LDS
Freedom Forum:
I
have spent five months posting on LDS Freedom Forum. I didn't know
what I was getting into at the time. I was surprised at the negative
response I received when I first started posting. I was trying to
resist the anti-LDS bias on LDS Freedom Forum, or at least trying to
provide a contrasting point of view. My mistake!
Over
time, with the help of a few friends on LDS Freedom Forum, I came to
see that LDS Freedom Forum is a misnomer.
The
majority of the forum regulars and moderators on LDS Freedom Forum
are excommunicated Latter-day Saints, non-LDS, Jack Mormons, or
people on the verge of disciplinary action in the LDS Church. The
active Latter-day Saints who try to defend the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints or the Brethren are vigorously ridiculed and
persecuted. There's really nothing LDS about LDS Freedom Forum.
LDS
Freedom Forum has some of the most abusive and mean moderators that I
have ever encountered on the internet. If you don't like the
anti-LDS stance of the moderators or the forum regulars, the
moderators will invite you to leave and go someplace else. The
active Latter-day Saints are not free to defend the Brethren or the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Latter-day
Saints are not free to discuss the Gospel of Christ without
concentrated ridicule from the forum regulars and some of the
moderators. There is nothing liberating about LDS Freedom Forum,
unless you are an LDS apostate or an excommunicated Latter-day Saint.
The
moderators discipline and abuse and intimidate in public, instead of
in private messaging, like it should be done. The moderators issue
their demands to shut up and go away in public. Then, if the
moderators are ever called on it, then they just delete their posts
and deny that it ever happened. Meanwhile, they twist the words of
the patrons, post that, and then use that as a reason to chastise or
ban the participant that they don't like.
If
the participants who have been chastised in public by a moderator
respond in kind, then their messages are just deleted by the
moderator, and they are issued a warning by the moderator. It has
proven to be a very unpleasant environment for me and for my friends.
Most everyone that I have corresponded with in LDS Freedom Forum has
eventually written me a message telling me why they decided to leave
LDS Freedom Forum and not come back, assuming that they weren't
already banned from the forum. Their reasons for leaving are
summarized in this message. I still have Private Messages out there
that were never delivered; and, I learned later that the person had
been banned for life from the forum.
The
only part of LDS Freedom Forum that fits with the name is the fact
that it seems to be a forum.
This
past week or so, I realized that it would be impossible to gain a
testimony of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints on LDS Freedom Forum. The forum doesn't cater to
such a thing.
The
only thing I think I could get from the moderators and the forum
regulars on LDS Freedom Forum is a desire or a reason to apostatize
from the LDS Church.
All
of my friends and all of the people that I learned to trust on LDS
Freedom Forum have been banned for life, or have left in disgust, or
are too afraid to post. Some of them are not even responding to the
Private Messages that I sent them. They are gone. I see no evidence
that they intend to ever come back. The most recent thread I started
has now been locked; so now it can fade away into oblivion as well.
It's
also getting kind of boring over there on LDS Freedom Forum, unless
you like Flame Wars. Most of the good, fun, enjoyable, and
interesting LDS people have been banned or have been told to shut up
and go away. A few of the others are just too afraid to post. It's
an intimidating environment in which to start up a conversation. I
think there is only one thread left that even interests me, and it
was started by the nicest moderator of the bunch, and there is little
or no activity in the thread. I can just copy the few pages to my
hard drive, and come back in a couple of months to see if anything
has changed.
LDS
Freedom Forum has proven to be a nasty, unfriendly place; and, the
great shame is that the forum uses the term LDS in it's name giving
the incorrect impression that it is an LDS forum. There's really
nothing free or liberating about the forum either, because one is not
permitted to oppose the LDS Apostates and their doctrines. In my
humble opinion, if it is going to keep the LDS claim in its name,
then it really should be more accurately called the LDS Apostate
Forum. It should be called what it is and not what it
ain't.
Anyway, I'm no longer reading the LDS Freedom Forum. I'm taking a break from it all, until after I have gotten some more important things done. I'm just responding to email and personal messages that I have received through the forum. My life will be better if I'm not reading the rot and contention that goes on there, and just refuse to get embroiled in it.
Anyway, I'm no longer reading the LDS Freedom Forum. I'm taking a break from it all, until after I have gotten some more important things done. I'm just responding to email and personal messages that I have received through the forum. My life will be better if I'm not reading the rot and contention that goes on there, and just refuse to get embroiled in it.
