How a Mormon Mission President Lost His Testimony Pt. 7 - Mormon Stories  

But at the same time John really wanted this interview, just because of his leadership in the church

That all sounds good but the only way to improve upon a lie is to expose it and in Mormonism the whole thing is a fraud. Also, this approach discounts the betrayals of mothers and fathers to daughters and between sisters that polygamy instigated, also to sons like the lost boys of today. Mormons have never recovered from this family schism. The mental illnesses that are perpetuated by lying to oneself and others and not valuing the self/wisdom of the soul/mind above the "authorities" are not being addressed. Also Joseph was a sexual predator and the fruits of this still affect mormons' mental health and all the hideous splinter groups do so in a more obvious manner.

Steven Henderson Then call it a “charity”, instead of claiming it the only one and true church on earth.

He's Scandinavian. Stoicism is in the genes

@@dianethulin1700 True... probably why I like it. I'm wearing Scandinavian genes too :)

My heart is broken that my dear friend from our childhoods in Long Beach has lost his conviction that Prophet Nelson speaks for God.

The church has millions of members so some are bound to be extremely intelligent and successful.

Sadly the Church turns out so many Faithless creatures who follow men instead of simply believing on the Name of Christ, repenting and coming unto Him. So sad.....

Anthony Stephan .......I'm not sure I understand you correctly, are you saying that I'm a faithless creature following men?! I assure you I am not faithless. And as for following men.....um, no! It doesn't matter what church you go to, if you aren't careful, you are leaning on every word that comes out of the leaders mouth. You are trusting that those words are not taken out of context and are taken accurately from the scriptures. If you are too busy chasing your tail in this life, kept busy working 12-hour shifts or two or more jobs, taking care of family, etc......then most people are not taking the time to read their scriptures on their own to know that what their fearless leaders are telling them is a misinterpretation......lies. And then things spiral downward from there. I don't know what church preaches correctly from the Bible, and doesn't make tithes mandatory.......but until I find such a community, I will have to go back to just staying home and reading my scriptures to myself. Too many people have been kept so busy in this world that they don't realize that by trusting listening to preachers in their churches, they have given their brains over to them.....along with their money.

@@gracebe235 What you are saying is so True... Without condemnation , the faithless creatures are those poor people who have been drawn in by the charlatans . It sounds like you have found the truth . So many people are asleep and they're not seeing the deception that is found in every church.... I would love to visit with you By phone if you would like....

I can feel what you are expressing. I left and then tried to attend/participate without wholly accepting all the theology and found it impossible. The church does not want/need cultural mormons....it needs followers who accept every concept (even when changed 180 degrees). Sunday School was a horrible experience for me when I tried to come back and had to politely and quietly sit while they insulted people like myself judging that they know why everyone leaves/loses their testimony.

Ya I don't think he even said religious leader he just said people wouldn't follow a leader if they were evil... I was like uhh, remember hitler?

This interview was strange....not sure what to make of it...either you are on board with the Church or you are not...you say you do not want to take the Church down but you should watch this interview yourself...Roger....because you do...but anyway...I think this guy is a little out there...he has alot of issues with the Church...sounds at times like he is making excuses for them...and then he doesn't...he confused me alot...he goes back and forth ..this man has been with the Tops of the Church...and this is where he is now..😳...that says it all...I wonder why so many fall all the way out when they are coming out of the Church...very sad...I was a convert...no longer attend or believe in the Church...but my Faith in Christ is stronger then ever...can't take that away from me...God Bless and thank you for this interview...you got patience John.. WOW...🙏❤

I do not understand how anyone who does the research and soul searching to Look into the True Life History of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young for example could ever call them Great religious figures??? Joseph Smith was a polygamist ,a liar, a manipulator, most probably conversing with demonic spirits! How can one who honestly looks into the True History of Mormonism say this? This interview really disturbed me and the contrast of some of the Mormon podcast interviews with for example the testimonies of Mica, Michael and Lynne Wilder. Their witness and story of coming out of Mormonism is full of Truth and The Light of The Holy Spirit! As an ex Mormon this man and others seem like they are still connected to the church and haven,t really left. It is a process that takes Alot of searching the scriptures and prayer and important research into the lives of Joseph Smith and those who came after . These men did Alot Of Evil!! They were Not Great!

He reminds me of a Mormon version of Donald trump lol.

He also evades the questions like a politician. And the statement that there's no way an evil person could start a whole huge movement---has he never heard of Hitler and the Nazis??

@@suzetteemberton4368 I was thinking the same thing !! His toeing of the line is frustrating.

Mark Stewart I have found to be the most honest and open discussion about the truth claims of the church. I would rather have an honest exchange than bogus cult mind "I believe" parrot talk.

First, thanks for ignoring almost everything I put forward. You're methods is how the detriments of religion thrive. The dude, at best, is trying to keep his previous ideologies of morality and ethics intact, while LOOKING for a way forward...trying to keep his "being practical" bullsh!t morality intact. I get that you are having that experience. This experience has happened millions of times with previous iterations of theology. It basically goes like this: totally believe that someone else speaks for god (who are you to think about what god thinks), repeat for decades/centuries with intolerance towards those that suggest otherwise (leaving a trail of slaughter and mayhem in your lazy wake), come across some completely unacceptable impasse (FINALLY!!!, while trying to convince yourself that it was ignorance that blinded you), try to let other people know as they display their intolerance toward you (possibly thank the new version of God that previous slaughtered people convince enough people to stop killing the heretic/apostate), impasse slowly gets more recognized and obvious, and then the "leaders" start sowing what sounds like reasonable explanations to negate and dismiss the VERY REAL fake theologies of their predecessors. Catholism should have died many times over. Have you followed their CRAZY history before? Why didn't it fail? Because people like you listen to this manipulative agent over and over again...it makes you feel better...as in, "ignorance is bliss"...as in, that blissful feeling your having with him is "bliss is ignorance". To call Joseph a genius, as this agent has, reflects his subversion. Yes, I realize you feel that you want some sort of way to call him an evil genius, but genius is reserved ONLY for those that move humanity forward. The twist you wish, only leads others to seek out his design and manipulation patterns.

