We all want to be happy. It's nice to be around happy people who have a positive outlook on life. The world is such a negative place with wars, famines and Sandra Bullock movies that we all want a shelter from it all.
I don't know if those reading this have ever seen LDS promotional literature but it always has a group of happy, clean cut (and until recently) white people. It almost jumps out at you and says "hey...you want this don't you?". Well, I wanted it. But there was a catch. To get it you have to start believing some really weird stuff like:
*Jesus came to America after his resurrection and taught the Indians.
*There is an elderly man in Salt Lake City that very few people know about but this man is God's mouthpiece to the entire world.
*You must wear special underwear with markings over the left and right breast and over the navel and the right knee.
*You must accept as a fact that a young farmer from New York was lead by an angel to a set of golden plates buried in a hill near his home. The plates are engraved with the history of the former inhabitants of the Americans called Nephites and Lamanites.
*Lots of other strange stuff that I'll go into later.
To make things worse, I started dating a Methodist girl at this time who, along with her pastor, was dead set against Mormonism. Talk about confusion. At least I would finally get the other side of the story...or so I thought.
The problem with "anti-Mormon" literature as put out by fundamentalist Christians is that it can be easily answered by most Mormons. So I bought the answers the elders gave me. It was not until years later after coming across scholarly sources from historians such as D. Micheal Quinn that I discovered that the LDS Church had been less than truthful with me about such things as Joseph Smith's money digging activities, his grand banking scam in Kirtland Ohio and his polygamy among other things.
Yet, the elders were my friends, my buddies, my pals. Nice guys rather than the stuck-up church kids and the drunk rednecks I had to choose from in South Georgia. Little did I know that that being my friend was just a way of closing the deal and getting me baptized. On my own mission I would learn about the pressure to bapize at all costs. One day Elder Benham showed me just what a true friend he was when he threatened to "drop me as an investigator" if I didn't make progress towards baptism. What can I say...I was just a kid and wanted to be accepted by a good group.
In order to get me into the church, I had to get a "witness from the Holy Ghost", a testimony. Mormonism, as I was to find out, relies more on feelings than on facts. So I tried and I prayed...and the feelings came! So Mormonism must be true! Yet how was this different from a member of faith healer Benny Hinn's audience who is sure that he/she has been healed? How is it different from those Catholics who go to Lourdes to take the "healing" water from the spring and have great spiritual experiences? How is it different from those who claim to die and come back changed forever (yet don't immediately join the LDS Church)?
How is it different? Mormon feelings are true...all other feelings are false! Believe it or not, that's their answer.
So I took my new but weak faith in Mormonism and was baptized on a cold day in December 1981. For the next several years I got deeper and deeper into Mormonism, embracing not only their religious faith, but their conservative political faith as well.
There were things that still bothered me. Having to lie to people for example. We were always instructed to tell people that the temple was sacred, not secret. Yet when I went through the temple I was told the following word for word:
"....we desire to impress upon your minds the sacred character of the first token of the Aaronic priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign, and penalty, as well as that of all the other tokens of the holy priesthood, with their names, signs, and penalties, which you will receive in the temple this day. They are most sacred and are guarded by solemn covenants and obligations of secrecy to the effect that under no condition, even at the peril of your life, will you ever divulge them, except at a certain place that will be shown you hereafter........I will now explain the covenant and obligation of secrecy which are associated with this token, its name, sign, and penalty, which you will be required to take upon yourselves" (bold added)
We told people that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus after a great revival in 1820. The fact is, there was not great revival in 1820. Mormons leaders knew this, they just kept letting us repeat the lie.
We told people that polygamy was instituted because there were more women than me. That was a lie! Polygamy was brought about because the early leaders thought it was essential to salvation.
Why was I supposed to tell people that the temple was not secret when the ceremony itself clearly stated that it was? Why was I made to lie about all that other history? I began to learn that in Mormonism it's important to overlook certain things in order to further the work of God. It's called "lying for the Lord". It was like Orwell and 1984!
Showing posts with label LDS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LDS. Show all posts
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Why I joined-Part 3 "Meet the Mormons"
The time between ages 18 and 25 is a time of transition for all of us. We are leaving mom and dad, finding out who we are, exploring new ways of thinking and being.
