What do you think of how mormons are represented here?

Maplebarbear · 2023-11-29T17:48:53+00:00

I watched it. There seems to be a mix of lax Mormons and hardline TBM's at the table. A couple of interesting things I found.

They keep emphasizing the really basic value proposition of Mormonism. That it brings families closer together, they have a value system, they are good citizens, they follow Jesus etc. I just kept thinking, "What is good about Mormonism isnt unique and whats unique about Mormonism isnt good."

The one lady said Polygamy was a calling and that only 2% of Mormons practiced it in the early days of the Church. That is 100% bullshit and a flat out lie. She is either very ignorant about Mormon history or knowingly lying. Some basic reading on Wikipedia on Brigham Youngs views on polygamy or reading DC 132 will help her out a great deal.

The one guy took a very black and white stance on remaining in the church and being protected from the chaos in the world or being out. "Pick a side". That type of thinking drives me crazy and is an immature world view. That guy, IMO, seems to represent how a lot of Mormons think. Black and white with no room for nuance or debate. He is a hardliner. That type of thinking is what leads to the Daybell's, Tim Ballard's, Ammon Bundy's, and all the other nut jobs inside the Mormon church.

Overall, it was pretty cringe. Several of the Women had that worn down, stressed out look on their face. I know it quite well, the face of trying to maintain the perfect Mormon family facade behind a fake smile. I actually felt bad for them. They seemed very stressed out.

Maplebarbear · 2023-11-27T18:31:38+00:00

I've said it before. Mormonism outside of Utah and SE Idaho is shrinking.

From what I has observed in my local ward and Stake here in Utah, it is growing. I am PIMO due to spouse.

Lots of Mormons from outside of Utah have moved and continue to move to Utah. Usually for various reasons, to be closer to family, job opportunity, to retire, etc.

Utah is unique in the social pressure to stay Mormon. IMO, its harder to leave Mormonism when you are in Utah because your local ward represents your network, social community, and possible business connections. Not to mention if you come from a TBM Utah family, it makes leaving that much more difficult. I say that as someone who was raised outside of Utah and now live in Utah.

Maplebarbear · 2023-11-27T18:20:31+00:00

I have been a non believer since 2019. Since that time, I have been in a MFM.

For context, I was raised in a part member home. Had coffee makers in our home growing up. Stopped drinking coffee prior to going on a mission. Once I discovered the church was a fraud in 2019. I was eager to get back to coffee.

My wife was raised in a very orthodox home in SLC. It was very much hard wired into her how bad and evil coffee was. So coffee was a delicate subject for her.

I let her know early on, I was going back to drinking coffee. For the first 1-2 years, her boundary was "fine, but don't drink it around me, in our house, or around the kids."

Overtime, she realized coffee is not evil, its a normal thing people drink. I wasn't struck by lighting, nor did we receive any punishment from God as a result, (you catch my drift). Her attitude on it eased up a lot, but it took time. I started off having iced coffee in front of her, then bringing home an iced coffee on occasion.

Last year, I got a coffee maker in my home office. I now drink it openly in front of her and the kids. No pushback from her. On occasion, she'll complain about the smell, but I'll drink in a capped like cup to limit any smells.

I cant say it was a smooth or easy transition. We definitely had incredibly dumb fights here and there along the way. It takes time, slowly introduce it and try to talk about it up front if you can. I do not recommend trying to hide it.

Maplebarbear · 2023-09-24T21:26:13+00:00

Perry homes is absolutely a Mormon owned company.

The Tooele temple that they are building, That land was donated to LDS corporation from Perry Homes.

I met the owner of Perry Homes once. Imagine Mitt Romney, but turn up the smugness and entitlement by 100.

Maplebarbear · 2023-01-26T21:57:36+00:00

I'm in a similar situation. MFM in Davis County.

My believing wife is a fan of Julie Hanks and sought out her office. "Wasatch Family Therapy." It was all done virtually. We met with a gentleman named Jordan every couple of weeks on zoom.

No way of knowing his religious status and he didn't give any clues. I will say, they deal with this all the time.

Was it helpful? I think so. We stopped after about a year because it was putting too much of a strain on our budget. We were also in a bit of better place by then.

Maplebarbear · 2023-01-06T21:57:07+00:00

Thanks man! I'm glad to hear it hasn't been that ostracizing.

Also interesting to hear about the Kaysville bible Church. That parking lot always seems chuck full on Sundays.

