#<- talking as if anyone who follows me is lds lol

[stick-by-me]

Sporty Sanrio!

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

243 of 2023

Another TMI since I got into the subject.

PART 1:  LDS Sexual Experience and Attitudes--Childhood thru College

General Background What is your gender?

Male.

What is your current marital status?

Married.

What is your current status in the Church?

No.

What is your current age?

32.

Childhood At what age did you learn about sex?

Quite late, I think. I didn’t understand things yet while being abused.

Did you receive "The Talk" about sex? If so, who gave you "The Talk" about sex?

Not from my parents, but from my grandma.

What was your experience with "The Talk"?

I was embarrassed.

How did you expand your understanding about the basics of sex?

Never went into it further as a kid.

Were you exposed to explicit sexual images as a child?

Not really.

Were you sexually abused or touched by another child or another adult?

Yeah, but as an early teenager.

Puberty At what age did you go through puberty?

I think it went at full blast when I was 14.

What was your experience with puberty?

It was kinda nightmare. Alml these changes in my body, omg.

Did you experience a change in your sexual drive after passing through puberty?

Yeah, it went higher, which is apparently normal for guys. I’ve never been happy about it.

Teenager As a teen, how would you categorize yourself sexually?

I didn’t have sex with anyone because I didn’t want to.

As a teenager, what information did you consult to learn more about sexuality?

Self-esearch lol.

As a teen, did you have an adult that you could trust with confidential questions about sex?

Yes, my grandma.

Did you make comparisons of yourself to others?

I did, mostly in height and weight. Not in the size of genitals, though.

How did you consider yourself in comparison to others?

Fat. Thze thing is, I’ve never been really fat.

As a pre-teen/teenager, were sleepovers an outlet for any of the following sexual experimentation?

Didn’t have sleepovers.

Did you masturbate with frequency as a teen?

Yeah. I hated myself for doing it, but at the same time I was frustrated that the relief after releasing the tension was so short-lasting.

Did you make an effort to stop masturbating?

Yeah, but my body was scaring and annoying me.

Did you break the Law of Chastity as a teen?

WTF is that even?

As a teen, did you engage in any of the following sexual activities with another person?

Never engaged in any because I didn’t want anyone to touch me.

Were you comfortable discussing sex with friends?

No. I’ve been always shy about such things.

Did you participate in any kind of same-sex experimentation as a teen?

NO, but I discovered that I like other guys, not girls.

Did you look at pornography as a teen?

Yeah, but just for lolz. I’ve never been turned on by it.

As a teen, did you view masturbation and/or pornography a violation of the Law of Chastity?

What is Law of Chastity?

As a teen, did you confess to a Priesthood Leader regarding violations of the Law of Chastity?

I don’t identify with any religion and I’ve never felt the need to confess it to others.

Did the Priesthood leader take disciplinary action?

N/A.

Looking back, what do you wish you had understood about sex as a teenager?  What would you want teens to understand?

I wish I had the chance to understand that sex is nothing wrong.

College Did you go to an LDS-sponsored College or University? (i.e. BYU, Ricks, LDS Business College, etc.)

No, never heard of it.

Were your roommate(s) LDS?

I don’t even know what it is.

Do you feel your exposure to sex drastically increased at college?

Yeah, everyone seemed to be more open about it.

Was masturbation an issue for you during college?

I was still doing it in private.

Did your masturbatory habits change in College?

No, it stayed more or less the same.

Was masturbation a common practice for a roommate?

I’ve never had a roommate.

Was sex a topic of discussion with roommates?

N/A.

Were you and/or your roommates comfortable with nudity and/or limited clothing in your dorm or apartment?

N/A.

Were you ever sexually aroused or did you fantasize about a roommate?

N/A.

In college, did you engage in any of the following sexual activities with another person?

I’ve had my first boyfriend, but we’ve never had sex. Just kissing, which I wasn’t into.

Did you participate in any kind of same-sex experimentation in college?

