I admire this man's willingness to examine himself critically, examine his beliefs critically, examine his church critically and then talk so honestly about it. That's an integrity we could all benefit from, regardless of what we believe about Mormonism.
I greatly enjoyed this video and how critical and sincere he was. But specially how we wasn’t comparing his religion to others. Is there anything bad or you don’t agree with? Are they brainwashing you? Yes, like any other religion or any other situation in life, but he behaved greatly just giving his opinion and not comparing.
@@rachelsmith8731 He is an active member but is experiencing unofficial restrictions on some aspects of his participation from his local leaders against his will. Like many other active members he has serious concerns with the Church's far too many dysfunctions and shines a light on them in his podcast.
As someone who is currently a member of the Mormon church and falling away from the beliefs, you have NO IDEA how brave Nemo is by doing this. Leaving is almost impossible and it is SO HARD when your family, your entire community, everyone you love, basically turns their back on you if you don't want to be a member anymore... I have to be SO careful and quiet... Luckily my husband is there with me...
@@toric.3793 Of course, anyone can decide to leave religion behind. But if this decision is based on the information that Nemo has shared here in the video, then I can only recommend that you take another close look before you do this, because Nemo has shared an extreme amount of clearly refuted untruths.
@dannygallaghermisc7593 They have to decide whether it's worth it to leave everyone and everything they love, especially in instances where they are not harmed by that.
You all may be interested to know that just a month after this interview, this man is facing a disciplinary hearing by his church and is likely going to be excommunicated.
I don’t understand why the church would be mad at you for doing this video…. The honesty box actually makes the church more relatable to most and would probably have a lot more success in converting people than knocking on doors.
He discusses church doctrine and history regardless of whether it makes the church look good. The church tends to dislike any representation of them that isn't explicitly positive and faith promoting.
Religious people should welcome doubt with open arms because if it subsequently disproves your beliefs, then the religion isn't for you, and if it doesn't, then it just further validates and strengthens your beliefs. To ask people to ignore their doubt is to ask them to surrender their mind. This video is incredible.
Religion, like magic, doesn't hold up well to critical thinking. Fostering doubt and thoughtful questions will drive away more members than it attracts. That affects the church's coffers and therefore is discouraged.
I'm still active in the LDS church and I love NEMO! Our leaders need a big slap in the face and be more Christlike and less like the saducees and Pharisees. Other than that the members of the church are very good people! The people are the core of the church. Our leaders are behind and learning.
@@chrishumphries7489 The STRICT ignorant far right ones! You know who i mean. If you can't question your leaders then its wrong and a cult! The early christians that apostatized did very extreme serious sins not critisize the leaders. If the leaders are oing something wrong do you have the GUTs to speak and do the right thing? Or will you cowardly obey?
I respect this dude, because his gonads are freaking massive for doing what he does within the LDS Church. I was a member, but left for some of the reasons he mentioned already. Most LDS people are not as informed as he is and will mostly just blind follow everything their leaders say. But, there are people within the church, like him and others, that stay. Not because they agree with it 100 percent, but because without them, no positive change can happen at local levels. When I grew up, 8 year old girls would be alone in a room, with no camera protection, with middle age men talking about their sexual desires because children cannot participate is certian things within the church even if they masturbate. I actually didn't even realize much of this was happening until after I left the church. But, there are kind and open minded people within the church. This gentlemen is fighting a fight that is garnering him lots of enemies in the church. Takes a lot of guts to do what he is doing. Keep on fighting for equality in the church my man!
I am a Mormon from Finland and I appreciate this video. :) I also think mostly "out of the box" and believe that we should be more honest about some of the difficult topics
most compelling talk i have ever heard from the inner workings of religious communities. Often they come across "brainwashed" to outsiders due to mainly stern views on sacred text and referencing those to support their beliefs. This was an honest and frankly quite appealing insight into the Mormon church, and you gotta applaud the balls it took to do that. When such a huge part of your identity rests on the acts of your church, it can be quite vulnerable to be critical of it. Thanks
He's actively anti-mormon. Apparently keeps his name on the records for 'community reasons'. This was like asking a Democrat to answer questions about Republicans, or vice versa.
@@brentd273 which is why he was able to give such straightforward, honest, and true responses to each question. Having been a very active and believing member of the LDS faith myself, it took leaving for me to be truly honest about many of the contradictions and negative aspects of church doctrine, culture, and community. When you are in the middle of it you just have blinders up and refuse to acknowledge a lot of the issues, since you are told that those questions or doubts come from Satan’s evil influence and temptations. Very controlling mindset.
@@nathanolson8971 your response, this is why you nor he should be answering these kinds of questions. You don't view people who do believe or active participants as simply having a different point of view. But as a group of people actively blinded or deceived. People can see or hear the same thing and come to completely rational but different conclusions.
He has written several blogs attacking volunteers in the church who workful time.Have a family and spend a few hours a week helping out. He has absolutely slammed them for helping out. Genuinely nice people trying there best that and go writes about his experience with them and makes money from be negative. I think. He could act a little bit more like jesus and a little bit less like a corporation trying to get revenue from marketing.
Nemo is an anti-Mormon who makes money with his one-sided UA-cam channel to destroy the church by presenting facts in a one-sided way and sometimes twisting them. In the video he has proven this again several times. If someone were to report so maliciously and one-sidedly about Judaism, for example, then the term anti-Semite would apply.
Nemo’s a standup guy and I really admire him, his work has been important in helping me take a more nuanced view of my faith and hopefully will influence the church to be more transparent and improve as an organization.
He wants to bring the church down. Rightly so. He straight up doesn’t believe and remains as a form of protest. He is in and GLARINGLY HONEST about the cultishness of LDS churches and will remain in until they excommunicate him.
What are your feeling about things like all the cities in the Mormon text just being anagrams of towns in the American Midwest from back then (many still exist), that Moroni is just the word Moron and I, or that you can tangibly be shown that Joseph Smith's translation of the hieroglyphics he saw (a language he probably assumed would never be translated, or not translated till after he died) is demonstrably wrong? Also just the CES letter in general. Some of his gripes are semantical on some level but many are extremely blatant evidence contradicting Joseph's/the church's narratives.
@@macdonald2k when you meet somebody who thinks women of the church have hygiene issues and don't stop banging on about it and you know all the same people and all the women disagree with him you've gotta ask questions. Just one example mind.
For all of the members of the church saying he is lying about this or that; ask yourself how you know it’s a lie. If the answer is because you’ve never heard it before, look into doing some open minded and objective research on your own. You may be surprised. There are reasons we haven’t heard these things.
Dear Mormons, this was great! Nemo did a good job. We as Momrons need to be more Christlike and less cultlike! I wish I could take the cult out of the church. Wearing garments shuold be a choice. Making covenants in the temple should be full disclosure, if we make serious covenants we need to know what they are before we get there. It's come to CHrist not push and pull to christ. Take away the shame and guilt and educate the sinner not dicipline them. We should be able to question our leaders without the feer of apostacy or excommunication. I love the book of Mormon and still beleive that Joseph SMith was a good person. CHange starts within, our leaders will get there eventually.
@BenjaminPrestonBurton To me its not "blake in white" ike a stinky beautiful skunk! There are many options here! The LDS church was at one time ran by Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith and others... But he steps a way to see what man will DO from time to time! I think he does that will all religions, I mean he does have to take care of all his children!
@@Power_Prawnstar My family is in too deep! I love them. I'm like NEMO still active fight the fight on "the inside" to me religion and church and community is still good! Just ignore your leaders as they are Dumb asses! ALl religion is the same!
Agreed. Did God really want people to give tithings to rent out a warehouse to Amazon and amass great wealth? Obvs I realise this extends across many religions.
The LDS Church actually got fined by the SEC for obfuscating its staggering $200 billion wealth which is hidden in the commercial arm "Ensign Peak Advisors" and its shady 12 shell sub companies. The church does not declare its wealth even to its members.
Worth 2.2B, takes 10% of your income. defo 100% not a cult Edit: I know alot of religions do the same but not always compulsory, though heavily pushed. I am not religious.
@Looney-toon Yes. It's just rare and more problematic for it to be required spiritually and be a specific percentage of your income. A charitable organization may ask for its members to donate to keep them going or provide more services and that wouldn't be so bad. But if they required a percentage of your total income under threat of burning in hell or being cut off from friends and family, that's not so good. It's pretty obviously different.
Fascinating, yes. Odd? No. You could say the same about almost any aspect of life whatsoever. It's ethnocentrism, essentially. You could be talking about race, class... even your favourite sports team - if you grow up around it, and have little exposure to other ideas, then all else will seem alien and incomprehensible. The interesting/frustrating thing is how few people are self-aware enough to actually realise this, and subsequently adjust their worldview.
When a Mormon comes to my door, I just give them food and water. I'm generally just worried about their safety and wellbeing. One has yet to say no to my offer and they completely forget to preach to me.
I'm an exmormon who served a mission. I know what it's like so I try to be kind, but I always turn them away. I should follow your example though. Honestly, we need more humans like you on this planet!
