raised lds. served a church mission. so on and so on. about 10 years ago i started doing one of the main things the lds church does not want members to do: i did online research on joseph smith, the start/origins of the church, etc. smith was a treasure hunter and a known con-man. he came up with his biggest con ever - a church based on his lies of having a "vision."  fun fact: the church claims polygamy was instituted "by god" in a vision smith had. he claimed this was because many husbands and fathers had been murdered by those persecuting the church, and god directed smith to start plural marriage so these widows could be supported by good mormon men. the reality was that smith had his wandering eye on the wives of many men in the area. most all of these men were alive and not members of the church, but their wives were. so smith used the "god commands you" angle to convince these women to leave their husbands and become his "spiritual wives" so smith could have unbridled sex with other men's wives while claiming he was being obedient to god.  what a massive crock of shit. don't forget that until 1978, god hated black people that joined the mormon church. but after the church announced plans to build a temple in brazil, an extremely mixed race country, this put the church in an awkward position. how could they determine if a brazilian member of the church was pure white, with no "black blood" in their family tree? make members bring a copy on the full, complete family's genealogy to their bishop to get a "temple recommend"?  so then-church president and prophet spencer w. kimball had a vision. turns out god suddenly loved black people! the church announced that black members were now able to receive the "fullness of the gospel." this meant black members could now get a temple recommend and go to the temple and take out ordinances that would "seal" them to their spouse and children for time and all eternity.
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