As I said, I had a boyfriend.

Did you look at pornography in college?

Just for lolz, but I found it boring.

In college, did you view masturbation and/or pornography a violation of the Law of Chastity?

What is even that question.

During college, did you confess to a Priesthood Leader regarding violations of the Law of Chastity?

Nope lol, I’m not even religious.

Did the Priesthood Leader take disciplinary action?

N/A.

As a college student, what do you wish you had understood about sex?

That it’s okay not to want it.

[demoisverysexy]

I feel like when it comes to leftism, I agree with just about every point you make (although there are some areas of politics that I honestly just don't know much about, so it's difficult for me to form an opinion on those things), but every time you talk about religion, it sounds like you have almost no idea what you're talking about. It also seems like you only bring up religious drama so you can be like "lol y'all mad" anytime anyone criticizes mormonism or challenges your views. The only reason I'm still following you is because you reblog a lot of nice furry art that I otherwise wouldn't see on my dash, but you're more and more on thin ice every time I see one of your posts or reblogs about religion. It you're going to talk about religion, maybe do some actual research and listen to others outside of your small circle of "progressive mormons." The majority of the lds church is full of conservative bigots, and pretending it's not is just going to cause more harm than good.

Hi. Thanks for your thoughts.

I presume this is in answer to my question about whether people like to hear my thoughts. You certainly have answered my question here, and I appreciate your honesty and candor. I hope it's okay that I use this as a place to address some of the points youve brought up, and my thoughts both on Mormonism, and religion in general. If you ever have more questions, always feel free to reach out to me through a DM. Though I can appear cantankerous and argumentative on my blog, in reality, I am always down for a chat, and I appreciate the opportunity to set aside differences and talk.

Ok, so let's get into it.

To be honest, I am a bit surprised that you think my leftist arguments are things you agree with, while my religious arguments you think I dont know what I am talking about, and am out to get peoples attention and get people upset. If anything, I feel the opposite is more usually true. If I recall correctly, most of the times I have been looking to rile peoples feathers with my takes was when I was posting leftist political shit, such as most recently when I brought the wrath of tankie tumblr upon me by saying I thought it was a shame they were the face of leftism on tumblr. When it comes to my religious takes, while I sometimes can be a bit cheeky, I try to be more careful and reserved (though this time that didnt work out: while I think a lot of the hate I am getting isnt warranted, I see why some of my wording got people upset). In fact, religion is more of my strong suit than politics, to be honest. And while, yes, I do get obnoxious and crass when people challenge me on my Mormonism a lot, that is less interesting to me than having dialogues with people about religious belonging and furthering productive discourse. In fact, right now I am working on a few essays in that vein that I hope to share soon, which I hope will show how deeply and carefully I do think about these things.

As to the points about me not talking about issues more broad than the circle of progressive Mormons that I interact with on tumblr, I both agree and disagree with you. On the one hand, I agree that there is more I can do to learn more about religions outside of Mormonism. I have been wanting for a while to study Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, though not necessarily in that order. I never quite get around to it, to my shame. I do try to at least listen to voices outside of my religious bubble, though I could do more there. Everyone could, I think.

On the other hand, I disagree that I dont do enough to focus on the sins of my church. I am very aware of them, and have spoken out against them numerous times. I even try to associate and listen to former Mormons and people who have left (I need to do better here, in all honesty), and to speak out where I can against my church's bad policies.

And bad policies there are aplenty. Where to begin. We have a history of racism, sexism, imperialism, queerphobia, and more. In our history, we have committed atrocities, opposed gay marriage and the equal rights amendment, and more. People have criticised the missionary program for imperialism, and preying upon vulnerable people (fair criticisms, I think). The church has been a source of pain for far too long for far too many, and there is much that needs to be done to begin to right our wrongs. I do what I can to keep aware of that, and speak out where I can.

