting themselves too vigorously on the back (or break their chosen necks by falling off their Rameumptoms during
orgies of self-adulation), they should take a closer look at the crime-infested Mormon state of Utah.
Then they should
ask themselves, "Where are the sinners, really?"
Look in the mirror, you sanctimonious Morons.
Utah’s own
official crime statistics tell the tale of a hypocritical state of wickedness that is very much alive, well and growing in the
Tops of the Everlasting Hills.
_____
Utah’s Index Crime Rate (from the Last Fully-Reported Year, 2003)
is Increasing in Nearly Every Major Category
Take a look at Utah’s overall index crime rate:
"Index
crimes include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. Utah’s total index
crime rate in 2003 was . . . a 0.5% increase over the 2002 rate . . ."
Now, let's break it down.
_____
Utah’s Violent Crime Rate
"Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated
assault. Utah’s violent crime rate in 2003 was . . . a 4.9% increase compared with 2002. . . . Although Utah's violent crime rate
is about half of the national rate, it is trending upward while the national rate is trending downward."
_____
Utah’s Homicide Rate
"Utah’s murder rate in 2003 was 2.5 per 100,000, a 25.0% increase
compared with 2002. This is a large increase compared with the 2002 rate. . . . Over the past 30 years, Utah's murder rate has
remained relatively constant, with peaks occurring during some years."
_____
Utah’s Property
Crime Rate
"Property crimes include burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Utah’s property
crime rate in 2003 was . . . a 0.2% increase over 2002."
_____
Utah’s Robbery Rate
"Utah’s robbery rate in 2003 was 53.4 per 100,000, an 8.5% increase compared with 2002. . . .
"Utah's
[robbery] rate trended up in 2003 while the national rate trended down."
____
Utah’s Motor
Vehicle Theft Rate
"Since its peak in 1997, Utah’s motor vehicle theft rate has been decreasing for the
most part, although the 2002 rate was a noticeable increase over the 2001 rate. The 2003 rate was nearly the same as the 2002
rate.
"After converging in the mid-1990s, Utah's motor vehicle theft rate and the national rate have been moving
apart. The gap between the national rate and Utah's rate narrowed somewhat in 2003."
_____
Utah’s
Hate Crime Rate
"Reported hate crimes increased from . . . 2002 to . . . 2003 [by] . . . 9.09% . .
."
_____
Utah’s Rape Rate
"Utah’s rape rate continues to be higher than the
national rape rate."
_____
Utah’s "Crime Clock"
On average, one index crime is
reported every 5.31 minutes in Utah.
In an average 24-hour period in Utah, there are 0.12 homicides, 3.38 robberies,
2.31 rapes, 9.32 aggravated assaults, 40.16 burglaries and 196.84 larcenies committed.
("2003 Crime in Utah,"
Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Criminal Identification, pp. 2-5; and "Utah Crime Statistics Assessment," 2003, Utah
Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice)
http://bci.utah.gov/Stats/2003.pdf
http://www.justice.utah.gov/
_____
Utah’s Rate of Domestic Violence
"Domestic violence is one of the fastest-growing and most serious violent crimes in Utah today. Over the past few
years the frequency and intensity of this abuse has increased. Countless victims and survivors of domestic violence are enduring
more severe beatings and life-threatening situations than those in years past. In Utah, domestic violence is becoming more
aggressive and brutal."
In fact, Utah’s domestic violence crime rate is higher than that of 22 other states.
"Utah’s [homicide rate among female victims murdered by males in single victim/single perpetrator incidents] was 1.13
per 100,000 per population. In 2002, Utah ranked 28th in the United States in the rate of female victims murdered by males in
single victim/single perpetrator incidents."
(Utah Domestic Violence Annual Report, January 2005, pp. 3,
14)
http://www.justice.utah.gov/DV2005.pdf
_____
Utah’s Rate of Child Abuse and Neglect
"Is child abuse a problem in Utah?
Oh, yes! There were more than 7,800 supported cases of child abuse or neglect in 2003. Child abuse cases increased by 33.8
percent from 2000 to 2003."
http://smallbiz.ksl.com/speak-11593i.php
_____
Utah’s Index Crime Rate in
Comparison to the Crime Rate Throughout the Rest of the United States
"Utah’s [index crime] rate has
paralleled the national rate over the past 40 years. In 2001, Utah's rate was marginally higher than the national rate, a gap
that is widening through 2002 and 2003. Utah's higher than average larceny rate, which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the
total index crime rate, drives our total rate higher than the national rate."
("Utah Crime Statistics
Assessment," 2003, Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice)
_____
Conclusion: Before
Mormons Go Casting Their Stones . . .
these holier-than-thou hypocrites--so eager to declare that innocent,
non-LDS victims suffering through natural disasters are somehow deserving recipients of God’s wrath--should look deeply into
their Moron Mirror.
When they do, they will find themselves breaking the glass of their own glass house--a dungeon of
deceit tucked away in the crime-covered hilltops of Utah's Church/state.
The undeniable evidence shatters the
Mormon-mouthed myth of supposed Latter-day Saint superiority.
The truth is in the stark details--a truth that
uncovers the cold reality for all to see:
Yes, Brothers and Sisters of the Most High Mormon God, crime of all sorts
is wickedly on the rise in the backyard of the supposedly "best people in the world."
So, drag out the sandbags.
Your Lord is coming to get you.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | From The Land Of The Book Of Abraham: Calls For Polygamy On The Rise
| | Posted Aug 30, 2005, at 07:25 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Joseph Smith would certainly be proud of this woman--and even more certainly eager to get her into bed.
In an article strikingly reminiscent of Humpin,’ Jumpin’ Joe’s line that polygamy is the way of Heaven and the solution for what ails society, an Egyptian wife is endorsing multiple wifery.
The news appears in a story by Mariam Fam of the Associated Press--dateline Cairo--headlined, “Egyptian wife promoting polygamy” (Arizona Republic, 29 August 2005, p. A10).
http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clic...
_____
Keep married men happy and devoted. Help fight divorce, adultery and other societal ills. Solve problems within the family. Provide single, widowed or divorced women with a well-off man who can look after them. Do God's will.
In short, practice polygamy.
Sound familiar?
_____
Read on:
”Hayam Dorbek wants her husband to get married. Again.
“In urging him, and the rest of Egypt, to be more open to polygamy as approved by Islam, the 42-year-old journalist has set off a lively debate in her country and the rest of the Arab world turning in on satellite TV.
“Durbek says she felt her work was keeping her so busy that her husband needed a second wife. She says he refused, ‘but my son is helping me promote the idea,’ she said.
“She feels the Islamic concept of polygamy is the answer to many of Egypt’s social ills. She has written articles with titles like, ‘One wife is not enough,’ and has helped form an association that promotes polygamy.
“Some are furious, saying it . . . is bad for women, tantamount to ‘displaying them in a slaves’ market,’ according to Nihad Aboul-Qomasan, head of the Egyptian center for Women’s Rights.
“The debate exemplifies the tug-of-war between conservatives and liberals in a country brimming with Western symbols and ideas while also becoming Islamic.
“Many revivalists of conservative Islam have taken up a modern rhetoric, presenting themselves as an alternative to a decadent West. Dorbeck recasts the license that Islam gives men to marry up to four women and gives it a modern flavor.
“'I’m calling for women’s rights: their right to get married even if to a married man,’ Dorbeck told the Associated Press. Polygamy is a ‘license from God to stabilize society and solve its problems.'
“To familiar problems of family life, like adultery and divorce, Dorbeck adds ‘spinsterism’: women remaining single into their 30s and being possibly stigmatized as easy prey for men or temptresses preying on men for sex.
“Her solution: hitch single, widowed or divorced women to married men who can financially support and provide far more than one family.
“This will stop the men from having affairs and provide the women with a caretaker, she argues.
“Egyptian law permits polygamy, but . . . it’s expensive. For another, some TV programs and movies tend to stress its downside: husbands unable to cope with multiple wives, and wives in emotional pain.
“’The secular currents in society muzzle the Islamic voices and drown them out,’ Dorbeck said. ‘I call on Arab and Muslim women to accept God’s laws.’”
(emphasis added)
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Hear! Hear! Kimball Not Only Had No Special Prophetic Witness, He Had No Special Prophetic Knowledge
| | Posted Aug 29, 2005, at 07:22 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Ol' Spence on-the-Fence Kimball put his garments on one leg at a time, just like everyone else, and probably backwards.
Below are adapted excerpts from a couple of my previous posts, in which I recount having had personal communication with Kimball--communication which clearly revealed that Kimball acted without revelation:
Introduction: What Do Mormonism's General Authorities Really Know About the Supposed Truthfulness of the LDS Church--and How Do They Supposedly Know It?
A question often asked by those re-examining their Mormon faith is whether the General Authorities of the LDS Church genuinely believe the Church is true.
They may believe it, but do they really know it?
And are they forthright with the Mormon membership about what they say claim either believe or know?
Based on my personal contact with some of Mormonism’s highest leaders, obtained through conversation and correspondence, the answers to these questions is simply "No."
____
President Spencer W. Kimball
During the course of my BYU research paper on the official LDS stand regarding organic evolution, I repeatedly corresponded with Kimball, who was then Mormon Church President.
_____
Knowledge of What Other Mormon Prophets Have Said on Important Doctrinal Matters
Throughout the course of our exchanges, I had a difficult and increasingly frustrating time obtaining direct and clear answers from him on the subject, even though I made specific and detailed inquiries.
For instance, on the question of previous First Presidency statements on the physical origins of humankind, Kimball informed me in personal correspondence that he was not familiar with the First Presidency statements I had cited in my initial correspondence with him and requested that I mail them to him, which I did.
Clearly, whatever confidence Kimball had in the truthfulness of Mormonism was not always based on official Mormon positions enunciated by the Presidents of the Church, some of which he admitted to me he knew nothing.
However, in contradicting Kimball for whom he worked, Secretary to the Office of the First Presidency, Arthur C. Haycock, later told me in a phone conversation that Kimball was incorrect in confessing to me ignorance about the First Presidency statements he had asked me to send him.
In a discussion from his Church office in Salt Lake City, Haycock informed me that Kimball was, in fact, aware of those official First Presidency statements--but that he had forgotten he was aware of them.
(Later, in a 1980 one-on-one visit with Apostle Bruce R. McConkie at his Salt Lake City home, he told me essentially the same thing that Haycock had.
I asked McConkie about the fact that, in personal correspondence with then-Church President Kimball on the LDS stand regarding organic evolution, Kimball admitted to me that he was not aware of the official position of the Church as found in a First Presidency statement entitled "The Origin of Man," issued in 1909.
McConkie responded by insisting that Kimball did, in fact, know about it. He said "he just forgot" that he knew. Deja vu. That is almost exactly what secretary to the First Presidency Haycock had told me over the phone in 1979).
_____
On Speaking Out Himself on Matters of LDS Church Doctrine
When I asked Haycock for permission to reproduce Kimball’s correspondence to me in a BYU undergraduate research paper I was doing on the subject, Haycock said I could--as long as I made it clear in my paper that the interpretations reached about Kimball's correspondence with me were my own.
Haycock did not offer me Kimball’s explanatons of his own correspondence with me, assuming Kimball had any to give.
I continued to press Kimball for answers but received none from him.
Eventually, the First Presidency (consisting of Kimball and his two counselors, N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney) signed and sent a letter to my Arizona bishop, directing him to answer my questions in their behalf.
To assist the bishop in that effort, Kimball, Tanner and Romney included a 1909 statement from the First Presidency of Joseph F. Smith on the subject of organic evolution--a statement that Kimball had told me in his earlier correspondence with me that he was not familiar with and which had I ended up sending to him, at his request.
Although they included the 1909 statement for use by my bishop in explaining to me the official Church position on organic evolution to me, the Kimball First Presidency did not tell my bishop what that statement meant.
Despite Kimball's, Tanner's and Romney's directive to my bishop to answer my questions on the official Church stance on organic evolution, the bishop felt unqualified to do so.
Therefore, the bishop advised me to write Kimball one more time, requesting further clarification on the subject.
I did so but Kimball never answered back.
On the subject of organic evolution and faith, the only direction Kimball gave me was to ask if I had Henry Eyring's book, Faith of a Scientist, in which Eyring asserted that science and religion both served as tools in the search for truth: the former in helping people avoid myth; and the latter in directing people toward God.
When I told Kimball that I had read Eyring's book and asked him to provide me with his own views on it, Kimball remained silent.
_____
Conclusion: Pulling Back the Curtain and Revealing the Mormon Charade
The above statements by Spencer W. Kimball--one of Mormonism's supposed prophets, seers and revelators--speak for themselves.
Based upon his own admissions, he did not have persuasive, convincing or complete knowledge concerning the truthfulness of Mormon doctrine or scripture.
The Mormon Church is a consumate fraud, based upon myths perpetrated by its leaders in public and confessed by them in private.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | A Tale Of Two Present-Day Tyrants--Nigazov In Turkmenistan And Hinckley In Utah: Comparing Their Respective Repressive Rhetoric
| | Posted Aug 28, 2005, at 06:44 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Blood Brothers--A Smothering Dictator in Central Asia, Along with His Kissing Cult Cousin in Utah, Preach
Against Modern Corruption of the Youth
Religion makes the strangest bedfellows--and some of the worst ones, at
that.
Reading through the newspaper recently, I came across an Associated Press article headlined, “Turkmen
president bans lip-synching performances” (Arizona Republic, 24 August 2005, section A, p. 17).
The
president, Saparmurat Niyazov, has laid down the law in his country with regard to what he has officially declared to be
unacceptable in terms of music, dance, hairdos and body decoration don'ts.
Good gawd, for a minute I thought Gordon B.
Hinckley had been cloned.
On closer examination, I discovered that he had.
Compare the utterances of these
two clowns, er, clones, and see for yourself how both of them rule with iron fists over their own Cult Kingdoms.
Opening with the news story:
"ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan—He has outlawed opera and ballet and railed against long
hair and gold teeth, but now the authoritarian president of Turkmenistan is determined to wipe out another perceived scourge:
lip synching."
President Saparmurat Niyazov on Bad Music
"President Saparmurat Niyazov
has ordered a ban on lip-synching performances across the tightly controlled Central Asian nation, citing 'a negative effect on
the development of singing and musical art,' the president’s office said Tuesday."
President Gordon B.
Hinckley on Bad Music
"I told the Relief Society of secret underground drug parties that go by the name of
Rave. Here with flashing lights and noisy music, if it can be called that, young men and women dance and sway. They sell and buy
drugs. The drugs are called Ecstasy. They are a derivative of methamphetamine. The dancers suck on babies' pacifiers because the
drug makes them grind their teeth. The hot music and the sultry dancing."
("Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy
Children," LDS General Conference, October 2000, http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-138-22,00.html )
_____
President Saparmurat Niyazov on Bad Television
"Unfortunately, one can see on television old voiceless
singers lip-synching their old songs, Niyazov told a Cabinet meeting in comments broadcast on state TV on Tuesday 'Don’t kill
talents by using lip-synching . . .Create our new culture.'"
"Under Niyazov’s order, lip synching is now prohibited
at all cultural events, concerts, on television and at private celebrations such as weddings."
President
Gordon B. Hinckley on Bad Television (as well as on Bad Computers, TV’s Nefarious Twin)
". . . [U]se that most
remarkable of all tools of communication, television, to enrich [your children’s] lives. . . . Let those who are
responsible for any efforts to put suitable family entertainment on television know of your appreciation for that which is good
and also of your displeasure with that which is bad. In large measure, we get what we ask for."
"We live in a season
of war. We live in a season of arrogance. We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All of the sins of Sodom
and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the
lecherous face of evil.’"
"If they [LDS boys] want to get involved in pornography, they can do so very easily. . . .
They can sit at a computer and revel in cyberspace filth."
"I fear this may be going on in some of your homes. It is
vicious. It is lewd and filthy. It is enticing and habit-forming. It will take a young man or woman down to destruction as surely
as anything in this world. It is foul sleaze . . . "
("Living in the Fulness of Times," LDS General Conference,
Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2001, http;//www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-225-1,00.html ;
"In Opposition
to Evil," First Presidency Message, Ensign, September 2004, http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,49-1-225-1,00.html ; and "Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy
Children," LDS General Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2000, http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-138-22,00.html )
_____
President Saparmurat Niyazov on Gold Tooth Caps and Long Hair
"Last year [2004], he called for
young people not to get gold tooth caps and urge authorities to crack down on young men wearing beards or long hair."
President Gordon B. Hinckley on Multiple Earrings, Body Piercings, Tattoos and Long Hair
"Now
comes the craze of tattooing one's body. I cannot understand why any young man--or young woman, for that matter--would wish to
undergo the painful process of disfiguring the skin with various multicolored representations of people, animals, and various
symbols. With tattoos, the process is permanent, unless there is another painful and costly undertaking to remove it.
"Fathers, caution your sons against having their bodies tattooed. They may resist your talk now, but the time will come when
they will thank you. A tattoo is graffiti on the temple of the body.
"Likewise the piercing of the body for multiple
rings in the ears, in the nose, even in the tongue. Can they possibly think that is beautiful? It is a passing fancy, but its
effects can be permanent. Some have gone to such extremes that the ring had to be removed by surgery. The First Presidency and
the Quorum of the Twelve have declared that we discourage tattoos and also ‘the piercing of the body for other than medical
purposes.’ We do not, however, take any position ‘on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings’--one
pair."
("Great Shall Be the Peace of Thy Children, " LDS General Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2000,
http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-138-22,00.html )
***
More from President Gordon B. Hinckley on the Subject of Mormon-Opposed Body Piercings
"I submit that it
is an uncomely thing, and yet a common thing, to see young men with ears pierced for earrings, not for one pair only, but for
several. They have no respect for their appearance. Do they think it clever or attractive to so adorn themselves? I submit it is
not adornment. It is making ugly that which was attractive. Not only are ears pierced, but other parts of the body as well. It is
absurd."
"May I mention earrings and rings placed in other parts of the body. These are not manly. They are not
attractive. You young men look better without them . . . As for the young women, you do not need to drape rings up and down your
ears. One modest pair of earrings is sufficient."
(Gordon B. Hinckley, "Your Greatest Challenge, Mother,"
Ensign, Nov. 2000; and satellite broadcast of Hinckley talk to LDS youth and young single adults, Conference Center, Salt
Lake City, Utah, 12 November 2000)
***
"'[President Gordon B.] Hinckley Warns Youth Against
Tattoos, Body-Piercing'
"At the first Church-wide fireside directed to LDS youth in many years, Church President
Gordon B. Hinckley repeated his call for youth to avoid pornography, tattoos, body-piercing and 'lascivious' rock music.
Hinckley's remarks repeated his recent calls in the LDS Relief Society's general meeting . . . and the Priesthood session of
General Conference . . . for parents to keep their children from these practices."
(Mormon News—All the News
About Mormons, Mormonism and the LDS Church, week ending 17 November 2000, http://www.mormonstoday.com/001117/ )
*****
Mormon Propaganda Published and
Aimed at LDS youth, Under the Regime of President Gordon B. Hinckley
"'Know ye not that ye are the temple of
God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? . . . The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are' (1 Corinthians 3:16–17).
"Your body is God’s sacred creation. Respect it as a gift from God, and do not defile it in any way. Through your
dress and appearance, you can show the Lord that you know how precious your body is. You can show that you are a disciple of
Jesus Christ.
"Prophets of God have always counseled His children to dress modestly. The way you dress is a
reflection of what you are on the inside. Your dress and grooming send messages about you to others and influence the way you
and others act. When you are well groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and can exercise a
good influence on those around you.
"Never lower your dress standards for any occasion. Doing so sends the message
that you are using your body to get attention and approval and that modesty is important only when it is convenient. . . .
"Young men should . . . maintain modesty in their appearance. All should avoid extremes in clothing, appearance, and
hairstyle. Always be neat and clean and avoid being sloppy or inappropriately casual in dress, grooming, and manners. Ask
yourself, 'Would I feel comfortable with my appearance if I were in the Lord’s presence?'"
"Someday you will receive
your endowment in the temple. Your dress and behavior should help you prepare for that sacred time.
"Do not disfigure
yourself with tattoos or body piercings. If girls or women desire to have their ears pierced, they are encouraged to wear only
one pair of modest earrings.
"Show respect for the Lord and for yourself by dressing appropriately for Church meetings
and activities, whether on Sunday or during the week. If you are not sure what is appropriate, ask your parents or leaders for
help. Read Alma 1:27."
(in For the Strength of Youth pamphlet, under topic of "Dress and Appearance,"
published by the LDS n Church under the presidency of Gordon B. Hinckley, 2001, cited in Robert T. Robb, "First Peter Chapter
3:1-7," 1 August 2004, http://www.thoughts-for-talks.com/Love-at-Home/1Peter3.html ; see also, Earl C. Tingey, member of the
Presidency of the Seventy under Hinckley, "For the Strength of Youth,” LDS General Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 2004,
where Tingey admonishes LDS youth, "In the For the Strength of Youth booklet, the following standards, among others, are
like a North Star to you: choose friends with high standards, do not disfigure your body with tattoos or body piercings, avoid
pornography, do not listen to music that contains offensive language, do not use profanity, date only those who have high
standards, remain sexually pure, repent as necessary, be honest, keep the Sabbath day holy, pay tithing, keep the Word of
Wisdom," http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-439-19,00.html )
_____
President Saparmurat Niyazov’s Long, Tyrannical Grip on His State of Turkmenistan
"Niyazov has led the
former Soviet republic for 20 years."
President Gordon B. Hinckley's Long, Tyrannical Grip on His
Church/State of Utah
"[Gordon B. Hinckley] [t]he President of the Church [since 1995,] is the
only person on Earth who directs the use of all the keys of the priesthood . . . This means that the President holds the power
and authority to govern and direct all of the Lord's affairs on Earth in the Church. . . . [A]ll the keys are exercised by the
President alone . . . The authority to perform ordinances and teach the Gospel comes from the Lord, but the orderly use thereof
is regulated by those holding keys given to Joseph Smith and passed on to his successors."
(J. Lynn England and W.
Keith Warner, "President of the Church," http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/basic/organization/priesthood/President_EOM.htm )
***
"The title of the person making [the Mormon Church’s] articles of incorporation is 'President of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.' He and his successor in office shall be deemed and are hereby created a body politic and
corporation sole with perpetual succession, having all the powers and rights and authority in these articles specified or
provided for by law . . . "
("Articles of Incorporation of the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, United States of America, State of Utah, County of Salt Lake," http://www.xmission.com/~research/central/chorg3.htm )
***
"The Corporation of
the President is . . . a special legal entity, embodied in a single individual (traditionally, the minister of a congregation —
in this case, the president of the LDS church), which has particular privileges, enshrined in English Common Law, and the actual
laws of a number of countries (the US among them)."
("Nick," nickbenn@twinsongs.com , posted on Recovery from
Mormonism website, http://www.exmormon.org ,
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
,26 August 2005,
04:51 hours)
***
"Two certificates of [incorporation] authority filed in May 1989 gave
absolute control over the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to counselors Gordon B.
Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson."
(Salt Lake Tribune, 15 August 1993 p. C 1; http://www.watchman.org/lds/young.htm )
_____
Conclusion: Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb
One is a brutal political tyrant lording over
a remote kingdom in Central Asia.
The other one is a brutal religious tyrant leading his backwater battalions in the
mountains of America’s Intermountain West.
Each laying down the law and throttling their respective oppressed
citizenry in the name of ultimate goodness and government.
Together, they spell: Gordon Saparmurat B. Niyazov
Hinckley.
Blood brothers.
Joined at the hip.
One a socialist; the other a capitalist--but both
oppressive opportunists.
Separated at birth but sharing a heart of darkness.
Both on a mission to
cleanse the world of all that is corrupt--as they, of course, define it for the rest of us.
Dedicated to remaking
the planet--through a combination of brute intimidation and force of law--in their own primitive image.
Lordy, help us
all.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | A Confession: How I Helped Build Up The Cause Of Zion By Tearing Things Down
| | Posted Aug 28, 2005, at 06:43 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | On this board there's been a lot of understandable finger-pointing, anger and raised big stink at Mormon, Inc., for its filthy-lucre focus on shopping mall investments and other mogul-minded money-making schemes.
Yeah, the Temporal Temple at Crossroads Mall hardly seems like the kind of devotional center that Jesus had in mind when he commanded his apostles to abandon purse and script and hit the road spreading the Gospel.
http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon...
While I was still a BYU undergrad in 1978 (when Mary Ann and I had been married less than a year), I landed a summer job working for a demolition company, A.J. Mackey and Sons, in Salt Lake City, where we focused on preparing for the great and dreadful day of the coming of the Profits.
Me and another BYU student (a RM who went to Australia on his mission and whose name I can no longer remember, other than it was "Elder" something) would get up early each weekday morning, don our bibs and boots, grab our hard hats and gloves and make the daily round-trip journey to Mormonism's Moneyed Mecca and then back to Provo, on a search and destroy mission.
(One of my regrets is making that trek up I-15 to Salt Lake and, in the process, running over a little white cat around the Point of the Mountain that was ambling down the middle of the freeway, minding its own business when it got pancaked from behind. Had it not been for my subcontract with the Great and Abominable Church of the LDS Devil, that little fella would have lived to procreate like good little Mormon cats should. Returning later that afternoon down the same freeway, I saw the poor thing--now just a tiny blackened tuff of unrecognizable fur--snuffed out on that hell-bent highway of death).
One of our big demolition contracts involved clearing the way for the building of what was to eventually rise from the asbestos ashes as Crossroads Mall.
We spent weeks tearing down old, dilapidated buildings within the shadows of Temple Square, scavenging for resaleable copper tubing, hauling off reusable toilet heads and fixtures and salvaging antique bricks for use in the private homes of rich people.
We'd put our feisty little Bobcat scoopers to work knocking over walls and ripping down ceilings of many a sad and condemned structure, scouring out the downtown area to make way for Deseret Book, the Inn at Temple Square and other monuments to the Almighty God of Mormon Moola, where the hordes of faithful could shop til their garments dropped.
I feel so bad about it now, sniff!
After we had basically leveled the place, I spent some time working a big fire house, tapping down the dust as we cleaned out and prepped the gaping subterranean holes that were to receive holy placement of what were to be the firm foundations of rebarb and poured concrete, upon which was to rise yet another edifice to Mormon Greed.
And I did it back then for next to nothing in Federal Reserve Notes.
I'm so sorry. I confess my sins to you here, for all to see. I hang my hard hat-less head in shame and ask that you forgive me.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd ask for a demolition contract on the Church Office Building.
And would throw in the Temple next door for free.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Tales From The Cult: Personal Accounts Of Patriarchal Abuse At The Hands Of High Mormon Church Leaders
| | Posted Aug 23, 2005, at 07:23 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Making Priesthood Punching Bags Out of Mormon Women
The LDS Cult is an abusive, ham-handed good
ol’ boys club, invented and run by men for the benefit of men (just like most religions), whose make-believe God has (in their
minds, at least) put them in charge with all of his mighty, imaginary power.
Mormonism represents a dark, depressing
and hopeless dungeon for millions of trapped women where, as a matter of LDS doctrine and practice, they are disrespected and
depersonalized by their insecure, power-hungry male handlers.
Throughout this demeaning process, Mormon men attempt
to brainwash their female hostages into believing that the relentless dehumanization of their gender at the hands of
priesthood "leadership" is actually glorious proof of the special status granted females by a loving Mormon male God--a god who
places women, bound, chained and gagged, atop his patriarchal pedestal, from which they are commanded not to move, under threat
of eternal punishment.
Such hostility toward women can be seen in how Mormonism abuses women in their day-to-day
lives.
For purposes of this examination, below are some of the experiences from the lives of my wife Mary Ann and
myself, which serve as stark examples of Mormon patriarchal abuse.
_____
Mormon Male Meddling in Our
Wedding Plans--From the Head of the Quorum of the Twelve
The Ezra Taft Benson family had an outlandish tradition
of screening any would-be marriage partners who were anxiously, nervously and properly poised to join the, ahem, prestigous inner
ETB circle.
According to this prehistoric priesthood protocol led by Ezra himself, entry of foreign objects into the
Benson sanctimonious sanctuary was strictly forbidden until the wedding applicant was first offered up by a petitioning member of
the Benson family to the scrutinizing ETB clan, where the proposed mate was secretly subjected to a sustaining, up-or-down show
of hands.
In other words, if a non-Benson prospect didn't get the required vote of approval from the Benson
thoroughbreds, they were, well, shuck out of luck.
In the spirit of this sort of master race/family pre-nuptial
check-up, my grandfather--invoking his position as President of the Quorum of the Twelve--had intervened years earlier (in the
winter of 1979) to break up my engagement to Mary Ann.
He had done so at the insistence of my mother, who thought
Mary Ann was too tall, had too big of bones and was using her body to seduce me.