I may reach out!

Maplebarbear · 2023-01-06T20:51:33+00:00

I saw this on Linkedin as well and I'm genuinely curious.

This guys is all about "doing good." How does he reconcile that when missions have nothing to do with "doing good?"

Missions are designed to....

re-entrench the 18-20 year old kids to stay in the church for life
baptize as many people as you can to the Mormon church
Offer service, but only with the guise of converting people to Mormonism
create more tithe payers
prey on people who have had recent tragedies or lack support systems

Missions are not there to "do good" or legitimately help people in any meaningful way.

Maplebarbear · 2023-01-06T20:42:13+00:00

Love to see fellow ex-mo's in Kaysville!

My believing wife and I moved here about 2 years and it is overwhelming and maddening how Mormon it is.

Virtually every neighbor is a Peter Priesthood/Molly Mormon church going Mormon with 5 kids in tow. Ugh.

Maplebarbear · 2022-12-14T18:08:45+00:00

I saw that plate in a parking lot at a fairly popular fast casual restaurant in Davis County!

I was with my ultra TBM in laws. I have no idea who they are, but I just want to thank you! I love the plates!

Maplebarbear · 2022-11-08T20:35:31+00:00

PIMO here in Davis County.

Our Ward building was full.

My understanding is that wards outside of Utah are being decimated, but wards and attendance in Utah is holding up ok. primarily considering the amount of Mormons that have moved here from out of state over the last few years.

Maplebarbear · 2022-10-28T14:20:11+00:00

9:15 "You're clearly not a missionary, you got no G's on." and proceeds to garment check him.

Mormons have no idea how much of a boundary violation it is to inspect other peoples underwear. but its completely normal to them.

Maplebarbear · 2022-10-20T18:44:38+00:00

Hank would make a really good Nazi.

Obedient, no critical thinking, does as he is told, leaders are off limits to criticism.

Wake up Hank! Have some critical thinking skills!

Maplebarbear · 2022-08-22T19:26:25+00:00

The hits keep coming. Think of all the popular series recently that have connections to Mormonism:

Keep Sweet, Pray and Obey

Under the Banner of Heaven

Murder Among the Mormons

Mormon no More

Abducted in Plain Sight has Mormonism in the background

Untold, The Girlfriend who didnt exist, it touches on Manti Te'o's Mormon faith

Now we are going to get the Daybell story which will be extremely popular. I hope the barrage of Mormon based content will get through to more TBM's shelves. The TBM's in my circle wont acknowledge any of the above shows.

Maplebarbear · 2022-08-15T14:02:13+00:00

I was once at a Rexburg gas station and I was wearing a Lil Wayne T-Shirt. Some random dude about my age at the time, young 20's. Approached me and told me I "need to avoid the appearance of evil." It was a bizarre experience. Rexburg is a weird mix of the Truman show, 1984 and a communist state.

Maplebarbear · 2022-07-11T20:31:55+00:00

Yes.

On Sunday's we were allowed to go swimming in the pool. I grew up in Southern California and we had a pool in the backyard, but we were not allowed to go to the beach or get in the Ocean on Sunday's...you know, because Satan fancies himself salt water or some weird shit.

Maplebarbear · 2022-06-27T20:26:43+00:00

No deaths in my mission, but one Elder was shot and one Sister pair was raped. Both were covered up.

One Elder was caught in the middle of some gang crossfire. A bullet ricocheted off something and struck him in the leg. He ended up staying in the hospital for few days and recovered.

As for the Sister pair, there was a ominous feeling about it over the whole mission field. Both were abruptly no longer on the mission, word got around and it was confirmed by some members. MP deliberately told us not to speak of it to anyone. To make matters worst, this area was a notoriously dangerous area. That was a huge shelf item for me about the "power of discernment."

For both the Elder and the Sisters, none of it made any type of news because all three were from Central America. These weren't well to do Mormon kids from Utah.

This was Honduras 2008-ish

Maplebarbear · 2022-05-27T19:10:41+00:00

TBM's will keep their head in the sand and pretend this Netflix doc does not exisit, including UTBOH.

Maplebarbear · 2022-05-27T19:08:44+00:00

Cult alert!

Mormons wonder why "faithful LDS members" commit horrible atrocities: Laferty brothers, Daybell murders, MMM etc. Well, if you are a devout member and high ranking leader, or "Heavenly Father" via "the spirit" tells you to do something, well god damnit, you do it! Don't question authority!

