2 comments (Add your own)

1. Narutoo wrote:

I’d like to invite you to relfect for a moment on a possibility you’ve probably never seriously considered in your entire life…. The Mormon church is not true. I have no ill feelings toward the church, I think it is a marvelous organization. So let me explain my motivation…Have you ever heard of something called “cognitive dissonance”? Cognitive dissonance is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance can also be reduced by justifying, blaming, and denying. For example, let's say you buy a Rolex watch. You paid a ton for it, but after a while you realize that it may not keep time quite as well as your old Timex. Nor is it as comfortable on your wrist. Cognitive dissonance emerges here, because you are of the opinion that the Rolex is superior, yet your memory tells you that you enjoyed the cheaper Timex better. Sometimes, we can't acknowledge the truth. So we rationalize. Sometimes it takes someone else pointing out to us, You sure do have to adjust the time on that thing a lot, don't you? Only then do we objectively relfect on the situation and see the truth. I’d like to be that friend for you, since I spent many, many years of cognitive dissonance in the church. I grew up in the Mormon church, attended seminary, served a mission for the church (including serving as AP), and graduated with honors from BYU. I believed the church was true because everybody important in my life told me it was true, and it felt good to believe that a caring, personal God was looking out for me and giving me purpose to my existence. When events in my life gave evidence that the church was true, I held them closely, as confirmation of what I had already accepted as truth. Any evidence that casted doubt on my beliefs I quickly rejected and tried to ignore. And yet, as a rational, sane human being I subconsciously had to acknowledge the myriad contradictions in the Mormon faith. For example, I experienced cognitive dissonance when I learned that Joseph Smith illegally practiced polygamy and publically denied it his entire life (including in the church owned newspaper Times and Seasons). I’ve held an original copy in my hands of the general conference report after JS death where Brigham Young announced for the first time the doctrine of polygamy. Cohesion is a basic test of truth. If a proposition has contradictory elements, then it cannot be true. Eventually I realized that all the problems disappeared with one simple assumption… the church is a man-made institution, however well intentioned it may be.

Fri, August 10, 2012 @ 11:18 PM

2. qenowc wrote:

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Sat, August 11, 2012 @ 5:43 PM

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