My parents even made snooping
inquiries among family members in the Cache Valley area where Mary Ann was from, as to any genetic diseases that she might pass
on to our children, in the event that we got married.
(Mary Ann has subsequently noted--in disgust of the Benson
superiority complex--that the feared genetic flaws which prompted my parents to do some pre-nuptial investigating were found to
actually flow through the "royal" Benson bloodline, in the form of life-threatening asthma and persistent eczema).
But
I digress.
I remember the day my grandfather dropped the engagement-ending A-bomb of authoritarian abuse. It was a
cold, gray February morning when he phoned me at my off-campus BYU apartment. He told me he was not calling me as my grandfather
but, rather, as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He commanded me to call off our engagement, go home, "mend the
family" and be blessed by the Lord for it.
I objected, telling my grandfather that I loved Mary Ann. He responded
by telling me I should follow the "wisdom" of my parents who, he said, had my best interests at heart.
Mary Ann and I
were heart-broken. We drove up into the snowy canyons of Provo that day, held each other and cried.
Reluctantly, I
did as commanded, pulled out of BYU and left for my parents’ home in Dallas, where my mother had visions for me of
socially-elevated young Mormon wedding prospects dancing in her head.
Soon enough, however, I had enough of trying
to make others happy at my and Mary Ann's expense. I didn't bother to date anyone during my brief detour in Dallas. Hell, why
should I? Mary Ann and I were in love.
So we decided to do what what young people in love do--we went ahead and
got married anyway.
I went back up to Salt Lake and met with my grandfather in his Church office during the next
General Conference. There, I told him that we had broken off our engagement twice in unsuccessful attempts to appease other
family members.
My grandfather acted surprised, confessing to me that he didn't know we had done so twice. (I
figured inspired prophets were supposed to know these sort of things but I thought it best to keep my mouth shut).
My
grandfather told me there in his office that any young man who had served an honorable mission and who kept his temple covenants
was entitled to receive personal revelation as to whom he should marry.
He then told me to go ahead and proceed with
plans to get married to Mary Ann. Very well, but I asked him how I should deal with my mother's expected strong objections.
My grandfather told me not to worry--that he would take care of it.
Over the strenuous protestations of my
mother who complained loudly about The Priesthood interfering in family affairs (interference which, oddly enough, she hadn’t
minded when she manipulated Ezra Taft Benson into breaking up our engagement in the first place), my grandfather performed the
ceremony in the Salt Lake temple.
My mother had tearfully predicted (the very night before our wedding in a family
testimony meeting at the Benson cabin in Midway, Utah) that we would get divorced. She then got up and ran, literally
screaming, out the door and into the night--then showed up the next day at the temple, all smiles for the cameras.
As Mary Ann has noted with delicious irony, over a quarter of a century later we're still married but divorced from the Mormon
Church.
I stand all amazed that Mary Ann even put up with such pretensious poop.
_____
Protecting the Personal Piggy Bank Against the Piggish Priesthood
Before making our bolt from the Cult in
October 1993, Mary Ann had quit paying tithing altogether, born of her disdain for the patriarchal grip that Mormonism’s
chauvinistic leadership had around the collective throat of LDS women.
Mary Ann cut the LDS Church off from access to
her personal, hard-earned money because she concluded she could no longer give financial support to an institution that had lied
to her about its history and betrayed her about its treatment of women.
The condescending and controlling attitudes
of Mormon authorities toward Mary Ann, combined with their attempts to control her, were (for lack of a better word)
nauseating.
_____
Permission Denied for Mary Ann to Teach Sunday School Lessons That Praised Strong
Women at the Expense of Weak Men
Mary Ann and I had jointly taught a lesson one Easter Sunday to a group of young
people in our ward, in which she extolled the courage and loyalty of the women who stood by Jesus at the time of his trial and
execution, while his male apostles abandoned him and headed for the tall grass.
Our priesthood-holding stake youth
director (who had monitored the lesson from the back of the classroom) waited until after class was over (and Mary Ann and the
students had vacated the premises) to tell me that Mary Ann should not teach lessons to the young people of our ward that could
undermine devotion to priesthood leadership.
Apparently, he didn't have the guts to tell Mary Ann this himself, so I
passed on the news to her.
She was astounded and angry.
_____
Covering Up for Sex
Abuse
Mary Ann was also outraged by the Church's deliberate inattentiveness to the festering problem of sexual
abuse within its ranks, particularly since members of her own family had been its innocent victims.
_____
Unwanted Visits to Our Home in the Name of Pompous Priesthood Pre-Eminence
Irritating, arrogant Church
encroachment into our lives continued.
Later, when my public statements about the Church were causing intestinal
upset among the Mormon faithful, our stake president, Craig Cardon (who also happened to have been my younger brother’s mission
president in Italy) asked Mary Ann if he could come over to our home to pray and sing hymns with her and the children.
Mary Ann said thanks, but no thanks. She assured him she was fine and would contact him, if and when she felt it necessary.
The stake president responded that he had been prompted by the Holy Ghost to come over and visit her. He somberly
informed Mary Ann that if she did not allow him to follow those promptings, then he would become "spiritually blocked" in other
areas of his life.
(This same stake president later wrote me letters, instructing me to stop "denigrating" the Mormon
Church by doing editorial cartoons calling for equal treatment of women held captive by their priesthood trainers).
_____
The Ward Relief Society Swimsuit Brigade Spies on Mary Ann
The priesthood-controlled Relief
Society president of our Emerald Bay Ward in Gilbert, Arizona (and wife of the eventual stake president), also got into the act
in attempting to control the life and choices of Mary Ann, who at the time was a member of the Relief Society presidency.
Mary Ann was tattled on to the Relief Society president by our next door neighbor for having been spotted walking over to
the community pool dressed ready to swim, rather than in the regulation garments.
This "sin" was considered
especially egregious, given Mary Ann’s position in the Relief Society presidency. Mary Ann acknowledged to the Relief Society
president that she had made the trip to the pool in her swimsuit but said she had ventured outside so attired in order to prevent
the peering eyes of the world from catching a glimpse of Mormonism's holy underwear in the community pool's public dressing
rooms.
The Relief Society president responded by saying she appreciated Mary Ann's intent but insisted that it was
better for Mary Ann to remain shielded on the way over to the pool by the holy garments of the priesthood. Besides, she said,
Mary Ann had to set an example for ward members who looked up to her.
_____
Mormon Male Dominators,
Neal Maxwell and Dallin Oaks, Explain to Us the "Proper" Role of Women
Prior to (and shortly before) having our
names officially cloroxed from the membership rolls of the Mormon Church in the fall of 1993, Mary Ann and I met with LDS
Apostles Neal Maxwell and Dallin Oaks in Maxwell’s Church office in downtown Salt Lake City. The purpose of the encounter was to
ask these two men for some direct answers regarding Mormon history, doctrine, policy and practice that were deeply disturbing to
us.
During the course of that meeting, we addressed the role of women in the Mormon Church.
Mary Ann, being
the no-nonsense straight shooter that she is, put it to the Blue Suits bluntly:
"Where is,” she asked, “the voice of
women in the Church?"
Both Maxwell and Oaks seemed unsure of what she meant so she explained her concern that LDS
women did not have a female role model to follow. Mormon women knew essentially nothing, she pointed out, about their Mother in
Heaven.
She also expressed her concern for the plight of women and children in the Church who had been physically,
sexually or emotionally abused by its domineering males.
She shared with Oaks and Maxwell obnoxious comments made by
Boyd K. Packer in an address to the "All-Church Coordinating Council" in which he declared, "The woman pleading for help needs to
see the eternal nature of things and to know that her trials, however hard to bear, in the eternal scheme of things may be
compared to a very, very bad experience in the second semester of the first grade." (Boyd K. Packer, "Talk to All-Church
Coordinating Council," 18 May 1993, transcript copy, p. 6)
In response, Maxwell assured Mary Ann that the LDS Church
did indeed care about women. As proof of that, he handed her a photocopy of a General Conference sermon he had delivered,
entitled, "The Women of God," reprinted in the Ensign.
This sermon of his, Maxwell assured her, demonstrated
the high esteem in which LDS women were held.
Mary Ann glanced at the article and was struck by how much younger
Maxwell appeared in its accompanying photo than he did in our meeting. She later admitted that her first thought was, "Gee, you
look so young in this photograph. Haven't you said anything more recent on the topic?"
Mary Ann, however, kept this
reaction to herself and thanked Maxwell for the talk. She then noticed the date it was published: May 1978, 15 years prior to our
meeting when Maxwell was not even yet a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
Mary Ann did not bother even reading
the article.
Years later, I got around to reading Maxwell’s talk (something Mary Ann has yet not felt inclined to
do). His condescending view of women reminded me of the kind of suffocating, insufferable patriarchy that Mary Ann lamented
had, in times past, "dripped from the walls" of her "own home."
Maxwell intoned:
"We are accustomed
to focusing on the men of God because theirs is the priesthood and leadership line. But paralleling that authority line is a
stream of righteous influence reflecting the remarkable women of God . . .
"We men know the women of God as wives,
mothers, sisters, daughters, associates, and friends. You seem to tame us and to gentle us, and, yes, to teach us and to inspire
us . . . In the work of the Kingdom, men and women are not without each other, but do not envy each other, lest by reversals and
renunciations of role we make a wasteland of both womanhood and manhood . . .
"We salute you, sisters, for the joy
that is yours as you rejoice in a baby's first smile and as you listen with eager ear to a child's first day at school which
bespeaks a special selflessness. Women, more quickly than others, will understand the possible dangers when the world self is
placed before other words like fulfillment. You rock a sobbing child without wondering if today's world is passing you by,
because you know you hold tomorrow tightly in your arms . . .
"When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed,
will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the
peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling that
what happened in congresses? . . .
"No wonder the men of God support and sustain you sisters in your unique roles,
for the act of deserting home in order to shape society is like thoughtlessly removing crucial fingers from an imperiled dike in
order to teach people to swim.
"We men love you for meeting inconsiderateness with consideration and selfishness with
selflessness. We are touched by the eloquence of your example. We are deeply grateful for your enduring us as men when we are
not at our best because—like God—you love us not only for what we are, but for what we have the power to become.
"We
have special admiration for the unsung but unsullied single women among whom are some of the noblest daughters of God. These
sisters know that God loves them individually and distinctly. They make wise career choices, even thought they cannot now have
the most choice career . . .
"Notice, brethren, how all the prophets treat their wives and honor women, and let us do
likewise!" (Neal Maxwell, "Women of God," Ensign, May 1978, pp. 10, 11).
During the meeting, Oaks told
Mary Ann that he appreciated all the women in his life, especially his wife. He said that because she took care of the household,
drove their daughters to music lessons, etc., he was able to do his work for the Church.
_____
Mary Ann
Makes Up Her Mind About Further Patriarchal Mormon Mugging—and Decides She's Had Enough
Mary Ann and I had just
experienced the unique (and highly disappointing) opportunity of spending roughly three hours in a revealing give-and-take,
two-one-two with a couple of the Lord's slickest apostles.
We had come to the meeting wanting, and expecting, to
get answers to our deep and growing doubts regarding the Mormon faith.
Mary Ann recalled how she had traveled to
meet with Oaks and Maxwell because she had hoped that they could answer her questions and concerns, repair the damage to her
belief (which she described as "severe cracks in the walls and foundation" of her Mormon faith) and help her rebuild her
testimony.
It did not happen.
After meeting with Oaks and Maxwell, she decided she had had enough.
Upon our return home to Arizona, she felt exhausted and manhandled. As she later told me, "It felt like a wrecking
ball had been swung through the remaining walls of my faith and now I was left standing in a pile of rubble."
On 16
September 1993, a week after meeting with Oaks and Maxwell, Mary Ann wrote her no-nonsense, notarized letter of resignation from
the Mormon Church, addressed to our bishop and stake president:
"Dear Bishop Annison:
"I am hereby
directing you to remove my name from the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I fully
understand the ramifications of the decision; i.e., my baptism, temple sealing and blessings will be cancelled.
"I
realize that you and others may want to discuss this with me, yet my decision is final. I cannot be dissuaded. Therefore, I do
not want you or anyone else to call or in any way try to contact me.
"I want you to immediately forward this written
request along with a completed Report of Administrative Action form on to [Stake] President Cardon as well as remove my
name, address, phone number and personal information from the ward roster.
"Sincerely,
"Mary Ann Benson
"cc: President Craig Cardon"
I followed up a few days later by writing my own letter and, together, we
hand-delivered them to the homes of our bishop and stake president.
_____
Conclusion: The Meat Grinder
of Latter-day Sexism
The male-run Mormon mind-munching machine is a brutally dehumanizing device designed to
produce sausage-like Saints who are testaments to linkage without thinkage.
In Mormon production-line brainwashing
from cradle to grave, compliant sacrificial offerings to the LDS God-Men are lined up, stuffed in, ran through and spit out
as the praying, paying and obeying herds of blindly obedient believers that their patriarchal priesthood pork producers
expect--and demand.
What emerges is a product line without substance and without individuality.
What it
does demonstrate, however, is a complete willingness to serve as the hot dogs (and “dogettes”) for consumption by the Top
Dogs.
Oink.
Burp.
Grin.
Mission accomplished.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | "Some May Push And Some May Pull"--Remember This: The Story's Bull
| | Posted Aug 18, 2005, at 06:58 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: As Far as Pushing Its "Glorious" Handcart Myth, the Mormon Church Can Shove It
In the four years between 1856 and 1860, Brigham Young pushed an experimental scheme using human guinea pigs in a relentless effort to funnel thousands of new Church members to Salt Lake City, designed to people Young's vision of a theocratic kingdom over which he would ruthlessly rule.
Mormonism's marionette-like "historians” in the employ of LDS Inc. have (as they so often do) gone to great lengths in their propagandistic zeal to spin the Great Handcart Debacle as a well-intended and, ultimately, glorious undertaking. It was, indeed--at least for the undertakers.
Below are some of the faith-promoting, fact-ignoring rewrites designed to deceive the mindlessly-believing Mormon flock, as well as the unsuspecting public at large.
A "Most Remarkable" Endeavor
"By the mid-1850s LDS Church leaders needed less expensive ways to move poor immigrants to Utah. The Perpetual Emigrating Fund that loaned to the needy was depleted, and costs for wagons and ox-teams were high. Therefore, Brigham Young announced on 29 October 1855 a handcart system by which the Church would provide carts to be pulled by hand across the Mormon Trail. As a result, between 1856 and 1860 nearly 3,000 Latter-day Saint emigrants joined ten handcart companies--about 650 handcarts total--and walked to Utah from Iowa City, Iowa, (a distance of 1,300 miles) or from Florence, Nebraska (1,030 miles). This was, according to historian LeRoy Hafen, ‘the most remarkable travel experiment in the history of Western America.'"
http://historytogo.utah.gov/thisplace.html
_____
Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, this murderous, on-the-cheap trek ordered by the Mormon tyrant, Brigham Young, has been divinely dubbed by some as not only a "remarkable travel experiment" but as a downright "exalting experience."
A Story of Amazing "Spiritual Stamina"
"Handcarts, assembled at outfitting points in Iowa City, and then Florence after 1857, resembled carts pulled by porters in large cities. The carts had hickory or oak wagon beds and hickory shafts, side pieces, and axles. Wheels were as far apart as normal wagon wheels. Each cart carried 400 to 500 pounds of foodstuffs, bedding, clothing, and cooking utensils, and needed two able-bodied people to pull it. Five people were assigned to each cart. Adults could take only seventeen pounds of baggage, children ten pounds. Families with small children traveled in covered or family carts which had stronger axles made of iron.
"Handcart company captains were men with leadership and trail experience. Each company included a few ox-drawn commissary and baggage wagons, at least one per twenty carts. Wagons or carts carried large public tents, one for every twenty people. A 'Captain of Hundred' had charge of five tent groups. Five companies in 1856 and two in 1857 outfitted in Iowa City and needed a month to move 275 miles on existing roads over rolling prairie to Florence, averaging eight to nine miles per day. Passing through partly settled areas, they obtained some supplies along the way. After resting at Florence, these seven companies followed the Mormon Trail to Salt Lake City; on this stretch the first three companies spent an average of 65 days, covering 15.7 miles per day. Later companies leaving Florence needed an average of 84 days. By comparison, LDS wagon trains from Florence in 1861 needed 73 days to make the journey. . . .
"Pulling carts was hard, tiring work. Handcart pioneers were exposed to rain, wind, dust, and insects. Food was tightly rationed. Most made the trek safely; but the 1856 Martin and Willie companies met disaster. They left Iowa City late, in part because more people came than expected, causing delays to assemble more handcarts and tents. The two companies crossed Iowa in normal time, but repairs at Florence slowed them. Then, on the Mormon Trail, extra flour added to the carts slowed and damaged them. Expected flour at Fort Laramie never came. Short rations and lack of warm clothes drained the travelers' energy. Severe snowstorms caught them, dropping snows up to eighteen inches deep and temperatures below freezing. Food ran out; cattle died; rescue trains from Utah had difficulty reaching the exposed and hungry sufferers. Despite heroic efforts by company members and Utah rescuers, about 200, or one-sixth of the companies, died, and dozens were maimed by frostbite and deprivation. This tragedy was the worst disaster in the history of western overland travel. Rescue wagons carried survivors to Utah over roads kept open by teamsters driving wagons back and forth to pack the snow.
"Despite the tragedy, the Mormon Church did not give up on the plan. It sent a missionary company east with handcarts early in 1857, and it had sponsored five more westbound handcart companies by 1860. Overall, the ten companies proved that handcart groups not traveling late in the season were effective, efficient means of moving large numbers of people west at low cost. Low costs enabled hundreds in Britain, mostly factory and agricultural workers who otherwise might not have come, to decide to emigrate to America.
"The handcart trek was an exalting ordeal for body and spirit and required spiritual stamina to complete. Sculptor Torlief Knaphus' statue of handcart pioneers has become one of Mormonism's best known symbols, representing the thousands of devout Saints who by cart or wagon 'gathered to Zion' in Utah."
http://historytogo.utah.gov/handctco.html
____
Other LDS spinmeisters have sought to portray the use of handcarts by the Mormon pioneers as a necessity born of poverty, not a cheap conveyance encouraged by Brigham Young at the expense of his human beasts of burden.
Carts Heroically Pulled by the "Persecuted," but Patriotic, Faithful
"In the 1850s, the Mormons were being persecuted in their own country. To escape further difficulties, their leader, Brigham Young, led them on an arduous journey to Utah. Because they did not have enough money for wagons, many made their own handcarts and loaded them up with their families and belongings. These they pulled behind themselves on a thousand-mile trek on foot."
http://www.ldsfilm.com/Handcart/Handcart4.html
_____
But enough of the fluff.
Now, for the real--and really repulsive--stuff.
Brigham Young’s Greedy and Horrific Handcart Disaster
In her book, Wife No. 19, former spouse of Brigham Young, Ann Eliza Webb, exposed the tragic, inept, corrupt and selfish nature of Brigham Young’s handcart scheme.
As to the person of Wife No. 19 Webb, the following biographical notes explain that:
"In 1868 Brigham Young, at age sixty-seven, married Ann Eliza Webb, an attractive twenty-four year old divorcee with two children. Young had already married dozens of other women. . . ."
Regarding Webb's tumultuous and short-lived relationship with Young, LDS scholar, Jeffery Johnson, writes:
". . . [I]n 1873, Ann Eliza Webb applied for a civil divorce [from Young]. The case came to trial in 1875, and the court ordered Brigham to pay $500 per month allowance and $3,000 court costs. When he refused, he was fined $25 and sentenced to a day in prison for contempt of court (Arrington 1985, 373). There is no record of application for a Church divorce, but she was excommunicated 10 October 1874 and devoted much of the rest of her life to publishing her somewhat sensational memoirs and giving anti-Mormon lectures."
http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/brighamyoungswives.htm
(Of course, one would expect many, if not most, faithful LDS scholars to minimize criticism of Mormon leaders by labeling it as "sensational." Indeed, that's been par for the course for Mormon apologists ever since this fanciful frontier faith popped out of Joseph Smith's rock-laden hat).
In Chapter 11 of her book entitled, "'DIVINE EMIGRATION'--THE PROPHET AND THE HANDCART SCHEME," Webb writes in graphic detail about Brigham Young's prolonged and deliberate abuse of Mormonism's pushed-and-pulled pioneers.
Unparalleled Mismanagement Under the Guise of a "Divine Plan"
"In the history of any people there has never been recorded a case of such gross mismanagement as that of gathering the foreign Saints to Zion in the year 1856.
"Until this disastrous year the emigrants had always made the journey across the plains with ox-teams . . . The able bodied walked, and those who were too young, too old, or too feeble to perform the journey on foot, went in the wagons with the baggage. . . . Tedious and wearisome, to be sure, but in no way perilous, as plenty of provisions, bedding, and clothing could be carried, not only for the journey, but sufficient to last some time after the arrival.
"The cost of emigration in this way was from £10 to £12, English money, or nominally $50 to $60 in gold--not very expensive, surely, for a journey from Liverpool to Salt Lake City; but to Brigham, in one of his fits of economy, it seemed altogether too costly, and he set to work to devise some means for retrenchment. During the entire winter of 1855-56, he and his chief supporters were in almost constant consultation on the subject of reducing the expenses of emigration, and they finally hit upon the expedient of having them cross the plains with hand-carts, wheeling their own provisions and baggage, and so saving the expense of teams. The more Brigham thought of his plan, the more in love he grew with it, and he sent detailed instructions concerning it to the Apostle Franklin D. Richards, the Mormon agent at Liverpool, who published it in the Millennial Star, as the new 'divine plan' revealed to Brother Brigham by the Lord, whose will it was that the journey should be made in this manner."
Duping and Grouping the Faithful
"My father was in England when the ‘command of the Lord concerning them’ was given to the gathering Saints, and their enthusiastic devotion and instant acceptance of the revelation showed how entirely they entrusted themselves to the leadership of their superiors in the Church, implicitly believing them to be inspired of God. They were told by Richards, in the magazine, and by their missionaries in their addresses, that they should meet many difficulties--that trials would be strewn along their path, and occasional dangers meet them--but that the Lord's chosen people were to be a tried people, and that they should come out unscathed, and enter Zion with great triumph and rejoicing, coming out from the world as by great tribulation; that the Lord would hold them in special charge, and they need not fear terror by night nor pestilence that walketh at noonday, for they should not so much as hurt a foot against a stone.
"It was represented to them that they were specially privileged and honored in thus being called by the Lord to be the means of showing His power and revealing glory to a world lying in darkness and overwhelmed with guilt, deserted by God and given over to destruction. Considering the class of people from whom most of the converts were made, it is not at all strange that all this talk should impress their imaginations and arouse their enthusiasm. Emotion, instead of reason, guided them almost entirely, and they grew almost ecstatic over the new way in which they were called to Zion."
Brigham Young Needed Warm Bodies for His Cold-Hearted Theocratic Blueprint
"The United States government was beginning to trouble itself a little about Utah; and in order to make the Church as strong as possible, in case of an invasion, Brigham was anxious to increase the number of emigrants, and requested Apostle Richards to send as many as he possibly could. To do this, the elders counseled all the emigrants, who had more money than they needed, to deposit it with the Apostle Richards for the purpose of assisting the poor to Zion. The call was instantly and gladly obeyed, and the number of Saints bound Zion-ward was thereby nearly doubled. In the face of the disaster which attended it, it has been the boast of some of the missionaries and elders that this was the largest number that ever was sent over at one time. So much greater, then, is the weight of responsibility which rests upon the souls of those who originated and carried out this selfish design, made more selfish, more cruel, and more terribly culpable for the hypocrisy and deceit which attended it from its conception to its disastrous close. . . .
"On the 14th of March, 1856, my father, who was at Sheffield, England, engaged in missionary work, received a telegram from Richards, telling him to come at once to Liverpool for the purpose of taking passage for America in the mail-packet 'Canada' . . . He had no time to say good-bye to his friends, but made his preparations hurriedly, and left Sheffield as soon as possible. On arriving at Liverpool and consulting with Richards, he learned that he had been sent for to assist in the proposed hand-cart expedition, and that his part of the work was to he performed in the United States. He, being a practical wagon-maker, was to oversee the building of the carts. . . ."
Callous Unconcern for the Loyal Little People
"He expected, of course, to go to work at once, and was very impatient to do so, as it was very nearly the season when the emigrants should start to cross the plains, and the first vessel filled with them was already due in New York. He knew that it would be a waste both of time and money to keep them in Iowa City any longer than as absolutely necessary; besides which, after a certain date, every day would increase the perils of crossing the plains. But when he arrived, Daniel Spencer, the principal agent, was east on a visit, and did not make his appearance until an entire month had expired; and there was all that valuable time wasted in order that one man might indulge in a little pleasure. What were a thousand or more human lives in comparison to his enjoyment? Less than nothing, it would seem, in his estimation.
"Not only were there no materials provided to work with, but no provision had been made for sheltering the poor Saints, who had already commenced to arrive by ship-loads. Their condition was pitiable in the extreme; they had met nothing but privation from the time they left England. The trials that had been promised them they had already encountered, but so great was their faith, that they bore it all without a word of complaint, and some even rejoicing that it was their lot to suffer for the cause of their religion; they were sure they should all be brought to Zion in safety, for had not God promised that through the mouth of His holy Prophet? Their faith was sublime in its exaltation; and in contrast to it, the cold-blooded, scheming, blasphemous policy of Young and his followers shows out false, and blacker than ever. To have deceived a credulous people by wanton misrepresentation is wicked enough, but to do it 'in the name of the Lord' is a sin that can never be atoned for to God or man. It is the height of blasphemy, and I fairly shudder as I endeavor to comprehend, in some slight degree, the magnitude of such an offence.
"They had been crowded and huddled together on shipboard more like animals than like human beings; their food had been insufficient and of bad quality; the sleeping accommodations were limited, and there was not the proper amount of bedding for those who were compelled to sleep in the more exposed places. Some of the persons who saw the emigrants, say that it was like nothing so much as an African slave-ship, filled with its unlawful and ill-gotten freight. The air in the steerage, where most of the emigrants were, was noxious, and yet these people were compelled to breathe it through all the days of the voyage. Many were too ill to leave their beds, and a change of clothing was out of the question. The entire floor was covered with mattresses, and it was impossible to walk about without stepping over some one. Men, women, and children were huddled in together in the most shameless fashion.
"Affairs were not much bettered when they arrived at New York; the Apostle John Taylor, whose duty it was to provide for them there, was too deeply engaged in a quarrel with Apostle Franklin D. Richards, as to which of the two who were thrown on his protection, penniless and helpless, was higher in authority, to attend to these poor creatures, in a strange country. But everyone must understand that his personal dignity must be attended to and his position maintained, if all the poor Saints that were emigrated, or dreamed of emigrating, should die of starvation and exposure. I think the great body of Saints must have learned before this time that it is by no means safe to trust to the tender mercies of a Mormon Apostle. When, after a while, the Apostle Taylor's imperative personal business allowed him a moment in which to think of the unhappy emigrants, he started them for Iowa City, where they arrived only to experience a repetition of their New York sufferings, and see another illustration of apostolic neglect. Nothing had been prepared for them either in the way of shanties or tents, and they were compelled to camp in the open air, their only roof a sky that was not always blue. While in camp, there were several very severe rain-storms, from which, as they had no shelter, there was no escape; they got completely drenched, and this caused a great deal of severe illness among them. They were unprotected alike from burning sun and pitiless, chilling rain, and it is no wonder that fevers and dysentery prevailed, and that hundreds of longing eyes closed in death before they beheld the Zion of their hopes.
"It would have been strange if the faith of some had not wavered then; yet none dared complain. There was nothing to do but to go on to the end. They were thousands of miles from home, with no means of returning, and they were taught, too, that it would be a curse upon them to turn their backs on Zion. So there they remained through the long summer days, waiting helplessly until they should be ordered to move onward."
Gross Criminal Negligence: Turning Out Handcarts on the Cheap
"At length my father saw his way clear to commence his work, and he went to work with a will, pressing everyone who could be of actual assistance into his service. But here the trouble commenced again. He was instructed to make the wagons on as economical a plan as possible, and every step that he took he found himself hedged about by impossibilities. The agents all talked economy, and when one did not raise an objection to a proposal, another did, and difficulties were placed in his way constantly.
"They did not wish to furnish iron for the tires, as it was too expensive; raw hide, they were sure, would do just as well. My father argued this point with them until at last the agents decided to give up raw hides, and they furnished him with hoop iron. He was annoyed and angry, all the while he was making the carts, at the extreme parsimony displayed. A thorough workman himself, he wanted good materials to work with; but every time he asked for anything, no matter how absolutely necessary it was to make the work sufficiently durable to stand the strain of so long a journey. the reply invariably was, '0, Brother Webb, the carts must be made cheap. We can't afford this expenditure; you are too extravagant in your outlay;' forgetting, in their zeal to follow their Prophet's instructions, what the consequences would be to the poor Saints, if delayed on their way to the Valley, by having to stop to repair their carts."
