Mormon critics, does the church really hide it's history?

Question

Think about it. Whenever I see some critics answer on here, or when I go to some critical Mormon sites, a lot of the time when you say that the church hid something that you did not know about, there will be times that you site an official LDS link to show us what the church "hid", even though it came from an LDS source.

A lot of the controversial issues can be found in teaching manuals, and many of them I have found out about, not only came from LDS websites (some critical websites, which then linked to an LDS source), but I also have a collection of books that I bought at Deseret Bookstore, which is owned by the LDS Church, and many of the books that I own address these issues.

Heck, earlier this year in my institute class, one of the things that came up when we were reading the Book of Abraham, was the controversy surrounding the translation, and then about a few weeks later the teacher brought up statements from GA's that said that dark skin was a curse from God. Last year polygamy was brought up in Sunday School, etc.


So to say that the church hides it's history, isn't that a weird accusation against a church that has every manual available online, and is selling autobiographies of Joseph Smith like Rough Stone Rolling and the Joseph Smith Papers at it's own bookstore that specifically bring up these issues?

Answer 1

I've been a member of the church for more than 45 years, and all the stuff that is coming out now that we are being accused of hiding is stuff I knew decades ago. I'm not really sure how they can justify their claims of us "hiding" anything that has been discussed and taught for as long as I can remember. I think that the critics just have to have something to criticize, and eagerly believe whatever happens to be circulating.



Ask most critics of the church how they know the church used to (or still does) hide its history, and the response is "I read it somewhere" or "I heard it somewhere".



Or they make statements like if you talked about polygamy 20 years ago they would excommunicate you (prominent psuedo-Mormon bloggers are saying exactly that) but I was there 20 years ago, and we talked about it as much as we do today. It wasn't hidden, it wasn't taboo, it was just part of our legacy and we did not have a problem with that.







I think that a lot of the critics grew up in some sort of la-la land and did not pay attention in Sunday School, EQ or RS. Then one day they get blindsided by something from the past that those of us that paid attention knew all about. They learned something that they, being so much wiser than God, figured was wrong. They put on their binders and threw common sense out the windows and the next thing you here OMG MORMONZ HIDE HISTORY JOE SMITH HAS SEX WITH FOURTEEN YEAR OLD GIRLS MARRIED TO SOMEONE ELSE and the idiocy just goes on and on.

Answer 2

You will find that all of the critical stuff about the church has little to do with the content being discussed but instead has to do with the motives of the person that put them forth. The assumption is that there is a conspiracy or a lie or someone is trying to get power, money or sex.



So, the idea here is at there is a conspiracy to hide information so that there will be some kind of power wielded over the ignorant members of the church. If you think about it, this is the only logical conclusion if you do not know that the church is true. It is either of God or a fraud.



Many people here will never believe in a living prophet because it takes a level of faith to accept it. Lets face it, there is not a heck of allot of faith or depth of spirituality in the world today. As always has been, the only good prophet is a dead prophet.

Answer 3

We don't "hide" our history. We don't normally make it openly public either because much of the history of the Church is private and needs to be considered and understood through the influence of the Holy Ghost, not just through human eyes and human understanding. The history of plural marriage, priesthood worthiness and Church moral standards are all spiritual matters not for public debate so they are not publicly distributed. However, due to the overabundance of public opinions, most of which are inaccurate, the Church has felt it necessary to publish the facts in a way that they can hopefully be understood correctly. This is not the first time this has happened. Joseph Smith finally published an official version of the First Vision due to the myriad inaccurate opinions that were being publicly shared so he chose to set the record straight. We are basically doing the same thing today.

A more lengthy discussion could be had on this topic away from this forum.

Answer 4

Some of the stuff that they think we're hiding is ridiculous.



Anybody who has read the scriptures, including the D&C, knew that Smith taught on the topic of polygamy and would have also seen the topics of Emma needing to accept it and rules about it - so for those who say in church they were called lairs for suggesting such a thing, I wonder if they were 10 years old when that exchange took place because it's common knowledge.



