Mormonism Question

[LynnKaboom]

I feel pretty dumb for asking this, but I've been watching Big Love, and while I know that's a fictional television drama, I was wondering if the few little glimpses of Mormonism they show in it are accurate, like Teeny's baptism. I have never actually met a legit Mormon in real life, and know very little about what they actually believe.

 

Do they really baptize their kids in swimming pools, and do the parents do so?

Do they hold the Bible as a sacred text like the do the Book of Mormon?

Would it really be possible for a Mormon to sic missionaries on someone, like Pam did to Niki?

 

I'm just curious, and I mean no offense to our Mormon members.

[demgirl]

No, most Mormons don't baptize children in swimming pools. FLDS might do that, or in a lake or something, because they don't tend to have temples to baptize in, unless you live on a main compound. But mainstream Mormons are baptized in a temple, much like Southern Baptists. They are fully immersed, however, so that part is realistic.

Yes, The Bible is a sacred text, although some ex-Mormons would say it's secondary to the Book of Mormon. But both are sacred regardless.

I don't know about the scenario that happened on the tv show with siccing missionaries on someone, so I can't help there.

[LynnKaboom]

OK, thanks! I appreciate the info!

[FaustianSlip]

I had a friend who converted to Mormonism, and reading up on it landed me on some of the Ex-Mormon sites. I don't take everything I read there on face value, because it obviously tends to come from one side, but I've seen enough stories on there of true believing Mormon family members sending missionaries after children who have left the church or gone inactive that I think it probably does happen. From the perspective of the family members still in the Mormon church, someone who leaves is breaking up the "forever family" that was created through sealing in the Temple. They don't believe they'll see their wayward family member again in the afterlife, and some think the person will be "cast into Outer Darkness," so some people will do whatever they can to get their family member back into the church, be it through love bombing or sending mishies around or whatever.

I haven't seen the Big Love episode in question, but I think that if your family are very religious Mormons, there's a distinct possibility that if you make it known that you're leaving the church, they'll send missionaries after you (and this can happen from states away- they'll just contact the local ward). The only way to stop it, from what I understand, is to formally resign from the church, which requires a series of steps that includes sending a registered letter to Salt Lake, following up by phone, et cetera. Of course, it wasn't until relatively recently that people were able to resign at all; a case went to the Supreme Court, as I recall, who ruled that a church cannot force people to keep their names on membership rolls if they choose to disassociate themselves from that church.

[Beeks]

As for sicking missionaries, I guarantee you they can and do. My husband was raised mormon but left the church over 10 years ago now. Ever since I married him we "just happen" to get missionaries ALL the time. I used to see them once a year or less before I knew my husband - now its every few months. I am sure his family gives them our address.

However, I think if we really didn't want them to ever come again, we could ask them to stop and they would. It just doesn't bother us that much.

[ChunkyBarbie]

You have to have a temple recommend to go inside the temples. Baptisms are inside the churches in a baptism room. It is large and families can watch their children or family member being baptized.

[ChunkyBarbie]

I haven't seen the Big Love episode in question, but I think that if your family are very religious Mormons, there's a distinct possibility that if you make it known that you're leaving the church, they'll send missionaries after you (and this can happen from states away- they'll just contact the local ward). The only way to stop it, from what I understand, is to formally resign from the church, which requires a series of steps that includes sending a registered letter to Salt Lake, following up by phone, et cetera. Of course, it wasn't until relatively recently that people were able to resign at all; a case went to the Supreme Court, as I recall, who ruled that a church cannot force people to keep their names on membership rolls if they choose to disassociate themselves from that church.

Back in the early 90's my mom had herself removed from the records. She hadn't been to church in well over a decade. Well, I remember a bunch of bishops descending on the house trying to talk her out of it. She did have to write a formal letter, the president's council had to vote on it and a bunch of other hoops before she was officially removed from the records. The Church agreed to remover her, but in a letter told her my brother and I would never be removed as we are from pioneer stock. Weirdness! My brother and I have never practiced Mormonism and I don't see it happening in the future either.

[deelaem]

I attended the baptisms of my niece and nephew, and it was done in the local ward. Their grandfather, having been bishop once, did the baptism. They actually have a special room with sort of a mini-pool in it just for this purpose.

I don't think the ex-Mormons who tell their stories are exaggerating at all. The control exerted by the LDS is every bit as deep as it is with traditional fundies. They simply know how to put a better face on it, PR-wise.

[mirele]

You have to have a temple recommend to go inside the temples. Baptisms are inside the churches in a baptism room. It is large and families can watch their children or family member being baptized.

This. For as much emphasis as the Church puts on baptism, the actual baptism font was not exactly easy to find in most ward and stake houses I've been in. Usually it's a room off the Relief Society room.

*sigh* Just had a wave of nostalgia sweep over me for those good old days at Church, before, Things Happened.

[bananacat]

It's important to remember that Mormons are a large, diverse group just like any other, but especially take note of the mainstream-ish LDS and the FLDS. The regular LDS don't practice polygamy and are obviously different than the type portrayed in Big Love. But of course they consider the Bible as holy as the Book of Mormon; they are Christian. The Book of Mormon is treated pretty much like any other book in the Bible, although they consider it an especially important one and a more recent one. But they don't consider it some completely separate thing.

[FaustianSlip]

I don't think the ex-Mormons who tell their stories are exaggerating at all. The control exerted by the LDS is every bit as deep as it is with traditional fundies. They simply know how to put a better face on it, PR-wise.

I didn't mean to imply that I think they're exaggerating so much as that I think when you're fresh from coming out of a religion like Mormonism (or fundie Protestantism, or Hasidic Judaism or anything of that nature, really), it's probably understandably difficult to look back on your experiences in a completely balanced way. I know I had really hostile attitudes toward Christianity for quite a while, and I grew up in a completely mainline, Episcopal family, experiencing nothing like the stories we see here about fundamentalism or over on ExMormon.org. That said, I'm inclined to agree with you regarding the control factor of Mormonism. The Mormons I know personally are almost uniformly great, kind people, but the religion and the church.... Let's just say that my friend who converted solicited my opinion about Mormonism very shortly after I read Under the Banner of Heaven, and while I tried to offer it in a measured fashion, I started Googling and was pretty shocked by a lot of what I found. I think especially in places like Utah and Idaho, where Mormonism is so completely interwoven with people's social circles, academic life, et cetera, the fundamentalist factors can become very pronounced. I find the whole Temple thing very off-putting, and the history of the church with African Americans and the Mountain Meadows Massacre isn't what you'd call great PR, either. I think because outside of the Mormon corridor, Mormonism is still a relatively obscure religion, most people don't know about any of that, so it's easier to just stick the Osmonds out there and call it a day.

On the other hand, the friend I mention and I have met up since she converted (for a guy) and got married and such, and she seems like the same person she always was. She hasn't gotten all fundie or anything, so far as I know, and neither she nor her husband have ever preached at me at all. I do worry sometimes, though, about what happens if she wakes up one day and decides Mormonism is no longer for her.

[Rosa]

I think the swimming pool thing in Big Love comes direct from FLDS stories - I am reading Lost Boy, Brent Jeffs' book, and he describes his dad baptizing him in a font about the size of a large hot tub. I'm sure a family with no font but a private swimming pool would use it.