I disagree. I’m not sure what you mean by orthodox. I don’t know we were subdivided into groups in the church. I’m a member and find his responses to be oversimplified and skewed to the worse possible interpretation of the facts.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I, unfortunately, can identify a LOT of subdivisional labels within the church: Convert, Less-Active, Inactive, Return Missionary, Endowed, Temple-Worthy, not Temple-Worthy, Mission Field, etc. The list goes on and on. But my personal experience as living as an LDS member both throughout my childhood and adulthood was very orthodox (strictly keeping to traditional doctrine or ritual).
Thanks for your response. By that definition, then I’d guess I’d say I’m pretty Orthodox too, or active would be a better description. I found Nemo’s presentation to be a straw man, where he presents enough credible information for the appearance of factual information, but skews it to his perspective painting the church in a negative light. He gets a lot of things wrong too. We did not move from town to town primarily for polygamy. An argument can be made for leaving Nauvoo that polygamy was a big reason, but all the other moves were not about polygamy. Also he says we wear garments to our elbows. He also just emphasizes things that support his conclusions and doesn’t point out things that give proper context to situations. Withholding evidence that doesn’t support your narrative doesn’t strike me as unbiased or honest.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 Yeah he got the elbow thing wrong but that wasn’t anything significant to the question. The polygamy thing was wrong as well but the Church has always had issues making friends outside the Church. The early church screwed a lot of people over, financially, politically, polygamy and otherwise. They were hated for a reason. Hate just doesn’t grow out of thin air. The top leaders of the Church are bullies and bully small towns into submission by taking legal action against them. I don’t recall Christ having a huge legal team.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 If the Church actually spent their wealth on the homeless in Cali and places like Haiti, they would be a lot less hated. If they didn’t bully others and were more transparent they would be less hated. The Church behaves like a Corporation and not like Christ.
I appreciate this man's honesty and clear thinking. Our world needs more of this. Unfortunately, all religions are absurd and Mormonism is no different.
@@jelyfisher let me guess, you are a mormon and you got that info from other mormons who also discouraged you from looking into it yourself. Just accept and believe within the echo chamber and never think or look things for yourself. That is one of the qualities of a cult, after all.
This is a very self-aware Mormon. Most of the Mormons I have met would answer no to the questions about about being brainwashed, having doubts, or thinking about leaving. Bravo to this man for his honesty.
@@joaop.barata6062 no, that’s actually the norm. I would know, having been one myself haha but Nemo has already figured out the real church history and fraud, but stays so that he can be a unique voice for change. He clearly doesn’t believe it, but stays close and watches so he can call out the church leadership when they make massive errors and try to cover them up or hide them
Your standard for a Mormon being self aware is they are required to agree to having been brainwashed?! Interesting bigotry. Automatic assumption and insistence about the state of lots of other people you clearly don't care if they ever get to advocate for their own personal testimony.
I think he's mentioned that she is a very private person so he doesn't share much about her to respect that. From what I've gathered she's in a similar place in her faith as Nemo.
He is a member. Go watch his videos. He was denied a temple recommend because he questioned the church. His bishop and stake president could not give him answers. So, he was told to email to the first presidency. He got a few emails from Dallin Oaks.
@@macdonald2k I can't verify that he's out of the church entirely, but he can easily say he's still in the church but not actually be. Either way, he's lying about what he presents in this video.
Former Mormon here (I'm 6th generation and most of my family is still active), with the dietary code, the "word of wisdom", he is correct that for a long time in the church it was just advisory. I'm pretty sure it didn't start to become mandatory until like the late 1930s, and I only know this because my grandmother, that grew up in north-eastern Utah, all the men in her family smoked and drank alcohol, and they were very active in the religion, and my grandmother drank regular tea up until the day she died (around 2003), and she was even a temple worker I was a lot like this guy when I was in the church, I left mostly for cultural and political reasons, the areas that I lived in were growing more and more conservative and even closer to ideologies of "rich evangelism", and didn't sit with my progressive views of Jesus that we were taught as kids, plus I was a single education woman over the age of 35, and I felt forgotten and not important, it was very isolating. But the seeds of discord really started in 2008 with proposition 8 in California (the state I'm from).
So funny... I missed the first word of your comment, "Former". I was reading like "wow, an active member that's willing to have an honest discussion about the religion, this is refreshing. And then I got to the second paragraph... oh, _exmormon_. It all makes sense now. I'm exmormon too and I really wish I could just sit down with a member and have a truly open, honest conversation about the church and its "interesting" history.
What a well rounded approach to answering hard questions. Honest, upfront, clear, and more than likely he’ll be punished by the church for this approach. Even though this approach is exactly the correct path forward for its continued success.
Hard to say if he will be. He has content that is very critical of the church on his channel and hasn't (to my knowledge) had formal discipline yet. But this could be the straw.
@@TwoTreesVisuals Nemo lives from his criticism of the church. He is not interested in the truth. The fact that Ladbible has invited such an extremist, who in no way has even a rudimentary balanced view and clearly distorts many aspects, is really sad.
@@TwoTreesVisuals Nemo lied multiple times in the video, and "Ward Radio" did a thorough job debunking these fabrications under the keyword "Nemo," exposing several blatant falsehoods that he should have known better than to spread. If someone still can’t see that, they’re simply choosing to remain willfully blind. Do yourself a favor-check it out and get informed.
@@NoteworthyAnalysisif you think watching anything from ward radio is informative then I just learned a lot about you. All his stuff was debunked however you can’t name anything?
Good analogy. In some instances, ANY of the Ainur would make a better spokesperson than an anti. TBH Glorfindel is the best character(besides Eru Iluvatar.)
@@joshgardner5887 Nemo has somehow managed to crown himself as Britain's foremost critic of the church, though his comments are regrettably as one-sided as they are often inaccurate. If you're genuinely seeking to understand a religious community, it's best to avoid the extreme voices. Sadly, Nemo has firmly planted himself on the far end of that spectrum.
Thank you for being 100% honest!!!! Kudos to you! This is so refreshing since most Mormons I've met either deny or reason away these issues within the church. I was a Mormon for 27 years and I'm so grateful to have found freedom in Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible alone. Thank God for the gospel of grace through faith alone, in Christ alone. Biblical Christianity has been the best freeing decision of my life
@@ronagracebatt He blatantly lied multiple times in the video, and calling him honest is not just laughable-it's downright insulting. What's worse, Nemo is fully aware of this, but why would he care? The more damage he does to the church, the more applause-and money-he rakes in.
So... members who say they worked through the problems they encountered with the church are just lying? (or at least not being honest). That's what your saying. Do you really believe that? Because....yikes
The church had abused and degraded women and children for years and it still continues. I got out at 24. I couldn’t even finish this video without my stomach turning.
They also generally speaking cause a lot of collective damage. I'm sure the everyday regular people are great. But you cannot take a religion founded by a predator, run by multiple predators and make it good.
If you want another close look at Mormonism, there's a youtuber called Alyssa Grenfell who talks a lot about her experience in and out of the church. She's talked about 'mormon kindness' and I think it's really interesting how she says its more or less all a preamble to getting people open to talking about Christ.
They are very nice because their faith is one of work . Meaning you better work hard and be a good Mormon so you can get your own planet and your celestial wife and populate a planet of your own.
@@CassVanCat I mostly agree with what you're saying. At the end of the day it's a community that lives on lies and isn't quite what they say they preach.
I get such a kick out of people explaining things about their religion. All the answers begin with "Well, it depends...." My driving instructor said the same thing every time he was asked a question. My physics teacher said the same thing every time he was asked a question. My grandmother said the same thing every time I asked her a question when she was teaching me how to cook an apple pie. My father said the same thing when he taught me how to change the oil in my car.
As he said: He was born into it, as are the vast majority of members. If you grew up with everybody around you telling you that there is a god and he is like this and expects this and that from you, you first just believe it.
Young american mormon boys arrive here door to door in the eastend of Glasgow . Despite glasgow reputation they are pretty much looked after by elder neighbours that no one would mess with
I found this very interesting. His views etc were very open and refreshing. I think he does more good than harm for the LDS due to his honesty. Also, I loved the way he flicked the cards over the table when he'd answered the questions..
Also in 2015 Leaders or the LDS church said it was a “policy” children of same sex couple could not get baptized at 8 and had to wait until 18 or so. Then a couple years ago they changed it back to it was now ok. Not 100% on the dates. Thanks Nemo! You’re awesome.
@@joaop.barata6062 God should give better policies. The church leaders claim to receive guidance for the policies they institute. Every time there is something new, they talk about how inspired this is and that we just have to trust the prophet since they won’t lead us astray. But then when they turn around and change it, they say that was just the prophet speaking as a man, and it wasn’t doctrinal. Prophets speaking for god is doctrinal. Why would god give them the ok for such a terrible policy? And what kind of awful and hateful doctrine would allow for a policy like that to feel like the right move? Getting hung up on whether an awful act of discrimination like that is “doctrine” or “policy” is a thought stopping exercise to prevent true believing Mormons from having to think critically about the issues. I’ve been there and I even accepted that “policy” as a test of faith to see who would follow the prophet.. because I was indoctrinated to accept everything church leaders say without truly questioning them.
