Wednesday, March 13, 2002
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Wednesday, March 13, 2002 |
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Mormon insider has disturbing view of real beliefs This was a very one-sided article. I have been a member of the Mormon church all my life, and over the course of many years some of its teachings caused me to question it. But as a religion that encourages its members to exercise blind faith in their leaders, my questions were answered with a quote from one of the apostles, "When the prophet has spoken, the thinking has been done." That phrase always disturbed me, and I began to see many of the traits of the church were cultish in nature. After attending the temple for the first time, I realized that it WAS a cult. I was required to make a solemn oath never to reveal the things in the temple, and the penalties for doing so were graphic and gruesome: such as having my throat cut from ear to ear or my abdomen cut open and my entrails spilled on the ground. Sacred words were chanted; secret handshakes learned, secret names given. It was extremely disturbing, but could not be talked about because of the oaths taken. I was assured the penalties were "symbolic." But in researching church history, I've found that the original temple ceremony was even more graphic, and the penalties were literal. People were murdered for apostasy and early Mormons had an obligation to kill those who would do harm to the church or its leaders. Danites were a group of Mormon murderers who dealt with this business of "blood atonements." Brigham Young himself said that there was not one of his wives he loved so much that he wouldn't slit her throat if need be. The Mormon church has many other disturbing sides to it; I've mentioned only one. A church that is founded on these principles cannot be of God. The public deserves to hear the disturbing things in Mormon history as well as the good things in order to have an informed opinion of it. Monte Jo Larson P.O. Box 33 Fielding, UT 84322
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