I was reading another thread and it was too busy so I thought I would start this one to ask this question I wondered even as TBM.

How come it was ok for Steve Young to skip a mission and play on sundays but many others before and after him couldn't? How does the church explain this one or how does steve do it?

I remember that tall basketball playing kid from castle dale UT who tried to back out of the mission but they said no. So he went to australia. He was pretty stuck up but a millionare now with a blond betty by his side.

He's from mo royalty. All kinds of things get overlooked if you have the right genealogy.

I believe he is TBM, but since he was a good athlete and always let people know about his beliefs, LD$ inc liked that becuz it made the church look good. and mabey that lead to one of his fans to investigate and join the church and that is more tithing coming in.

It depends on the local leaders, and how serious the prospects of going pro and making millions of dollars is for the athlete. It was obvious Steve Young was probably going to go pro, so Churchco probably did not want to loose all that tithing money. They then came out, and said it was OK for Steve to play on Sundays and skip a mission, claiming the role model angle, because it was in their interest for him to make the big bucks.

Most college athletes don't go pro. You start making general exceptions for them, and soon every kid with a fencing scholarship will be asking to skip a mission.

It's the same reason a regular member can't open a liquor store, but the Marriots can be one of the largest owners of bars in the world.

The Marroitt Exemption clearly states that selling alcohol is expressly forbidden by the Lord UNLESS you also provide accommodation for the resulting fornication/adultery.

Brother Marriott was also chosen by the Lord because he was only burned by his grilling accident (or something like that) where his garments weren't. ;) Must be he was only partly righteous though because i thought the garments were supposed to provide total protection and not just over the covered parts.

I was at BYU when Steve Young was and my roommate hung with his crowd. She said Steve caught a lot of crap from all sides for not going on a mission and worse, according to her, he stole his brother's girlfriend while his brother was on his mission. She thought he was a crap weasel but the point is, he didn't escape scott-free from a mission because he was Mo royalty and played football. He got trashed a lot for doing it.

However, once he made the 49ers, people let bygones be bygones. Well, most people. I was back in No CA several years later and I knew girls who wouldn't date him because he wasn't an RM and didn't consider him a good Mormon because he played football on Sunday. But I think most people decided to overlook it once he became famous.

If he had gone on a mission it would have taken longer to get those millions in tithing...

That tall guy from Castle Dale, Shawn Bradley, ran for councilman where I live. I'm surprised he lost. I would've thought the mormon vote would have won him the election.

Yeah that is it, Shawn Bradley. He was from my same year. I remember he tried to duck out of a mission and he was told no dice, so he went. He returned to a multi million dollar contract with the Nets and skipped BYU.

I dont think Steve Young is that devout.

I dont think Jimmer Ferdette is much of a TBM either.

He said that he chose BYU over Syracuse because he could play sooner.

Steve Young HAD to work on Sunday. Otherwise he and his family (well the one he eventually had) would have starved. And now that he has made MILLIONS he STILL has to work on Sunday as a TV commentator so that he and his family have fuel for their yachts.

Yeah exactly, fuel for his yachts. I don't know how many times I taught on my mission the lesson about putting god first on the sabbath.

"If you decide to work on the sabbath so you can get a car, then you are putting the car before your god".

So I guess Steve-o is putting the fuel in his yacht before god then?

The dellusion of this church, has no bounds. I was talking with my bro about the BoA and how its a fake etc... He is TBM still. He sets a boundry on me about respecting his belief and so forth.

HOLY HELL are you kidding me??? First of all, all of my bros made fun of me for not attending church regularly as a youngster. They also gave me crap for not jumping to go on my mission (but I eventually did, thanks to their endless redicule). And the final straw to this hypocritical statement is...what the hell do you call the missionary effort??? How come they can spread the lies and gather more tithe payers, but I can't speak the truth?

Everyone lives the religion individually. They interpret the teachings individually: some more to the Letter of the Law, (some extremist - fundamentalists) some more on the other side: The Spirit of the Law. Then there are the: Cultural Mormons, the Jack Mormons, and on and on and on.

There are few hard and fast rules in the religion. Lots and lots of variety. How the LDS leaders define service varies according to the individual and what they can contribute and where and how. Something simple like the temple rituals/ordinances are easily interpreted differently as there are no opportunities to discuss them, in fact it's discouraged. So their meaning is totally one of individual interpretation.

I think it's a huge mistake to make up a litmus test for every single Mormon and see if they fit what someone else things is the perfect Mormon and start pointing fingers. One of the wisest things I learned about pointing fingers is that there are always three more pointing back at .... me!.

As a member, I knew all too well that we were all very different, many of us were converts, we interpreted and lived the religion differently. Even "True Believing Mormons" can't agree on a lot of things, even though they appear to agree.

From my long experience and research, I have concluded that Mormonism is a long established generational, heritage that is a religious tribe that functions in that manner. That is part of why it is so hard to leave it for so many.