On polygamy, I feel the need to add a correction. Warren Jeffs number of wives is agreed to be around 85, and for Joseph Smith historians settle around 33-35. I hate polygamy so I am in no way trying to justify it but there are some very key differences in Jeffs polygamy vs what Joseph is claimed to have practiced. I agree with Nemo though, the LDS church is complicit in what the fundamentalist are doing, and will be until we fully denounce it, remove section 132, and stop performing plural temple sealings.
What are you talking about? The fundamentalists are NOT part of the church and are sharply denounced. We have nothing to do with Jeffs and his crazy group
Some answers seem a bit strange: "How did Mormonism start" - he claims mormons moved from state to state due to being persecuted because of polygamy. But the persecutions started long before the polygamy. He seems to have just chosen to use a common trope as an answer. "Church response" - whether the PR department of the church is happy about him speaking or not, is beside the point. He pretends like the church is actually putting some effort to shut him down. Seems like, if he had a legitimate example of that being done, he would have provided it (like the guy talking about scientology did). I honestly doubt there is any sort of concerted effort on the church's officials part to shut him down. He seems to just be trying to self promote. "Final section" - he talks about the church as a social club more than an organization based on specific beliefs. If you think this church is based on a lie, why waste your time staying in it? Personally, i can't understand why he does that. Makes no sense to me.
@@isaachasson4332 Nemo knows more about the church and its true history than most active and believing members. He actually did a good job I thought of holding back and giving the faithful perspectives and explanations while also providing some of the less savory truths as well
I think it depends on what they are trying to accomplish. If the intent is to provide a rather generalized, typical perspective, then yes I agree. Nemo is completely the wrong person. He would be a horrible choice for this. If the intent is to provide honest, true answers on hard hitting questions (which does look to be the intent of the channel), I think Nemo was among the best choices they could have found. A typical member would not have been as forthcoming and blunt. They would certainly spin everything in a light to favor the church. The also would have answered with non-truths to many of those questions because everything a typical Mormon learns about Mormonism is correlated by and taught by the church itself with no other outside perspective nor historical research. Simply put, the average Mormon doesn't actually know a great deal about their own history because the church goes to great lengths to shield them from it. Nemo was an excellent choice as he has been on both sides of the fence, is still a Mormon who often attends, is extremely well versed in Mormonism and it's history and is intellectually honest.
@@brianrosenlof388 Nemo does not provide honest and true answers. He straw manned the Church. He interpreted everything in the most negative light and left out critical details when it doesn’t support his narrative. If you are implying that a believing member cannot be honest and factual, then this exposes your biases and blind spots.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 I stand by my assertion than Nemo was as fair and balanced as one could have been, even if he wasn't perfect. I also stand by the simple fact that the majority of Mormons live in a bubble created by the church that shields them from a significant portion of their own history. I was active in the church till I was nearly thirty. I was raised in the church, graduated seminary and institute, served a mission, was sealed in the temple. I never learned so many of the basic facts that the church knew about all along and hid from me. There is also the problem of systemic indoctrination. Dissenting opinions are not tolerated, you can never say anything negative about the church nor it's history nor it's leadership. So, no, I don't think an average member could give a fair and honest assessment. I include my former active Mormon self in that conclusion. I knew little of the uncomfortable facts about Mormon history, and I was far too indoctrinated to give a balanced assessment of anything church related. I would have been unwilling to say anything negative at all. I still know many active Mormons. I love them, they are wonderful people. But I see in them the same thing I see in my old self. I think I would still be a bad choice for such an interview. It is fair to say that I do have a negative bias toward the church. I recognize that fact. I try to be kind and show love and respect to members, because I genuinely believe they are good people doing the best they can with what they have, just like everyone else. But the church as an organization I feel strongly does more harm than good to society. I commend people like Nemo who are willing to stay in and fight for some desperately needed change. He is a better man than I.
At 12:15 Nimo says hes someimes critical of the church, correction, hes always critical of the church. Thats the difference. The church doesn't control what information we seek out the only controls is what we teach in Sunday School which should be scriptures.
As a member of the Church in question, I appreciate Nemo's attempt to portray things as honestly as possible, but I certainly don't love that he answers each question with such pessimism. There's a beautiful side to the answer for almost every question asked, but Nemo seems to think it more in vogue to shy away from that. Why not address the positives with the negatives? A couple of his answers just seem completely wrong to me, e.g., I've never once been discouraged from looking outside of the Church "curriculum." We have multiple talks given each year from our Church leaders about learning from any good source--whether it be in the Church or out. On other issues, he's sort of wrong but sort of not--but again just takes the most pessimistic approach, e.g., "temple work is about making dead people 'Mormon'." Not really--that's a pretty flippant and dismissive mischaracterization for something we hold most sacred. We do temple work so that people throughout all the world, through all history, can receive the same blessings we receive, such as baptism and other covenants with God. We believe every person who has come to this world deserves the same opportunities because God loves all his children. The end goal is uniting the entire history of Man as one family of God. We believe these to be ordinances required for eternal salvation, but saying it is about becoming "Mormon" is pretty silly because we don't really see this Church as an eternal organization. Organized church/religion is a useful tool on Earth to help lead us to Jesus Christ, but it is the means, not the end. Yes we believe in the eternal power of the Priesthood--power of God--but that's certainly different to me than the worldly church organization. Other answers, again, just seem very pessimistic and for some reason shy away from offering the full picture, e.g., yes, the Church is extremely rich, but, no, President Nelson does not wield all that money himself, nor do our Church leaders squander that money for themselves. Besides money needed to operate all our congregations, the Church gives over a BILLION dollars in charity each year. We have a lay clergy--meaning everyone locally running churches in your neighborhood do this for free, in addition to their careers, just because they believe in it that much. Only our very top Church leaders who work full time receive a "living allowance," and pay stubs revealed in the past have shown that to be about $120,000 (maybe more now with inflation). Don't get me wrong, that's a comfortable income for middle-class America, but for a guy who Nemo portrays as running a "200-billion-dollar corporation," why not here highlight the fact that these guys almost all left very lucrative careers to take serious "pay-cuts" all in the interest of doing what they think is serving the world? Almost all of these men were extremely successful, monetarily speaking, and they gave that up when asked to do so. They did not apply for these Church positions--they were called upon to quit their careers. President Nelson, himself, was an extremely successful heart surgeon. Ultimately, I'm aware of all the flaws that Nemo points out in the Church, but I stay in because I believe the core of the religion to be true and because I know the power that it has to make people's lives better. Utah continues to rank among the happiest States in the US, and the Church's power to change people is seen all over the world. Why hate something that changes people for good? The people running the Church are flawed humans, but I know them to be devoted to serving God and his children (and to be inspired, despite their human weaknesses), and in all my experience travelling the world, I haven't found anything close to it. The Church has flaws, and I hope to make them better, but in the words of Peter, "where else shall we go?" I have had too many personal spiritual experiences to doubt these teachings to be from God. (For anyone who read this far, let the online skewering begin!)
I couldn't have worded it better. There are some things on which I would agree with Douglas, or Nemo, e.g. the temple fiasco in texas. However, there are points in his data and conclusions on certain topics e.g. when he criticizes the Church’s finances, where he comes to incorrect conclusions due to his misunderstanding of the difference between net worth and revenue. He comes across as Hit-or-miss with what he talks about on his channel.
Being discouraged to look outside the church curriculum: as an investigator, I was told by the mission president that there are three kinds of sources: approved sources, fringe sources, and anti-Mormon sources. When I told him I had read "Rough Stone Rolling", he had actually confused it with "no man knows my history" and considered it an anti source. You can see that I received such messaging not by a young missionary but by a mission president himself.
Really though. There are problems and criticisms aplenty to be had fairly, but he seems to prefer stereotype and caricature. I think most of us stay because of the things he leaves out, not because of willful ignorance as he seems to smugly suggest.
You said it a lot more eloquently than me. Bravo. I find it sad how many commenters here think that this was a completely honest and unbiased approach. It shows we have a long way to go with public outreach and education for our side of the story to be fairly represented. I hope honest seekers of truth see through this approach.
Weird choice for an interview, he's literally a nonbeliever who brags that the church doesn't care about excommunicating him. He adds his own spin as a nonbeliever and is openly antagonistic. He has the right to believe what he wants and stay in the organization but should't you get someone who actually believes in mormonism and represents mormonism?
Just a weird corection but the photo shown as "interior of a temple" at 22:58 isnt a mormon twmple. That called the tabernacle and anyone can go there. Its where they do they church wide sermons twice a year. - exmormon and expolygamist
I feel like having a member who is already critical of the church do this is disingenuous. I would have liked someone who is more believing of the faith. I know many members who are both very aware to the workings of the church, its history, and our doctrine, and love the Church. This is not a great representation of a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So because he has a different view of the church than a more faithful member his opinions shouldn't be shared? I don't think he claimed to represent the church. I think he shared his opinions of the church.
