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As far as religion being a way they control the masses, take for example what Baptist’s taught to their slaves. The lord said to cope with your horrible lives. Cope. Not change. They told the slaves to just wait till they see the pearly gates in heaven. Baptist taught them dying was the only solution.Precisely. Religion is not about the afterlife, and those Christian denominations that have their roots in Judaism remember this. Religion is about learning how to live this life in service to what is loving and good.my goal is to have as many good moments like these before I die. I don’t worry about an afterlife. I like to think people like me get in. And no religion has proven to me to be real so I don’t care what Jesus Moses Mohammad or Joseph Smith said
My first experience of Joseph Smith was when I was fourteen years old, a Catholic school kid who was completely unknowing of what a Mormon was or the Mormon faith. One day I say this book called the Book of Mormon on the public library table. Curious, I flipped through it, reading quite a few passages. I set it aside thinking, "That sounds like it was written by a 14-year-old boy!" Years later when a member of the LDS church was telling me about how her Church was founded, she seemed quite affronted when she told me Joseph Smith was 14 when he wrote the Book of Mormon. I couldn't help it. I burst out giggling, but she didn't get the joke.
As far as Moses, Jesus, and any other Biblical character for that matter: I don't believe every word written in the Bible had me in mind. On the other hand, there is also a great deal of good advice, very appropriate and very useful in my life. I do pay great attention to those.