Featured I used to be a Mormon: AMA

I'll admit, I didn't want to presume

 

For Mormons, the term apostle is taken to mean "special witness of Christ". What this means in practical terms is that the 12 (15, really) want everyone to assume that they have personally met Jesus. They will use veiled terms to express it, allude to "experiences too sacred to share", and hint at it a lot but not a one of them will come right out and say it, probably because that would be lying.

One of the first cracks to form is discovering that not only are they just ordinary people without extraordinary experiences, they are also comfortable at lying and seeking their own glory. When they enter a room, they expect everyone to stand up and remain standing until they are given permission to sit. You are not allowed to question or vote against them. Every six months there is a "sustaining vote" held for them in their conferences. If you vote in opposition, you are told to visit your local ecclesiastical leader where you are promptly rebuked or ex-communicated. If there is a policy you dislike or find un-Christlike, too bad. They speak to Christ, don'tcha know, so you must be in rebellion against Christ.

I had tremendous respect for them at one point in time. Now I consider them like a pack of Joel Osteens, except the wealth they have amassed would make Joel blush green in envy.

 

I think I answered most of that in the post above, but to the question about church planting and martydom...

They plant Mormon churches like McDonald's franchises. Then, when the local branches are sufficiently stable and producing enough income, they announce that they are finally worthy of a temple. You'll notice this mostly happens in high net worth areas or areas with high property value (relatively speaking, of course). The temples are dedicated usually by an Apostle of some standing, sometimes even someone from the First Presidency (the Peter, James, and John of our age, so to speak) and they'll do odd vain things like put their autobiographies and pictures of themselves in the sealed cornerstones of the temple.

I believe they mostly preach to the faithful. Sometimes press interviews, sometimes with government officials, but aside from the twice yearly broadcasted conferences you don't see them in public much.

How are the next apostles chosen after one dies? Easy - the remaining apostles get together and have to vote unanimously on the replacement, usually someone who has already crawled into the ranks of the 70 or have some personal familial relation to someone else in the 12. Over the last 50 years, seldom an apostle is chosen who isn't also an MBA, lawyer, or doctor. Humble fishermen not so much.

They aren't martyred. They live on the best income with the best medical care available in the western world and live comfortably into their late 90s or more. I'd have to research the last one to actually be "martyred", but I think it was Parley P. Pratt, who took as a multiple wife someone in the south (who was already married) while he was on his mission. The locals didn't take kindly to that.

 

Fun reading if you want to read about ole Parley Pratt, "a martyr to his faith":

Parley P. Pratt - Wikipedia

 

I wrote up and delivered a statement of faith before I was baptized into my local church. Is that the kind of thing you're looking for? Other than that, I believe I stated a ways back who I know and believe Jesus to be. And honestly, aside from the core and fundamental things, I'll admit that I am rebuilding a lot from the ground up (as I've said several times).

 

11 wives weren't good enough. He need to take another man's wife as #12. Does that seem like a man who has met Jesus face to face?

 

Yeah I can't say I ever read anything about any of Jesus's apostles using missions as an excuse to collect wives....

That being said, Mormon missions used to be about more than wife collecting campaigns. They used to be about wife-denying as well. What do I mean by wife-denying? Well, here's an interesting story from my own family history.

My great-grandfather was a farmer in Idaho who by the age of 50 still had not managed to find himself a wife (let alone multiple wives). Somehow when other men were collecting them like Pokemon cards, my great-grandfather's isolation or lack of influence left him hanging high and dry. He was a good and faithful Mormon, had served a three year mission abroad, active in the church, etc, but the practice of the day was that the leaders of the church got first dibs on all the women, whether they already had multiples of them or not.

Enter the woman who would become my great-grandmother. She was the third wife of one Samuel Harrison Smith, Joseph Smith's nephew. They had two children together, but ole Samuel apparently didn't much feel like taking care of them. They were on the point of starvation when the church finally "allowed" her to divorce Mr. Smith and marry my great-grandfather. So how did the church reward my great-grandfather for marrying the unwanted leftover of Joseph Smith's nephew? Why, by immediately separating him from his bride and sending him on another 3 year mission to England. His wife and stepsons were left to fend for themselves on his farm while he was away

It's a miracle my grandfather was ever born - years after they were married, and when my great-grandfather was well into his 50's. He was the only child they were able to have together given the machinations of the church against them. Somehow they all stayed in the Mormon church and never quite saw it for what it is.

 

What have I said that was divisive?