Being LDS On This Website That’s Obsessed With Finding Fault In Different Groups Of People Means You’re

Being LDS on this website that’s obsessed with finding fault in different groups of people means you’re subjected — semi-frequently, at complete random, and by random blogs so you can’t follow a pattern back to one person to unfollow — to posts that are like

“Mormonism is a cult because-" *insert a) something the church doesn’t teach, b) a claim about how the church is controlling and forces its members to do things they don’t make you do, like cut off contact with nonmembers or something similarly crazy, or c) completely innocuous thing that’s completely normal for any religion to ask of its adherents*

“Mormons are crazy because-" *insert a) something that has literally never been taught as doctrine ever that was either made up about us or spread by weird members in the past who didn’t know what they were talking about and people held onto that instead of listening to corrections regarding it, or b) something taken wildly out of context or worded in a way to purposefully make it sound nuts and which makes way more sense if you’d actually bother to listen to someone try to explain it*

“Exmo here, yeah the church is horrible because-" *insert a) personal experience with individuals doing xyz that is certainly unfortunate but has nothing to do with the church as a whole or its doctrine, or b) wild claims that you KNOW this person is lying about because you literally grew up in the same faith as they did and were taught the same things and you know they’re spouting some serious garbage about what we supposedly believe but of course everyone is going to trust the person who talks like a cult survivor so there’s nothing you can do about it*

And you sit there having to either ignore it (DIFFICULT) or find the courage to message the person who reblogged it to gently explain why the post is wrong (does not go well half the time).

No, the church does not fit the BITE model for a cult (literally the only few parts of the list you could say it matches are the few that are true of literally any religion and do not scream ‘cult’). No, you do not need a lawyer to get your records removed, anyone offering those services is scamming you for money because you can literally just ask your local leaders to have it done. No, we do not genuinely believe that insane Bigfoot Cain folk story or anything else like it. And frankly, sometimes people who leave just lie. That happens. It does not make me brainwashed to say that someone who left the church and is spreading obvious crap about things we don’t really teach or believe is indeed lying and it’s frustrating to no end that the automatic reaction from so many people is that you must be the crazy one, meanwhile you’re sitting there being gaslit about your own beliefs as they go ‘Mormons teach/believe xyz’ ‘no we don’t’ ‘yes you do’ ‘we literally don’t though’ ‘shut up you’re just brainwashed’ ‘????’. Have you ever seen a divorced person spread bad rumors about their ex that are not true? Yeah.

(And before anyone goes, ‘Hey, she’s trying to invalidate the stories of people who left, that’s clearly a cultist!’, I’m referring strictly to people who make false claims about what we teach that can be easily verified as false. There are bitter people out there who do that. I’m all for listening to people who have had bad experiences with other members in the church, absolutely nothing but sympathy and love towards those who have genuinely been hurt in one way or another, and yes there are cultural things especially in Utah that have needed or still do need shifting. But as always, the same is true of literally any religion or just any group of human beings in general because a lot of the time human beings kind of suck. The church isn’t special for this. It’s just as filled with flawed people who need to repent as any other group of people on the planet and that’s no secret. There’s a reason we’re always encouraged by our leaders to continue to become better and to try to be more Christlike than we often are, and the vast majority of members are absolutely trying to live by that and it’s not fair to judge those millions of people by the ones who don’t behave as they should. You can believe the stories of people who have had bad experiences without making out 16 million other people to be horrible. Everything would be a cult if the qualification for that was to have some bad apples in your midst.)

It doesn’t take much to look at different sources to see if there’s another side to a story or another explanation for something that sounds weird. You don’t even have to look through church websites for it, you can literally just ask members if you know any. In fact PLEASE just ask us because I lose my mind a little more every time I see someone just looking at sources that are total confirmation biases against us. Ask faithful, practicing members if they’re really forced to do xyz or ask them to explain something weird you heard. We’re not exactly secretive or shy about explaining our beliefs (hence the missionaries lol), we’ll do it. Heck, I’ve got anxiety through the roof about answering questions because I’m scared I’ll word something poorly but even I will still do it, I’d rather face my fears and respond imperfectly than let someone go around thinking something that’s not true. As long as you’re asking genuinely out of curiosity to hear our perspective and not trying to just poke at our faith and be a jerk, you’ll get people who are willing to answer you and have a reasonable discussion without trying to convert you or something.