But at the end of the day, being Mormon isnt only about being ashamed of my churchs wrongs. It is about drawing closer to Christ, and helping my fellow Mormons do the same. It is about doing good where I can. This is what I try to do more than anything else with my religious sentiments I share on tumblr. It is not meant to ignore the wrongs my church, which are legion, but rather to help out people like me, queer Mormons who are looking for a place where they are heard, and where they can belong. I need to do more to that end, and I do get caught in the weeds of the internet sometimes. But I do try.

If at the end of the day, you decide that I am someone who is married to a bad church and wont stop standing up for them even though theyre awful, and I'm not doing enough to listen to others: that is your judgement to make. At the end of the day, as rational and impartial as I try to be, I am prone to be biased in favor of myself. Perhaps you see something in me that I am failing to see in myself. And at the end of the day, if I am a source of frustration or annoyance on your blog, you can always unfollow me, or block any tags that get you upset. I wont lie and say I wouldnt be hurt by that, but I would understand. But I hope that you can see that I am trying to listen, to learn, and to help where I can. I have a long way to go, and today has taught me that, and humbled me in some ways I didnt realize I needed. But if nothing else, I am trying to be better at this. I hope you can forgive me for that.

[succubuskai]

So, just curious, but are you a switch? Because you give me heavy sub vibes, but also some Dom vibes as well. You got me curious! Me personally am a sub. 100% pillow princess.

Tmi & rant warning!

I identify as a sub, bottom, rope bunny, pillow princess, pet, masochist, degradee, etc. I’m a whore I’m sorry lol. I’m also a gigantic brat. Idk if it’s the brat in me or what but I have a sadistic side! And I could see myself topping like 1x a year lmao (idk if that’s the brat in me talking still). I guess maybe I’m a sub leaning switch? I’ve not gotten a chance to explore irl much! I had one bf who I got to try light impact play, petplay, general d/s, stuff with! And I really liked being on the receiving/sub side with that stuff. We ended it because it was mostly a LDR (we saw each other in person a lot but it was mostly ld) and we had different goals/values. But I still haven’t actually had sex with anyone yet so idk if that’ll change my sexual preferences if that makes sense. I’m a mess. I want sex but I’m too shy to follow through? And I’m also bisexual so I have more people I’m attracted to than a straight person but I still choose to be a v-card holder. Aihdnwkdihwkdk help

I’ve been so focused on college the past 3-4 years I have like no life outside of it. And I feel like I have to save up money (for my future & my family) so I never leave the house. I’m bout to snap and get a bunch of tattoos & piercings or something idek

[etherealluminescence]

(English is not my first language so this will be quite confusing sorry) If you don't mind can you please write a hc for mammon,Lucifer and Satan when mc is on her period and she gets angered very very easily (for eg someone asks the same question for the 2nd time or if someone bumps into her) and laters gets very sad and starts crying because she yelled at them (im like that on mine lol it sucks) it's fine if you don't want to do it but if you decide to do it then thank you so much

Hey!! Don’t worry Lumi your English is pretty good!!! I hope I did good :) personally I have never met someone who acts emotional on their period? But I heard it happens!! I’m sorry that it happens to you. Thanks for requesting.

Tumblr is not letting my tags work for some reason or just removes my posts for tags so :/ I have another hc I posted earlier if anyone wants to check out but isn’t popping up on the tags.

Lucifer, Mammon, and Satan react to F!MC on her period

Lucifer

It had been about a month since you came to the devildom, and it finally happened. Your period came at last, and you were in agony.

You had asked Lucifer to buy you some pads, because you didn’t think one box of twelve would last the whole week.

You TOLD him what brand you wanted, and what size, but for fucks sake can’t he get it right the first time?

Lucifer on the other hand, couldn’t understand why you were starting to get upset. He only asked you to repeat it so he can be sure he got you the right brand, so why are you glaring at him?

“For fucks sake can you do anything right? I told you what I fucking wanted why the hell are you questioning me and asking again? Is your brain thick?” You berated him. You really didn’t mean to, but you just let it slip.