It should be a time when we are offered choices and encouraged to think about new ideas that we encounter. In college we are, or should be, exposed to the ideas of Evolution, Existentialism and other philosophical concepts that cause us to question the beliefs that we hold and test and try our mental bounderies.
Unfortunately I was raised in an atmosphere steeped in religion. While the Methodist religion is mild and mainstream, I was surrounded by Southern Baptists who, as I remember, were of the “fundamentalist” brand. Evolution was “Evilution” and any philosophy that slightly questioned the existence of God was “communist” or of the Devil. The mindset was not to question, but to “trust and obey” Jesus and the Bible.
Perhaps it’s my personality, but the fundamentalist mindset stuck with me more than the even tempered teachings of my father’s United Methodism. While my father preached in mild friendly tones, the fundamentalist ministers shouted and exhorted like speakers at some desperate political rally. There screeds would often electrify the crowds and convict people of “sin”. So when it came to religion that was absolute, I had a fatal attraction.
I first met Elder Rapheal one afternoon in September along with Bud Baxter. The LDS Church in that southern town of Bainbridge was located in an old, two story southern home that had seen better days. The two young missionaries lived upstairs and church services were conducted downstairs. We sat downstairs and chatted for a bit. Elder Rapheal, an easy going nice guy from California, began teaching me about Joseph Smith right away. Then Elder Benham showed up. Right away I noticed there was tension between the two of them and, as I was later to find out, Elder Curtis Benham was a missionary that other elders had a tough time getting along with. He was a very smart guy and a dedicated missionary. He was just…..different.
As I said, I was taught first about Joseph Smith and his “First Vision” of God and Jesus in which they informed him that all other churches were wrong and that he would be the person to restore lost truths to the earth. Then I was shown a film called “Man’s Search for Happiness” that basically said, in a round about way, that if anyone really wants to be happy, they need to join the Mormon Church. I was also given a Book of Mormon.
After I got home I thought to myself that here was something different and new. But it really didn’t make that big of an impression on me. That’s how Mormonism is….it’s no big deal once you hear about it. In fact it’s really sort of dull to most outsiders. Weird and strange…but dull.
That’s where “fellowshipping” comes in. In some religions it’s called “love bombing” but in Mormonism there is a special effort to be very friendly to people “investigating” Mormonism called fellowshipping that helps get them into the religion. Mormon Doctrine alone would never convert the vast majority of people who join the LDS Church but being a person’s friend helps the medicine go down.
Moving around so much I never really had very many friends and in Bainbridge I had almost none. Suddenly I had two new best friends! All I had to do was listen to their sales pitch on Joseph Smith and Mormonism. Little did I know that behind the smiles and clean living I was about to get involved in one of the most absolutist religions in America. One that believed and followed strictly the following statements:
"When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan--it is God's Plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give directions, it should mark the end of controversy, God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God."
"When the Prophet speaks the debate is over".
"Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even if it is wrong, and you do it, the lord will bless you for it but you don't need to worry. The lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray."
P.T. Barnum supposedly said that there was a sucker born every minute. Over the next four months I was to become a sucker for Mormonism...minute by minute.
It should be a time when we are offered choices and encouraged to think about new ideas that we encounter. In college we are, or should be, exposed to the ideas of Evolution, Existentialism and other philosophical concepts that cause us to question the beliefs that we hold and test and try our mental bounderies.
Unfortunately I was raised in an atmosphere steeped in religion. While the Methodist religion is mild and mainstream, I was surrounded by Southern Baptists who, as I remember, were of the “fundamentalist” brand. Evolution was “Evilution” and any philosophy that slightly questioned the existence of God was “communist” or of the Devil. The mindset was not to question, but to “trust and obey” Jesus and the Bible.
Perhaps it’s my personality, but the fundamentalist mindset stuck with me more than the even tempered teachings of my father’s United Methodism. While my father preached in mild friendly tones, the fundamentalist ministers shouted and exhorted like speakers at some desperate political rally. There screeds would often electrify the crowds and convict people of “sin”. So when it came to religion that was absolute, I had a fatal attraction.
