The LDS Church is NOT " Pro - Family " !!

20 Questions to Ask when people say

“The LDS Church is “PRO - FAMILY”

Source Priority to Official LDS Resources:

1. Does the official LDS magazine say, “Even if paying tithing means that you don’t have enough money to feed your family, pay tithing”.  

Yes     

Source:  LDS.org

2. Did Joseph Smith marry women that his wife Emma did NOT know about?    

Yes!  Around 35 women

Source:  LDS.org Essay

3. Did Wilford Woodruff marry a 15 year old girl when he was 47?

Yes… Emma Smoot

Source: Todd Compton

4. If a Mormon drinks coffee can they go their child’s temple wedding?

No

Source:  LDS.org Talk

5. Who does the Mormon Church consider an “apostate”: A gay man who is legally married to his husband for ten years or a man who hires a prostitute every night?

The legally married gay man

Source:  KUTV News

6. Does the LDS Church have rules about what couples can do during sex?

Yes

Source:  Page #1     Page #2

(If people say that isn’t a rule anymore, ask them to show you where the policy was changed.)

7. How many times can an 18 year old young man call their parents every year on their mission?

Two times

Source:  LDS.org

8. Does the LDS Church discourage “mixed race marriages”?

Yes                                                                                         

Source:  LDS.org

9. Are there families that are split up for eternity because the father speaks in favor of gay marriage?

Yes

Source:  S.L. Tribune

10. Did a Mormon Apostle once say, “'I think no more of taking a wife than I do of buying a cow”.

Yes

Source:  AZQuotes

11. Were the young women from Europe who join the church in the 1850’s told about polygamy, and were then divided up like cattle when they arrived in Salt Lake?

Yes

Source:  LOC.gov

12. Are adult children of LGBT parents required to “disavow” the marriages of their parents before they can be baptized?

Yes

Source:  Washington Post

13. Did Joseph Smith take wives from active LDS men and have them sealed to himself?

Yes

Source: LDS.org

14. In the Mormon temple today, do women raise their hands to the square, bow their head and promise to hearken to counsel of their husbands?

Yes

Source:  LDS.org

15. Are there active worthy women that cannot become sealed to their husband because the church refuses to revoke the sealing from a man she divorced?  

Yes

Source:  LDS.org

16.  Are there thousands of parents who cannot attend the marriage of their children each year because they are not allowed to enter the temple?

Yes     

Source: LDS Weddings

17. Do Mormons teach that only Mormons will be with their families in Heaven?

Yes

Source:  Mormon.org

18.  Did the LDS Church encourage gay men to marry women?

Yes

Source:  Nomorestrangers.org

19. How many hours a week is an LDS Bishop away from his family?  

The hours range from 20 - 40 or more

Source: LDS.org

20. Are children and families “shunned” in the LDS Church?

Yes     

Source:  LDSLiving

Save The Bishops !! (A 12 - Step Process)

12 Steps to Save the Bishops !!

1. Reduce and delegate more of the Bishop’s duties.
2. Train them better and more frequently.
3. Reimburse them well for any costs and travel expenses.
4. Send members needing counseling to trained professionals.
5. Encourage young teens to discuss sexual questions with their parents or trained professionals.
6. Put windows in the door to the Bishop’s office.
7. Allow women to make real decisions and hold a greater array of callings.
8. Create an environment where “doubters” can feel free to ask and discuss issues in class.
9. Make the message of the church be one of inclusion and not exclusion.  
10. Allow our LGBT brothers and sisters to join with us in worship without guilt.  
11. End the damaging message of a black and white church that is says that all other creeds are an abomination.
12. Allow the Bishops to truly seek after the lost sheep, not butcher them.

In Support of Bishops

I have been blessed throughout my life with kind, hard working Bishops.  Men of faith, honor and a devotion to service. I have never had a Bishop who hurt me or acted condescending in any way.  These servants need our support.  Please don't abandon your Bishop!

The job of Mormon Bishop has evolved dramatically over the past 180 years. Early in the Nauvoo and Kirtland periods of LDS Church History they were primarily involved in the "temporal" affairs of the church. Ie: settling land disputes, helping the poor and widows and running a storehouse of goods in case of famine. For awhile, they even got paid....but not anymore.