Lucifer was sort of baffled. You were normally very docile, and never yelled at people.

Seeing how shocked he was, you started to feel bad. It really wasn’t his fault, you were just taking your anger out on him. Before he could say anything you burst into tears, crying very loudly.

“I’m sorry! It hurts, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” You apologised a few times over, upset at your actions.

Now he’s not sure what to do. The closest he’s ever been to someone on their period is Asmo on a bad day. Was this normal? For you to hurt so much that you just start yelling?

He buys you what you want like you asked;; and he makes sure to double check if it’s right. Decided it’s best not to give you extra work for the week, or even the normal amount, because he’s scared you’re going to yell at him and then start crying again.

Isn’t obviously supportive if you’re just meeting or first dating, but will give you shoulder rubs and tell you it’s okay when you two are dating after awhile.

Mammon

You were screaming and crying in your room after Mammon told you he had a new idea he wanted your help with.

You didn’t want to do anything, and helping him sounded like work, so you began to get upset. You shouted at him to fuck off, and to leave you alone or you’re going to throw him out of your window.

He’s confused?? You have NEVER acted like this to him or anyone. Did someone curse you to suddenly become mean?

He was about to ask you what was wrong before you started crying. It was a mixture between being mean to him and just coming to your senses, and the pain in your stomach because of cramps.

You were clenching your stomach trying to forget about the pain, but Mammon rushes over scared you could be dying, he does not know how humans work, and touches your stomach.

You started to hiss at him and yell at him again because he pressed down on your stomach, and that really hurt.

He’s apologising like mad, and then you cry more because you should be apologising. But the crying makes your stomach hurt more so you cry even more.

You’re now a sobbing mess and try to apologise, but Mammon is much more concerned about you. Cue you crying over how sweet he is being.

You finally explained to him what’s happening and that’s it?? He can’t comprehend how a woman’s body works, but he understands they’re scary once a month.

He gives you his jacket to cuddle into and just talks to you to help you feel better and forget the pain.

If you’re just getting to know each other or just start dating, he’s trying his best while also avoiding too much pda. But when you two are close he will cuddle you or h*ld your hand and tell you it’s okay.

Satan

This wasn’t your first period in the devildom, but it’s the first time someone had visited you while you were on it.

You always told the brothers to not approach your room, leave food at the doorstep, and let you be. And that was for their sake.

Satan however, failed to notice that you were on it and knocked on your door, coming in after not hearing you say anything.

After he came, you started to aggressively curse at him, telling him to get lost, and that he wasn’t welcomed here. You told them all to just leave you alone and he can’t follow simple fucking instructions?

As you cursed, you stopped midway realising just exactly what you were saying. You were horrified that you were cursing at someone you deeply cared about, all because they wanted to ask you a question.

Judging by the look on his face, he probably didn’t even know you were on it. You felt so bad you began to cry. Satan was awkwardly moving before making his way towards you, now that he’s confirmed you aren’t going to scream or shout anymore.

He asks you if you’re okay, and you’re crying even louder. He was being so sweet and trying to comfort you when he was just yelled at. He’s very confused.

He can realise you’re on your period, since you’re acting different. He can also tell why you don’t let anyone approach you during this time now. But now that he’s here, he’s going to check on you and help you since you seem to be in a bit of pain.

You jump into his arms and cry, starting to cuddle him. You two have known each other for awhile at this rate, so he’s fine with it and pats your back. He also offers to get you warm tea to calm yourself down.

Lesson learned, do not approach you whenever you’re on your period, for his sake. He will treat you to warm tea every time if you two are sort of close or just starting to date.

If you two have dated for awhile he’s going to be there to help you through it by reading a story to distract you, giving you warm drinks, and just being overall a helpful boyfriend.

[wandererslullabi]

SGA/SSA aren’t LGBT+ terms you should be using

In fact, they’re not even really terms from our community at all.

