Do Mormons really affect you?

Well, It’s interesting if you think about it as a social “organism”. Because, that’s what I really believe how most religions behave. (BTW: I’m the oldest of seven from a Catholic family) A lot of the conventions and rules exist to grow the church body and spread just like any living creature. Why do you think they were polygamists? Why do you think birth control is frowned upon by most major religions? Also, why do you think they instill such an “us verse them” mentality? So they can get as many bodies to pay tithes, spread their culture and fight the culture war. Is there even a culture war? There has to be some polarizing force to inspire fundamentalist attitudes. The dangling carrot of heaven sometimes isn’t enough.

I believe the Mormons have been extremely effective at using these tactics. They also pretty much have a place to call their own and form a tight knit community. Living and working and playing with people just like you is very comforting. Also, I realize all the good things that the church does for people. But, seriously, none of it is given without a healthy dose of prosthelytizing. So, the motivation for missions and outreach is not entirely altruistic.

That said, people should be able to live how they want and do what they want to make themselves happy. I hold no ill will towards anyone for their beliefs and I would never treat anyone differently because of them. But, I think there are a lot of people that can’t see the forest for the tress. Things are probably the way they are not because God told Joe Smith/Paul/Mohammed how to run things. But because they work to keep the social mechanisms of the group going. Occams Razor

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Originally Posted by grizzle6

One of the differences is that the Bible has gone through several translations, losing some information and detail by the hand of man in the process.

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Well, no.

The King James (KJ) text is certainly corrupted, but many, if not all, of the Orthodox churches use an ancient version of the Bible that is largely unchanged from the past 1500+ years. These versions harbor many Books and passages deleted from the KJ and are significantly more voluminous than the Catholic Bible.

OK I havent nor do I have the time to read all this but it looks interesting!


I have to go skiing with my boy now!! Free ski after 3!! at ALTA! This is reason enough to forget about the MOs

I'll check in tomorrow

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Originally Posted by Tippster

Maybe in a few years Trackhead's disciples will start wearing little miniature Dynafits around their necks.... or some stylized third lung.... "Believe in the UP!"

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Pffft, you doubt me. Watch out for dark, ominus clouds.

I WILL CONVERT ALL OF YOU MINIONS TO THE WAYS OF THE UP! Believe in me and my prophet Dynafit, or I will strike thee down in a torrent of fury!!!!!!!:FIREdevil

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Originally Posted by 72Twenty

Ok, this is quickly becoming a dead horse, but I want to add one or two or three more things...

1. I think my theory is proven - the missionaries knocked yesterday and we didn't answer... just now the lady from another department who's husband in a home teacher just came back to "chit chat" again. I usually dodge it by looking really busy...

2. I mean no disrespect to anyone here personally. I live in kind of a strange place and the mormons that I see most (here) are a little strange and may not best reflect the mainstream members. Frankly, just about everyone in Laramie is a kook in one way or another, including me. And I've known some fanatical catholics, bible thumpin baptists and far right wing conservatives in my day as well. I also have some ties to both mormons (wife) and Utah (wife's whole family and my sister live there) and I have my own personal reasons for feeling the way I feel. I realize that I can get kind of douche-baggy with some of my posts and I appologize.

3. I will always hate BYU with everything that I have. I think their athletes are cocky and smug and every so often their football team comes up to 7,220 feet to play the University of Wyoming in November and it is 10 below and they absolutely get the living shit kicked out of them. It doesn't happen very often, but it happens enough. Enough for them to dread coming to Laramie just enough for the players to constantly look over their shoulder at a crowd that makes them more than a little nervous for their personal safety. Fuck you, BYU. Go Pokes.

There, I'm done.

:)

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Can I get an amen?! When I lived in Wyo we loved to go to those games. I'm Mormon and can't stand BYU I have my own stereotypes for Y guys that I won't get into.

I just wanted to comment on a few things.