Over time, the responsibilities of a Bishop have grown and morphed into an often thankless job that is on the front lines of a quickly changing Mormonism.  And they serve while carrying on the normal full time duties of family, jobs and life.

They are in the trenches, working and supporting men and women with real doubts and problems while the leadership in Salt Lake is often slow to recognize the genuine suffering of many of the Saints. Bishops are asked to make black and white decisions at a time when society is becoming increasingly more nuanced.

The list of Bishop duties can be overwhelming:  Ward Finances, callings, missionary work, interviews, counseling, meetings, meetings and more meetings.  The time alone can easily stretch to 30 or 40 hours per week. Hours away from family, fun and too often... sleep.  This is selfless service of men who truly believe they are partially responsible for the salvation of their ward flock.

I was in a meeting recently where the Stake President gleefully announced "Every ward in the stake would soon have its own set of full time missionaries!".  Realize please that I don't live in Mexico or the Philippines. I live in a tiny rural community in the Mormon corridor that is about 70 percent LDS.  I have nevermo (Never-Mormon) friends who have been approached 20 times or more by missionaries.

I see the missionaries and feel sorry for them.  They have little to do. Sadly for the Bishop, he is partly responsible to keep them busy, fed and housed in addition to keeping pretty normal 18 year old boys out of trouble.

Unfortunately it gets worse....

How is a strongly believing Bishop supposed to respond to a 17 year old young man or woman who admits to pornography or masturbation when the leader himself most likely "struggled" with the same things as a youth?

How can they mix their genuine compassion for a young man admitting he is gay with the message from the Apostles that homosexual behaviour of any form is a sin next to murder?  

How unfathomable of a situation puts a 50 year old Bishop in a closed room alone with a 16 year old girl admitting to sex with her boyfriend, or perhaps her girlfriend?  

And what message have Bishops received recently from the excommunication of so many prominent Mormon "agitators"? The official word from Salt Lake is that it is OK to have questions, but when you express your doubts publicly you are in danger of losing your membership. I feel sorry for Kate Kelly's Bishop. I have no doubts that he was given instructions from his leaders to excommunicate her. Mormon Bishops doing the dirty work for the Utah central church.

Bishops need help. Unfortunately the help is not coming from the General Authorities. The church's hierarchy is increasingly naive to the real world problems that the local leaders face. There are men and women with sincere doubts about the issues related to LDS doctrine and hIstory. The members are exposed to messages across the spectrum from podcasts, blogs and Facebook.

Ironically, those same Bishops whose job it is to assure and strengthen the members are often unaware that those issues or that the church is releasing controversial essays which are putting the membership on edge.  I've heard multiple stories of Bishops who've been blindsided by statements on Joseph Smith's polygamy or the Book of Abraham and declare them as "anti- Mormon" lies until the facts are confirmed on LDS.org.

There are no easy answers, but I’m afraid if Bishops are not given more financial and time relief that they will become those lost sheep that need to be saved

12 Steps to Save the Bishops !!

Reduce and delegate more of the Bishop’s duties.

Train them better and more frequently.

Reimburse them well for any costs and travel expenses.

Send members needing counseling to trained professionals.

Encourage young teens to discuss sexual questions with their parents or trained professionals.

Put windows in the door to the Bishop’s office.

Allow women to make real decisions and hold a greater array of callings.

Create an environment where “doubters” can feel free to ask and discuss issues in class.

Make the message of the church be one of inclusion and not exclusion.  

Allow our LGBT brothers and sisters to join with us in worship without guilt.  

End the damaging message of a black and white church that is says that all other creeds are an abomination.

Allow the Bishops to truly seek after the lost sheep, not butcher them.

Drowning Pregnant Mothers, Puppy Dogs and Panda Bears

Drowning Pregnant Mothers, Puppy Dogs and Panda Bears

As a young child I had a Fisher Price Noah’s Ark Toy.  It had a plastic boat and figurines of Brother and Sister Noah.  There were pairs of zebras, tigers, giraffes, elephants and camels.  The male animals were big and masculine looking and the females had lipstick or a bow on them.  Looking under their tails revealed no gender specific characteristics.  