In this post I’m going to be talking about two terms sometimes used by some people in our community: SSA (same sex attracted) and SGA (same gender attracted). Note, however, that this post is NOT about SGL (same gender loving) which is a completely unrelated, lovely term created for and by black LGBT+ people. To clear things up, the SGA term is not based on the SGL term; SGA was already an entirely separate term based in violent homophobia, which I’ll speak on below.

So, what’s wrong with SGA and SSA, and why do I have the right to speak about it?

I was born and raised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a church that until recently also went by the nickname “Mormons.” (Yeah, I know it’s a mouthful. Don’t worry, I’ll be using LDS, Mormon, or The Church for the rest of this post.)

This church has a very long, horrible history of homophobia and transphobia which continues to this day, and they’re known for using the SGA/SSA terms to describe LGB+ people, to the extent that the SSA and SGA terms are considered fairly taboo in the queerstake community (queerstake  being what much of lds LGBT+ call ourselves). I grew up hearing the SSA/SGA terms with lot of negative connotation, and to put it shortly, the church has for a long time “encouraged” lds LGBT+ people to call themselves “same sex/gender attracted” instead of LGBT+.

This statement, by the church leader Dallin H. Oaks (more on him here in a post by a gay mormon) is a pretty good example of the kind of rhetoric they use to encourage this: “We should note that the words homosexual, lesbian, and gay are adjectives to describe particular thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. We should refrain from using these words as nouns to identify particular conditions or specific persons.” (x)

This kind of rhetoric is repeated so often in the church that “same sex/gender attracted” is the way a majority of cis straight lds people refer to LGBT+ people aside from negatively using the word “gay” or “homosexual.”  They often use it talking about how we “suffer” from SSA/SGA, are “afflicted” with SSA/SGA, “struggle” with SSA/SGA. Instead of being gay, we “have” SSA/SGA.

It’s used as a way to essentially brainwash LGBT+ lds people into distancing ourselves from the LGBT+ community and further envelop ourselves in the church’s “you should repent from your homosexual behavior” mentality. The two terms are used fairly interchangeably; I’d argue SSA is used more often, but SGA is starting to get used more as well. In any case, it contributed to my younger self’s phase of “I won’t label my orientation” because I’d been trained to think that if I didn’t label it and I kept doing what the church said, my attraction to girls would either go away or I could just ignore it. Which, uh, didn’t really work, seeing as I’m extremely queer now.

A church university called BYU has, in particular, been homophobic to an extreme, actively participating in anti-LGBT+ efforts. In fact, they’ve been ranked one of the least LGBT friendly universities in the entire US! What an incredible achievement! You can read the history of their homophobia (and some transphobia) in this article (including a fairly extensive timeline from the 1950s up to the end of 2018). To sum up some of the really bad parts, though (the sources are in the link):

They repeatedly banned LGBT+ people from their university entirely, then banned students from being openly LGBT+, and are suspected of firing several staff members for being gay, as well as for suspending and expelling students for dating or kissing people of the same gender

In the 60s through 70s, they began administering “electric aversion therapy” in order to “cure” LGB+ students (this “therapy” involved showing gay people nude pictures of the same gender and giving them electroshocks in order to make them associate those feelings negatively). This method was ineffective at making the LGB+ people straight (obviously), but the people who underwent it reported extreme decrease in mental health and increased suicidal thoughts. At one point this therapy was required for anyone suspected of being gay. The therapy ended in 1983, but only because of the overwhelming reports that it wasn’t working.

In 1965 there were 5 reported suicides of gay Mormons at the university in a single year, and the LGBT+ Mormon suicidality in Utah has continued to be high. 

In the 70s, when Dallin H. Oaks was president of the school, he created a surveillance system to “catch” LGB+ people, including literally spying on gay bars and implementing recording devices to watch for any suspected LGB+ students, as well as posting fake gay advertisements to “ensnare” them.

