Warren Steed Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints?

Question

Thankfully he was finally captured. Do you think this 'religion' is real or crazy? I know different people believe different things but many people believe there could be another Waco situation with this group. What are your thoughts?

Answer 1

I think it probably is real to Jeffs - or was at one time since absolute power corrupts and that's what he's had.

The trouble with a religion which believes that anyone can be told to do anything by God - is that sooner or later, someone will say that God told them to do something despicable. People listen to their own inner promptings and call them "the voice of God". Look at the way Joseph Smith decided that God wanted polygamy when he (Joe) decided he fancied more women than just poor Emma.

People like Jeffs have ugly inner promptings and consequently "God tells" them to do ugly things.

Personally, I've never understood the supposed theological benefit to be had from polygamy. I mean, what does God get out of it that he commands it? It's unsustainable - too many men and not enough women. It leads to birth defects from marrying within the same small community.

Remember that one of Jeffs and his lot's complaint about the Mormons is that they relaxed their ban on black men receiving the priesthood that white boys get when they are 12. Jeffs and his lot are racists as well as child molesters. Pretty ghastly combination.

Answer 2

The religion is real but it is important not to confuse it with the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). The Fundamentalists have taken many of the LDS teachings and completely warped them. Unfortunately, because the name is so close, many people confuse the two groups when they are, in fact, very different. I think a Waco-type situation is possible with any group that blindly follows an absolute leader. I feel bad for a lot of these people. While it's obvious that there are some horrible things going on, I'm sure some of his followers are good people who are just deluded and confused.

Answer 3

while being brainwashed and just sad,these people do not believe he will ever die,i read in the paper,how when his father died,the people of the two towns were shocked,they truly believed he would never die. these people have lived for 100 yrs with this bizarre religion....its like the Mormons,same teachings,but completely different thoughts,its just as part of the church that branched off,this guy took the power and abused it,got rid of anyone who would or could oppose him...the towns people are brainwashed and need to be removed and taught about the real world,everyone is in it including the police force..why though,if your an outsider and have problems with a local,you will lose.it is really sad that these child abusers can get away with all their bullshit....

Answer 4

It is a group of people who have been shut out from the outside world and share very few of the beliefs of the real Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or Mormon Church as it is sometimes caleed. However I do not feel that there will be a violent end to this.

Answer 5

I am LDS and we are taught to love everyone and be tolerant of everyones religion. I really didn't know much about FLDS until I read about it on Wikipedia...and I know how it is to have false information spread about my religion.
What I read though seemed very sad, the way their prophet picks who marries who and who is worthy enough to have a wife and stuff like that. It seemed like they were more focused on how many wives they had more than Christ. I do not say that to be mean or judgemental, that is just how I understood what I read. Also, their wives are supposed to be subordinate to their husband. Many people think that about LDS, but we are taught to sustain our husbands as the priesthood holder in our family and to support them. Not be their slave.
I think they have some good teachings, but as a whole I know they are not on the right path.

Answer 6

its as really crazy as it gets - right up there with every other crackpot insulated "religious" community. These particular people have been taught some very dangerous things and know nothing different. Regardless of the "religious" aspect to all this the men of this community are raised to take women as their chattel and the women raised to start birthing babies as soon as they are physically able which is when they get married off to a 2nd cousin to be his 5th wife. A baby a year!

Answer 7

All the people are involved are definitely crazy. Warren Jeffs is a fraud and he tells people to live a certain way. Yet he was using all the devices and electronics he told his followers not to use. He is nothing but a hyprocrite that likes to rape teenage girls. The people who follow him are not people, they are just a bunch of sponges that absorb everything they hear. Jeffs is going to hell, he's earned that, but the other people still have a chance to redeem themselves.

Answer 8

They are the realists who want to take advantage of everything on earth, knowing fully that heaven has little comfort for their likes.
This is no religion only fantasy turned real having too deep a root in the USA from where it radiates to other parts of the Globe.

Answer 9

That 'religion' is crazy, because they kick the majority of the boys out as they think 'only one wife is a bad status' not to mention that they broke off when we said NO POLYGAMY and that when we started polygamy the Mormon Battalion came home and we had 4 women to 1 man.

Answer 10

I used to be a Mormon, and now I believe that it is a cult. If you believe the curse at the end of the Bible (Rev. 22: 18) that states "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book."...then you would fear believing in The Book of Mormon" because it was written by a man who promoted it as another Bible with works of Jesus. It's obvious that it's not okay to write another Bible and follow it.