Heart of the Matter

Welcome to Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology.. We’re going to have an interesting and informative show tonight—rankle some feathers… but… so what, right?

1. First of all, this is a live call-in show. We’ll give you the number a little later on.

2. www.heart@tv20.tv

3. BOOK: Born-again Mormon: Moving Toward Christian Authenticity

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   Also available on our site at www.bornagainmormon.com

4. Teen Show

Understanding Testimonies

5. Finally, two FAQ that I either have never answered or have to answer so much it bears repeating:

What is the music in the open and close of the show? What is my purpose? Self-appointed spokesperson for biblical truth relative to Mormonism today calling out to the disaffected, the lost, the kicked-out, the suffering, the intellectuals, the artists, the sinners, and the Saints who just can’t believe Mormonism anymore. We think our ministry is based on some pretty sound logic.

Examining Mormon Testimonies

If Mormonism is true, then our ministry will pull people up from a place in the lower kingdom to a place in a middle kingdom (where Jesus dwells.) Not even a Mormon could argue with this! And if Mormonism isn’t true then we’re drawing people from lives of religious bondage to lives of freedom in the Lord. Either way, our approach should be considered beneficial.

PRAYER

(Tell story of LDS friend really pushing for me to come with him to one of his meetings a few years ago.) “Years ago…”

Sat in the back and listened to all kinds of claims of truth. Then I watched as believers stood up and testified. One after the other — dozens of them: “It has changed my life.” “I know…” “I know…” “I know…” “You have got to join us. It will save you. It will change you.” “There is nothing better on earth.”

Did I mention that this was a NuSkin meeting I was sitting in? Nearly every first Sunday of every month members of the LDS church voluntarily stand up in their Church meetings and, at the foot of an open microphone, do what these men and women were doing at this multi-level marketing meeting—they bare their testimony.

What does this mean? Bottom line: it means to testify to the truth, goodness, or beauty of something.

The Nature of Testimonies

In Mormonism it usually sounds something like this:

“I wanna bare my testimony. (tears often accompany these presentations) I know the Church is true. I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he gave His life for me. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and He restored the true Church back to the earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Gordon B Hinckley is a living prophet on the earth today.

I’m so grateful for (people, leaders, family, blessings, church).

A testimony is often prefaced by a personal story or a joke, depending on the skill level of the orator. It is always closed “In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”

Missionaries out in the world are told to bear their testimonies of the principles and doctrines they teach. Their discussions tell them to bare Testimony on keeping the Sabbath-day, Bear Testimony on tithing, Bear Testimony of the Church being true, Bear Testimony of the blessing of obeying the Word of Wisdom.

I’m reminded of the words of a rather acerbic songwriter I know who penned: “There’s hope in the words, and emotion in the eyes, it’s so easy to be misled by the sad and gentle guise, and like fools we trust the delivery, but its all just drunk sincerity. It’s all just drunk sincerity.”

Mormons speak of and view their testimony as though it were an actual material object which they possess. Where Christians speak of their faith, Mormons speak of their testimony. Rarely will you ever hear an LDS leader say, “How’s your faith in the Lord, Brother or Sister?” But instead they will say, “How’s your testimony?” or “You still have a testimony?"

Testimonies in Mormonism

Testimonies are spoken on in Mormonism in terms of their relative strength or weakness. “He has such a strong testimony of the Church.” People often ask me what caused me to “lose my testimony?” Often, members will refer to their testimony as unshaken or shaken: “It really shook my testimony for a while” or “It won’t shake my testimony at all.”

In Mormonism, a testimony that the Church is true is the equivalent to having faith in Jesus. In other words, faith in Jesus without a testimony of the LDS Church will win a person a place in a lower kingdom whereas a strong testimony of the LDS Church will grant a person life in the highest realms of God. In this sense, Mormonism truly does teach Joseph over Jesus.

Biblical Context of Testimonies

Biblically, there is no evidence of men or women bearing a testimony the way Mormons do. Why? Because a testimony has a different biblical application. Nowhere does the Bible have believers testifying of ANYTHING but Jesus. Nowhere does the Bible tell us to share a testimony. What does it say: to defend and to every man give an answer. To know the Word, to search the scriptures out. Subjective, personal testimonies common to snake oil presentations have no place in the Church.

All “testimonies” bore in the Bible were about one of three separate areas: they were either about civil matters (ie. people testifying in a court of law or legal matter) or they were in regard to GOD and His Word (the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25:22 is called The Ark of the Testimony) or they were about people testifying about Jesus.

A testimony, when used to prove truth is sheer madness. It is the tool of the salesman. A mezmerizer. A con. If you ask a Christian to share their “testimony” they will in all probability share how Jesus took over their life. If you ask a Mormon to do the same, you will in all probability hear a pitch for the Church. An active Latter-day Saint bearing testimony that the Church is true is of no more validity than my testimony that it is not. It is simply a tool of persuasion.

