Today Behind enemy lines, Radio Free Mormon dives into what it means to be a “True Believing Mormon”. To do this RFM dives into How we define a TBM today and then takes us back in time to help us see How Joseph Smith defined a TBM and along the way tells us a story or two to emphasize the point. Are you TBM? take a listen and let’s see.
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Guess that makes me a TBM too… woohoo!!
Now, I’m considering forwarding this podcast to some TBM’s… wonder how that would sit with them.
How’s your brother the JW doing in his faith journey? Is he still active in his faith? Is he still in Stage 3? Are you guys getting along better now?
Thanks for your comments, David.
My brother is still TBJW as far as I know, and we are getting along much better now that I do not feel it incumbent on me to convert him to Mormonism.
We pretty much don’t talk anymore about religion, and that is all to the good.
RFM
This is one of my favorites by Radio Free. Thank you.
Thanks so much, Alex!
I am glad you liked it!
RFM
Let us burn the Proclamation to the Family .it was just a bunch of gobble gook voted on by a bunch of old men.
My experience with JWs has left me averse to burning anything, regardless of my feelings about it.
But I will say I do not have a copy of the Proclamation on my wall.
And should the time come the Proclamation is put up before the general membership for vote on accepting it as scripture, I will not only be shouting “no,” but “hell, no!”
Waldemar, don’t toss that “baby with the bathwater,” yet!
I tossed my framed Proclamation in the trash a few years ago (damn!) but now realize it actually TURNS on ITSELF in light of the fullness and truth of God in this most controversial part of it:
“ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.”
HOW does this shoot itself in the foot, you ask?
Well, when you realize that God does not make mistakes and that AIS or Intersex (used to be called Hermaphrodites) are of His work and glory. God works in mysterious ways? These people are generally shamed and try to stay hidden as to how they were born or still are, for fear of those unduly influenced by their angry, jealous, judgmental gods.
Gender in God’s way was given to these good people in God’s own unique combined way, with many variations.
Christ would not revile or punish or shun them, but LDS generally do, as commanded by their leaders of God… These good people generally have male organs inside and look female outside, with female hormone balance, a few with with clitoral enlargement or penis variations. Abomination??? They are usually ordinary looking women with male XY chromosomes and testes inside who can’t have kids.
It literally takes balls for these women to come forward and speak for others with their shared condition. Google AIS Intersex for a real sex education.
You could be married to one, in the temple, and not know it, nor might she know it in many or most cases, other than that she can’t have kids, if her parents followed the doctors and had her testes removed (or even if they are still intact) and advised to hide it and not tell her/him or anyone so she could live a normal life without prejudice…
The variations of this anomaly from God, to teach us a lesson in compassion for His creations, is truly amazing, how He works in mysterious ways for our learning, experience and goodness.
Some cultures, including some Native Americans, have long valued these individuals because of their combination, to include, consider and connect with both genders more fully in fairness and love.
Maybe we should Stuff that in our Proclamation before we smoke it?
Could AIS account for the imbalance of almost 1% more “female” population than male population? 49.5% male vs 50.5% female?
Loved this podcast, especially the Pee Wee reference. Classic. At our last stake conference we were told not to go online and read information about the Church that didn’t come from Church sources. So narrow minded and not a long-term solution to the current crisis. We should not be afraid of information and be comfortable evaluating it for ourselves and adjusting our paradigms accordingly.
Glad you got the Pee Wee reference, Felix! It just sort of snuck in there and I couldn’t bring myself to edit it out!
I am hearing stories like yours more and more; that Mormons are being told to restrict their researches to church-approved sources.
Because sources that are not church-approved quote things out of context and have things in them that are not true.
It is a good thing that never happens with church-approved sources.
Dear RFM,
Great podcast with quality research behind the statements you’ve made. Obviously you were a good debater even when you were still a teenager. “Warm contention” —- “bloodshed”— comes to mind. hehe!
I feel the shrink wrap being placed on me as a member of the lord’s true church. I don’t like it very much. My mind desires to roam free and take in all the sights. My soul desires to zoom out among the stars in the sky.
