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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The Truth.

If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against. The struggle between "for" and "against" is the minds worst disease. ~Sent ts'an, c. 700 C. E.

James: It seems that we often bounce back and forth between these two extremes, which kind of feed off each other. Just the emotionally whiplash of flipping between these extremes creates mental and physical exhaustion/suffering. It's reminds me of taking a winding path up hills then down them and how much suffering and exhaustion that creates for the body and mind. Whereas walking straight down the moderate, balanced middle is not only more direct but it requires less strain and thus less suffering is endured on the trek.

The more I meditate/contemplate upon the teaching of the Middle-Way I find it to be one of the most important building blocks to the foundation of Dharma practice. This reminds me of the old adage, which I paraphrase as, "The truth is usually found somewhere in the middle between the two extremes." The Middle-Path in my view is one of compromise, which is in part what attracted me to the Dharma. I am a person who likes to take the best ideas of both sides and come to a common ground.

~Peace to all beings~

Non-Violence is the Right Choice--It Works.

New York, USA -- Nonviolent resistance is not only the morally superior choice. It is also twice as effective as the violent variety. That's the startling and reassuring discovery by Maria Stephan and Erica Chenoweth, who analyzed an astonishing 323 resistance campaigns from 1900 to 2006. "Our findings show that major nonviolent campaigns have achieved success 53 percent of the time, compared with 26 percent for violent resistance campaigns," the authors note in the journal International Security. (The study is available as a PDF file at http://www.nonviolent-conflict.org).

"First, a campaign's commitment to nonviolent methods enhances its domestic and international legitimacy and encourages more broad-based participation in the resistance, which translates into increased pressure being brought to bear on the target," they state. "Second, whereas governments easily justify violent counterattacks against armed insurgents, regime violence against nonviolent movements is more likely to backfire against the regime."

James: I think that one of the reasons that Buddhism and Buddhists are so peaceful, nonviolent (with some exceptions of course) and less likely to engage in violence and aggressive intimidating divisive talk that often breeds tension and conflict between religions is because of Buddhisms lack of a belief in a god. This helps neuter the defensiveness and aggression that often comes with religions that claim to be the sole religious truth and the fight that often ensues of "my god is superior to your god." It divides people to the point of seeing those who don't believe in your god and absolute truth as inferior and evil, which can divide families as well as turn brothers, friends and fellow human beings into enemies and set them against each other.

It can and often does very breeds intolerance rather than acceptance. It often leads to an attitude of superiority, which can also easily escalate to violent conflicts such as in the crusades, the inquisitions, the purge of pagans and Islamic jihadism/terrorism. This is not to say that all members of these certain religions act in such ways and agree with such aggressiveness.

As for nonviolence in general I think that it is more effective because it appeals to everyone's internal desire to avoid suffering and most people (except perhaps the most deranged) suffer greatly when they employ violent behavior, thought and speech. This can be seen throughout history when eventually the rank and file members of a violent organization/military either desert or turn on the leaders to end the bloodshed, oppression and overall suffering.

Nonviolence comes from a place of strength and violence a place of weakness therefore nonviolence can usually be sustained for a longer period of time. It is not unlike a strong oak tree that bends in the strongest wind but doesn't break for its roots are deep in the soil of interdependence. This a weird analogy but the word fascism is derived from the Italian word fascio, which means "bundle" or "union", and from the Latin word fasces. ^[12] The fasces, which consisted of a bundle of rods often tied around an axe.

The idea being that one twig on its own is weak and can easily be broken by force but when many weak twigs are tied together in a thick bundle not even the strongest hands can tear them apart. When a population unites together in a literal manifestation of interconnection their numbers and willpower will overwhelm and outlast the strongest, largest army. The general population of a country is almost always greater than the numbers of a military and unlike a military every citizen can participate in a nonviolent movement including the old, sick and young. Especially when the global population adds to the numbers. I'll end this post with one of my favorite quotes from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who explains why a seemingly weak strategy of nonviolence is so powerful:

Nonviolence is a powerful weapon and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.-Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

~Peace to all beings~