THE POWER OF CULTS - LDS Hymn Parody #5

After deciding on the title for this hymn parody (The Power of Cults), I realized that this one might turn out to be a little more difficult than the others.  But regardless of that possibility, I decided that I wasn't going to allow myself to be "intimidated" by the subject matter. 

When I was researching my way out of the Mormon Church, I began to realize that the church I had belonged to my entire life is actually a CULT.  Of course, I had heard it called that over the years, but I always responded very indignantly with, "Oh no, the Mormon Church is not a cult."  So to realize and come to the conclusion that it actually is a CULT was very upsetting to me. 

In doing my research on cults, I read the book by Steven Hassan entitled "Combatting Cult Mind Control."  I found this book to be fascinating as well as very enlightening.  This book helped to confirm my conclusions in recognizing that Mormon Church really is a CULT.  Also, when I visited the website http://www.cultwatch.org/, it became even more clear to me that the Mormon Church fits each description of a cult, right down the line.  Rather scary.

So without further ado, here is my latest addition to the ever-expanding ExMormon Hymn Book:

THE POWER OF CULTS
Sung to the tune of The Spirit of God, #2

The Power of Cults is a staggering problem,
The brainwashing process engaged in is strong.
As in most religions like in Mormonism,
The tactics they use are invasive and wrong.

(Chorus)

Like love-bombing, fear and stern intimidation,
Deception and lies are the name of the game.

Forbidden to do your own investigation,

Just close off your mind, believe what they claim.

It may make no sense, but that makes little difference,
Controlling your psyche, a method they use.
Resistance is futile, just maintain your silence.
But can’t this be classified mental abuse?

(Chorus)

With love-bombing, fear and stern intimidation,
Deception and lies are the name of the game.

Forbidden to do your own investigation,

Just close off your mind, believe what they claim.

The technique of high pressure selling is utilized,
For those who show interest, just MAKE them believe.
So hit them with bullshit until they are baptized,
And if luck should hold out, maybe they’ll be naïve.

(Chorus)

And then they will know the true danger of religions
That really are cults, it’s the name of the game.
In telling their lies, passing off made-up doctrines,
Deceiving the masses, but feeling no shame.

And so they control all the hyped information,
The members are busy, just don’t have the time
To question the issues or take any action,
As into a stupor they joyfully climb.

(Chorus)

And though we will shout that it just isn’t logical,
They’ll blindly hold on to whatever they’re told
By the Mormon Cult, and not anything will cancel
The faith that they cling to, much better than gold.

© Diane Tingen, 6/1/2011

So... as you may have noticed, I've been working my way through the list I made when I started this project.  I've now done 4 of the 6 that I had listed then (plus I Stand All Amazed, #193, which wasn't included in that list).  The ones remaining from that list (which are practically crying out to be satirized) are Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd, #221; and If You Could Hie to Kolob, #284.

Of course, after I finish those, I'm sure I'll think of others that need "revision" for inclusion in the ExMormon Hymn Book.

Stay tuned...

RELIGION IS...

Recently, I discovered Google Images.   Yeah, I'm a little slow on the uptake sometimes...

So anyway, I typed in "Religion" on Google Images, and got some interesting results. Of course, the image at the left is interesting all by itself. According to this Google search, religion is the opiate of the masses, bullshit, fake, islam, man made, a smile on a dog, a joke, the root of all evil, a lie... and apparently, religion is also like Paul Rudd.

Clicking on that entry, the first website that came up was named http://www.picchore.com/, where it says:

Google says religion is like... Paul Rudd?

In case you didn’t see it, I had a little fun with Google’s suggest tool and a number of the world’s religions. Well, perhaps “fun” isn’t the best way to describe it.  Actually, it was pretty much bullshit.

But one thing jumped out at me that I wanted to give its own special post; that is Google’s suggestion for what we collectively believe religion to be.

According to Google, we not only consider religion to be the “opiate of the masses” and “a smile on a dog”, but we also consider it to be like Paul Rudd.  And I assume Google is talking about the actor.

Could that be true?  Could religion really be like Paul Rudd?

