Saturday, November 14, 2015

This Never Happens

Mormons (TBM, NOM, Post and Ex) should be really proud of themselves today!  Not everyone in these groups should be proud, but those who spoke up against the Church's new policy on Gays that was leaked last week, should be proud.  See here   These combined voices, which is unusual for True Believing Mormons and Exmormons to have a combined voice, but this last week they did and they apparently "yelled" loud enough that the Church took notice and changed their new policy.  THIS NEVER HAPPENS!  Let me repeat that for those who may be missing my point, THIS NEVER HAPPENS!  A small group of members and a larger group of disaffiliated members caused the Church to change their doctrine/policy.  Of course they claim it's a "clarification"  but what else can they do?  They cannot apologize or change their doctrine, so it had to come out as a clarification.  That's okay, they can call it what they want, those in and out of the Church can bicker over the points of it. I think, besides the good that will come from the actual hurtful policy being changed, the bigger story is that those who spoke up, forced their hand!  This is an institution that is not used to having their hand forced, especially from within their own membership.  The members are an obedient group that values not questioning their leaders as among their highest moral behavior.  It's a sign of their faith and devotion to God, not to question His earthly spokesmen.  Questioning the leaders is akin to questioning God, which is sac religious at best. 

So what really happened here this last week or so?  The Church exposed its true stance on Gays, basically it looks as though the Church while indicating it's welcoming to those who might attend, they really don't want anyone living in a Gay family relationship part of the Church, even if you are a child.  They made it clear that if you are living in a Gay relationship, even if it is a legal marriage, especially if it is a legal marriage, there is no place for you among the Latter Day Saints.  Jesus wants it that way, according to them.  So fine that's their doctrine, its been written in stone, or at least in the Handbook.  They will have to live with that, and the consequences of that stand. 

The other thing that happened this week...the Church experienced an earthquake!  The people rose up and change was enacted.  THIS NEVER HAPPENS!  This was Mormon's Rosa Parks moment. They refused to give up their seat, they refused to throw the children under the bus.  The Church felt an earthquake and it caused some cracks in the foundation.  Only time will tell how bad those cracks are.  The people with the actual power, the members, are very blind, subdued, and brainwashed, and they don't realize they have this power, but it was demonstrated this last week and it worked.  Those most inside the bubble won't see it that way.  They still believe the walk and talk of their leaders, but it happened just the same.  The followers are mostly good people, sheep of the Lamb of God, and happily so, as they go safely back to their green meadows, but the leaders saw the upraising and reacted with lighting speed for a lethargic bureaucracy that is used to calling the shots.  For them to react so quickly there must be much more attrition going on inside this church then those closely guarded, never to be released actual membership numbers indicate. 



5 comments:

  1. Your post about doubt and faith crises reminded me of a student film I made while at Chapman University's film school. My film was largely inspired by my own faith crisis and transition out of Mormonism, and I thought that you might appreciate the film. Enjoy! And feel free to share with any who may benefit from seeing the film.

    Here's the link to the youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3EfssqGuQM

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    1. When you are baptised you covenant to keep the commants and always remember Him. You are held to a higher level of accountability. When my husband was a missionary they were hesitant to baptise children whose parents were not active and who depended on their parents to get them to church. Its not good to make covenants that you cant keep. When children are living in a home where their parents actions can keep them from keeping their covenants, its in the best interest of the child to not make those covenants. According to my understanding, when you are ordained to the priesthood, there are responsibilities that go along with it. Higher ordinations in the priesthood comes with higher levels of responsibility. Fulfilling your priesthood responsibilities is part of keeping your covenants. Allowing highly impressionable children who live primarily with parents who actively teach through their example ideologies and ways of living that are opposed to the teachings of the gospel, and who may at any time refuse to continue to allow their children to attend church meetings or associate with members of the church, to make covenants that they are unable to keep without depending on those same parents is irresponsible. Not putting them in a position where they may be forced to break their covenants is an act of love, not hate. They may still attend meetings and activities and are still welcomed at church so that when they are old enough and in a position to be able to make covenants and keep them, then they can be baptised.