@@BuggMann91I don't mind having him, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have varied and perhaps more representative perspectives. He's got some good insights to be sure.
100% agree. Very few media outlets will interview a believing Latter-day Saint. They are more interested in pushing a narrative than just stating the facts. The ex-Mormon story has been told so many times already and they are almost exclusively the ones picked to be representative of Latter-day Saints. It is tiresome.
I’m a member of this same church- born and raised, I served a mission, etc . He’s taking a VERY objective and logical perspective, which is good. BUT, because he takes such a black and white approach, and because of the nature of the interview with lots of short cuts, he’s honestly not portraying our religion to the fullest extent and he missed a lot of the nuance of what we believe. I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Mormons” as other people call us are really just normal people who do their best to follow Christ. I’ve found a lot of joy and purpose through Christ and through my religion that I wish he would portray better, if he’s going to go out and speak for the rest of us.
I also served a mission in 2016, born and raised. I found Nemo's responses refreshing, open, and honest. And let's be real, the LDS church could use some more openness and honesty.
The purpose of this interview wasn’t to be faith-promoting and plug the church for all its good points, it was about answering the harder questions honestly. His willingness to do so says a lot, and grants more respect than if he were to put a positive spin on every answer.
When you are raised in it you are “conditioned” from a young age. The primary song he mentions, where they repeat the phrase “follow the prophet” 54 times, is a great example. You are taught to avoid anything critical of the church, it’s branded “anti Mormon”. That you are the “chosen”, “saved to come forth in this generation” etc. When you take a step back it’s so subliminal.
@@stenquists1 Well, IF HE WERE A FORMALLY "resigned" member, those who fear and hate his truth-expositions that clearly reveal the ****** of "the church" would use his "not even being a member" status to denounce and disqualify his endeavours IN BEHALF of church members who have come to realize the extent of the fraud into which they were inveigled and become unwittingly involved. ON THE OTHER HAND, were he a formally EXCOMMUNICATED former- member, the same critics would shift to THAT "fallen status" to seek the same result of shutting him up - or down, or off - or convince others' attending him at all. That critics even raise the subject pretending there is any point to their effort may be the best index of either their intelligence or the integrity of their intentions.
He is being pleasent but has a weird undertone - my guess he's not an active member of the church and has an axe to grind. Happy to volunteer if you would like to interview an active member.
@@theTerriberg glad it’s in your family. I am a practicing member so really do know what I’m talking about - it’s clear this Nemo guy has an axe to grind that’s all I’m saying. So much of what he said in this video is false and it’s clear he’s a “professional anti Mormon”
@@spencerphillips983 It took him being vocally critical of the church for quite a while before becoming notorious for it. I'm curious... what did Nemo say that is false? Are you sure you actually know your church history?
I'm not convinced he is an active member of the church or a member at all. Most everything he said is either wrong or withholding many facts and beliefs. This video is very misleading... To bad
@@HeroMan380 Please do your own research. He's not speaking "unsavory truths" he's just spewing half-truths (and some straight up lies) with no context.
@@michaelgrey7854 Garments leading to diseases, the length of garments, the prophet being rich from tithing, electro-correcting gays, just to name a few. Look up the context and accuracy to what he says. He only keeps the "active member" line in there because it makes him a super hero in his anti-mormon community, which is very lucrative for him btw. Watch the Ward Radio episode where they debunk all his bs. This entire episode with Nemo was so blatantly deceptive.
he even talks about it being a bummer that his church mistreats so many people groups and is like but there's something powerful about staying in your religion. Narcissist imo.
I admire this man's willingness to examine himself critically, examine his beliefs critically, examine his church critically and then talk so honestly about it. That's an integrity we could all benefit from, regardless of what we believe about Mormonism.
He is an activist that the church is scared to excommunicate. Literally. It's awesome.
I greatly enjoyed this video and how critical and sincere he was. But specially how we wasn’t comparing his religion to others. Is there anything bad or you don’t agree with? Are they brainwashing you? Yes, like any other religion or any other situation in life, but he behaved greatly just giving his opinion and not comparing.
I came here to say exactly this.
He's an Anti-Mormon, and a mean-spirited one at that.
@@GldnClawHe should be it's a fucking cult
He's far more realistic/open about the church than I thought he'd be, based on my experience with LDS members his age and older. I appreciate that.
@@acmiller22 he’s not an active member of the church.
@@rachelsmith8731 He is an active member but is experiencing unofficial restrictions on some aspects of his participation from his local leaders against his will. Like many other active members he has serious concerns with the Church's far too many dysfunctions and shines a light on them in his podcast.
@@rachelsmith8731 He is! He's stated in multiple videos that he attends meetings weekly. He's just not a typical believer.
As someone who is currently a member of the Mormon church and falling away from the beliefs, you have NO IDEA how brave Nemo is by doing this. Leaving is almost impossible and it is SO HARD when your family, your entire community, everyone you love, basically turns their back on you if you don't want to be a member anymore... I have to be SO careful and quiet... Luckily my husband is there with me...
You can do it. Get out of that cult your worth more than that .
@@toric.3793 Of course, anyone can decide to leave religion behind. But if this decision is based on the information that Nemo has shared here in the video, then I can only recommend that you take another close look before you do this, because Nemo has shared an extreme amount of clearly refuted untruths.
Wouldn't be hard for me, I'd just leave. Seriously, just leave, create a new life somewhere else. Forget the morons you leave behind.
@dannygallaghermisc7593 They have to decide whether it's worth it to leave everyone and everything they love, especially in instances where they are not harmed by that.
@@captlanc isnt it wasting your life in a lie? Thats definitely harming them id say
You all may be interested to know that just a month after this interview, this man is facing a disciplinary hearing by his church and is likely going to be excommunicated.
I don’t understand why the church would be mad at you for doing this video…. The honesty box actually makes the church more relatable to most and would probably have a lot more success in converting people than knocking on doors.
bc he is no longer with the church.
They won't. He's just self promoting
Hmmm yeah ....No 😂
Because they’d prefer to hide everything and lie, unfortunately. Many people have been excommunicated for speaking out.
He discusses church doctrine and history regardless of whether it makes the church look good. The church tends to dislike any representation of them that isn't explicitly positive and faith promoting.
Religious people should welcome doubt with open arms because if it subsequently disproves your beliefs, then the religion isn't for you, and if it doesn't, then it just further validates and strengthens your beliefs. To ask people to ignore their doubt is to ask them to surrender their mind. This video is incredible.
Religion, like magic, doesn't hold up well to critical thinking. Fostering doubt and thoughtful questions will drive away more members than it attracts. That affects the church's coffers and therefore is discouraged.
Nemo is incredibly intellectually honest and is definitely worth a follow.
I disagree.
I also disagree.
I'm still active in the LDS church and I love NEMO! Our leaders need a big slap in the face and be more Christlike and less like the saducees and Pharisees. Other than that the members of the church are very good people! The people are the core of the church. Our leaders are behind and learning.
@@99blackbirds What leaders are you talking about and why/how do they need a slap in the face?
Do you know how the early Christians apostatized?
@@chrishumphries7489 The STRICT ignorant far right ones! You know who i mean. If you can't question your leaders then its wrong and a cult! The early christians that apostatized did very extreme serious sins not critisize the leaders. If the leaders are oing something wrong do you have the GUTs to speak and do the right thing? Or will you cowardly obey?
I respect this dude, because his gonads are freaking massive for doing what he does within the LDS Church. I was a member, but left for some of the reasons he mentioned already. Most LDS people are not as informed as he is and will mostly just blind follow everything their leaders say. But, there are people within the church, like him and others, that stay. Not because they agree with it 100 percent, but because without them, no positive change can happen at local levels. When I grew up, 8 year old girls would be alone in a room, with no camera protection, with middle age men talking about their sexual desires because children cannot participate is certian things within the church even if they masturbate. I actually didn't even realize much of this was happening until after I left the church. But, there are kind and open minded people within the church. This gentlemen is fighting a fight that is garnering him lots of enemies in the church. Takes a lot of guts to do what he is doing. Keep on fighting for equality in the church my man!
I am a Mormon from Finland and I appreciate this video. :) I also think mostly "out of the box" and believe that we should be more honest about some of the difficult topics
most compelling talk i have ever heard from the inner workings of religious communities. Often they come across "brainwashed" to outsiders due to mainly stern views on sacred text and referencing those to support their beliefs. This was an honest and frankly quite appealing insight into the Mormon church, and you gotta applaud the balls it took to do that. When such a huge part of your identity rests on the acts of your church, it can be quite vulnerable to be critical of it. Thanks
He's actively anti-mormon. Apparently keeps his name on the records for 'community reasons'. This was like asking a Democrat to answer questions about Republicans, or vice versa.
