Keep Mormonism Weird

[_why me]

Kimberley Ann, Hi.

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately (strangely enough).

I think there are a number of doctrines and practices that will keep the LDS faith wierd!

Didn't you love to be weird, Miss Taken! Now you are a normal, mainstream individual who has lost their sense of weirdness. You are just like everyone else. But when you were a Mormon, you were totally weird to friends and family. You were unique. Now...just one of the crowd. How sad to lose the weirdness...

[_KimberlyAnn]

Kimberley Ann, Hi.

I've been giving this a lot of thought lately (strangely enough).

I think there are a number of doctrines and practices that will keep the LDS faith wierd!

Didn't you love to be weird, Miss Taken! Now you are a normal, mainstream individual who has lost their sense of weirdness. You are just like everyone else. But when you were a Mormon, you were totally weird to friends and family. You were unique. Now...just one of the crowd. How sad to lose the weirdness...

Mary is definitely still "unique".

Some of us never lose our weirdness, no matter how hard we try.

KA

[_truth dancer]

Hi KA,

I have the sense that some people like being weird but only if it is in a hip way.

I mean there is weird and there is weird!

Weird as in totally cool is great.

Weird as in, seriously odd, crazy, and bizarre is not so cool.

I think today, most people think it more crazy weird to believe God lives near Kolob with a multitude of wives, requires unusual underwear, handshakes, and secret words to get into heaven, and the Garden of Eden was in Missouri. Ya know?

It just seems to me the traditional LDS story is growing more and more difficult to believe with each passing year, which is why I sense a letting go of the "weirdness". We don't hear that evolution is of Satan, that dinosaur bones were placed on the earth from another planet as God created the Earth, that Native Americans are actually descendants of Lamanites, that skin becomes lighter as people become more righteous, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

I think the LDS church is wise to release some of the more odd and "out there" beliefs.

So, maybe a little weird is fine but in my opinion few people want to be considered bizarre.

~td~

[_KimberlyAnn]

Hi, TD.

I think you're right that few people want to be seen as bizarre.

Mormonism, to my thinking, isn't really "letting go" of their weird doctrine. It's my opinion that they're suppressing it, dressing it up to look more "Christian", de-emphasizing it, but not letting it go.

Polygamy, dark skin as a curse, eternal progression, henotheism, Kolob--all are still doctrine and must ever be unless Mormons are willing to mainstream to the point that they utterly lose their identity. Certain things must be in Mormonism. For eternal progression to make sense, men must be able to become Gods as their God did before them. Either God was once a man or men cannot become Gods. That's how I see it.

In light of the fact that the weird doctrine still exists, it makes sense (at least to me) for that weird doctrine to be made plainly manifest to both members and the world at large. Then, no one feels deceived. People won't leave the Lutheran church to join up with the Mormons only to find that they weren't given the whole truth up front. Mormons retain their strong heritage. Seems like a win-win to me.

If members or investigators are squeamish about the belief that God was once a man or that polygamy will eventually be reinstated, then Mormonism isn't for them. They can find a place that is for them and let the Mormons go on being Mormon. Those are my thoughts, for the moment at least. They're certainly subject to change. :)

KA

[_Dr. Shades]

The all idea that god was once a man is in the current priesthood manual. No one is making any secret of it.

President Hinckley tried to make a secret of it.

Joseph Smith was a christian revolutionary and the doctrine that was developed, ie, polygamy, celestial marriage, separate distinct personages, baptism for the dead etc were all revolutionary concepts that made the LDS church look weird but gave the LDS a healthy dose of pride. And it still does.

That is a dangerous mindset. President Benson gave a talk titled "Beware of Pride."

Heck, I love the polygamy aspect of the LDS church.

I call B.S. on that one. There's no way that that's a true statement.

I think that it is great that the LDS have such a history.

Think of all the women who had to suffer just so that the LDS church can have such a history. Talk about not being worth it!

[_Pokatator]

Heck, I love the polygamy aspect of the LDS church. I think that it is great that the LDS have such a history.

Do you love the priesthood ban, too?

[_karl61]

Mormonism is still weird. And it is proud to be weird. The all idea that god was once a man is in the current priesthood manual. No one is making any secret of it.

Also, I think that Mormons have pride in their weirdness. It is good to be weird. The problem with critics is that they lose their weirdness when they leave the church. They become mainstream and I am sure that it can be a little boring to be mainstream.

Joseph Smith was a christian revolutionary and the doctrine that was developed, ie, polygamy, celestial marriage, separate distinct personages, baptism for the dead etc were all revolutionary concepts that made the LDS church look weird but gave the LDS a healthy dose of pride. And it still does. Heck, I love the polygamy aspect of the LDS church. I think that it is great that the LDS have such a history. Likewise for the three degrees of glory...all radical concepts within christianity.

Thank heavens for weirdness.

the things that joseph smith engaged in were not that weird at the time. for example baptism for the dead was practiced in another sect prior to the church being established.

[_DarkHelmet]

It's a double edged sword and there is no clear cut answer to what the best strategy is. The church grew at an impressive rate when it focused on its "weirdness," and differentiated itself from Christianity. It gave potential converts a reason to join Mormonism as opposed to mainstream christianity. But with the technological advances of recent decades that allow the "weird" doctrines to be broadcast out to the entire world, including disinterested third parties, Mormonism was no longer "weird in a cool way" to potential converts, but just plain weird to the general public. It seems the church is trying to mainstream their message for the disinterested masses, but the missionaries are still pointing out the weirdness to potential converts. If that makes any sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is the current strategy is milk before meat, where before it was basically just meat, and if you didn't like it, too bad.

[_DonBradley]

Hi Dan,

I'm glad you too want to "keep Mormonism weird."

The initial mention of your piece on MAD was what prompted my post on how LDS should be Christian by their own definition and not that of Evangelicals. It brought to mind something I've thought about for years and provided an occasion for talking about it. I purposely started a new thread on that topic to avoid seeming tendentious or trying to derail your thread. And, for what it's worth, I don't think, given the description of your piece that was provided after the OP, that you are pandering to Evangelical definitions of the Trinity or of being a Christian. However, maybe after I read the piece, I'll change my mind and think that you are!

But I doubt it.

Don

[_Seven]

Didn't you love to be weird, Miss Taken! Now you are a normal, mainstream individual who has lost their sense of weirdness. You are just like everyone else. But when you were a Mormon, you were totally weird to friends and family. You were unique. Now...just one of the crowd. How sad to lose the weirdness...

But there are those of us non believers who are now very weird to our TBM family and friends, and especially those who live in densely populated LDS areas.

I even had a TBM friend speculate that my disillusionment with Mormonism was just so I could be different or unique from all the believers that surround me in our culture.

Since losing my religion, I feel more weird now than I ever did as a TBM. I don't fit in with "normal" society because of Mormon cultural behaviors ingrained in me, and I don't fit in with TBMs.

For the OP- I think as long as Mormons wear garments, they will always seem weird and cultish.