I think the problem people get is when they accept a wisted version of things. Use polygamy as an example: on one extreme end you still have some Mormons who say that Smith wasn't and some will say that he never had sex outside of his union with Emma; you've got the middle group of people like me who know he had other wives but know that we don't know who he had sex with (nor is it our business) yet also know that he didn't father any children with anybody other than Emma so if he did have physical relationships with others (which would be permitted within polygamy) it doesn't sound like the norm, but then a group of people go way too far over and assume that any polygamist is a sexual deviant in it only for the sex - if you've ever seen real female polygamists I've got news for you, you could go a lot of places and have a lot hotter women without all the hassle if it was only about sex. The problem is that these people, converted to a judgmental point of view, feel that things are being suppressed if you don't get a full deep and dirty version of it - which doesn't logically seem like it was the case anyway. In other words their minds conjure up dirty motivations for others and then those others become the perverts because their minds focused on perverted reasons.



In their mind it's no longer a topic which could be debated with merit on either side, they go from one extreme to the other and claim that those who don't accept their point of view aren't seeing all of the facts - which is rampant cognitive dissonance - which to be fair exists on the Mormon side as well as people accept this notion of absolutes and perfection on the Mormon side, while the anti's become married to a view of absolute corruption and everything is imperfection.



However, these people are few and far between. They pop up in YA on the anti side, but how many are there who frequently post against the LDS church? About a dozen in a world of 7 billion? And they call us the tiny minority! Within the ranks of the church there are a lot of people who won't accept anything that's not perfect in the past with leadership when in reality we don't believe in infallibility of man and there are clearly some blunders were those leaders are looking back at things from heaven going "hey, I thought I did my best, but sure wish I could take that one back", and I'm not pointing at anything in particular only that men make mistakes and men on a platform get pointed at for years for the smallest of mistakes or sins of omission.



The vast majority of Mormons have a somewhat balanced view of things in terms of religion - and the vast majority of former Mormons or inactive Mormons also have a pretty balanced view of things. Most inactive people aren't inactive due to "something hidden" but rather their kids soccer program got in way of attendance and as time went on their attendance went down - that's usually it.



There are those within who do hide, and there are those without who cry that things are hidden, but the majority on both sides don't.

Answer 5

most people don't want to do the work to know things. they want a brief compilation researched and reasoned by someone else that they can hang their hat on and claim as "knowledge". too often, when someone does do some work and does present a compilation of "findings" people buy it lock stock and barrel simply because they assume someone with a brain did the research and compilation....even if the conclusion is wrong, or flys in the face of logic, or contradicts the actual facts of the thing....because they just want to have the easy piece of knowledge and it fits with what choices they wanted to make anyway.



think about some of the people you go to classes with....and how many of them actually do the reading or studying to gain the knowledge necessary and how many half memorize a cheat sheet the night before the test?

Answer 6

Not to sounds offensive, but I don't particularly think of the Mormon church that often but when I do I see some serious flaws in their organization. Personally I think Mormons imagine themselves bigger than they really are. I've never met a Mormon in real life as a friend or acquaintance. I've read what they believe and it just doesn't make sense.

Answer 7

I am not Mormon but I know what you are saying. People go after my religion, in the same ignorant manner. They distort things so badly that anyone who believes what they say should read Proverbs 14:15.



People who belittle other relgions, should take a good, hard look at their own faith.

Answer 8

lol your church manuals hide alot of stuff from you mormons like for example most of Brigham young's teachings. Trust me I would know. Also I told people when I was in the mormon church that Joseph Smith had more then one wife and they said I was "lying"

Answer 9

I would have settled for someone...... anyone.... to stand up for the raped children of Warren Jeff's "church".



not one Christian stood up to say "the mother's need punishment too".



the "mother's" were heard on audio participating in the rapes. the transcripts are available on line.



but what happens? the children were RETURNED to their rapist mothers, like it's normal.



at that point I realized that cult members really are beyond help.



but let's not worry about that. let that continue. let's put all our efforts into stopping gay marriages.

Answer 10

Everything is hidden from those who close their eyes.