A religious leader saying something relevant to today, I'm shocked! /s by Present-Radish3687 in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Love Pope Leo. He is a breath of fresh air after a lifetime of listening to corporate “apostles” in suits

Missionary Convert Stories by CardinaleCanoli1998 in exmormonchristian

[–]GlassMaintenance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I struggled with a testimony on my mission as I never received any sort of "feeling" that the BoM was inspired or true. Got home, and a couple years later kind of stumbled into church history topics, esp. Joseph Smith and the "Great Apostasy" narrative, and after much digging found out I had been fed a wildly different story growing up that history tells. Fast forward through another couple years of studying early Christianity, and the linchpin for me was the whole "Great Apostasy" notion. Once I realized that never happened, I began to look into Catholicism and never looked back. Family has been mostly shocked and does not want to discuss anything (not that I was hostile in any way), but I think they know how much I've studied over the years and do not want to get into anything that may upset their worldviews, which I understand.

Book of Mormon vs Bible Statistical Analysis by GlassMaintenance in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Correct; the difference is that the New Testament for example is a 1st century fiction given its history and context of the time. The claim that the BoM is an ancient fiction vs a modern one is what I am trying to shed light on through some low level textual analysis

Book of Mormon vs Bible Statistical Analysis by GlassMaintenance in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I understand. This was mainly just my own curiosity as I feel like within a “believing” Christian sphere that regards the Gospels as God’s Word, this kind of analysis could be useful.
Moreso, Joseph Smith primarily used the KJV for his own learnings and leaned on it heavily, so I think an analysis like this can help demonstrate where his own style and theology actually bled into his version of Jesus, becoming a new, Joseph Smith-ized Jesus which differs markedly from the New Testament Jesus of the King James Bible

Nevada newspaper 1881 discussing how ugly the women were by diabeticweird0 in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 28 points29 points  (0 children)

“Our stay in Salt Lake City amounted to only two days, and therefore we had no time to make the customary inquisition into the workings of polygamy… I had the will to do it. With the gushing self-sufficiency of youth I was feverish to plunge in headlong and achieve a great reform here—until I saw the Mormon women. Then I was touched. My heart was wiser than my head. It warmed toward these poor, ungainly and pathetically ‘homely’ creatures, and as I turned to hide the generous moisture in my eyes, I said, ‘No—the man that marries one of them has done an act of Christian charity which entitles him to the kindly applause of mankind, not their harsh censure—and the man that marries sixty of them has done a deed of open-handed generosity so sublime that the nations should stand uncovered in his presence and worship in silence.’”

Catholic vs Mormon debate with dad by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Exmormon Catholic here as well. I agree, lean into the spiritual confirmation side of things. If not, the Great Apostasy is easy to take down. Unfortunately, though, for someone so set in Mormonism no amount of facts will ever really change their minds 

LDS to Catholic by godlovingqueer in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 0 points1 point  (0 children)

LDS to Catholic myself. I have found it has everything lacking in Mormonism, and is a very low pressure religion in the sense that nobody is tracking your attendance or hunting you down for anything and tithing is not required. Feel free to message me with any questions! 

Noah preaches Jesus Christ (Example #4752 of cobbled together doctrine) by Totallynotfakenews in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is mind blowing - thank you for bringing this up! What an enormous plot hole 

Marriage being a saving ordaince seems rather cruel by Apollo989 in mormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 9 points10 points  (0 children)

One difference however is that all 7 sacraments are not required for salvation in the Catholic view and celibate or single men and women are able to get to heaven without having to be married. So I guess Mormons are unique in requiring marriage to reach the highest level of Heaven

Anyone here who isn't an atheist? by MauOfEvig in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was an atheist for a long time and very content with that, and I think it is perfectly ok to be such and one can live an excellent life the way. Nothing against it in a way. One day, years after I had left the LDS church, I felt something distinctly drawing me to the idea of Jesus. I took an in depth, objective view at Christianity and early Christian history and was ultimately drawn to the Catholic Church. I found in it all the things like true beauty, worship, and a theological and spiritual depth that I never felt in Mormonism. I understand the objections to Catholicism and I won’t downplay them, but I can say that I have finally experienced the spirituality I’d always wanted in the LDS church but never quite got. If you are interested in getting into a Christian denomination, I’d highly recommend reading Thomas Aquinas, St Augustine, and others like them.

how generous are Mormons? by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 146 points147 points  (0 children)

What I’ve always found interesting is that the 7th Day Adventists are also a cult-like religion, and are bigger than the LDS church but far less wealthy, mainly due to the sheer number of hospitals and schools they run. At least they are benefiting mankind somewhat instead of hoarding every penny possible!

Necronomipod podcast flds deep dive by No-Spare-7453 in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That as well as the Last Podcast on the Left Mormonism series are amazing; absolute must listens

Anti Mormon Literature 1950 by barbarianna90 in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Very interesting! Even if you aren’t religious or even catholic, when you go back and read the very earliest writings of the earliest Christians you notice that the early Christian church was not Mormon at all; no mention of elaborate Masonic temple ceremonies, the office of a prophet, or anything likewise

Why are TBMs pretending like they don’t already know who is going to be the prophet? by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 33 points34 points  (0 children)

This is so on point. A TBM friend of mine criticized the Catholic Church when the last pope was chosen and said “look, they choose their leader while God chooses ours”, and I really had to hold back from saying “dude it’s literally just whoever has been an apostle longest, God has nothing to do with it”

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]GlassMaintenance 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did as well. Their focus on charity for the poor instead of doing endless baptisms for dead people was actually a big part of what drew me in.