Handcart Companies Forced Into an Ill-Timed Launch with Short Supplies
"As soon as was possible they started companies on the way. My father strongly objected to any of them starting after the last of June; but he was overruled, and the last company left Iowa City the middle of August, for a journey across arid plains and over snow-clad mountains, which it took twelve weeks of the quickest traveling at that time to accomplish; and in the manner in which these emigrants were going it would take much longer. He also opposed their being started with such a scanty allowance of provisions. He insisted they should have at least double the amount; but in this attempt, also, he was unsuccessful, and one of the survivors of the expedition afterwards said that the rations which were given out to each person for a day could easily be eaten at breakfast. They consisted of ten ounces of flour for each adult, and half that amount for each child under eight years of age. At rare intervals, a little rice, coffee, sugar, and bacon were doled out to the hungry travelers, but this was not often done. Many of the people begged of the farmers in Iowa, so famished were they, and so inadequate was their food which was supplied them by the agents. They were limited, too, in the matter of baggage, and again my father tried to use his influence, but all to no purpose; so much might go, but not a pound more.
"Almost discouraged, and altogether disgusted with the meanness and heartless carelessness which were exhibited throughout the whole affair, as far, at least, as he had experience with it, he yet made one more attempt to aid the unfortunate travelers, whose trials, great as they had been, had really not fairly begun. His last proposition was, that more teams should be provided, so that the feeble, who were not likely to endure the fatigues of the long march, should have an opportunity of riding; but he was met again with the inevitable reply, 'Can't do it, Brother Webb. We tell you we can't afford it; they must go cheap.' It was dear enough in the end, if human lives count for anything.
"My father never speaks of those days of preparation in Iowa City that he does not grow indignant. It might have been averted had not Brigham Young been so parsimonious, and his followers so eager to curry favor with him, by carrying out his instructions more implicitly than there was any need of doing. They were only quarreled and found fault with, and reprimanded publicly in the Tabernacle for their faithfulness to him, when it became necessary to shield himself from odium in the matter. Nothing more would have happened if they had obeyed the instincts of humanity, and deferred a little to their consciences, and they certainly would have been better off, as they would at least have retained their own self-respect, and the regard of their unfortunate charges, which, it is needless to say, they lost most completely.
"When some of the last companies reached Council Bluffs-- better known to most Mormons as 'Winter-Quarters'--there was considerable controversy whether it was best to try and go any farther before spring. Most of the emigrants knew nothing of the climate and the perils of the undertaking, and were eager to press on to Zion. Four men only in the company had crossed the plains; those were captains of the trains--Willie, Atwood, Savage, and Woodward; but there were several elders at this place superintending emigration. Of these, Levi Savage was the only one to remonstrate against attempting to reach Salt Lake Valley so late in the season. He declared that it would be utterly--impossible to cross the mountains without great suffering, and even death.
"His remonstrances availed about as much my father's had done in regard to their starting. He was defeated and reprimanded very sharply for his want of faith. He replied that there were cases where 'common sense' was the best guide. and he considered this to be one. 'However,' said he, 'seeing you are to go forward, I will go with you, will help you all I can, will work with you, suffer with you, and, if necessary, die with you.'
"Very soon after the departure of the last company of the emigrants from Iowa City, my father, with the other elders, started for the Valley in mule teams, intending to return, if they found it necessary, to bring succor to the poor wandering people. In the company with my father were Apostle Franklin D. Richards, and Elders W. H. Kimball, G. D. Grant, Joseph A. Young, Brigham's oldest son, and several others, all of whom were returning to Utah from foreign missions, and all of whom had been engaged in the expedition.
"They overtook the emigrants at their camp on the North Fork of the Platte River, and camped with them over night. Richards was told of the opposition which Savage had made, and he openly rebuked him in the morning. He then informed the Saints that 'though it might storm on the right hand and on the left, yet the storms should not reach them. The Lord would keep the way open before them, and they should reach Zion in safety.' It may be that he believed all this nonsense himself. It is to be hoped, for charity's sake, that he did. If that were the case, however, it is a pity that he had not been endowed with a little of Levi Savage's common sense. It would have been much better for the Saints than all his vaunted 'spirit of prophecy.'
"It is a significant fact, that in the very face of his prophecy, delivered to the victims of his zeal in the cause of Brigham Young, he was anxious to hasten his arrival in Salt Lake in order to send assistance back to the patient handcart emigrants, who, he must have seen, would soon be in sore straits for food and clothing. The rations were scanty, and would soon have to be lessened; the nights were chilly, and fast growing cold; and already the seventeen pounds of bedding and clothing allowed to each one were scarcely sufficient protection; and as the season advanced, and they approached the mountains, it would be totally inadequate. It was fortunate that they did not know the climate of the country, and the terrible hardships to which they were to be exposed, else their hearts would have failed them, and they would have had no courage to have recommenced the journey. My father realized it, and so did most of the party with him; yet they had no idea how horrible it was to be, else they would have insisted upon their remaining in camp until spring. Even the usually indifferent heart of Joseph A. was touched, and he hurried on to impress upon his father the urgent need for immediate assistance for those poor, forlorn creatures whom he left preparing to cross the mountains, where they would of a surety meet the late autumn and early winter storms, and where so many of them must of a certainty perish of exposure and hunger. He had no faith in the apostolic prophecy, which seemed a mockery to all those who knew the hardships of the journey which lay before these faithful souls before they could reach the Zion of their hopes.
"My father had been four years absent from us, yet such was his concern for the poor people whom he so recently left, and who had been his care for so long, that he could only stay to give us the most hurried greetings. His gladness at his return, and our responsive joy, were marred by the thought of the sufferings and privations of those earnest, simple-hearted Saints, who had literally left all to follow the beck of one whom they supposed to be the Prophet of the Lord. After all these years of absence, he only staid two days with us--as short a time as it could possibly take to get the relief-train ready with the supplies."
Blood on His Hands for His Handcart Crimes: Brigham Young’s Ultimate Guilty Conscience
"I think Brigham Young's heart and conscience must have been touched, for he really seemed for a while to forget himself in the earnestness with which he pushed forward the preparations for relief. He fairly arose to the occasion, and held back nothing which could contribute to the comfort and welfare of his poor, forlorn followers. Yet he was only acting as both justice and decency commanded that he should act. He was the cause of all this terrible suffering, and he felt that he should be made answerable. Such a transaction as this could by no means remain unknown. It would be spread over America and Europe, and used as a strong weapon against Mormonism and its leader, already unpopular enough. He realized the mistake he had made when too late to rectify it, and, with his usual moral cowardice, he set about hunting for somebody on whose shoulders to shift the blame from his own. Richards and Spencer were the unfortunate victims, and he turned his wrath against them, in private conversation and in public assemblies, until they were nearly crushed by the weight of opprobrium which he heaped upon them. He was nearly beside himself with fear of the consequences which would follow, when this crowning act of selfish cupidity and egotistical vanity and presumption should be known. Love of approbation is a striking characteristic of this Latter-Day Prophet, and he puffs and swells with self-importance at every word he receives, even of the baldest, most insincere flattery, and he cringes and crouches in as servile a manner as a whipped cur, when any adverse criticism is passed upon either his personnel or his actions. A moral as well as a physical coward, he dares not face a just opinion of himself and his deeds, and he sneaks, and skulks, and hides behind any one he can find who is broad enough to shield him.
"My father's disgust at a religion which submitted to such chicanery, and his distrust of Brigham Young, were so great, that he was very near apostatizing; but my mother again held him to the church. She argued and explained; she wept and she entreated, until he said no more about it. But though, for her sake, he took no steps towards leaving the Church and renouncing the faith, he felt daily his disgust and distrust increasing, and he never again believed so strongly in the Mormon religion, and ever after regarded Brigham with much less awe and respect than formerly."
http://www.antimormon.8m.com/youngchp11.html
_____
Conclusion: "How the West Was Spun" in the Wake of Brigham Young's Forced Handcart March
Wyoming writer Annie Proulx, in a recent article for the London Guardian entitled, "How the West Was Spun," examines the creation and maintenance of certain "heroic myths of the American frontier."
Proulx notes that Americans (and this certainly holds true for fanciful-minded Mormons) hold on to and promote cherished myths, often at great detriment to the truth:
"The heroic myth of the American West is much more powerful than its historical past. To this day, the great false beliefs . . . prevail: that [these] were . . . brave, generous, unselfish men; that the West was 'won' by noble White American pioneers . . . and that everything in the natural world from the west bank of the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean was there to be used by human beings to further their wealth.
"These absurd but solidly-rooted fantasies cannot be pulled up. People believe in and identify themselves with these myths and will scratch and kick to maintain their Western self-image. The rest of the country and the world believes in the heroic myth because the tourism bureau will never let anyone forget it."
One of those stubbronly-entrenched myths that Proulx mentions is the "Mormon Handcart Journey," which is annually and magnificently mimicked by enthusiastic LDS stand-ins:
"Much of the West's past is literally acted out each year by enthusiasts called 're-enactors,' who don appropriate costumes and take on pageant-like roles in such events of yesteryear as a . . . Mormon Handcart Journey. For a few days it is real enough. . . ."
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/history/story/0,6000,1513940,00.html
But how real is it?
William Grigg, in his article, "Mass Murder in the Desert," cites renegade Mormon historian Will Bagley's searing description of Brigham Young's Mormon handcart debacle as what it really was--a fevered flight of religious fanaticism, undertaken on the backs of thousands of devout, brainwashed Mormons who became Young's unwitting and unfortunate victims:
" . . . [F]or nearly the entire first century of the [Mormon] religion's existence--beginning with the Missouri-era threats to redeem 'Zion' by bloodshed-- faithful Mormons were marinated in hatred toward 'Gentiles' and taught the redemptive power of sanctified violence.
"In the early 1850s, the sense of besetting persecution by unbelievers so central to the Mormons' communal identity became outright paranoia after Mormon leaders unveiled the previously disavowed practice of polygamy. The nascent Republican Party identified polygamy and slavery as 'twin relics of barbarism' and declared war on both. . . .
"Like despots both ancient and modern, Brigham Young eagerly seized on this external threat to consolidate his power. He also ramped up Mormon recruitment efforts in Great Britain and Scandinavia (where Mormon missionaries carefully concealed the doctrine of polygamy) as a way of building up his kingdom. To cut down on the time and expense involved in bringing new Mormons to 'Zion,' Young ordered the construction of handcarts--rickshaw-like vehicles used to carry the pilgrims and their possessions across the plains.
"The handcart initiative led to disaster in late 1856 as two companies of Mormon immigrants (known as the Martin and Willie companies), promised by Mormon leaders that God would hold back the winter snows, were caught in an abnormally early and severe blizzard. More than 200 men, women, and children died, making the Martin/Willie debacle 'the worst disaster in the history of America's overland trails,' recalls Bagley.
"Despite the fact that the handcart disaster was a direct outgrowth of Young's 'inspired' immigration scheme, 'Mormon leaders refused to shoulder any blame for the catastrophe,' Bagley continues. Jedediah Grant, high-ranking first counselor in the Mormon Church presidency, 'laid the blame on the victims. . . . [He] blamed the death and suffering of the handcart Saints on "the same disobedience and sinfulness that had induced spiritual sleepiness among the people already in Zion."'"
http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2003_12/grigg-murder.html
So it was with Brigham Young's ruthless "Handcarts to Hell" undertaking--and so it remains (all gussied up and sanitized, of course) in the historically-disfigured annals of Mormon folklore.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | The Most Energized I Ever Saw The Wife Of A General Authority
| | Posted Aug 17, 2005, at 09:24 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | We all know the typical image of the faithful GA wife: silent, supportive and sitting in the shadows.
Well, for me, that image was brutally shattered--in a culturally strange sort of way--back in the 1980s when I had the opportunity to attend a BYU Cougar football game in one of the skyboxes. I don’t even remember who the Cougs were up against that day but what I beheld that afternoon in the skybox was, I'm sure for the Mormons who witnessed it, an experience of shock and awe.
The skybox was a luxurious and sound-proofed place, encased in glass, full of soft seats for the high and mighty, finger food for everyone in attendance and all of it offered in air-conditioned comfort high atop the stadium, far from the maddening crowd.
Indeed, I noticed how quiet and subdued the box was, not at all like being out on the hard seats with the regular folk, shouting and cheering and guzzling whatever they were able to sneak in at the turnstiles.
Anyway, who should come in and sit down a couple of rows in front of me but Robert E. Wells, then-member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and his wife, Helen—the proud parents of Utah's own prim-and-proper Miss America, Sharlene Wells, who as we all remember was subsequently awarded the crown after the previous winner, Vanessa Williams, was busted and bounced down the runway when nude magazine photos of her making passionate love to another woman inconveniently surfaced.
Once the game got under way, Helen Wells started to raise a little hell—and, yes indeed, it was a wondrous sight.
BYU was having a rather tough time on offense that day, struggling to make its typical whopping yardage with its vaunted aerial circus under the command of the Cougars' mythical ringmaster and Moroni-like general, Lavelle Edwards.
During some of the tougher series of downs for the Cougars, Sister Helen Wells would get visibly--and I mean visibly--frustrated with the lack of progress, jump to her feet and scream her big-haired head off, shouting through the sound-proof glass toward the field of play, hundreds of yards down below in the gladiator pit.
The scene would go like this:
Bosco would drop back into the pocket to pass, looking for receivers downfield but in Helen’s opinion, taking way too damn long to get the ball rolling.
At this point, she would leap to her feet, yelling loud enough to permanently disturb the rings of Saturn:
"BOSCO!!! BOSCO!!! THROW THE BALL!!! THROW THE BALL, BOSCO!!!!! BOSCO!!!!!!!
Or, if Bosco wasn't listening and wouldn’t throw, then Helen would decide it was time for him to pick up yardage on the ground.
Again, she would explode out of her seat, hands above her head, and shriek with all her might:
"RUN, BOSCO, RUN!!! BOSCO, RUN!!!!! BOSCO!!!!!"
No one else in the skybox carried on even remotely in such outrageous fashion. In fact, hardly anyone was cheering or making noise throughout the game. It was almost like a Mormon Church meeting, with the only thing missing being the crying babies.
Everyone else in the skybox would just stare at good Sister Wells, some in disbelief, others whispering in embarrassment to each other, as she continued her vocal and opinionated outbursts throughout the duration of the contest.
Meanwhile, being the quiet, supportive husband sitting in the shadows that he was, Elder Robert E. Wells would simply smile at his wife during and after she screamed, not saying much of anything.
In conclusion, my dear brothers and sisters, it is my hope and prayer that in the future, if Sister Helen Wells--wife of our beloved and now First Quorum of the Seventy emeritus member, Robert E. Wells—is given the opportunity to stand before groups of young MIA women or even primary children, that she will raise her hands high above her head and holler with all of her might:
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, GIRLS!!! GET OUT OF THIS DAMN CHURCH BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, BEFORE THEY CRUSH YOU, MOLD YOU, SUFFOCATE YOU, SQUEEZE THE LIFE OUT OF YOU AND MAKE IT SO OPPRESSIVE FOR YOU THAT IT WILL BE SEEN AS STRANGE AND UNBECOMING FOR THE WIFE OF A GENERAL AUTHORITY TO STAND AND SCREAM AT FOOTBALL GAMES, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE!!!"
In the name of--Jesus Christ, throw the ball, Bosco!--Amen.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | The Official Position Of The LDS Church On Organic Evolution: Even Bruce R. Mcconkie, When Put Under The Gun, Wouldn't Give A Straight Answer
| | Posted Aug 15, 2005, at 08:02 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Meeting with Apostle Bruce R. McConkie in a Futile Attempt to Get an Honest Answer on the Mormon Church’s Official Position on Organic Evolution
When I was a student at BYU in 1978, I decided to commence a research paper on the official LDS position on organic evolution. Much of my effort to write an accurate account on the subject involved repeated, and often frustrating, attempts to solicit answers from the Mormon Church hierarchy.
During my research, I personally met and spoke with Apostle Bruce R. McConkie.
An account of that meeting follows below, taken from personal notes I made of our discussion, which took place at McConkie's private residence, 260 Dorchester Drive, in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Monday, 7 July 1980, from 5:45 to 7:30 p.m.
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Ezra Taft Benson Arranges the Meeting with McConkie
Earlier in the day of my one-on-one conversation with McConkie, I had visited for approximately three-and-a-half hours with my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, then-president of the Council of the Twelve, in his Salt Lake City apartment, located in the Bonneville Towers, 777 East South Temple.
During that visit, the conversation turned to my evolution research project. In the course of that discussion, my grandfather and I talked about McConkie's recent 14-stake fireside address, entitled "The Seven Deadly Heresies," which he had delivered five weeks earlier, on 1 June 1980, in Brigham Young University's Marriott Center.
In his sermon, McConkie listed as "Heresy Two" the "false and devilish" notion advanced by "those who say that revealed religion and organic evolution can be harmonized." Such claims, McConkie told his student audience, did not represent "true science" but, rather, "the false religions of the dark ages . . . some of which have crept in among us."
Moreover, while McConkie noted that "true religion and true science bear the same witness," he declared that the theory of organic evolution could "in no way" be harmonized "with the truths of science as they have now been discovered."
To believe otherwise, McConkie said, ran completely counter to "the saving doctrine" of revealed religion. That doctrine, he said, included that:
. . . Adam stood next to Christ in power and might and intelligence before the foundations of the world were laid; that Adam was placed on this earth as an immortal being; that there was no death in the world for him or for any form of life until after the fall; that the fall of Adam brought temporal and spiritual death into the world; that this temporal death passed upon all forms of life, upon man and animal and fish and fowl and plant life; that Christ came to ransom man and all forms of life from the effects of the temporal death brought into the world through the fall and, in the case of man, from the spiritual death also, and that this includes a resurrection for man and for all forms of life. Try as you may, you cannot harmonize these things with the evolutionary postulate that death existed and that the various forms of life have evolved from preceding forms over astronomically long periods of time."
As proof that "the theories of men" (i.e., the theories of organic evolution) were out of harmony with "the inspired word,” McConkie cited 2 Nephi 2:22-26, which he quoted in full:
"And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
"And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
"But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
"Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.
"And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall."
To believe, he said, that "the theoretical postulates of Darwinism and the diverse speculations descending therefrom" can somehow be accommodated by revealed religion denied the very atonement of Christ, which McConkie called "the great and eternal foundation upon which revealed religion rests."
According to McConkie, belief in organic evolution rendered the doctrine of the atonement ineffectual for the following reasons:
"If death has always prevailed in the world, there was no fall of Adam which brought death to all forms of life. If Adam did not fall, there is no need for an atonement. If there was no atonement, there is no salvation, no resurrection, no eternal life, nothing in all of the glorious promises that the Lord has given us. If there is no salvation, there is no God. The fall affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself. The atonement affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself."
http://www.lds-mormon.com/heresies.shtml
I asked my grandfather if McConkie's address represented the official position of the Mormon Church on the theory of organic evolution.
In asking that question of him, I also mentioned that my father, Mark A. Benson (Ezra Taft's second son), was seriously considering writing President Spencer W. Kimball to ask the same question.
In response, my grandfather lowered his head, smiled slightly and replied in careful and measured tones that he did not want to say too much, for fear that he "might slip." He did, however, tell me that prior to its delivery at BYU, McConkie's address had been reviewed by "the Brethren." He said that McConkie himself had offered to make any changes in the prepared text, but that none were requested.
Nonetheless, my grandfather twice emphasized to me that "it was understood that the talk represented the views of Elder McConkie."
At this point in our conversation, my grandfather suggested that it might be good for me to speak directly with McConkie on this matter.
Still a true believing Mormon at the time, I replied that I would consider it to be a great honor to meet a man whom I considered to be one of the greatest living scriptorians in the Church.
I added, however, that I did not want to be an imposition. My grandfather assured me that McConkie would be happy to speak with me, assuming that an appropriate time and place could be arranged.
I told my grandfather I would be available to meet with him anytime, anywhere, and would only want to take a few minutes of his time to clarify in my own mind some of the important questions that seemed (at least to me) to be in need of definitive answers regarding the official position of the Mormon Church on the theory of organic evolution.
At this point (approximately 3:45 p.m.), as I looked on, my grandfather went over to the phone and made a personal call to McConkie, who was still in his Church office.
After chatting with McConkie for a few minutes, my grandfather hung up and informed me that the meeting had been arranged for 5:30 that same afternoon, at McConkie's home.
Once the initial excitement had somewhat subsided, I expressed concern to my grandfather that, in the upcoming question-and-answer session with McConkie, I did not want to appear to be lacking faith and testimony in McConkie's divine calling and apostleship.
In particular, I was somewhat anxious that my inquiries, although sincere, might be misinterpreted and prove offensive to McConkie, who was known for his forthright, uncompromising views--which views appeared to some to reflect a certain degree of sternness and even harshness, when "laying down the law" in areas of Church doctrine.
My grandfather reassured me that McConkie was "a very gracious man," with sons my own age (at the time, I was 26 years old). He encouraged me to be as frank with McConkie in my questioning as I had been with him.
_____
Close Encounters with the McConkie Mind
By coincidence, I had already planned to meet my father in downtown Salt Lake City after my visit with my grandfather and be driven to my parents' residence, where I was staying during summer vacation.
When I slid into the front seat of my father's car at 5:15 that afternoon and informed him of the scheduled meeting with McConkie in 15 minutes, he was pleasantly surprised. He offered to take me to McConkie's home, which I hoped he would do, since I had not other means of getting there in the few minutes remaining before the scheduled appointment.
As we drove to McConkie's home, I told my father that while I was certainly not adverse to having him sit in on my conversation with McConkie, I regarded the visit as a unique opportunity to directly ask McConkie whatever questions I felt were necessary to provide a clearer understanding of the LDS Church's official position on the theory of organic evolution, as well as of the connections, if any, between that Church's official position and the position of McConkie, as outlined in McConkie's "Deadly Heresies" BYU sermon.
My father said he understood and offered to drop me off at McConkie's home, then return to pick me up after our visit was concluded. I did not feel that was necessary and suggested that we "play it by ear." If McConkie invited both of us into his home, as I expected he would, I felt I would not be inhibited--as long as my father honored my request to be able to interact freely with McConkie, without interruption--no matter how well intended that interruption might be.
McConkie greeted us warmly at the door, presenting an image quite different from the Bruce the Concrete-Hearted that I, and millions of others, had come to expect from his stiff-as-a-board-for-the-Lord General Conference talks. He was dressed in an open-necked yellow sports shirt, slacks and house slippers. (And all this time I thought he came out of his mother’s womb in a dark blue suit). He turned to me, grinned and asked if there was anything I did not want my father to hear during our conversation. I said no, whereupon McConkie ushered us into his comfortable, sun-lit living room. My father and I sat on a sofa, approximately ten feet across from McConkie, who seated himself in a chair next to a lamp stand on which rested his scriptures and some miscellaneous papers.
His demeanor was relaxed and helped put me at ease. The atmosphere throughout our conversation was open and friendly. McConkie encouraged me, on more than one occasion during our discussion, not to hesitate in asking whatever I wanted.
In keeping with my previous request, my father sat and listened silently.
_____
McConkie, Self-Professed Student of Science
I asked McConkie if he thought organic evolution was true. Not surprisingly, he replied that he did not. In fact, he said the theory of organic evolution was "logically and scripturally absurd."
McConkie told me, however, that he had taken some science classes as a student at the University of Utah "but never felt that they were the ultimate truth." McConkie also confessed that he would answer final exam questions the way he thought his professors expected, in order to pass the courses.
I found this interesting coming from a man who had denounced the education system for teaching deadly heresies.
_____
McConkie Explains the Scriptures, One-Celled Amoebas, Dinosaurs in the Mud and Noah’s Flood
McConkie attacked organic evolution from holy writ, telling me that "Adam was the first flesh of all flesh, more than just the first man."
He also had his opinions on matters of vegetation. "Plants," he said, "are created by seeds being planted. If the Lord has made worlds without number, why would He use evolution from a one-celled amoeba?"
On the question of dinosaurs, McConkie claimed that they were probably killed by Noah's Flood, based on the fact that "large concentrations of their bones have been found in mud."
_____
McConkie Rejects Science in Favor of Religion
In the end, McConkie did not rely scientific evidence (at least as he defined “evidence”) to debunk organic evolution. He told me:
"I don't attempt to harmonize the theory of organic evolution with revealed truth. I'm not going to talk about the truth or falsity of organic evolution. I'll leave that up to biologists. I accept revealed religion. If science and religion don't harmonize, then I reject and discard science."
_____
McConkie’s Wiggle-Waggle on Whether His “Seven Deadly Heresies” Speech Rose to the Level of Official LDS Church Doctrine
I mentioned to McConkie that several members of the LDS Church, particularly students and professors at BYU, were openly asking if his 1 June 1980 "Seven Deadly Heresies" fireside address constituted the official position of the Church.
In response to my direct inquiry, "Does your talk represent the official position of the Church on the theory of organic evolution?" McConkie said that the Church did not have to submit questions concerning doctrine to its membership in order to make them "the stand of the Church" (the latter was a phrase which he emphasized frequently during our conversation).
In reference to his "Seven Deadly Heresies" speech, McConkie said, "This is my view on what I interpret to be the stand of the Church." As he subsequently built a scriptural case to support his interpretation, McConkie often used the same phrase: "This is my view," when explaining the doctrinal stand of the Church on the theory of organic evolution. It was clear, however, that he saw his view as being the right view.
McConkie mentioned that, in the wake of his "Deadly Heresies" sermon, his office had been inundated with requests for copies, with 35 phone calls received by his secretaries in a single two-hour period. In fact, he said, there was greater interest in this particular address than in all other speeches he had previously given.
He went on to say that while he had not intended for his remarks to appear to be directed primarily at the theory of organic evolution, judging from the response he had received to his discourse he perhaps should have devoted his entire speech to the topic.
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McConkie’s Opinion on Whether Kimball Knew What He Was Talking About
I asked McConkie about the fact that, in personal correspondence with then-Church President Kimball on the LDS stand regarding organic evolution, Kimball admitted to me that he was not aware of the official position of the Church as found in a First Presidency statement entitled "The Origin of Man," issued in 1909.
(Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder and Anton H. Lund, "The Origin of Man," Improvement Era, vol. 13, November 1909, p. 75-81)
McConkie responded by insisting that Kimball did, in fact, know about it. He said "he just forgot" that he knew. Interestingly enough, that is almost exactly what Arthur C. Haycock, secretary to the First Presidency, had told me over the phone in 1979.
_____
McConkie Trashes the Living Prophets
I asked why President Joseph F. Smith, while Prophet/Editor of the Improvement Era, had told inquiring Church members that God had not fully answered the question of how the bodies of Adam and Eve were created.
McConkie informed me that, in fact, this "was not [Joseph F. Smith's] position." I asked him how he knew that. He said, "Joseph Fielding Smith told me so."
McConkie went on to explain that sometimes the living Prophets just don’t get it:
"A prophet is not always a prophet. I can be just as wrong as the next guy. Prophets can be wrong on organic evolution, of course. And have been wrong.
I informed McConkie that David O. McKay, while President of the Church, had told BYU students in a campus speech that organic evolution was a beautiful theory.
(David O. McKay, “A Message for LDS College Youth." Speech to BYU student body. 10 October 1952)
McConkie responded by saying that if McKay made such a statement, he was "uninspired."
I also told McConkie that McKay and other Church presidents had authorized the sending of letters to inquiring Church members, informing them that the Mormon Church had not official position on the theory of organic evolution.
McConkie dismissed such correspondence as "underground letters" and said it differed fundamentally from the First Presidency's 1909 statement on the origin of man.
(About that statement, McConkie, in his "Deadly Seven Heresies" sermon had warned: "Do not be deceived and led to believe that the famous document of the First Presidency issued in the day of President Joseph F. Smith and entitled, 'The Origin of Man,' means anything except exactly what it says").
McConkie also criticized President Brigham Young for teaching the Adam-God doctrine, which McConkie told me was "false."
Furthermore, he criticized then-Apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, telling me he was "out of his field" in trying to use science against organic evolution in his book, Man: His Origin and Destiny. McConkie said, "He should have stayed in the areas in which he was trained: scriptures and theology."
McConkie warned me that straying from the scriptures--even if one was a Prophet--was to ask for trouble because, he said, people end up "quoting authority against authority." In the end, he said, "seeing authoritative statements doesn't solve the problem. People are always seeking authoritative statements. Authorities conflict."
Besides, he cautioned me, "Cults are created by the endorsement of certain authorities."
_____
McConkie Declares That the Truth Concerning Organic Evolution Is Found in the Scriptures, Not in the Statements of the Living Prophets
If the reliability of Church leaders was suspect, then I wanted to know from McConkie where to turn in order to find the official, authoritative Mormon stand on the theory of organic evolution.