Dallin Oaks also helped create the Institute for Studies in Values and Human Behavior, which was dedicated to proving that being gay was a choice, in order to re-affirm the church’s stance on homosexuality at the time. The freaking director of the institution, Allen Bergin, once said that homosexuality was “caused by some combination of biology and environment.” (thankfully, the church no longer believes being gay is a choice, though they talk about how “SSA/SGA behavior” is a choice as often as they can.)

I suggest y’all also read the Payne Papers (aka Prologue), which was written by two gay BYU students in 1977 in response to a homophobic professor at the university.

In 1997 there was a poll where 80% of students said they wouldn’t live with a roommate attracted to people of the same gender.

“In 2000 a reported 13 students were suspended from the University when caught watching the TV series Queer As Folk. The next year two gay students (Matthew Grierson and Ricky Escoto) were expelled under accusations deemed ‘more probable than not’ of hand-holding or kissing.”

In 2005, The Foundation for Attraction Research (FAR) was founded, run by mostly BYU professors. In 2009 the organization published Understanding Same-Sex Attraction which advocated therapy to change sexual attraction (evidently they didn’t learn their lesson lol).

In 2014, a BYU survey to students only gave the option of “heterosexual but struggles with same-sex attraction" or "heterosexual and does not struggle with same-sex attraction” for people’s sexual orientation. Y’all, this was only a year before same-gender marriage was legalized in the US. That’s just bad.

LGBT+ students are currently still facing risk of expulsion from the school if they hug, kiss, or date someone of their same gender. Celibacy is mandatory.

All LGBT+ groups are currently banned from meeting on campus, so there’s only a single LGBT+ group for the school that meets at a library in the city.

And of course, this is only what happened at a single Mormon university. You’d be surprised how much power the LDS church has, especially in Utah. Ya know Dallin H. Oaks, the homophobe? Yeah, last October he gave a homophobic and transphobic talk in front of over 4 million church members from all over the world.

During the course of all that homophobia at BYU, “same sex attraction” and “same gender attraction” were both terms used regularly in this therapy and in the church, alongside “homosexual.” And as I said earlier, they still use these terms today! In fact, if you wanna see them in action, you can just visit this page on their official website, which has “same sex attraction” right there in the title. The entire website continues to follow the implied idea of “we’ll tolerate you saying you’re gay, lesbian, or bisexual, but we’d prefer if you’d just say you’re same sex/gender attracted, because being gay/bi/lesbian is a lifestyle, and we don’t support it” and the whole website is basically “it’s okay to be attracted to the same gender, but it’s a sin to ever do or think anything gay!”

You can also just search the internet for “same sex attraction” or “same gender attraction” and a bunch of christian articles will pop up with rampant internalized homophobia among LGBT+ church members, and a bunch of homophobia from the church itself. It’s possible this SSA/SGA rhetoric isn’t specific to my church, as I haven’t researched other church’s histories as thoroughly, but the church absolutely contributed to anti-LGBT+ efforts throughout history, using “SGA” and “SSA” the entire time. This isn’t even a thing of the past, LGBT+ Mormons are still freaking here going through all this--conversion therapy is still not banned in Utah.

So, TL;DR: the “same sex/gender attraction” phrase was used in LGB+ conversion therapy, and is still used to perpetuate homophobic rhetoric in the church today. Because of that, a lot of my fellow LGBT+ Mormons are uncomfortable with the terms being used as umbrella descriptors for our orientations. So when someone tells you “SSA/SGA was used in Mormon conversion therapy, please don’t use it,” take them seriously. Yes, I understand that they’re sometimes helpful terms when talking about LGB+ identities, and I’m (sometimes) more okay with the usage of the terms than others, but in general, if you’re not a person affected directly by the church’s usage of these terms (read: an active LGBT+ Mormon or ex-Mormon), please don’t use them liberally, and don’t use them to freaking discourse about who does or doesn’t belong in the community. “SSA/SGA and trans” is not how you should be defining our community, I don’t care whether you’re an exclusionist or an inclusionist, just don’t. And you should never. freaking. use them. to refer to any LGBT+ Mormon who asks you not to.