I first met Elder Rapheal one afternoon in September along with Bud Baxter. The LDS Church in that southern town of Bainbridge was located in an old, two story southern home that had seen better days. The two young missionaries lived upstairs and church services were conducted downstairs. We sat downstairs and chatted for a bit. Elder Rapheal, an easy going nice guy from California, began teaching me about Joseph Smith right away. Then Elder Benham showed up. Right away I noticed there was tension between the two of them and, as I was later to find out, Elder Curtis Benham was a missionary that other elders had a tough time getting along with. He was a very smart guy and a dedicated missionary. He was just…..different.
As I said, I was taught first about Joseph Smith and his “First Vision” of God and Jesus in which they informed him that all other churches were wrong and that he would be the person to restore lost truths to the earth. Then I was shown a film called “Man’s Search for Happiness” that basically said, in a round about way, that if anyone really wants to be happy, they need to join the Mormon Church. I was also given a Book of Mormon.
After I got home I thought to myself that here was something different and new. But it really didn’t make that big of an impression on me. That’s how Mormonism is….it’s no big deal once you hear about it. In fact it’s really sort of dull to most outsiders. Weird and strange…but dull.
That’s where “fellowshipping” comes in. In some religions it’s called “love bombing” but in Mormonism there is a special effort to be very friendly to people “investigating” Mormonism called fellowshipping that helps get them into the religion. Mormon Doctrine alone would never convert the vast majority of people who join the LDS Church but being a person’s friend helps the medicine go down.
Moving around so much I never really had very many friends and in Bainbridge I had almost none. Suddenly I had two new best friends! All I had to do was listen to their sales pitch on Joseph Smith and Mormonism. Little did I know that behind the smiles and clean living I was about to get involved in one of the most absolutist religions in America. One that believed and followed strictly the following statements:
"When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done. When they propose a plan--it is God's Plan. When they point the way, there is no other which is safe. When they give directions, it should mark the end of controversy, God works in no other way. To think otherwise, without immediate repentance, may cost one his faith, may destroy his testimony, and leave him a stranger to the kingdom of God."
"When the Prophet speaks the debate is over".
"Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even if it is wrong, and you do it, the lord will bless you for it but you don't need to worry. The lord will never let his mouthpiece lead the people astray."
P.T. Barnum supposedly said that there was a sucker born every minute. Over the next four months I was to become a sucker for Mormonism...minute by minute.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Why I Joined-Part 2 This Bud's for you
I don’t think anyone starts out with the idea that “hey, I think I’ll join a cult and get brainwashed” anymore than one starts out with the goal of being an alcoholic or a drug addict. It happens “line up line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little” until you become chained down to an ideology that you would have never accepted had the entire package been honestly presented to you as a whole. So it was with me.
I grew up as the oldest son of a United Methodist minister. I was born in Mississippi but we moved to Georgia when I was 10 so my dad could attend the theological school at Emery University.
As a P.K. (Preacher’s Kid) we moved around a lot. Every four years in fact. In 1981 we moved to South Georgia so that my dad could become pastor over a Charge of four churches. I went through some tough times and left high school. I never really seemed to be able to adjust to this new place.
I went ahead and got my G.E.D. and started going to the local community college. It was there that a guy named Bud Baxter would have a profound impact on my life. It was a September day in 1981 and Bud, a guy I knew from class, came into the McDonald’s where I was having lunch. He came over and sat down and we began to talk. The subject of religion came up and he told me he had recently been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was to discover that all Mormons are given the charge of being missionaries for their religion and Bud was no exception. He went on and on!
He kept telling me that I should come with him to see the “elders”. I thought that “elders” were older men who taught in the church. I later learned that “elders” were simply teenage boys. After a small harangue I agreed to meet with them and learn about Mormonism. Dumb kid that I was, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
I grew up as the oldest son of a United Methodist minister. I was born in Mississippi but we moved to Georgia when I was 10 so my dad could attend the theological school at Emery University.
As a P.K. (Preacher’s Kid) we moved around a lot. Every four years in fact. In 1981 we moved to South Georgia so that my dad could become pastor over a Charge of four churches. I went through some tough times and left high school. I never really seemed to be able to adjust to this new place.
I went ahead and got my G.E.D. and started going to the local community college. It was there that a guy named Bud Baxter would have a profound impact on my life. It was a September day in 1981 and Bud, a guy I knew from class, came into the McDonald’s where I was having lunch. He came over and sat down and we began to talk. The subject of religion came up and he told me he had recently been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was to discover that all Mormons are given the charge of being missionaries for their religion and Bud was no exception. He went on and on!