McConkie replied slowly:
"This is my view on what I believe to be the stand of the Church: The doctrinal stand of the Church is found in revealed scripture."
With sweeping disapproval, he declared:
"Organic evolution does not and cannot account for a paradisiacal earth, the millennium, an exalted earth and man, the resurrection of man and animals and the pre-existence."
McConkie argued that, ultimately, God's truth was found in the canonized Standard Works, not in the words of living prophets.
He told me that the Standard Works are called such because they are the standard against which all other claims are measured, including those made by Mormonism’s living Prophets.
_____
McConkie Refuses to Directly Answer the Question About What Constitutes the Official Mormon Position on Organic Evolution
I asked McConkie what was the stand of the LDS Church on organic evolution, as found in the scriptures. He replied by telling me that the Church would never accept the theory of organic evolution as being true "as long as it fails to show that there was no death before the Fall of Adam."
I pressed him by asking him to explain for me the actual official LDS Church position on organic evolution.
McConkie responded by letting me in on some inside information.
He said that the First Presidency had been considering whether to issue a statement on the theory of organic evolution for "over a year." Sometime during that period, he said, they had "sat down and listened to the entire 1909 statement." McConkie said they had also sat and listened to him. He claimed he was asked to write a statement on organic evolution for possible use by the First Presidency.
The directive came, McConkie said, after Kimball walked into McConkie's office carrying a letter I had earlier sent to Kimball, along with enclosures.
My grandfather confirmed that his episode took place. In a September 1979 phone conversation with me, he said McConkie had been given a copy of one of my letters to Kimball, together with attached statements made by Mormon Church Presidents Joseph F. Smith and David O. McKay on the theory of organic evolution).
McConkie told me that Kimball and one of his counselors, Marion G. Romney, had "personally agreed" to have McConkie draft the statement. McConkie said the remaining counselor, N. Eldon Tanner, "did not participate" in making the recommendation. McConkie told me he responded by putting together what he called "a special statement prepared for the First Presidency," a 42-page document entitled "Man: His Origin, Fall and Redemption."
(My grandfather, in the same earlier phone conversation, also had informed me that McConkie's paper had been "considered favorably by the First Presidency." He said that McConkie had, in fact, discussed his paper with members of the First Presidency on 30 August 1979 and that they "agreed with it").
I asked McConkie what his document included. He said it quoted President John Taylor, whom he described as "definitely anti-evolution." He also informed me that a scaled-down version of his paper was eventually delivered in the form of his BYU "Seven Deadly Heresies" sermon.
(Following my meeting with McConkie, I wrote him a letter, thanking him for the chance to meet and asking if he might send me a copy of that paper of his, "Man: His Origin, Fall and Redemption," so that, as I told him, I might "more fully understand the scriptural reasoning behind your treatment of these subjects." McConkie never responded).
In our conversation, I also asked McConkie if there would be a current First Presidency statement issued on the Mormon Church's official stand on the theory of organic evolution. He answered by insisting that just because the sitting First Presidency had not issued an official statement on the subject did not mean it did not have one.
I asked McConkie why, if the LDS Church actually had an official position on organic evolution, did it not go ahead and make it known? McConkie said it had not done so because the Church did not want to pick fights with its vulnerable members:
"It's a matter of temporizing, of not making a statement to prevent the driving out of the weak Saints. It's a question of wisdom, not of truth."
He compared it to calling the Catholic Church "the Church of the Devil." He said while such a statement was true, one had to be careful about saying it, so as not to offend Catholics.
By now, I was feeling increasingly frustrated.
I pressed McConkie further, asking him what he thought the position of the Mormon Church on organic evolution might be. He replied:
Don't be deceived. The Church is not neutral. It has taken a stand.
I asked him what that stand was. He replied, "Henry Eyring's position is President Kimball's position."
McConkie didn’t explain what Eyring's position was. In any event, since when had Henry Eyring become President of the Mormon Church?
In 1979, however, I had written Kimball, requesting that he tell me the official position of the Church on the theory of organic evolution. In a 24 May 1979 reply, Kimball asked me, "I am wondering if you have read the book of Henry Eyring, The Faith of the Scientiest [sic].' Undoubtedly, this book will be found in the library at BYU. I would be glad to hear from you concerning this matter."
I was familiar with the book, having been given a copy by my grandfather some years earlier. I wrote Kimball back, taking him up on his offer to share my thoughts about Eyring's book.
In my letter to back to him, I noted how Eyring said that science benefits religion by helping it sort fact from fiction.
I asked Kimball just how scientifically reliable the scriptural stories were that proclaimed the earth to be merely 6,000 years old and that declared there was no physical death before Adam. I suggested the Genesis account did not seem to square with strong physical evidence pointing to old rocks, long-dead fossils and evolved humans.
I concluded my letter by telling Kimball that it appeared to me the Church was avoiding taking an official position for or against the theory of organic evolution. I asked him if he would not mind commenting on that observation.
Kimball never wrote me back.
And McConkie never answered my question.
_____
Conclusion: The Meeting Ends
I sensed McConkie and I had reached the point of no further return on investment.
The visit ended politely, but incompletely.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Did The Founding Fathers Create An American Religious State Through Divine Inspiration?
| | Posted Aug 12, 2005, at 09:20 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Is “God” Found in the “Inspired” United States Constitution? Inquiring Ex-Mormons Want to Know
Questions raised from time to time on this board have centered on the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers and what, if
any, influence those beliefs played in the development of the U.S. Constitution.
Because Mormons are taught that the
Founding Fathers were inspired by God to write the American Constitution, an examination of the Founders’ views on matters of
faith and government are a proper subject of discussion here.
It is a topic that transcends political partisanship
and goes to the heart of Mormon dogma.
_____
Sourcing the Delegates, the Constitutional Convention and
the God Question
An excellent article on the extent that “God” play in the U.S. Constitutional Convention has
been authored by Martin E. Marty, entitled, “Religion and the Constitution: The Triumph of Practical Politics.” Originally
published in The Christian Century,” March 23-30, l994, pp 316-327, it is available on the web at:
http://www.geocities.com/peterroberts.geo/Relig-Politics/Intro.html
Marty draws heavily on
the massive two-volume work edited by Bernard Bailyn, The Debate on the Constitution: Federalist and Anti-federalist
Speeches, Articles, and Letters During the Struggle over Ratification, January to August 1788 [Penguin USA: Library of
America, 1993].
Marty describes Bailyn’s contribution to the literature as “the best general access to the period in
which the Founding Fathers . . . debated their Constitution of 1787 and sold themselves, each other and the public on its
ratification.” He praises Bailyn’s work as a “generous sampling of the argument [that] helps contemporary readers assess the
religious and metaphysical foundations and contentions of their [the Founders’] thought.”
Bailyn’s volumes (and
Marty’s review) are replete with actual statements and arguments made by the delegates during the Constitutional Convention of
1787-1788.
_____
Beliefs of the Founders on God and Religion
Before examining their
arguments, however, a capsulation of the Founder’s views on god and religion is in order.
Marty sums up the Framers’
general attitude toward religion in general and Christianity in particular, by citing the observation of Gordon Wood who, writing
in New York History, observed:
"It is one of the striking facts of American history that the American
Revolution was led by men who were not very religious. At the best the Founding Fathers only passively believed in organized
Christianity and at worst they scorned and ridiculed it."
_____
God and Religion in the Birthing
Documents of the American Nation
The glaring lack of religious references in the text of the U.S. Constitution was
explained by Alexander Hamilton who, in admitting their absence, reportedly said: “Upon my word, we forgot.”
(see
Flo Wine, “Role of Religion in the American Revolution,” http://www.humanistsofutah.org/1999/genfeb99.html )
Indeed, no mention at all is made of God in
the text of the Constitution itself.
Moreover, the only reference to Deity in the Declaration of Independence is to
“Nature’s God,” a form of deity has been accurately described as "a God that is vague and subordinated to natural laws that
everyone should know through common sense, i.e., ‘self-evident’ truths.”
Neither the Constitution or the Declaration
of Independence mentions the Bible.
Furthermore, reference to “God” or “Jesus Christ” is absent from the voluminous
writings of the Federalist Papers, aptly described as the so-called “working documents” of the American Founders.
Finally, it has been noted that “the United States was the first Western nation to omit explicitly Christian symbolism,
such as the cross, from its flag and other national symbols.”
(see “Is America a ‘Christian’ Nation?, http://www.rapidnet.com/~jbeard/bdm/Psychology/amr/amerc.htm )
_____
”God-Talk” in
the Constitutional Convention Debates
Based on an examination of Bailyn’s work, Marty offers a detailed
examination of Convention debate language on religious matters, and provides his findings:
References to
Heaven
“My marker found three favorites: at least 30 ‘Heavens,’ as in ‘merciful Heaven,’ and 15 or 20
‘blessings of heaven’ . . .”
References to the Sacred
“[T]here were 15 usually
casual ‘sacreds,’ as in ‘sacred liberties.’”
References to God
“God comes up
often, but almost never in biblical terms; ‘God,’ we remember, was generic for deists and theists, philosophers and believers
alike. . . . [T]here are about 20 references to God, while the Almighty and the Creator make single cameo appearances. We read
at least seven times of Providence; the Supremes are here four times, as in Supreme Being and Supreme Ruler of the Universe;
Lord, as in "O Lord!" or "the Year of Our Lord," turns up six times, and there is a Sovereign Ruler of Events, one Grace, two
Governors (of the World and the Universe),two Nature's Gods, and, for good measure, one Goddess of Liberty. Whether the general
absence of the biblical God is intentional or reflects the habits of the Enlightenment, it is significant.”
References to Governance Under God
“On one occasion, ‘vox populi’ is identified with ‘vox dei,’ a
questionable theological concept, to be sure. Once, people are called ‘the sole governors (under God),’ and I spotted another
‘under God’ in connection with George Washington. Writers also refer to ‘the immutable laws of God’ and ‘reason,’ and ‘the laws
of nature and nature's God.’ The citation of the Bible as authority is extremely rare. . . .”
References to the Bible
“For a people putatively schooled in scripture, these arguers use
relatively few biblical allusions. I counted three references to Moses. In Noah Webster's citation, Moses gets paired with Fohi
and Confucius, Zamolxis and Odin and other ‘fabled demi-gods of antiquity’ In another citation Moses joins Montesquieu as a
representative genius. There are other casual allusions to the Bible, but they are slight and quickly dropped.”
References to Christianity
“Terribly slim pickings, these. While practical politics was the
preoccupation of these debaters, they were debating what was deepest in the people's minds and hearts. Consequently, it seems
strange that I found only one reference to Christology or Christian salvation: the ‘blood of the Redeemer.’ ‘John Humble,’
speaking for ‘the low born,’ at one point makes fun of ‘the perfection of this evangelical constitution’ and its claimed place
‘in the salvation of America,’ but that language does not advance the case for seeing America as a Christian country . . .
“Unless my snooping eye missed some references, Americans were Christians. only once in 2,387 pages . . .”
References to Church-Going
“One would hardly know from these collected documents that
Americans were churchgoers; I caught them at church in only one casual allusion. Denominations are rarely mentioned, though
Quakers are visible, chiefly as pacifists. . . .”
References to the Clergy
"The
clergy are almost invisible . . .”
References to Americans as a Chosen People
“Are
the American people chosen? James Winthrop thought so, but that is about it . . .”
References to
Common Religion and Prayer
“Historian David Ramsay wrote to South Carolinians to ‘consider the-people of
all the thirteen states, as a band of brethren, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, inhabiting one
undivided country, and designed by heaven to be one people,’ but the religion is unspecified. As for devotion, there is a
reference to one's ‘prayer to God,’ but we 20th-century folk hear more such talk in a single presidential inaugural
address.”
References to Established Creeds
“The established religion of England
gets mentioned ten or 20 times, in every case negatively . . . The Founders allude to creeds once or twice but do not quote them
from church history . . .”
Reference to Virtue
“One of the most serious issues
in constitutional discourse was the virtue of the people, since constitutional law would be effective only if citizens respected
it. Pelatiah Webster of Philadelphia was the most explicit concerning people's response to the divine when he wrote about
congressmen . . .
“James Madison, however, balances Webster in a letter to Thomas Jefferson about possible restraints
of majorities who might persecute minorities . . .
“The most sustained religious discussion in these huge volumes has
to do with the line in Article VI of the Constitution that ‘no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any
office or public trust under the United States.’ Luther Martin, a fierce opponent of ratification, reported that the ‘no
religious test’ clause easily had passed at Philadelphia, but went on sarcastically:
"‘However, there were some
members so unfashionable as to think that a belief of the existence of a Deity, and of a state of future rewards and punishments
would be some security for the good conduct of our rulers, and that in a Christian country it would be at least decent to hold
out some distinction between the professors of Christianity and downright infidelity or paganism.’ . . .”
References to Religious Diversity
“After the ‘religious tests’ debates, the most significant
treatment of religion occurred in debates having to do with pluralism, ‘the multiplicity of sects,’ republicanism and religious
freedom. Most of the suspicious antifederalists were pushing for a Bill of Rights, while the federalists, feeling that rights had
been assured in the unamended Constitution, opposed it. . . .
“In the event, the United States in 1789 added a Bill
of Rights including the religion clause to the Constitution, and the nation became the large republic with many sects that
Madison foresaw and wanted.”
References to Divine Inspiration
“Marty also notes
the “offbeat” claim by famed Philadelphia Convention participant, Benjamin Rush who argued, in Marty’s words, “that ratification
was divinely mandated.”
Marty also mentions Benjamin Franklin’s satirically-expressed hope that “he did not to
want to be thought of as arguing that the General Convention was similarly divinely inspired” as was, in Franklin’s sardonic
words “the most faithful of all Histories, the Holy Bible. . . . ”
At any rate, observes Marty, “[o]ne could never be
too sure from Franklin’s language where he stood . . . “
References to Religious Ambiguity
In the end, Marty writes, “[i]t was Madison who reflected most on ambiguity, obscurity, complexity, the equivocal, and
the noncopiousness of language. He also cast the problem against a transcendent backdrop: 'When the Almighty himself condescends
to address mankind in their own language, his meaning, luminous as it must be, is rendered dim and doubtful, by the cloudy medium
through which it is communicated.’”
_____
Conclusion: Delegates to the Constitutional Convention Did
Not Create An American Religious State
Marty’s ultimate findings on the debates of the Constitutional Convention
are as follows:
“[From] my reading of 2,387 pages of ‘cloudy medium’ . . . [i]t's clear . . . that religious
references in these primal republican political debates were rare and vague. In addition, almost no one found it easy to speak of
a Christian republic or to offer a consistent theological rationale of constitutionalism. The few sustained debates about
‘religious tests’ and ‘religious freedom’ treated the potential for religious monopolies, hegemonies or majorities-and even
religion itself-as a problem. Finally, the Madisonian devotion to pluralism won out over attempts to legislate metaphysical or
theological solutions or to privilege particular traditions. . . .
“[T]he founders' practical politics displaced and
left little room for sustained discussion of the metaphysical, metaethical and theological backdrop to constitutionalism. The
debates occurred at a time when there was enough Enlightenment talk about ‘Nature's God’ to compromise evangelical talk about the
God of the Bible in the affairs of the United States. When one contrasts outcomes in the United States with those in Europe, one
is tempted to conclude that the ‘godless’ Constitution and the reticent constitutionalists helped make possible a ‘godly’
people.”
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Orrin Hatch's Carefully- And Tepidly-Worded Personal Testimony Of The First Vision
| | Posted Aug 11, 2005, at 07:09 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | On CBS's 60 Minutes program, broadcast on 7 April 1996, Mike Wallace explained to a national audience Mormonism's tall tale of the First Vision--and then asked Utah Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch what he thought of the whole thing:
Mike Wallace: "[The Mormon] church says God and Jesus spoke with [its] founder Joseph Smith back in eighteen hundred and twenty and told him to start this church. . . .
"He was 14 years old . . . a backwoods farm boy . . . in New York State. . . .
"Fourteen years old, and God and Jesus come to see him? . . .
[Voiceover with footage of Hatch on U.S. Senate floor]
". . . [T]he senior US Senator from Utah, Orrin Hatch, a Mormon, believes it . . .
[Wallace interview with Hatch]
Orrin Hatch: "We believe that we know that this happened."
_____
Say what??? Rewind the tape.
Orrin Hatch: "We believe that we know that this happened."
"WE BELIEVE THAT WE KNOW THAT THIS HAPPENED?"
Lordy, it doesn't get much stronger than that. :)
*****
Source: http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | How Ezra Taft Benson and Spencer W. Kimball handled my Sabbath breaking
| | Posted Aug 11, 2005, at 07:06 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | In 1980, Mary Ann, myself and our small family moved from Virginia to Arizona, where I was soon to start a new job. We stopped off during our final leg in Salt Lake City.
At the time, my parents were in temporary living quarters, awaiting refurbishing of their new abode up on the East Bench of the Salt Lake Valley. Until that was done, they were living in a small home, directly next door to a house that was occupied by then-president of the Mormon Church, Spencer W. Kimball, and his wife, Camilla.
It was on Sunday when we pulled all we owned in a U-Haul truck over to my folks' borrowed home. We were on a tight schedule, heading down to Arizona the following morning, so we had to keep moving--literally.
My parents had given us some of their old furniture to use in our own home. It was in their house next to the Kimballs and, given our time constraints, I decided to go ahead and pack it into the back of our U-Haul, even though it was the Sabbath.
That same day, a guest at our parents' temporary residence happened to have been my grandfather, then-President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He had come over for a meal with the family.
Being a good Mormon boy at that time, I felt nagging pangs of guilt at the thought of packing up housewares on the Lord's day. So bad did I feel about this that I decided it was worth justifying my actions to my grandfather, in the hope that he would see our predictament as a good enough reaon for violating the thou-shalt-keep-the-Sabbath-Day-holy rule.
So, I said to him, "Grandpa, sometimes you have to pull the ox out of the mire."
I should have known better.
He responded unsympathetically, "Sometimes it's you who put the ox in the mire in the first place."
Ouch. Thank you for your support.
Despite his tough talk, I still had a new job to get to, so I went ahead with the van-loading anyway.
It was late afternoon as I began to pile my parents' donated furniture into the U-Haul. As I was standing at the back of the truck, who should come up to the fence behind me but Spencer W. Kimball.
I felt like a kid caught raiding the cookie jar, as all my sins passed before my eyes.
Fortunately, standing in his backyard just a few feet from me, Kimball's demeanor put me at ease soon enough. He was smiling and pleasant, dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and tie, no suit coat.
Still a bit nervous, however, and feeling a sense of guilt mixed with embarrassment, I explained to the Lord's Prophet, Seer and Next-Door Neighbor that I was having to load up the U-Haul on Sunday because me and Mary Ann needed to head south to Arizona early the next morning.
I further felt compelled to relate to Kimball the exchange earlier that day between my grandfather and me about my decision to go ahead and commit labor inside a U-Haul truck on the Lord's day of rest.
I told Kimball how I had explained to my grandfather that sometimes one is faced with the necessity of pulling the ox out of the mire.
I then repeated to Kimball my grandfather's response: "Sometimes it's you who put the ox in the mire in the first place."
Kimball smiled and said,"That sounds like something your grandfather would say."
Wow--and whew.
With that behind us, Kimball and I exchanged a few more pleasantries there at his fence, then he excused himself and walked back into his house through the rear porch door.
I returned to my task of stuffing furniture into the back of the truck, as Satan looked on approvingly.
A few minutes later, Kimball emerged from his house, walked across his backyard to the fence, smiled and handed me over the fence a plate of fresh tomatoes.
He told me his wife Camilla had picked them but didn't let me in on whether she had done so on Sunday.
I thanked him. Kimball smiled and went back into his house.
It was an interesting and insightful experience.
My grandfather had lectured me on breaking the Sabbath.
In contrast, Kimball had not passed judgment, instead letting me know that he would have expected my grandfather do say what he did, then gave me tomatoes from his own garden.
As they say, by their fruits ye shall know them.
And as the Savior said, he who is without sin, let him cast the first tomato.
_____
On that particular day, back when I was still in the tight grip of the not-too-hip Mormon Church, I thought Kimball was one cool dude.
My grandfather?
Well, I figured he was just being himself.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor...
| | | | Crossing Swords With Sandra Tanner Over Christianity, Miracles And Faith
| | Posted Aug 10, 2005, at 07:58 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Sandra Tanner, A Great Researcher with a Great Blind Spot
First, let me say that I owe much to
Sandra and Jerald Tanner for helping grease the skids in the direction of my eventual escape from the Mormon Cult.
Their invaluable assistance in that effort through rigorous, responsible and readily-available research was critical to my
freedom break.
Two of their works, in particular, were instrumental in helping me to crystallize in my own mind the
utter falsity of the LDS faith.
The first was their review of changes in the LDS Temple Endowment over time, leading
me to the unavoidable conclusion that it was nothing but a clunky, unimaginative and blatantly dependent rip-off from Masonic
lodge rites.
That Tanner-fueled conclusion ultimately led me to suspend my payment of tithing.
The second
significant impact that the Tanners' work had on my decision to leave Mormonism was their book, The Changing World of
Mormonism, a devastating compilation of historical evidences against Mormonism's defenses of its history, doctrines,
policies and practices.
Over the years, I have made many Mecca-like treks to the Tanners' bookstore in Salt Lake
City, across from the Franklin Covey ballfield on 13th South. There I have spent numerous hours, separated myself from hundreds
of my own dollars purchasing vital reading material and spoken, both in person and later over the phone, with, in particular,
Sandra.
In so many ways, she and Jerald have my deep respect and appreciation for all the years they have devoted to
shedding uncompromising light on the Mormon facade.
With that said as genuinely as possible, I nonetheless have a real
bone to pick with Sandra Tanner.
In a nutshell, she is not, in my opinion, equally as critically-minded or honest in
her research of Christianity as she is of Mormonism.
_____
Preparing to Duel with Sandra Tanner Over Her
Research Methodology and Mindset: A Close Encounter of the Christian Apologist Kind
A few years ago, I made one
of my stops at the Tanner bookstore. With me at the time was my friend Maxinne Hanks--excommunicated Mormon, outspoken feminist,
professional editor, and noted author of the book, Women and Authority.
After browsing through the Tanners'
bookstore and making some selections, I noticed that Sandra had taken up her usual spot behind a desk next to the front door,
where she would both ring out customers and engage in informal and informative discussions with her inquiring patrons.
I could not help but notice that many of the books in the Tanner establishment promote and defend both the faith and
historicity of fundamentalist Christianity.
The Tanners are, indeed, avowed Christians who operate their own
outreach ministry and who are uncompromising apologists for their own Christian belief system.
I did not want to
unnecessarily offend Sandra but had some basic questions I wished to ask her regarding her research and defense of
Christianity.
I knew, however, that it would be wise to approach these subjects somewhat delicately.
So,
as I approached her as she sat at her desk, I did so with cautious deliberation, asking the Lord's blessings to be with me
(OK, maybe not that last part but I was a bit apprehensive).
_____
Confrontation With Sandra Tanner
Over Her Double Standard
As I had done many times in the past, I sincerely relayed to Sandra how much I
appreciated her rigorous research on, and deconstruction of, Mormon doctrine and history.
In particular, I
mentioned her unparalleled contributions to exposing the Book of Mormon as a demonstrable fraud and 19-century artifact.
I told her how much I respected her work in conclusively demonstrating that the Book of Mormon was pure
fiction, both in its character development and its tale spinning--and that these conclusions could be amply, empirically
demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt to honest minds.
Sandra graciously took my compliments as I intended them. She
knows she's a stellar researcher in the field of Mormon studies and that realization shows both in her carriage and her
confidence.
Then I moved into what I discovered, soon enough, was a hostile minefield.
I politely asked
Sandra why she did not apply the same rigorous research approach, combined with a healthy dose of skepticism, to questions
regarding the historicity and credibility of the Bible--at least as uncompromisingly as she did to the Book of
Mormon.
As is Sandra's tendency when she senses she's facing a potential fight on her hands, she bristled and
became defensive.
She told me that unlike the Book of Mormon, the Bible was a legitimate, historical
record of actual, identifiable peoples who lived in documentable places and times--and, further, that these facts were
absolutely confirmed through archaelogical research which employed the Bible as a reliable reference and field guide.
For instance, there were, she pointed out, real Israelites who lived in a real city of Jerusalem. The Bible, she
reminded me, served as a valuable scientific roadmap for finding and identifying these populations and locales.
No
dispute there.
However, I mentioned to Sandra that the Bible's "miracle stories"--such as Noah's Flood, Jonah
being swallowed by a whale, Balaam's ass speaking in human tongue, Jesus walking on water and resurrecting himself and others
from the dead--could not be empirically proven through any kind of scientific appeal to the Bible.
That
book of Christian scripture, I told her, offers no compelling, testable evidence on which to conclude that these "miracle
stories" were actual, literal events.
At this point, Sandra was becoming increasingly upset. She scowled and the
corners of her mouth tightened. I figured she would hit back in short order, at least figuratively. And, indeed, she did.
But not before I proceeded apace, determined to get an answer, if I could, from her about what I saw as the clear double
standard in her research approaches to Mormonism vs. Christianity.
I asked Sandra why she was so obviously willing
to accept Biblical miracles as factual events but was not willing to similarly accept the miraculous tales found in the Book
of Mormon.
_____
Testimony-Bearing Time
Sandra looked back at me, her eyes flashing
angrily. She said, and I quote:
"I've had miracles in my life. I feel sorry for you."
End of discussion.
I thought I had just finished listening to a holier-than-thou Mormon bearing witness to the truthfulness of the
Latter-day Saint Gospel during a fast and testimony meeting.
I went ahead and purchased my items and bid Sandra a
civil good day.
She graciously bid me the same.
But we had definitely crossed swords--and maybe even drew
a little blood.
Sandra Tanner, the invincible and impeccable crusader against all things illogical and baseless in
Mormonism, had shown me a stubborn determination (born of an absolute faith-based conviction that she is unquestionably right)
for believing in Christianity.
The same kind of faith-based conviction that she criticizes Latter-day Saints for
invoking in behalf of their unwavering belief in Mormonism.
_____
Conclusion: Sandra Tanner and the
Mormons
In so many ways, Sandra Tanner and the Mormons are fundamentally different and at insurmountable odds
with one another.
But in one important respect, Sandra Tanner and the Mormons are solidly joined at the hip.
They both faithfully accept their respective religions on the basis of "miracles" which defy--indeed, do not (at least in
their minds) require--rational explanation or empirical proof.
The kind of rational explanation or empirical proof
that Sandra Tanner claims are reasons enough to reject Mormonism--but not enough to reject Christianity.
"I've had
miracles in my life. I feel sorry for you."
OK, Sandra, whatever you say.
Mormons say the exact same
thing about us, too, ya know.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Mike Quinn's Testimonial Road And Personal Trials Along The Way
| | Posted Aug 9, 2005, at 09:52 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | The following is a merger of earlier comments I made in response to questions about Mike Quinn and his present state of belief vis-a-vis Mormonism.
I added some personal information that I had learned directly from Mike about what he has been through, as well relaying some general knowledge from other sources, all which provide some background into the personal trials and difficulties Mike as experienced over the last few years.
In an earlier post, titled, "Information About Quinn, " "Mad_Viking" asked:
"Anyone know where I can find out about Quinn? . . . I have heard that he is still a believer. I am really perplexed by this. Any insight?"
I replied, referencing from a previous personal post :
. . . [O]ne other matter that I never brought up in my numerous previous posts on this board. It has to do with Michael Quinn, who has been a subject of discussion here lately, and deals with why he has chosen to remain a believer in the supposed truthfulness of Mormonism.
I have known Mike as a personal friend for several years and admire him greatly, both as an individual and as a scholar, although we disagree on some fundamental matters.
After I left the LDS cult in 1993, I had more than one occasion to talk directly, and in person, with Mike about his own perspectives and beliefs pertaining to Mormonism.
As I mentioned on this board before, Mike shared his testimonial belief with me that the Book of Mormon was a literal historical record of ancient and accurate vintage, that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to reveal His divine truth to the world, that through Joseph Smith the golden plates were translated and that following the death of Joseph Smith the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fell into apostasy through the corruption and sin of its leadership--and that this "falling away," if you will, of the Mormon Church from the purposes and designs of God's original 1830 restorative act, has continued up to the present time.
Mike told me that it was his belief that a second Restoration (i.e., one coming after the initial return of God's true Church to the earth in 1830 through the hands of Joseph Smith) was necessary in order to rehabilitate the Mormon Church and again make it the organization through which God would lead and guide His children on earth.
I asked Mike how he could believe such things, especially given what many have considered his devastatingly revealing historical dissection of Mormon origins and its extensions of power.
Mike acknowledged to me that he knew that his belief in Mormonism did not sound logical but that he nonetheless possessed a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon, of the prophetic calling by God of Joseph Smith and of the truthfulness of the Mormon Gospel as God's one and only true Church.
