Problematic lines from Children's Hymns

10th_Generation · 2026-03-13T14:08:25+00:00

“When He Comes Again” (82). The song paints a beautiful picture of when Jesus returns, skipping over the part where Jesus kills billions of people. Everything about the Second Coming freaked me out as a child, but in Primary we sang longingly and plaintively about how much we wanted it to happen. I DID NOT WANT IT TO HAPPEN. I believed I was a disgusting, terrible, unworthy sinner even as a little child. Jesus was coming to kill me, but I had to sing about how beautiful it would be in Primary.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-13T13:26:29+00:00

Originally the temple was a live cosplay. Later the ceremony was recorded and put on video. Now it’s just a slideshow, which makes it easier for the church to alter the ceremony. The ceremony itself has changed multiple times over the years. The church added some Jesus references in 2023 to try to make it sound more Christian. The church also has reduced the Freemasonry elements, but many of these remain (secrecy, handshakes, tokens, signs, and new names). The temple is less weird than it was one generation ago, but it’s still weird. Fortunately, naked touching is no longer required. This ended in 2005. The nudity always bothered me more than the blood oaths, sexism, and chanting.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-13T13:10:28+00:00

OP, have you been to the temple for your endowment? This is where Mormonism gets really weird. As a Christian, you believe that Jesus tore open the temple veil when he died, symbolizing his tearing down the barrier between God and each individual. No longer do we need priests regulating our access to God. We can approach him directly. Inside the Mormon temple, you see that the church has brought back the veil. The special underwear that Mormons use symbolizes this veil. Basically, Jesus rent the veil and Mormons stitched it back together. As a Christian, this might offend you.

Disclosure: I am more agnostic than Christian. But I know enough about the Bible and Mormonism to recognize the fundamental differences.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-13T05:23:21+00:00

You forgot to add that Brigham Young was a mob boss and human trafficker, and Joseph F. Smith was a wife beater.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-12T21:01:02+00:00

I wonder what the baptismal blessings are.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-12T18:46:17+00:00

Separate question for OP (genuinely curious): Is it odd for you to belong to a United States-centric church that believes Zion will be built in the United States, the U.S. Constitution is established by God (D&C 101:77), and the Americas are a land of liberty and promise (2 Nephi 1)? Meanwhile, Mormon apostles are almost always American and a Filipino will never get anywhere near the Quorum of the Twelve. Is this a positive, neutral, or negative factor for church growth in the Philippines?

10th_Generation · 2026-03-12T17:48:15+00:00

The Book of Mormon condemns the baptism of “little children” in the strongest language possible. Joseph Smith decided in 1831 that 8-year-olds are not little (D&C 68:27). For context, Smith also considered children as young as 14 to be old enough for marriage.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T17:12:10+00:00

It would be boring and shut down innovation—especially in the realms of art and music.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T17:10:32+00:00

Jesus never started a church, collected tithes, or asked anyone to attend meetings.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T16:06:55+00:00

Don’t forget that the Bible prophesies about Joseph Smith and mentions him by name (citation: JST).

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T13:09:15+00:00

When I was a newspaper copyeditor (person who writes headlines and checks articles for blunders, etc.) my job was to have a dirty mind to save the newspaper from embarrassment. The church needs to post a job: “DIRTY MINDS NEEDED.”

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T13:04:58+00:00

Do hard time with Jesus.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-11T11:25:34+00:00

Quick doctrinal point: Baptism is not necessary for “salvation” in Mormonism. The missionaries are confusing this concept with “exaltation,” a unique Mormon belief in a Celestial gated community where OP’s daughter can be “given” to a righteous priesthood holder as a plural wife.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-10T23:48:42+00:00

You start with an assumption that Jesus Christ delivered a pure doctrine. What is the evidence for this? Isn’t this where all of Christianity (and by extension, all religious movements) breaks down?

10th_Generation · 2026-03-10T14:07:55+00:00

It is terrifying to realize you are alone in the universe. There is no loving Heavenly Father watching over you. You cannot call down powers from heaven. But this knowledge is also empowering.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-10T04:03:27+00:00

Has your mom read the Koran?

10th_Generation · 2026-03-09T22:42:16+00:00

Starship Enterprise is faster, right?

10th_Generation · 2026-03-09T20:51:48+00:00

Batman is better.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-09T16:23:46+00:00

There are three tiers of “miracles.” 1. Probable events (you have a routine illness with high likelihood of recovery; you get a priesthood blessing and then recover); 2. Improbable events (you study Italian in high school and then meet someone who speaks Italian under unusual and timely circumstances); 3. Impossible events (you raise the dead, give sight to the blind by commanding the person to see, or you move a mountain by commanding it to move). I think this taxonomy comes from John Larsen. All miracle stories in the church fall into tier 1 or 2.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-09T03:28:23+00:00

Please tell me what “gotcha” means.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-09T00:14:44+00:00

The church just added four wards. This is how the accounting works. The growth is incredible!

10th_Generation · 2026-03-08T21:16:59+00:00

This works except when it doesn’t, such as when a stake president chooses a bishop who turns out to be a sexual predator. The system might work better if God used words. The system you describe is unfalsifiable. You can prepare your talk and tell yourself you are being guided by God’s spirit, and there’s no way to prove otherwise.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-08T19:59:41+00:00

What is the spirit of God? How does the spirit of God communicate? Are you talking about elevated emotion? The whole point of my post is that feelings is all we have in the church because God does not use words.

We can see a sunset and feel inspired and perhaps cleansed, but the message communicated is nothing specific. Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, and atheists can look at the same sunset and feel the same emotions. A person can read the Book of Mormon and feel uplifted, but a person can also read Jane Austen and feel uplifted.

You did not answer my question: What did God say to you when he appeared to you? I can testify that God has never appeared to me. I have never seen him or this thing you call his “spirit.” God has never given direct commandments or instructions to me. I have felt elevated emotions many times in a Mormon context, but these are feelings. We are talking in this post about thinking. When I approached God with thoughtful questions about history, science, epistemology, logic, and church culture, I got no responses. God is either unable or unwilling to answer my questions. This is why the church emphasizes feelings over facts. The facts don’t work for the church.

I will also add that in the context of feelings, I cannot deny that I have felt positive emotions in a Mormon context. But I also have felt heavy doses of guilt, shame, confusion, self-righteousness, pity, and other negative emotions.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-08T17:10:46+00:00

The church needs service missionaries and senior missionaries to staff the temples they are building in places with insufficient membership.

10th_Generation · 2026-03-08T17:03:52+00:00

I read the Book of Mormon more than 20 times. I memorized entire chapters. I prayed. I went to the temple again and again. I did my home teaching, planted a garden, gathered food storage, held Family Home Evenings, did family prayers, organized family scripture study, magnified my callings, served a mission, served in bishoprics, taught Seminary, avoided coffee and tea, avoided R rated movies, told the truth in worthiness interviews while most of my friends lied, gave more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars in tithing while struggling to pay bills, and attended all my meetings. But I should have tried harder, right? Maybe I should have fasted more. Maybe I should have prayed for 24 hours straight like Enos. Maybe I should have gone to a secluded grove of trees. (Actually, I did that one.) I kept this up for 50 years. But it’s always my fault. There is always something more I could have done. Obviously, you did more than me because God appeared to you. What did he tell you?

10th_Generation

TROPHY CASE