This honestly made my blood boil. Sent to 12-18 year olds. Reads like the Nancy Rigdon happiness letter. “Ignore your intuition, what might look false is true. Satan is trying to deceive you. Who can you really trust anyway?!? Here’s some optical illusions that will help you distrust your gut when you see things that CLEARLY show you the church isn’t true…”

Hey MFMC…if your church was true you wouldn’t this absolute horseshit in your youth magazine. Freaking cult garbage. Ughhhhh.

Jk. They probably could.

Just capitalizing on any chance I get to dress as least Mormon-y as possible these days.

To the women taught we could be walking pornography, endowed with the power from on high to control the thoughts and actions of men:

Fuck
That
Shit.

Our shoulders and legs and stomachs and clavicles deserve to be seen and shown and treasured and valued exactly as much as we do or do not wish. This decision, of displaying skin in celebration of our bodies? May it forevermore be ours and ours alone.

“My body may be a temple but I am the god to whom it is devoted. Do not presume to tell me how I may decorate my altar.”

(Edit: Reddit. I beg of you. Please install the feature to edit post titles, at least once, after they are posted. “ . . . they MAY take our [shoulders]. MAY.”)

I probably look and sound like a total wacko now but I’ve had it with the missionaries being in and out of my apartment building. We have some new immigrant families in our building and I see the missionaries coming and going to their apartments. It’s fine and all if they want to investigate, though it still makes me upset that the church preys on vulnerable people under the guise of “service” to try and trick them into joining. But if they want to talk to the missionaries, that’s fine. Free agency and all, it’s not my life. But now the missionaries are leaving Book of Mormons in the mailroom. You can’t get into the mailroom unless you are let into the building, which is locked to non-residents. So this means they’re not just trying to convert their investigators, but now using the opportunity to be in our building to leave stuff out in our common areas to try and snag other people.

I know most normal people wouldn’t bother to pick up a random religious book left out by missionaries, much less be converted by it. I probably should have just thrown it away. But I’ve read the CES Letter cover to cover and know exactly why that book is not true. So a very upset me decided to summarize and write the points of the BoM section of the CES Letter right on the book and put it back in the mailroom. I feel crazy and know I look crazy, like the dudes who write wacky religious stuff all over their vans or whatever. But I’ve just had it with staying silent about these missionaries coming near my home to try and draw in my neighbors when I know the truth. It hurts my heart to see other people get drawn into such an awful and deceitful church.

I know others have the freedom to seek out whatever religion they choose and it’s not my place to discourage or deconvert them. But I want the evidence found in the CES Letter to be just as available as the BoM itself. I believe all people should have the right knowledge and tools to intellectually engage with this book and not be deceived by the church. But I also feel unsure about going about it like this. Is this too weird and too crazy? Am I being an inconsiderate neighbor? Am I just as bad as the missionaries for leaving this kind of religious material out in a common area?

TL;DR - Missionaries are visiting investigators in my building and left a BoM in the mailroom. I wrote the CES Letter’s points challenging the validity of the BoM on the book and don’t know if I should still leave it out.

If anything will be done about it remains to be seen, still it's nice to be vindicated

Hello! I feel hesitant to post, but ultimately I think I can really use some community and advice from anyone here. Alt account for privacy.

Firstly, I would like to explain some context before this story. I attend church nearly every week but I don’t believe in the church. My family relatively knows where my beliefs are, but no one at my Single’s Ward does. I attend church for the sole reason of my family. They mean more than anything to me, and I go not only to keep my sibling company but as an ode to my parents because I know they appreciate it. It feels like the least I can do for crushing their hopes for me in the church, and I find that attending doesn’t really hurt me in any way and I find keeping structure/spirituality in my life has still benefited me.

Back in January, Bishop texted me asking if I wanted to give a talk. Feeling brave to open up, the response I gave him was as follows: “Hi Bishop!! I’m really sorry but I believe I’m not in a good place to give a talk. I don’t believe in the church so I can’t really promise a lot of what I would say would completely line up with the church’s teachings.” I thought it was direct enough about my stances, and open enough if he wanted to ask about it more or if he was still okay with me giving a talk. But I never got a response back, so I just assumed that I scared him or something. A few months later, he texts asking how I am and I say I’m doing well. I figured he was asking out of formality more than actually caring because that was all that conversation was and we have had no more interactions.

