![]() They taught their children to not be like us, and later admitted to crying about our “darkness” and “sad lives” when we’d leave their houses (or gas station where we were allowed to meet them), so my siblings and I were not close to our cousins on that side for years. defection) in varying ways, but many didn’t speak to us. My dad’s side handled our “apostasy” as it’s called (a.k.a. I hoped it was a coincidence but I figured the church was old-fashioned in that way. I didn’t know a lot about the teachings, but it bothered me that the women in the church only ever seemed to do one thing with their lives-get married ultra young, have as many babies as possible, and serve their husbands. I spent most of my life outside of the church, and grateful to not be in it. When I was little, we left the church because my mom read up about the history of polygamy, so I have very little memories that are specific to the church from that time period. My mother was a convert, and had gotten baptized in order to marry my dad. My fourth great-grandfather was Wilford Woodruff, an early “prophet” of the church and founding member. In fact, most will never know that their church is in fact a cult, which is why it’s so rare to leave it.Īs a child, I was a “non-member.” My dad’s side was firmly Mormon, and they all lived in Utah. All that being said, many members never find out that all of this is for nothing, or find out the lies, coverups, and scams of their cult. You find out later that having sex is renewing your temple covenants, and so sex is considered a duty on the part of the wife. Later in your life, you find out that men are to be the gods of their own planet once they die, and their wife will be merely one of many spirit wives to them in heaven, and they will bear them children and pleasure them for all of eternity. After you attend the temple, you must wear garments at all times (you know, “magic underwear”), and you’re to swear an oath to never talk about what happens in the temple to anyone (not too long ago it was a blood oath). To attend temple (which is vital to make it to the Celestial Kingdom-the highest of the three in Mormon heaven), members must obey all the rules, pay their tithing, and sustain their prophets without question. Adults are to attend the temple as much as possible to perform “endowments” for the dead, or rather, marry the dead and make promises on their behalf. They go on to serve a mission only after the age of 19 (it’s not compulsory for girls, so most don’t find out until they’re married). Women don’t learn about the temple ceremonies or go through it until they are about to get married. This is when they find out about temple ceremonies (plagiarized from masonic rituals and complete with bizarre, cult outfits), the teachings about them being the master over their future wives, their secret name (they’re given a name that is said to be their true name in heaven-women are ordered to tell their husbands their names, but husbands can keep theirs a secret), and many more bizarre things. When boys turn 18, they go through the temple for the first time so that they can serve a two-year mission. You’re also forbidden from making out “passionately” or having sex until marriage. It’s a forced thing, and it’s shocking there hasn’t been a lawsuit yet. Every few years you go on “trek,” which is where you dress up, starve, and recreate the Mormon trek to Utah. In the summer, you go to week-long camps for your gender and age. You’re taught to strictly adhere to modesty rules, to not drink coffee or alcohol, fast for 24 hours once a month, pay 10% of your income (or allowance in this case) every month to the church, get baptized in place of the dead (yeah), and devote your life to the Gospel. Once you’re 12, you start learning a little about church history and what’s expected of adults. The church doesn’t want people to know that it’s actually a cult, so it takes years for even members to slowly find out information about it. There’s a reason for the lack of information. You might even know that they don’t drink, but no one outside of it really comprehends most of what they teach, or why there seems to be a lot of problematic themes. You might know what a Mormon temple looks like. If you know a Mormon, you probably have had one of three thoughts: “ Their family is so big and they all look the same,” “Why are they so judgmental?”, or “Wow, they sure invite me to a lot of church events.” You might know about the Book of Mormon (the racist Mormon bible of the Americas that essentially erases the real history of Indigenous people, written by a white man in the 1800s).
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