Mormon Apologetic Article - JW comparisons etc

dozy

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/what-mormons-like-me-really-believe

From an ex-JW perspective , I was quite interested in the above article , which the Spectator ( presumably ) felt obligated for legal reasons to publish to allow a response to a rather unfavourable article below.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-troubling-history-of-mormonism

The arguments are fairly rehearsed and often used by JW "spokesmen".

(1) We are not a cult - our leader is Jesus.

(2) Previous doctrines , beliefs and practices are gently dismissed as "old light" ( to use JW parlance ) , what really matters is today.

(3) There is an emotional angle as well - the hope that the writer ( a religious professor in Chester , which must be interesting for his pupils and fellow professors , as unlike the USA it would be unusual for a Mormon to have such a position in a mainstream college ) will see his deceased father.

(4) We are basically just like another church - our beliefs may be pretty crazy ( I'm paraphrasing here ) but so are major Christian beliefs anyway . ( I have some sympathy for this standpoint - bible passages like the parting of the Red Sea , Lot having sex with his two daughters , Noah's ark , Adam & Eve etc are no less nutty or weird than some of the Mormon doctrines and churches like the Catholics are just larger cults , basically. )

The one figure I am puzzling over is his stated figure of 200K Mormons in the UK , which seems to be in line from the figure on Wikipedia. This is from 330 congregations , which would represent over 600 per congregation. This seems a lot , especially as many of those congregations have small halls , or even just meet in a village hall. Although I have known a few Mormons , I have always had the assumption that JWs are much more numerous.

I can't see the UK figures , but looking at the figures from Scotland , the 2011 Census had 4,651 declaring their religion as LDS ( which anecdotally , 1 in approx 1000 , would seem about fair ) but their own figures state 26,536 in 2009 which is a huge difference. Are they basically including pretty much everyone who has ever turned up at a meeting? Or all who are baptised ( bearing in mind that baptism is a very quick process , unlike JWs ) ? Perhaps even dead people ( in accordance with another of their unusual beliefs.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Scotland#Other_Protestant_denominations

mynameislame

My thoughts

I could see Mormons including the dead among their ranks. If I understand correctly there is a way for them to even baptize the dead.

It is still a high control religion where, if it is for you it works. But not so great if you want to leave.

The guy in the "What Mormons like me really believe" seems to have forgotten to mention " temple garments", The special underwear that Mormons seem to wear at all times.

And the "We worship Jesus" line is right out of cult 101.

I wonder who came up with the no-trinity doctrine first? Did we steal that from the Mormons?

One things Mormons prove is that going to college won't necessarily ruin your beliefs even if those beliefs are a bit crazy. I bet JWs have lost a lot more children by forbidding them to go to college.

Mormons do seem genuinely nice. There was a Mormon family on the 90 day fiance and they really went out of their way to make the woman feel comfortable.

Even South Park seemed somewhat pro-Mormon in the "All About Mormons" episode.

Of course that could all be love bombing and things change once you sign up.

Somehow that doesn't appear to be the case. There's plenty of people on the ex-mormon sub-reddit that would probably disagree.

waton

Of course that could all be love bombing and things change once you sign up.

mnil: and it sinks in, that your income is reduced by 10%, like it or not.

slimboyfat

Yes Mormons count everyone who has ever been baptised as members. This grossly overstates their numbers compared with other groups.

There are 39 Mormon congregations in Scotland and from my experience congregations average around 50 in attendance on a Sunday. So that would give you around 2000 active Mormons in Scotland compared with around 9000 active JWs.

Vidiot

I have long thought of the LDS as the WTS’s nicer but weirder older cousin.