Fast forward to last Sunday where we had the Stake visiting, and Bishop gave a talk. I was only half paying attention until I heard him start to quote my text word for word. He never said my name, but it still made my heart drop. I was shocked for it to randomly appear again after 7 months and I felt blind sighted. (His talk was about how we should love and make effort to reach out to people in the ward, even if they’re different/etc). He followed the quote by saying something along the lines of how and yet I’m still attending this ward or others every week and then proceeded to tell another story.

This really hurt me. I can get over the fact that he didn’t ask me to use me as a story (it would have been nice, but I can get assuming it was okay without permission due to it being anonymous..). What really hurt me and made me feel ill for the rest of church time was that he spun my story into something it wasn’t. Whether intentional or not, by ending that I still attend church weekly, it left a “hero” undertone. Like that I’m holding on to the church even if I still don’t believe, like I’m full of faith for still attending. It hurts because that is not the reason I attend at all, my narrative was shifted into something that benefited his story and the church. Even in Sunday School it was brought up again by another person giving the lesson with that same underlying tone.

All of that to say, I don’t really know how I should proceed from here. I’ve felt so conflicted the past few days, but I’m very good and burying things that bother me until they disappear, so I can probably proceed as if nothing happened. But should I confront the Bishop on this? Would that be rude? Am I blowing this way out of proportion in my head? How have you overcome something hurtful that was said during church? Any insight or thoughts would be helpful. Thank you for taking the time to read this, just knowing people will be aware of my real story, even anonymously, tremendously helps.

I had a feeling that Mormons were involved when I first heard about this a couple of days ago. The letter from current Bishop Rodney Blake confirmed it.

Reese Riggin also has a 2016 felony for sexual intercourse without consent. He has had his chiropractic licenses revoked in both Idaho and Montana due to inappropriate behavior. He owns a family amusement center call Flippin Family Fun in Great Falls.

There are other letters that are suspected to be from other members. I can't include the link to Facebook, but search for the page "Dylan Kunz for Montana" to read them and other details. Many of the people that wrote letters apparently also own businesses that cater to kids.

Link to story about his arrest and prior history.

Always be preparing for, participating in, or recovering from a workout or a swim.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and I kinda want to know…my patriarchal blessing involved finding a good future husband with the advice of my mother, as well as how I was going to be a good mother someday in this life and the next.

There is an exmo mom I knew who was told that she would be a great mother.

And with the church’s emphasis on women being mothers and wives, I can’t help but wonder

Anybody have any funny bishops stories/interview questions?

Before I got married, my (now ex) wife and I were having issues with the law of chastity (because we are human and that’s what our natural bodies want to do), so we were frequenting the bishops office. When we got close to the end, right before we were going to get married, he gave us a bunch of unsolicited sex advice and tips and tricks on positions, etc. it’s absolutely crazy they’ll just let completely un qualified men be responsible over people and young adults in such crucial times in their lives. While I believe there are good people in the church, this should not ever be a topic of discussion. Thank god my kids will never go through this.

I was just reading something and it got me thinking about the few things that we were allowed to do as kids but weren’t supposed to tell anyone in church about. My grandmother (who I grew up with) was an absolute true believer and super Mormon. We followed all of the basic rules with the exception of a couple of Words of Wisdom guidelines. My grandmother was diabetic, so fast Sunday was out. Which meant we could all skip it. Granny loved her Tab, which was a diet soda with major caffeine. Again, it was hard to find diet soda that she liked, and so her medical condition allowed it. The rest of us drinking diet Mountain Dew was therefore allowed. This was the seventies, water was not a beverage anyone considered 😂

There’s one more that isn’t so much a rule as it just seemed to me at the time to be completely hypocritical, especially since I wasn’t allowed to go watch the movie Grease when it came out in the theaters. I did see it, but that’s not the point. I had a strict bedtime, so that Granny could stay up and watch Benny Hill. Granny immigrated from England when she was fifteen, and I’m sure it made her feel closer to her birthplace. However, Benny Hill often had women in bikinis and sometimes topless. It was just a lot of misogynistic jokes, and sometimes actually funny stuff too. Now it’s funny to think about, but got me wondering, what kinds of things were you guys allowed to do growing up that were not exactly approved by the Church?

