Mormon Urban Legends

[Guest]

I just recently had to, yet again, dispel a couple of LDS urban legends.  I'm not talking about the false accusations that anti-Mormons say.  I'm talking about the ones that Mormons tend to circulate. 

 

I'm wondering what legends you've heard that you either 1) rolled your eyes at immediately, or 2) Later found out that it was false.

 

Recently: Steve Martin is a Mormon. -- NOT!

...... the Kirtland temple mortar was made from the fine china that the saints donated. -- NOT!

 

Others:

 

1) The vanishing hitchhiker.  -- Better get your food storage together.

2) The Church owns the Coca-Cola company.

3) We're so close to the end times that we will build no more churches, only temples.

 

I had to correct #3 immediately because I knew at the time that my stake was building another building.  Then the person telling me this clarified and said that all those currently in construction are the last ones.  Well, it's been over 25 years and we're still building.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Guest

[Sunday21]

This I have heard: Steve Martin is a Mormon.

[Palerider]

Too many to list ...... Lol

[Jamie123]

"Mormon" is another word for "Amish"

"Mormon" is another word for "Quaker"

All Mormons are Freemasons

Mormons are banned from being Freemasons

Mormon men can have as many wives as they like but cannot drink Coca Cola

Mormons believe that God communicates with the saints using tachyons

Sir Richard Branson is a Mormon (I actually believed this for some time before I looked into it)

[Guest]

Jamie,

 

I was specifically asking about those that WE tend to propagate amongst ourselves, not the misconceptions of non-LDS.

 

Being banned from freemasonry:  This is partially true.  Each lodge has some "house rules".  The lodges in Utah, for many years did indeed blackball any Mormons from joining.  But this practice was not universal.  And in the past couple of decades, the lodges in Utah have gradually chosen to discontinue the practice.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Guest

[Jamie123]

Jamie,

 

I was specifically asking about those that WE tend to propagate amongst ourselves, not the misconceptions of non-LDS.

 

Being banned from freemasonry:  This is partially true.  Each lodge has some "house rules".  The lodges in Utah, for many years did indeed blackball any Mormons from joining.  But this practice was not universal.  And in the past couple of decades, the lodges in Utah have gradually chosen to discontinue the practice.

 

You mean Mormons *don't* try to pass themselves off as Amish?  

 

Seriously though I didn't spot that in the OP (hangs head in shame!  )

[cdowis]

This I have heard: Steve Martin is a Mormon.

 

Steve Martin is indeed a Mormon, but he is not THE Steve Martin.  

 

 

...... the Kirtland temple mortar was made from the fine china that the saints donated. -- NOT!

 

 

Please share with us your source.

Edited November 26, 2015 by cdowis

[Jamie123]

One I heard about once is that the Smithsonian uses the Book of Mormon as a reference on pre-Columbian America.

 

This is obviously untrue (if it were true then the Smithsonian would be a bastion of Mormonism, which it isn't) but whether this idea was ever seriously believed by Church members I don't know.

[Guest]

You mean Mormons *don't* try to pass themselves off as Amish?  

 

Funny you should mention that.  When we had a child born at home, obtaining the birth certificate was a big pain due to documentation.  They did say that if you were "one of these listed groups" (among which were Amish) that you didn't need documentation.  I told the clerk, well, a lot of people try to compare us to the Amish.  So...

 

She didn't go for it.

[pam]

 

 

I heard for years and still hear it regarding the story of how the church commissioned Del Parsons to paint this picture of Christ and that it kept going back until he had it right.

[Guest]

Steve Martin is indeed a Mormon, but he is not THE Steve Martin.  

 

 

Please share with us your source.

 

Steve Martin:  That is an EXCELLENT nit-pick.  Hat's off to you.

 

Kirtland temple: 

 

http://holyfetch.com/talk_faves/temple_sparkle.html

Edited November 26, 2015 by Guest

[Palerider]

Rumor has it the church is thinking about shortening the 3 hour block of meetings.....:)

[Guest]

Oh, yes!  The Sunday School is being phased out thing.  Yeah.  Here's the anecdote from my end.

 

In my BYU ward a sister had visited her home ward where they apparently were beginning the pilot program.  They had no Sunday School in any of the wards in her building.  She assumed the entire stake was doing this.  Her report gave me pause until...

 

I was visiting a relative near Ogden.  The mom had asked Elder Packer's son (in her ward) whether "the Brethren are aware that the Church is phasing out Sunday School." He seemed surprised to hear the rumor.

