Today we explore Elder Holland. First I discuss the personal relationship Elder Holland and I have/had. The trouble is once the biased lens of Mormonism was shed from my eyes I began to realize something else about Elder Holland which is that he seems to be deceptive and flat out lying on multiple occasions. And often about small things that seemed to indicate a person who easily decides and chooses to exaggerate and deceive. We review five examples in this episode and some of this are absolutely demonstrable.
1.) Elder Holland claims to hold the very copy of the book of Mormon that bethsheba, Hyrum Smith wife, had in her possession from which Hyrum Smith the prophets brother read to her and had turned the corner of the page down from where he read. The problem is that the copy Elder Holland holds up in his hand at General conference is distinctly different from the copy in the Church History department claimed to be the same book.
RESOURCES:
– https://www.flickr.com/photos/nickleus/sets/72157623567278714/
– Safety for the Soul conference Talk
– http://www.salamandersociety.com/foyer/prophets/jeffreyrholland/
2.) Elder Holland when asked about the Church’s contribution to Prop 8 says that the Church did not give “One Red Cent” to the fight against Same Sex Marriage in California. Problem is it gave a reported amount of almost $200,000. Some want to debate over whether it was cash or in kind donations but to battle over rhetoric seems to be a sly way to find a loophole.
RESOURCES:
– https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/same-sex-marriage-and-proposition-8
– https://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-karger/mormongate—-the-churchs_b_163016.html
– http://www.missedinsunday.com/memes/lgbtq/proposition-8/
– https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15marriage.html
– https://www.dailydot.com/irl/mormon-church-gay-marriage-prop-8/
3.) Elder Holland tells a faith promoting story about a missionary who out on his mission is led by the spirit to his older brother who had severed his relationship with his family years earlier. Elder Holland had told this story for years and other General Authorities before him had shared it. The problem is the story was a false faith promoting narrative. Each telling contained different contradicting details and too far fetched too believe of a story-line. Soon after the Deseret News picked up on the story, the far fetched details began to be questioned by critical thinking Mormons and Elder Holland through the Deseret News and Church PR quickly distanced himself from the story. But even his side of how he came to learn the story was inaccurate is problematic.
RESOURCES:
– Cache of Original Story
– https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865685840/Elder-Holland-withdraws-Church-News-missionary-story.html
– Radio Free Mormon Episode detailing the deception
– http://kuer.org/post/mormon-apostle-withdraws-embellished-story#stream/0
– Bill Reel’s questioning the validity before Elder Holland’s retraction
4.) Elder Holland when asked directly whether Mitt Romney would have made penalty oaths in the temple answers NO. Problem, such is a flat out lie.
RESOURCES:
– Youtube Clip showing the lie
– https://www.cityweekly.net/BuzzBlog/archives/2012/06/05/bbc-interview-with-lds-leader-earns-controversy
– https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/7c2tuq/did_holland_lie_semantic_analysis_of_jeffrey_r/
– Jonathon Streeter’s dissection of this event
5.) Elder Holland in a Regional meeting claims that the Church is growing in such a rate that it is creating Double Digit NEW Stake creation “every week of our lives”. The Problem is that the Church every year tells us the number of stakes in the Church at year end of the previous year. Elder Holland made this claim in early 2015 And from 2015 through 2017 the church consistently averaged 1.6 new stakes per week. This makes a fifth lie with this one being deeply demonstrable.
RESOURCES:
– The Youtube video of his claim
– Apologetic response – The owner of this blog is trying to reconcile the claim and as you will see relies on anectdotal data as he struggles to have any real source for the claim further showing how much of a stretch the claim is
– Conversation by Bill Reel searching for a way to reconcile this issue
– Data exploration on this issue
– Bill Reel Facebook post on such
In conclusion one is left with their jaw on the floor trying to figure out why Elder Jeffrey R Holland is an habitual liar.
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Maybe he meant double digit “steaks” because there are 12 Apostles who love beef
On your fifth point above, you say that Holland claimed double digit New stake creation in a talk given in early 2015. You then check the growth rates from 2015 on. What are the growth rates up to 2015 when the talk was given? Was he telling the truth up to that point? If he was, then he wasn’t lying, apart from not accurately predicting future growth, which would be virtually impossible unless he was prophetic or something.
no you can go back and forth 5 years and nothing matches his numbers.
I don’t understand your approach to these topics. I was expecting you to be accusing him of false gospel teachings. What are you actually trying to say about Elder Holland and why is that associated with the truthfulness of the gospel? I’m not trying to argue with you, I am inactive and found this article online and I can’t understand what your trying to get at. Thanks.
The fact that he lies about a lot of things just begs the question as to why. Why does he need to make up faith promoting stories? Why can’t he just share REAL experiences rather than stories he made up? Why would he say he had the copy of the BoM that Hyrum had in Carthage? Why does he have to lie about it?
It makes it seem like he is manipulating people through emotional tactics to try and promote belief. He shouldn’t need to rely on faith promoting BS if the church is full of truth.
You do not know the man and the doctrine. You stop spreading lies.
can you refute the claims I have made about his dishonesty?
Stop being a hater and spread the real truth. Elder Holland is a man of god and you can learn from him.
can you refute the claims I have made about his dishonesty?
The latest statistics that the church published for 2022 show that there were only 15 WARDS created in all of 2022.