How people serve, and observe the traditions/rituals/ordinances varies according to where they live also and what language they speak. Having lived in both highly LDS populated areas, and small LDS populated areas, I see a huge difference in how the members live their religion.

Some things are usually very strict, but others are not.
Just something like how they live the Sabbath can go from very strict, to very loose.

There is a general level in the middle somewhere that seems to be acceptable behavior for Mormons and doesn't rise to the level of losing a temple recommend, for instance, or getting disfellowshipped or excommunicated.

If you want to total enchilada - you'll pay tithing, get a temple recommend, accept callings, and live, at least, the Word of Wisdom, attend meetings, go on a mission, etc. But there is everything else in between.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2012 03:48PM by SusieQ#1.

SusieQ#1 said, "I think it's a huge mistake to make up a litmus test for every single Mormon and see if they fit what someone else things is the perfect Mormon and start pointing fingers. One of the wisest things I learned about pointing fingers is that there are always three more pointing back at .... me!."

You are correct of course, it's just the remnants of mormonism to judge people. You see a picture of a famous mormon and think are they wearing garments? How much do they really believe? It's hard to get this toxic religion out of your head.

Iconsider myself as a jack mormon. I grew up on a cattle ranch where we had to work hard every day. These chores had to get done or the ranch could'nt exist. The nearest lds church was approx 30 miles from our ranch. Our familly did not go to church.I still do not attend church because I believe J Smith was a complete fraud. My wife is a TBM.

Danny Ainge also did not go on a mission. I heard it was similar to the Steve Young situation.

This is actually another example of favoritism to the elite in the church.

Falls under the same kind of exemption that the performing Osmonds got. Since they were high profile Mormons of good standing and example, they were exempt.

Dont know about Steve, but I do know that the performing Osmonds however did put their papers in. So they were willing.

All of the second generation Osmonds have served

I always heard it was because they could be more of a missionary by not serving missions. That they would reach more people and be good examples and draw more people into mormonism than if they went on missions. I of course just bowed my head and said yes as the good TBM I was at the time.

Steve paved the way for many other BYU kids today. Neither Jake Heaps nor Jimmer Fredette served missions, and with the volume of BYU athletes in the NFL, mormons are starting to not care anymore about the Sunday rule.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2012 04:36PM by kimball.

Heaps should go on a mission, Gawd knows he can't play football.

Just sayin'...

Ron

Considering his marital status they would probably be the youngest missionary couple in the world. He got married at about the same time everyone expected him to go on his mission. Then again, I'd be afraid if I was him too, considering what had happened to Brandon Davies a couple of months before. Better to rush a marriage than ruin a career - not that his playing skills didn't do that anyway.

I see it as an extension of the scholarship system that sees people of average intellect getting into top universities. If you have a particular talent that society is interested in, then they bend the rules. In Steve Young's case, the Morg was interested in him - tithing potential, role model, etc - and so he could do no wrong. Bend the rules.

May be the girls did not date him because may be he had a small pee-pee like his gggf BY. So Steve stole his brothers GF, nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

Had a friend in college that SY wanted to date and she thought he was the biggest dipshit she had ever met. I heard a phone message he left and it was tragic. He was very socially unskilled. I kept pressuring her to go out with him so that I could have a route to tickets etc., but as generous as she was she couldn't do it.

"I work on the Lord's Sabbath.... and I'm a Mormon"

My wife lived with a member family in Lehi before I met her and they only watched Steve Young and Star Trek on the Sabbath. Everything else was forbidden. They justified the 49ers due to supporting mormon steve. I don't know how they incorporated star trek.

At any rate, I saw a lot of this behavior in Utah. This is ok on the sabbath but that ain't. Or, a little texas hold'em with friends ain't gambling, and of course an occassional trip to wendover for black jack once in a while. Its all entertainment. Funny how they find ways to bend the rules for their own vices?

Steve is a dork, but he can always be thankful for Marie Osmond who is a much bigger ditz and a hag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7--9bwIUIhQ

Don't you understand that Steve Young was performing a higher service for the Lord by working on Sundays? By doing so, he brought more positive recognition to the church and gave a we-are-okay perspective about those in the church. (Can you hear the sarcasm?)

Friends of mine live near the Youngs. They stated that during the Prop 8 fight, a poster against Prop 8 was stationed on the Young's lawn. I believe his wife was a gay rights advocate.

Steve has got to be in love with the LDSinc. with all the special rules they have allowed him to follow. He is popular with the world so let's just let him grace us with his presence at church when he has time to be here. Same as the Marriott family...same as any other wealthy family that wants to buy their way into an organization that has little minion subordonates talking in wispy voices and worshiping them.
They have their life set up just how they want it.

For royalty church on sunday is the same as walking into the hotel that they own and being worshiped as the "boss" or the "boss's wife" ......total ego.

I dunno. Why didn't Tommy Monson go on a mission? And don't say he was in the military. He mustered out when he was 19 or so after 6 months of service.

Ron