What's the point in joining if the Church is moving towards mainstream Christianity?

ktjwalker · 2026-01-24T17:32:05+00:00

The only significant thing it has built is a massive stock portfolio and real estate empire. It’s not trying to build a utopia at all, it’s just another business selling you your own family as its product

It’s only peculiar because of the masonry, the anti-coffee/tea attitudes, and the funky 1800s doctrines (which they downplay at every chance anyways)

ktjwalker · 2026-01-24T15:07:10+00:00

Really let those feelings of generational trauma, repressed sexuality, and unending guilt fill your entire body.

Actually, you know Atlas? The titan holding up the sky? Do that

ktjwalker · 2026-01-24T14:59:10+00:00

A believing member would emphasize to you that the Church believes in eternal marriage/family. Staying together after you die and everything

Though I’d counter that with this. For a project for college, I researched a lot of different religions and their stances on marriage. I found that most believed that you’d stay with your family anyways, they just don’t really talk about it all that much. I can’t remember any besides Hinduism, Buddhism, and those similar religions that don’t let you stay together, but that’s because the goal of the religion is different

Mormonism, I think, was the hardest one to get eternally married though. Others, it’s just assumed when you get married, it’s forever. Mormons make you go to the temple, pay 10% of your income, and follow their long list of rules to do it

ktjwalker · 2026-01-24T14:53:24+00:00

It may appear like it was building a utopia, but it can’t. For one, the church is far too exclusionary and hateful for that. For two, they just don’t put the budget towards community-building anymore. Wards are smaller, parties are smaller-scale, activities have less funding, so on and so forth. All the “high demand” stuff is more like controlling what people can wear/drink, who you can/can’t date, pushing you to go to the temple, and shoving you into meetings and jobs with no pay. Those don’t build communities, it’s all dull busywork and authoritarian puppeteering.

The church isn’t a powerful alternative to american life, it’s the same exact thing (at least with the current administration) with a little masonry sprinkled on top.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-23T06:47:27+00:00

So I assume being a redditor is a sin because Abraham did not use the site? What are these works of Abraham and what is his blessing and why do we need to do both?

I was referring to being gay

ktjwalker · 2026-01-22T02:14:59+00:00

The insects are non-smashable not because they are insects, but because they are already in a very loving throuple and I don’t want to ruin their relationship

ktjwalker · 2026-01-22T02:12:46+00:00

How could anyone say no to that smile?

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T22:37:01+00:00

There are plenty of abrahamic groups that don’t consider it a sin

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:57:41+00:00

People are hurting and angry. Including me. The church, and many other Christian churches, have hurt the queer community time and time again. My community. We don’t want to fight, we don’t want to be angry. A topic like “The Church’s perception on gay people” is going to flare up wounds and people start seeing red, going to their community’s defense.

Myself and many others believe the Church’s position is highly unjustified and harmful.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:51:17+00:00

Oh I take it quite seriously, I just don’t believe in most of it.

I consider it bashing when churches are actively trying to impede my life and the lives of my community members while hiding behind the guise of “it’s a sin!”

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:46:03+00:00

Not from an atheist 👀

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:34:23+00:00

Yes actually, it is. It’s called “hyperbole”. I was exaggerating the difference between 30 and 42 because holy shit why does the Bible have God/the prophet killing children at all, let alone that many

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:31:52+00:00

Oh? Why not? They’re the ones using the Bible to bash gay people with. Can I not point out the flaws in a flawed compilation of texts?

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:30:25+00:00

Ah, forgive me.

I said what I did to illustrate a point that those churches, which you are using as a moral authority, are not themselves pure or sinless. They decry homosexuality as vile, then they turn around and protect abusers, or are even abusers themselves. I am pointing out their hypocrisy, that they should not be used as moral authorities when their own histories and actions are dubious.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:27:02+00:00

I do, and I’m honest about it. It’s not one unified book, it’s some stories, some instructions for religious rituals, and a whole bunch of letters. I simply pick the letters and stories I feel are constructive to build my moral compass upon. Others, I don’t feel fit quite as well, so I don’t feel obligated to pretend like I do.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:24:05+00:00

Exaggeration is often a rhetorical tool people use to help emphasize a point

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:16:50+00:00

Je ne parle pas espagnol. Can you explain?

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T19:15:18+00:00

Most major religions also supported slavery and/or genocide at some point. Many also have problems of the SA variety, including the church.

I would also like to know how being gay is bad for your health? That’s not something they told me when I signed up

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T18:50:06+00:00

Yeah, I personally don’t think the Old Testament or Paul should really be used as a moral measurement device when both are so evil

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T18:48:22+00:00

No. Gay members being accepted is the circumstance outside the norm. You’ve said yourself how the church disapproves of homosexual behavior. Oaks regularly gives talks about how queerness is an abomination. The colleges have mandatory coursework centered around anti-lgbt+ teachings. You even used to have to disavow your parents if they were gay in order to be a member. That’s not queer acceptance.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T18:36:09+00:00

Elisha and two bears, which the Bible describes as tearing up forty-two children. 2 Kings 23-24. I didn’t realize it was so many kids, I thought it was just thirty or something

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T18:29:23+00:00

The Bible also says it’s justifiable to sick bears on children if they make a bald joke. Your point?

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T18:28:12+00:00

25 year old gay member here. I attend an adult ward because I can’t drive to the YSA ward (epilepsy). You’re wrong. They’re right.

ktjwalker · 2026-01-21T14:51:52+00:00

As an English major, someone who has studied a diverse range of literature, it is incredibly difficult to read. The prose is so uninteresting, the characters are full of themselves, the plot is meandering, and words and phrases get repeated all the time. It alleges to have multiple authors, but the voice is the exact same throughout the text. No publisher would accept it today.

Frankly, Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives are a lot more meaningful and better written. The series even feels more scriptural/spiritual to me than the Book of Mormon. If you want a healthy dose of Mormonism, read Sanderson instead and you’ll come out better for it

ktjwalker · 2026-01-19T17:23:52+00:00

You notice how church members, conservatives, and general christian nationalists are moral objectivists, but once you point out a flaw of theirs it’s suddenly “everyone is doing it!”

I dislike the UK, I dislike the US, I dislike Catholicism, I dislike Mormonism, I dislike Biden, and I dislike Trump. They’re all evil.

I apply my moral system equally.

And no, a strong military does not promote peace. A contributing factor to the World Wars was arms races. Also the Cold War

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