I threw myself heart and soul into Mormonism!

[_Spaulding]

I've been thinking about joining the LDS church after a few weeks study with missionaries here in South Africa, my last step was to check if any members decided to leave for any reason... I found http://hismin.com/Leaving.htm and was not very impressed !!.. now I feel like an idiot, but the missionaries say they can't even look or read the page I visited, and that it's probably a fabrication and bunch of lies and shouldn't be trusted. So I emailed the lady in question, and her family can verify her story. So what now!!?
Is everything that's remotely 'anti-LDS' now suddenly a LIE? This is very suspicious behavior indeed. I watched and read all of the LDS material presented to me, in my own home, and yet any material that dares to question the authenticity of the LDS faith or it's history is treated as impermissible evidence?? I was not born yesterday people!... any thoughts?

[_Quasimodo]

Hi Spaulding,

I think you may have come to the right place. There are many ex-Mormons here that can enlighten you. There are active Mormons here as well that can give you their side of the story. You'll get well rounded responses.

It might be best to ask specific questions about what you're concerned about. I guarantee you'll get a great deal of information from both sides.

It's interesting that your name is "Spaulding". One of the theories on the origin of the Book of Mormon is that it was written by a man called Solomon Spaulding as a novel and then stolen by a guy called Sidney Rigdon who gave it to Joseph Smith who used it as a basis for his Book of Mormon.

The fact that I have written that here will probably bring more responses to your post.

Welcome to the board! I hope your participation answers your questions.

[_Spaulding]

Thanks , I feel welcome already!

[_Simon Belmont]

Actually, Spaulding, Quasimodo is not correct.

The majority of members here are hostile toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In contrast, the majority of members over at Mormon Dialogue are members. There is not a discussion board that exists today that is balanced.

However, if you have questions, I am a practicing member and you are welcome to PM me.

Other resources:

FAIR
Neil A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

If you're seriously considering Mormonism, I urge you to get the complete story.

[_Yoda]

Welcome to the board, Spalding!

I am a Moderator here, and have moved your thread to the Terrestrial Forum so that it will receive more traffic.

I hope that you are able to receive some answers.

As a member of the Church myself, I will add further comment later.

Please PM me if you have any questions about how to maneuver around the board.

Liz

[_stemelbow]

I've been thinking about joining the LDS church after a few weeks study with missionaries here in South Africa, my last step was to check if any members decided to leave for any reason... I found http://hismin.com/Leaving.htm and was not very impressed !!.. now I feel like an idiot, but the missionaries say they can't even look or read the page I visited, and that it's probably a fabrication and bunch of lies and shouldn't be trusted. So I emailed the lady in question, and her family can verify her story. So what now!!?
Is everything that's remotely 'anti-LDS' now suddenly a LIE? This is very suspicious behavior indeed. I watched and read all of the LDS material presented to me, in my own home, and yet any material that dares to question the authenticity of the LDS faith or it's history is treated as impermissible evidence?? I was not born yesterday people!... any thoughts?

Hey there, Spalding, I pretty much agree with what Simon said.

There are tons of things about the Church that can raise any sort of concern or questions, and those things aren't necessarily lies or distortions. I'd advise ya to weigh everything together, as best you can. There is a lot of hostility here towards LDS or particular LDS people so keep that in mind. You won't see a lot of balance here, but by all means engage. Judge for yourself. There are good people on both sides of the aisle here. You'll get a good picture of that, at least.

[_Runtu]

Welcome! I agree with Simon that you should try to get the complete story about Mormonism. If you do go over the Mormon Dialogue board, be prepared for some serious hostility, as you'll probably be pegged as an "anti-Mormon" troll immediately. But there are some reasonable people there, as there are here, who can help you out.

All I can say is that you should do your homework and then do what you think is right, no matter what anyone else tells you. Best of luck to you.