@@brentd273 which is why he was able to give such straightforward, honest, and true responses to each question. Having been a very active and believing member of the LDS faith myself, it took leaving for me to be truly honest about many of the contradictions and negative aspects of church doctrine, culture, and community. When you are in the middle of it you just have blinders up and refuse to acknowledge a lot of the issues, since you are told that those questions or doubts come from Satan’s evil influence and temptations. Very controlling mindset.
@@nathanolson8971 your response, this is why you nor he should be answering these kinds of questions. You don't view people who do believe or active participants as simply having a different point of view. But as a group of people actively blinded or deceived. People can see or hear the same thing and come to completely rational but different conclusions.
He has written several blogs attacking volunteers in the church who workful time.Have a family and spend a few hours a week helping out. He has absolutely slammed them for helping out. Genuinely nice people trying there best that and go writes about his experience with them and makes money from be negative. I think.
He could act a little bit more like jesus and a little bit less like a corporation trying to get revenue from marketing.
Nemo is an anti-Mormon who makes money with his one-sided UA-cam channel to destroy the church by presenting facts in a one-sided way and sometimes twisting them. In the video he has proven this again several times. If someone were to report so maliciously and one-sidedly about Judaism, for example, then the term anti-Semite would apply.
Nemo’s a standup guy and I really admire him, his work has been important in helping me take a more nuanced view of my faith and hopefully will influence the church to be more transparent and improve as an organization.
He wants to bring the church down. Rightly so. He straight up doesn’t believe and remains as a form of protest. He is in and GLARINGLY HONEST about the cultishness of LDS churches and will remain in until they excommunicate him.
What are your feeling about things like all the cities in the Mormon text just being anagrams of towns in the American Midwest from back then (many still exist), that Moroni is just the word Moron and I, or that you can tangibly be shown that Joseph Smith's translation of the hieroglyphics he saw (a language he probably assumed would never be translated, or not translated till after he died) is demonstrably wrong?
Also just the CES letter in general. Some of his gripes are semantical on some level but many are extremely blatant evidence contradicting Joseph's/the church's narratives.
I've met him and I couldn't disagree more. That's just my opinion of a person I know in real life.
@@hopkinsonebm3692 Why?
@@macdonald2k when you meet somebody who thinks women of the church have hygiene issues and don't stop banging on about it and you know all the same people and all the women disagree with him you've gotta ask questions. Just one example mind.
For all of the members of the church saying he is lying about this or that; ask yourself how you know it’s a lie. If the answer is because you’ve never heard it before, look into doing some open minded and objective research on your own. You may be surprised. There are reasons we haven’t heard these things.
Start with reading the "Gospel Topics Essays" on the LDS church website.
Nemo is a gem - trying to change the church from the inside. Love this guy
Wow what an intelligent man, Nice perspective , thanks for the learning.
I think the difference between a church and a cult is if you can leave and if you loose all your relationships when you leave.
My work is a cult then.
@@hopkinsonebm3692 I'm sorry to hear that.
@@hopkinsonebm3692get out while you still can!!! This is so toxic. Start a new life before the work consumes you
Dear Mormons, this was great! Nemo did a good job.
We as Momrons need to be more Christlike and less cultlike! I wish I could take the cult out of the church. Wearing garments shuold be a choice. Making covenants in the temple should be full disclosure, if we make serious covenants we need to know what they are before we get there. It's come to CHrist not push and pull to christ. Take away the shame and guilt and educate the sinner not dicipline them. We should be able to question our leaders without the feer of apostacy or excommunication. I love the book of Mormon and still beleive that Joseph SMith was a good person. CHange starts within, our leaders will get there eventually.
@BenjaminPrestonBurton To me its not "blake in white" ike a stinky beautiful skunk! There are many options here! The LDS church was at one time ran by Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith and others... But he steps a way to see what man will DO from time to time! I think he does that will all religions, I mean he does have to take care of all his children!
Ypu just need to get out mate, it's a lie, and your the mark. Just leave
@@Power_Prawnstar My family is in too deep! I love them. I'm like NEMO still active fight the fight on "the inside" to me religion and church and community is still good! Just ignore your leaders as they are Dumb asses! ALl religion is the same!
@@99blackbirds No one should ever have to live a lie mate, good luck
What do you think about orrin porter rockwell?
churches being sol corporations doesn't sit well with me never has
Agreed. Did God really want people to give tithings to rent out a warehouse to Amazon and amass great wealth?
Obvs I realise this extends across many religions.
@@SarahSB575 Yes, He did
The LDS Church actually got fined by the SEC for obfuscating its staggering $200 billion wealth which is hidden in the commercial arm "Ensign Peak Advisors" and its shady 12 shell sub companies. The church does not declare its wealth even to its members.
The temple is the old testimony actually stored things like food and so on.
@@joaop.barata6062 God favours the greedy amongst us.
Favourite position?
"Missionary"
Worth 2.2B, takes 10% of your income. defo 100% not a cult
Edit: I know alot of religions do the same but not always compulsory, though heavily pushed. I am not religious.
Gives millions of dollars in charity every year, manages money well, definitely something cults don't do.
10% is a christian church and Bible thing, not just a mormon thing... just saying
All religious organisations take money from their followers 🤔
Add a few zeros to that number, worth 200bn
@Looney-toon Yes. It's just rare and more problematic for it to be required spiritually and be a specific percentage of your income.
A charitable organization may ask for its members to donate to keep them going or provide more services and that wouldn't be so bad. But if they required a percentage of your total income under threat of burning in hell or being cut off from friends and family, that's not so good.
It's pretty obviously different.
Isn’t it odd and fascinating that majority of people believe they were born into the right religion?
Makes sense if you have a materialist worldview.
No?
Most people believe they were born into the right beliefs, religious or not.
Fascinating, yes. Odd? No. You could say the same about almost any aspect of life whatsoever. It's ethnocentrism, essentially. You could be talking about race, class... even your favourite sports team - if you grow up around it, and have little exposure to other ideas, then all else will seem alien and incomprehensible.
The interesting/frustrating thing is how few people are self-aware enough to actually realise this, and subsequently adjust their worldview.
One of the best ones so far. Great job mate
He got excommunicated for this interview 11:42
Technically he hasn't been excommunicated yet. He was just called to a disciplinary council.
Way to go, Nemo. Thank you for exposing these frauds. Keep on shining the light of truth.
When a Mormon comes to my door, I just give them food and water. I'm generally just worried about their safety and wellbeing. One has yet to say no to my offer and they completely forget to preach to me.
When a Mormon comes to my door they see the sign beside my doorbell and they leave me and my family alone.
I give them a coffee and a cigarette
I'm an ex-Mormon and my little sister just started her mission. I hope she meets a lot of people like you, thank you for being kind ❤
I'm an exmormon who served a mission. I know what it's like so I try to be kind, but I always turn them away. I should follow your example though. Honestly, we need more humans like you on this planet!
Everytime I meet one I asked them if they know who orrin porter rockwell is and 9/10 times they DONT KNOW then I laugh and have some fun
Love Nemo the Mormon! He speaks the truth and I admire him so much!
Ask the people close to him and they will tell you the opposite.
@@hopkinsonebm3692 what do you mean?
@@aromaathome does he speak truth, like the Germans believed mein kampf was truth?
I was raised orthodox LDS and lived it for 40 years (I have since stepped away) and nothing he said was incorrect.
I disagree. I’m not sure what you mean by orthodox. I don’t know we were subdivided into groups in the church. I’m a member and find his responses to be oversimplified and skewed to the worse possible interpretation of the facts.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I, unfortunately, can identify a LOT of subdivisional labels within the church: Convert, Less-Active, Inactive, Return Missionary, Endowed, Temple-Worthy, not Temple-Worthy, Mission Field, etc. The list goes on and on. But my personal experience as living as an LDS member both throughout my childhood and adulthood was very orthodox (strictly keeping to traditional doctrine or ritual).
Thanks for your response. By that definition, then I’d guess I’d say I’m pretty Orthodox too, or active would be a better description. I found Nemo’s presentation to be a straw man, where he presents enough credible information for the appearance of factual information, but skews it to his perspective painting the church in a negative light. He gets a lot of things wrong too. We did not move from town to town primarily for polygamy. An argument can be made for leaving Nauvoo that polygamy was a big reason, but all the other moves were not about polygamy. Also he says we wear garments to our elbows. He also just emphasizes things that support his conclusions and doesn’t point out things that give proper context to situations. Withholding evidence that doesn’t support your narrative doesn’t strike me as unbiased or honest.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 Yeah he got the elbow thing wrong but that wasn’t anything significant to the question. The polygamy thing was wrong as well but the Church has always had issues making friends outside the Church. The early church screwed a lot of people over, financially, politically, polygamy and otherwise. They were hated for a reason. Hate just doesn’t grow out of thin air. The top leaders of the Church are bullies and bully small towns into submission by taking legal action against them. I don’t recall Christ having a huge legal team.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 If the Church actually spent their wealth on the homeless in Cali and places like Haiti, they would be a lot less hated. If they didn’t bully others and were more transparent they would be less hated. The Church behaves like a Corporation and not like Christ.
