I've Heard It All Before

"You're not telling me anything I haven't heard" is what a local church leader said when I told him my serious concerns about Mormon Church history. "I've heard it all before, but I can come to a different conclusion than you have."

Other life-long members have told me the same thing. So have my sister and my brother. "This is nothing new" they said... "Its just anti-Mormon stuff"

Ok, so the information is not new and you've heard it all before. Well here's a news flash. It's news to me...I haven't heard this before and if I had and been able to verify it through corroborating sources as I have now done, I would have left sooner.

  

So you're saying that you knew about Joseph Smiths money digging days,





about the fraud charges ...


the stone in the hat to find gold, ...


 You knew about the similarities between the Book of Mormon and Ethan Smiths "View of the Hebrews",

cesletter.com

the mistakes copied from the Old Testament into the BoM,

The italics indicated a translator's take on the original scrolls.  NOT PART of the real wording... 

You knew about the multiple versions of the "first vision" , none of which were written down until 10 plus years later....that none of the first 3 Presidents who served with, and then succeeded Smith, agreed with the version now used....

cesletter.com

You must have heard that Joseph Smith used the seer stone in the hat method to translate the BoM which wasn't even in the room according to faithful eye witnesses.

Left, what ACTUALLY happened Right, what church art depicts

You knew there were no horses on the American continent, no cattle or sheep or elephants during the time period of the BoM...

sunstone.com

You knew that no Hebrew DNA is found among any of the Native Americans, and that means you also knew that the people in the BoM are Not the principal ancestors of today's Native Americans as taught by the Church until recently.

http://simonsoutherton.blogspot.com/

(Please see this if you want to know what a genetic expert has to say.  The claims counter the actual data are truly ludicrous).



What's more, you knew that no wheels were made, no chariots , no currency coined, no steel for swords, no metal breastplates or helmets. virtually none of the crops mentioned in the BoM were found on the American continent until the European migration began....



And I don't suppose I need to ask you if you know that archeologists, anthropologists, and historians can find no credible evidence of any people, settlement or events described in the BoM... that the Smithsonian does NOT use the BoM for exploration purposes on either American continent.

cesletter.com

You knew about the history of polygamy ..that Joseph Smith denied it was being practiced when he was already married to several women including a 14 year old girl...and you knew that the missionary apostles in England were assuring new converts that the rumors of polygamy among Mormons in America weren't true, when they themselves were involved in "celestial marriage",
And you knew about polyandry, that Joseph Smith was married to several women who already had husbands, who were sent out on missions by Smith... You knew his Counselors caught him in a barn with teenaged house servant named Fanny Alger.

cesletter.com

You knew that Egyptologists have exposed the translation of the facsimiles in the book of Abraham as a fraud calling them, and Joseph Smith's reformed Egyptian Alphabet, pure gibberish. In fact, there is no such language, either spoken or written known as "Reformed Egyptian" . And of course you know that only BYU Egyptologists defend the "Joseph Smith translations" but they have also been discredited.

cesletter.com

You must have also known about the "Kinderhook Plates" too right?

cesletter.com

 And Zelph?

mormonthink.com

You knew that neither Joseph Smith nor Brigham Young nor most of the LDS leadership actually lived the Word of Wisdom...and that the Church in Utah brewed and sold beer and grew and sold tobacco to make money. .. that the WoW wasn't institutionalized until the Temperance movement was spreading across the US. And that Utah was the State that gave the final votes need to end Temperance in 1932...right??

http://www.highwest.com/our-story/utahs-distilling-history/

You knew that Joseph Smith became a Mason in Nauvoo and soon afterwards introduced "Temple ordinances" where were directly plagiarized from the Masonic Ceremonies. .. that Smith formed the Council of 50 to administer the soon coming world government in which he would be Prophet Priest and King....

http://themasonicblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/of-masons-and-mormons-this-week-on.html

You knew that everything that excommunicated First Counselor in the First Presidency William Law wrote in the Nauvoo Expositor which exposed Joseph Smith's plural marriages turned out to be true, even though Smith and the Church denied it, and then destroyed Law's presses.

http://jcourt.net/historic-mormon/

You knew all about the murder of Joseph Smith in the Carthage Jail, including neither he nor Hyrum Smith, his brother, were wearing temple garments.. About the jug of wine John Taylor says they all shared to lift their spirits, that Smith fired a Pepper Box multi shot pistol at a mob coming up the stairs killing at least two of them... that his last words were part of a secret code used by Masons asking for mercy.

http://www.imagesoftherestoration.org/blog/?p=84

You knew all about Brigham Young right? That he taught that God lived on the Sun,

http://www.mormonteachings.com/people/brigham-young/

that Quaker like people lived on the moon,

http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/cults/exposem/xm05.cfm

blood atonement for your own sins was sometimes necessary and carried out,

http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech20.htm

 that credible historians have linked Young to the Mountain Meadow Massacre,

http://www.truthandgrace.com/1857GeorgeSmithSermon0913.htm

You knew that despite what were we taught polygamy didn't end with the 1890 Manifesto, that the Manifesto was written by a committee of members and non members and lawyers meant to satisfy the US Senate before they would let Utah enter as a state, right?

 That President Woodruff sanctioned at least another 250 plural marriages through 1904 and he himself added two more celestial wives to his collection during that time...all while swearing before congress that polygamy had ended. ...

 

He kept **REALLY** good records :-)

You knew that racism was institutionalized in Church doctrine before 1978, that both prophets and Apostles taught that Negros were an inferior race because they were not valiant in the pre-existence and that their black skin is the mark of Ham the result of Cain's crime.




You knew all that and didn't say anything...didn't ask anyone.... didn't tell anyone else what you found out...and it didn't raise any red flags with you?



And now you know that homosexuality is a choice and therefor a sin but can be cured....

October General Conference, 2010

Some suppose that they were pre-set and cannot overcome what they feel are in born tendencies towards the impure and the unnatural. Not so. Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone?

that women are the inferior children of God, not worthy of holding His Priesthood,



that they are on earth to bare children and support their Husbands in their callings...



Are you really sure you can explain all that to me..that you know can find an alternative explanation that offers clear and believable answers???




You don't think nonmembers contemplating membership should know any of this before making a life changing decision? You think it's OK to teach one basic lesson and then commit people to baptism?



"Milk before Meat" except there is never any meat....
Really??? I'm supposed to "Doubt my doubt?