Spot-on analysis. Even the Mormons themselves aren't happy. On the surface they pretend to be, but mental illness and depression are rampant here. Especially with the proliferation of the internet where kids can (that have literally been brainwashed since birth, every Sunday) read the Wikipedia article on the Book of Abraham and have no idea how to reconcile their deeply ingrained culture with the fact that the church is obviously a lie. It is really a sad state of affairs. Suicide rates and depression are higher here than most anywhere else in the country. The church itself is crumbling. They do a get job of herding the flock, but they can only keep it up for so long. They continue to change (or as they call it, receive a "revelation") to accommodate changing youth sentiment, but they aren't fooling anyone. The mothers are the real problem: No matter where you go in Utah County you see 20-something moms with 4-5 young blonde kids. They don't work: The church teaches that their role is have children. So women have this immense pressure to get married young and procreate (see mental illness and depression comment earlier), which creates leagues of helicopter moms, always wanting to create this illusion of the perfect family to one-up the other moms, when in reality their kids are extremely dysfunctional and full of mental illness themselves. If you can live in a cabin in the mountains and hide from all of this you may be fine, but unfortunately it is in your face 24/7 in Utah County. It is really depressing, even for an outsider. I'm not sure how much longer the church can sustain itself with the internet. It is obviously a lie, and Joseph Smith is one of the greatest con-men (if not THE greatest) in our country's history. Unfortunately back then they didn't have the internet to verify the veracity of his claims, and even so they still had to run across America and hide in Utah because everyone back east (except for a few thousand of the easily conned) knew it was a lie. And here in Utah they had 150 years to sit, incubate and reproduce without any outside influence or information (hence whey the church is so large now). Otherwise it would have simply gone the way of the Branch Dividian Cult, which is no different really. Long story short, stay away if you aren't LDS. And if you are, have some courage to confront your beliefs and family. Is it really worth spending your life living a lie just to appease them? And if you are concerned about this celestial kingdom afterlife that they use to instill fear, just read the Wikipedia article about the Book of Abraham. It is a complete fabrication, and you are building your entire life around it? God loves you. The church does not. Pick one :-)
Chris | Provo, UT | Report Abuse