******************************************************

Puzzling at first.  After all, what does Paul Rudd have to do with religion?  But as it turns out, this comparison came from the following quote ala the TV show, Community.

Shirley:  You think religion is stupid.

Jeff:  No, no.  to me, religion is like Paul Rudd.  I see the appeal and I would never take it away from anyone, but I would also never stand in line for it.

These days, I tend to agree with Jeff (played by actor Joel McHale of "The Soup").

And as far as I am concerned, religion is all those things listed above, and much more.

Since leaving Mormonism, I have come to the conclusion that organized religion is all about money and power, i.e. controlling people to gain power over them so they will give lots and lots of their money to the specified religion.  In reality, shouldn't religion be about helping people be better versions of themselves?  But no, that concept seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I think Abraham Lincoln had it right when he said, "When I do good, I feel good.  When I do bad, I feel bad.  That's my religion."

But unfortunately, all the goodness that religion should actually create seems to have gone off in strange directions... 

 

What people do and say in the name of RELIGION is truly mind-boggling.  The gap between what is preached and what is practiced has created a very wide chasm, and it seems to be widening even more with each passing day. 

So it all comes back to brainwashing, blind faith, doing what you're told, and following along like sheep and/or zombies with no independent thought, no individuality, and certainly no questioning.  At least, this applies to Mormonism.  And as far as I can tell, it also seems to apply to organized religion in general.

IMO, a very sad commentary.

IT'S NOT A LIE IF YOU BELIEVE IT...

I love to watch reruns of Seinfeld.  So funny.  And there are so many quotes and situations from that show that have made it into normal everyday conversation.  The Soup Nazi.  Muffin Tops.  The Puffy Shirt.  The Big Salad.  Low talkers.  J. Peterman catalog.  Junior Mints ("They're so refreshing").  Art Vandelay.  Toxic envelope adhesive.  Yada yada yada.

Of course, the one here - "It's not a lie if you believe it" - is from an episode ("The Beard") in which Jerry Seinfeld was going to take a polygraph test as a result of a bet he made with a girl he was dating about whether or not he watched Melrose Place.  Interlaced through that episode are story lines about Elaine dating a gay man and thinking she could get him to "switch teams," and George wearing a toupee as he begins dating a bald woman (and Elaine ripping the toupee of his head and throwing it out the window because she says he's acting like a jerk - after which the bald woman breaks up with George).  That is one of the best things about Seinfeld episodes - the way in which so many story lines are intertwined.

That line - "It's not a lie if you believe it" - really says a lot.  Many people lie to themselves all the time - and the more the lie is told, the more it seems less like a lie and more like the truth.  Of course, involved in that process is a certain amount of delusion, especially when the lie starts to morph and transform into "the absolute truth" in the person's mind.  And usually when that happens, they close themselves off to hearing any opposing opinions - or the actual facts.

But what is worse, at least in my opinion, is when religious organizations lie to people.  After I began researching Mormon Church history, I began to realize just how many lies are present within Mormonism, not only in the telling of its history, but also in its doctrines and teachings.  Things that I had been taught from childhood on turned out to be filled with lies and half-truths.  Like Joseph Smith being jailed for his religious beliefs and being a religious martyr.  That is simply not true.  Joseph Smith was in Carthage Jail because he was a criminal, and was definitely not a martyr.  He was arrested because he ordered the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor press and the burning of the building in which it was housed after its owners dared to print the truth about his polyamous ways.  I'm sorry, but those are criminal acts, and he deserved to be jailed for these actions.  And to paint him as a religious martyr is beyond delusional.

And of course, there are many other examples of lying within Mormonism.  The First Vision is a classic example.  The fact that there are at least 9 versions of the First Vision is very telling.  Joseph Smith just kept telling it and re-telling it until it morphed into the "official version" that the Mormon Church holds out today.  But the fact is that until the last version, which wasn't even written down until 1838 (18 years after the fact), the First Vision didn't even speak of Joseph Smith having a visitation from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but rather said that he had been visited by "heavenly personages" and/or "an angel."  It wasn't until a time when the church was losing many members due to the excommunications of Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmer brothers that Joseph Smith decided to "beef up" the First Vision to say that he had been visited by none other than Eloheim and Jesus Christ, two separate heavenly individuals.