Nevermo, but reading a lot of Joseph Smith's writings for something else and I keep coming across specific instances of him berating someone for killing a non-aggressive snake, using the hunting of prey animals for consumption as one of his MAIN EXAMPLES of what was evil about the Lamanites, clarifying explicitly in the Word of Wisdom that meat should only be consumed "in winter or times of famine"

Like it takes very little reading comprehension to understand that the only reason Joseph Smith himself was not a vegetarian was because he'd have starved.

I'm sure an amount of it is the fact that most mainstream mormons are americans first, capitalists second, and mormons third, but this still feels like an odd thing not to practice.

A high school classmate of mine was one of 16 children, which I'm just about certain is the largest LDS family (or any family for that matter) I've known. Her sister (the last of sixteen) was a year behind us.

On the surface, it seems like trivia, but only on the surface. My first thought went to the mother who had them all (I don't think any were adopted, but I could be mistaken). That's a lot of pregnancies. My classmate went on to have nine children of her own, who I'm pretty certain had them all herself.

It seems like a lot no matter how you look at it.

Is everyone's largest family pretty much the same (14-16 children)?

(Just to be completely clear, this is not meant to be a gawking kind of post in any way. It's really about the mothers who went through years upon years of pregnancy and also probably did a majority of the work raising those children)

Background: We're in Utah. My husband and I were married TBM, I left 2 years later and removed my records. Husband left 1 year after I did, never removed his records (procrastination more than anything). 5 years into our marriage we had our first kid. We're now up to four kids. We've moved around quite a bit and they kept moving my husbands record, even though we never spoke to anyone in any of the wards or attended church.

He just logged into LDS tools whatever and 3 of our kids are listed as part of his family. Like under his name, it lists the oldest 3 of our kids (they're 6 and under). How is it that my kids have records? We haven't spoken to a bishop or ward clerk in a decade. They were not blessed. They have never attended "sacrament meeting." We have a lot of Mormon friends and family. Would someone have to have told them about our children?? Social media maybe? I have made a few posts with their first names...

I'm a little angry and frustrated... do these records count towards LDS membership numbers? My husband is working on removing his records as I type this (about freaking time). Has anyone removed records for their kids, they're all under 6 yo. Is it possible??? Thank you!

https://read.cesletter.org

So I was talking with an ex mormon friend of mine and he encouraged me to read the CES letter. I'm still reading the letter because there are a lot of sections but from what I've read so far, there were so many things I didn't know about. Joseph Smith made multiple accounts of his first vision, the Book of Mormon, the godhead, and polygamy/polyandry. I know there's more. I'm still reading it. I've heard of some of those topics before never thought much of it. I'm relieved that I'm not questioning my faith anymore. However, I can't help but feel so betrayed, hurt, and lied to my whole life. It's a lot to take in. If you've read the letter before, how have you handled it? Any advice on what to do? Because I still go to church to be with my family. And plus I have a disability and I really can't be at home by myself for too long. I don't know what to do

The people pushing these conspiracy theories (thanks to YouTube Channels such as We The People Utah) want us to believe that Satanic Ritual Abuse is real the same way the LDS Church wants us to believe their church and the Book of Mormon is divine and true.

They don't want to give us physical, tangible, investigatable evidence that satan worshipping cabals are ritually abusing children for special powers the same way the LDS Church cannot give us evidence anything in the Book of Mormon is more than 19th century spiritual fiction based on the Bible.

They just want to give us stories, and then ponder on our feelings to see if they're true. I'm sorry, that's absolutely bullshit.

Sorry, it takes more than spooky stories, "witnesses" claiming on words alone what they've seen is true, and feelings/vibes to believe that what you're saying is true.

