Mormon program on PBS

LovesDubs

I watched this program...it was amazing. You will be ASTOUNDED how similar this organization is to the JWs if you have not already come to that conclusion. You can watch the whole program online. I watched it WITH MY HUSBAND for the last two nights! In light of my brother and his family having become mormons...I wanted to bone up on what I THOUGHT I knew about them...i learned a lot more! I highly recommend it.

Loves FRONTLINE + American Experience: Mormons | PBS

candidlynuts

i'm glad to know its online..i wanted to watch it last night but wasnt able to! thanks for the link

AK - Jeff

I watched most of the first segment last nite. Missed the rest.

I think one of the early people interviewed said it best, when she stated that the world was ripe for such evangelical, end-time, religions to sprout in that period of time. Jw's came a few decades later, and obviously people were interested in following whatever religion of the month was offered, no matter how outlandish.

I think the Mormon frame of acceptance is even more amazing than the Jw' one - that the Angel Moroni directed a 17 year old dreamer to plates with Egyptian hieroglyphics that told about events with Jesus coming to America, and eventually lead that boy to 'translate' them. The plates are forever lost, but the Book of Mormon proves they were once here. WOW. And the end is 'nigh' since the early 1800's. And if faithful, we can all become Gods ourselves and rule over our own worlds. AMAZING STUFF.

Course, who am I to talk? I believed that Jesus came in 1914 and hasn't found his way off the throne yet to finally execute most of mankind so that Jw's can inherit their castles and play with lions and tigers and bears, Oh My!

Jeff

proplog2

Jehovah's Witnesses will say that the Devil uses a mimic organization like the Mormons to confuse people.

I say it's a pretty good example of parallel cultural evolution.

It seems the same authoritarian lame brains float to the top of all these organizations. They all speak like they are the last word. I am so sick of these types.

Any JW could feel "culturally at home in the Mormon Church.

And how can you judge Mormons. They are very sincere and dedicated.

This is also why JW's never study the excellent book they printed a few years back - Mankind's Search for God.

The line of argumentation against the Koran, Book of Mormon etc. can be used against the Bible.

I didn't see the whole program but it was chilling.

HAL9000

A program was recently broadcast in Australia on the former Mormon who has refuted the "Lost Tribes" dogma.

It is available as an MP3 - details from the ABC (Australian public broadcaster) follow:

The Ark 25 March 2007 - Mormonism's Lost Tribes

Summary: ... Download Audio 25032007 The Book of Mormon spells out the origins of Mormonism, based on the belief that the Lost Tribes of Israel sailed to the American continent. Using the latest DNA findings Simon Southerton, a senior research scientist in the CSIRO and former Bishop in the Mormon church, questions this belief.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ark/stories/2007/1876696.htm - 7k - [ html ] - 25 Mar 2007

Found it an interesting "listen", particularly as I was unaware of the basic tenets of the LDS.

These programs are generally well researched & presented - for background see http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ark/about/

h9k

Panda

Read; Under theBanner of Heaven by Krakauer.

It's the story behind the murder of a mother and child by her Mormon relatives (inlaws) who wanted her to follow the polygamist rules, and allow her husband to bring home another wife! Her husband was actually out in the car waiting for his relatives to kill both her and the infant. While the author explained the crime he also wrote about the history of the LDS. A fabulous read.

BTW I saw the PBS show. They soft peddled the cult .

undercover

They soft peddled the cult .

I kind of had that reaction as well at first but as I thought about it I revised my opinion.

I don't think the program was supposed to be an expose of the religion but a study in the origins and growth of a truly American religion. While it did cover the controversies, even to the point of talking to former members including some excommunicated for apostacy, it also showed the positive aspects of the religion.

I think that they did as good a job as possible of showing the facts and history of the LDS church without taking any sides.

I think it made excellent points on how the church is afraid of intellects questioning doctrine and certain 'history' as recorded by Joseph Smith. The program allowed the church spokesman to defend their stance on scholarly research and in doing so showed just how afraid the church is of people questioning their authority and position.