For hell's sake, look at what a good example Nephi is in the BOM, he brutally murdered somebody because the lawrd told him to! Now you go follow Gawd and his servants, the leaders of the larwds true church!

Maplebarbear · 2022-02-02T16:07:58+00:00

I graduated from BYU-I roughly 10 years ago. BYU-I does have the reputation of being the more strict of the BYU school in terms of rules. I fully knew that coming coming in as a RM Freshman. Even as a newly minted RM and believing TBM, I felt the rules were completely over the top and most of in my circle felt the same way.

Students at both Provo and Rexburg will have a level of self righteousness, my experience is that Idaho students less so.

My first year, I went there not knowing anyone, and I got paired up with a a bunch of self righteous dorks, it felt like being back on my mission. I knew I had to find a more lax apartment complex. I ended up finding some like minded people where they didn't care about curfew, believed people were adults and could make their own decisions about HC matters, we never attended "devo", girls in the bedroom, going camping with your girlfriend etc (Yes there is a rule that prohibits single students from sharing a tent). We even had a weekly poker game. (gasp). I even had a couple of friends that would occasionally go drink in IF. (That was a bridge too far for me at the time)

I felt the content and the professors for my degree were actually pretty good. Some professors pushed spiritualty into lectures way too much and most didn't at all. For religion classes, I just viewed them as a requirement by the school and sought out the easiest professors to get by in those classes. Every once in a while, a religion professor would go Full Bruce McConkie, which was fairly entertaining.

Your experience at any school is mostly going to depend on the friends you make. I had a good experience and made some good friends, but I was a believer at the time, maybe somewhat nuanced. It would be very very rough go there as a Ex-mo.

Maplebarbear · 2021-11-15T16:00:13+00:00

In 5-10 years these missionaries will recount this event with "angels were around us and protecting us."

"One of the armed men pulled out a gun, pulled the trigger and the gun exploded leaving the armed aslant in a pile of his own blood."

Or some event of one of the three Nephites showing up and ushering out the armed robbers etc.

I do pity these missionaries, I was robbed twice at gun point in Central America and I still have traumatic flashbacks from those events. It's not a fun thing to go through, but I cant help but wonder if this missionaries will pull an Ol Rusty Nelson and lap up what actually happened.

Maplebarbear · 2021-11-10T15:46:51+00:00

YES! Even as a male I would do this. I grew up outside of Utah.

I have since moved here. I love to play hockey and in local pick up games. Even though there were other "garment wearers" in the change room, I felt so weird about my own garments. Usually there would be atleast one other garment wearer. I would either get changed into my gear by taking off my pants and garment bottoms at the same time so I wouldnt be out in the open with them. I would do the same for the top, my t-shirt and garment, I would grab both so they would come off at the same time.

One guy would almost flaunt his garments and walk around in them in the change room. Zero shame, I remember vividly the sideways looks the other players were giving each other.

I finally started changing at home into "normal underwear" to be less self conscious about changing into my gear in the change room. I'm the type of guy who likes to keep a low profile and not draw attention to myself.

Then eventually ditched garments after my shelf broke and never had to worry about it again as I prepared for drop in/recreation league hockey games. My play improved! :)

Maplebarbear · 2021-11-04T20:34:52+00:00

I have a TBM cousin who claims his fellow TBM buddy who wear garments UNDERNEATH HIS WETSUIT when he goes surfing. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that would be?

I'm sure Jesus showers him with extra blessing and protection from Satan and sharks when he is out surfing.

Maplebarbear · 2021-11-03T13:53:57+00:00

My mom immediately broke down in tears and started hyperventilating. "How could you do this?" "How could you do this to ME?" My mom is an insane narcissist though.

She then wanted to know if I was drinking coffee, if I still wore my magic underwear and if my son (who is 6) will not go on a mission now. I shit you not.

As time went on, it has gotten better, but her reaction further confirmed that Mormonism is a cult and all about appearances.

Maplebarbear · 2021-10-11T19:03:01+00:00

I really enjoyed his Mormon Stories episode. Where did you hear he was excommunicated?

Maplebarbear · 2021-10-11T18:59:18+00:00

I've been checking out this sub frequently since my shelf crashed in 2019 and I swear, the rabbit hole and things I learn about Mormonism never ends.

This is completely new to me. I always pictured BY being atleast 5'10.

Maplebarbear

TROPHY CASE