I think when people get on here and spout off huge generalizations about Mormons and how oppressive and closed minded we are, need to look in the mirror. Aren't you being just as closed minded as you claim we are? Just a thought.

I served a mission in Oklahoma and loved it. I was out there trying to share a message with people. Not to convert them to my way of thinking but to share with them something that is so important to me, something that I believe is of value to all people. When people said they weren't interested I respected that and left them alone. If the missionaries keep coming back to your house don't get all pissed off and hide just tell them your not interested. They have devoted two years to share there message with others that is all they do day in and day out.

There is a reason why we like to share what we know. It has helped us in our lives and we know it can help others plain and simple.

don't know much of anything about the mormon faith, but that South Park episode was hillarious. can't argue that.

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Originally Posted by MacDaddy

You might want to do a search on "SLC- Utah, moving" this has been rehashed to the death.

Its more than beer here. Its about education, lack of separation between church & state, oppressive gov, neighbors that wont let your kids play with their kids, nasty republicans, weird changes in dates of holidays, no SNL on NBC. Its getting better however, and the real estate market is hot, so you best make a decision soon.

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I haven't read the whole thread yet, but this pretty much pegged it for me.
A decade ago these type things made me belive "This was not the place for me" That and no gambling, oh yeah the Chicago Bulls tattoo didn't help make friends at the time.

Then it snowed repeatedly
Then I started fly fishing
Then I visited Zoin and Escalante
Then I realized how centrally located to a huge amount of awsome western splenders it is

Then I realized It Is What It Is be it a religion, a cult, a group of people with different views than mine, whatever. Wasting energy hating on others is wasting energy.
ITS ALL GOOD.
and its better when it dumps

My Stake bishop and I have an agreement he doesn't send the prostlizing bicycle boys (calling themselves elders:confused: ) to convert me.
And I don't try to convert/corrupt his flock, parish,steakheads or whateverthey refer to themselves as


Itzabher let jah be praised

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Originally Posted by skifishbum

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but this pretty much pegged it for me.
A decade ago these type things made me belive "This was not the place for me" That and no gambling, oh yeah the Chicago Bulls tattoo didn't help make friends at the time.

Then it snowed repeatedly
Then I started fly fishing
Then I visited Zoin and Escalante
Then I realized how centrally located to a huge amount of awsome western splenders it is

Then I realized It Is What It Is be it a religion, a cult, a group of people with different views than mine, whatever. Wasting energy hating on others is wasting energy.
ITS ALL GOOD.
and its better when it dumps

My Stake bishop and I have an agreement he doesn't send the prostlizing bicycle boys (calling themselves elders:confused: ) to convert me.
And I don't try to convert/corrupt his flock, parish,steakheads or whateverthey refer to themselves as


Itzabher let jah be praised

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You coulda just moved to Wyoming. ;)

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Originally Posted by Tippster

Mormon chix were surprisingly easy back in the day....

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They were. I went to an international schooll with some hardcore mormons whose parents were overseas working for the church. Their parents were so strict they all went bananas. The only two girls i ever knew to get pregnant in HS were mormon. All their parents blamed the other families for having no discipline, but their kids were the ones getting knocked up and puking every frin night.

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Originally Posted by Viva

Well, no.

The King James (KJ) text is certainly corrupted, but many, if not all, of the Orthodox churches use an ancient version of the Bible that is largely unchanged from the past 1500+ years. These versions harbor many Books and passages deleted from the KJ and are significantly more voluminous than the Catholic Bible.

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That's good. I have the KJ version, and I still believe it is a book of God. If you have a more detailed version, great.

Another mormon joke:

Why do you always bring two mormons with when you go fishing?

Because if you just bring one, he'll drink all your beer.


The faction that mormons are completely devout or not practicing at all is just bullshit. I have spent most of my life in utah and have seen tons of mormons drink. In high school they will drink around anyone be they mormon or not, as they get older mormons tend to be very secretitive about their drinking. For example most will only drink when no other mormons are around.