He's very level headed and open about all the dirty of the religion and I appreciate it.
I appreciate this man's honesty and clear thinking. Our world needs more of this. Unfortunately, all religions are absurd and Mormonism is no different.
Wasn't Joseph Smith a known con-man at the time?
Yes
Yes, a proven liar and false prophet.
Yep he sure was he’d actually been convicted of it a few years before he founded the Church
Not even true at all.
@@jelyfisher let me guess, you are a mormon and you got that info from other mormons who also discouraged you from looking into it yourself. Just accept and believe within the echo chamber and never think or look things for yourself. That is one of the qualities of a cult, after all.
I respect Nemo so much for doing this video and being willing to get introuble with it.
We ❤ Nemo
This is a very self-aware Mormon. Most of the Mormons I have met would answer no to the questions about about being brainwashed, having doubts, or thinking about leaving. Bravo to this man for his honesty.
@@amylangston7456 You know some weird mormons
@@joaop.barata6062 no, that’s actually the norm. I would know, having been one myself haha but Nemo has already figured out the real church history and fraud, but stays so that he can be a unique voice for change. He clearly doesn’t believe it, but stays close and watches so he can call out the church leadership when they make massive errors and try to cover them up or hide them
Nemo is awesome. Most of the people that follow him have left Mormonism. Typical Mormons don’t like him AT ALL.
Your standard for a Mormon being self aware is they are required to agree to having been brainwashed?! Interesting bigotry. Automatic assumption and insistence about the state of lots of other people you clearly don't care if they ever get to advocate for their own personal testimony.
He isn’t a believing member, he’s a fraud basically
What a likeable chap, clear and considered
Hearing their spokesperson, we could almost forget about how SA is a rampant problem in their communities...
*Almost*
Thanks for being more open than many I’ve seen. I agree, questioning is normal and important.
Nemo I did not know you were married! 💜 I really enjoyed this! :)
I wonder where Nemo’s wife is in her faith? That would be interesting to learn.
I think he's mentioned that she is a very private person so he doesn't share much about her to respect that. From what I've gathered she's in a similar place in her faith as Nemo.
I thought Nemo was ex-mormon? Is he still a current member? Id be surprised considering how much he criticizes the church
He won't say if he's still a member or not, but I'm pretty sure he's not
He is a member. Go watch his videos. He was denied a temple recommend because he questioned the church. His bishop and stake president could not give him answers. So, he was told to email to the first presidency. He got a few emails from Dallin Oaks.
Well, that means that Nemo is lying if he's out of the church in reality. @@DannyAGray
@@macdonald2k I can't verify that he's out of the church entirely, but he can easily say he's still in the church but not actually be. Either way, he's lying about what he presents in this video.
@@DannyAGray Just one example?
Serious respect for Nemo. Eloquent, candid, self-aware, and good naturedly funny - great interview!
This is what is called a sooth-sayer, and the Bible warns all of us of them.
🎵dum dum dum dum dummm 🎵
😂😂😂
🎵Joseph Smith was called the prophet🎵
@@arturillosmeriglia8029 he was a prophet
@@user-bright17right…… right…….. this is a reference to the South Park episode meet the Mormons by the way not a personal attack on you
South Park really does take the piss, doesn't it?🤣
not religious at all but this chap has a brain very intelligent
Former Mormon here (I'm 6th generation and most of my family is still active), with the dietary code, the "word of wisdom", he is correct that for a long time in the church it was just advisory. I'm pretty sure it didn't start to become mandatory until like the late 1930s, and I only know this because my grandmother, that grew up in north-eastern Utah, all the men in her family smoked and drank alcohol, and they were very active in the religion, and my grandmother drank regular tea up until the day she died (around 2003), and she was even a temple worker
I was a lot like this guy when I was in the church, I left mostly for cultural and political reasons, the areas that I lived in were growing more and more conservative and even closer to ideologies of "rich evangelism", and didn't sit with my progressive views of Jesus that we were taught as kids, plus I was a single education woman over the age of 35, and I felt forgotten and not important, it was very isolating. But the seeds of discord really started in 2008 with proposition 8 in California (the state I'm from).
So funny... I missed the first word of your comment, "Former". I was reading like "wow, an active member that's willing to have an honest discussion about the religion, this is refreshing. And then I got to the second paragraph... oh, _exmormon_. It all makes sense now. I'm exmormon too and I really wish I could just sit down with a member and have a truly open, honest conversation about the church and its "interesting" history.
You found Nemo!
Thank you for doing this!! You're a legend, Nemo
Nemo, excellent, excellent job! Bravo 👏 I commend you for doing this interview! Love all of your work!
Nemo!! Hats off to you for doing this and for your success on UA-cam, I'm here for it 🙂
Elders in my area are the best lawn mowers ive ever fed 👍🏾
Every time he said 'Covenant', I couldn't help think of the Halo video game series.
Nemo! Our representative PIMO. Thank you for your indirect help in my deconstruction.
Perfect person to have do this video
Though we don't know for sure, this interview may have been the tipping to getting him excommunicated.
What a well rounded approach to answering hard questions. Honest, upfront, clear, and more than likely he’ll be punished by the church for this approach. Even though this approach is exactly the correct path forward for its continued success.
Hard to say if he will be. He has content that is very critical of the church on his channel and hasn't (to my knowledge) had formal discipline yet. But this could be the straw.
@@TwoTreesVisuals Nemo lives from his criticism of the church. He is not interested in the truth. The fact that Ladbible has invited such an extremist, who in no way has even a rudimentary balanced view and clearly distorts many aspects, is really sad.
@@NoteworthyAnalysisok you say he lives off this by being dishonest. However can you name one thing in this video that isn’t true?
@@TwoTreesVisuals Nemo lied multiple times in the video, and "Ward Radio" did a thorough job debunking these fabrications under the keyword "Nemo," exposing several blatant falsehoods that he should have known better than to spread. If someone still can’t see that, they’re simply choosing to remain willfully blind. Do yourself a favor-check it out and get informed.
@@NoteworthyAnalysisif you think watching anything from ward radio is informative then I just learned a lot about you. All his stuff was debunked however you can’t name anything?
I've learned something new today!
Thank you for sharing and being open to answer the questions 👍🏼
Great stuff Nemo!! You are the perfect PR bridge between the church and secular world. Keep it up!
Nemo is the GOAT! He has a great yt channel for those interested. A good read is "No Man knows my history" to fully understand.
All u got to do is not die to get to the top lmao 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Having Nemo represent “Mormons” in a setting like this is a bit like asking Melkor to represent the Valar. Is Melkor a Vala? Sure he is. 😂
Good analogy. In some instances, ANY of the Ainur would make a better spokesperson than an anti.
TBH Glorfindel is the best character(besides Eru Iluvatar.)
@@joshgardner5887 Nemo has somehow managed to crown himself as Britain's foremost critic of the church, though his comments are regrettably as one-sided as they are often inaccurate. If you're genuinely seeking to understand a religious community, it's best to avoid the extreme voices. Sadly, Nemo has firmly planted himself on the far end of that spectrum.
Lol 💯💯💯💯
@@NoteworthyAnalysis Not trying to start something, just genuinely curious-can you give one example of when Nemo’s comments were inaccurate?
@@NoteworthyAnalysis Nemo sounded reasonable, you sound like you're afraid and desperately trying to hide something.
grabs the second letter M and runs away 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Chooses to use an alternate pronunciation for "the book of Moroni" at fast and testimony meeting.
Thank you for being 100% honest!!!! Kudos to you! This is so refreshing since most Mormons I've met either deny or reason away these issues within the church. I was a Mormon for 27 years and I'm so grateful to have found freedom in Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible alone. Thank God for the gospel of grace through faith alone, in Christ alone. Biblical Christianity has been the best freeing decision of my life
Praise God!
I know him, he isn't honest. I really wish he was.
@@ronagracebatt He blatantly lied multiple times in the video, and calling him honest is not just laughable-it's downright insulting. What's worse, Nemo is fully aware of this, but why would he care? The more damage he does to the church, the more applause-and money-he rakes in.
So... members who say they worked through the problems they encountered with the church are just lying? (or at least not being honest). That's what your saying. Do you really believe that? Because....yikes
Show me the lies.
That "speech" occurred in my graduation. You could hear a pin drop. But honestly it seemed like a step in the right direction!
The church had abused and degraded women and children for years and it still continues. I got out at 24. I couldn’t even finish this video without my stomach turning.
00:23:11 Tickboxy! lol The Mormon covenant "Path" sounds VERY much like the Scientology "Bridge" to freedom.
I'm morally and ethically against religion as a whole, but to this day Mormons are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my life.
They also generally speaking cause a lot of collective damage. I'm sure the everyday regular people are great. But you cannot take a religion founded by a predator, run by multiple predators and make it good.
If you want another close look at Mormonism, there's a youtuber called Alyssa Grenfell who talks a lot about her experience in and out of the church. She's talked about 'mormon kindness' and I think it's really interesting how she says its more or less all a preamble to getting people open to talking about Christ.