 

He came back and reported, "The Brethren have no idea that the Church is phasing out Sunday School."  But apparently, there are some areas where the Church is growing so fast that they've had to fit more wards into a single building.  So for scheduling purposes they've cut out one of the meetings in those buildings so it isn't in solid blocks for 12 hours a day.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Guest

[cdowis]

del

Edited November 26, 2015 by cdowis

[NeuroTypical]

My wife sat on a real plane ride on a trip into Utah, next to a real businessman, who was really worried about landing in SLC, because of his real belief that Mormons have horns and are all inbred.  He figured the horns were bony protrusions, a genetic flaw from all the inbreeding, and usually removed at birth.  

 

My wife sat there and listened for a while, then gently suggested he might have some incorrect information, and offered her head for inspection.  Coming to understand that he was sitting next to a Mormon, didn't really help this guy.  Having a discussion with my reasonable wife who didn't look or act inbred (whatever he figured inbred people acted like) didn't help.  He deplaned still worried about the weird Mormons.

[Palerider]

Church Responds to Speculation About Shorter Sunday Block

byLDS Living | Nov. 24, 2015

From the ChurchMormon Life

Comments

Recently, news reports began circulating about a Boston stake that was going to shorten the standard three-hour Church block to two hours and 15 minutes. Shortly after these stories were published, rumors also began cropping up on social media that these shorter meetings were a two-month experiment initiated by the Church.

Yesterday, November 24, however, the Church released a statement about the reports:

After recognizing it was not within Church guidelines, local Church leadership in the Boston Massachusetts Stake decided to drop plans to shorten the standard Sunday worship meeting schedule. The two-month experiment set to begin in the stake in January was planned locally with good intentions to better observe the Sabbath Day.

The Church's three-hour block as we know it today began in 1980 and was initiated to help increase church attendance and ease the burdens of those who had to travel long distances to meeting houses. With the beginning of this new block, the Church published a letter explaining the benefits of this new three-hour block, saying, "the Sabbath day is ‘less pressured’ and ‘more relaxed.’ Gospel-centered family activities such as family councils, family scripture study, and unpressured meal-time discussions were consistently reported."

Lead image from Mormon Newsroom.

[bytebear]

My wife sat on a real plane ride on a trip into Utah, next to a real businessman, who was really worried about landing in SLC, because of his real belief that Mormons have horns and are all inbred.  He figured the horns were bony protrusions, a genetic flaw from all the inbreeding, and usually removed at birth.  

 

My wife sat there and listened for a while, then gently suggested he might have some incorrect information, and offered her head for inspection.  Coming to understand that he was sitting next to a Mormon, didn't really help this guy.  Having a discussion with my reasonable wife who didn't look or act inbred (whatever he figured inbred people acted like) didn't help.  He deplaned still worried about the weird Mormons.

 

Do you feel anything?

 

No,

 

Are you sure. Rub harder.  Are you sure you don't feel anything?

 

No,

 

Not even a little foolish?

[Backroads]

I had a camp director who one summer told all visiting troops a certain hill on one of our hiking trails had been the site of a Lamanite battle (a majority of the troops bring LDS).

[kapikui]

The church has said enough about food storage and is going to stop emphasizing it.  Comes up every few years, usually just before the church does another blitz on the importance of provident living. 

[cdowis]

A few weeks before General Conference --

 

A friend of my mailman's niece got a mission call, but the letter did not say where he was going.  It simply said to listen to General Conference and he will find out.  (Hinting that it will be China).

 

PS He's been waiting for several years now.

Edited November 27, 2015 by cdowis

[NightSG]

The Church will be reconsidering its position on sin.

 

 

[Backroads]

A few weeks before General Conference --

A friend of my mailman's niece got a mission call, but the letter did not say where he was going. It simply said to listen to General Conference and he will find out. (Hinting that it will be China).

PS He's been waiting for several years now.

Some k8d that went to church with my old coworker ' s son's friend also got the China call!

[Anddenex]

The church has said enough about food storage and is going to stop emphasizing it.  Comes up every few years, usually just before the church does another blitz on the importance of provident living. 

 

Not an urban legend, this was emphasized in stake trainings (General Authority trainings) as handed down from the apostles and prophets.  

[Anddenex]

I am still dumb founded when I hear this one still among members, 

 

1) Three Nephite stories and their spinoffs

 

2) Caffeine -- it is the temperature of your caffeine that makes it bad

 

3) Everyone is going to run to Missouri

 

4) It will be a band of Elders/High Priest that will charge toward the white house and take back this country

 

[NightSG]

3) Everyone is going to run to Missouri

 

Apparently that's what it would take to get a few two steps to be played at the singles dances.

 

Forget Independence; let's build a temple in Branson and get this thing started.