Mark Steward: The guy is certainly competent in the world of finances and management; but thinking about it logically, I must say that of such must be the ilk of those who work in the higher echelons of church bureaucracy: Church Office Building, C.E.S and other investment ventures that have direct links to the church. Having pointed that out though, I must admit that the guy gives me the willies. He has a nice and inoffensive demeanor about him, but his justifications for the institution that has become the church (often imposed upon children in families who have no say in the matter and have been indoctrinated with an 'absolutist view' of the church in regard to 'truth.') is disconcerting. Although, I will absolutely not typecast every adult member or leader in the church as being narcissists of sort, I have for some years now insisted that the core tenets and doctrine of the church are very self serving. In the initial interviews given by Hendrix, he clearly stated that he was drawn to the church as a youth and young adult due to the social nature of the church. Hendrix then went on to mention that church provided him a structure for self improvement in the context of 'eternal progression' that satisfied his competitive nature for advancement and attainment. Although many of the members of the church are meek and humble, I've seen far too many members in positions of authority and even others who have the same sort of narcissistic personality traits of delusional self importance and duplicitous smugness exhibited by Mr. Hendrix. One thing I can agree with Mr. Hendrix on, is his assessment that the church will become a more insular niche society, which will primarily attract those who want to belong to an institution or religion that gives them a feeling of self important grandeur. The reality is that the doctrines and claims of the church are easily refutable, and the doctrines of the church in relation to required ordinances for 'eternal salvation' (covenant making) is impractical for the grand majority of people. Although the church does have an international presence, it is still marketed and pushed as a primarily American church with American cultural values evident in Anglo Saxon or frontier era protestant hymns in addition to other structural aspects. Evidence of the church's failed enduring capabilities are diminishing returns in growth, attendance and retention in Latin American nations, where the lifestyle and expectations of the church is not well adapted to the culture and conditions present in many of those nations. The same will happen in the African continent further in the not so distant future.

First, thank you for the response and perspective. To your assessment, I concur. On two points you make, I would like to open them further. First, a narcissist, has variants within a society. To a degree I am talking semantics, but hope that it isn't cast off as being meaningless; as many people do. The Narcissist is affected by their environment, and adjust accordingly. This is to say that a Narcissist in the environment of supposed selflessness must propose and propagate a personal ideology that feigns/projects the image of selflessness. The careless narcissist will just bulldoze their problem with every aspect of their life; while the more measured and metered narcissist will feign selflessness and keep room for some sort of being practical appeal. His sentiments on the gay community and his story of growing up with them and working with them, on some level of professional capacity, do not feel compassionate or empathetic, but rather canned. In other words, he isn't very good at feeling. His says that his daughters brought him around by asking questions that uncovered and revealed the real nature of the church, yet this is void of all emotion. He reflects no feeling of rectification, not does he even show any unease. The whole thing is a canned job for him. Second, advancement and attainment, has context with in it as well. You, deep cover church agent, and I probably share in a very dry and sterile denotation of advancement and attainment, yet we very greatly and what meets, fulfills, and satisfies that criteria. Negating a discussion on what each of us will do to meet that criteria, I would like to point out that his version fit the LDS model. He didn't go one rung up, which we can simply understand with a small measure of ignorance is bliss, or rather dumb luck and he was just trying to do his best. He's many rungs up that ladder, and luck at best, can get you to rung two. He deliberately had to become duplicitous, adept, discreet, and finally calculated, so much so that he states that he is able to self report that he is able to bringing up his gay treatment/condition concerns? Is he talking about the same LDS church that I belonged to? Maybe he doesn't listen to the talks of his leaders? Seriously, something is WAY WAY WAY off. He doesn't pass the smell test, the texture test, or the sound test. Personally, I'm left wondering what were the terms and conditions that were laid out when he was contacted by LDS inc. to do these interview...and John Dehlin, take off the rose colored glasses of your blossoming career of the LDS afterlife and use that thinking cap that got you and your family out of the first mess...I can literally see and feel the dude is wearing sheep's clothing.

By his own admission, he's a liberal. Enough said

Thank you! So many aspects of our lives have an influence on us that we may not be aware of. I've only read the BofM about 4 times. It's never boring and I always learn more. Born into the church and it has blessed my life tremendously. Thanks again for your comments.

Except that he plagiarized it from other earthy sources. It's been well documented ten fold. Anyone attempting to defend the bom or the book of abraham is in for a world of hurt. Better to stay safe in church approved forums least you have the veil of ignorance removed from your mind.

Can you give some examples of specific things that couldn’t have come from a 19th century storyteller who was actually well read and fairly well educated? Those who claim Joseph could barely string together a coherent sentence are lying. His parents were educators and he was certainly more educated than his peers on average.

@@kiwimon3204 there are other religions that would dispute Christ existed or his divinity at a minimum. There is no direct evidence he was who some say he was. You are required to have faith bc you have to bc there is no evidence. And the whole “bf their fruits shall you know them” argument, there are tons of religions that can pass the same test who don’t believe in Jesus or even god. There are lots of good and wholesome secular or atheist organizations.