Mormonism’s Substandard Scale of Honesty

05 August

‘It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error.’ Adrian Rogers

Our topic today is about an article in the LDS Youth Magazine, Liahona, which came from a devotional talk their apostle Neil Anderson gave at BYU in September 2011. To read the article in full, see link below. Typically whenever we look at an article we use the entire thing, but not today!

Although Mr. Anderson’s article didn’t run any longer than others, its contents goes far beyond the amount of time and space we can allocate to all of it. As a result, we’ve pulled one quote from this thing showing why it falls way short of God’s standards. Here we go!

Liahona, ‘The Divine Standard of Honesty,’ August 2017

Neil L. Anderson

Mr. Anderson’s main subject in his talk/article was to remind students the importance of telling the truth. To be sure, it’s heartbreaking to read that while knowing he was lying throughout the entire thing. About halfway through his talk, the irony of Mr. Anderson’s counsel screamed like a blaring beacon when he used Mormon canon to warn kids not to just give lip service to honesty, but the Lord required them to live it daily.

“The Savior constantly rebuked those who professed one thing publicly but lived differently in their hearts (see Matthew 23:27). He praised those who lived without deception (see D&C 124:15). Can you see the contrasting difference? On one hand there is lying, deceiving, hypocrisy, and darkness. On the other hand there is truth, light, honesty, and integrity. The Lord draws a sharp distinction.”

The problem here is when Mr. Anderson used D&C 124:15 as an example of what it means to be honest…oh good grief.

A simple look at what it says reveals he was purposefully deceiving, and lying, to these kids.

D&C 124:15; “And again, verily I say unto you, blessed is my servant Hyrum Smith; for I, the Lord, love him because of the integrity of his heart, and because he loveth that which is right before me, saith the Lord.”

Hyrum Smith was no choirboy. The Church has placed him quietly in the background as a law-abiding, obedient older brother to Joseph, but this is far from the truth.

At the time of this ‘revelation’ in 1841, Hyrum had escaped from the Liberty Jail along with his brother Joseph, which in essence meant he was a fugitive; a wanted man. He’d also publicly lied to authorities numerous times about the polygamous lifestyles they were living, and had lied to church members in the Kirtland Safety Society money failure.

In 1842. Hyrum was the one who introduced Masonry to Joseph, and was living in polygamy himself by the time he, and Joseph were killed in the gunfight at Carthage Jail in 1844.

In addition to the fiasco of using Hyrum as an example of honesty, there’s also the issue of the Church itself. By the time Mr. Anderson gave this speech in 2011, and the Church’s recent republication, he was already aware of how the Church has lied to members.

Last year we posted an article, LDS Leaders Who Admit Mormonism Isn’t True, listing six LDS leaders who’ve publicly admitted the Church isn’t true, and how they’ve lied to members over the course of time.

Now, why should any of those kids listening to Mr. Anderson’s talk in 2011, or those reading it in 2017, believe anything he has to say?

Please, pray for those subjected to these lies! I’m 100% confident if God would speak to me while growing up in Utah Mormonism, He’ll speak to anyone!

As a personal side note –

You know, sometimes the articles the Church publishes go beyond ungodly, making it difficult to articulate how heavy it makes my heart reading some of the things they say. This article is one of those.

There are so many lies in this one talk/article, upon my first reading of it, I became too overwhelmed by the lies, and didn’t want to address it at all. I downloaded this almost two weeks ago, and knew the Holy Spirit was telling me to pray hard, and seek the Lord’s direction. I did just that, and He showed me that by exposing what Mr. Anderson said, didn’t mean I had to address all the lies. Whew! PTL! My prayer is that it’ll open the eyes of those in need of it.

With Love in Christ;

Michelle

Jude 24-25

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