Also, claiming that the Pearl of Great Price is scripture is an enormous lie.  Saying that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Abraham from Egyptian papyri is a blatant falsehood.  In fact, the more research I do, the more convinced I am that the Book of Mormon is a made-up piece of fiction, and that Joseph Smith no more translated it from golden plates than I did.

Lying for the Lord.  Despicable.  Unconscionable.  Reeling people in with lies in order to gain power over them, control them, and get them to hand over lots and lots of money.  Certainly not honest - and not Christian either.  But sadly, the Mormon Church is very good at reeling people it and trapping them for life.  And so these duped individuals live out their lives, believing in this bogus religious organization, convincing themselves that there is an explanation for it all - which we can't understand now, but if we endure to the end, after we shed this mortal coil, the truth of all these things will be made known to us, and then we will know that it was all worth it.

Delusional?  Yes.  But then, "It's not a lie if you believe it," right???

RELIGIOUS DELUSIONS

As if religion (and particularly Mormonism) is the only path to being a good person or finding goodness in the world...

Of course, the Mormon Church takes it one step further, and says that only certain "righteous" Mormons will make it to the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom... and anyone who isn't Mormon will go to either the Terrestrial Kingdom or the Telestial Kingdom.  But wait... there is baptism for the dead, so if someone dies without becoming Mormon, they can rectify that problem in the Afterlife.  Isn't that convenient (as the Church lady would say).

But Mormons take it even further by believing that they can eventually become Gods themselves. Yes, I know President Gordon B. Hinckley told a reporter in 1997 when being interviewed for the Time magazine article entitled Mormons, Inc., "I don't know that we teach that," but they do and have all along.  The statement "As man is now, God once was; as God now is, man may become" is a Mormon belief, which I heard repeatedly when I was growing up, and it always bothered me.

The reporter said, "God the Father was once a man as we are.  This is something that Christian writers are always addressing."  Then the reporter asked President Hinckley, "Is this the teaching of the church today, that God the Father was once a man like we are?" And his reply was: "I don't know that we teach that. I don't know that we emphasize it. I haven't heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don't know. I don't know all the circumstances under which that statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it, but I don't know a lot about it, and I don't think others know a lot about it."

Oh, really?  He seriously didn't know if the Mormon Church teaches that?  The reality of the situation, though, is that President Hinckley knew that the Mormon Church teaches that, but he didn't feel comfortable discussing it so he went into a song-and-dance routine.  What a cop-out.

Moral of the story (ala Mormonism):

When cornered, make something up... and certainly don't tell the truth.

THINKING, EXAMINING, AND ANALYZING

These are all very important functions of the human brain.  Being born and raised in the Mormon Church, I grew up not realizing the importance of thinking, examining, and analyzing.  Being told, in essence, that I should not examine or analyze beliefs of the Mormon Church is not only wrong on many levels, but it is also very debilitating.  People must be able to think critically, examine closely, and analyze fully whatever they feel is necessary to confirm realities in their lives. 

Curiosity is a natural state which, in my opinion, should be encouraged.  A person's natural curiosity in conjunction with imagination and intelligence is what makes life vital and interesting - and feeling trapped in a world where your natural curiosity is squelched and stifled, where your innate intelligence is not applauded, and where your ability to think critically and analyze situations is not only discouraged but also practically prohibited, is tantamount to holding a person's brain in prison. 

So it is with religion, and in particular, Mormonism.  Faith is all fine and good - but when the facts contradict those things that "they" tell you are true and what you "should" believe, it's not called faith anymore, but rather denial.  I spent so many years in the chains of denial that I felt like I was living in a tunnel with no light anywhere to be seen.  But when I finally began to examine and analyze my "beliefs," I discovered that what I had believed in for so many years was actually false - and not only did light finally appear at the end of the tunnel, but the house of cards constructed so carefully by Mormonism came tumbling down in my mind.

And now I am breathing free - able to think, examine and analyze - and then to accept or reject what I discover on my own terms.  Living an authentic life truly is its own reward.