And, last of all, as a bi person, y’all should not be implying that attraction to the same gender is the only thing about our orientation that makes us LGBT+. I’m not just LGBT+ because I’m attracted to the same gender, I’m LGBT+ because I’m attracted to multiple genders. My attraction to multiple genders makes me inherently Not Straight. Biphobia and monosexism is an issue that greatly affects mspec people, and it’s time monosexual LGBT+ people recognize that homophobia is not the only type of oppression we face. Not even to mention how SGA and SSA terms are exclusive of nonbinary orientations, which don’t always involve even having a same gender to be attracted to.

Exclusionists and inclusionists alike please reblog. Y’all need to listen up. Queer Mormons aren’t here to play.

[doctor-disc0]

you're from texas, you live in Colorado, you're Mormon

...okay this is sort of creepy

Also, “Mormon” is a bit of an incorrect term. I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. If you must shorten it, then I would prefer “LDS” over “Mormon”.

Also, good job on using the right “you’re”. I hate it when people use “your” when the correct use would be “you’re”.

Here I am, rambling again. I’m such a weirdo lol.

Also, I know that there is a lot of hate out there for my religion. Please know that I respect all people’s beliefs, and that I love all of you (But if you ship St*rker please go away you grosso). I’m also not on here to “convert” anyone. I’m on Tumblr to connect with other people that have the same interests as me. Which I have! And I’m so happy to have gotten to know so many great people on here.

This ask is a little bit creepy, though. I know I’ve mentioned these things like, maybe once (and one of them was on a different account in the tags so I dunno how you know all this).

If you do seem to notice that I am accidentally giving away personal information, please let me know so I can adjust accordingly. One of the great things about this website is that no one really knows who I am, and I can be myself without anyone actually attributing it to me. I don’t really want anyone knowing who I am unless I actually know them irl.

Luckily, this information is vague enough that I feel that it is okay to post this ask, especially since very few of my followers actually look at my asks.

Thank goodness they didn’t guess my name, though. If that happened, then I would probably have to delete this blog for safety reasons.

Sorry this is so long. I’m pretty bored right now so I’m just sort of rambling again.

Anyway, love you all! And if you feel uncomfortable about any of the stuff I say or do, please talk to me about it. I’m not scary, I promise! I only bite occasionally. *wink*

[weyoun]

I know you are religious(Mormon I think) and was simply wondering what exactly it is you believe? I'm a Christian ,not Catholic just Christian and I don't know much about Mormons. I was hoping you could enlighten me. You don't have to answer if you feel uncomfortable. Thank you.

Hello!!I am Mormon, correct!^_^ and no worries, I actually love talking about my religion with folks who are genuinely interested

Let’s see, well…first off we are also Christian. It’s a wide misconception that we aren’t (?) but my church’s full name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So you will also see the acronym “LDS” too , and that’s us. XD

To put it shortly, we believe in a restored gospel. What does that mean? Well, we believe that once the last of the original Apostles were killed, the organized church as established by Christ was taken from the earth. The Priesthood was also taken away as those who were given it were also killed or died off. More on why this is important in a moment.

Fast forward to the modern day. In the year of 1820, a 14 year old kid named Joseph Smith is chillin in the state of New York. He comes from a kind, hardworking religious family, so even at a young age he reads his Bible and now wants to seriously join a church and be baptized. But the real pickle he finds is that all the churches he visits don’t quite sit in his heart as the one right for him. They all bicker and don’t agree on how the gospels should be taught. It’s super confusing. And that’s annoying tbh lol, but Joseph is like “well okay…let me ponder this some more” so one day he’s reading in his Bible and in James 1:5 he read the following:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” [KJV]

With this promise, Joseph set out to pray as to which church he ought to join. He knelt in what we now call the Sacred Grove, but was back then just a normal part in the forest near his home.