Now, what Mike also told me (which I have not shared before on this board) is a promise made to him by then-apostle Spencer Kimball, at the time Mike was still an active, temple-endowed, well-respected member of the Church.
Mike said that Kimball promised him that if he continued in faithfulness and obedience, he, too, would one day become an apostle.
"Mad_Viking" then asked, "So, was it your impression that he held on to his beliefs of Joseph Smith's divine mission, despite his admission of it being illogical, simply because of this statement made to him from Spencer W Kimball?"
I replied:
Mike Quinn told me he had a testimony of the Mormon Church as God's true Church; the gold plates as genuine, translated artifacts; and the mission of Joseph Smith as being God's chosen prophet of the Restoration.
Mike did not tell me that he held on to those beliefs in the hope that he would someday become an apostle (as then-apostle Spencer W. Kimball promised him, if Mike remained faithful), and I did not draw a link between the two because Mike did not make one.
His belief in Mormonism seemed more personal and much deeper than any anticipation of advancement through the ranks. It was a quiet, soft-spoken type of conviction about which Mike did not make a big deal--but to which he appeared truly committed.
I found Mike's testimony startling, incongruous and at significant odds with his unparalleled research that clearly, in my opinion, exposed the fraud, frailities and fictions of Mormonism.
But Mike's ultimate testimony in Mormonism seemed to rest on his belief that it was initially restored by God's hand in pure and true form, then became corrupted through the human-caused downfall of its leaders who subsequently followed Joseph Smith into power in the post-Smith era.
Mike Quinn holds on to the belief that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remains God's true Church on the earth--but that it is in dire need of a complete restorative overhaul in order to bring it back to its original integrity, purpose, luster and exaltation-providing power.
What is all the more amazing about Mike's deep-rooted faith is to see how his devotion to the basic claims of Mormonism has remained strong, despite all that he has been through.
At the peak of his career as an historian, Mike was a highly-regarded profesional in his field, both in out and of the Church.
Then, Mike's daring and ground-breaking research on the Mormon Church's deceptive practice of post-Manifesto polygamy (which the Church tried hard to keep hidden from the public) led to his excommunication on the grounds of apostasy.
Dallin Oaks, in particular, was bitterly incensed at Mike's decision to air his findings and told me personally that Mike was a person without character who could not be trusted.
Mike's stake president also darkly hinted to him that he was being investigated on "moral" charges (relating, in all probability, to Mike's honest acknowledgement of being gay).
Mike told me that his home phone was tapped (most likely by Mormon Church security), and that, moreover, he was able to verify the power drain on his telephone line (indicating a deliberate intrusion) through the use of special phone equipment. He said that the likelihood of the drain actually being a tap was supported by employees at the local SLC phone company.
Mike was also the subject of death threats. His heterosexual marriage of many years ended in divorce and his teenage son committed suicide by hanging himself in one of Salt Lake City's surrounding canyons.
Mike's professional career subsequently took a nose dive. He found himself unemployed and without the necessary grant funding to continue his historical research.
He moved to Mexico for a time to live with a friend and, at one point, was literally living day-to-day, hand-to-mouth.
Through it all, Mike has maintained his testimony in what he believes to be the truthfulness of the Mormon Church. This bespeaks a personal devotion greater than any hoped-for call to Mormon apostleship.
At this point in his life, Kimball's promise to Mike in that regard seems, shall we say, a tad out of reach.
Nevertheless, Mike's sincere belief in the LDS Church--a Church which in its depraved and destructive state has persecuted and maligned him--remains firm.
Go figure.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Giving Honest Answers To Honest People About Mormonism's Under-Explained Underwear And The Over-Protected Temples That Spawn It
| | Posted Aug 8, 2005, at 02:13 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | It's important to follow a policy of full disclosure when sincerely interested people make inquiries about the secret Mormon temple ceremony and its accompanying performance wardrobe of fundie undies.
After all, how many of us ex-Mormons would have greatly appreciated knowing a lot more about Mormonism's temple unmentionables a lot earlier in our own lives?
Certainly, inquiring minds are not going to get the full scoop from the LDS Church spin machine, its sales-pitching missionaries or its indoctrinated, cagey members who regularly lie, fudge, divert or otherwise put up smokescreens in order to protect their cult religion from meaningful scrutiny.
Back in 2002, I was given the opportunity to speak at a national convention of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The audience was overwhelmingly non-Mormon and many had questions about the LDS faith. It was a chance to speak directly, honestly and without inhibition to rational, intelligent and curious people about what really goes on behind Mormonism's thick temple doors--as well as what goes on to the behinds of Mormons in the form of their secret underwear.
Below is the text of my remarks. For photos of demonstrations that took place during the presentation, see: http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2002/dec02/benson.php
*****
Thanks for this wonderful "Emperor Has No Garments" statue.
During her presentation last night, Julia Sweeney talked about how meeting Mormon missionaries helped drive her to atheism. You know, Julia, it had the same effect on me.
I was a Mormon missionary and, like Julia said, we used to go door-to-door, two-by-two, bringing God's message to the unsuspecting people of Japan. As Julia said, in doing so, we announced that we were, indeed, messengers from God.
I remember one evening in Okinawa, when my missionary buddy and I were out working the neighborhoods. I was brand new at this--what they called in the business a "greenie." It was my turn to do what was known as "the door approach."
We stood at the entrance of one home and, as is the custom in Japan, I declared our presence by loudly yelling out in Japanese, "Please excuse us!"
A tiny Japanese woman slid open her front door and seeing two ugly Americans, immediately fell to her knees and bowed her face to the floor in the traditional Japanese greeting.
It was then my turn to speak. I had memorized my door approach but didn't understand a word I was saying. (Kind of like speaking in tongues without knowing what tongue.)
I told the woman in Japanese, "We are messengers from God." We looked a little strange, so---who knows?--maybe she believed us.
I then said, "We have brought a special message for you and your family." Then I asked, "Is your husband home?"
She replied, "No, he isn't."
I said, "We'll be back in this neighborhood next week and would like to drop by when he's here."
At that point, the Japanese woman started to laugh, covering her mouth with her hand and "tee-hee-heeing." The Japanese are a very polite people, so for her to start laughing in my face was highly unusual. In fact, she kept on laughing and wouldn't stop, so I just gave up and we left the porch.
Walking down the street, I turned to my missionary buddy and said, "What happened?"
He said, "Well, you told her we were messengers from God and that we were bringing a special message to her and her family. You asked if her husband was home.
"When she said 'no,' you said, 'We'll be back in this galaxy next week.' "
Mormons do indeed live on another planet. In fact, they actually believe God lives on a planet called "Kolob" with his innumerable polygamous wives--and that if Mormons do what he tells them, after they die they, too, can become gods just like him, create lots of worlds, make millions of spirit babies and be Masters of the Universe.
Which leads me to this "Emperor Has No Garments" award.
When Mary Ann and I left Mormonism, we pointed out that the Mormon emperor had no clothes.
But he still has garments. ("Garments" is the term for Mormonism's magical underwear.) I don't think that those two nice Mormon boys told Julia about this, so--what the hell--I will.
I'm sure you've seen Mormon temples out in the neighborhoods where you live--those big, tall edifices with an angel statue perched on top, costing millions of dollars, and that no one is allowed to enter, unless you're a good Mormon who has first agreed to pay the admission fee: 10% of your gross income for the rest of your life.
Devout Mormons go through a secret ceremony in their temples called the "endowment." During the endowment, they are each given a special set of underwear and told to wear it night and day for the rest of their lives, except when they take a bath, have sex or play sports.
Workers in the temple ceremony tell Mormons during their initiation that this "garment of the Holy Priesthood," as it is called, will be "a shield and a protection" to them against both physical harm and the devil.
Mormons are also told never to reveal what I'm telling you to anyone outside the temple, or they'll be in big trouble with God. That means I only have a few minutes left to educate you about this before he strikes me dead.
The fact that I am sharing these things with you would be considered highly offensive by devout Mormons and even others. But the reasons for talking about them here are well expressed by Richard Packham, a former Mormon and retired attorney:
"The rituals in the temples--especially the 'endowment'--are considered so sacred that Mormons are forbidden to discuss them outside the temple itself.
"Even non-Mormons sometimes object to articles [giving an 'overview of the nature of Mormon temples and their rituals'] since they reveal Mormons' religious secrets to a curious--and perhaps unworthy and even mocking--world.
"Many people, not only devout Mormons, feel that it is wrong to do this. Usually two reasons for the objection are given: 1) things that anyone holds sacred should not be profaned, mocked or ridiculed by anyone else, even by one who does not consider them sacred; and 2) the person who is revealing the secrets usually is someone who obtained the secrets only by swearing an oath of secrecy, and thus is breaking an oath.
"As to the first objection, it seems pointless to refuse to discuss objectively and openly any subject just because someone else feels that subject is taboo. I doubt that many Mormons would refuse to discuss the sacred initiation rituals of some primitive African tribe or some Satanist cult on the grounds that the tribe or cult considered those rites sacred.
"As to the second objection, the validity and binding nature of an oath or any promise depends, both legally and morally, upon the validity of the mutually accepted facts underlying the demanding and the giving of the oath.
"The oath of secrecy given by a Mormon in the temple is based on the assurance and sacred promise that the oath is required by God, and that the secrets one will receive are given by God. If that assurance is in fact false, then one cannot be bound either legally or morally by any such oath, since it was obtained by a lie."1
The secret Mormon temple ceremony was copied from the Masons in the 1840s by Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, who himself was a Freemason.
Sewn into the Mormon garment, over the right and left breasts, are the Masonic symbols of the square and compass, signifying exactness and honor in following God.
Over the right knee of the garment is sewn another mark, reminding the underwear wearer that every knee shall bow to God. There is also one sewn over the navel, indicating that God is the ultimate source of nutrition--so you'd better not put a belly button ring there.
Mary Ann and I have made a miniature set of the Mormon underwear (kind of like a paper doll cut-out) and stuck them on this little Emperor guy, if you'd like to come up afterwards and take a closer look.
When Mormons are given their new underwear, they're also given a new name that they will eventually be known by in heaven. Mary Ann's was "Deborah." Mine was "Ezekiel." (My pet macaw's name is also "Ezekiel.")
Armed with their new name and new underwear, Mormons then go through a temple ceremony in which they learn secret handshakes and passwords that they believe will be required for admission into God's presence in the Mormon heaven.
When Mary Ann and I went through our temple endowment back in 1977, the ritual included oaths of secrecy in which we all simulated taking our own lives by slitting our throats from ear to ear and being disemboweled--representing the punishments we would incur if we ever dared reveal the secret handshakes and passwords. (And you thought Mormons were just good family folk who spent all that time in their temples baking cookies to bring over to their neighbors.)
Mormons take other secret oaths in the temple, including promising to give everything they have--including their lives--if demanded, to the Mormon Church.
They also promise to obey their church leaders and to never say bad things about them (in temple jargon, to not engage in "evil speaking of the Lord's anointed").
In the temple, Mormons are also secretly married to each other "for time and all eternity."
Since only worthy Mormons can enter the temple, non-Mormons are barred from attending the wedding ceremony, even if you're the parents of the bride and groom.
As a tract distributed to visitors at the recent opening of the Mormon temple in Bedford, Oregon (before it was closed to the public), explains:
"No music, no poetry, no photographs are allowed during the short wedding ceremony in the temple. (Although the bride may wear a traditional white wedding gown, she must wear the ritual temple clothing over the gown)."
The tract also mentions another little-known fact that goes on behind the walls of the Mormon temple:
"Most Mormons attending the temple rituals are doing so as proxies for the dead, in order to qualify the dead for admission to the Mormon heaven.
"Probably most of your ancestors have already been posthumously inducted into the Mormon Church. The Mormons have done this for millions of dead people (this is the primary purpose of their extensive genealogical research), including deceased presidents of the U.S., many Catholic saints, and even Adolf Hitler."2
So, there you have it.
I'd better stop now, before the Mormons slit my throat.
Thank you very much.
1. Richard Packham, "Mormon Temples and Temple Rituals"
2. "Mormon Temples: Facts that the Mormons probably don't want you to know, by a former Mormon"
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | The Truth On Post-Manifesto Polygamy That Got Mike Quinn Excommunicated--And The Private, Pathetic Response Of Two Mormon Apostles To Quinn’s Expose’
| | Posted Aug 8, 2005, at 07:17 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: What Got Michael Quinn Canned?
Inquiries have recently been made on this board about what constituted the basis for the excommunication of D. Michael Quinn from the Mormon Church for supposed "apostasy."
Not coincidentally, prior to getting the ecclesiastical axe, Quinn--a noted historian and former tenured BYU professor--had written at least six articles for the LDS Church’s premiere magazine, the Ensign, as well as had published several more in the LDS-owned and operated journal, BYU Studies.
http://www.lds-mormon.com/sepsix.shtml
_____
As to what exactly prompted Quinn’s expulsion from Mormonism’s ranks, RfM poster, "Mad_Viking," asked the following:
"In light of [Quinn's post-excommunication expression of his personal testimony in the truthfulness of the Mormon Church], it is simply amazing that he would maintain faith. I amhonestly baffled by it.
Is the research that got him excommunicated available to the public?"
(Mad_Viking,”Re: No, that was not my impression," Recovery from Mormonism Board, 4 August 2005, 1438 hours)
_____
Yes, Quinn's research on the subject is publicly available.
In a nutshell, Quinn’s ”sins'" were having had published in the Spring 1985 issue of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, a devastating historical account of the shell game played for decades by the Mormon Church in its deliberate campaign of misdirection and misinformation.
Quinn’s Dialogue article has been praised thusly:
”This essay is one of the best pieces of Mormon literature we have. [Quinn] went to Gordon [B.] Hinckley before he ever published this essay and showed him what he had. He then told . . . Hinckley that if he did not want it published then [Quinn] would not publish it. . . . Hinckley toldMike that he needed to do what he felt best so [Quinn] published it because he felt it dealt with a very sensitive issue that needed to be addressed.”
http://www.lds-mormon.com/quinn_polygamy.shtml
_____
Quinn himself explained the post-Manifesto reasons for his excommunication in his article, “On Being a Mormon Historian (and its Aftermath)”:
“In 1985, after Dialogue published my article ‘LDS Church Authority and New Plural Marriages, 1890 - 1904’, three apostles [Boyd K. Packer, Mark E. Petersen and Ezra Taft Benson] gave orders for my Stake President to confiscate my temple recommend. Six years earlier, I had formally notified the First Presidency and the Managing Director of the Church Historical Department about my research on post-Manifesto polygamy and my intention to publish it . . . Now I was told that three apostles believed I was guilty of ‘speaking evil of the Lord's anointed.’ The Stake President was also told to ‘take further action’ against me if this did not ‘remedy the situation’ of my writing controversial Mormon history. . . .
"I told my Stake President that this was an obvious effort to intimidate me from doing history that might ‘offend the Brethren’ (to use Ezra Taft Benson’s phrase). . . . The Stake President also saw this as a back-door effort to have me fired from BYU. . . .
“At various stake and regional meetings, Apostle Packer began publicly referring to ‘a BYU historian who is writing about polygamy to embarrass the Church.’ At firesides in Utah and California, a member of BYU’s Religious Education Department referred to me as ‘the anti-Christ of BYU.’ . . . Church leaders today seem to regard my post-Manifesto polygamy article . . . as ‘speaking evil of the Lord’s anointed’ because they themselves regard certain acts and words of those earlier Church leaders as embarrassing, if not actually wrong. I do not regard it as disloyal to conscientiously recreate the words, acts and circumstances of earlier prophets and apostles. . . . .
“No one ever gave me an ultimatum or threatened to fire me from Brigham Young University. However, University administrators and I were both on the losing side of a war of attrition mandated by the General Authorities. . . .
“On 20 January 1988, I wrote a letter of resignation, effective at the end of the current school semester. . . . I explained [that] ‘the situation seems to be that academic freedom merely survives at BYU without fundamental support by the institution, exists against tremendous pressure and is nurtured only through the dedication of individual administrators and faculty members.’ . . .
“Three months after my departure, it angered me to learn to learn that BYU had fired a Hebrew professor for his private views on the historicity of the Book of Mormon. Although I personally regard the Book of Mormon as ancient history and sacred text, I told an inquiring newspaper reporter: ‘BYU officials have said that Harvard should aspire to become the BYU of the East. That’s like saying the Mayo Clinic should aspire to be Auschwitz. BYU is an Auschwitz of the mind.’ . . .
“When BYU’s Associate Academic Vice-President asked me if that was an accurate quote, I confirmed that it was. ‘Academic freedom exists at BYU only for what is considered non-controversial by the University’s Board of Trustees [meaning the Quorum of the Twelve] and administrators,’ I wrote. ‘By those definitions, academic freedom has always existed at Soviet universities (even during the Stalin era). . . .
“It is . . . my conviction that God desires everyone to enjoy freedom of inquiry and expression without fear, obstruction or intimidation. I find it one of the fundamental ironies of modern Mormonism that the General Authorities, who praise free agency, also do their best to limit free agency's prerequisites --access to information, uninhibited inquiry and freedom of expression.”
(Quinn, D. Michael. “On Being a Mormon Historian (And Its Aftermath).” In Smith, George D., ed. Faithful History: Essays on Writing Mormon History [Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1992], pp. 91-95).
_____
The Complete Text of Quinn’s Explosive Essay
Quinn's essay on post-Manifesto polygamy that so propelled paranoid Mormon leaders into hanging him can be found at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/quinn_polygamy.shtml
But wait, there’s more.
Now, as they say, some more of the story. :)
_____
Years Later Amongst the Quorum of the Twelve: Babbling Baloney About History and Bubbling Bitterness Over Quinn
Additional sordid details behind the excommunication of Quinn seeped out some eight years after his post-Manifesto essay was first published.
These facts were provided by two of the Mormon Church's highest henchmen—“Apostle-ologists” Neal A. Maxwell and Dallin H. Oaks.
On 9 September 1993, my wife Mary Ann and I met with Oaks and Maxwell in Maxwell's Church office, #303, located in the Church Administration Building, in downtown Salt Lake City.
We had approached them with a list of detailed and wide-ranging questions about fundamental doctrines, teachings, practices and policies of the Mormon Church that significantly troubled us--and about which we felt we deserved credible and straight-forward answers.
In the broad sense on the polygamy question, we wanted to know from these pre-eminent damage controllers why the Mormon Church had not been more forthcoming and honest with its history with regard to the official practice (and later blatant denial of) polygamy.
Then, specifically, we wanted to know about what I have subsequently referred to as “the mystery of history, and those who tell the truth about polygamy--without permission."
In that meeting with us, “good cop” Maxwell offered unconvincing rationalizations for the Mormon Church’s failure to be honest and forthcoming about its practice of polygamy.
“Bad cop” Oaks followed up by launching a shockingly shabby attack on Quinn’s personal integrity.
_____
Maxwell's Murky Meanderings
In answer to the larger inquiry, Maxwell cagily replied by noting that the process of writing history is frustrating, complex and incomplete.
He handed us a photocopy of a sermon. (The copy turned out, I discovered later, to be a talk Maxwell himself had delivered during the 1984 October General Conference entitled, “Out of Obscurity.” However, the single sheet excerpts that he handed to us contained no title or author, although it had been marked up in red ink for our benefit. Maxwell’s address ultimately appeared in the General Conference issue of the Ensign, 10, November 1984, p. 11).
Quoting from a "Tribute to Neville Chamberlain," delivered in the British House of Commons, 12 November 1940, Maxwell’s sermon declared:
"History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days."
The sermon then addressed what Maxwell verbally described to us as the definition of history: a collection, he said, of "floating mosaic tiles":
"The finished mosaic of the history of the Restoration will be larger and more varied as more pieces of tile emerge, adjusting a sequence here or enlarging there a sector of our understanding.
"The fundamental outline is in place now, however. But history deals with imperfect people in process of time, whose imperfections produce refractions as the pure light of the gospel plays upon them. There may even be a few pieces of tile which, for the moment, donot seem to fit . . .
"So, belatedly, the fullness of the history of the dispensation of the fullness of times will be written.
"The final mosaic of the Restoration will be resplendent, reflecting divine design and the same centerpiece—the Father's plan of salvation and exaltation and the atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ."
What Maxwell’s excuses lacked in clarity, Oaks’ made up for in character assassination
_____
Oaks' Vicious Personal Attack on Quinn
While Oaks was much less colorful than his charming so-charlatan Maxwell, he was much more direct in dealing with the substance of our question.
Oaks acknowledged that he had read Quinn's article on post-Manifesto polygamy, covering the period from 1890 into the early 20th century.
Oaks also confessed that the Mormon Church had not, in fact, been honest about its practice of polygamy during that time. He admitted that the case, as laid out by Quinn, was, infact, true. Oaks admitted that, in his opinion, lies had indeed been told by Mormon Church leaders about the continuing practice of polygamy after it supposedly was ended by the Manifesto of 1890.
But enough of admitting Church wrongdoing.
Oaks then proceeded to attack Quinn personally by accusing him of breaking his word.
Oaks said that Quinn had been given access to all of J. Reuben Clark's papers for the purpose of writing a book on Clark's years of Church service. Oaks said he had assured the Church that Quinn was credible, in order that Quinn could be given access to those records. Oaks noted that shortly after Quinn's research was published on Clark, out came Quinn's article on post-Manifesto polygamy.
Quinn, Oaks told us angrily, had violated Oaks' confidence. He accused Quinn of having taken more information out of Church archives than he had been given permission to examine and research, going in.
Oaks said that Quinn was not an innocent victim in this affair. Oaks informed us that he subsequently wrote Quinn a letter, in which he expressed his "deep disappointment" with him and telling Quinn he had exceeded the limits of their original understanding.
In that letter, Oaks further said, he told Quinn that he now regarded him as someone who could not be trusted. Oaks added that Quinn would not tell us about these things, if asked, because of Quinn's involvement.
On that last point, I wanted to see for myself.
In August 2001, in a personal visit with Quinn at a gathering in Fort Worden, Washington, hosted by a group of gay Mormon fathers (where Mary Ann and I had been invited to speak), I recounted to him Oaks' version of events and asked him for his own recollections.
Visibly agitated but in a controlled and quiet voice, Quinn emphatically denied that he had violated any research agreement with the Church Historical Department.
He told me that it was clearly understood going in that he had open access to archival materials.
_____
Conclusion: A Final Word on Michael Quinn
Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell, I know Michael Quinn.
Michael Quinn is a friend of mine.
You are no Michael Quinn.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Autopens And Other Ezra Taft Benson-Related Deceptions For Controlling The Members
| | Posted Aug 3, 2005, at 07:19 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Use of the "Inspired" Ezra Taft Benson Autopen Signature Machine to Deceive His Own Kin
The device was not only questionably employed by my grandfather's First Presidency counselors to sign away his powers of attorney for running the Mormon corporate empire, it was also used regularly by my grandfather's office staff when composing and dispatching letters supposedly written and/or dictated by him to members of his own family.
I regarded the practice as an attempted deception of ETB's flesh-and-blood relatives by his appointed and anointed handlers, who thought they were doing God's work--dishonest as it was.
For instance, Benson family members were provided gift copies of my grandfather's biography, written by Sheri Dew and sanitized for public consumption by faith-promoting censors occupying the Benson inner circle.
Enclosed with each book to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren was a letter supposedly personally written and signed by my grandfather.
All the signatures--not to mention the wording of the letters--were exactly the same.
Likewise, we received fairly lengthy letters of several paragraphs containing long, complex sentences and thought patterns--again, allegedly written and signed by my grandfather.
Unfortunately, they were supposedly written by him at a time when his deteriorating mental and physical state was becoming quite apparent to family members who had actually had the occasion to visit him up close and personal.
(Not all family members, however, were willing to admit that Ezra Taft Benson was steadily slipping away. To this day, some--particularly among certain Benson women who, curiously and inexplicably enough, were among my strongest family critics when I left the Chuch--continue to exhibit profound denial that Ezra Taft Benson was significantly incapacitated in his role as "prophet").
Nonetheless, my grandfather, in reality, could not talk to us in those face-to-face encounters like he could supposedly write to us in those ghost-authored letters.
Moreover, the signatures on the letters matched exactly signatures from other letters. Compared side by side, they were obviously artifically penned.
Typically, below each "signature" would be my grandfather's typewritten name. Unfortunately, sometimes the autopenned name and the typed name on the same letter were not exactly the same. One might, for instance, say "ETB" while the other would say "Ezra Taft Benson," or some other obvious variant mismatch.
It was clear that the autopenned hand didn't always know what the typewritten hand was doing.
"Holy Ghost-Guided" Attempts at Bamboozling the Believers Through Misleading Photos
I also observed other deliberate efforts to misrepresent my grandfather's state of health, to both members of the Church at large and members of his own family.
For example, I saw my father, Mark, and my grandfather's personal secretary, Gary Gillespie, congratulating each other on a Church News cover photograph take of my grandfather.
It showed my grandfather, pleasantly smiling, seated in a chair, dressed in a nice Sunday suit.
It was a carefully posed, prop-and-crop shot.
The smile was that of a man in the twilight haze of creeping mental enfeeblement.
There is Beauty All Around, When There's Sleight-of-Hand at Home
Efforts to manipulate my grandfather's appearance extended even to private family gatherings.
I recall, for instance, being in my grandfather's apartment one afternoon, where I asked if I could get a photograph with him and other members of the family in front of a large, idealized painting of the Benson clan commissioned while ETB was Secretary of Agriculture.
(The artist had painted a cat on the lap of my young aunt Beth, although she did not actually pose with a cat. Ironically, that approach to creating an artificial reality was to unfold as I attempted to get a family photograph in front of that very painting).
My grandfather was confined, by this time in his life, to a wheelchair, in which he sat silently and stoop-shouldered.
I was puzzled by how my father kept repositioning my grandfather's wheelchair after I had already situated him for the photograph.
I'd angle the wheelchair one way for what I though was the best lighting and composition, only to see my father, without comment, move in to abruptly change the setup.
After this had happened a couple of times and I was becoming somewhat frustrated, I realized what my dad was doing.
He was trying to keep the camera from capturing the breathing tube inserted up my grandfather's nostril.
It's a sad metaphor, really.
The Mormon Church has been, since its fanciful inception, desperately attempting to rearrange its elements, its history, its doctrine, its image and its leaders--all in a vain attempt to hide the truth from those in and out of the flock.
Only if one insists on keeping one's eyes squeezed shut can the deception be missed.
From Father to Son: Keep Quiet or You'll be Barred from Seeing Your Grandfather
When I finally went public about the Church's relentless efforts to misrepresent my grandfather's health, I received a call from my father.
He told me that I must not talk to the press about my grandfather because, he declared, the press was an enemy of the Church.
I reminded him that I was a member of the press.
My father responded by telling me that if I ever in the future spoke to the media about my grandfather's health, he would see to it that I would never again be allowed to see my grandfather.
I was stunned.
My father sternly reminded me that it was his duty to protect his father and the Lord's prophet, Ezra Taft Benson, to look after the interests of the Kingdom and to uphold the faith.
He further reminded me that he had been specifically asked by Ezra Taft Benson to move back to Utah from Texas so that he could perform those duties, as commanded by his prophet-father.
This, for me, was a final straw among many straws. (I had already determined that the temple ritual was a Masonic rip-off, that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarized 19th-century fairy tale and that Mormon prophets weren't good at prophesying or at understanding the real world. Now, I was faced with a family showing me the exit if I didn't keep my mouth shut).
I said to my dad, "Do you realize what you are saying? In the name of protecting the Church and the prophet, you are threatening to break up this family. If that's the kind of Church this is, I want out."
It was an emotional and agonizing moment, but a defining and liberating one, as well.
My father--perhaps taken aback by my instinctive revulsion at his conditions for family unity--agreed to reconsider his threat and a few days later implored me to remain in the ranks, but by then I had seen all the light I needed to find my way to the escape hatch.
Within weeks, my wife and I had left the Mormon Church.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Anti-Black Joking In The Benson Household: Does Mormon Doctrine Breed Racism Or Merely Feed Racism?
| | Posted Aug 2, 2005, at 08:19 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: The Mental Illness of Prejudice
As the old saying goes, "Which came first--the bigot or the
egg?"
In my workplace office is a large poster of several infants outfitted in diapers, representing a wide range of
hues and ethnicities. They are lying closely and comfortably next to one another, looking quite content.
The
caption of the poster reads, "No one is born hating."
Indeed, prejudice is taught. It is a learned, irrational and
ignorant behavior which can, conversely, be rationally and consciously unlearned.