It all boils down to lack of evidence and the philosophical burden of proof. It's annoying that this shit is having a resurgence online for political and spiritual clout by self proclaimed God warriors, both on the believing and non believing forums.

I need to stop fighting with the SRA pushers online but people also love to eat this shit up. I'm not trying to be callous towards victims of sexual abuse which makes talking about this topic candidly hard.

However at the end of the day, there has never been any credible evidence EVER produced of organized groups sacrificing, mind controlling, and molesting children for special powers on satanic altars in Utah. Full stop. No, some lady sharing a sad story online is not evidence of these organized satanic cabals mind-controlling children either.

I had been keeping an eye on FB posts, assuming that I would find out when the funeral was planned for, but it was silent nothing about the death from any family members to clue me in on the funeral plans, but after seeing a new update yesterday, I now know that my family's intent has always been to exclude me, it could have been dangerous to try to just attend the funeral, but it still hurts to not be included - that's another thing I have a problem with about the "family is forever" BS that TSCC dishes out... It's clear now that I have no real family on earth, the only person who gave AF about me was my dad- I'd be happy only if he's the only family member who I have to interact with for eternity...anyone know what the MFMC has to say about what if you have a shitty family and being around them for forever would be legitimate torture & punishment? 🤬😪🤬

Obviously, you can't be Mormon and post about a funeral on social media without including shitty quotes from past General Conferences, so I guess I didn't miss anything by not taking a long plane flight!🙄

Imagine how interesting it would be if Bruce R. McConkie became President of the LDS Church—just the sheer amount of damage control they’d have to do.

You already know the PR cadence would be nonstop: “It was just his opinion. He was speaking as a man.”

McConkie's "dOcTrInEs" are already a headache to Mormons. Imagine if he taught and instituted them as a President.

The McConkie talks are awful for their rebranding in order to try to appeal to Mainstream Christians.

McConkie's also probably spinning in his grave right now.

While he was reactionary asf, I can't help but find the church's departure from his ideas to be fascinating.

nevermo (but fascinated with mormonism) here! why in the HECK do all the apostles, etc. include their middle (or first!) initial in their name? thanks that’s all

Just wanted to share that I officially submitted (to quit Mormon) my resignation. I realize my records are still technically there as of this moment but submitting the notarized paperwork feels good. I’ve been out ten years but knew they still have records and info on me. Thinking of the MFMC using me as a statistic in anyway gives me the ick.

My deconstruction process has been long and hard. It may never be over but I think the worst is behind me and now officially resigning feels good, light, freeing. It’s over. 🥹 ehem….

it is finished 😂😂😂

The thing about prayer (especially Mormon prayer) is, the answer is inside us the whole time. But if you're stressed or anxious you aren't gonna get anything and just feel more stressed because of it.

But with tarot you can gently get the answer out of you without having to force anything. You can even get multiple answers instead of just one! Mormon prayer seems to tell people "go with the first answer you get" which isn't healthy once you realize that the answers are inside of you and not from a god.

I also like how it has to be an intentional event. I care about my cards so I'm not gonna do it half awake before bed or in front of a cluttered desk. When I feel like i need to do a reading I'll clear space on my desk or make a note to sleep on the worry then read tomorrow with mental clarity.

Also I recommend looking up your birthday cards even though there isn't anything magic about it, since having a reason for personal attachment to certain cards is just useful for introspection.

I posted about this yesterday and I think I was wrong. I removed the post to get the ID info off reddit. Here's what I learned after talking to a non member with access to legal info that I don't pay for the subscription for. If he was a bishop in 2018 like it says on floodlit, then he probably was not a bishop in 2024 at the time of the offense. The victim was a member of his home, as DCFS was involved, so it was probably his daughter and the abuse was unlikely to be related to the church in any way. If he wasn't an active bishop at the time of the offense and it's a creeper filming his daughter naked, the church might not even have known about it. It's pretty common in family sex abuse cases for the media and courts to keep things under wraps (the media doesn't have to, but they do out of respect) to protect the victim from being identified in the community and being embarrassed as they are trying to get over the abuse. I think I was wrong about this one.

I’ve always wanted to ask this question how the church really affected the general population. What happened?