We don't think that differently. From atheist to mormon

I've seen a lot of threads of one side challenging the other when it comes to religious beliefs, mostly concerning whether or not a creator exists, but also some other topics. I grew up mormon, decided to live my own way a while, identifying as atheist, and now have seen my old religion in a different light.

You can ask me anything and I'll give the most honest answer I can - I do not seek to have any others see things my way, but rather understand it. Many of these views are at least in part held by Mormons, other things I say may not be as well defined within the sect itself.

First, the big one, God - I do not believe God to be some mystical, magical, corporeal ghost that snaps a finger and does whatever he wants, I believe God to be a form of evolution, a form of maturity, intellect, and understanding obtained over an unknown period of time, and that God was once a human himself, and still exists with rules and expectations - from where? Most religions don't dive that deep. Perhaps the universe.

Secondly, I do believe in evolution. I may not believe that everything we are, that our entire essence is the result of simply sharing an ancestor with primates, but I do believe that we have not always looked exactly as we do now, I do believe there's been changes over the years, and that species can change into others. I simply believe God to be an advanced enough being to put everything in motion - a master chemist, alchemist, scientist of sorts.

Anyways those are two of the bigger topics, you can ask whatever you'd like, though.


Cheers ats

Deadlyhope

a reply to: deadlyhope

Well first, you were never an Athiest. Atheist is a final choice you come to after your own exploration and understanding on religion and human awareness. People that revert back or "find religion" were never been thru the whole process to be an Atheist.

well, it does seem like you share many views that Athiest(though not exclusive to Atheist) share but what makes you not is that you do believe in a higher being, it could be your personal relalation but there is no evidence such higher being exist. That doesnt mean we cant discuss the possibility but discussing and believeing is totally different.

a reply to: luciddream
If the OP considered himself to be an atheist, then he was an atheist. You are trying to impose an illegitimate restriction on the term.
I went through a similar experience ;
How an atheist became a Christian

Ah, the old "If you stopped being one, then you were never genuinely one in the first place" ploy.
You people borrowed that from the Calvinists, you know, as I observed when it was used on my own thread.

Mormons believe they become a ruler of their own planet when they die? Is this literal? or is this another evolution type thing that happens when you learn to expand your mind?

Also if Jesus never existed, how could mormonism be anywhere near the truth?

How come mormons weren't aloud to drink coca cola until a mormon person bought the coke manufacturing plant?
How come mormons accept black people now, when not too long ago they said they were of the devil?
Why do mormons only you to read books that are on the approved reading list?

I believe I am my own god and make my own decisions and am in complete control of my own destiny. where does the mormon god come into play?

I believe mormons are actually worshipping satan behind the scenes at the the very top of the religion, is that something you believe too?

a reply to: luciddream

So you put a limit on what a person can do? Do you believe that given thousands of years, that if humans were peaceful and collaborative and strived for a common goal, that we could not eventually terraform another planet into being inhabitable by humans? And dictate that habitat.. Would that not define us as gods, in their eyes?

To say there is no way possible for a person or civilization to advance to such a degree is in a form ignorance, space being infinite, and time being infinite whether it be linear, or simply have an infinite number of vantage points - it's part of why my beliefs changed - infinite world's, universes, possibly dimensions means a lot of possibilities, even if we have to be trapped inside our small understanding of physics, and what we call laws.


For years I refuted the existence of a God. Atheism is lacking a belief in God, that's all it is based on a dictionary look up.

a reply to: booyakasha

First of all, Mormons are people. So is the leader of the Mormon religion, so is each bishop, priest, etc. All human, all flawed, all capable of lying, deceit, hypocrisy, and more. It's a rather dull and over used argument to state that sinning causes an entire belief system to be wrong, we are all humans.

Secondly, "Jesus never existed" is a rather presumptuous statement, unless you are a couple thousand years old, and could stop time and teleport and read minds.

Mormons are told not to give into addictions, and to be careful with caffeine. It's never been a banned substance or against the core beliefs or anything. Look up caffeine addiction, withdrawal, reliance, etc and you'll see some reasons to drink it with caution - not an opinion, it's proven.

Making your own decisions and being in control of yourself is great, I support that, I won't ever argue that a person is wrong in what they are doing unless it's completely over the edge wrong in my eyes ( wrong as in killing for money wrong.)

No, I don't believe the people at the top worship Satan in any way. There's no evidence that the people at the top are corrupt.

Why didnt you believe in a god when you were an atheist?

What are your reasons to believe in some type of god?

a reply to: deadlyhope

I'm an atheist -- as in, I do not believe in God, by any definition.

But I agree wholeheartedly that we are not miles apart. It actually bugs me when the religious are held at a higher standard -- murder, cheating, child molesting, corruption, etc... -- because I espouse to condemn those things, too.

The difference is where we believe we learned to appreciate essentially the same moral values.

Religious people believe it comes from a Creator.

I say it is through having a family and friends you share love with. You don't want anything bad to happen to them, and yourself, so you don't invite it into your life by hurting others. That's how empathy works -- you imagine yourself in someone else's position, it's almost involuntary. I also believe that when something is lacking or dysfunctional about your relationships with your family and friends, it can shape your commitment to the moral values you espouse. The human psyche is sensitive to trauma.

Does it matter so much that we disagree on how we developed common moral values?

a reply to: deadlyhope

Hi deadlyhope. Thanks for the thread. I haven't met too many Mormons around my community, so it's good to have a chance to hear personally from someone involved with the church.

