And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. (2 Thess 2:11)I recently received fan mail from Patrick Hussey, a former member of the Church here in Ireland, taking exception with my calling him, well, a former member of the Church as he has not had his name removed from the rolls of the Church . . . yet, anyway (he said he will let me know when that changes--soon, hopefully--the less spiritually dead people on the rolls of the Church, the better).
Here is an interesting portion of his rant of an email which highlights the rather odd mentality of some former members of the Church (emphasis added):
I just want to clarify.. I do still believe in about 50% of the basic content of what the church teaches.. I believe in most of the doctrinal teaching in the Book of Mormon, I like a lot of what Joseph Smith taught. (I say like, which is different to fully believe) I believe in God, In Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit, I think the church in many way is a good organisation. I like its conservative nature, I like its stance on a lot of social and moral issues. I agree with the family proclamation document. I think a lot of members do great work in their communities around the world. I was happy as an active member and I learned a lot.
Its the dishonesty that turns me off. I think Joseph Smith was dishonest and fraudulent in at least some of his activities and esp while claiming to be a prophet. The whole thing is built on a lie (the lie of the first vision and the story about the Golden Plates), but despite that much good has also come form the church into the lives of the followers of Mormonism due to their desire to follow Christ and live his New testament and Book of Mormon based gospel.
Mormonism is a fraud perpetrated by Joseph Smith but it is still good in that it allows members to follow Christ and "his New Testament and Book of Mormon-based gospel"--so Christ is guilty of divine deception by "okaying" the fraudulent Book of Mormon? Makes as much sense as Bill O'Reilly's "tide goes in, tide goes out" nonsense.
Also, anyone who explicitly rejects the foundational teachings of the Church is a former Latter-day Saint; their name removal or excommunication is just an outward expression of an inward reality. Also, note the following from the horse's own mouth:
A more in-depth study of Mormon history . . . [led to my] loss of faith in the Prophet Joseph Smith . . .I am technically still a Latter Day Saint, but I'm in some sort of in-between stage in my head. I might go back to being Catholic or stay as some kind of non-denominational Christian. I'm kind of on a sabbatical from fully practicing any religion at the moment. (Patrick Hussey, p. 56 of Irish Tatler Man, Spring 2017 issue, available online here)