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Antimormons


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I’m curious what board members consider to be antimormon or whom they consider to be an antimormon.

My experience is that there is no hard-and-fast on this—that it’s like that overused quote about pornography… if you don’t know it, make one up.

Is anyone in here taking the word literally—as in, like, any man having one drop of the seed of “anti” in him is antimormon and worthy of a curse, etc.?

Also, should we stop using the term antimormon? Or is it like multiplying a negative or whatever in math where they like cancel each other out?

Also, would apologetics be antiantimormon? And is there another level of antiantiantimormonism, and so forth?

Answer as many as you like. I’m going to bed. 

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An "anti" anything is about the approach the person takes to things (this goes for any subject).  An "anti" person will:

-Not care to get their facts straight, even when provided with good information

-Use inflammatory language / flaming / mockery / etc

-Talk *at* a person with the attitude of I-know-everything, rather than having a respectful two-way conversation *with* another person.

 

Being critical doesn't make a person automatically anti anything.  It is entirely possible to be critical without flaming, high-and-mighty, or ignoring information.  

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2 hours ago, FunOnlineMan said:

I’m curious what board members consider to be antimormon or whom they consider to be an antimormon.

My experience is that there is no hard-and-fast on this—that it’s like that overused quote about pornography… if you don’t know it, make one up.

Is anyone in here taking the word literally—as in, like, any man having one drop of the seed of “anti” in him is antimormon and worthy of a curse, etc.?

Also, should we stop using the term antimormon? Or is it like multiplying a negative or whatever in math where they like cancel each other out?

Also, would apologetics be antiantimormon? And is there another level of antiantiantimormonism, and so forth?

Answer as many as you like. I’m going to bed. 

I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of people and material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it.

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1 hour ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

I don't like the word.

Critics of my church/faith/beliefs are not part of any single cohesive group, any more than people who dislike asparagus.  They're all various humans with various reasons for various opinions/beliefs.

Of course but we should not pretend they have nothing in common to bring them together. They are all opponents of my faith and are all going to burn in Hell so they have those things to bond over.

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1 hour ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

I don't like the word.

Critics of my church/faith/beliefs are not part of any single cohesive group, any more than people who dislike asparagus.  They're all various humans with various reasons for various opinions/beliefs.

I only use it in the extreme cases, generally those actually trying to destroy the Church as opposed to those who are trying to convert others to a different belief system.  I think there is a lot of baggage attached to it so most times even then it is not worth using it because of having to explain limits I put on it

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3 hours ago, FunOnlineMan said:

I’m curious what board members consider to be antimormon or whom they consider to be an antimormon...............................

Antimormon is a specific instance of the general sorts of terms such as anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim, anti-American, etc., and can actively entail religious, political, or social dimensions (the opposite of pro-this or that).  One could compare it to the NT religious term, antichristos (1611 KJV Antichrist), who denies that Jesus is the Christ, and also denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:18,22, 4:3, 2 John 7), likewise mentioned in the Apocalypse of Daniel 9:1,11, 12:2, 13:1, 14:2, Apocalypse of Ezra (Greek) 4:31, the Book of Mormon (Alma 30), etc.

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The devil's winning and the saints don't even know it, though.  Seriously each time a Mormon would say anti-Mormon in their disdain and disgust, the devil would grin and win a victory, apparently.  NOw we have the "Mormon" dialogue and discussion board, with Mormons who supposedly support the notion that Satan gets a win and giggle whenever someone says Mormon, complaining that there really are people out there who want to destroy the Church so badly that these people must be anti-Mormon (oops another win for the devil but it must be said because these people are so bad).  Who are these bad people who get even the most ardent of Saints so upset that they lock arms with the devil and give him a victory, for a moment, give him a fist bump and turn their back on their foe-friend in hopes their lashing out did something useful?  I don't know anyone trying to destroy the Church.  They'd have to somehow attack the company that is the Church, ruin it's assets and somehow stop the flow of income.  I think when members go to histrionics and suggest some anti-Mormon is trying to destroy the Church, they mean, they are trying to tell people the Church is wrong in a mean and lowly way.  I guess.  

