Mormonism in a Nutshell

(What Anybody Should be Able to Figure Out Without Any Help)

If somebody should come around to you and say, very seriously, that:

--God has been talking personally to him; and

--He has an important message for YOU from GOD (even though you know that God has your
address and phone number and could easily give you the message himself); and

--The message is that God wants you to do whatever this guy says;

--Which includes giving this guy lots of money, time and energy to help him; and

--If you do this, wonderful things will happen to you, but mostly after you're dead; and

--God has told him all kinds of important stuff (but not how to cure AIDS, or cancer, or the common cold;
or how to pick a stock that will double in a year; or how to pay off the national debt); and

--It's OK for him to be married to 30 or 40 women at the same time (but it's not OK for YOU); and

--You're not supposed to ask him any questions, but just trust him; and

--If you do everything he says, he'll tell you the secret password and handshake
that will get you into Heaven; and

--Then, after you die and go to Heaven, you will organize and rule your own world and billions
of your own spirit children (even though right now you can't even organize your own desk top,
you hire somebody else to prepare your tax return and repair your carburetor, you have absolutely
no interest in astronomy, quantum physics or advanced math, and you can't control the three kids you have);

If somebody tells you all this,

SHOULDN'T YOU BE A LITTLE BIT SUSPICIOUS?

Chances are pretty good that he is either a lunatic or a fraud,

AND YOU SHOULD RUN LIKE HELL!

But this is Joseph Smith's story, in a nutshell.

- Richard Packham

© 1997 Richard Packham Permission granted to reproduce for non-commercial purposes,
provided text is not changed and this copyright notice is included

Go back one, to Why I Left Mormonism, or back to the home page.