That is what pisses me off about mormons is how secretitive they are about everything. The deception is unbelievable but I guess that is true of all organized religons.

On a funnier note, I dated a girl that told me that when mormons get married in the temple they make the bride and groom have sex right there on the altar to ensure that the bride was a virgin and that is why the marriage is closed to only practicing card-carrying mormons. So many bizarre rumors go around.

I'd really like to see what goes on in the missionary training centers. I have a good buddy that went to MTC and left after a month cause he fell into total depression (that is all he will tell me) because of it. I have also harked on mormon friends to sell me their garmets but they never give in

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Originally Posted by kadeater

I served a mission in Oklahoma

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Further proof that Oklahoma is a foreign country.

The logistics of moving the fence were too prohibitive.

I don't know the whole story because I generally ignored a lot of my grand father's stories when I was young. But my great great grand father and grand mother were among the founding settlers of SLC, my great grandfather was one of the first to be born there. They only lived there a short while before coming around and realizing they had made a big mistake. The part of the story that really freaks me and that I remember clearly is that the others would not let my family and a few others leave. Several of the original families including my own had to pad their wagon wheels and escape SLC in the middle of the night. They went on to join the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ and LDS which I was baptized into but never really believed in.

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Originally Posted by Schmear

Further proof that Oklahoma is a foreign country.

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I agree.

I remember GT40 similarly hold court on this issue a few years ago...

Regarding the "Are Mormons Christians?" discussion, this link shows a few examples of how evangelical Christians believe that Mormons misuse or contradict biblical passages. The page seems to generalize a bit, but perhaps grizzle or others can offer a rebuttal?

http://www.letusreason.org/LDS24.htm

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Originally Posted by Lurch

I don't know the whole story because I generally ignored a lot of my grand father's stories when I was young. But my great great grand father and grand mother were among the founding settlers of SLC, my great grandfather was one of the first to be born there. They only lived there a short while before coming around and realizing they had made a big mistake. The part of the story that really freaks me and that I remember clearly is that the others would not let my family and a few others leave. Several of the original families including my own had to pad their wagon wheels and escape SLC in the middle of the night. They went on to found a new religion called Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ and LDS which I was baptized into but never really believed in.

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Riiiiiiiiight. Yeah, and the "S" in SLC really stands for "Stepford Lake City."

All I know is they didn't catch the bastard that broke into my rental car. Perhaps breaking into rental cars is part of the LDS faith? I don't know, I just want my watch back. Bastards. Oh, and the president of my college is a mormon now, and has decided that underage drinking is what's killing the school, not the lack of education funding or wasteful administration, but that might just be her being sucktastic. In conclusion: chocolate milk is delicious.

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Originally Posted by grizzle6

That's good. I have the KJ version, and I still believe it is a book of God. If you have a more detailed version, great.

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Not my point, but, as you appear to be closed minded on this issue, I'll leave it at that.

Be happy!

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Originally Posted by Endlessseason

Riiiiiiiiight. Yeah, and the "S" in SLC really stands for "Stepford Lake City."

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Yeah, that must be bullshit cause that sounds way harder to believe than a bunch of white dudes being the lost tribe of Isreal. Funny thing is there was this black tribe in Somolia or somewhere claiming to be the lost tribe. Sounded crazy then they did some DNA testing and holy shit.

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Originally Posted by schuss

chocolate milk is delicious.

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An educated man like you believes this nonsense? The mind boggles.

You've been brainwashed, mang. Pure and simple. Banana milk is way better.

You wanna rip on Salt Lake City? Lets talk about where you fuckers learned to drive... LA?