I
think the only good thing I got from LDS Freedom forum is a desire to
read and study the LDS Scriptures and the Gospel of Christ. I
haven't had any desire to do that for a many years now. So, while
attempting to defend the Latter-day Saints on LDS Freedom Forum, it
gave me a desire to study the LDS Church and the LDS Scriptures. I
have learned a lot of things that I didn't know before, while trying
to defend the Gospel of Christ against the ongoing attacks it is
receiving at LDS Freedom Forum. For the first time in my life, the
process of trying to defend the LDS Church has given me a desire and
the courage necessary to proudly declare that I am a Latter-day Saint
and a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That's probably the best thing that I got from LDS Freedom Forum. It
wasn't all wasted time.
Mark My Words
I've read just about every post on LDS freedom forum. What you call mean & nasty, I call objective.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned it not being a total waste of time because it caused you to study more of the church in order to be able to defend it. If you take an objective look at what most are saying on that site, it is not the church they have a problem with. It is the modern interpretation of Joseph's original teachings that seems to be in conflict.
Blind faith in the authority of men is a dangerous stance to take. Our faith should be personally grounded in our relationship with Jesus Christ and not grounded in the prophet or apostles.
They are for the purpose of guiding our understanding of Gospel Doctrines. But if their interpretation of those doctrines deviates from there original meaning as prescribed by the founding prophet Joseph Smith or the ancient canonized prophets who preceded him, then conflict arises.
There are true prophets & false prophets. Whom is which of those ?....Those who God has already approved of, such as Joseph Smith and the ancient prophets of the scriptures, or the "Newer" so called prophets who say "THEIR" words trump the words of older prophets who have ALREADY been approved of God ?
For our newer so called prophets to even make a statement which PRECLUDES our need to listen to the older prophets if the newer ones come up with doctrine contrary to the already established doctrines of the Kingdom, I find this akin to the other proclamation of the newer prophets who proclaim we should ALWAYS "Follow the prophet for he will NEVER lead us astray".
Does THIS preclude my need to not worry about establishing a Personal Relationship with God because our newer prophets are INSTEAD of God ? Not as in representing God, but as in REPLACING Him, for making such a statement that God would NEVER make an UNCONDITIONAL statement like that.
It's a good thing your journey has taken you deeper into church history. Now you need to go back to the Old Testament and read what those prophets had to say about the false prophets of OUR day. They reside MUCH closer to home than you currently realize.
One big subject with regard to church history which needs to be considered, would be the founding of a "Corporation" that has become the financial & spiritual base for what our leaders refer to as the "kingdom of God on Earth". REALLY ? You may want to take a much closer look at this as a part of your studies of church history.
And this is but only an example of the many things about church history, with regard to the great chasm that exists between the time of Joseph Smith and ourselves, which suggest we have jumped the tracks as he and ancient prophets predicted we WOULD.
Do you trust the ancient prophets ? Have you studied them enough to know what their message & WARNING to us in the church of today is ? Moroni gave us this very same message.
You see it as enemies from without who are the ones being referred to. It's ALWAYS been the Greater Enemies WITHIN the Lord's Church who sided with the Status Quo. That would imply the MAJORITY of the mainstream membership, which relies on the "Arm of flesh", earthly leaders to guide them, as opposed to God doing the guiding. Earthly men can & will lead us astray at times, and only a personal relationship with Christ & His Spirit can GUARD us from this deception.
I would like to add one more thing for you to consider....
ReplyDeleteYour comments are based in strong emotion. Emotion can be very misleading if sound facts are not present to back those emotions up. Everything then becomes a matter of Opinionated Emotions.
Overstated emotion is the sign of an Understated knowledge of the subject being discussed. This you admitted to when saying you further studied church history to defend the church. Now you need to study MORE of it without the biased emotion as your guide. Then your Objective Study will reveal something you have never considered before.
Never allow emotions of the heart to rule over better judgment of the mind, but emotions do play an important part in coming to understand the Mercy of God. God Speed.
I was on the LDS Freedom forum for about a year. There are some good people there but too many bad ones. I had a favorable opinion of LDS, that is until I got onto this forum. Now I have a very bad opinion of LDS.
ReplyDeleteI've found that when some disagreed with me, it was just a matter of time before the lies came out and then it was about ME. Members like the high-minded Michael Sherwin, Robin Hood, Benotdeceived, and a few others are downright evil liars and deceivers. I should have never gone there.