It is the nature of us humans that when acted upon by others with emotion we tend to emote back.  I dare say Mormons who love to give the devil a win so he has a fighting chance, are perhaps the biggest of antis out there.  Giving the devil hopes is exactly what he needs to win against the baddest dude in the universe.  As we all know the devil won't win in the end, but he'll drag a bunch of losers down trying.  Calling someone an anti-Mormon is giving him another dude or two to roast into the eternities.  

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Whatever one might think of it, it is a serviceable term that is often quite apt, depending on the application. I strongly disagree with a.FairMormon Conference speaker of a few years ago who said we should retire the term. That smacks of political correctness, which I detest. 

Edited by Scott Lloyd
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46 minutes ago, stemelbow said:

The devil's winning and the saints don't even know it, though.  Seriously each time a Mormon would say anti-Mormon in their disdain and disgust, the devil would grin and win a victory, apparently.  NOw we have the "Mormon" dialogue and discussion board, with Mormons who supposedly support the notion that Satan gets a win and giggle whenever someone says Mormon, complaining that there really are people out there who want to destroy the Church so badly that these people must be anti-Mormon (oops another win for the devil but it must be said because these people are so bad).  Who are these bad people who get even the most ardent of Saints so upset that they lock arms with the devil and give him a victory, for a moment, give him a fist bump and turn their back on their foe-friend in hopes their lashing out did something useful?  I don't know anyone trying to destroy the Church.  They'd have to somehow attack the company that is the Church, ruin it's assets and somehow stop the flow of income.  I think when members go to histrionics and suggest some anti-Mormon is trying to destroy the Church, they mean, they are trying to tell people the Church is wrong in a mean and lowly way.  I guess.  

It is the nature of us humans that when acted upon by others with emotion we tend to emote back.  I dare say Mormons who love to give the devil a win so he has a fighting chance, are perhaps the biggest of antis out there.  Giving the devil hopes is exactly what he needs to win against the baddest dude in the universe.  As we all know the devil won't win in the end, but he'll drag a bunch of losers down trying.  Calling someone an anti-Mormon is giving him another dude or two to roast into the eternities.  

President Nelson said it was wrong to refer to our Church as Mormon. You took that and assume the word itself is pure poison. If that were the case we would have to rename the Book of Mormon.

Basically:

 

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I don’t get being anti Mormon. 

I guess, being Mormon, that I’m vaguely anti other Christian religions, but I certainly don’t waste my time propagandizing against them. It seems rather silly, and after all what have they done to me?

maybe in the days of Inquisition, etc there were reasons to be more proactive, but not now.   Is there a way to make serious money from this?

Edited by mrmarklin
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There is a dark spirit about anti Mormon literature. Anti mormon attacks seem to always carry an element of deception, misinformation, dishonesty or otherwise. Certainly the spirit of contention is present. 

Those who spend their time spewing forth such absolutely have cords about themselves that have become binding chains. 

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1 hour ago, mrmarklin said:

I don’t get being anti Mormon. 

I guess, being Mormon, that I’m vaguely anti other Christian religions, but I certainly don’t waste my time propagandizing against them. It seems rather silly, and after all what have they done to me?

maybe in the days of Inquisition, etc there were reasons to be more proactive, but not now.   Is there a way to make serious money from this?

Merely disbelieving a thing does not make a person anti- that thing. One has to be assertively opposed to it. 

