recently on the exmo yahoo mailing list, we were talking about PBs and i shared my story about how i felt that PBs, in some ways, actually take away our free agency because they're treated as prophecy. my wife's PB said she would have sons and daughters. we had 4 boys, then a year later we quit the church (mostly for other reasons though).

kim told a story about someone she knows whose PB also said she would have "sons and daughters", just that the story ended much more tragically:
"
This is a sad story but I know one woman that married a very abusive man and she kept having kids with him because she felt she had to have at leastone more son because of the sons and daughters remark. The abuse became so bad that she laeft him for 8 years and because she wasn't meeting anyone else to have that last son with she got back with the abusive ex, had her final son and basically spent her entire life on welfare because of this crap. She's on SSI now. I can't imagine being so afraid of god's wrath for not having that extra son that you go back to an abusive man as a last ditch effort to have that last boy and to have nothing but poverty and abuse to show for it.
"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2012 03:59AM by Nick Humphrey.

You make an excellent point.
PBs are treated as prophecy, but also with implied instruction.
(The cunning use of double speak) "you will" = it will happen; "you will" = this is what you must do.
I imagine it must drive people insane, trying to force that prophecy to come to fruition.

Another problem is the tribe/house issue: One sister was in one tribe, her twin sister was in the other. Since families are forever, this was very confusing. It stayed confusing for a few years until the new patriarch came in & his wife noticed discrepancies with family houses & they started correcting them. Idk if there were a lot of them, but I remember one of them got an amended letter because it had to be shipped to her in Iraq.

Brainwashing literally washes away all reasoning. Tragic to believe that God would want you to submit to abuse and suffering!

She had a boy, a girl, a boy, a boy, a boy, a boy, a boy, a boy, a boy, a boy, and (at age 45) another boy! She has 11 kids now. I think she may try again and every time she announces a pregnancy, I feel really scared for her.

My PB says that if I am worthy I will join my parents in the CK. My dad pointed out that this means that “him” going to the CK is subject to “my” worthiness, not his. I know my dad well enough to know that he was kidding but I can see how others would abuse this same sentence.

My patriarchal blessing was extremely long, so it encompassed huge areas of my life and I absolutely felt the pressure of the double meanings of "you will". The only thing I really remember after all these years is when my blessing said "continue with your education. Spencer W. Kimbal said that when you educate a woman, you educate a family."

It kind of implied that after all the work to obtain a degree (even though I was only fifteen and the dude could not have known if I would follow through with my education or not), I really only needed it so that my sons would be smarter. . . because even if I taught my daughters all I knew, the only thing it would be good for is for them to stay home and teach their kids, so on and so forth. I also always wondered why God didn't think I ought to learn anything for my own benefit? I love learning. Isn't that a good enough reason to keep doing it?

On another note, I always envied the patriarchs. That job seems like a blast. You make up stories all day and people really believe they're true! Not only do you get to be creative, but you have a lot of power over the people you tell the stories to.

and made many life decisions based on it. I hadn't read it in years until about 5 years ago (when my TBM daughter got her's). I actually cried--realizing that, in the end, I should have done just opposite of what it told me.

I threw it away. My daughter retrieved it and she has it now.

Mine says I will raise such a righteous family we will all be lifted into the heavens together in the twinkling of an eye.
The patriarch told me that means we'll be translated.

First of all I've always been the black sheep. I'd known plenty of white sheep that hadn't been translated. This seemed like a very unlikely thing to happen.

I raised my family in the church. If we get translated, you'll know there is great hope for each and everyone of you.

I had been active for a very short time when I got my PB.

The Patriarch was pretty old. He talked to me for a few minutes about what I was going to school for, what was going on in my life, etc.

Then he gave me the blessing, which was long and repetitive ("inasmuch, inasmuch, inasmuch"). Even then I was sitting there thinking, "He's just digging for stuff to say, stalling with common phrases."

My blessing was general and nothing special. There was absolutely nothing inspired about it. I felt that then, and I certainly feel it now.

It's those kinds of experiences I wish I would have given more credence to.

Though if I had, I wouldn't have the amazing little family I have now, because my husband was a total believer then and definitely wasn't ready for the truth. Thankfully my husband and I got together because we were totally in love with each other, and we've come to realize the truth about the Church together.

But that's the beauty of it (sarcasm of course)
tscc can say that it's your fault if you didn't give it the right meaning. Well, of course they do that about everything they have preached, are preaching and will be preaching.
It's always our fault that we did not understand it the right way.
Exemple. Sons and daughters...You only had sons... Well, it could be that you'll have the daughters in the eternities and not during the mortal life. Or all those sons you've had will marry and their wifes will become your daughters...
You know what I mean...
Crazy cult.
I actualy went on a mission only because there was a sentence in my PB about it.

quebec Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I actualy went on a mission only because there
> was a sentence in my PB about it.

Hah, I had the opposite happen! I wanted to go and it said I would in my PB. It also said that I would be a mighty converter! Then a few months later the bishop said that I've been having too much trouble with the law of chastity so why don't me and my gf (of 6 years) just get married and forget about the mission part. We did and she's a better partner than I could honestly have ever even wished for!

The same bishop also had other smart advice which I took and am grateful for. Great bishop, he was a guy who said he doesn't really ever read the BoM either, no holier than tho business with him :D

Sadly, I can't say that for any other bishop tho. Bad, uninspired advice throughout.