Psychological and Social Methods in Cults

Dr. Robert J. Lifton, an expert on cults and thought reform, lists eight psychological and social methods that totalists groups (cults) use to influence and control the lives of its members. Words and testimonies play a significant role. His work, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China (Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press, 1981) (1961; reprint ed.,) Dr. Lifton is a distinguished professor of psychiatry and psychology at the Graduate School University Center and director of the Center on Violence and Human Survival at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He held the Foundation’s Fund Research Professorship of Psychiatry at Yale University for more than two decades. He attended Cornell University, receiving his medical degree from New York Medical College in 1948.

Overview of Lifton's Eight Methods

Here is a general overview of these eight methods: Link to source

1. Milieu (environment) Control
   A group's control of human communication within an environment. (At an extreme, it is an attempt to even control personal thought.) The controlling influence over all that a believer sees, hears, reads, or even writes. The leaders hold long seminars, meetings, events and lectures with authority on behavior. The set-up and reinforcement of an ‘us against them’ mentality. The casual or official monitoring of individual change within the group.

2. Mystical Manipulation (Orchestrating events within the group)
   Extensive manipulation of attitudes and behavior. Promotes “patterns of emotion” which seem spontaneous but have actually been orchestrated, often unconsciously, by leaders and believers. Leaders claim to be agents or chosen servants of God to carry out a “mystical imperatives.” “Principles of the organization” are placed forcibly and claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only “way to truth or salvation.” Individual believers become psychological pawns, and participate actively in manipulating others under the auspices of supporting the cause. Leaders central to the mystical manipulation (alive or dead) often become more real and identifiable than the notions of an abstract God and therefore often become more attractive to cult followers than God Himself. The “totalist group” (cult) legitimizes deceptive practices (noble lies) in the name of protecting and promoting a ‘greater truth.’

The Mechanics of Totalist Influence

3. Demands for Purity

The world becomes split between absolute evil (the world) and absolute good (the totalist group). Members must continually conform to the group norm or meet increased rejection/correction. Tendencies toward guilt and shame are used as emotional levers to influence, control, and manipulate the actions, thoughts, and behavior of believers. Black and white thought of believers becomes almost impenetrable by the rational complexities of inner sensitivities and the complexities of human morality. In other words, there is a great denial of human complexity. A radical separation occurs between the pure/impure within the organization and the mind of the believer herself or himself. There is a focus on confession. A believer must confess when he or she has not conformed.

Confessional Practices in Cults

4. Confession

Cult confession goes beyond normal religious, legal, or therapeutic expression. Confession becomes an end in and of itself. Confessions are accompanied by criticism and self-criticism with a major push toward self-improvement and personal change according to totalist rules. Confession is seen as an act of surrendering the self to the institution. Confession makes the healthy balance of worth and humility impossible. Believers will often confess to lesser crimes while holding out other secrets (such as criticism for the cult or leadership) to gain favor and receive leadership roles as a reward. Believers often develop an attitude that says, “The more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge others,” thereby feeding confessional behaviors.

The Illusion of Sacred Science

5. Sacred Science

The totalist milieu (or cult) generates an “aura of sacredness” around its doctrine, holding it up as the ultimate moral vision for the ordering of human existence. Questioning or criticizing basic assumptions is prohibited or condemned. Reverence is demanded for all accepted doctrine, the originators of the doctrine, and the present bearers of the doctrine. Sacred science offers considerable security to young people (or people with young hearts/minds) because it simplifies the world and answers a contemporary need to combine a sacred set of dogmatic principles with a claim to a science that embodies truth regarding human behavior and psychology.

6. Loaded Language

The language of a cult (totalist movement) is characterized by thought-killing clichés (“Is that important to your salvation?”). Communication occurs in all-encompassing jargon which is repetitiously used. (“I know the church is true.”) There is a language of non thought, meaning lots of talk without any thinking. Words are often given new meanings so that the cultists used them differently from the outside world.

7. Doctrine over Person

Every issue in the life of a person can be reduced to a single set of principles that have such inner coherence that a person can claim the experience of truth and actually feel it. Doctrine over person occurs when there is a conflict between what a believer thinks she or he is experiencing and what the group doctrine says she or he should experience. If a believer questions the beliefs of the group or its leaders, she or he is made to feel that there is something wrong with him or her. The question is often turned on the questioner and the questioner is questioned. The original question may never get a response. The assumption is always that doctrine is ultimately more valid than any aspect of actual human character or experience. All believers must submit their experience to accepted doctrinal truth.

8. Dispensing of Existence (loss of individuality to organizational modes)

Since the group or cult has an absolutist or totalist vision of truth, those who are outside the group are evil, unenlightened, unsaved, and out-of-favor. They are enemies. In extreme cases, they do not have a right to an opinion or even to existence. Those outside the group can always receive the right to exist by joining the group. Fear manipulation, used if a believer chooses to leave the group, is implemented by claims that defectors have fallen out of favor with God, are damned, or will have something bad happen to them should they continue to pull away. The group is elite. The outside world is evil.

Most Latter-day Saints I come across, when pushed, resort to their testimony.

The Importance of Testimony

The facts always take a back seat to the testimony in the Mormon mind.

When a missionary shares his testimony with me that he knows, he just knows that Joseph Smith truly translated the Book of Mormon I share my testimony – with all the same emotive persuasion I can muster – that I know, I just know, he didn’t.

A Personal Exchange

We now have some special guests . . .