In 1517 Martin Luther nailed 95 thesis on the doors of the All Saints Church in Wittenburg disputing the Catholic Church’s practice of selling indulgences. Indulgences were certificates that you could purchase from the church which absolved a deceased relative from sin, shortening or ending their stay in purgatory. Huge amounts of money were collected from all over Europe in this way. The Cardinals and Bishops of the Church lived lavishly on the collections of offerings and indulgences. Extravagant and expensive cathedrals were also financed from the collection of these funds. The opposition of Martin Luther became the spearhead of the Protestant movement, as the sale of indulgences was grievous to not only the common man but also to the royalty in the German Duchy’s who saw much of the wealth of their kingdoms siphoned away to the church.
There is a lot of similarity with the money raising practices of the Catholic Church in the 16th Century and American Churches today, including the Mormon Church. Almost all of them promise heavenly blessings to those who pay. No church is more wealthy then the Mormon Church in America, at least in terms of per capita donations, some estimated 10 to 11 billion dollars collected in 2018{1}and has assets worth many times that amount in real estate, securities and bonds, apartment buildings, commercial buildings, and retail malls and stores. The Mormon Church’s current practice of encouraging tithing from its members amounts to religious extortion by promising not only individuals and families, but, also their deceased family members eternal life. It is not that different from the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences in the 16th Century, maybe a little more sophisticated and subtle. To obtain eternal life in the Mormon Church you have to pay tithing which entitles you to go to the temple. There you experience a ceremony enabling you to enter heaven after you die. By continuing to pay tithing you can also perform ceremonies that allow deceased family members and ancestors into heaven. This practice is just one of the 65 issues I have with the Mormon Church. I believe it has lost the priesthood power and authority it once possessed from heaven.
My 65 Thesis
Occasionally I get asked why I don’t attend the LDS church anymore. When I am asked that question I have to think a minute to come up with a quick reply that isn’t long winded. I usually come up with something inadequate. I decided that I need to be better prepared, I need to create an elevator speech. Once I have that I can be ready when the question comes up and hopefully I will be able to tailor my speech to match the situation and the person.
As I delved into my journal and the scriptures to compile the major issues I have encountered, I kept getting side tracked finding even more reasons for why I stopped attending. These are all non-trivial reasons, any one of which would cause any reasonable truth seeking person to stop and want to investigate. So far I have found 65 reasons why I no longer worship with the Mormon Church.
Now to be truthfully fair, there is a good rationale to continue to attend the Mormon Church. Reasons such as associating with good people, having opportunities of learning, great programs for the youth, learning how to live a moral and principled life of service, and many others. Had I not grown up in the Mormon Church I would not be the person I am, nor have been exposed to the degree of light and knowledge I was able to obtain during my association with the church. The things I learned while being an active member of the church are priceless, but it is time to move on, time to build on top of the principles that the Mormon Church has taught me.
Also, I think it is important to understand that my beef is with the current church doctrines and practices. I believe, and have received evidences, that the founding of the Mormon Church was inspired by God, and that Joseph Smith was exactly what he presented himself to be, a prophet, seer, and revelator. But soon after he was murdered, the church took a wrong turn. This is mainly what my 65 issues explain.
It comes down to this: The Mormon church has hedged up the way and blocked any further advancement on the path to knowing God and attaining exaltation. They do this by insisting that the prophet has all the answers and by following him you will get to heaven. This is a purely 20th Century development. Why is this wrong? Because by giving allegiance to a hierarchy of men or a man, it is not always possible to follow God, to put it bluntly. A church will always put limits on what a person should believe. Christ is the one you should be depending on, not a man. You need to develop a personal relationship with Him, which the church curiously discourages.{2} Having a relationship with Christ and seeking revelation directly from Him is what the Doctrine and Covenants teaches in Section 93 and in the Book of Mormon, “The words of Christ will tell you all the things you should do.” (2 Nephi 32:3). But the church insists that the only way you can be sure of receiving pure knowledge and doctrine from God is to listen to the men that run the church.
All that being said, I decided not to publish my list of 65 plus reasons for not attending the LDS church anymore. Much has already been written about these same issues, and it only serves to highlight the negative aspects of a church that does much good. No matter the aims and intentions of the men at the center of power in the church there are good people and good service being performed by the members. While it is important that members of the church be aware that there are many problems with the facade the church takes great pains to preserve, I don’t feel comfortable listing all the blemishes, warts, and scars in one place. I will, however, reserve the right to point out problems in specific cases that are in opposition to scriptures on subjects I am writing about. There are many other sources, books, web sites, and blogs that lay out all the problems in great detail. I would rather point out the benefits of following Christ.
I chose to go beyond the finger pointing, the accusations, and the incriminations and let others take that role. I want to move on, talk about the wonderful possibilities that acceptance of the New and everlasting covenant has to offer if we live by its promises. The Lord promises significant blessings to those who follow Christ. Miracles, spiritual gifts, raising of the dead, healings, and protections all follow the honest and true followers of Christ. I want to concentrate on those things. I will be doing a series of blog entries on the Gifts of the Spirit. I will start by discussing the gift of discernment.
I really do have a list of 65 issues that I have written down and researched, and the list keeps growing. I suppose if I get to 95 reasons for not attending the Mormon Church I will post them on the doors of the temple in Salt Lake City.
—————————————————————————————————————- Notes {1} Quoted on Wikipedia entry, “Finances of the LDS Church” Ostling, Richard and Joan. Mormon America. pp. 395–400. In 2002 it was estimated the Church took in $5 Billion dollars in tithing receipts. By 2018 I estimate tithing receipts alone are at least $10 Billion. The church also has several billing dollars in investments in securities and bonds. In the year that tithing receipts are received, they are invested and interest is earned for two years before the money collected is used to pay for churches liabilities.
{2} See Bruce R McConkie’s BYU Devotional talk, October 1981; Apostle McConkie railed against the notion of developing a personal relationship with Christ, and publicly denounced George W. Pace and his book, What it Means to Know Christ. He said, “…here are yet others who have an excessive zeal which causes them to go beyond the mark. Their desire for excellence is inordinate. In an effort to be truer than true they devote themselves to gaining a special personal relationship with Christ that is both improper and perilous. I say perilous because this course, particularly in the lives of some who are spiritually immature, is a gospel hobby which creates an unwholesome holier-than-thou attitude.“
Well stated, Northstar, thank you.