Racist Quotes from Elohim's
White and Delightsome Servants
That purging process, however, is made all the more difficult in the face of
pernicious statements like these from the poison-filled mouths of the Mormon God's "prophets:"
"From the days of
the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that
the Negroes arenot entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel." (letter from the First Presidency of the LDS Church, 17
July 1947, as cited in John J. Stewart, Mormonism and the Negro, 1960, pages 46-47)
_____
”Let us
consider the great mercy of God for a moment. A Chinese, born in China with a dark skin, and with all the handicaps of that race
seems to have little opportunity. But think of the mercy of God to Chinese people who are willing to accept the gospel. In spite
of whatever they might have done in the pre-existence to justify being born over there as Chinamen, if they now, in this life,
accept the gospel and live it the rest of their lives they can have the Priesthood, go to the temple and receive endowments and
sealings, and that means they can have exaltation. Isn't the mercy of God marvelous?
“Think of the Negro, cursed as
to the Priesthood.... This negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the
earth in thelineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa — if that negro is willing when he hears
the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the
Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of
baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He
will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory. . . .
"Now let's talk segregation again for a few
moments. . . . When the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and
some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation. . . .
"Who placed the
Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God? And when He placed them there, He segregated them. . . . At
least in the cases of the Lamanites and the Negroes we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that He placed a dark skin upon
them as a curse . . . He forbade intermarriage . . . He certainly segregated the descendants of Cain when He cursed the Negro as
to the Priesthood, and drew an absolute line. You may even say He dropped an Iron curtain there. . . .
"We must not
intermarry with the Negro, Why? If I were to marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would all be cursed as to
the Priesthood. Do I want my children cursed as to the priesthood? If there is one drop of Negro blood in my children, as I have
read to you, they receive the curse. There isn't any argument, therefore, as to inter-marriage with the Negro, is there? There
are 50 million Negroes in the United States. If they were to achieve complete absorption with the white race, think what that
would do. With 50 million Negroes inter-married with us, where would the Priesthood be? Who could hold it, in all America? Think
what that would do to the work of the Church!
"Now we are generous with the Negro . . . I would be willing to let
every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of
life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to
change that segregation? . . . What God hath separated, let not man bring together again.” (Mark E. Petersen, "Race Problems
— As They Affect The Church," address to the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University,
Provo, Utah, 27 August 1954)
_____
"Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no
circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. . . . The gospel message of salvation is not carried
affirmatively to them . . .
"The Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual
blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom, but this inequality is not of
man's origin. It is the lord's doing . . ." (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1958, p. 477)
_____
"Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. . . .
[The] Negro brethren [have a] black covering emblematical of eternal darkness." Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to
Perfection, pp.101-02)
_____
”Cain slew his brother. . . . and the Lord put a mark upon him, which
is a flat nose and black skin.
"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who
belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This
will always be so. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290; and Vol. 10, p. 110)
*****
Bigotry Close to Home--and In It
I listen to the bigoted utterances
of many a faithful "modern-day" Mormon--most of whom would stoutly deny having a racist bone in their bodies--and am shocked at
what I hear.
Have they no clue as to the ugly and demeaning nature of their racist comments and attitudes?
When I was an infant, my parents and I lived in Washington, D.C. My mother later laughingly told me of the time she and my
father hired an African-American woman to babysit me while they went out for some socializing.
My mother said she
instructed the Black caretaker to clean the premises while they were gone. When they returned, my mother claimed, they found
that the woman had washed the dishes using the same bucket of water with which she had first mopped the kitchen floor.
Smiling, my mother said to me, "I gave her a banana and sent her home."
In many ways my mother is a kind, gentle,
loving, wonderful woman.
But in so many other ways she is a trapped and blinded Mormon.
_____
Then there's Evan Mecham.
He was the short-serving Mormon governor of Arizona who was impeached, convicted and
removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Before he was shown the door by the Arizona Legislature, he
managed to offend all manners of stripes and colors with his publicly-spewed litany of racist slurs.
When Mecham
rescinded an official state holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., he defended his action by saying, "Blacks don't
need holidays. They need jobs."
Mecham assured Arizonans that he had hired Blacks at his car dealership not because
they were Black, but because they were "the best for the cotton-pickin' job."
Mecham defended the patronizing racial
slur "pickaninnies," claiming that it was actually a term of "endearment" which African-American parents themselves supposedly
used when referring to their own children.
Recounting how on atrade mission to Japan where he told a group of
golf-loving Japanese businessmen that there were 200 golf courses in the Phoenix area, Mecham said, "You should have seen their
eyes get round."
Oddly enough, Mecham couldn't seem to figure out why people were offended.
_____
Are Mormons afflicted with the disease of deep-seated, overt racism caused by having been brainwashed in the doctrine of
Mormonism's White supremacist cult or have they simply been ignorantly led into a sort of lazy, inattentive sort of patronizing
outlook toward those who don't happen to be White?
My next-door neighbor--a jovial, warm, elderly Mormon fellow who
was also our hometeacher--one day met our youngest daughter (who was then six years old) walking down the sidewalk near our
home. He bent down and said (referring to our daughter's close friend who lived on the next block), "How's your little Chinese
friend?"
Our daughter replied, "She's not Chinese. She's just people."
That same gentleman was eventually
fired by the local school district where he had for years served as a substitute high school teacher, after students complained
of his inappropriate conduct. It was discovered that he would crack anti-Hispanic jokes in class when he noticed Latino students
at the desks.
When he was handed his pink slip, he told me in what appeared to be sincere disbelief that he couldn't
fathom why the students became upset or, ultimately, why the school district canned him. I had warned him that these racist jokes
of his were inappropriate but he paid no heed.
_____
Conclusion: Mormonism's Lure for Racists
Does LDS doctrine breed or feed racism?
Does it do both?
I'm just sitting here, shaking my
head and glad I had the sense to finally bolt Mormonism's blue-suited version of the Ku Klux Klan.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | CNN's Claim That Mormon Membership Is 3 Million - And The Lack Of An Official Mormon Church Response
| | Posted Jul 29, 2005, at 11:28 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | A few months ago, Anderson Cooper, of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" fame, filed an investigative report on polygamy in Colorado City, Arizona.
During the course of his presentation, Cooper noted that the Salt Lake City-based Mormon Church had a membership of "3 million." Not 3 million active members, but 3 million members, period.
I have heard virtually no official LDS response to Cooper's claim, in which it has contested those numbers.
Could it be that if the Mormon Church actually stepped forward to dispute Cooper's memberhsip math with numbers of its own, it would lead sharp-smelling reporters to request to see LDS membership records that supposedly verify whatever number the Mormon Church might claim constitutes its actual, total membership?
I smell a rat. The official LDS silence on Cooper's coast-to-coast numbers story is deafening.
The Church's telling lack of a response might well indicate that the Mormon Spin Machine would rather remain mute on Cooper's report than run the risk of being asked to produce an actual roll call, which could be quite embarrasing for the Church in light of what have very likely been its over-inflated membership numbers claims in the past.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | How A Toe Led To Complete Forgiveness Of Sin
| | Posted Jul 29, 2005, at 08:21 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Priesthood blessings can surprise the hell out of you.
Ask and ye shall receive--sometimes more than you asked for.
Back when I was still in the Mormon Church, I had a health scare. A large, flat mole had suddenly appeared on the inside of one of my toes. I showed it to Mary Ann, mentioned it to my parents and they immediately recommended that I fly to Salt Lake for examination by a friend and neighbor cancer specialist.
I agreed to go but before heading out of Phoenix for the Land Northward, I decided to ask for a priesthood blessing from a member of our ward who was a friend of mine.
This fellow was our stake mission leader (under whom I had served as a missionary) and was very faithful and, well, intense.
He had joined the LDS Church as a California convert from Zen Buddhism, after having risen to top-level black belt status in the martial arts.
He studied and believed in white magic, was convinced that Joseph Smith was a practitioner of white magic himself as inspired by God to divine truth through its use, was a devoted fan of B.H. Roberts notions on the nature of the Mormon Godhead and (I learned later from him in a private conversation) had actually built himself a temple altar in his master bedroom, where he would don his complete Mormon temple clothing set and kneel at it every evening to beseech heaven in the True Order of Prayer before retiring for the night.
Anyway, before flying up to Utah to have my toe tested, this ward brother and buddy came over to our home to give me the requested blessing. He entered our home, solemn and soulful, having spent some time beforehand fasting and praying to properly prepare for the moment.
He commenced with the blessing, slowly and deliberately anointing my head with oil, laying his hands upon my head and, in a dramatic voice, promising me that through the power of God's holy oom-pah-pah, I would be healthy and cancer-free.
Then came the bombshell.
With his hands still on my head, he announced that God had forgiven me of all my sins.
Nice.
After the purging was completed, I politely thanked him and flew off to Zion, where my toe mole was excised and analyzed by my parents' oncologist and declared to be benign.
Meanwhile, my sin-eradicating blesser friend eventually got divorced; moved to Provo to work for Stephen Covey's mega self-help corporation as a consultant, lecturer and author; got tangled up in a messy lawsuit against Covey; left Mormonism; found a girlfriend, phoned me out of the blue peppering his language with F-this and F-that., then moved to Las Vegas, where I haven't heard from him since. (His daughter, however, who had been one of our kid's best friends, did call and told us how grateful she was that her dad was now normal).
By this time, I, too, had left Mormonism.
My, how things change.
But praise be to Elohim, at least my black-belted, white magic-led, temple altar-building friend had, through the power of the mighty priesthood, forgiven me of all my sins before both he and I lost our lease in the Celestial Kingdom and fell from grace.
Amen, ramen and say when.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | No Pearls From This Swine: What Boyd K. Packer Was In Favor Of (as Opposed To), When It Came To The ERA
| | Posted Jul 28, 2005, at 09:01 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Great Moments in Mormon Misogeny
The following golden nugget of nonsense is from LDS Apostle Boyd K. Packer's talk, "The Equal Rights Amendment," (8 January, 1977, Pocatello ID, manuscript copy, pp. 25-26).
For the full text of this hodgepodge of claptrap, see: http://www.fairlds.org/apol/ai138.html . Under "Ensign Articles," click on "Boyd K. Packer, 'The Equal Rights Amendment,' Ensign, March 1977, 6."
Take it away, Boyd:
"One might ask . . . if you are against the Equal Rights Amendment, then what are you for?
I am for the equitable enforcement of existing laws. There are sufficient of them to protect the rights of women and of children and of men. Or to enact judiciously and wisely any needed legislation to correct particular circumstances.
I am for protecting the rights of a woman to be a woman, a feminine, female woman; a wife and a mother.
I am for protecting the rights of a man to be a man, a masculine, male man; a husband and a father.
I am for protecting the rights of children to be babies and children and youth, to be nurtured in a home and in a family.
I am for recognizing the inherent God-given differences between men and women.
I am for accommodating them so that we can have physically and emotionally and spiritually stable, happy individuals and families and communities.
Without that, when the floods come, in the end what will really be worth saving?
May God bless us and preserve the sacred institution of the family, to the end that this generation and future generations can be preserved. May He bless fathers and mothers and their children to be happy in the life pattern He has ordained."
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | The Hinckleys And The Bensons
| | Posted Jul 25, 2005, at 08:36 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | What is the relationship between the Hinckleys and the Bensons?
Well, that is a delicate question which I cannot presently address in much detail because of confidentiality concerns.
Let me just say, however, that Gordon B. Hinckley has grumped behind closed doors that he thinks the Benson clan is crazy.
Whether that declaration constitutes officialy-sanctioned modern-day revelation from God to His Church on the earth might be a matter of debate, but certainly is not disputed by many. :)
Hinckley has also been known to sarcastically criticize Benson family members to his friends.
Hinckley reportedly has also has been very inquisitive (some might say overly and inappropriately personal) in grilling members of the Benson family regarding their private lives, in areas where Hinckley appears to have an unusual and obsessive interest.
Meanwhile, the Benson TBMs who I know continue to dutifully follow the "living prophet," but still preferentially, reverentially and proudly adorn their homes, parlors, desk tops and entryways with portraits of Ezra Taft Benson--their very own in-house dead prophet and grander-than-life royal family patriarch.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Beware of Plagiarism: Compelling Evidence That Ezra Taft Benson's Heralded "Beware Of Pride" Talk Was a Deliberate and Blatant Rip-Off
| | Posted Jul 25, 2005, at 08:30 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: Ezra Taft Benson’s Much-Loved “Beware of Pride” Sermon and How It Came to Be
Among faithful
Mormons, one of the most famous and appreciated talks attributed to my grandfather (and I use the term “attributed”
deliberately) was entitled “Beware of Pride.”
As one Mormon commentator has declared:
“['Beware of Pride'
is] [p]erhaps the best remembered of all Ezra Taft Benson's talks. . . .
[M]embers from all over the political spectrum
love and agree with him here. This talk is NOT controversial, but loved.”
http://www.zionsbest.com/top25.html
Likewise, in
a glowing obituary of my grandfather, the sermon was mentioned as follows:
"Continuing to help set the Church in order
and perfect the Saints, he delivered another landmark address entitled 'Beware of Pride' . . ."
http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/people/Benson_EOM.htm
Actually, the sermon
was not delivered by Ezra Taft Benson himself but, instead, read from the pulpit by First Counselor in the First Presidency
Gordon B. Hinckley on 1 April 1989 during the Saturday morning session of the 159th Semi-Annual LDS General Conference.
http://www.budgetmaster.net/bewareofpride.html
Not only was the sermon delivered by someone else, persuasive evidence has surfaced that a person other than
Ezra Taft Benson actually researched and wrote the talk. That individual’s identity is known and will be revealed below.
Further evidence also overwhelmingly points to the conclusion that the text of my grandfather's pride talk was itself
borrowed, without attribution, from the writings of another author, who will also be identified herein.
Hence, the
assertion of admirers that “this talk is NOT controversial” is becoming less accurate as the facts surrounding its actual genesis
become more well known.
The sermon is, in fact, controversial because much of it consists not of the
actual words or ideas of Ezra Taft Benson, but of words and ideas which were stolen from others, researched by others and
written by others.
_____
Ezra Taft Benson's Sermon on Pride Was Plagiarized From the Writings of C.S.
Lewis
The following question was asked of me a couple of years ago:
”Did ETB steal from C.S. Lewis? .
. . The first time I read the C.S. Lewis passage, I nearly fell out of my (TBM) chair. ETB’s talk as so clearly lifted in large
part from Lewis and nary an acknowledgment to be heard. Usually such a gaffe by a well-known person gets a lot of coverage, and
yet I have never heard . . . any admission or apology. What say ye? Any info?" ("Bobby D," Recovery from Mormonism board,
14 June 2003, 01:58)
Likewise, another questioner followed up with a more recent inquiry::
"Was CS Lewis
the author of the pride sermon from ET Benson? Where can that be found? Anyone know?" ("novel-t," Recovery from Mormonism
board, 20 January 2004, 20:19)
The answer is a definitive yes.
Significant portions of Ezra Taft
Benson’s pride sermon were directly lifted from, influenced by, and cobbled together from the writings of Christian apologist
C.S. Lewis--specifically from his book, Mere Christianity, under the chapter of “The Great Sin” (C.S. Lews, Mere
Christianity, New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1952, revised and enlarged).
_____
The Proof:
Line-Upon Line, Plagiarism Upon Plagiarism
A line-by-line comparison of the text of both documents provides clear
and convincing evidence that a major source source for Ezra Taft Benson's talk on pride was the earlier work of C.S. Lewis.
Moreover, this blatant and heavy borrowing, both in terms of wording and concept, was done without attribution.
Examples of these plagiarisms are listed below, by category.
_____
Pride is the Ultimate
Vice
Lewis
"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride." (p. 109)
Benson
"Pride is the universal sin, the great vice."
_____
The Competitive Nature
of Pride
Lewis
"Pride is essentially competitive--is competitive by is very nature . . .”
(p. 109)
". . . Pride is essentially competitive in a way that other vices are not." (p. 110)
"Pride is
competitive by its very nature." (p. 110)
“Once the element of competition has gone, pride is gone. That is why I say
that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not.” (p. 110)
Benson
"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. . . .
”Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites,
and passions to go unbridled."
_____
The Proud See Themselves Being Above Others
Lewis
"A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking
down, you cannot see something that is above you." (p.111)
Benson
“Most of us consider pride
to be a sin of those on the top, such as the rich and the learned, looking down at the rest of us.”
_____
The Proud Also Look From the Bottom Up
Lewis
“When you delight wholly in yourself
and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom.” (p. 112)
Benson
“There
is, however, a more common ailment among us and that is pride from the bottom looking up.”
_____
Pride Equals Enmity
Lewis
"Pride always means enmity--it is enmity. And not only
enmity between man and man, but enmity to God." (p.111)
Benson
"The central feature of pride
is enmity--enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowman."
“Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as
rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers.”
“Another
major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellowmen.”
_____
Pride and
Self-Value
Lewis
"You value other people enough to want them to look at you." (p. 112)
Benson
"The proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have value or not."
_____
Pride vs. Humility
Lewis
"The virtue opposite to it [pride],
in Christian morals, is called Humility." (p. 109)
“ . . . if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will,
in fact, be humble—delightfully humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about
your own dignity which had made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this
moment possible . . .” (p. 114)
Benson
"The antidote for pride is humility . . . "
“Choose to be humble. God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble.”
_____
Pride Not Admitted in Self
Lewis
"There is one vice of which
no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and which hardly any people,
except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves." (pp. 108-09)
Benson
"Pride
is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves."
*****
Only once in ETB's sermon was proper credit given to C.S. Lewis as a source:
"The proud make every man their
adversary by pitting their intellects, opinions, works, wealth, talents, or any other worldly measuring device against others. In
the words of C. S. Lewis: 'Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. . . .
It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride
has gone' (Mere Christianity [New York: Macmillan, 1952, pp. 109-10)."
_____
The Identity of the
Individual Who Researched and Wrote Ezra Taft Benson’s “Beware of Pride” Sermon
Several years ago, my wife, Mary
Ann, and I visited with May Benson, wife of Reed Benson (Ezra Taft Benson’s oldest child), in their home in Provo, Utah, during
which time the subject of pride and my grandfather’s sermon on the matter was a focus of conversation.
The first
occasion was prior to the public delivery of Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon by Gordon B. Hinckley in the April 1989 General Conference
and the second visit took place after the speech.
May told us she had very strong feelings about the subject of pride.
She was especially offended and concerned with what she regarded as the Benson family's own problems with pride.
(In
fact, she had gotten up in disgust and walked out of a wedding breakfast for my sister Meg, when one of the daughters of Ezra
Taft Benson, Beverly Benson Parker, as she was listening to the father of the groom, Cap Ferry, make some remarks to the
assembled, leaned over and whispered self-righteously to others at the table, "Well, we know which family was blessed with the
spirituality").
May told us she had put together quite a few thoughts on the subject of pride that she hoped someday
to compile and publish in a book.
However, after my grandfather’s pride sermon was delivered, May told us that she no
longer felt it necessary to publish her hoped-for book. Why? Because, she informed us, her husband, Reed, had spoken with Ezra
Taft Benson about her research on the topic.
May was clearly indicating to us that her information and study efforts
had been used in crafting my grandfather’s sermon on pride.
However, the true extent of May Benson's involvement in
that effort was not shared with us by her and did not become evident until some time later.
Reliable sources in Provo
subsequently informed me of rumors that May herself may have worked on Ezra Taft Benson’s sermon.
This I was able to
confirm relatively recently from a credible source inside the Benson family who knows May quite well, who was familiar with the
situation and who wishes to remain anonymous.
The source told me in a face-to-face meeting that May Benson,
daughter-in-law of Ezra Taft Benson through marriage to his son Reed, traveled to St. George, Utah, where over a period of
several weeks “she wrote his talk.”
_____
Conclusion: Finally Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
It appears that those responsible for the production and delivery of Ezra Taft Benson's "Beware of Pride" sermon were
themselves too prideful to acknowlege that:
--(1) the sermon was largely plagiarized from the earlier works of a noted
Christian writer; and
--(2) the sermon was actually ghost-written by a woman doing research on the talk for an
uninspired Mormon "prophet."
Praise to the man who depends on a woman. :)
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Orrin Hatch On "Anti-mormonism," His Efforts To Protect Paul H. Dunn From Media Investigation And Other Little Tidbits
| | Posted Jul 22, 2005, at 03:49 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Comments on Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are made on this site from time to time.
I thought it appropriate, therefore, to offer some observations from my own experiences with him which I have had over the years.
My Personal History with Hatch
I have known Orrin Hatch for over a quarter of a century, going back to the late 1970s.
During that time, Hatch and I have had several conversations, both in person and by phone.
I first became acquainted with the Utah Senator when I worked on Capitol Hill for a Senate committee.
Hatch's office and the one in which I was employed were in the Russell Senate Office building, right off the Hill, where I would visit with him on a fairly regular basis.
At Hatch's request, I drew his caricature, along with those of members of his family, and was invited to his home for dinner in Vienna, Virginia.
Hatch , in personal letters to me, expressed friendship and concern, as well as noting that he was praying in my behalf.
He also mailed to me a copy of a CD collection of religious hymns he had personally composed and then had set to piano music.
Hatch's Quest for the American Presidency and His Views on Homosexuals
When Hatch was running for the Republican nomination for the presidency a few years back, I received a long distance call from him one afternoon as I was cleaning out the garage at our Arizona home.
Hatch was on the stump at the time, in the Midwest, and told me that he could use a cartoon from me supporting him in his run for the nomination. I politely sidestepped his request.
Later, when he came through Phoenix for a campaign debate and dropped by my newspaper for a visit, I provided him a copy of a cartoon I had previously done on him, which had criticized Hatch for anti-gay comments he had made in which, among other things, he had expressed public gratitude that he was not a Democrat and in which he noted that the Democratic Party was the party of the homosexuals. Hatch, in attacking gay supporters, also noted that Democrats tended to be more educated and financially well-off than Republicans.
When I handed him ta copy of my cartoon that took him to task for such antics, Hatch assured me that he had been misquoted. and misunderstood.
Hatch's Use of Ezra Taft Benson as a Springboard into National Public Office
Hatch has often repeated to me over the years that what especially encouraged him to enter national politics was the strong support he received from my grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson.
My grandfather, in fact, acknowledged to me in personal correspondence that he regarded Hatch as a good man whose voice was sorely needed in the Senate and as a person who he hoped t would be in Congress for a long time to come.
Hatch and His Personal Use of Profanity
A few years ago, Hatch spoke by invitation to a national convention for the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, held in Orlando, Florida. I attended the event, where I had provided assistance for Hatch's appearance before our group.
Hatch was quite a hit with my fellow cartoonists.
After he had finished his formal dinner speech to us in Orlando, Hatch spent a couple of hours lounging with a group of cartoonists in the hotel lobby, regaling them with stories about him and his friends on the Hill.
He pleasantly surprised many of those present by freely using the "sh**" word, as he entertained them with tales about rubbing shoulders with government luminaries, including the likes of Teddy Kennedy, whom Hatch regards as a close personal friend.
(This was nothing new to me. I had frequently heard Hatch employ profanity when he would invite me to visit with him in his personal Senate office quarters).
After the gabfest was over, I accompanied Hatch to his hotel room, where we sat and talked, one-on-one, for another hour or so.
Hatch's Further Designs on Winning the White House and His Thoughts on "Anti-Mormon" Literature
Hatch told me some interesting things about himself, about the Mormon Church and about his plans for higher office.
He confidently informed me that he was familiar with "anti-Mormon" arguments and that there was no criticism of the LDS Church that he either had not heard before or could not answer.
He boasted that he had, in fact, personally read over 10,000 pages of "anti-Mormon" material. He said that his thorough knowledge of the "anti-Mormon" position had favorably impressed a University of Utah professor in whose class he was enrolled as a college student.
I questioned Hatch's working knowledge of evidence against the Mormon Church, informing him that there was developing, mounting and credible data, much of it only recently made available, persuasively indicating that the Book of Mormon was a piece of 19th-century fiction.
I mentioned, in particular, Vernal Holley's work on the Spaulding Manuscript (which in my own studies had provided pivotal proof that Joseph Smith's production was non-historical), as well as geographical place-name similarities between supposed Book of Mormon lands and events and the topography of Great Lakes region of the United States.
Hatch did not demonstrate any knowledge of these specific counter-evidences but dismissed my arguments nonetheless, saying that his own research of Mormonism while in college had made him well aware of the critics' positions.
That aside, Hatch then confidently assured me that he would find much grassroots support among the American people in a run for the presidency.
Doing the math, he told me that all he needed was $1 contributions each from a million citizens and he would have $1 million for his campaign war chest.
I responded by telling Hatch that, in my opinion, he would never be elected President of the United States and gave him three reasons why:
- His opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment
- His brutal mistreatment of Anita Hill during the Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas. (Hatch responded that he had not inappropriately questioned Hill, while acknowleding to me that he knew Thomas had had "problems with pornogrpahy at Yale" but that this was an issue from "a long time ago").
- His membership in the Mormon Church
As is typical of the Hatch bravado, he blew off my observations.
Hatch, Paul H. Dunn and Efforts at Manipulating the News
In the spring of 1990, when I was working at the Morning News Tribune in Tacoma WA, Hatch called me at my office and asked me to get my colleagues at the Arizona Repubic in Phoenix to stop their investigation of Paul H. Dunn.
Hatch told me that Dunn was a personal friend of his and that he was concerned about what the reporters' inquiries were doing to Dunn.
The Republic investigation that bothered Hatch was centering around Dunn's credibility problems arising from Dunn's alleged exploits as a combat soldier in World War II--stories which were eventually exposed as outright fabrications.
I asked Hatch if he was familiar with the charges against Dunn. He replied that he was not. I told Hatch that I could not, in good conscience, interfere with investigative reporters who were just doing their job.
Hatch thanked me and said he might get back to me.
He never did.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Mormonism Stands For "The Dignity Of Women"--And For Men, "The Apex Of Authority"
| | Posted Jul 22, 2005, at 09:33 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Now Playing, the Mormon Cult Film: “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
It is astounding, and tragic at the same
time, how the Mormon Cult has done such an effective job at roto-rootering the minds of its members, convincing them that the
highest level of existence one can hope for is a world where there is no equality between the sexes or independent thought
between the ears.
It is especially sad to see so many Mormon women lured into believing that the LDS Church actually
honors and respects them as unique individuals.
In fact, the opposite is true: Mormonism has done nothing less
than to transform Mormon women into beasts of burden for the men who "rule the roosts;" to define for women their "proper" role
in life; and to convince them to do, and to be, what Mormon man-gods command.
This, women are promised by Mormonism’s
sexist soothsayers, will bring them days of personal happiness, lives of glorious fulfillment, mountains of self-respect and
blessings eternal and forever.
The trouble is, of course, that the real world doesn't work that way.
Try as
hard as they might to convince themselves otherwise (thanks to the relentless pressure from Mormon male authorities to listen and
obey), millions of Mormon women end up being depressed, despondent and resentful of their telestially testosteroned task masters.
Who can blame them?
Truth be told, the temple name for a good many of these manhandled Mormon women
should be “Prozac.” Present them at the Veil and their prescription shall be granted.
For countless women trapped in
the Mormon Cult, it could just as aptly be known as “The Church of, Jesus Christ! Happy I Ain’t.”
What is so
unfortunate is to see young Mormon women who—like their male counterparts are brainwashed from the crib—stand before audiences
and robotically recite the Restoration’s Rhetoric of Repression.
The Proof is in the
Puddin’-Heads
I recently came across a talk given as part of a school assignment by one of my TBM siblings.
The Mormon Jesus would have undoubtedly been proud.
As pups, recall how we were constantly being obedience
trained by our masters in the LDS kennels of home and church, so that we could, on command, perform stupid Mormon tricks in
public.
Like presentations before classmates that hold Neanderthal Man up as a role model for young girls and boys.
Across the top of the front page of this talk was the handwritten name of my sib and underneath it were scribbled the
words, “Approx. 4-and-a-half minutes.”
4-and-a-half-minutes to mess up lifetimes for gullible, insecure, manipulated
and mistreated Mormon females everywhere.
Go for it.
The subject of this diligent discourse was the ERA.
The Equal Rights Amendment: Tool of Satan, Menace to Mankind
This amendment’s defeat
at the hands of the God’s Church was, of course, declared by Mormon Maledumb to be an absolute moral imperative, ordered from
Heaven Above.
The text of my sib’s talk—carefully crafted in a combination of youthful pencil scrawls, inked notes
and typed outlines on both blank and lined paper—unfolded as follows:
"The so-called 'Equal Rights Amendment' for
women has far-reaching effects that the public is not being told.
"This amendment has been ratified by 30 states
already, and a total of only 38 is needed for it to become Constitutional Law.
"The amendment, on the surface, seems
to be 'just the thing,' but the public is not being told the truth about its far-reaching objectives and results. Among other
things, the amendment would:
"1. Make women subject to the draft, including combat duties;
"2. Nullify
state laws concerning marriage and divorce . . . mak[ing] every wife in the U.S. legally responsible to provide 50% of the
financial support of her family;
"3. Bar the states from imposing greater liability for support on a husband than on
a wife, [and] eliminate Social Security benefits and protective labor laws that women now enjoy;
"4. Destroy the
natural foundation of marriage and the home;
"5. Force married women to leave home and children for work;
"6. Lift from the husband and father any special obligations to support his family;
"7. Accord to Yale law
professor, Thomas Emerson, the amendment would 'prohibit the states from requiring that a child’s last name be the same as his
father’s or mother’s . . . would invalidate sex laws . . .seduction and rape laws; invalidate laws especially designed to
protect women . . . from being forced into prostitution . . . 'etc.