They are very nice because their faith is one of work . Meaning you better work hard and be a good Mormon so you can get your own planet and your celestial wife and populate a planet of your own.
@@CassVanCat I mostly agree with what you're saying. At the end of the day it's a community that lives on lies and isn't quite what they say they preach.
@grahamvandyke. 🌈🌈🌈
I get such a kick out of people explaining things about their religion. All the answers begin with "Well, it depends...."
My driving instructor said the same thing every time he was asked a question.
My physics teacher said the same thing every time he was asked a question.
My grandmother said the same thing every time I asked her a question when she was teaching me how to cook an apple pie.
My father said the same thing when he taught me how to change the oil in my car.
Life can be complex. There are few if any things that are true in every situation. It sounds like you have wise people in your life.
Seems like a lovely guy. Still don’t understand how people believe in that nonsense but each to their own.
As he said: He was born into it, as are the vast majority of members. If you grew up with everybody around you telling you that there is a god and he is like this and expects this and that from you, you first just believe it.
Awesome video!
Nemo the 13th Apostle
Young american mormon boys arrive here door to door in the eastend of Glasgow . Despite glasgow reputation they are pretty much looked after by elder neighbours that no one would mess with
I found this very interesting. His views etc were very open and refreshing. I think he does more good than harm for the LDS due to his honesty. Also, I loved the way he flicked the cards over the table when he'd answered the questions..
Nemo is very interesting - I very much enjoyed this video
Also in 2015 Leaders or the LDS church said it was a “policy” children of same sex couple could not get baptized at 8 and had to wait until 18 or so. Then a couple years ago they changed it back to it was now ok. Not 100% on the dates. Thanks Nemo! You’re awesome.
I remember that happening. It led to a lot of people in my area leaving the church.
@@willowtree4 No one ever said it was a revelation, it was a policy change. The policy then changed again. Get your facts straight.
@@joaop.barata6062 God should give better policies. The church leaders claim to receive guidance for the policies they institute. Every time there is something new, they talk about how inspired this is and that we just have to trust the prophet since they won’t lead us astray. But then when they turn around and change it, they say that was just the prophet speaking as a man, and it wasn’t doctrinal.
Prophets speaking for god is doctrinal. Why would god give them the ok for such a terrible policy? And what kind of awful and hateful doctrine would allow for a policy like that to feel like the right move?
Getting hung up on whether an awful act of discrimination like that is “doctrine” or “policy” is a thought stopping exercise to prevent true believing Mormons from having to think critically about the issues. I’ve been there and I even accepted that “policy” as a test of faith to see who would follow the prophet.. because I was indoctrinated to accept everything church leaders say without truly questioning them.
@@joaop.barata6062
Sure thing. Thanks for the kind advice or correction.
@@joaop.barata6062 Not true. Dallin H. Oaks said God changed his mind. Look it up.
Thank you for sharing. Cannot understand why anyone would choose to live under these rules but good on him to open up
Exactly what i was going to comment
On polygamy, I feel the need to add a correction. Warren Jeffs number of wives is agreed to be around 85, and for Joseph Smith historians settle around 33-35. I hate polygamy so I am in no way trying to justify it but there are some very key differences in Jeffs polygamy vs what Joseph is claimed to have practiced. I agree with Nemo though, the LDS church is complicit in what the fundamentalist are doing, and will be until we fully denounce it, remove section 132, and stop performing plural temple sealings.
What are you talking about? The fundamentalists are NOT part of the church and are sharply denounced. We have nothing to do with Jeffs and his crazy group
Well done, Nemo! 😎
I had never heard about this channel, but this is totally my jam.
Im so amazed by your brain, witt and the fact that youre a Britt!
Best regard from Sweden
Varför är det märkvärdigt att han är brittisk?
@@MinecraftRick cause Im a angofil❤️❤️❤️
Excellent insight to the Mormon church , I’ve talked to few friends and colleagues over the years that are Mormon but none as informative, thank you 🙏
I enjoy getting a UK persective. Anyone here got an African persoective? Thanks Nemo.
Thank you for you honesty.
Thanks for being HOENST about this religion in such a level-headed, factual way. Lovely. Brilliant. Cheers mate. 👏
Some answers seem a bit strange:
"How did Mormonism start" - he claims mormons moved from state to state due to being persecuted because of polygamy. But the persecutions started long before the polygamy. He seems to have just chosen to use a common trope as an answer.
"Church response" - whether the PR department of the church is happy about him speaking or not, is beside the point. He pretends like the church is actually putting some effort to shut him down. Seems like, if he had a legitimate example of that being done, he would have provided it (like the guy talking about scientology did). I honestly doubt there is any sort of concerted effort on the church's officials part to shut him down. He seems to just be trying to self promote.
"Final section" - he talks about the church as a social club more than an organization based on specific beliefs. If you think this church is based on a lie, why waste your time staying in it? Personally, i can't understand why he does that. Makes no sense to me.
Why not get an actual member of the church? Nemo obviously has his biases, can we hear from a faithful member next time?
A faithful member might not even know how many wives Joseph had or their names. Many members are ignorant and oblivious.
@@isaachasson4332 Nemo knows more about the church and its true history than most active and believing members. He actually did a good job I thought of holding back and giving the faithful perspectives and explanations while also providing some of the less savory truths as well
I think it depends on what they are trying to accomplish. If the intent is to provide a rather generalized, typical perspective, then yes I agree. Nemo is completely the wrong person. He would be a horrible choice for this.
If the intent is to provide honest, true answers on hard hitting questions (which does look to be the intent of the channel), I think Nemo was among the best choices they could have found. A typical member would not have been as forthcoming and blunt. They would certainly spin everything in a light to favor the church. The also would have answered with non-truths to many of those questions because everything a typical Mormon learns about Mormonism is correlated by and taught by the church itself with no other outside perspective nor historical research. Simply put, the average Mormon doesn't actually know a great deal about their own history because the church goes to great lengths to shield them from it.
Nemo was an excellent choice as he has been on both sides of the fence, is still a Mormon who often attends, is extremely well versed in Mormonism and it's history and is intellectually honest.
@@brianrosenlof388 Nemo does not provide honest and true answers. He straw manned the Church. He interpreted everything in the most negative light and left out critical details when it doesn’t support his narrative. If you are implying that a believing member cannot be honest and factual, then this exposes your biases and blind spots.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 I stand by my assertion than Nemo was as fair and balanced as one could have been, even if he wasn't perfect. I also stand by the simple fact that the majority of Mormons live in a bubble created by the church that shields them from a significant portion of their own history. I was active in the church till I was nearly thirty. I was raised in the church, graduated seminary and institute, served a mission, was sealed in the temple. I never learned so many of the basic facts that the church knew about all along and hid from me. There is also the problem of systemic indoctrination. Dissenting opinions are not tolerated, you can never say anything negative about the church nor it's history nor it's leadership. So, no, I don't think an average member could give a fair and honest assessment. I include my former active Mormon self in that conclusion. I knew little of the uncomfortable facts about Mormon history, and I was far too indoctrinated to give a balanced assessment of anything church related. I would have been unwilling to say anything negative at all. I still know many active Mormons. I love them, they are wonderful people. But I see in them the same thing I see in my old self.
I think I would still be a bad choice for such an interview. It is fair to say that I do have a negative bias toward the church. I recognize that fact. I try to be kind and show love and respect to members, because I genuinely believe they are good people doing the best they can with what they have, just like everyone else. But the church as an organization I feel strongly does more harm than good to society. I commend people like Nemo who are willing to stay in and fight for some desperately needed change. He is a better man than I.
At 12:15 Nimo says hes someimes critical of the church, correction, hes always critical of the church. Thats the difference. The church doesn't control what information we seek out the only controls is what we teach in Sunday School which should be scriptures.
As a member of the Church in question, I appreciate Nemo's attempt to portray things as honestly as possible, but I certainly don't love that he answers each question with such pessimism. There's a beautiful side to the answer for almost every question asked, but Nemo seems to think it more in vogue to shy away from that. Why not address the positives with the negatives? A couple of his answers just seem completely wrong to me, e.g., I've never once been discouraged from looking outside of the Church "curriculum." We have multiple talks given each year from our Church leaders about learning from any good source--whether it be in the Church or out. On other issues, he's sort of wrong but sort of not--but again just takes the most pessimistic approach, e.g., "temple work is about making dead people 'Mormon'." Not really--that's a pretty flippant and dismissive mischaracterization for something we hold most sacred. We do temple work so that people throughout all the world, through all history, can receive the same blessings we receive, such as baptism and other covenants with God. We believe every person who has come to this world deserves the same opportunities because God loves all his children. The end goal is uniting the entire history of Man as one family of God. We believe these to be ordinances required for eternal salvation, but saying it is about becoming "Mormon" is pretty silly because we don't really see this Church as an eternal organization. Organized church/religion is a useful tool on Earth to help lead us to Jesus Christ, but it is the means, not the end. Yes we believe in the eternal power of the Priesthood--power of God--but that's certainly different to me than the worldly church organization.