There are longer, more detailed reenacted versions of this part of the story, but here is a link to the newest and shortest of them, to give you a gist of the encounter. ^^

If you watched the 6 minute film, you saw that we believe Joseph was visited by God and the Savior. He was told that none of the established churches had a fullness of the truth. And that later (when he was older) the complete truth would be revealed to him, Joseph.

This truth, we now know, is the basic foundation of our religion. The Book of Mormon was given to Joseph to translate (he did NOT write it as some mistakenly say) so we may read it along with our Bibles. The book is a record of God’s people in the Americas, to put it shortly, but more importantly it is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Joseph reorganized the church as it was in the time of Christ, given that Priesthood (and thereby able to give it to those worthy to receive and use it for good) and established temples. Today, there millions of us throughout the world.

That’s the main story of what we believe, but other LDS beliefs of interest (to just name a few):

We believe God, Christ and the Holy Ghost are separate beings. Some religions believe they are all one person/being, but we do not.

We believe that those unable to have heard or accepted Christ as their Savior will have a chance to do so in the spirit world (what we call the afterlife, or also Heaven, in a manner of speaking). This is partly what we do in temples, baptize for the dead of our ancestors. All this means is that we do baptism by proxy (ie. in place of) for those who have died before getting the chance to do so themselves. (Baptism is an important ordinance in our faith.) I once heard a woman say that those who were unable to accept Christ or did not now about Him went to hell, and we do NOT believe that at all. God is merciful and His plan is based on agency, our right to choice. Even with our baptisms, these spirits have the choice to still accept that or not.

We believe in Eternal Families. This is another thing we do in the temple. When we marry, it is not “till death do we part”. We marry to last on earth and in Heaven. And when you add members to the family, they too can become a part of this covenant into eternity. We call this “sealing”, to put it very, very simply lol.

We do not drink alcohol, coffee or non-herbal teas. We do not smoke, do drugs to get high or anything of the sort. We aren’t even supposed to drink energy drinks tbh. XD (If you follow my art or Batman blog you may have noticed me specifically avoid any use of these substances lol this is why haha)

We believe in “levels” of Heaven and hell. Not like purgatory or anything. I mean like, once we are finally judged, according to our lives, beliefs and goodness of heart (or lack thereof) we will go to one of them. For example, a serial killer isn’t going to the same place as a regular thief. A man who ridiculed those with a faith is not going to the same place as a man who treated others in love, even though he also did not believe in an afterlife. You see where I’m getting?

This links up with the concept of Grace. We believe in Grace, but in a different way than most do. Normally, traditional Christians believe Grace to be the end-all of “Being Saved”. That because you accept Christ as your Savior, you automatically go to Heaven, no matter what you do really. We do not believe this definition, and I’ll explain. We believe that Grace is given to us all as the triumph over death and a way to repent while doing away with the Law of Moses. Because Christ in his purity and innocence and love, died for us, He was the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. This did away with the Law of Moses. The next part, when Christ was resurrected, signified our triumph over death as He led the way for us all to be resurrected again one day. Because of Him, we all have this right regardless on if we are faithful or not. This leads into Immortality vs. Eternal Life.

Because of Christ, we will all have the ability of Immortality when we are resurrected. Eternal Life however is living forever in the presence of God. There is a difference, in our belief system. Eternal Death, or death of the spirit, is the other side of this spectrum. It is not the literal death of a spirit (that means the spirit does not die and cease to exist) but eternity living out of God’s presence and influence. And that is the worst existence imaginable.

We believe God loves and values all of His children (us) and we should try to do the same with one another, regardless of belief (or lack of it).

We do not believe in the Rapture. We believe the righteous will endure the last days with everyone else.

We believe in Modern Revelation (ie. that God still talks to or reveals His will to us today via a Prophet).

So, in short, we believe most of what basic fundamental points all Christians believe. We are children of God, Christ is our Savior, and so forth. But we also believe in other, more detailed truths (as we believe them) due to modern revelation and a restored gospel.

I hope that helps! If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask.^^ I’m not an expert nor perfect, but I will try my best!

~Ronnie