I would play with the set in the bathtub.  Turning on the water would cause a panic and Noah and I would throw all the animals into the ark to save them from destruction in the Great Flood.  With Noah and the animals safely into the boat, I would relax (and get my gender specific parts washed).

The Story of Noah and the Great Flood is a simple Bible story that nearly everyone knows. It also gives Mormons a clear connection to traditional Christianity.  The children’s version has drama, cute fury animals and faith all mixed in with lots of really bad guys who die in unseen ways.

The LDS Church has embraced the Noah’s Ark Story fully.  The LDS Bible Dictionary says, “During Noah’s time the Earth was completely covered with water.” and as recently as 2011 President Thomas S. Monson referred to the “days of Noah, when the Lord cleansed the earth by flood.” The Church is also dependent on the Ark journey to explain how humanity got from Jackson County, Missouri (where Mormon’s believe the Garden of Eden to have been) to the Middle East. In dozens of General Conference talks I’ve read, not one refers to any part of the Noah story as myth or symbolism..  

While watching the 2014 movie Noah with Russell Crowe, I watched with horror as all those “wicked” babies and children were killed by the rising waters.  The idea that only Noah’s family was worth saving is troubling.  Didn’t most people just have a few goats or sheep and gathered food in the hills to survive?  This wasn’t Las Vegas or Rio de Janeiro at Carnival.  Was there reason for God to justify a mass genocide?  

All of this becomes even more difficult when you consider the teaching that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament.  The Deseret Book paintings of a Way-too-White Jesus holding little children doesn’t quite match the vision of a vindictive, heartless God that drowns babies.

The story of the Flood has continued to unravel as I’ve looked into the science of it. Where did enough water come from to cover the Earth as high as Mt. Everest?  How was Noah able to collect a million species of insects?  Did he have private cages for each beetle pair for their honeymoon cruise?  Did no animals die on the ark?  Who cut down the 150 acres of forest needed to build a vessel that large?  How do you supply 20 pounds of fresh meat daily to the grizzlies, polar bears, lions, tigers and cheetahs?  How big were the storage tanks to hold fresh drinking water for the herd?

Even a mix of fresh and salty water would kill every fish, all but a very few plants and every other sea creature like, whales, urchins, clams, crabs etc.  And the geologic record of a catastrophic global flood would be distinct: a massive, worldwide layer of sediment mixed with billions of fossilized plants and animals..  God himself said, "and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth."  Where are the fossils?

In spite of all this contrary evidence, the church does not, or cannot back away from the Global Immerse-the-Earth Flood Story.  An Ensign article in 1998 said, “Latter-day Saints believe that Noah was an actual man, a prophet of God, who …. gathered his family and a host of animals onto the ark, and floated safely away as waters covered the entire earth.”That statement does not leave a lot of wiggle room.

The flood story appears in many cultures, and I think that each version of the myth can be taught in a way that encourages valuable lessons about obedience, hard work, repentance and family. It is concerning, however, when the Church leadership, comprised of many that are educated and successful, cannot let go of global flood as historical event.

In recent years the LDS Church has been willing to back away from statements made by many of the prophets.  In the recent essay on race, Brigham Young was thrown (somewhat) under the bus for denying temple ordinances to African Americans.  Statements in the Book of Mormon claiming that the Lamanites are the PRINCIPAL ancestors of the American Indians have been removed.  We no longer teach that Catholics are the Great and Abominable Church. And it isn’t even taught anymore that we will all get our own planet someday. (This last one is a bit disappointing. I had plans to make brussels sprouts taste like candy corn in my world.)

Stubbornly, and even to their detriment, the LDS Church still officially clings to polygamy, the Tower of Babel, Kolob and The Three Nephites while teaching that  a love-one-another God would drown millions of children (including Noah's grandkids), pregnant mothers, puppy dogs and panda bears.

The Mormon Church's Angelic Problem

Check out the excellent article on the Rational Faith Web Site:

http://rationalfaiths.com/mormon-churchs/

The Problems With Mormon’s Zelph

Problems with Zelph

According to multiple accounts, as about 200 LDS men and women were travelling through Illinois in the summer of 1834, they climbed a small mound and dug up some bones. 