I'm curious about your opinion about the faith. Do most Mormons tend to believe in an allegorical interpretation of their faith? Do you have any comments on the Mormon perspective on end times theories? Have you met members who give you the impression they have developed self realization?

a reply to: dffrntkndfnml

Well the book of Mormon, and Bible are full of parables, allegories, and such but the average members I've known are pretty simple people, and take things at face value - most seem to not think too deeply. This is only my experiences and should not be taken as a blanket statement about these people - but no, most seem not to have achieved realization, they seem more like followers - none I know talk about topics ats sees as factual such as the nwo, the corrupt political systems, etc.

End time theories range far and wide in the mormon communities - if you go from average Joe you average Joe, you go from people that really don't bother, to people that want to build bunkers and are quitting their jobs and such in preparation. From the top, though? They just say have a years food storage on hand, just the boy scout motto basically, be prepared.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

It does not matter how we developed similar morals, no. I respect people of all faiths, religions, or lack thereof. I look at a person's actions, intentions, interactions - not at the Holy book they read, nor the building they do or don't attend on Sunday (or other times)

a reply to: DISRAELI

Thank you for recognizing that being human involves constant change, rather than making blanket statements that should be applied to my whole life because of what I believe now.

a reply to: deadlyhope

I am also mormon and I second everything said. Havent always been mormon either but its made me a better father, husband and overall man.

I look forward to keeping up with this

I have a question. If the LDS are trying to recruit members, why do they shun non-believers so heavily?

I am a non Mormon/LDS living in Utah. I think due to our conservative appearances, it is assumed we are believers when we are not. We don't hide that we aren't LDS, but when people find out, they shun us.

I once struck up a conversation with a woman at the grocery store, and believed that I had made a new friend. We exchanged numbers, and then she asked me what Ward I attended. When I told her I didn't, she literally huffed at me, told me to loose her number and then stormed off. While that was the most obvious case, it is hard to mistake the sudden coldness people display when they find out you aren't one of them.

Not once has anyone ever offered to talk to me their beliefs. While it is highly unlikely for me to convert, they don't know that, then again, you can't convert to something that you no next to nothing about, despite living in a prominently LDS area.

So what gives? Is the Mormon church only allowed to recruit people or discuss their faith if a missionary comes to that persons door?

a reply to: calstorm I have met and spoken with only one Mormon outside of recruiters. I am in California, so maybe she was different than the people in Utah. She knew that I was not Mormon and did not try to push her religion on me but talked to me about some of their beliefs and showed to me some of her books. I would be interested too,to read what the OP says about how to treat people of different faith or belief when they are not recruiting door to door. The door to door folks are always nice out here too, but is that just their job?

a reply to: calstorm

It is unfortunate how some people, or even large parts of communities are in Utah. An elitist mentality has been developed by some, it seems to happen when it's multiple generations of communities are all the same religion without question. A mentality seems to set in where that's how life is - and maybe it makes them better than others.

I myself dislike this mentality, and the church itself does not teach anything like this. It's like ghandi supposedly said - "Your Christians are so unlike your Christ" - I try not to be too upset with people that have a superior mentality because I have been behind the scenes and seen what cultivates such attitudes, but I will say I do not excuse such mentalities and have talked to fellow members about being more kind and patient and understanding like our books and leaders teach.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, same to anyone reading this thread - though my goal is not conversion. Simply to have others understand that more open minded Christians are out there - even in large numbers, they just aren't the loudest.

a reply to: peppycat

Mormons in other areas are certainly different, it seems. From my experience it takes a better person to be mormon when it's not the trend, when it's not what they grew up with. They seem to appreciate it more, and be more the people the books they read say they should be - just a personal observation, not to be taken as a blanket statement.

My brother is currently a missionary, or recruiter, as you put it - it's not really a job to be nice, there's no real handbook or anything, they are not taught as much about rapport, body language, etc as they could be. Most I've seen are just really happy because they believe themselves to be doing the work of their Lord.

It's really tough to answer much about how Mormons treat others, because I know what we are taught, but I've also experienced first hand the judgements and criticisms that come from members within that disagree with what others, or myself, are doing. They are just human, and as such, know they will never be like Christ - but a lot seem to put a lot of effort into things like tithing, attending their meetings, etc, but less effort into treating everyone with kindness. It just seems to be a mentality that's learned, and hard to reprogram.

a reply to: deadlyhope

Thank you for your honest answer, it is greatly appreciated.

One of the fist questions that comes to mind is Ancestry and why it is so important. I have heard multiple versions, but I do not know which, if any is the correct version. One version I hear repeated quite often is that if the church has a list of your non LDS relatives, they can make them slaves in the afterlife. How true is this? I have often thought about going to the library here where they help you research your ancestry, but I have always been a bit hesitant due to this.

I was an atheist in high school and now a Catholic. I never really went to church as a kid. Don't Mormons believe that Jesus lived in America? I saw an episode of South Park that I think was about Mormons. Didn't the founder read gold plates out of a hat? I base my spirituality out of Catholocism , but wouldn't probably be considered a Catholic. I philosophize myself about some things. I don't believe evolution to be an answer I believe it might have led to slight changes. There were people on two different continents , the Americas and the rest of Europe and Asia so I believe we were created in the image of God and just here one day. In the last 5,000 or 10,000 years we haven't really noticed "changes".

I am bored watching the Emmys and will talk if you want.

a reply to: calstorm

I have not even heard that as a rumor, conspiracy, or otherwise personally.

The family unit is very important in the lds religion. We believe that you can be tied to your family forever - that their are actions you can take to have a link to them forever. A lot of ancestry has to do with that form of work. We believe that even after a person has passed away, another person can do this work - baptisms, being tied to ( sealed) to their family, etc. Often people will find relatives who's work has not been done, and stand in proxy for them.

It is believed they have a choice in the afterlife to accept, or reject this work that has been done with them, but that it is important to try to do this in proxy of others during this life .

None of these actions are malicious, ill-intended, or otherwise. We do not believe slavery exists in the afterlife, not to another person or angel, and not to God.