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Originally Posted by smolakian

Well, It’s interesting if you think about it as a social “organism”. Because, that’s what I really believe how most religions behave. (BTW: I’m the oldest of seven from a Catholic family) A lot of the conventions and rules exist to grow the church body and spread just like any living creature. Why do you think they were polygamists? Why do you think birth control is frowned upon by most major religions? Also, why do you think they instill such an “us verse them” mentality? So they can get as many bodies to pay tithes, spread their culture and fight the culture war. Is there even a culture war? There has to be some polarizing force to inspire fundamentalist attitudes. The dangling carrot of heaven sometimes isn’t enough.

I believe the Mormons have been extremely effective at using these tactics. They also pretty much have a place to call their own and form a tight knit community. Living and working and playing with people just like you is very comforting. Also, I realize all the good things that the church does for people. But, seriously, none of it is given without a healthy dose of prosthelytizing. So, the motivation for missions and outreach is not entirely altruistic.

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ahh, yup! an agenda! having spent a lot of time in utah & idaho that is the only thing that bugs me about the mormon religion. well, the beer too! passively forcing people to 'believe' in their faith would be one of the most annoying aspects of living there. leave people alone! if they want to become mormon they will!

all religion (brought up catholic) is truly wacky!....darwin!!

i would move to park city...that town is its own island in the middle of utah.

FUFMO!!

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Originally Posted by BRUTAH

Another mormon joke:

Why do you always bring two mormons with when you go fishing?

Because if you just bring one, he'll drink all your beer.


The faction that mormons are completely devout or not practicing at all is just bullshit. I have spent most of my life in utah and have seen tons of mormons drink. In high school they will drink around anyone be they mormon or not, as they get older mormons tend to be very secretitive about their drinking. For example most will only drink when no other mormons are around.

That is what pisses me off about mormons is how secretitive they are about everything. The deception is unbelievable but I guess that is true of all organized religons.

On a funnier note, I dated a girl that told me that when mormons get married in the temple they make the bride and groom have sex right there on the altar to ensure that the bride was a virgin and that is why the marriage is closed to only practicing card-carrying mormons. So many bizarre rumors go around.

I'd really like to see what goes on in the missionary training centers. I have a good buddy that went to MTC and left after a month cause he fell into total depression (that is all he will tell me) because of it. I have also harked on mormon friends to sell me their garmets but they never give in

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Nice generalization.

The people I know that live the rockstar life that some think is cool hide it because they know it isn't what they realy want to be doing.

As far as what you have heard about the temple they couldn't be farther from the trouth. The temple is a house of learning. There in we learn more about the plan GOD has prepared for us. The marriages are only whitnessed by those "practicing card-carrying mormons" because it takes place in the temple. One very cool thing about the Temple marriages is that husbands and wifes are married for Eternity (forever, even after this life if they live worthilly) instead of just this life.

The MTC is just like school and living in the doorms. They just teach us how to teach others and about the gospel that we share. It effects people very differently and some just can't handle it. It is pretty intensive because you are in class for about 10 hours a day. Some love it and others hate it.

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Originally Posted by 72Twenty

You coulda just moved to Wyoming. ;)

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I still might. only I think my chances of owning a house 12 miles from Jackson are not nearly as good.

After reading the whole thread. Thanks serious comment guy. You are the man
.
Trackhead I'm gonna need a few more than 10 commandments and din settings and I'll convert.

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Originally Posted by bad_roo

An educated man like you believes this nonsense? The mind boggles.

You've been brainwashed, mang. Pure and simple. Banana milk is way better.

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The mormons have banana milk???

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Originally Posted by MassLiberal

The mormons have banana milk???

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it is one of our most powerful weapons.

Yeah but you can't put banana milk in a tailpipe. At least not very easily.

So, I Googles "Mormon girls" with the hope of finding something Mormon that might really AFFECT me and found this:

http://www.wildutah.net/2-12-02/htmldocs/Mormon.htm

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Originally Posted by MassLiberal

The mormons have banana milk???

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Yes, keep it quiet, though. The English aren't supposed to know.

