Mormons Exposed: The Truth About Mormonism

Have you ever wondered what those "Mormons" are all about in life? Do you see their missionaries walking down the street, knocking on doors, trying to get people to read their "Book of Mormon"? Here, I try to answer some questions about Mormonism to explain what drives this movement.
Who are the Mormons?
A: They are a religious group, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. They have a following of approximately 14 million worldwide, and that number grows by about 400,000 annually.
What do they believe?
A: Mormons, like most religions, believe in a lot of things. Specifically, they accept Jesus as their savior and believe in a father God to Jesus, referred to as "Heavenly Father".
Are the Mormons Christians?
A: As I said, they believe in Jesus and accept them as a God and savior. That makes them Christians in my book.
But don't they believe in a different Jesus?
A: I've heard this question a lot, and I'm not sure what it means. They believe in Jesus, and, as far as I know, there is only one Jesus out there.
What about this Book of Mormon that they have?
The Mormons believe that this book is another set of scriptures, like the Bible, that their first leader, Joseph Smith, had given to him by an angel called Moroni. They believe that this scripture talks about a group of people that used to live around the time of Christ somewhere in the Americas. They believe that the stories about these people were written down and that Smith translated these stories into the Book of Mormon that exists today.
Are they dangerous?
A: They can be pushy at times, but I think that they are hardly dangerous.
Are they a cult?
A: One man's cult is another mans religion, I say. Even though they have a few things in their religion that would be strange by some Christian standards, I don't think they eat kids or rape goats or anything as bizarre as that.
Do they have more than one wife?
A: They used to, but they stopped doing that a hundred years ago or so.
But, wouldn't it be cool to have lots of wives?
A: It's hard for me to say. The closest I've ever come is that I used to date two girls at the same time, and that was more annoying than anything. If being married to a bunch of women is anything like that, probably not.
Hey, I thought that you were going to "give the goods" on the Mormons? Are they dangerous, brainwashed, weird, or what?
A: I really don't think that there is anything wrong with Mormons. Dangerous? Only if you're dating their daughters. Brainwashed? No more so than anyone else out there. Weird? Yeah. Or what? Or not.
So, that's the inside scoop on the Mormons. They're just another Christian faith. Nothing weird that I can see.

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5 Reasons to Join a Cult

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 What You Never Knew Before About Loving the Leader

Even if people around you (family, friends, police) say that cults are dangerous institutions and that you should stay far away from them, you know better than they do. In fact, joining a cult can be one of the most rewarding and life changing experiences that you could ever have, regardless of how much money you have to pay the leader or how many orgies you have to have with him (or her). Here are the top 5 reasons to join a cult:
1. Free food: Are you one of those food junkies who walks around town looking for a free eat? Well, you're in luck -- cults provide an endless source of free food to all who join. Of course, everything in the cult is "free" already -- mostly because "money" and being "paid" for your "work" is of the "devil". If you don't like that, the leader will make sure to put you into hell for your blasphemy.
2. Hot women: In a cult, you will find a never-ending source of naive girls and young women that are potential dating opportunities. Of course, all of the good ones have already had at least 3 kids courtesy of "the leader" -- and most of the rest are either married to his lieutenants or promised to the god Zeus. However, you could still find some easy picking among the leftovers -- like the fat girl with a small mustache. Remember -- facial hair makes a person look distinguished.
3. Lots of exercise: In cults, they don't believe in the sissy western lifestyle where member sit on their arses in front of a computer all day. They believe in hard work and discipline -- mostly while the leader makes out with his "spiritual wives" in the next room over. In any case, you can be assured that you will work so hard and in such high heat that the fat (and for that matter your skin) will melt right off.
4. Physical and emotional pain: If you're one of those weirdos that likes to get hit so that they can get excited sexually, you're in luck. A cult will provide literally dozens of opportunities per day for members to be hit, slapped, beaten, and possibly sexually assaulted by the cult organizers. For just the price of constant work and your first-born son, you can be spat upon and made to feel lower than Satan's toilet. Sounds like a great deal, huh?
5. Salvation from eternal hell: Of course, the ultimate benefit and the reason why cults exist is to save their members from an eternal hell. Remember: however badly you get hurt in the cult, God is going to kick your arse twice as hard when you get to heaven.

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Texas Continues to Execute the Developmentally Disabled Despite Supreme Court Ruling.

