Beggar's Bread

“#37 Even though it’s like punching Mormons in the face, you take great delight in over the top polemic and pejorative rhetoric that alienates and repels Mormons rather than drawing them to the Good News of the Gospel.”

by Michael Flournoy and Fred W. Anson
It’s the most frustrating thing imaginable, you’re challenging Mormon thought and preaching the truth, and you’re labeled an “Anti-Mormon”. In just four syllables you are discredited as a bigot and a deceiver who can’t leave the church alone. It’s annoying to be called Anti-Mormon when you actually like the LDS people, and you weren’t engaging in ad hominem attacks or being snarky.

On the flip side, Anti-Mormonism is a real thing, and it isn’t pretty. In fact, we believe Anti-Mormonism bolsters the testimony of Latter-day Saints. Why you ask? Mormons believe they are persecuted because they have the truth, and anytime they are treated unfairly in a discussion they think, “This proves I’m right.” It is the responsibility of Christians engaged in Mormon studies to know where the line is and avoid Anti-Mormonism like the plague. The following list contains some behaviors that we’ve seen Anti-Mormons engage in over the years. It can be used as a self-diagnostic as well as a set of things to avoid if you don’t want to be written off, dismissed, and ignored as “just another Anti!” by your Mormon friends and family.

You Might be an Anti-Mormon if…

1. You can’t say anything good about the LDS Church even though it has some praiseworthy qualities and attributes.
2. You weaponize freshly minted Ex-Mormons and encourage them to attack the Mormon Church rather than letting them heal and fully transition out of it first.
3. You’re a snarky Anti-Mormon meme-generating machine.
4. You’ll stay in Internet groups where Mormon Bashing is allowed – even encouraged – rather than voting with your feet by leaving.
5. You divorce your True Believing Mormon (TBM) husband or wife despite the Apostle Paul’s clear directive to not divorce an unbelieving spouse (see 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).
6. You get angry whenever your TBM family and friends try to proselytize you, then whine because they get angry when you try to proselytize them.
7. You get dizzy reading the Deseret News because your eyes are constantly rolling.
8. You put your life on hold twice a year so you can watch General Conference live and find fault with it in real time.
9. You only refer to Mormon Apologists by their Ex-Mormon culture nicknames (“Tapirman”, “Crazy Gordon”, “Michael R. Ass”, etc.) thereby dehumanizing and marginalizing them socially and psychologically.
10. You speak in Ex-Mormonese rather than English. (“TSCC”, “LD$”, “MORmONism”, “Joseph’s Myth”, “The Profit”, “The Morg”, “God’s Only True Cult”, etc., etc.)
11. You present Ed Decker’s “The Godmakers” in part or in full as an accurate depiction of what today’s Mormon Church teaches and believes.
12. You present Jack Chick’s “The Visitors” and “The Enchanter” tracts as “balanced and true” depictions of Mormon doctrine, culture, and history.
13. You think that the best (and possibly the only) biblical models for dealing with Mormons are Elijah on Mount Carmel and Christ Cleansing the Temple.
14. You think that “The ends justify the means” even if that means exaggeration or outright lying about Mormon beliefs and practices.
15. Your Social Media content is designed to provoke conflict rather than conversation with Latter-day Saints.
16. You have to win the argument. Period.
17. You won’t apologize to Latter-day Saints when you err with them lest you show weakness or acknowledge the possibility that you could be wrong.
18. You stand idly by while others berate, abuse, and bully Mormons publicly.
19. You refuse to learn, understand, appreciate, and respect Mormon Culture and smugly look down your nose at those who do.
20. You belittle and mock all aspects of Mormonism – often in ugly, bigoted, and condescending ways.
21. You take the biblical mandates to treat those in error with grace, gentleness, and respect (see 1 Peter 3:15, 2 Timothy 2:25, and Colossians 4:6) as optional or just suggestions.
22. You treat other Christians who aren’t as vitriolic, rude, and insensitive to Mormons as you are with contempt.
23. You take God’s place by judging and declaring the eternal fate of all Mormons simply based on the fact that they’re Mormon before you even know the particulars of their individual situations and personal beliefs.
24. You go out of your way to offend Mormons with things that have little to nothing to do with the biblical gospel.
25. You will fight to the death over secondary issues where Biblical Christianity and Mormonism disagree.
26. You can’t say anything good about Joseph Smith.
27. You can’t say anything good about Mormon Leaders despite their achievements and accomplishments outside of Mormonism or despite their role as positive agents of change within Mormonism.
28. You chronically engage in over the top, hyperbolic language regarding Mormons and Mormonism.
29. You deliberately misrepresent what Mormons believe and do in order to enhance your arguments.
30. Even when your facts are straight your tone is shrill, condemning, and judgmental.
31. You lobby for treating Mormons differently even if it’s unjust, unfair, uncivil, or downright bigoted.
32. The majority of sources that you read and cite from in your work are Anti-Mormon sources that engage in all or some of the above tactics.
33. You refuse to read and cite from Mormon friendly sources for a whole litany of reasons even when they are the most effective sources in persuading Mormons of how intellectually and spiritually bankrupt modern Mormonism is.
34. You never give Mormons the benefit of the doubt when discussing theology with them.
35. You make a point of telling Mormons they are in a cult.
36. You consistently tell Mormons what they believe instead of asking them what they actually believe.
37. Even though it’s like punching Mormons in the face, you take great delight in over the top polemic and pejorative rhetoric that alienates and repels Mormons rather than drawing them to the Good News of the Gospel.
38. You can’t speak about your own faith without bringing up and putting down Mormonism in some form or fashion.
39. If someone points out to you that you’re more in “The Church of Anti-Mormonism” than Christ’s Church you say, “Amen, to that!”
40. You go into every engagement with Mormons wondering how you can triumph over them and set them straight rather than how you can love and serve them.
41. You don’t think that you have anything to learn from Mormons or Mormonism since, “It’s all wrong, and there’s nothing good or true in it!”
42. The thought of deceased Mormons realizing they were wrong and are being sent to hell amuses and/or pleases you.
43. You’re an Ex-Mormon who rushed right into “ministry” rather than taking the time and effort to heal from Mormonism and fully transition into mainstream, Biblical Christianity first. That “ministry”, of course, involves relentlessly attacking the Mormon Church rather than taking up your cross and dying to yourself daily as Christ said is our first call as His disciples.
44. Your stance is that even if the Mormon Church reforms and becomes biblically orthodox it should still be destroyed.
45. You criticize other Christians who engage in the opposite of the above set of behaviors calling them “sissies” (or worse).
46. You hate the Mormon Church more than you love Jesus.

The last one is probably the most important one – and the most telling one of all because it really speaks to one’s heart condition. Question: Who are you doing this for, yourself, the Mormon, or Christ? As Pro Football Hall of Famer Gale Sayers so famously said, “The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third.” Can you say the same friend? Can you call Mormons “friends”? Can you call them “victims of Mormonism”? Or can you only call them “enemy”? If it’s the last one then please do us all a favor: Get out of Mormon Studies until you call them the other two.

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