"8. Integrate rest rooms in public places,
including schools; demand--by law--associated locker rooms, showers and [public] rest rooms; integrate prisons sexually. . .
integrate both boys’ and girls’ physical education classes in high schools and colleges . . . knock out present laws protecting
women and girls from sexual crimes, such as statutory rape . . . Wipe out a woman’s present freedom of choose to take a paying
job or to be a full-time wife and mother supported by her husband.
"These are just a few of the manifestations
of the Amendment!
"Yet, there is one thing that the Equal Rights Amendment does not agree to provide. And that is the
guarantee of better paying jobs, promotions and better working conditions. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act and other laws
already guarantee women ”equal pay for equal work” and need only to be enforced to ensure women equal opportunity.
"Where any form of hysteria sweeps the land, reason is submerged. Today we are witnessing a form of hysteria in the push by
the states of the nation to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment which roared through both Houses of Congress with lop-sided
majorities.
"Basically, the amendment provides for the establishment of what it calls 'equal rights' for women. I
believe, however, that instead of elevating women it brings them down to the level of men who, under existing statutes, are
burdened with heavy responsibilities.
"Man, in his legislative wisdom, through the years has been fashioning laws and
customs that were calculated to protect, dignify and even enable women and the family unit.
"The entire foundation of
our society is based upon the family, with the father assuming the apex of authority.
"This mainstay is undermined
with the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, for it would neutralize the obligation of a husband and a father to support
his wife and children. Think of what a precious right this is. Yet, it will be one of the prime casualties if the amendment
wins ratification.
"Sorry, but the ERA will inevitably make for the splitting of homes.
"This outrageous
proposition now trumpets, in one shrill cadence, that there are no differences between the sexes. The ERA assumes that both
sexes have the same hopes, the same instincts, the same ambitions and the same strength and durability, while every fact of
nature tells us it isn’t so.
"May I close with a statement by Dr. Jonathan H. Pincus, Professor of Neurology at the
Yale Medical School:
"'I would predict that the Equal Rights Amendment and many of the other goals of its proponents
will bring social destruction, unhappiness and increasing rates of divorce and desertion. Weakening of family ties may also lead
to increased rates of alcoholism and suicide.'
"May we as Americans uphold the dignity of women and the sacredness of
the family and give an overwhelming 'No' to the mis-named 'Equal Rights Amendment.'
The Mormon
Ability to Get Women to Denigrate Themselves Into Depending on Men
It takes a village to raise a child.
It takes a Cult to warp one
Welcome to Mormonism--Land of the Walking Wounded, the Psychologically Battered,
the Deeply Insecure, the Permanently Depressed, the Individually Unidentifiable.
At least they’re properly obedient
to the men folk.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Mormon Women Are Subservient? But How Can That Be? They've Got Relief Society
| | Posted Jul 21, 2005, at 07:48 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: From Sonia Johnson to Emma Smith and Beyond
Back in 1980, Mary Ann and I lived in
McClean, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., where we had relocated after I graduated from BYU with a degree in political
science and, with Mary Ann and our two small children, headed east to do a post-graduate internship with a Senate committee on
Capitol Hill.
At the time, national debate was raging over the Equal Rights Amendment. In the forefront of opposition
to the ERA were legions of devout and manipulated Mormons who (with the omnipresent support and encouragement of their Salt Lake
City puppet masters) were ominously warning that passage of the ERA would result in unbelievably dire consequences (up but not
limited to) the complete meltdown of society as we know it.
Thanks in large measure to the time and money expended
by the Mormons in lobbying against it, the ERA was defeated in 1983.
As many remember, at the center of the ERA
battle was then-(and soon-to-be excommunicated) Mormon feminist Sonia Johnson. Like most faithful Latter-day Saints who shelved
their brains in favor of obedience to the Lord’s oinked and anointed, I, too, opposed passage of the ERA. On the bright side of
that mindless decision, however, Johnson’s bold stand for the ERA eventually piqued my curiosity enough that I bought her book,
From Housewife to Heretic: One Woman’s Struggle for Equal Rights and Her Excommunication from the Mormon Church (Garden
City, New York: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1983). http://www.ffrf.org/day/?day=27&month;=2
It was one of the first genuinely critical assessments of
Mormonism that I had ever deliberately obtained in order to try and understand the “other side.” Johnson’s compelling story,
written in a tone of courage and outrage, helped plant the seeds for my own dissent with, and eventual escape from, Mormonism. .
Johnson’s personal story—that of a strong, independently-minded Mormon woman who was oppressed and abused by a
misogynistic patriarchal society—also led me to seek out two other books which helped me immensely in my liberation from
Mormonism’s lunacy:
The first of those two was Richard S. Van Wagoner’s book, Mormon Polygamy: A History
(Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1992) http://www.lds-mormon.com/polygamy.shtml
I read Van Wagoner’s work with a combination of
jaw-dropping amazement and stomach-turning disgust a few months before Mary Ann and I left Mormonism. Its sweeping exposure of
polygamy helped me, like no other resource, begin to fathom the nature and scope of the oppressive Mormon institutional mindset
that served to suffocate and enslave women at the hands of a male-invented-male-run-for-the-benefit-of-males Church.
The second book, which I read shortly after Mary Ann and I left the Mormon Church, was Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith
by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994) http://www.irr.org/mit/enigma.html The psychological torture and
abuse that she suffered at the hands of her conniving, manipulative, narcissistic and sexually-predacious husband sickened and
angered me.
That is why I now look back with a sense of bewilderment mixed with chagrin at the time in my past when I
swallowed the lie—hook, line and sinker—that the Mormon Church supposedly accepted, respected and treated women as human beings
deserving of equal treatment both under the law and within the norms of a fair and just society.
Papering
Over the Truth About Mormonism’s Mistreatment of Women
During the height of the ERA battle in the spring of
1980, a Mormon friend of mine—first name of “David”—wrote a refutation research paper for an English class at local community
college in Virginia, entitled, “THE MORMON FEMALE—A SUBSERVIENT WOMAN?”
I am sorry to have to admit this but back
then as a fully-endowed Mormon man-child, I assisted my friend in providing some of his research.
But, hey, he ended
up writing the damn thing and sticking his name to it, whereas I have since done the required penance by making my bolt from the
Cult.
What can one say but, “Live, learn and leave”?
Below is the text of my friend’s effort, several
copies which he gave to me. Little did either of us know that one day it would be presented to the world on the Recovery from
Mormonism website, where it is destined to be mocked , derided and debunked through time and all eternity .
The
essence of my friend’s position is the patently absurd, and historically untenable, notion that Mormon women enjoy equal status
with men in the LDS Church.
Read this piece of apologetic nonsense and enjoy picking it apart:
In an
interview with the Salt Lake City-based Deseret News on November 23, 1979, Richard Johnson, estranged husband of
excommunicated Mormon Sonia Johnson, declared the view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Mormon] to be “that
the man stands aloft and the woman is subservient.”
Implicit in Mr. Johnson’s statement is the charge that, compared
to their male counterparts; Mormon women are denied positions of dignity, trust, and responsibility within the Church. It is the
purpose of this paper to point out the inaccuracies of Mr. Johnson’s claim and, in doing so, to clarify the actual role of women
in the Mormon Church.
By way of brief background, much of the public misunderstanding regarding the status of women in
the Church as arisen from national interest in the Church’s position on the Equal Rights Amendment, kindled in large measure by
the much-publicized trial and excommunication of feminist Sonia Johnson. The Church has officially gone on record as opposing
the ERA, which it regards as “a moral issue with many disturbing ramifications for women and for the family as individual members
and as a whole.”
In criticizing the Church’s position, Mrs. Johnson told a meeting of the American Psychological
Association in New York City that Mormon males are the “real oppressors” of women in the Church. Similarly, Mrs. Johnson, before
an audience of students at the University of Utah, declared that male leaders were guilty of a “savage misogyny”—or hatred of
women—in claiming to hold them in high regard while denying them equal power with men.
In defense of his wife and in
what he claims to be a “contrary” position to the view of the Mormon Church, Mr. Johnson says he “support[s] her belief in
equality for the sexes.”
However, an examination of both the official statements made by high-ranking Church
authorities and of the Church’s actual policy toward its women members clearly shows that Mr. Johnson’s assertions are
unfounded.
In February 1980, the Mormon Church published a pamphlet for members and non-members alike entitled, The
Church and the Equal Rights Amendment—A Moral Issue, in which the Church officially declared itself to be “firmly committed
to equal rights for women.” While it is true that Mormon women do not hold the priesthood, this is not regarded in Mormon
theology as lowering women to a “subservient level.” Indeed, as stated by John A> Widstoe, a former leader in the Mormon Church
hierarchy:
“In the Church there is full equality of man and woman. The place of woman in the Church is to walk
beside the man, not in front of him or behind him. There can be no question in the Church of man’s rights versus woman’s
rights.”
An example of the unique and vital role played by women in the Church is seen in the history and operation of
the Church’s “Relief Society,” the oldest national women’s organization in the United States. According to Belle S.
Spafford—former president of the Relief Society and past president of the National Council of Women, who has, since 1947, served
as a voting delegate from the U.S. Council to the International Council of Women—the creation of the Relief Society signaled “the
actual beginning of organized effort for women’s emancipation from restraints that had for years encumbered her full development
and usefulness.” Mrs. Spafford’s assertion regarding the leading role played by the Relief Society in the American women’s
movement is based on her observation that, prior to the organization of the Relief Society in 1842, “the rise of the American
woman” had enjoyed only “faint beginnings.”
The Relief Society was created in response to an appeal from Mormon women
to Church leaders that the women be organized in order to more effectively serve the Church and people in general. The Relief
Society was subsequently organized according to parliamentary procedures, with its major aims being to strengthen motherhood and
encourage women’s learning, as well as to stimulate involvement in religious, compassionate, cultural and community pursuits.
Under the direction of the presiding authorities of the Church, the women were “authorized to direct, control and govern the
affairs of the society . . . in the sphere assigned to it.”
Mormon women were thus, from the very beginning, granted
positions of dignity, trust and responsibility in the Church. Their mental capacities were recognized, together with their right
to develop their talents in full.
In fact, almost since the founding of the Church in 1830, Mormon women have enjoyed
the right to vote on religious matters, a privilege which elsewhere at that time was permitted for only a few men and no women.
In addition to the right to vote on the sustaining of Church officers and on the appropriation of Church funds, Mormon women, as
well as men, participate in vocal prayer, classroom instruction and congregational speaking. The exercise of these rights is
openly encouraged, as can be seen by attending any Mormon worship service.
On the political front, the Relief Society
was instrumental in helping to further the cause of women’s suffrage. In 1888, it was represented at the National Women’s
Suffrage Convention which convened in Washington, D.C., and whose central figure proved to be Susan B. Anthony. The chief
outcome of this convention was the formation of the National Council of Women of the United States, to be made up of national
women’s organizations or organizations whose programs were of national importance for women’s rights. The International Council
of Women was also formed, to consist of national committees participating from the nations in attendance at the convention.
In a preliminary meeting to the convention, Miss Anthony encouraged all participants to maintain the platform principles
so “that our platform may be kept as broad as the universe, that upon it may stand the representatives of all creeds and no
creeds—Jew or Christian, Protestant or Catholic, Gentile or Mormon, page or atheist.” Years later, Ida H. Harper, author of the
Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony, expressed her gratitude to the women of the Relief Society “who were loyal and helpful
to Miss Anthony to the end of her great work.”
Not until 1929, however, was the 19th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution adopted, granting American women the right to vote and hold public office. Significantly, Utah women had been
granted suffrage by a predominantly Mormon Utah State legislature 50 years earlier and were thus to emerge as prominent figures
in the national women’s suffrage movement.
Membership roles of the Relief Society have expanded from only eighteen in
1842 to approximately 900,000 women 18 years of age and over, representing many nationalities and operating in 64 countries. Its
programs and instructional materials are currently translated into 17 different languages. In keeping with is open door
membership policy, non-Mormon, as well as Mormon, women participate in Relief Society activates.
In addition to
sponsorship of this worldwide organization, the Church encourages its members to work “energetically for appropriate change”
where specific laws and practices are know to discriminate against women. This encouragement is based on official Church
recognition “that there have been injustices to women before the law and in society.” Examples of equality for women which merit
Mormon support include equal pay for equal work; non-discrimination in hiring practices when a male and female apply for the same
positions and are equally qualified; and equality in education, credit eligibility, housing and public accommodations.
From the evidence cited above, it is clear that the Mormon Church recognized and fully supports all efforts by women to develop
their full potential as human beings—to enrich their mental capacities, to develop their talents and to increase their skills—so
that they may offer the world that which will be most productive, regardless of the direction their lives may take.
Richard Johnson has attracted media attention while assuming the role of speaking for the Church regarding the position of
women within its ranks. Whether or not this self-appointment is justified cannot dismiss the fact that, once made, Mr. Johnson
took upon himself the responsibility to fairly portray the views of the Church he chose to represent. Unfortunately, in claiming
that the Mormon Church regards the woman as “subservient” to the man, he has completely misrepresented both the words and actions
of the Church through its 150-year history.
*****
Well? :)
Click
Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | What Do Mormonism's Alleged "Prophets, Seers and Revelators" Really Know?: From Their Own Lips
| | Posted Jul 18, 2005, at 08:04 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Introduction: What Do Mormonism's General Authorities Really Know About the Supposed Truthfulness of the LDS Church--and How
Do They Supposedly Know It?
A question often asked by those re-examining their Mormon faith is whether the General
Authorities of the LDS Church genuinely believe the Church is true.
They may believe it, but do they really know
it?
And are they forthright with the Mormon membership about what they say claim either believe or know?
Based on my personal contact with some of Mormonism’s highest leaders, obtained through conversation and correspondence, the
answers to these questions is simply "No."
President Ezra Taft Benson
My grandfather's
testimony of Mormonism, as expressed to me repeatedly over the years in personal discussions and correspondence, was rooted in
two basic beliefs:
The Book of Mormon
He fervently believed that the Book of Mormon was the
revealed word of God and an actual historical document. From what I was able to observe, he never, for a moment, questioned its
authenticity.
That said, however, I never personally heard or saw him analyze or critique the Book of Mormon in
any real depth on issues relating to its alleged historicity, authenticity or reliability.
In private, his feelings
about the Book of Mormon were not as resounding or convincing as they were when he was behind the pulpit
My
grandfather did admit to me, one-on-one, that even though he insisted the LDS Church was not neutral on the question of organic
evolution, one could argue for or against it from the same Mormon scriptures.
In other words, for all his
publicly-expressed confidence in the Book of Mormon, in this particular instance he was not nearly as emphatic or
confident in private as he appeared in public about the surety of LDS scripture.
Nevertheless, his hesitancy on that
question was not enough to shake his unbending faith in the authenticity of the gold plates.
To my grandfather, they
were without question the translated word of God, serving as a pillar of unshakeable, personal, testimonial faith.
Ranking second only to revealed Mormon scripture in battling what he called godless Communism, he told me, were the
publications of the John Birch Society--which he told me by letter every American should have access to.
The
Ranking Leaders of the Mormon Church
My grandfather unquestioningly believed, and simply accepted, that the
highest leaders of the Church--most notably, the LDS President and the First Presidency counselors, together with the Quorum of
the Twelve--were inspired by God in leading the affairs of the Mormon Church.
He insisted that all must follow the
Brethren devoutly--and without skepticism
For example, when he called me one snowy, wintry day in Provo, Utah (at the
behest of my distraught mother) to tell me to break off my engagement to Mary Ann, he introduced himself by saying, "Stephen, I'm
not calling as your grandfather, but as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve."
He did, however, privately
acknowledge to me that these Church leaders were human, that they made mistakes, that they did not always agree among themselves
on doctrinal matters (such as on the official Church position on organic evolution) and that some matters about which they
disagreed among themselves (again, such as with organic evolution) were not necessary to one's eternal salvation.
Still, he told me that obedience to the General Authorities--even if what they claimed to be true was, in fact,
wrong--constituted a fundamental principle of the Gospel.
He assured me that God would bless those who followed the
Brethren, even when the Brethren were in error.
My grandfather also told me that he did not want me to publish
anything that would undermine faith or testimony in the leaders of the Mormon Church.
In short, he was more committed
to the idea that obedience trumped truth than the other way around.
My grandfather never claimed to me (or anyone
else of whom I was aware) that he had personally seen God, Jesus Christ or other divine beings.
He did, however,
emotionally inform me that he had had an experience in the Salt Lake temple (regarding the announcement by President Kimball on
Blacks and the priesthood) that was too sacred to talk about.
He told me that it was one of the most "spiritual"
experiences of his life but that he would not delve into it at all, even though I requested that he do so.
He also
informed the assembled Benson family at a Nauvoo, Illinois, reunion that there were other matters which he was not at liberty to
discuss, either.
What those were, he never did say.
He was never specific with me in revealing any
particular personal experiences of his that formed the basis for his testimony of the truthfulness of Mormonism--other than to
bear witness to knowing that truth of LDS claims through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
Apostle Bruce R.
McConkie
In a lengthy face-to-face conversation I had with McConkie at his home while doing a BYU research paper
on the official Mormon Church position on the subject of organic evolution, McConkie strongly emphasized what was an obvious and
fundamental basis for his belief in the truthfulness of the Mormon Church.
That foundation was that the Standard
Works of the Church served as the ultimate authority in determining LDS doctrinal truth--even more so than the words of the
so-called "living prophets."
McConkie said that the canonized LDS scriptures superceded anything that living
Presidents of the Church had declared, or might declare.
He said that the Standard Works served as the final
test--the pre-eminent standard of measurement--in ascertaining the validity of any claim made by Mormon Church leaders, including
teachings of both living and dead presidents of the Church.
Otherwise, McConkie told me, these scriptures would not be
known as the "Standard" Works.
In making this claim, McConkie specifically criticized in my presence two LDS
Church Presidents whom he said had made uninspired pronouncements while serving as heads of the Church.
Their
pronouncements were false, he argued, because what they said was clearly contradicted by the LDS Standard Works:
--The first was President Brigham Young, for his teachings on the Adam-God doctrine (specifically, that Adam, of Adam and Eve
fame, was actually our Heavenly Father and had sired Jesus Christ through sex with Mary).
On this subject, McConkie
admitted to me that one could quote Young against himself.
--The second Mormon Church head to utter false doctrine in
that capacity was, McConkie told me, President David O. McKay.
McConkie said that McKay delivered untruths to BYU
students in a campus oration, in which he advised them to study the theory of organic evolution and the geologic history pointing
to an ancient earth.
McKay told the students that organic evolution was a beautiful theory, as long as God was not
divorced from it, and that the Earth was, in fact, millions of years old.
McConkie informed me that these claims of
McKay had not been inspired by the Holy Ghost.
McConkie did not admit to having himself made any doctrinal errors
himself.
In this area, his testimony seemed to rest on his own sense of doctrinal infallibility.
In fact,
McConkie told me that his emphatic claim(published in the first edition of his book Mormon Doctrine but edited out of its
second edition) that the Roman Catholic Church was the Church of the Devil was true.
When I asked him to explain its
deletion from the books later edition, McConkie insisted that it was removed not because it was not true but because it was too
difficult for people to accept.
President Spencer W. Kimball
During the course of my BYU
research paper on the official LDS stand regarding organic evolution, I repeatedly corresponded with Kimball, who was then Mormon
Church President.
Throughout the course of our exchanges, I had a difficult and increasingly frustrating time
obtaining direct and clear answers from him on the subject, even though I made specific and detailed inquiries.
For
instance, on the question of previous First Presidency statements on the physical origins of humankind, Kimball informed me in
personal correspondence that he was not familiar with the First Presidency statements I had cited in my initial correspondence
with him and requested that I mail them to him, which I did.
Clearly, whatever confidence Kimball had in the
truthfulness of Mormonism was not always based on official Mormon positions enunciated by the Presidents of the Church, some of
which he admitted to me he knew nothing.
However, in contradicting Kimball for whom he worked, Secretary to the Office
of the First Presidency, Arthur C. Haycock, later told me in a phone conversation that Kimball was incorrect in confessing to me
ignorance about the First Presidency statements he had asked me to send him.
In a discussion from his Church office
in Salt Lake City, Haycock informed me that Kimball was, in fact, aware of those official First Presidency statements--but that
he had forgotten he was aware of them.
When I asked Haycock for permission to reproduce Kimball’s correspondence to
me in a BYU undergraduate research paper I was doing on the subject, Haycock said I could--as long as I made it clear in my paper
that the interpretations reached about Kimball's correspondence with me were my own.
Haycock did not offer me
Kimball’s explanatons of his owncorrespondence with me, assuming Kimball had any to give.
I continued to press Kimball
for answers but received none from him.
Eventually, the First Presidency (consisting of Kimball and his two
counselors, N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney) signed and sent a letter to my Arizona bishop, directing him to answer my
questions in their behalf.
To assist the bishop in that effort, Kimball, Tanner and Romney included a 1909 statement
from the First Presidency of Joseph F. Smith on the subject of organic evolution--a statement that Kimball had told me in his
earlier correspondence with me that he was not familiar with and which had I ended up sending to him, at his request.
Although they included the 1909 statement for use by my bishop in explaining to me the official Church position on organic
evolution to me, the Kimball First Presidency did not tell my bishop what that statement meant.
Despite Kimball's,
Tanner's and Romney's directive to my bishop to answer my questions on the official Church stance on organic evolution, the
bishop felt unqualified to do so.
Therefore, the bishop advised me to write Kimball one more time, requesting further
clarification on the subject.
I did so but Kimball never answered back.
On the subject of organic
evolution and faith, the only direction Kimball gave me was to ask if I had Henry Eyring's book, Faith of a Scientist, in
which Eyring asserted that science and religion both served as tools in the search for truth: the former in helping people avoid
myth; and the latter in directing people toward God.
When I told Kimball that I had read Eyring's book and asked him
to provide me with his own views on it, Kimball remained silent.
Apostle Mark E. Petersen
In
conducting my research on the question of the official Mormon Church position on organic evolution, I also corresponded with
Petersen.
Petersen evidenced in personal correspondence with me a lack of firm belief in the seemingly official
pronouncements of even unsigned editorials in the official LDS publication, the Church News.
In pressing him,
Petersen admitted to me the following:
--The unsigned Church News editorials written on the subject of organic
evolution had actually been authored by him.
--These editorials represented his personal opinion only.
--Official statements on Church doctrine came soley from signed First Presidency statements.
Petersen then refused
to tell me, even though I specifically asked him to so, what the official Mormon Church position was on the topic of organic
evolution.
Apostle Dallin H. Oaks
In a conversation that my wife Mary Ann and I had with Oaks
shortly before leaving the Mormon Church, he told me that the basis for his personal testimony about the truthfulness of
Mormonism took the form of a warm spiritual witness which he felt in his heart.
From what Oaks told me, this witness
had particular meaning for him with regard to the truthfulness of official Mormon scripture.
Oaks admitted, for
instance, that critics of the Book of Abraham seemed to presently have hold the upper hand in arguments against its
authenticity.
Oaks told me, however, that the truthfulness of the Book of Abraham ultimately came through a
personal, spiritual witness.
Oaks further said that the Book of Mormon could neither be proven or disproven by
evidentiary examination, but in the end, also had to be accepted on faith.
In admitting that the truthfulness of the
Book of Mormon could not be empirically proven, Oaks acknowledged that portions of the Book of Mormon (albeit
insignificant, in his opinion) might have potential problems with plagiarism.
Specifically, he admitted that he, too,
had wondered while composing his own sermons how the words of the Apostle Paul from his epistles to the Corinthians could end up,
almost word for word, in the Book of Mormon, even though Bible prophets preceded their counterparts in the Book
of Mormon by generations.
Oaks concluded that God must have inspired Bible and Book of Mormon
prophets to speak using the same, exact language.
Oaks then attempted to minimize obvious Book of Mormon
plagiarisms by drawing a comparison between the Book of Mormon and one’s marriage.
He said that one should not
abandon one’s marriage because it is not perfect; likewise, Oaks argued that merely because 5% of the Book of Mormon (an
estimation he came up with himself based upon a quick perusal of a paperback copy of the book which wife Mary Ann had highlighted
with examples of plagiarisms), one should not abandon it, either.
Regardless, Oaks informed me that he had received a
spiritual witness that served as the basis for his personal testimony that the Book of Mormon was true.
Oaks's
testimony regarding Mormonism's apostles and prophets was both illuminating--and conditional.
He admitted to me not
being impressed with the antics of certain fellow members of the Quorum of the Twelve, notably his senior, Boyd K. Packer.
After it became public knowledge that Packer had improperly involved himself in the excommunication of Mormon dissident,
Paul Toscano, Oaks, in referring to Packer, told me, "You can't stage manage a grizzly bear."
Oaks then lied on the
record to the press about what he actually knew of Packer's inappropriate behavior and was forced to retract when caught.
Oaks told me that he would steadfastly stand by the President of the Church, with one notable exception:
Oaks
would not defer, he said, to the President of the Church if the President were to come out and declare that the Book of
Mormon was not true.
If that should happen, Oaks said he would look to the Quorum of the Twelve for a vote as to
whether what the Church President had said about the Book of Mormon deserved support.
Oaks also did not seem
all that certain with regard to the reliability of prophecies uttered by Mormon prophets.
He told me that Church
members should not be keeping track of which prophecies had been borne out and, further, that prophecies made by Mormon prophets
were for private, rather than public, application.
Oaks downplayed the prophetic role of Mormon Church prophets by
asserting that prophesying was only a minor responsibility of prophets. Their major role, he declared, was to testify of Jesus
Christ.
Oaks argued that the role of Mormon prophets had evolved over time.
He told me, for instance, that
the basic doctrines of Mormonism were revealed by Joseph Smith early on in the history of the Church.
Oaks noted that
the more modern approach of Church governance has been, since the time of President Joseph F. Smith, to "beseech his counselors
in the First Presidency to help him, to watch over him, so that they could together make the right decisions that God wanted them
to make."
When I asked Oaks to share with me his personal testimony that served as a basis for his apostolic calling
as a special witness for Christ, Oaks recounted his days as a college student at the University of Chicago, where he said he had
questions about the Mormon Church.
Oaks did not detail the nature of those questions but said a local LDS Institute
teacher helped him find answers.
Apostle Neal A. Maxwell
Maxwell was together with, and
participated in, the same conversations I had with Oaks.
Maxwell seemed equally unsure as to the evidentiary proof for
the Book of Mormon.
He told me, for instance, that God would not provide proof of the Book of Mormon
until the end--thereby indicating that such proof did not presently exist.
Maxwell also told me that one of the
purposes of FARMS was to prevent the General Authorities from being outflanked by the Church's critics.
As to how he
personally regarded the pronouncements of president of the Church, Maxwell said it was his duty to be loyal to the Church
president.
Maxwell added, however, that he not agree with everything President Ezra Taft Benson had to say on
political matters.
This was a particularly interesting admission, given that Benson had earlier (albeit as an
apostle) publicly declared that God's prophets could speak authoritatively on all matters, including those of a political
nature.
Maxwell, like Oaks, warned me against keeping "box scores" when it came to tallying which prophecies uttered
by Mormon prophets turned out to be turned--and which ones turned out to be false.
He further reminded me that Mormon
prophets spoke as prophets only when they were acting as prophets--but that, for instance, the teachings about people living on
the moon attributed to Joseph Smith were probably misreported.
Maxwell also instructed me as to how revelation for the
Mormon Church was actually received.
He said that Joseph Smith's role as unilaterally revealing doctrine in behalf of
the LDS Church was a practice not continued by subsequent Mormon prophets.
Maxwell claimed there are four levels of
fundamental Church doctrine:
(1) Doctrines revealed by the prophet speaking alone
(2) Doctrines revealed by
the prophet in conjunction with his First Presidency counselors
(3) Doctrines revealed in First Presidency statements,
with the words of the First Presidency assuming "a special status"
(4) Doctrines revealed by official declaration
Maxwell and Oaks, together, asserted that what the President of the Mormon Church said must be in compliance with the
Standard Works of the Church in order to be accepted as acripture.
They also said that that when Brigham Young
taught what Oaks called the "false" doctrine of Adam-God, it was because he was a young prophet who was in need of the help of
some good counselor.
When I asked Maxwell to share with me his personal testimony as to his apostolic calling as a
Special Witness of Christ, he told me about the time when, as a young boy, he witnessed his father give his sibling a healing
priesthood blessing.