John

[_stemelbow]

LDS missionaries are pretty much advised to stay away from materials which are created to provide arguments against the Church. This is so because missionaries are supposed to dedicate their time being quite focused on finding people whom the "LORD has prepared" (a type of phrase we say and think has great meaning but might not have such clear meaning to others). Any characterization they may express about material being lies or whatever is probably more out of ignorance than anything. They simply don't know, for the most part. They aren't real well studied, most likely, on many points regarding the church's history, or some finer details of the doctrine. So keep that in mind. They are most likely just nice people, without any particular skills or training, trying their best to search out those who accept the LDS idea of the Spirit of God teaching the individual, essentially.

[_malaise]

I've been thinking about joining the LDS church after a few weeks study with missionaries here in South Africa, my last step was to check if any members decided to leave for any reason... I found http://hismin.com/Leaving.htm and was not very impressed !!.. now I feel like an idiot, but the missionaries say they can't even look or read the page I visited, and that it's probably a fabrication and bunch of lies and shouldn't be trusted. So I emailed the lady in question, and her family can verify her story. So what now!!?
Is everything that's remotely 'anti-LDS' now suddenly a LIE? This is very suspicious behavior indeed. I watched and read all of the LDS material presented to me, in my own home, and yet any material that dares to question the authenticity of the LDS faith or it's history is treated as impermissible evidence?? I was not born yesterday people!... any thoughts?

Hey there, Spalding, I pretty much agree with what Simon said.

There are tons of things about the Church that can raise any sort of concern or questions, and those things aren't necessarily lies or distortions. I'd advise ya to weigh everything together, as best you can. There is a lot of hostility here towards LDS or particular LDS people so keep that in mind. You won't see a lot of balance here, but by all means engage. Judge for yourself. There are good people on both sides of the aisle here. You'll get a good picture of that, at least.

That's an interesting way of putting it. What does it mean for things to be balanced? I suppose you could mean that both sides are presenting their side of the story, but I don't think that quite captures what people mean when they use that term. It's possible for people to give you an accurate, relatively unbiased account with someone who disagrees with them there to argue against them. When we say we want balance what we mean is that we want fairness. The story needs to be told fairly and the arguments clearly presented. I think that's why it's silly to think you need to have Mormons comment on something that is "anti-Mormon" in order to have a "balanced" conversation. Mormonism is an obviously false, silly religion, and trying to pretend that people that point out its obvious flaws are biased is very silly. We don't need to take Mormon apologists seriously because the evidence against them is so strong that their arguments can be dismissed out of hand as ridiculous hogwash.

Secondly, it makes no sense to believe that people are unbalanced when they decry Mormonism or its teaching. Take the NAZI party as an example. The NAZI party was evil, is evil. and nothing can make it less evil. Because it is evil, it is perfectly fair to insult its teachings and say that they are a crock of crap. Mormonism is the same in that its doctrines are fabricated nonsense that teaches intolerance and oppresses the minds and hearts of the people still in the Church.

[_stemelbow]

That's an interesting way of putting it. What does it mean for things to be balanced? I suppose you could mean that both sides are presenting their side of the story, but I don't think that quite captures what people mean when they use that term. It's possible for people to give you an accurate, relatively unbiased account with someone who disagrees with them there to argue against them. When we say we want balance what we mean is that we want fairness. The story needs to be told fairly and the arguments clearly presented. I think that's why it's silly to think you need to have Mormons comment on something that is "anti-Mormon" in order to have a "balanced" conversation. Mormonism is an obviously false, silly religion, and trying to pretend that people that point out its obvious flaws are biased is very silly. We don't need to take Mormon apologists seriously because the evidence against them is so strong that their arguments can be dismissed out of hand as ridiculous hogwash.

Secondly, it makes no sense to believe that people are unbalanced when they decry Mormonism or its teaching. Take the NAZI party as an example. The NAZI party was evil, is evil. and nothing can make it less evil. Because it is evil, it is perfectly fair to insult its teachings and say that they are a crock of s***. Mormonism is the same in that its doctrines are fabricated nonsense that teaches intolerance and oppresses the minds and hearts of the people still in the Church.

I'm not sure where you're going with this exactly, but I certainly did not suggest anyone here is imbalanced, even if it were true I woulnd't say that, or that since not all topics are dealt with evenly by LDS and non-LDS that this place lacks balance. There is a lack fo balance here. I think most would agree with that.