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6 hours ago, stemelbow said:

The devil's winning and the saints don't even know it, though.  Seriously each time a Mormon would say anti-Mormon in their disdain and disgust, the devil would grin and win a victory, apparently.  NOw we have the "Mormon" dialogue and discussion board, with Mormons who supposedly support the notion that Satan gets a win and giggle whenever someone says Mormon, complaining that there really are people out there who want to destroy the Church so badly that these people must be anti-Mormon (oops another win for the devil but it must be said because these people are so bad).  Who are these bad people who get even the most ardent of Saints so upset that they lock arms with the devil and give him a victory, for a moment, give him a fist bump and turn their back on their foe-friend in hopes their lashing out did something useful?  I don't know anyone trying to destroy the Church.  They'd have to somehow attack the company that is the Church, ruin it's assets and somehow stop the flow of income.  I think when members go to histrionics and suggest some anti-Mormon is trying to destroy the Church, they mean, they are trying to tell people the Church is wrong in a mean and lowly way.  I guess.  

It is the nature of us humans that when acted upon by others with emotion we tend to emote back.  I dare say Mormons who love to give the devil a win so he has a fighting chance, are perhaps the biggest of antis out there.  Giving the devil hopes is exactly what he needs to win against the baddest dude in the universe.  As we all know the devil won't win in the end, but he'll drag a bunch of losers down trying.  Calling someone an anti-Mormon is giving him another dude or two to roast into the eternities.  

The most intellectually astute anti-Mormon I ever knew was the Rev. Wesley Walters (Presbyterian), and he was a friend of mine.  He was very good at converting RLDS and LDS into non-Mormons or even anti-Mormons.  He converted an entire congregation of former RLDS in Independence, Missouri, into anti-Mormons.  He saw it as the Lord's work.  He went after Jehovah's Witnesses in the same way.

The notion that there are no anti-Mormons, or that there are not well-financed and well-trained anti-Mormons and anti-Mormon organizations out there is just plain silly.  However, they perform an important winnowing function.  The wheat must be winnowed from the chaff, and there must be opposition in all things.  The faith of the Saints must be tested, and the anti-Mormons are every bit as important as Lucifer in purifying the Saints.  We must be thankful for real choices, and for the free agency to make them.

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Generally I think of anti-Mormons or anti-LDS as folks who:

1. Seek not to critique the teachings or practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in a constructive manner, with an eye to reforming or improving the Church; but who merely seek to debunk it and lead people out of it;  AND, 

2. Who generally do so in the service of some other cause or religion, in which they are often so deeply invested that they cannot be fair nor unbiased towards the LDS Church and may in fact be very skewed, disproportionate, or even dishonest in their criticisms thereof. 

Edited by flameburns623
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11 hours ago, The Nehor said:

President Nelson said it was wrong to refer to our Church as Mormon. You took that and assume the word itself is pure poison. If that were the case we would have to rename the Book of Mormon.

Basically:

 

It’s my understanding that the church objects to the use of the word Mormon and Mormonism to describe the church, it’s members, church practices, church culture etc etc. Is this not the case? The only acceptable uses listed were historic (Mormon trail) and actual references to Mormon. Given this, when saints use the term anti-Mormon, what exactly is the anti-Mormon against? Certainly not the Restored Church, since it’s inappropriate to refer to the church as Mormon. Certainly not it’s members, since it would be inappropriate to refer to Latter-day Saints as Mormons. Certainly not doctrine, culture or the life style associated with Christ’s restored church, since that would also be inappropriate per Church guidelines.  Is it simply meaning that anti-Mormons have a vendetta against the man Mormon (who they don’t believe exists)? That seems nonsensical. I find the defense of the word anti-Mormon laughable quite honestly. 

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8 hours ago, mrmarklin said:

I don’t get being anti Mormon. 

I guess, being Mormon, that I’m vaguely anti other Christian religions, but I certainly don’t waste my time propagandizing against them. It seems rather silly, and after all what have they done to me?

maybe in the days of Inquisition, etc there were reasons to be more proactive, but not now.   Is there a way to make serious money from this?

It was President Hinckley who said either the church is true or it is a fraud. Can you understand why someone who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars, years of his or her life to a “fraud” might be anti-fraud? Especially if this same person can no longer attend the weddings of his or her children, is looked down on by family and friends? I’m not saying being anti-Mormon is the way to be, but saying you don’t get what makes people anti, shows that maybe you should engage those that are against the church on a personal level and get to know them better. 

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