He kept telling me that I should come with him to see the “elders”. I thought that “elders” were older men who taught in the church. I later learned that “elders” were simply teenage boys. After a small harangue I agreed to meet with them and learn about Mormonism. Dumb kid that I was, I had no idea what I was getting myself into!
Why I Joined-Part 1 "I'm caught in a trap...I can't walk out"
It was a cold day, January 11, 1983. My friend Dana and I drove up to the LDS (Latter-Day Saint) Temple in Provo, Utah. As a missionary in South Georgia, Dana had baptized me into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) December 13, 1981. Now, I was scheduled to report to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo Utah on January 13...exactly one year and one month after converting to Mormonism. At age 19 I was going to be a missionary in the Nevada Las Vegas mission.
Before going on a mission, young Mormon men must attend the temple for the first time. The temple is different from the regular Mormon church building that average members attend every Sunday. The temple is only for members of the LDS Church who meet the highest standards of the faith. It is seen as so sacred to Mormons that they never discuss what goes on inside. In fact, as I was to find out, they make special agreements ("covenants") to that effect.
So I walk in the temple, both Dana and I dress in our Sunday suits even though it was a Tuesday afternoon. We show the man sitting at the desk who is dressed in a white suit our "temple recommends". It is a small card issued to Mormons by their leaders that confirms that they are living the commandments of Mormonism. The questions I was asked at two different interviews are:
1. Do you believe in God, the Eternal Father, in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost; and do you have a firm testimony of the restored gospel?
2. Do you sustain the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the prophet, seer, and revelator; and do you recognize him as the only person on the earth authorized to exercise all priesthood keys?
3. Do you sustain the other General Authorities and the local authorities of the Church?
4. Do you live the law of chastity?
5. Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?
6. Do you affiliate with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or do you sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual?
7. Do you earnestly strive to do your duty in the Church; to attend your sacrament, priesthood, and other meetings; and to obey the rules, laws, and commandments of the gospel?
8. Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
9. Are you a full-tithe payer?
10. Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?
11. Have you ever been divorced or are you now separated from your spouse under order of a civil court? If yes, (a) - Are you current in your support payments and other financial obligations for family members, as specified by court order or in other written, binding commitments? (b) Were there any circumstances of transgression in connectionwith your divorce or separation that have not been previously resolved with your bishop?
12. If you have received your temple endowment -- (a) Do you keep all the covenants that you made in the temple? (b) Do you wear the authorized garments both day and night?
13. Has there been any sin or misdeed in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but has not?
14. Do you consider yourself worthy in every way to enter the temple and participate in temple ordinances?
They once asked married couples if if they were "guilty" of having oral sex, but they dropped that one. I guess it was too weird even for them.
I went in and paid to rent special white cloths. I went to a locker room and stripped down...totally nude. I was given a "shield" to put on that looked like a bed sheet with a hole in the top for me to put my head through. I then went through the "washing and anointing" ceremony where an elderly temple worker took water and repeated the following:
"Brother Dunn, having authority, I wash you preparatory to your receiving your anointings, that you may become clean from the blood and sins of this generation.
I wash your head, that your brain and your intellect may be clear and active; your ears, that you may hear the word of the Lord; your eyes, that you may see clearly and discern between truth and error; your nose, that you may smell; your lips, that you may never speak guile; your neck, that it may bear up your head properly; your shoulders, that they may bear the burdens that shall be placed thereon; your back, that there may be marrow in the bones and in the spine; your breast, that it may be the receptacle of pure and virtuous principles; your vitals and bowels, that they may be healthy and strong and perform their proper functions; your arms and hands, that they may be strong and wield the sword of justice in defense of truth and virtue; your loins, that you may be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that you might have joy in your posterity; your legs and feet, that you might run and not be weary, and walk and not faint."
All the time, the worker would lightly touch the named parts of my body with water. After he finished, the process was repeated with olive oil.
Suddenly I was in a very strange and foreign world. I was also given a secret "new name" (mine was Manassah) after going through the washing ritual. Fifteen minutes later I was standing in a theater style room with other people, dressed in white pants and a white shirt, clothed in the "garments of the Holy Priesthood" and being asked to go through the symbolic motions of slitting my throat. In my mind, I was asked to repeat the following words while at the same time drawing my thumb quickly across my throat:
"I ________, think of the new name, covenant that I will never reveal the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign, and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."
