How to really piss off real life TBMs

[_DarkHelmet]

One way to really piss off TBMs in real life is to share with them what the Internet TBMs are saying online. My conversations usually go something like this.

Me to TBM friend/family, "Hey, did you know that a person can't be a Democrat and also be a good Mormon."
TBM Family/Friend, "I don't know where you heard that from. The church is neutral on politics."
Me: "Actually, I heard it from church members. That's what members are telling people online. They are saying that you can't be a Democrat and also a Mormon because Democrats are opposed to church teachings. So therefore, Mormons have to vote Republican."
TBM: "WHAT?"

Me: "Hey did you know that the Lamanites were given dark skin, but it wasn't the curse, it was the sign of the curse."
TBM: "What are you talking about?"
Me: "It's OK, because it's not racist. The Lamanites were wicked and were given dark skin, but the dark skin wasn't the curse, it was the sign of the curse."
TBM: "Where do you read this crap?"
Me: "That's what church members are telling people online."
TBM: "WHAT?"

Any other lessons from apologists that you've shared with real life TBMs?

[_KevinSim]

One way to really piss off TBMs in real life is to share with them what the Internet TBMs are saying online.

DarkHelmet, are you saying I'm not a TBM "in real life"?

[_angsty]

I've found that mentioning any controversy surrounding LDS history or doctrine, along with any response to it whatsoever, tends to get my LDS family pissed off. They prefer to focus on other aspects.

[_cwald]

Everytime they bring up an argument about following the prophet or not criticizing the lord's annointed, remind them that is the same kind of things Warren Jeffs trains his followers to believe.

[_tapirrider]

I hope that some of the LDS posts I have read online do not reflect what most Mormons think. American Indian cultures are not degenerate. It would be an act of racism to say that to an Indian. I wouldn't be comfortable repeating the things some Mormons say to other Mormons.

[_son of Ishmael]

Everytime they bring up an argument about following the prophet or not criticizing the lord's annointed, remind them that is the same kind of things Warren Jeffs trains his followers to believe.

Warren Jeffs - Not THAT Lord's anointed!

[_Drifting]

I've found that mentioning any controversy surrounding LDS history or doctrine, along with any response to it whatsoever, tends to get my LDS family pissed off. They prefer to focus on other aspects.

Whenever I even start to bring a subject up the usual response is "I'm not going to get involved in that, I just know the Church is true" and the conversation is closed.

For instance, when watching a programme on the FLDS I asked a member of the family "I wonder how it was different when Joseph was polygamous?"
"Joseph wasn't polygamous."
"I'm sure he was, let me just google that. Yep, he had around thirty wives....hang on...it says some of them were married..."
"He only married them because their husbands were dead."
"Well, it says here that near
Y a dozen of them had living husbands at the time he married them...hang on...I thought you said he wasn't polygamous but then you said he only married women who's husbands were dead..."
"I'm not going to get involved in that. I know the Church is true"
*family member exits the room*

[_DrW]

I've found that mentioning any controversy surrounding LDS history or doctrine, along with any response to it whatsoever, tends to get my LDS family pissed off. They prefer to focus on other aspects.

Whenever I even start to bring a subject up the usual response is "I'm not going to get involved in that, I just know the Church is true" and the conversation is closed.

For instance, when watching a programme on the FLDS I asked a member of the family "I wonder how it was different when Joseph was polygamous?"
"Joseph wasn't polygamous."
"I'm sure he was, let me just google that. Yep, he had around thirty wives....hang on...it says some of them were married..."
"He only married them because their husbands were dead."
"Well, it says here that near
Y a dozen of them had living husbands at the time he married them...hang on...I thought you said he wasn't polygamous but then you said he only married women who's husbands were dead..."
"I'm not going to get involved in that. I know the Church is true"
*family member exits the room*

Had an eerily similar conversation with a TBM family member who works in the COB when I was in Utah recently. This individual (let's call him Dell) has been LDS all his life, served a mission, is college educated, and works for the Church full time.

During our heated conversation and in front of other family members, he stated that Joseph Smith was not a polygamist and that this claim was nothing but an internet LIE. He also stated that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice, no matter what the scientific papers say and in spite of a strong scientific consensus to the contrary.

The other TBM family members present, some of whom knew that "Dell" was wrong in his firmly held beliefs on all counts, refused to acknowledge these inconvenient truths in front of other family members.

The scene, played out in the late afternoon on a pleasant porch in Happy Valley, was nothing short of surrealistic. Rather than grab my laptop and show him that he was wrong, I simply stated that Joseph Smith Jr's polygamy was a matter of Church record for anyone who cared to look it up and that science deniers had to accept the stigma of being - well - science deniers (and Dell knows the regard I have for science deniers).

Dell was a bit shaken by the whole experience. Others could see the wheels turning as he contemplated the consequences to him and his belief system if I happened to be right, which he must have known was the case. (And if he did not know it then - he certainly knows it now).

[_Drifting]

Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee (Tom Cruise): I think I'm entitled to them.
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth!

[_DrW]

Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee (Tom Cruise): I think I'm entitled to them.
Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I want the truth!
Jessep: You can't handle the truth!

Katie Holmes to Tom Cruise: "I can no longer handle this Scientology S***. I do not want our daughter to grow up believing this crap. Here are some papers for you."