Joseph Smith's own history says:

 "I discovered that the person whose skeleton was before us was a white Lamanite, a large, thickset man, and a man of God. His name was Zelph. He was a warrior and chieftain under the great prophet Onandagus, who was known from the Hill Cumorah, or eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. The curse was taken from Zelph, or at least, in part—one of his thigh bones was broken by a stone flung from a sling, while in battle, years before his death. He was killed in battle by the arrow found among his ribs, during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites."


The message was clear, Joseph Smith had the ability to draw down from Heaven very specific details about this man, his life and character.  The revelatory power was strong.  

The men of the group then divided up the bones and took them with them.  It appears that all of the bones were lost over time.  

The reasons I struggle with this story:
1. If LDS Prophets has such profound power of revelation, why did Spencer W. Kimball not realize that Mark Hoffman duped the church out of many thousands of dollars?

Hoffman, Tanner, Kimball, Romney, Packer and Hinckley

2. Why did they choose to desecrate the grave?  What lesson does that teach us?
3. If these truly were the bones of a great leader, why were they not preserved and displayed? Why were they lost?
4. Why was it so important for God to give this revelation, but didn't stop the Kirtland Bank from going under?
5. Could a man in the year 400 really have been known from the "eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains"?
6. It is a bit too coincidental that the name of Zelph's prophet was named Onandagus which is very similar to Onondaga County in New York not far from Palmyra.  
7. By placing the Book of Mormon setting in Illinois it changes the dynamic of the Central America theory that I grew up with.
8. The story reinforces the racist idea that has Lamanites that become righteous the turn white.

Modern "Lamanite"

9. It sets the standard of "Prophet" pretty high.  Why doesn't President Monson help in missing person investigations?  CSI would be put out of business?
10. Why do so many Nephite and Lamanite names begin with a Z? (Zelph, Zarahemla, Zenos, Zenock, and Zeezrom)  They start to sound made up.

Bonus:  Why did Joseph only find the bones of the most famous man around?  Wouldn't it have been more believable if they were some normal guy, who gathered food and fed his family?  

Outside Links:
By Common Consent
FairMormon
Utah Lighthouse Ministry
Wikipedia - Zelph

Naples Russel Mound #8

The Most Improbable Stories in the Book of Mormon

The Most Improbable Stories in the 

Book of Mormon

Nephi told by the Spirit to kill Laban
1 Nephi Chapter 4

Nephi is a young man. He is told by the spirit to kill a drunk man in the street. He manages to cut off his head and put on Laban's clothes without getting blood all over them or getting spotted.
Can you imagine if everybody who had a voice in their head tell them to do something they did? What a great message to start the book with!  

The Parable of the Olive Tree

Jacob Chapter 5

For 77 verses Jacob recounts the Parable of the Olive Tree. The issue with this story is that there were no olives in North or South America prior to Columbus. Jacob was a tiny boy when he arrived in the New World and would have never seen an olive.  By the time he tells this parable he is an old man and nobody hearing the story would know anything about growing olives.

A Bible, a Bible! The Catholic Church changed the Bible
1 Nephi Chapter 13

Nephi talks about the Great and Abominable Church and how they took the Bible and changed it. This was written at least 500 years before Jesus. All this would have meant nothing to the people of Nephi. For many years it was taught that the Great and Abominable Church was the Catholic Church. ... but now the Catholic and LDS Churches are friends and work together on together on multiple projects....and there is very little difference between the Bibles that the 2 churches use.

Building a Ship
1 Nephi Chapter 17

In one year Nephi and a few other adults mined ore, made metal, made tools, cut wood and gathered food and water.   They then built a ship that would carry them, their animals and all their families across the ocean for nearly a year.
Why was it different from the ship the Jaredites made? Did God know more about shipping building by then?

The Racism
Jacob Chapter 3

Some of Nephi's brother didn't keep the commandments so God made them have dark skin so they would be ugly.
The idea that God would curse a people and all their children for eternity for wickedness is absurd. Were the Germans cursed with a dark skin because of World War II? Are the descendants of Stalin cursed with blackness because of his atrocities? 