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Originally Posted by phUnk

Mormons make me jump my bike over big jumps. :cussing:

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http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...clas/saved.jpg

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Originally Posted by BRUTAH

The faction that mormons are completely devout or not practicing at all is just bullshit. I have spent most of my life in utah and have seen tons of mormons drink. In high school they will drink around anyone be they mormon or not, as they get older mormons tend to be very secretitive about their drinking. For example most will only drink when no other mormons are around.

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My response wasn't an absolute. It is just in my experence (which may differ based on location) I have not met too many LDS slackers. Sure, I know a couple that drink and aren't really into it, but the percentage difference between hardcore LDS and slacker LDS vs. hardcore (insert religion) and slacker (insert religion) is astounding. This is my belief on why so many buy into the sterotype of Mormonism as a cult.

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Originally Posted by Cyber Cop

Yeah, that must be bullshit cause that sounds way harder to believe than a bunch of white dudes being the lost tribe of Isreal. Funny thing is there was this black tribe in Somolia or somewhere claiming to be the lost tribe. Sounded crazy then they did some DNA testing and holy shit.

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White dudes and the lost tribe of Israel........ hmmmmmm. You know, there are so many bizarre things that have been fabricated and thrown around about mormons for so many years it boggles the mind. I really don't have time to field goofball statements. It would never end. I've got to work sometime today.

Apparently, you've overheard something from someone who heard something about mormons, or some other religious group, that somehow got a little mixed up? There is no lost tribe of Israel. There are no white guy tribes of Israel. Are you trying to add something useful to this thread, or attempting to formulate some sort of question regarding the ten tribes of Israel that I might be able to assist you with when I have some time later?

Religion is the opium of the masses. :FIREdevil

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Originally Posted by smolakian

Religion is the opium of the masses. :FIREdevil

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Opiate ya mo.


Roo - How do you know of banana milk?!?! Who told you? The infidel shall die for revealing our secret corollary milk. Combined, they form the most powerful drink in the multiverse, which our god-cowboy drinks from his platinum mantle in the earths core. Perhaps I've said too much....

Broulims, the grocery store in Driggs, will not ever open on Sunday's due to mormon ownership.
Ironically, they sell beer and wine without compunction, citing 'convienience for our non mormon clientele'. They are more than happy to break one rule for profit, why not another? Hypocrisy.
Mormons also grow most of the grain for beer and Vodka production in Idaho. They see no problems with that. The mormons are losing ground here, slowly but surely in the political arena. You couldn't get a drink poured in Driggs until 3 years ago, now no problem, even on Sundays! And, they are in church Sundays, more pow for us.

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Originally Posted by smolakian

Religion is the opiate of the masses. :FIREdevil

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just cause i'm anal like that

Can I have some banana milk?

Please?

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Originally Posted by Endlessseason

White dudes and the lost tribe of Israel........ hmmmmmm. You know, there are so many bizarre things that have been fabricated and thrown around about mormons for so many years it boggles the mind. I really don't have time to field goofball statements. It would never end. I've got to work sometime today.

Apparently, you've overheard something from someone who heard something about mormons, or some other religious group, that somehow got a little mixed up? There is no lost tribe of Israel. There are no white guy tribes of Israel. Are you trying to add something useful to this thread, or attempting to formulate some sort of question regarding the ten tribes of Israel that I might be able to assist you with when I have some time later?

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In the end I could care less what you believe, but even the stuff outlined here sounds a little nutz to some of us. pre-columbion visit by christ after ressurection, yeah I'll take that on faith, doesn't sound crazy at all. But lurches story, now that's hard to believe.

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Originally Posted by Viva

Not my point, but, as you appear to be closed minded on this issue, I'll leave it at that.

Be happy!

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No close mindedness here. It's just that nothing I said really goes against what you said--so there's really no need to continue the debate. I based my statements on the Bible from the version that I read (KJ version), and know that there are many parts that have been lost. I didn't say there wasn't necessarily a more accurate version out there.