Category: Leadership
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LDS Indoctrination and Retentive Socialization
LDS Indoctrination and Retentive Socialization Introduction In A Message To The Most Ardent Critic Of The Mormon Church, Ben Arkell quotes a nameless member of the church who had recently dropped off their daughter and son at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day…
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Questions to Ask
Introduction These questions are designed to probe various aspects of the LDS Church’s history and truth-claims.1 The list was made for 1) investigators to ask the missionaries, 2) active members to ask themselves, or 3) those experiencing a faith transition to ask their parents or ecclesiastical leaders. The majority of…
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Problem Summaries: resources discussing LDS-truth claims
Problems with LDS truth-claims Before reading about the problems, you may want to first consider the pros and cons of investigating the truth-claim data. Very short summaries Five Key Facts (~ 1 page) 50 Problems with the Mormon Church (~10 minute youtube video) More significant summaries Mormon Primer (multiple perspectives: mainstream, critical,…
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Joseph Smith’s Polygamy Denials
Introduction Joseph Smith denied the practice of polygamy1 on several occasions. He was also responsible for the publication or distribution of several additional denials. A complete listing of early Church leader polygamy denials up to 1850 is available here. A few notes: Hyperlinks to original source material may be found by…
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The 1832 First Vision account was suppressed between 11 and ~30 years.
The 1832 First Vision account was suppressed between 11 and ~30 years The evidence LaMar Petersen, an amateur Mormon historian, met with Levi Young (senior President of the First Council of the Seventy) on February 3, 1953, and took these notes: His curiosity was excited when reading in Roberts’ Doc. History reference…
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The three-fold nature of the LDS Church: corporate, totalistic, and individual-growth
The three-fold nature of the church: corporate, totalistic, and individual-growth bwv549 last updated 2016-06-06 Teachings and actions of the Church, its leaders, and its members may be categorized into three prominent mindsets: corporate, totalistic, and individual-growth (aka “growth-mindset”): There is certainly overlap and interplay between these mindsets, but many of…
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An Evening with Zhenya
For the LDS Ventura California stake Relief Society on 17 March 1992 In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Relief Society Written and performed by Eugene Kovalenko - Listen to the recording of the event using the play button below - https://mormonbandwagon.com/wp-content/uploads/mp3/AnEveningwithZhenya.mp3 Program notes for: A journey home to Liahonagrad In song, verse, and story [2015…
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Meeting with Maxwell, the Special Witness
In 1993 I personally asked Neal Maxwell a question: “As an apostle of the lord Jesus Christ, have you seen the savior?” He was embarrassed and could not answer that question, he finally told me to read an article about someone else’s dream. Many in high positions feign authority from…
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Four Alternatives to Church Policy in Handbook 1, Section 16.13 with “Clarifications”
Over the last two weeks, the LDS church has had their new policy on LGBT and LGBT children leaked, provided an explanation by Christofferson, then finally “clarified” through a statement from the first presidency and commentary from Church Public Affairs. The church stated that the “questions” regarding the policy change was…
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Bogus Justifications Behind Church’s New Policies
The LDS Church released changes to its Handbook on November 5, 2015 in relation to same-sex couples and children raised by same-sex couples. Specifically, the Church now prohibits children of same-sex couples from being baptized until they are 18 – and only if they move out of their parents’ homes, disavow…
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Leaving the Church, Part 10 — Prophets
1. Overview: Church members are taught that the prophet speaks for the Lord and will never lead the church astray (even when they are wrong). President Heber J. Grant said: “Always keep your eye on the President of the church, and if he ever tells you to do anything, even…
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Leaving the Church, Part 9 — Book of Mormon Witnesses
1. Overview: The testimony of the three and eight witnesses to the gold plates is often considered a key component of the Book of Mormon’s credibility. However, the witnesses, by their own admission, seemed to have only seen the angel and plates in a visionary state in their minds (as…