Factors in my decision to leave the LDS church

This is a list of concerns that I came across that played a major part in my decision to leave the church and continue to play a part in my not coming back to the church or having any faith in the message. As far as I know all of these things are true but I am open to eliminating items if I am informed otherwise. Most members of the church are simply not aware of the these facts or are at least not aware of the significant historical backing to these claims (I know I wasn't). I have heard it stated that people who stay in the church handle this information in three ways; (1) Reject it as false information, (2) Shelf it as not to be understood at this present time because we can't understand the things of god or (3) Completely avoid seeing it or thinking about it at all. I believe that we were given a mind to use it and that it is a good thing, not a stumbling block. I invite all those who are currently in the church to investigate these claims so that they can have a better understanding of the history behind the message that they so boldly proclaim. 

Polygamy

1. Joseph Smith had 32 wives (or more). 
2. Joseph Smith married a 14yr girl.
3. Joseph Smith married other men's wives while they were away on missions (polyandry). 
4. Joseph Smith was commanded to perform polygamy by an angle that threatened him with a sword. 
5. Joseph Smith had a "dirty little affiar" with one of his servants, Fanny Alger prior to him coming forth with the revelation of polygamy. 
6. Joseph Smith manipulated girls into marrying him against their will on the premise that their family's eternal salvation depended on it. 
7. Members of the church were part of the mob when Joseph Smith got tarred and feathered and the mob planned on castrating him. 
8. Joseph Smith denied that he practiced polygamy in 1844 in response to a newspaper article written by William Law in the Nauvoo Expositor. 
9. Joseph Smith had the printing press destroyed in Nauvoo due to that article which was one of the main reasons why he went to Carthage Jail, eventually leading to his death. 
10. All of the prophets of the LDS church prior to around 1890 taught that one must practice polygamy to attain the highest degree of glory and that it was an eternal principle.
11. The church claims to have stopped polygamy in 1898 even though the prophet and many members at that time continue to practice polygamy. 

Book of Mormon

1. There is no remnant of the people claiming to live in the American continent as stated in the BoM. 
2. Wars that claimed to have consisted of 2 million people and to have occured in approx 600BC in the BoM at the specific place where the plates were buried, Hill Cumorah, produced no trace of war while older battles are easily verified in other parts of the world. 
3. The DNA shows that the natives living on the American continent were from Asia and came across the Bearing Straight, not from Israelite descent. 
4. The many anachronisms in the BoM that have been shown not to exist in the American continent during the time claimed in the BoM such has horses, wheat, chariots, steel, etc...
5. The BoM was translated by Joseph Smith while he looked at a peep stone in his hat. The same peep stone that he used to unsuccessfully search for treasure. 
6. The Anton papers, which claim to be copies of characters from the original plates, are in existence today, accepted as legit by the church and still no sense can be made out of them even though the church claims that Professor Anthon verified that the characters were true Egyptian characters. The church even used the characters on a 1980's version of the BoM cover. Anthon denies that this ever occurred.  If current information couldn't decipher them then how could Anthon in the 1830's?
7. There are many testimonies from the witnesses and others that they only saw the original plates with their spiritual eyes and hefted them in a box. 
8. Joseph Smith was well read in the Bible to a point that it has been stated that he was able to reference almost any verse as well as he was well read on the current literature during his day. 
9. View of the Hebrews, other books from Joseph Smith's day and stories and experiences from his family and his own life draw very shocking parallels to the BoM. 
10. BH Roberts, who was a GA in the 1920's, looked into the BoM to refute claims by critics due to a request to do so by the Apostles and concluded that Joseph Smith was likely the author.

