There are 75 stories about this on my Google News. This is my favorite headline:

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=43763&icid=a&d_str=



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2013 06:32AM by munchybotaz.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10483026/US-bishop-dresses-up-as-homeless-man-to-expose-congregations-lack-of-compassion.html

I'm guessing this is not quite what he was going for. :)

but I can only see a handful of them on my phone. Yet another fun headline:

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/29/4657814/wwjd-lessons-lacking-in-church.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2013 12:30PM by munchybotaz.

Another example of mormons inability to be creative or innovative.

I guess it comes to this when the leadership of LDS Inc becomes so senile that it forces their local clergy to 'borrow' from other churches.

What LDS Inc should take as a very serious warning, is the idea that this bishop prolly got the idea from from surfing the interwebz, an idea that should be chilling to them.

The end is near.

Mormons are not too much for questioning the authenticity of anything if they can weave it into their indoctrination.

I'd like to see bishop Musselman pull this act off in front of the Rolex store at Jesus's mall.

Rolex and mormons???

Immediately comes to mind the LDS mission president in Mozambique who was mugged and relieved of his Rolex:

http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/article_fd2193f6-9850-53e1-af13-12cc9998c9f6.html

This episode strikes me in a certain contrarian way:

Not that a mormon bishop has shamed his flock - but rather that a mormon bishop has, once again, spuriously claimed the moral high-ground for his "religion", implying that: "Only our church has true morality and humanity, even though some of our members may be deficient in same."


In other words, yet another mormon public relations gesture made by a bishop who is possibly confused about his own motives.

How can he expect Mormons to act Christlike when they aren't taught how?

Would an English teacher give their students a math test?

+100

Only the appearance of love for others.

I hope the people in that ward learn from this.

If this bishop will be disciplined in some way. To us, the big picture is we are not so charitable as we like to think. The little picture that leadership likes to view is he caused them a huge embarrassment. He showed the world how God's only true church on Earth treats the meek, lowly, poor, etc. They like to boast about their church, but when it really comes down to things that matter, whether real or fake, they fail so miserably.

I am not saying I am better than them, I probably would have reacted the same. But I also don't go around bragging how right I am and how no other church is better than me. They can't put their money where their mouths are.

The U.S. coverage looks mostly positive. The pastor thing got a lot of positive reactions, too, when it went around. Barf!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2013 12:13AM by munchybotaz.

He should have dressed up like a woman and tried to get into the priesthood session to teach a lesson about exclusion

I read the article in the "Deseret News" online and there was some interesting comments. I liked the view of a number of comments that disagreed with his approach because what does it really teach? To give to people just in case your bishop is watching over your shoulder? Another example of teaching morals by fear rather than from principled right/wrong values.

as they were with the Christian pastor who turned out to be an urban legend. It's deceptive and authoritarian ... ugh.

I'm delighted, though, that this is making worldwide headlines because the Mormon church is always bragging about how charitable they are.

I work in an urban area that has a lot of homeless/panhandling people. I feel very uncomfortable and unsafe when I am approached, even in daylight. One man asked me the time, so I told him. Then he asked if I had a cell phone. I don’t claim to be charitable to these people. My charitable contributions go to sick children. I used to feel guilty for not giving directly to those obviously in need. No more. I will not feel guilty for putting my safety and comfort first.

I have a little different perspective, coming up on a year and a half of unemployment. I live by myself in a small, out-of-the-way town with a crappy tourist-based job market. I went two months with zero income when the state mistakenly delayed my unemployment claim, and have been hopelessly behind ever since. Even on maximum unemployment, my income is about a quarter of what it was, and that's going to run out in a few weeks. Then what?

Once again, I'm learning the less money you have, the more you have to pay. I thought I learned that pretty well the first time, but I'm back for the refresher class, without the giant abusive sucking leech from hell.

I feel extremely endangered and much empathy with folks who are worse off than I am.

I know I’m safer. And I do have compassion for those in need. I certainly hope that you are never desperate enough to approach a lone female on the street for money. I also acknowledge randomness in our lives. Luck, bad luck, where you’re born, who you’re born to…I think our choices determine a small share of how our lives play out. Life dealt my family an ugly share of mental illness. Talk about a situation where we tend to blame the victim! My wishes for better luck for you aren’t worth much. Life just sucks sometimes. My hubby has been unemployed since February. Sometimes I’m grateful for my full time night job. Sometimes not so much.

but, hey, I hope your luck doesn't get any worse.

I think questions should be asked regarding any clergy person of any faith, that knowingly and willfully is deceptive to his congregation.

Mormons systematically do this as indoctrinated as 'lying for the lord'

However, one should expect a more honest approach from Christian churches.

This should be considered the bearing of false witness.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/2013 02:36PM by deco.

That a church leader pretended to be homeless doesn't bother me. On time, one of our pastors came back from a long fall vacation with a "baby bump" turns out she was promoting an Advent class on the life of Mary.

I think his congregation reacted like many mainline congregations would react, depending on their focus.

Our church tends to reach out to homeless people and they are often on our property. On a Sunday morning they are welcome to have coffee and donuts on the patio with us or come inside for the service.

One time a crazy guy came in and sat right in the front. We have several law enforcement guys in the congregation, and they kind of flanked him but didn't do anything. The crazy guy eventually stood up, yelled something, and walked down the aisle out the door. His family later contacted the church to tell us he was off his meds.

I have heard this story about Ghandi. I don't know if it's true, but he became interested in Christianity and decided to visit his local Presbyterian church in India. He was stopped at the door and not allowed to enter because of the color of his skin. He said, "I like your Christ but not your Christians."

So...since morgbots aggressively shun family members who admit to non-belief AND also shun everyone who are NOT among the elite washed believers WHAT ON earth would lead them to act kindly to a homeless man that arrives at their church.

Why would ANY mormon woman have anything to do with this man? The women are taught that if they are molested in any way it's their fault, and they will be held accountable. They will never get back their virtue once it's taken from them. No mormon woman in her right mind would put herself at risk by associating with a homeless male that she knows nothing about.

Also, I think the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping is still very much on the mind of mormons. Being kind and helpful to a homeless street person didn't work out for them. I think many mormons learned to avoid that situation even more than they previously did.

Given what happened to Elizabeth, why would they encourage their children to associate with an unknown male of questionable looking circumstances? On one hand kids are taught to not talk to strangers. Then they are guilted and made to feel bad about themselves because they didn't talk to a stranger. Mixed messages galore. You can't have it both ways.

This episode strikes me in a certain contrarian way:

Not that a mormon bishop has shamed his flock - but rather that a mormon bishop has, once again, spuriously claimed the moral high-ground for his "religion", implying that: "Only our church has true morality and humanity, even though some of our members may be deficient in same."


In other words, yet another mormon public relations gesture made by a bishop who is possibly confused about his own motives.