Conclusion: Pulling Back the Curtain and Revealing the Charade
The above
statements by Mormonism's supposed prophets, seers and revelators speak for themselves.
Based upon their own
admissions, these men do not have persuasive, convincing or complete knowledge concerning the truthfulness of Mormon doctrine or
scripture.
Nor do they have unswerving confidence in the ability of Mormon prophets, including the President of the
Church, to speak the truth.
The Mormon Church is a consumate fraud, based upon myths perpetrated by its leaders in
public and confessed by them in private.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | "Sister Benson is Trying to Die:" Decisions and Denial--The Passing of My Grandmother, Flora Smith Amussen Benson
| | Posted Jul 13, 2005, at 09:12 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Sometimes I wonder why we inadvertantly cause so much needless pain and suffering to the ones we love when their physical bodies are crying out to die.
Of course, it is understandable that we often desperately, and devotedly, intervene in an effort to delay the march of death for those whom we dearly love.
We are, to be sure, distraught when thinking of our own lives robbed of the companionship and presence of a beloved family member whose departure we cannot even begin to imagine.
Understandbly, we may believe that these special people in our lives themselves wish to remain with us as long as they possibly can and do not wish to die.
We may believe that they would want to receive whatever extraordinary medical treatment necessary to keep their failing bodies alive for as long as humanly possible.
We may believe that we owe them nothing less.
But, ultimately, why may we believe this?
Is it because losing our loved ones makes us terribly, personally sad and we may have convinced ourselves that this is what they want for themselves?
These were some of the questions confronting me during the last days of the life of my grandmother--Flora Smith Amussen Benson, wife of Ezra Taft Benson.
Before she died in 1992, she had been in declining health for some time.
Crippled by cataracts, her body shrunken into a fetal position, my grandmother could barely move or communicate. Fortunately, through it all, she was cared for round-the-clock by a devoted medical staff and attended to by a loving family.
But she was in great pain.
As a family, we would regularly visit her in her Church-owned apartment, where she was permanently confined to a hospital-style bed.
I remember standing, with others, by her bedside, stroking her hair, caressing her hand and speaking softly to her. More often than not, she did not, and could not, respond.
At times she would attempt to turn her neck, looking up from her pillow in our direction through permanently fogged eyes.
As her children and grandchildren, we would attempt to keep the atmosphere pleasant (at least for us), including having our pictures taken with her. We would stand next to her, smiling and talking, while she laid there, silent and unmoving.
Over time, however, I became increasingly uneasy, feeling out of place even, in such a surreal setting. My grandmother was dying and I sensed that such activity—however well-intentioned—lacked the necessary reality, and dignity, given my grandmother's declining condition.
My grandmother died on August 14, 1992, at the age of 91, in her Salt Lake City apartment, of what was reported in the press as “natural causes.”
A few weeks after her death, on September 6th, I had a phone conversation with my parents about the circumstances surrounding her passing.
I was personally troubled by how my grandmother had died, believing that her pain and her death had been unnecessarily prolonged. I had seen her suffering during home care and in the hospital. I had heard her moan in pain. I knew that members of my family sincerely believed they were doing what was best for her but I could not shake the uncomfortable feeling that her life had been inappropriately and artificially extended, in a futile fight against the steadily-slowing tick of the natural clock within.
So strongly did I feel about this that during the phone conversation with my parents, I took detailed notes.
I was trying to understand what had taken place leading up to my grandmother's passing and how it had happened. I wanted to hear about it from those in my family who had intimately cared for and loved her. (My father, Mark Amussen Benson, was her second child).
I also wanted to know how my grandfather was faring through it all.
My parents informed me that, in the wake of her death, he had become “physically a little weaker.”
They told me that “Grandma’s health was a worry to him” but, with her passing, he had “reassurance that she’s doing well” on the other side.
In fact, “her death,” my parents said, “was some relief” to him.
“She wasn’t doing well the last year,” they acknowledged, and that fact was of “some worry to Grandpa.”
Now, my parents told me, “Heavenly Father has taken her home.”
With the passing of his companion, they said “comfort“ for my grandfather “comes from the Lord and the Holy Ghost.”
They told me that since her passing, my grandfather “sees some things we don’t see.”
They said that he “looks at the ceiling” and “maybe has had a vision of Flora.”
They further informed me that, by now, my grandfather was “moving on,” that it was “not good to dwell on it” (meaning her death). They said that thinking about her passing was “too much” for him, even though there would be “more photographs [of her] in the Deseret News.”
In order to get his mind off of it, my mother said that they planned to “take him tomorrow to see the [autumn] leaves.”
As I read over my notes, I remembered back to the night, just a few months before my grandmother passed away, when our family received urgent word that she might be dying and that we were all to gather as quickly as possible at the hospital in Salt Lake City for what could be her final hours. We all rushed to the emergency room.
My grandmother was brought into the hospital and placed on a gurney.
I, along with my father, was at her side as she was quickly moved down the hallway.
My father looked down at his mother and said, “I'm here, Mom. We love you.”
She looked up through clouded, darkened eyes and said feebly, “Mark, it hurts.”
Our family was ushered into a crowded waiting room off the main emergency area. Present were several of my grandmother’s children and grandchildren, as well as a few hospital personnel.
Her attending physician entered the room to inform us of my grandmother’s situation.
His demeanor was calm, but serious. His message, at least to me, was crystal clear.
I remember his exact words as he spoke to anxious, emotional family members gathered in the small, crowded room that night. They were gentle words, but firm:
“Sister Benson,” he said quietly as he looked steadily around the room, “is trying to die.”
I listened carefully to his assessment, while at the same time glancing at the faces of my family, trying to judge their reaction.
What the doctor was telling them didn’t appear to be sinking in.
He continued, patiently and deliberately:
“If she was my mother, I would let her go. We can give her antibiotics. That will bring her back somewhat, but she will never be the same as she was before. She will continue to decline. We can keep her comfortable with pain-killers.”
My father, expressing a common sentiment felt in the room, said that “she knows we’re here and that gives her comfort.”
I understood their pain. I was feeling it, too. But that did not erase reality.
I tried in my own outnumbered way to help the doctor get his point across to the members of my family. When he would make a statement about my grandmother’s condition, I would repeat what he said back to him, loud enough for everyone else to hear, then would ask questions of him:
“So, you’re saying, doctor, that she won’t get better? You’re telling us that she is dying?”
But it was useless.
I could tell from the physician’s expression that he knew his efforts to help our family comprehend the inevitable had been futile. He would do as my family wished and administer the drugs.
With that, he politely excused himself from the room.
“Sister Benson is trying to die.”
I have in front of me a photocopy of my grandmother’s “Certificate of Death,” issued by the “State of Utah, Department of Health.”
It reads, in part, as follows (all items noted below are matters of public record):
NAME OF DECEDENT: Flora Smith Amussen BENSON
SEX: Female
DATE OF DEATH: AUG. 14, 1992
TIME OF DEATH: 2330
DATE OF BIRTH: JULY 1, 1901
AGE (last birthday): 91
BIRTHPLACE: Logan, Utah
CITY, TOWN OR LOCATION OF DEATH: Salt Lake City, Utah
SURVIVING SPOUSE: Ezra Taft Benson
MARITAL STATUS: Married
DECEDENT’S USUAL OCCUPATION: (Homemaker)
KIND OF BUSINESS OR INDUSTRY: - - -
RACE: White
EDUCATION (Specify only highest grade completed) Elementary or Secondary (0-12) College (13-16 or 17+): 15
PART 1. IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF DEATH:
Cardiovascular Collapse
Approximate Interval Between Onset and Death: 2 days
Generalized arthrosclerosis with multiple cerebral thrombic
Approximate Interval Between Onset and Death: 20 years
PART 2. Other Significant Conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause given in Part 1:
Hypertensions, Multiple cardiovascular events
MANNER OF DEATH: Natural
*****
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | From The Mormon Mailbag: I'm An Rm Who Helped Your Grandfather In The Temple. You Need To Come Back Now
| | Posted Jul 12, 2005, at 07:53 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | From time to time, various Latter-day Saints apparently mistake their attacks of fasting-induced indigestion for whisperings of
the Still Small Voice and write to tell me about it.
In this particular episode, a Mormon named "Bob" from Lehi, Utah,
e-mailed me his profound insights on how corruption in the Mormon hierarchy has, thankfully and by the grace of a loving God,
been overcome through the inspired writings of LDS Church flacks.
Apparently, it is now "Bob's" turn to bring me
back into the crushing embrace of the Great Jehovah, who has reportedly been seen recently wandering around East South Temple in
search of nothing better to do than to call "Bob" into action.
For your reading convenience and to help the
Spirit-impaired pick up humming noises emitting from the Holy Ghost, "Bob's" letter has been subtitled in capital letters.
Go for it, Brother "Bob":
FEELING THE SPIRIT THROUGH SHERI DEW
Dear Steve,
I have recently finished reading your grandfather's biography by Sheri Dew and was again touched by what a great man your
grandfather was.
I WAS IN THE TEMPLE WITH THE LARD'S PROPHET WHEN HIS MOUTH MUSCLES TURNED UPWARD AS A
SIGN OF HIS DIVINE CALLING
I was called to serve as a missionary in 1990 and had the opportunity of attending
a temple session with your grandfather in the Jordan River Temple. In that session I had the opportunity to sit beind your
grandpa and was able to help him during the session and at one point he looked at me and smiled. I remember how my heart burned!
YOU LEFT THE CHURCH SIMPLY BECAUSE IT DRAGGED YOUR ENFEEBLED GRANDFATHER AROUND? WHERE ARE YOUR
PRIORITIES?
My purpose for writing is that I know you were not happy with how your felt the church handled your
grandfather's declining years and I even heard that you made the decision to leave the church.
I KNOW
IT'S NONE OF MY BUSINES--BUT, FLIP, I'LL MAKE IT MY BUSINESS ANYWAY
Quite frankly, it is none of my business,
but I want you to know I come from a family where my grandparents became disenchanted with how the missionary department handled
my uncle's nervous breakdown while on his mission.
THIS REALLY IS NO BIG DEAL. GOD'S PROPHETS HAVE A
HISTORY OF RUNNING ROUGHSHOD OVER THE LITTLE PEOPLE
President Hinckley was in charge of the missionary
department at that time and my grandmother never could forgive them.
YOU NEED TO REPENT AND FORGIVE THESE
SCREW-UPS BY GOD'S SERVANTS IF YOU WANT ANY CHANCE AT ALL THAT GOD WILL SAVE YOU
They spent 30 years outside of
the church before softening and realIzing the promised blessings.
JUST BECAUSE THE CHURCH MANHANDLES ITS
MEMBERS DOESN'T MEAN THAT IT ISN'T TRUE
I thought about you while reading in the biography about how your
grandparents used to say "no empty chairs" and hope that you will see that the Church is a church full of imperfect people, yet
it is the true church of Jesus Christ containing the authority and the ordinances that will make our families eternal.
YOUR GRANDFATHER WANTS YOU BACK IN THE CULT. THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS
Forgive me if I have
been offensive to you in any way, but I can't help but think that if you still have ill feelings toward the church, how much your
grandfather would be pleased if you came back.
I HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR YOU IN HELL BUT PLEASE REALIZE
THAT I ONLY WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY
Anyhow, I wish you the best and wanted you to know that I was thinking of you
and your family.
Sincerely,
Bob J.
Lehi, Utah
*****
I wrote Bob back
the following:
The Mormon Church is a fraud, from its inception up the the present. Case closed.
It's been awhile since Bob first sent me his e-mail and, golly darn, Bob hasn't written me back.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Returning - After A Fashion - To Recovery From Mormonism - And A Mike Quinn Matter
| | Posted Jul 11, 2005, at 08:47 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | After an absence of some months from the RfM board, I will be returning in the relative near future, but in a modified and reduced form.
I will not be engaging in the kind of real-time, live and repeated reexamination of the same discussion issues that perennially crop up on this board (having been there and done that many times in the past).
The RfM board was a helpful stepping stone in my own "bolt from the Cult." It provided me a much-needed opportunity to express my opinions and divulge my experiences in honest and open ways that I had never been able to do during all my time in Mormonism, to get many things off my chest that had burdened me for years, to listen to and learn from the perspectives of other fellow ex-Mormon travelers, to discover where I was in my process of individual development and to help point me toward where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life in the bigger, brighter, post-Mormon world.
Like many others who have come, stopped, looked in and participated at the welcomed RfM watering hole, I have largely moved on to greener pastures. Just as coming to RfM was an important milestone, leaving RfM was an necessary step for me, as my wife Mary Ann and I have chosen to focus on, and moved forward together in, other vital and fulfilling aspects of our lives.
That said, and with Admin's permission, I will be re-posting some of Mary Ann's and my previous writings dealing with our experiences inside Mormon circles. These posting originally appeared on the RfM board during the time I was a regular and active participant here but which I requested be taken down when I left the board in September 2004.
We are putting this material back up (in what exact form will be determined under Admin's direction) because we believe it is valuable to be exposed to as many personal, reliable and unique perspectives as possible when confronting and challenging the Mormon Cult's peculiarly anti-intellectual, anti-individual, anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-black, anti-societal, anti-science, anti-historical, anti-open and otherwise offensive claims to supposed divine truth.
If individuals are to have the power to make rational, informed decisions in their lives designed to bring them personal peace and happiness outside the controlling, stifling oppressiveness of the Mormon box, then they need-no, they deserve--as much information as possible upon which to base those decisions.
As has been said, knowledge is power. Given the Mormon obsession with control over content, one cannot trust with any reasonable expectation of getting honest answers that Mormon leadership--from the top of the Church Office Building down to the obedient minions at the ward level-will provide accurate portrayals of LDS history, doctrine, policy or practice.
We hope that our re-postings (including, among other things, our accounts of personal meetings with Dallin Oaks and Neal Maxwell, as well as recollections of life with Ezra Taft Benson and other Church leaders behind the Mormon curtain) will offer some meaningful reference points for making personal decisions about the alleged credibility of Mormonism.
*****
That said, I would like to mention one other matter that I never brought up in my numerous previous posts on this board. It has to do with Michael Quinn, who has been a subject of discussion here lately, and deals with why he has chosen to remain a believer in the supposed truthfulness of Mormonism.
I have known Mike as a personal friend for several years and admire him greatly, both as an individual and as a scholar, although we disagree on some fundamental matters.
After I left the LDS cult in 1993, I had more than one occasion to talk directly, and in person, with Mike about his own perspectives and beliefs pertaining to Mormonism.
As I mentioned on this board before, Mike shared his testimonial belief with me that the Book of Mormon was a literal historical record of ancient and accurate vintage, that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God to reveal His divine truth to the world, that through Joseph Smith the golden plates were translated and that following the death of Joseph Smith the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fell into apostasy through the corruption and sin of its leadership--and that this "falling away," if you will, of the Mormon Church from the purposes and designs of God's original 1830 restorative act, has continued up to the present time.
Mike told me that it was his belief that a second Restoration (i.e., one coming after the initial return of God's true Church to the earth in 1830 through the hands of Joseph Smith) was necessary in order to rehabilitate the Mormon Church and again make it the organization through which God would lead and guide His children on earth.
I asked Mike how he could believe such things, especially given what many have considered his devastatingly revealing historical dissection of Mormon origins and its extensions of power.
Mike acknowledged to me that he knew that his belief in Mormonism did not sound logical but that he nonetheless possessed a personal testimony of the Book of Mormon, of the prophetic calling by God of Joseph Smith and of the truthfulness of the Mormon Gospel as God's one and only true Church.
Now, what Mike also told me (which I have not shared before on this board) is a promise made to him by then-apostle Spencer Kimball, at the time Mike was still an active, temple-endowed, well-respected member of the Church.
Mike said that Kimball promised him that if he continued in faithfulness and obedience, he, too, would one day become an apostle.
See you in the re-posts.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | | Ezra Taft Benson And The Mouse That Roared
| | Posted Jul 11, 2005, at 08:43 AM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | Maybe it’s just the animal in me, but I love animals.
Ever since I was a kid, I have enjoyed surrounding myself and caring for a wide assortment of our fascinating non-human fellow inhabitants of the planet.
As a small boy, my first pet was a black lab.
As a pre-teenager I loved to collect, feed and share bedroom space with hamsters, turtles, horny toads and tarantulas.
Fellow creatures whose company I have also enjoyed have included collies, cocker spaniels, shih-tzus and an assortment of cats.
Reptiles and lizards have also been my friends, including turtles, iguanas, bearded dragons and uramastyx (an Egyptian lizard).
Furry little critters who have shared creature comforts in my bedroom, basement, office, laundry room and/or backyard have included rabbits, gerbils, ferrets, guinea pigs, chinchillas, degus, mice and rats.
The list of feathered roommates with whom I have inhabited the same living quarters has, at one time or another, featured cockatiels, African grey parrots, finches, love birds, parakeets, conjures and abandoned baby sparrows.
Some non-human pals with whom I am currently providing rent-free space include four African spur tortoises (which can grow up to 150 pounds and expand to three feet or so in diameter), a leopard tortoise whose spiky shell has earned her the name “Teton,” a one-winged pigeon found by my daughter, four ball pythons and a blue-and-grey macaw to whom I have bequeathed my temple name, “Ezekiel.”
Given my interest in homemade zoos, I guess I have earned the nickname “Doctor Do-A-Lot.”
So fascinated have I been with these wonderful animals that, at one time or another, I thought about becoming a biologist, a zookeeper or a fossil hunter.
My grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, was an animal kind of guy himself.
As a southern Idaho farm boy, he milked cows, slopped hogs, raised chickens, fed lambs, rode horses and herded cattle.
Eventually, he became Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight Eisenhower.
At family reunions, my grandfather would saddle up his mount and show us how to ride. I remember seeing him beaming, sitting astride a beautiful palomino, leading colorful columns down Main Street as Grand Marshal of the Preston Rodeo Parade.
But there was one time I witnessed him handle an animal in a manner that I will never forget.
It happened one day when he and I were alone, doing chores, at our family cabin.
Back in the early 1960s, Ezra Taft and Flora Benson owned a cabin up Mill Creek Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It was a beautiful, spacious place, surrounded by fluttering aspen and nestled close to a bright, splashy creek. (Sadly, my grandparents ended up having to sell the cabin, reportedly because they lost thousands of dollars as victims of a bizarre financial scam).
Our family would often escape to this cabin hideaway for fun and relaxation. In the winter, we kids would steer our sleds and inner tubes down the snow-covered road that led up to the cabin. During the warmer months, we would ride the tire swing back and forth next to the creek and go for walks down the leafy back trails that laced the surrounding area.
My grandfather and I would sometimes take short hikes together and I remember during one of those times pointing out to him a lizard sitting just a few feet away from where we were walking along a sunlit path. He congratulated me on what he called my good eyesight, saying that he had not spotted it.
On one particular weekend, when I was about 10 years old, I had ventured up to the Benson family cabin to help my grandfather, at his invitation, do some spring cleaning. It was the first time in that period of my young life that I remember spending any extended one-on-one time with him.
My grandfather was a big, strapping man, over six feet tall. He had a commanding presence and a firm, projecting voice. As a young boy, I stood in awe of him, as seemingly did everyone else in my family.
I dare say that at times as a youth my grandfather appeared downright intimidating. At the cabin that weekend, to a boy like me, he resembled some kind of mountain man, dressed in an open-necked, checkered shirt and big leather boots.
Adding to that image, he hadn’t shaved.
This was hardly the picture I was used to. Usually I saw him as Ezra Taft Benson, Apostle of the Lord, dressed up in his dark General Conference suit and matching tie, complete with starched white shirt.
As we were busily involved cleaning the cabin (with me, as usual, dutifully following orders), my grandfather paused. Through the short, grey stubble that was beginning to sprout from his chin, he smiled and asked, “Stephen, do you think I should grow a moustache?”
Being asked by my grandfather for an opinion about anything somewhat startled me. I remember instinctively blurting out that I thought he looked better without it. He smiled back and agreed.
As we were moving objects around the family room in order to sweep its wooden floor, a small kitchen mouse darted out from behind its cover and made a mad dash toward the open door of a nearby bedroom.
I yelled out to my grandfather what I had just seen.
He ordered me to follow the mouse into the bedroom and catch it.
I had absolutely no idea how I was going to accomplish that task but had no intention of disobeying orders.
So, I did as I was told and headed faithfully into the bedroom.
The bedroom was dimly lit, with the curtains closed. In a far corner of the room was a bed. Trying to adjust my eyes, I couldn’t see any mouse.
My grandfather stood behind me in the frame of the door, holding a broom.
He told me to get down and check under the bed.
I dropped to my hands and knees and peered under the bed.
There, in a dark corner, close to the front left leg of the bed, crouched the brown-haired, black-eyed, quivering little mouse.
Both me and the mouse were scared at our respective predictaments.
I told my grandfather I had spotted the mouse.
He ordered me to move forward and grab it.
I wasn’t wearing any gloves and was afraid that the mouse might bite me.
I hesitated.
My grandfather again commanded me to move toward the objective and complete the mission.
Feeling a growing sense of unease but seeing no alternative to being an obedient Mormon boy, I pressed my stomach against the bedroom floor, spread my arms out wide, palms forward, and began inching my way, ever so slowly, toward the mouse.
As I began to close the gap between myself and the frightened mouse, I was frantically trying to figure out what I was going to do.
One thing for sure, I did not want to grab the mouse.
At the same time, I did not want to disobey my grandfather.
So, I continued to slide forward on my stomach, not knowing how to bring the situation to a satisfactory conclusion.
With my hands mere inches from the cornered mouse, the mouse decided to take matters into its own paws. It made a desperate bolt for freedom, leaping over my outstretched arms and making a beeline for the bedroom door that led back into the family room.
From under the bed, I screamed to my grandfather that the mouse was getting away.
I heard a loud WHACK! behind me.
I backed out from underneath the bed and turned around.
My grandfather was standing in the door frame, broom in one hand, the stunned mouse dangling by its tail from the closed fingers of his other hand.
Without a word, he turned away and headed into the family room.
Wide-eyed, I followed.
At the front of the family room was a large fireplace. Inside it, bright orange flames furiously crackled.
My grandfather strode toward the fireplace.
By now, the tiny mouse was beginning to stir, as it hung upside down from the large hand of my grandfather. It twisted and turned, trying desperately to get away.
My grandfather stopped in front of the roaring fireplace. I had arrived at his side, where I could feel the radiating heat.
My grandfather did not hesitate.
He threw the live mouse into the flames.
The animal landed on the end of a partially-consumed log.
Flames flickered up from beneath toward the terrified mouse.
Briefly, the little animal remained where it had been tossed. Then, it panicked and scampered toward the opposite end of the log.
Unfortunately, that end of the log was fully-engulfed in hot flames.
A finger of fire caught the mouse on the tip of its nose.
Instantaneously, flames swept over its entire, hair-covered body, turning it completely black.
Burned beyond recognition but still alive, the mouse stood frozen on the log, singed from head to tail.
Surrounded by flames, the mouse tried to breathe through scorched lungs.
Its tiny chest expanded and contracted a couple of times, like a miniature set of bellows.
Then, it fell into the flames and disappeared from view.
I was horrified and could not utter a word.
Meanwhile, there was work to be done.
Grandpa Benson turned away from the fireplace and went back to cleaning.
I joined him.
But I never forgot the mouse.
| | | | Autopens And Other Benson -related Deceptions That May Be Of Interest
| | Posted Jan 1, 2004, at 02:59 PM. | FILED UNDER: STEVE BENSON
| | ORIGINAL AUTHOR: n/a | | ARCHIVED BY: Infymus | |
TOP | | I try to be as accurate and honest as I can but do make unintentional mistakes as I stumble along, so I think it best to review and revise as needed and do so as quickly as possible.
I would appreciate it if you would rely on this latest effort, and chuck the first draft.
Rest assured, however, that unlike the Book of Mormon,it does not contain thousands of changes in words or meaning.
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A side note on the use of the "inspired" ETB autopen signature machine and other matters:
The device was not only employed by my grandfather's First Presidency counselors to sign away his powers of attorney for running the Mormon corporate empire, it was also used regularly by my grandfather's office staff when composing and dispatching letters supposedly written and/or dictated by him to members of his own family.
I regarded the practice as an attempted deception of ETB's own kin by his appointed and anointed handlers, who thought they were doing God's work--dishonest as it was.
For instance, Benson family members were provided gift copies of my grandfather's biography, written by Sheri Dew and sanitized for public consumption by faith-promoting censors occupying the Benson inner circle.
Enclosed with each book to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren was a letter supposedly personally written and signed by my grandfather.
All the signatures--not to mention the wording of the letters--were exactly the same.
Likewise, we received fairly lengthy letters of several paragraphs containing long, complex sentences and thought patterns--again, allegedly written and signed by my grandfather.
Unfortunately, they were supposedly written by him at a time when his deteriorating mental and physical state was becoming quite apparent to family members who had actually had the occasion to visit him up close and personal.
(Not all family members, however, were willing to admit that Ezra Taft Benson was steadily slipping away. To this day, some--particularly among certain Benson women who, curiously and inexplicably enough, were among my strongest family critics when I left the Chuch--continue to exhibit profound denial that Ezra Taft Benson was significantly incapacitated in his role as "prophet").
Nonetheless, my grandfather, in reality, could not talk to us in those face-to-face encounters like he could supposedly write to us in those ghost-authored letters.
Moreover, the signatures on the letters matched exactly signatures from other letters. Compared side by side, they were obviously artifically penned.
Typically, below each "signature" would be my grandfather's typewritten name. Unfortunately, sometimes the autopenned name and the typed name on the same letter were not exactly the same. One might, for instance, say "ETB" while the other would say "Ezra Taft Benson," or some other obvious variant mismatch.
It was clear that the autopenned hand didn't always know what the typewritten hand was doing.
I also observed other deliberate efforts to misrepresent my grandfather's state of health, to both members of the Church at large and members of his own family.
For example, I saw my father, Mark, and my grandfather's personal secretary, Gary Gillespie, congratulating each other on a Church News cover photograph take of my grandfather.
It showed my grandfather, pleasantly smiling, seated in a chair, dressed in a nice Sunday suit.
It was a carefully posed, prop and crop shot.
The smile was that of a man in the twilight haze of creeping mental enfeeblement.
Efforts to manipulate my grandfather's appearance extended even to private family gatherings.
I recall, for instance, being in my grandfather's apartment one afternoon, where I asked if I could get a photograph with him and other members of the family in front of a large, idealized painting of the Benson clan commissioned while ETB was Secretary of Agriculture.
(The artist had painted a cat on the lap of my young aunt Beth, although she did not actually pose with a cat. Ironically, that approach to creating an artificial reality was to unfold as I attempted to get a family photograph in front of that very painting).
My grandfather was confined, by this time in his life, to a wheelchair, in which he sat silently and stoop-shouldered.
I was puzzled by how my father kept repositioning my grandfather's wheelchair after I had already situated him for the photograph.
I'd angle the wheelchair one way for what I though was the best lighting and composition, only to see my father, without comment, move in to abruptly change the setup.
After this had happened a couple of times and I was becoming somewhat frustrated, I realized what my dad was doing.
He was trying to keep the camera from capturing the breathing tube inserted up my grandfather's nostril.
It's a sad metaphor, really.
The Mormon Church has been, since its fanciful inception, desperately attempting to rearrange its elements, its history, its doctrine, its image and its leaders--all in a vain attempt to hide the truth from those in and out of the flock.
Only if one insists on keeping one's eyes squeezed shut can the deception be missed.
When I finally went public about the Church's relentless efforts to misrepresent my grandfather's health, I received a call from my father.
He told me that I must not talk to the press about my grandfather because, he declared, the press was an enemy of the Church.
I reminded him that I was a member of the press.
My father responded by telling me that if I ever in the future spoke to the media about my grandfather's health, he would see to it that I would never again be allowed to see my grandfather.
I was stunned.
My father sternly reminded me that it was his duty to protect his father and the Lord's prophet, Ezra Taft Benson, to look after the interests of the Kingdom and to uphold the faith.
He further reminded me that he had been specifically asked by Ezra Taft Benson to move back to Utah from Texas so that he could perform those duties, as commanded by his prophet-father.
This, for me, was a final straw among the final straws. (I had already determined that the temple ritual was a Masonic rip-off, that the Book of Mormon was a plagiarized 19th century fairy tale and that Mormon prophets weren't good at prophesying or at understanding the real world. Now, I was faced with a family showing me the exit if I didn't keep my mouth shut).
I said to my dad, "Do you realize what you are saying? In the name of protecting the Church and the prophet, you are threatening to break up this family. If that's the kind of Church this is, I want out."
It was an emotional and agonizing moment, but a defining and liberating one, as well.
My father--perhaps taken aback by my instinctive revulsion at his conditions for family unity--agreed to reconsider his threat and a few days later implored me to remain in the ranks, but by then I had seen all the light I needed to find my way to the escape hatch.
Within weeks, my wife and I had left the Church.
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