Suddenly, as a Mormon I was "made". I was down the rabbit hole into a brave, new world.
Before going on a mission, young Mormon men must attend the temple for the first time. The temple is different from the regular Mormon church building that average members attend every Sunday. The temple is only for members of the LDS Church who meet the highest standards of the faith. It is seen as so sacred to Mormons that they never discuss what goes on inside. In fact, as I was to find out, they make special agreements ("covenants") to that effect.
So I walk in the temple, both Dana and I dress in our Sunday suits even though it was a Tuesday afternoon. We show the man sitting at the desk who is dressed in a white suit our "temple recommends". It is a small card issued to Mormons by their leaders that confirms that they are living the commandments of Mormonism. The questions I was asked at two different interviews are:
1. Do you believe in God, the Eternal Father, in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost; and do you have a firm testimony of the restored gospel?
2. Do you sustain the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the prophet, seer, and revelator; and do you recognize him as the only person on the earth authorized to exercise all priesthood keys?
3. Do you sustain the other General Authorities and the local authorities of the Church?
4. Do you live the law of chastity?
5. Is there anything in your conduct relating to members of your family that is not in harmony with the teachings of the Church?
6. Do you affiliate with any group or individual whose teachings or practices are contrary to or oppose those accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or do you sympathize with the precepts of any such group or individual?
7. Do you earnestly strive to do your duty in the Church; to attend your sacrament, priesthood, and other meetings; and to obey the rules, laws, and commandments of the gospel?
8. Are you honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
9. Are you a full-tithe payer?
10. Do you keep the Word of Wisdom?
11. Have you ever been divorced or are you now separated from your spouse under order of a civil court? If yes, (a) - Are you current in your support payments and other financial obligations for family members, as specified by court order or in other written, binding commitments? (b) Were there any circumstances of transgression in connectionwith your divorce or separation that have not been previously resolved with your bishop?
12. If you have received your temple endowment -- (a) Do you keep all the covenants that you made in the temple? (b) Do you wear the authorized garments both day and night?
13. Has there been any sin or misdeed in your life that should have been resolved with priesthood authorities but has not?
14. Do you consider yourself worthy in every way to enter the temple and participate in temple ordinances?
They once asked married couples if if they were "guilty" of having oral sex, but they dropped that one. I guess it was too weird even for them.
I went in and paid to rent special white cloths. I went to a locker room and stripped down...totally nude. I was given a "shield" to put on that looked like a bed sheet with a hole in the top for me to put my head through. I then went through the "washing and anointing" ceremony where an elderly temple worker took water and repeated the following:
"Brother Dunn, having authority, I wash you preparatory to your receiving your anointings, that you may become clean from the blood and sins of this generation.
I wash your head, that your brain and your intellect may be clear and active; your ears, that you may hear the word of the Lord; your eyes, that you may see clearly and discern between truth and error; your nose, that you may smell; your lips, that you may never speak guile; your neck, that it may bear up your head properly; your shoulders, that they may bear the burdens that shall be placed thereon; your back, that there may be marrow in the bones and in the spine; your breast, that it may be the receptacle of pure and virtuous principles; your vitals and bowels, that they may be healthy and strong and perform their proper functions; your arms and hands, that they may be strong and wield the sword of justice in defense of truth and virtue; your loins, that you may be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, that you might have joy in your posterity; your legs and feet, that you might run and not be weary, and walk and not faint."
All the time, the worker would lightly touch the named parts of my body with water. After he finished, the process was repeated with olive oil.
Suddenly I was in a very strange and foreign world. I was also given a secret "new name" (mine was Manassah) after going through the washing ritual. Fifteen minutes later I was standing in a theater style room with other people, dressed in white pants and a white shirt, clothed in the "garments of the Holy Priesthood" and being asked to go through the symbolic motions of slitting my throat. In my mind, I was asked to repeat the following words while at the same time drawing my thumb quickly across my throat:
"I ________, think of the new name, covenant that I will never reveal the First Token of the Aaronic Priesthood, with its accompanying name, sign, and penalty. Rather than do so, I would suffer my life to be taken."
Suddenly, as a Mormon I was "made". I was down the rabbit hole into a brave, new world.
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