Other answers, again, just seem very pessimistic and for some reason shy away from offering the full picture, e.g., yes, the Church is extremely rich, but, no, President Nelson does not wield all that money himself, nor do our Church leaders squander that money for themselves. Besides money needed to operate all our congregations, the Church gives over a BILLION dollars in charity each year. We have a lay clergy--meaning everyone locally running churches in your neighborhood do this for free, in addition to their careers, just because they believe in it that much. Only our very top Church leaders who work full time receive a "living allowance," and pay stubs revealed in the past have shown that to be about $120,000 (maybe more now with inflation). Don't get me wrong, that's a comfortable income for middle-class America, but for a guy who Nemo portrays as running a "200-billion-dollar corporation," why not here highlight the fact that these guys almost all left very lucrative careers to take serious "pay-cuts" all in the interest of doing what they think is serving the world? Almost all of these men were extremely successful, monetarily speaking, and they gave that up when asked to do so. They did not apply for these Church positions--they were called upon to quit their careers. President Nelson, himself, was an extremely successful heart surgeon.
Ultimately, I'm aware of all the flaws that Nemo points out in the Church, but I stay in because I believe the core of the religion to be true and because I know the power that it has to make people's lives better. Utah continues to rank among the happiest States in the US, and the Church's power to change people is seen all over the world. Why hate something that changes people for good? The people running the Church are flawed humans, but I know them to be devoted to serving God and his children (and to be inspired, despite their human weaknesses), and in all my experience travelling the world, I haven't found anything close to it. The Church has flaws, and I hope to make them better, but in the words of Peter, "where else shall we go?" I have had too many personal spiritual experiences to doubt these teachings to be from God. (For anyone who read this far, let the online skewering begin!)
I couldn't have worded it better. There are some things on which I would agree with Douglas, or Nemo, e.g. the temple fiasco in texas. However, there are points in his data and conclusions on certain topics e.g. when he criticizes the Church’s finances, where he comes to incorrect conclusions due to his misunderstanding of the difference between net worth and revenue. He comes across as Hit-or-miss with what he talks about on his channel.
Being discouraged to look outside the church curriculum: as an investigator, I was told by the mission president that there are three kinds of sources: approved sources, fringe sources, and anti-Mormon sources. When I told him I had read "Rough Stone Rolling", he had actually confused it with "no man knows my history" and considered it an anti source. You can see that I received such messaging not by a young missionary but by a mission president himself.
Really though. There are problems and criticisms aplenty to be had fairly, but he seems to prefer stereotype and caricature. I think most of us stay because of the things he leaves out, not because of willful ignorance as he seems to smugly suggest.
You said it a lot more eloquently than me. Bravo. I find it sad how many commenters here think that this was a completely honest and unbiased approach. It shows we have a long way to go with public outreach and education for our side of the story to be fairly represented. I hope honest seekers of truth see through this approach.
@@tylerahlstrom4553 could you point out in which sense Nemo was dishonest?
despite what anyone thinks or says, I will always love the mormons
Weird choice for an interview, he's literally a nonbeliever who brags that the church doesn't care about excommunicating him.
He adds his own spin as a nonbeliever and is openly antagonistic.
He has the right to believe what he wants and stay in the organization but should't you get someone who actually believes in mormonism and represents mormonism?
It's there something wrong with getting a different perspective? Why should the church only ever be represented by it's most faithful members?
Question. Do you believe that polyandry is supported by scripture? If no, why do you think Joseph Smith practiced it?
Lad bible should have got him to talk about Islam.
Because we want honest answers.
@@fyrnabrwyrda Ted Bundy would have been more honest.
Just a weird corection but the photo shown as "interior of a temple" at 22:58 isnt a mormon twmple. That called the tabernacle and anyone can go there. Its where they do they church wide sermons twice a year. - exmormon and expolygamist
He quoted the musical!!!! I now love this man. 😆
the poophole is the loophole
I feel like having a member who is already critical of the church do this is disingenuous. I would have liked someone who is more believing of the faith. I know many members who are both very aware to the workings of the church, its history, and our doctrine, and love the Church. This is not a great representation of a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So because he has a different view of the church than a more faithful member his opinions shouldn't be shared? I don't think he claimed to represent the church. I think he shared his opinions of the church.
Ward Radio wouldn't have answered as honestly.
@@BuggMann91I don't mind having him, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have varied and perhaps more representative perspectives. He's got some good insights to be sure.
100% agree. Very few media outlets will interview a believing Latter-day Saint. They are more interested in pushing a narrative than just stating the facts. The ex-Mormon story has been told so many times already and they are almost exclusively the ones picked to be representative of Latter-day Saints. It is tiresome.
You wanted a more bias perspective. If you want a bias perspective just go talk with an active Mormon. 😂
Love to see Nemo on here
I’m a member of this same church- born and raised, I served a mission, etc . He’s taking a VERY objective and logical perspective, which is good. BUT, because he takes such a black and white approach, and because of the nature of the interview with lots of short cuts, he’s honestly not portraying our religion to the fullest extent and he missed a lot of the nuance of what we believe.
I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Mormons” as other people call us are really just normal people who do their best to follow Christ.
I’ve found a lot of joy and purpose through Christ and through my religion that I wish he would portray better, if he’s going to go out and speak for the rest of us.
I also served a mission in 2016, born and raised. I found Nemo's responses refreshing, open, and honest.
And let's be real, the LDS church could use some more openness and honesty.
The purpose of this interview wasn’t to be faith-promoting and plug the church for all its good points, it was about answering the harder questions honestly. His willingness to do so says a lot, and grants more respect than if he were to put a positive spin on every answer.
I can't wait for the Q'uran musical.
You come across as being an eloquent, intelligent man. How can you allow yourself to believe in all this nonsense?
He doesn't really, he remains a member as a form of protest. He is a prominent member of the exmormon community.
When you are raised in it you are “conditioned” from a young age. The primary song he mentions, where they repeat the phrase “follow the prophet” 54 times, is a great example. You are taught to avoid anything critical of the church, it’s branded “anti Mormon”. That you are the “chosen”, “saved to come forth in this generation” etc. When you take a step back it’s so subliminal.
@@stenquists1 Well, IF HE
WERE
A FORMALLY
"resigned" member,
those who fear and hate his truth-expositions that clearly
reveal the ****** of "the church" would use his "not even being a member" status to denounce and disqualify his endeavours IN BEHALF of church members who have come to realize the extent of the fraud into which they were inveigled and become unwittingly involved.
ON THE OTHER HAND, were he a formally EXCOMMUNICATED former-
member, the same critics would shift to THAT "fallen status" to seek the same result of shutting him up -
or down, or off -
or convince
others' attending him at all.
That critics even raise the subject pretending there is any point to their effort may be the best index of either their intelligence or the integrity of their intentions.
It feels like he stays a member with a hope to promote change.
Much if not all, of the questions answered are confirmed true by the church.
Excellent!!!
He is being pleasent but has a weird undertone - my guess he's not an active member of the church and has an axe to grind. Happy to volunteer if you would like to interview an active member.
It's called honesty box, it's not a place to put rose tinted glasses on viewers.
@@theTerriberg nor a place to push your own bias agenda i don't think?
@@spencerphillips983 I'm not biased. Mormonism is in my family. I happen to know what I'm talking about.
@@theTerriberg glad it’s in your family. I am a practicing member so really do know what I’m talking about - it’s clear this Nemo guy has an axe to grind that’s all I’m saying. So much of what he said in this video is false and it’s clear he’s a “professional anti Mormon”
@@spencerphillips983 It took him being vocally critical of the church for quite a while before becoming notorious for it. I'm curious... what did Nemo say that is false? Are you sure you actually know your church history?
What a hero!
Nemo my man! Are we dancing today over the Texas situation!
Well done Nemo!!❤
I'm not convinced he is an active member of the church or a member at all. Most everything he said is either wrong or withholding many facts and beliefs. This video is very misleading... To bad
He is an active member. What do you think is misleading about what he is saying?
I know him and agree with your statement, very perceptive.
I think thats because active members are told to keep quiet about this stuff aye
He's just saying the quiet stuff outloud, kudos to him
@@HeroMan380 Please do your own research. He's not speaking "unsavory truths" he's just spewing half-truths (and some straight up lies) with no context.
@@michaelgrey7854 Garments leading to diseases, the length of garments, the prophet being rich from tithing, electro-correcting gays, just to name a few. Look up the context and accuracy to what he says. He only keeps the "active member" line in there because it makes him a super hero in his anti-mormon community, which is very lucrative for him btw. Watch the Ward Radio episode where they debunk all his bs. This entire episode with Nemo was so blatantly deceptive.
this one was so sad. Him having to admit he's brainwashed was oof.
he even talks about it being a bummer that his church mistreats so many people groups and is like but there's something powerful about staying in your religion. Narcissist imo.