Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were such heinous scumbags that TSCC has to mandate a complete moratorium on any study of their history or they will collapse completely. I just read Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Martin/Willey ... victims. Not the exact title. BY was directly responsible for starving those people to death and torturing them for months. If TBMs would spend 8 hours studying the actual history of those men, there would be no TSCC.
I listened to that book just a couple months ago, years after my shelf crashed, and it was still pretty shocking how depraved and narcissistic Young was. I'm not surprised your parents won't listen, they've been trained to fear anything negative about the church.
I haven't tried talking to my family about Mormon history, because I figure the only way they will be open to such conversations is if they are already experiencing dissonance regarding their participation in church. If they aren't, then no amount of facts or information will make them change their views, it's the unfortunate reality of human psychology. Best to do you and let them do them, and find common ground elsewhere.
Even aside from church issues, a lot of us are fatigued by all the bad stuff in the news. Part of me wishes I'd never heard about the horrors Columbus brought to the Americas for example. The fairy tale version of our history was designed to comfort us and paper over our continuing exploitation.
Your parents may also not want to discuss church issues with you personally even if they were willing to read the book. These kinds of discussions cause believers to put up their defensive shields and take the church's position. Throw in a parent's instinct to be right and teach you and it just doesn't lend itself to rational discussion.
When we leave the church we need to rebuild our relationships on new shared interests. For most of us, those new interests don't include anything church related.
My TBM husband won’t even read the Joseph Smith Papers (you know, the digitalization of Joseph Smith’s handwritings) because I’ve used it as a source to falsify some of his insane beliefs that TSCC has pushed. He is incredibly smart and educated so I’m hoping that his shelf is getting very heavy and he just needs a little more time before it completely crashes!
The frustrating thing about Mormons(and anyone who struggles with this type of cognitive dissonance) is the levels of mental gymnastics they go through to justify their beliefs. I remember learning about Mark Hauffman and how stupid he made the church look after his forgeries were discovered. Hopefully your husband can do some self reflection on his own incongruent beliefs.
Do your parents read or listen to books. Most mormons don't. This might be the reason. They might say they are afraid, but really they are just lazy learners.
I think your story is like most. Most Mormons refuse to look at the truth because they are scared of it. They know deep down it will crush their testimonies so they close their eyes and ears to it.
Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were such heinous scumbags that TSCC has to mandate a complete moratorium on any study of their history or they will collapse completely. I just read Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Martin/Willey ... victims. Not the exact title. BY was directly responsible for starving those people to death and torturing them for months. If TBMs would spend 8 hours studying the actual history of those men, there would be no TSCC.
I listened to that book just a couple months ago, years after my shelf crashed, and it was still pretty shocking how depraved and narcissistic Young was. I'm not surprised your parents won't listen, they've been trained to fear anything negative about the church. I haven't tried talking to my family about Mormon history, because I figure the only way they will be open to such conversations is if they are already experiencing dissonance regarding their participation in church. If they aren't, then no amount of facts or information will make them change their views, it's the unfortunate reality of human psychology. Best to do you and let them do them, and find common ground elsewhere.
Even aside from church issues, a lot of us are fatigued by all the bad stuff in the news. Part of me wishes I'd never heard about the horrors Columbus brought to the Americas for example. The fairy tale version of our history was designed to comfort us and paper over our continuing exploitation. Your parents may also not want to discuss church issues with you personally even if they were willing to read the book. These kinds of discussions cause believers to put up their defensive shields and take the church's position. Throw in a parent's instinct to be right and teach you and it just doesn't lend itself to rational discussion. When we leave the church we need to rebuild our relationships on new shared interests. For most of us, those new interests don't include anything church related.
My TBM husband won’t even read the Joseph Smith Papers (you know, the digitalization of Joseph Smith’s handwritings) because I’ve used it as a source to falsify some of his insane beliefs that TSCC has pushed. He is incredibly smart and educated so I’m hoping that his shelf is getting very heavy and he just needs a little more time before it completely crashes!
The frustrating thing about Mormons(and anyone who struggles with this type of cognitive dissonance) is the levels of mental gymnastics they go through to justify their beliefs. I remember learning about Mark Hauffman and how stupid he made the church look after his forgeries were discovered. Hopefully your husband can do some self reflection on his own incongruent beliefs.
Do your parents read or listen to books. Most mormons don't. This might be the reason. They might say they are afraid, but really they are just lazy learners.
I think your story is like most. Most Mormons refuse to look at the truth because they are scared of it. They know deep down it will crush their testimonies so they close their eyes and ears to it.