It also showed how some people became disillusioned during the course of their missionary work.

The one thing that I was most disappointed in was how they showed the non-Mormon guy go on and on about how the Mormons were the first on the scene after Katrina to help. He said before he always wanted to get rid of Mormons at the door; now he will always invite them in. I said outloud to the TV, "That's exactly what they want, you boob". The Mormons and JWs are using the same play book when it comes to this disaster relief stuff...except the Mormons are better at it than JWs.

To those of us having had similar experiences with the JWs, we are sensitive to the cult like issues and we related to those in the program who spoke against the LDS church. But for people who have never been a part of the LDS, JWs or any other high control group, they can never know or understand the issues the way an ex-member of those faiths can. In the end, we as ex-members may be looking for more expose on the cultishness of these type religions while the average viewer doesn't have a clue about those issues.

I'd love to see a program like that on JWs. Cover the history...the true history, not the revisionist version as printed by the WTS. Cover the controversies over the changing doctrine. Cover the shunning and disfellowshipping as it did with the Mormons. And keep it fair, like the Mormon program. In the end, a lot of ex-members would be upset that it soft peddled the issues and a lot of members would be upset at what they would perceive as 'lies'. But to the average viewer it should be enough to discourage them from wanting to be a part of it, just as most who watched the Mormon program probably will avoid joining the LDS church.

moshe

When I lived in Osceloa county, FL back in the 80's the local tax assesor told me that the Mormon church was the 2 largest landowner in the county. They own vast amounts of land and property.

I worked with a devout Mormon many years ago. He wore the special undergarments and went to the Temple in Salt Lake every year. He made the same money the rest of us did but he always drove old cars and lived in a dilapidated house. 10% off the top for his tithe, another 3% for the local stake and another donation to his local Ward, and a donation to the widows and orphans fund- on and on it went. All so he could keep his Temple Recommend up to date.

I wish I had a video of those discussions with him , a JW and a Mormon debating why each one had the 'truth' - it would be comical to watch 30 years later.

Doubting Bro

I watched it last night with my wife. I knew a little about their teaching and that they are similar in structure to JWs but I didn't realize how far the similarities go. As we watched, my wife said "they sound a lot like JWs". I agreed and then made some subtle comments along the way. It was funny the way she got upset a little at the dissenters. Especially the lady who wrote a book about how women should be allowed into positions of authority and how she was excommunicated for apostacy. Yet, it was obvious this lady still believed. My wife made the point that the author knew what would happen yet wrote the book anyway. I explained that high control groups like the Mormons don't want to hear any feedback on any doctrine and while this lady still believed, she probably felt she was being used by God to bring some reformation.

I also said that apostacy is obviously the biggest sin a Mormon could commit and that it seemed like if you disagreed with even one doctrine, you were an apostate. Even if you still believed many of the other things. She didn't think that was very fair.

I probably should have made more comments but I thought it was better that the program do the commenting. I did say that I thought it was strange the program didn't mention how many people consider them a cult because of their high control and lack of discussion on doctrinal and other church issues. She agreed?? How can you think Mormons are a cult and not think JWs are?

Anyway, I also thought the program was pretty balanced. At first, I thought it was a pro-Mormon puff piece but later they brought up enough information from the other side to present what I thought was an even look. Mormons probably weren't happy and ex-Mormons probably weren't happy, so I guess that means the producer did a good job.

drew sagan

Any JW could feel "culturally at home in the Mormon Church.

While I agree with some of your assumptions, I believe this one to be incorrect.

While JWs focus heavily on rejecting the culture around them, they never replace that basic human need for a social history with anything else. They simply take away from people their culture, but offer no replacement. The mormons offer their followers a replacement. I think there is a big differance in the way the two groups view human interaction and social activity.

With that said the techniques they use by which to convert and retain members are quite similiar, with each group moving into differant extremems. They are similiar in many ways and for this very reason a number of ex-jws are actually drawn to the LDS church.

Mormon program on PBS

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