Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Bill Maher talks about Mormonism's Beliefs on HBO's "Real Time"

here's the link

Basically, Mr. Maher laid it out for any rational person who has never heard of Mormonism. He first started speaking about how difficult it would be to get the presidential nomination, saying that you have to state publically that you are a person of faith, and you will depend on your faith to guide you in your life. In his opinion, (and mine as well) this is a problem, because it means you are willing to 'suspend critical thinking' in order to maintain your beliefs.

Hmm, don't we already have a president like that? Do you see Mr. Bush using critical thinking in any of his decision-making?

Then, Mr. Maher went on to state a couple of the teachings of the Mormons that people should make a note of and remember, the first one was that Mormons used to teach that the only way a black man would get to heaven is to be sealed to a white as a slave.

The next point he made was that Mormons believe in things that can (and have been) proven false. Joseph Smith started the church less than two centuries ago, and it's not difficult to prove that most of his teachings, if not all, are false. Case in point: The Mormons believe that the Native Americans are decendants of the lost tribes of Israel. DNA tests have proven that this is a false belief, no question about it. And the Mormon reaction is to try to discredit the research and call it "inconclusive", simply because it doesn't uphold their viewpoint YET. So, they will continue to hold out on the DNA question until it can be 100% conclusive, which will always be statistically impossible, and THEY KNOW THIS!

Even if I took myself and my children to the clinic and had DNA testing done, the tests would only show that I was 99.99% likely to be their mother, and that is the slim margin the LDS church is hanging on to in order to maintain the belief that the Native Americans are what Joseph Smith said they were, and the Book of Mormon was written by them, and for them, to bring them to "further light and knowledge", and to "restore the fullness of the gospel". The Book of Mormon cannot stand without the Native Americans being decended from Jews. And, to further complicate things, NO Native South American indiginous peoples have been connected to DNA similarities of the Jewish peoples. They have Asian markers, they are similar in features and bone structures to the Asian peoples.

But you can't convince Mormons that their whole foundation for their church is NOT TRUE!

Joseph Smith did not receive a golden book to translate, and he did not have any contact with a personage named Moroni, who was supposedly a Native American Lamanite that led him to the plates, nor did he have any basis for his claim that the Native American peoples were decended from the authors of that golden book, and lastly, there has been NO EVIDENCE whatsoever that any of the wars that were supposedly fought, weapons used, animals mentioned, or vast populations described EVER EXISTED. Here in the U.S. or in Central America, or in South America, or anywhere at all in this hemisphere. He LIED, plain and simple.

Why, why, why is it so damn difficult to believe that he made it up? All of the evidence available, all of the historical record, all of the various accounts of his life and teachings point to the conclusion that he could NOT have been a prophet, or even very knowledgeable about Egyptian writings, the use of steel or even basic Jewish customs, like keeping Kosher, or observing holy days, which are not mentioned anywhere in the Book of Mormon.

If it is a book about Jews, you would expect lots of description about their lives, and instead it's full of epic wars where thousands die about every 30 years, and more contention and strife is listed within its pages than in the Bible. Yet, we cannot find any swords, shields, armor, breastplates, curlemoms, curemoms, or any other fanciful things left behind to tell the story. The simplest explanation is that he made it all up. And he didn't even come up with an original concept at that.

3 comments:

MOTHER OF MANY said...

Now I find it just plain weird that anyone could accept this.
'Mormons used to teach that the only way a black man would get to heaven is to be sealed to a white as a slave.'
I'll have to tell my 21 year old about this, she is our resident expert on all things to do with the church( I told her...........now that one has really pi**ed her off!)
How could someone ever hope to sanitise a statement like this?
We sure live in a strange world.
I learn something every time I read your blog.
Thankyou
Allyson

joe sweeney said...

just doing some research on the net about the holy war football game today and came upon your site and the telling posts. keep up the great work!

joe

Openmind said...

I live in Utah, I have lived here all my life and have never known anything different. I grew up a non-mormon, my whole family had no religion, until my sisters friends taught her about the Mormon religiom. Instantly, she was hooked. Almost like she was brain washed. At this time I was only 11 years old. My sister then turned around, "doing her Mormon duty" of converting as many people as you can into the religion. Being my big sister in whom I looked up to, told me that if I werent to be baptized into the Mormon religion, I would never see my family again when I died. That I wouldnt be able to experience the Holy Ghost's presense in my life and I would feel empty. Among many other ideas that her new faith has taught her. Thats alot of an 11 year old to take in, I believed every word. I agreed to be baptized myself. Not even a full two weeks after my baptism I quit going to church and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. The teachings that I would sit through every Sunday would just baffle me, and I wasnt even very old. So you know that if a young child doesnt believe what your teaching sounds rational that something must be wrong. They teach to love, accept everyone. To be like Jesus. Great teaching, but none of them followed it. I was treated differently because I was a convert and not baptized at 8 like all the other children did in the religion. I was also different. I listened to "devilish" music as some called it. I had weird colored hair. I called attention to myself like most teenagers do. I was the outcast so of course I wanted nothing to do with it any longer. There have been many times when I have been absolutely disgusted with that religion and thier beliefs. I have a majority of friends who are gay and lesbian who I support with all the civil rights they deserve. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, donated over 9.1 million dollars to support Prop 8. After that information was released, a backlash hit the mormon community. A church leader compared theses members harrassment as equal to the harrassment that the african americans went through during the civil rights movement...No where close. Each day I have to bite my tongue more and more around my sister and others who surround my entire inhabitance of Utah, the Beehive state. Formed by Mormons, for Mormon. You are definitely the minority in Utah if you arent one.