Aaaanyway. If you couldn’t tell, I’ve now seen two different posts from two different people today being negative about my faith, so. I’m tired. If you’re so inclined please pray for my ability to feel close to Christ, have love for people I disagree with, and be patient with nonsense lol. Goodness knows I need help with that sometimes. Especially right now since I apparently had enough frustration in me to write this whole thing lol.

More Posts from Should-be-studying-not-shipping and Others

Falco Peregrinus, Pencil Drawing By T. S. R. Hardy, June 1942.

Falco Peregrinus, pencil drawing by T. S. R. Hardy, June 1942.

Robert Hardy was a competent artist, and kept a small number of his own pencil and watercolour artworks produced in his later teenage years during the early 1940s.

Then Aslan turned to them and said: "You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle" - C. S. Lewis

I Can't Stop, It's Too Late It Pours Out, It's My Fate My Legacy In Black
I Can't Stop, It's Too Late It Pours Out, It's My Fate My Legacy In Black
I Can't Stop, It's Too Late It Pours Out, It's My Fate My Legacy In Black
I Can't Stop, It's Too Late It Pours Out, It's My Fate My Legacy In Black

i can't stop, it's too late it pours out, it's my fate my legacy in black

HISTORY IN BLACK by Priest

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Look buddy, i’m just trying to make it to Friday.

When the Apostle Paul said “Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” and John Donne said “Death, be not proud,” and the Arcadian Wild said “May you know Death lost already,” and

Lowkey Mad They Never Told Us Who Did It. 
Lowkey Mad They Never Told Us Who Did It. 

lowkey mad they never told us who did it. 


Tags
The “there’s A Cousin For That” Lopen

The “there’s a cousin for that” Lopen

I don’t (do) mean to alarm y’all but apparently I had unfettered access to Twitter back when I was 11.


Tags

Sunday Will Come

painting of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Three crosses stand in the background, with Jesus nailed to the center one and the two thieves on either side. in the foreground stand men, women, and Roman soldiers all talking or watching. at the foot of Christ's cross kneels his mother Mary.

“I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.

But the doom of that day did not endure.

The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.

painting portraying Jesus Christ's resurrection. the tomb is in the background with the stone rolled aside. in the foreground kneels Mary Magdalene, looking up with awe and joy at the resurrected Jesus Christ who stands before her clothed in white.

Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.

But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.”

—Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Sunday Will Come” 2006 (emphasis added)

Loading...
End of content
No more pages to load
  • point-of-void
    point-of-void reblogged this · 4 months ago
  • point-of-void
    point-of-void liked this · 4 months ago
  • should-be-studying-not-shipping
    should-be-studying-not-shipping liked this · 4 months ago
  • badgeraggie
    badgeraggie reblogged this · 4 months ago
  • badgeraggie
    badgeraggie liked this · 4 months ago
  • i-love-books-because-reasons
    i-love-books-because-reasons reblogged this · 4 months ago
  • additionaladdams
    additionaladdams liked this · 1 year ago
  • cakeissweeterthanpickles
    cakeissweeterthanpickles reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • i-love-books-because-reasons
    i-love-books-because-reasons reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • herebesherlocks
    herebesherlocks reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • pinkknight999
    pinkknight999 liked this · 2 years ago
  • heckin-music-dork
    heckin-music-dork reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • heckin-music-dork
    heckin-music-dork liked this · 2 years ago
  • esinofsardis
    esinofsardis liked this · 2 years ago
  • herebesherlocks
    herebesherlocks reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • mathmusic8
    mathmusic8 liked this · 2 years ago
  • prankprincess123
    prankprincess123 reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • prankprincess123
    prankprincess123 liked this · 2 years ago
  • karlyanalora
    karlyanalora reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • marvel-and-moor
    marvel-and-moor liked this · 2 years ago
  • should-be-studying-not-shipping
    should-be-studying-not-shipping reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • fanciest-hobo
    fanciest-hobo reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • thelittlestprincess7
    thelittlestprincess7 liked this · 2 years ago
  • i-love-books-because-reasons
    i-love-books-because-reasons reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • i-love-books-because-reasons
    i-love-books-because-reasons liked this · 2 years ago
  • should-be-studying-not-shipping
    should-be-studying-not-shipping reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • queen-esther
    queen-esther liked this · 2 years ago
  • demigodofhoolemere
    demigodofhoolemere reblogged this · 2 years ago

| part-time student | full-time procrastinator | Christian |

202 posts

Explore Tumblr Blog
Search Through Tumblr Tags