So much talk of Christ
2 Nephi Chapter 25

Realize that nearly the entire Book of Mormon tokes place before Christ was even born. The word Christ is used in the book about 200 times before he was born.  Why does it talk so much about him? Why does the Old Testament say nothing of Christ by name? What would have happened if Christ was born and didn't fulfill his atonement?

Craziness following the Death of Christ
3 Nephi 9

When Christ dies in Israel, God is so angry that he wreaks an unbelievable apocalypse in the Americas.  Earthquakes, tornadoes, tidal waves. Most likely millions are killed including children.  Why doesn't the Bible mention any of it? Why haven't we found any archaeological evidence of that sort of destruction?

Mormon and the Abridgment of the Book of Mormon
B of M Introduction

Mormon was a leader, prophet, father, general, warrior and was running from his enemies for most of his life. He had the time to abridge and scratch the entire Book of Mormon onto golden plates, and then Joseph Smith never really used them.

The Jaredites Barges
Ether Chapter 2

After the Tower of Babel (myth)  One family begged God to save them.  He helped them make some crazy barges to get to America.
The barges were part submarine, part ship with holes on the top and the bottom. Filled with people, food, water, bees and other animals and all their waste. They flip over in the water. Used to cross the oceans.  They used magic rocks for light.

Battle of Shiz and Coriantumr
Ether Chapter 15

The last battle of the Jaredites was fought between millions of soldiers whose only desire is destroy the other.  The last men standing are the two leaders - Shiz and Coriantumr. Nobody ran away, nobody surrendered everyone died.  At the very end, Shiz is beheaded and still rises up before he dies.  Coriantumr then wanders around until he stumbles upon another group of 500 BC Christians.

Ammon and the Lamanites
Alma Chapter 17
Ammon is a Nephite who agrees to be a servant for the Lamanite King.  As he is tending the king's flock and bad Lamanites come and try to steal the flock and kill Ammon.  God helps Ammon kill a bunch of the bad guys with stones and them amazingly Ammon cuts off the arms with one blow of several men who tried to attack him.
The sharpness of Nephite swords must have been perfect.  Too bad there is no evidence that there were ever swords in the Americas or sheep.

See Also - 10 Most Problematic Words in the Book of Mormon

List of Science Issues in Mormonism

A Few of the Science Issues in Mormonism

1. Very conflicting statements have been made by church leaders about evolution.
Wikipedia Article

2. The LDS Church still claims that there was a universal flood.
Ensign Article

3. The church cannot get past the idea that Noah had some of every animal on the ark.
Bible Dictionary - Noah

4. The church has never fully accepted birth control.
Mormon Think

5. The church refuses to acknowledge that coffee isn't bad.
13 Benefits of Coffee

6. The church refuses to enforce many of the good things about the Word of Wisdom.... Grains, little meat, herbs of the field etc.
D&C Section 89

7. Ether 15: 31 And it came to pass that after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died
MRM Commentary

8. A Nephite family with few men could find food, survive, smelt iron, build tools and build a trans-oceanic boat in a year.
Mormon Expression - How to Build a Ship

9. Horses, cows, oxen in the Book of Mormon
Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon

10. Steel swords and armor in the Book of Mormon
Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon

11. The impossible idea that the language changing at the Tower of Babel really happened.
Ensign Article

12. The idea that the Earth is 7000 years old.
D&C Section 77

13. Abraham 3:13. This is Shinehah, which is the sun. And he said unto me: Kokob, which is star. And he said unto me: Olea, which is the moon. And he said unto me: Kokaubeam, which signifies stars.
Fair Mormon Commentary

14, Nephi has a thought come into his head and decides to cut off the head of Laban with a sword.  He wasn't visited by an angel.  It says that "The Spirit" told him to do that.
Rational Faith

15. DNA and Book of Mormon
LDS essay on Topic

16. Often taught the dinosaurs were put on Earth by the Devil
My Summary

18. Adam and Eve are the parents of all humanity.
Mormon Think Article

19. Masturbation causes homosexuality
Article on Miracle of Forgiveness

20. Mark Hoffman Forgeries were accepted by the Prophets
Talk by Dallin Oaks