As a lifelong member, I can look back only a couple of decades and see how the church is contracting in what it allows (I HATE the word ‘allow’) members to do like baptism in the creek, or sacrament blessed & passed at home. Or my least favorite because it caught me totally off guard: funerals of my dear parents and their siblings were conducted like a sacrament meeting!!!! GRRRRR!!!!
Thanks for your mind expanding podcasts. May god bless and keep you and yours.
Gale
Thanks so much, Gale!
Mormonism does a great service to many people by giving them a good place to serve and study and grow in their spiritual journey.
Mormonism teaches its members important tools for spiritual growth, such as choosing the right, and being honest in all our dealings, and prizing truth above all.
Where Mormonism falls down is in not encouraging its members to use those same tools to grow beyond a narrow view of patriarchal Mormonism where we must think, feel and do as we are told.
Mormonism has no version of, “Snatch the pebble from my hand. Then it will be time for you to leave.”
Mormonism teaches it is the destination, and not just part of the journey.
That is the problem in a nutshell, to my mind.
RFM
RFM, Great podcast! It’s Primary graduation time!
Thanks, Tom.
I have often said that in the LDS Church, members never really graduate from Primary.
;^)
Dear RFM,
Elder Ronald Poelman’s 1984 general conference talk that told us that we should at some time be brave enough to take the training wheels off, and try the two-wheel biking when we feel we are ready.
I am currently rethinking everything (thanks to your podcasts for helping me take stock of some items I’d totally overlooked in my mormon-ness).
I am astounded at how many doctrines the church teaches, which are thoroughly ingrained in my church experience, but which are not “christian” at all. I’ve been watching some of ‘the impossible gospel’ videos, boy are the eye-openers!
Please, please! more podcasts, RFM. Love what you do with some well placed humor and a huge amount of logic and historical facts.
Gale
Thanks again, Gale.
Elder Poelman’s talk becomes all the more significant in this context.
And why it was that certain unnamed leaders found his talk so objectionable that they had him go back to the tabernacle after General Conference was over and tape a revised version of the talk that said the training wheels never come off.
The goal of Mormonism is to never learn to ride a bike without training wheels.
Mormonism would have its members believe that the only way to ride a bike is with the training wheels on.
And only church leaders can supply the training wheels.
Dear RFM,
Wow!. Just wow! “Only the church leaders can supply the training wheels”
OMG!
An important distinction is that it is LDS leaders who want the dependency on them. They do not want spiritual self sufficiency.
However it’s not Mormonism that asks for dependency. Far from it. Pure Mormonism encourages and invites adherents to seek the Second Comforter, an audience with the Lord during which the Lord introduces the saved man or woman to the Father.
Completely agree that a proclamation and creed. Joseph didn t seem to live by the things he taught. He made sure that everyone knew that only his seers stones were reliable. He also demonized, character assassinated, those that disagreed with him.
I agree there is definitely a tension between some of the things Joseph said and did when compared with the quotes I used in this podcast.
But the quotes are nevertheless there for us to pick up and run with if we choose.
And for that I am grateful.
We often forget that JS was in his 20’s and 30’s as the leader of this movement, and shouldn’t be too bent out of shape if his lofty sentiments didn’t always equal reality. His youth, inexperience and passions ought to be accounted for.
That being said, from all accounts I’ve read, he was extremely quick to forgive and move on.
And I totally agree, these quotes are here for us to pick up and run with, and it’s quite possible that we may fail from time to time in fully implementing them as well.
RFM,
Outstanding comparison of “Inclusive Mormonism” as practiced by JS, and “Exclusive Mormonism” as dictated today.
I highly recommend this article (in fact the whole site): http://www.poorwayfaringman.net/blog/archives/1127/the-lifeblood-of-the-church
as a supplement to what you have presented. The site is not being updated but has some terrific nuggets.
Packer (perhaps unknowingly) is paraphrasing Immanuel Kant – “Many theological propositions do not bind our faculty of choice immediately… (insert infamous elipses!) Many things can be true and yet still harmful to man. Not all truth is useful…” (Immanuel Kant, Lectures on Logic, p. 43, translated by J. Michael Young)
Best regards,
An Uncorrelated Mormon
RFM, do you by chance have a those contradicting quotes and scriptures listed?