It is unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded prisoners in the United States. The state of Texas, however, appears to have found a loophole, according to a published report. In the Supreme Court's 2002 ruling on Atkins v. Virginia, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, "Because of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their impulses ... [the mentally retarded] do not act with the level of moral culpability that characterizes the most serious adult criminal conduct." Because of this, the justices found it "cruel and unusual" to put the metally deficient to death, leaving it to the states to establish a framework by which such individuals could be identified in capital cases. Psychologist George Denkowski, an expert witness oft-used by Texas prosecutors, has been utilizing "junk science" to elevate the intelligence evaluation scores of mentally deficient death row prisoners, according to a new report in The Texas Observer.

However, Texas Governor Rick Perry rejected a bill that would have established rules to determine who is mentally retarded. Left grasping, courts invented their own criteria, turning to psychologists for the complicated evaluations. Having played a key part in two-thirds of the state's Atkins appeals, Dr. George Denkowski has built a lucrative practice off ensuring the mentally retarded are executed, his critics say. Denkowski's reputation for declaring prisoners fit to die has earned him "almost Dr. Death status," attorney Robert Morrow told reporter Reneé Feltz.

Since complaints were lodged against Denkowski, the Texas Board of Examiners of Psychologists has found that at least three of his cases were littered with scoring errors. Now Denkowski is facing a review by the state licensing board on Feb. 16, when his career as a psychologist could end. Already, three of the Atkins appeals he testified on have been placed on hold pending the outcome of the hearing. Denkowski evaluated 29 men in total; some have already been executed.

James: No surprise it's in Texas. They should change their name from "The Lone Star State" to "The Death State." There is absolutely no reason why we should be executing mentally retarded people. In my view that is no different than executing a young child who accidentally killed their parents. The mentally retarded don't know what they did was wrong, so put them on medications and monitor them in a mental institution. The world isn't black and white but has many shades of gray and mentally retarded criminals fit into one of those shades of gray. So, being able to keep society safe doesn't necessarily mean we have to resort to killing these mentally retarded prisoners. We have in America, a "death cult" and it seems to be centered in Texas. We are a war-like people who also kill people (via the death penalty) to show other people that killing is wrong. Now, does that sound like a logical thing to do? I'm starting to wonder who the real mentally retarded ones are, the prisoners or the citizens?

Ram Bahadur Bamjan. The "Buddha Boy" Re-Emerges From Forest.

So the Buddha boy has re-emerged from the forest to greet his followers before returning back to the forest for more meditation. I have been skeptical from the beginning that he is the reincarnation of Buddha because from what I know Siddhartha Gautama had broken free of the cycle of birth and death by being transformed by mahaparinirvana:

"Being Buddha means the last birth and the highest level that can be achieved. There can be no reincarnation of Buddha, even though Buddhists believe in life after death," said Rakesh, a Buddhist scholar in Katmandu who goes by only one name.

James: I'm not saying that he isn't a very spiritual being but I am suspicious that this could all be a scam of some kind to take peoples' money in the form of "donations." I also wonder how he can even be compared to Buddha when he hasn't said much of anything in the form of teachings. I keep thinking that this sounds like the beginning of a cult headed by a charlatan wanting to be called a Buddha and followed and adored by people. That said, Buddhism at first was probably seen as a cult and Buddha seen by some as a charlatan but the revelations of Buddha have well stood the test of time and investigation over thousands of years.

I guess some see him as Maitreya (the "next Buddha") who will restore the "pure Dharma" to Earth but there are two requirements before Maitreya could arrive on Earth. First: 1). The Dharma will no longer be taught, which is clearly not evident now as Buddhism is growing faster than maybe since its arrival into greater Asia with converts in the west such as in America, Europe and Australia. And with the invention of the internet the teachings of ordained Dharma teachers are more widely available than perhaps at any time in the history of Buddhism.

The other requirement that needs to occur before Maitreya will arrive is that Buddhism must be completely forgotten, which is clearly not the case right now on Earth. There are also events that must take place such as oceans shrinking in size, which isn't happening. In fact, because of global warming the oceans are rising. Thus, I think it can be safe to assume that "Buddha boy" is not Maitreya.

There is something about this Buddha boy, his "handlers" and "followers" seems very suspicious to me. I'm also curious about the monks seen in the above picture. They seem to wear the robes of Tibetan Buddhist monks and so I'd be curious to hear what their teachers and senior monks think of Buddha boy. I'm curious and will continue to follow this story and see what happens next.