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    2. Your words sound full of love, and you have absorbed the talking points and restated them very well. But in reality this is not a loving position or attitude. It's one of exclusion and nonacceptance of both the child and the parents, masked as concern, love, and looking out for the child. The reality is, that the church cannot accept gays because it doesn't fit in with their doctrine of "eternal families". So if you don't fit into this nice little package that they have defined as God's plan. Then you have to be rejected. But Christ rejected no one. There were no... "well your parents may not be able to allow you to behave as you have covenanted to, so for your own well being, you better not be part of us officially. You can kind of hang with us, be you won't be part of us."
      That is neither loving nor kind and it's not healthy for a child to be excluded. No matter how "loving" the rejection claims to be. This is what we sang in primary:

      If you don't walk as most people do,
      Some people walk away from you,
      But I won't! I won't!
      If you don't talk as most people do,
      Some people talk and laugh at you,
      But I won't! I won't!
      I'll walk with you. I'll talk with you,
      That's how I'll show my love for you.
      Jesus walked away from none.
      He gave his love to everyone.
      So I will! I will!
      Jesus blessed all he could see,
      Then turned and said, "Come follow me."
      And I will! I will!
      Ill walk with you, I'll talk with you.
      That's how I'll show my love for you.

      It's hypocritical for a church to have their primary children sing these words, while the child of a gay couple may be sitting among them, but not able to be one of them. It's not loving, it's exclusionary and it not what Christ taught, or did. So to pretend that this is from Christ is ridiculous, especially with the doctrine that God is unchanging. Christ would have to change completely for this to now be his doctrine.

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  2. I had a faith crisis.I felt hopeless & lost.I waited & prayed.I didnt know if God existed.He answered me line upon line.Ye re-ceive no witness until after the trial of your faith is true.Ev-ery time I have serious doubts or crisis in my faith, if I hold on & try to figure out how contradictory statements agree, if I pray & study from the scriptures, I eventually run across some-thing that makes it all clear. What appeared to be a contradic-tion (or lie or mistake), turned out to not be.We see through a glass darkly.Things dont always make sense.Because some subjects cause people to loose faith & leave the church, I think thats why church leaders avoid them.Theyre not lying to us. Its a protec-tion even if we dont understand it.We arent lying to our 4 yr old or being secretive or dishonest when we dont teach him where ba-bies come from. We know that knowledge could be detrimental to him before hes mature enough. Much of the membership of the church cant handle some subjects without losing faith. All the people leaving the church when they hear about them proves it. If youre at a place where you can put your preconceived ideas on hold in order to find the truth, God will answer your prayers & lead you in your scripture studies.He will answer your questions & teach you in his own time.I dont teach my five yr old the same things I teach my 12 yr old & what I teach one child at 8, 9, or 10 isnt necesarrily what I would teach another at the same age. Milk before meat.God will teach you individually if youre ready for it.When we receive answers about something that might cause a faith crisis in someone else, its not necessarily wise to share because what might strengthen my faith might weaken the faith of my friend (even though I might be dying to share some little tidbit that I just discovered).If youre asking God in faith, he will teach you & help you realize that the church leaders arent lying to us after all. I used to feal that women arent as special as men in Gods sight or at least according to church teachings, but I have come to realize after years of study and experiencing motherhood that what the church teaches about women is right. I'm glad I don't have to go to work like I did when I was a single mom.I'm glad I don't have to fulfill priesthood duties. Im busy enough as it is & I realize that my calling as a mother isnt less valuable than what people in the workplace are doing.My point is to say dont loose faith.The church is true after all.They aren't lying to us.They dont hate women.They dont hate homosexuals.The policies in the church handbook arent based on hate or prejudice. Its based on love & a desire to protect us and bring us back to God. Im not clueless and dont have blind faith.Believe me, Ive asked all those questions being asked by people experiencing a crisis in faith.I had a hard time attending church & the temple. I felt like I was living a lie.I was ready 2 jump into the abyss, & the Lord reached out and kept me from falling.I chose to wait & think it out.I chose 2 have faith anyway.I chose 2 doubt mydoubts I know doing that seems to go against common sense.It seems like lying to yourself.It isn't. It's waiting upon the lord & having faith that he will bring answers when the time is right (in His time.)Some questions took years to get answers to. I still have some questions & Im sure Ill have more but I know that if I hold on & dont give up on the church & dont give up on imperfect peo-ple He will answer those questions too.Please dont give up.Dont loose faith.I have been there & I know how people who are ready to leave the church feel.I was that person.You won't find your answers in anti mormon literature.

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