The Coming Revolution Inside Of Mormonism

Over the last few years, I've had the blessing and the curse of watching my blog go viral. During that time, I've had experiences with hundreds and thousands of people online and offline that lead me to believe that there's a coming revolution that will be taking place inside of Mormonism. This revolution will not be against the prophets and apostles. It won't be against history or doctrine. And it won't undermine the foundational principles upon which this church was initially built upon. No, this revolution will be against culture--and everything that entails. This revolution will be against those who judge, those who hate, and those who refuse to see past their narrow, regurgitated, clichE points of view. This revolution will be a revolution of love. Do you remember what was happening in Israel around the time that Christ came on to the scene? Israel had started to live by their own set of oral laws and traditions, or what we might refer to today as "culture." The "culture" in Israel when Christ showed up was one of the most judgmental and hypocritical cultures the world had ever seen. It was a very isolated and unaccepting culture. But Christ showed up and cast a net over all types of people. The Greeks, the Romans, the Samaritans, and every other nation across the globe. His net covered even the worst of repentant sinners. The only people that were excluded or damned were the unrepentant elite, the "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" who "strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:23-24). Christ brought with Him a revolution of love, empathy, and compassion. He built a culture that was geared toward the lowly of heart and revolted against those who spent their lives pointing out the flaws in others. "For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). The bulk of Israel was living according to their culture and their superstition instead of their religion. This has been the bane of each and every covenant society, which caused Joseph Smith to say, "What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down." The doctrine of this church doesn't lose people. It's the culture and superstition that causes unnecessary strife. I can imagine a time not too far off when a gay man, a straight man, a biker with full body tats, a woman who smokes, a man who reeks of liquor, a recently married couple who is having trouble with tithing, an excommunicated and recently re-baptized member, a man with a full beard and jeans, and a returned missionary who is addicted to porn, all sitting in the same congregation together, who make it through all three hours of church without some- one dressing them down with their eyes or their words. It'll be a time when the stalwart multi-generational Mormon honors the saying on each of the signs that represent our Church: "Visitors Welcome." Not the sinless visitor, because Jesus said that the "whole need not a physician" (Matthew 5:31), but the visitor who comes with every last bit of weakness that they have. It'll be a time when the families in that congregation recognize how hard it is for people to set foot inside a church when they feel like they've strayed too far.

There's a cultural evolution taking place inside of Mormonism. The evolution of church culture has been something that has needed to happen for a long time. Culture, traditions, oral laws, and the status quo can be a good thing... but it can also be a bad thing. Do you remember what was happening in Israel around the time that Christ came on to the scene? Israel started to live by their own set of oral laws and traditions, or what we might refer to today as "culture." The "culture" in Israel when Christ showed up was one of the most judgmental and hypocritical cultures the world had ever seen. It was a very isolated and unaccepting culture. But Christ showed up and cast a net over all types of people. The Greeks, the Romans, the Samaritans, and every other nation across the globe. His net covered even the worst of repentant sinners. The only people that were excluded or "damned" were the unrepentant elite, the "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites" who "strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel" (Matthew 23:23-24). Christ took the existing covenants and commandments and simplified them. He brought an evolution of love, empathy, and compassion. He built a culture that was geared toward the lowly of heart and revolted against those who spent their lives pointing out the flaws in others. "For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). The bulk of Israel was living according to their culture and their superstition instead of their religion. This has been the bane of each and every covenant society, which caused Joseph Smith to say, "What many people call sin is not sin; I do many things to break down superstition, and I will break it down." The doctrine of the LDS church doesn't lose people. It's the culture and superstition that causes unnecessary strife. This book, The Cultural Evolution Inside of Mormonism addresses the changing culture, the unprecedented changes that are taking place in the church, and the historical transparency. The Table of Contents explains where this book will take you: 1. More Extended Hands 2. Fewer Wrecking Balls 3. The Cultural Evolution 4. Not Customizing Christ 5. The Three Types of Mormons 6. A Place Where Doubters Are Welcome 7. The Kindness of Christ 8. Embracing Intellectuals and Scholars 9. Change in The Church Comes Slowly For A Reason 10. The Humble Few 11. Millennial Mormons 12. Making Rash Decisions 13. Giving Volunteers A Break 14. Logical Evidence For The Church Is Mounting 15. From Which All Others Are Derived 16. Temple Workers Galore 17. No Other Religion Provides A Better Hope 18. People Throwing The Book of Mormon Out The Window 19. The Bible That Needed To Be Rescued 20. Looking For Just One Reason To Believe 21. Liberal Conservatives 22. Pageantry In The Church 23. Peeling Back Polygamy 24. Looking At Tithing A Little Differently 25. Not Judging Others Sabbath Day Worship 26. The Place For Gays Inside The Church 27. What I Really Believe 28. Why I Love The Church

Reproduction of the original.

2014 Best International Book Award, Mormon History Association For the first century of their church’s existence, Mormon observers of international events studied and cheered global revolutions as a religious exercise. As believers in divine-human co-agency, many prominent Mormons saw global revolutions as providential precursors to the imminent establishment of the terrestrial kingdom of God. French Revolutionary symbolism, socialist critiques of industrialism, American Indian nationalism, and Wilsonian internationalism all became the raw materials of Mormon millennial theologies which were sometimes barely distinguishable from secular utopianism. Many Mormon thinkers accepted secular revolutionary arguments that the old world order needed to be destroyed, not merely reformed, to clear the way for the new. In From Above and Below, author Craig Livingston tells the story of Mormon commentary on global revolutions from the European revolutions of 1848 to the collapse of Mormon faith in progress in the 1930s when revolutionary communist and fascist regimes exposed themselves as violent and repressive. As the Church bureaucratized and assimilated to mainstream American and capitalist values, Mormons became champions of the conservative view of political and social development for which they are known today. The first Mormon converts in Mexico and France, both political radicals, would scarcely recognize the arch-conservative twenty-first century Church.

This volume of the Zondervan Guide to Cults and Religious Movements discusses Mormonism and its differences and similarities to biblical Christianity.

The authors introduce the faith's charismatic early leaders, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, delve deeply into Mormon rites and traditions, follow the adventurous trail of Mormon pioneers into the West, evoke the momentous rise of Salt Lake City, and describe the numerous skirmishes and court battles between the Mormons and their neighbors, other religions, and the American government. They describe the church's formidable institutional apparatus, the unique role of women in Mormon affairs, both before and after the Mormons' practice of polygamy, and how the church has addressed the challenges of modernity. Throughout, the Bushmans demonstrate how the rise of a small and persecuted movement intersected and even transformed the history of the American nation.

In the first edition of The Mormon Mirage, Latayne C. Scott shared her remarkable journey out of Mormonism as she uncovered shocking inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and contradictions in the faith she had loved and lived. Thirty years later, Mormonism and Mormon scholarship have evolved with the times. In this third, revised and updated edition of her well-known book, Scott keeps pace with changes and advances in Mormonism, and reveals formidable new challenges to its claims and teachings. The Mormon Mirage provides fascinating, carefully documented insights into • DNA research’s withering implications for the Book of Mormon • the impact of new “revelations” on Latter-day Saint (LDS) race relations • new findings about Mormon history • increasing publicity about LDS splinter groups, particularly polygamous ones • recent disavowals of long-held doctrines by church leadership • the rise of Mormon apologetics on the Internet More than a riveting, insider’s scrutiny of the Mormon faith, this book is a testimony to the trustworthiness of Scripture and the grace of Jesus Christ.