First Vision

1. Joseph Smith's story about details of the first vision evolved over time from one personage appearing to him to two personages and the purpose of him going to pray also changes from receiving a remission of his sins to seeking which church was right.
2. Prior to 1835 Joseph Smith believed in the trinitarian type God such that God was a spirit and Jesus Christ had a physical body, this being supported by his earliest 1832 account of the first vision stating that only 1 personage appeared to him. This further confirmed by the the 5th Lecture of Faith written in 1835 which states this specifically. The original edition of the BoM also states that the father and the son are the same but many of these passages were altered after 1835 to reflect his change in doctrine. 
3. The newspaper "Messenger and Advocate" covered the history of the church in 1834 and never even mentioned the first vision. 
4. Joseph Smith never told the body of the church of his vision until 22yrs later. 
5. Many other people claimed to have visions around the same time as Joseph Smith and some of these parallel Joseph Smith's description very closely.

Temple

1. The entire temple ceremony directly and almost exactly parallels the Masonic ritual and Joseph Smith was a very active Grand Master Mason. 
2. Current Masons have said that there is no possible connection between the Temple of Solomon and the Masonic rituals according to the authorities of the Masonic faith. 
3. The temple endowment has changed dramatically even though it was supposed to come from God and was never to change at all no matter what. 

Priesthood

1. The stories of John the Baptist, Peter, James & John restoring the priesthood to Joseph Smith were embellished over time similar to the First Vision story. 
2. Joseph Smith didn't even mention the priesthood or authority in 1830 when the church was organized even though it supposedly happened in 1829. 
3. The priesthood wasn't mentioned in the 1833 Book of Commandments (today it has become D&C) 4 years after is supposedly occurred.
4. There is no account of the specifics of Peter, James and John coming to restore the Melchizdek Priesthood in history.

Other

1. The Book of Abraham came from some papyri with some mummies that the church and Joseph Smith bought in 1835. Joseph Smith claimed to translate them. These scrolls still exist today and scholars have used the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian and none of the translations are anything similar to what Joseph Smith claimed they were. Much of the Mormon doctrine is based on the Book of Abraham. This all can be verified by looking at the scrolls in existence still and the notes that Joseph Smith used to "translate" the document. 
2. Joseph Smith obtained some metallic plates known as the Kinderhook Plates and partially translated them but they were later found out in 1980 to be a complete hoax.
3. It is estimated that the church profits (after expenses) 4-6 billion dollars a year and a very limited amount goes to charity or those in need. In fact, a few years back the the church posted the amount of money that they spend on charity and someone figured out that the the church only donates about $5 per member per year. They do not release their financial statements and recently constructed a $5 billion luxury mall next to Temple Square. 
4. The church has specifically instructed it's educators to only teach things that are faith promoting, stating that all things that are true are not necessarily useful.

 These findings, and many others that I will not include, go against everything that I had been taught in church prior my exit. They are serious issues that I feel people should be aware of if they are going to base the way they act and the way they see others on it. I refuse to represent or be a part of a message that just isn't true. From this new perspective I have also been able to see the damage that it can do to children to teach them to view the world in black and white. There are a lot of things to still be figured out in the world and figuring these things out will require intense critical thinking and the humility to change our ideologies when we learn they are wrong, which I feel is very absent in religion as a whole. Truth can be tested and tested and will remain true. The mormon church does not hold up to investigation plain and simple. Truthfulness aside, I do not want to raise my children reading and basing their morality on a book filled with grusome violence, and flagrant racism and sexism.

Ingrained Religion, Severe Cognitive Bias

This is a video of Warren Jeffs, the RLDS prophet, speaking to one of his church members, Nephi, trying to explain to him that he wasn't really a prophet and it was all a sham. Even hearing this confession from the prophet himself he still states that the prophet is only being tested by the lord and doesn't accept it. Mr. Jeffs sees that Nephi isn't getting his message so he reverts into "revelation" mode and states it in a way that it is God speaking through Warren saying that Warren is not, and never was a prophet.

Religion is a such a hard thing for people to let go. It is so severely ingrained into their minds that they can't even accept it from the source. I so badly want to find a way to help those who are following things that are so obviously wrong when looking from the outside in.