Let us reason together:

The temple ceremony was changed by the evil Catholic Church, the whore of all the earth, who is now the Church's partner in the anti-abortion battle, a GA even speaking at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. What? No prophet saw that one coming?

The basic premise of the restoration is the Great Apostasy, where the LDS church had to restore the temple ceremony and all the church offices to its everlasting (alleged) First Century sameness... only to change it to make it more acceptable after doing a PR study.

Just think about that for a minute.

Something happened for them to feel they needed a survey among the faithful about what they liked/didn't like in the temple ceremony. Because they already knew changes were going to be made, but wanted to make sure they made the right ones BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO INSPIRATION.

The only possible reason for the swollen-headed 15 to give a rat's ass about what the members liked or disliked is loss of revenue. People left and they had to have mentioned the revolting temple ordinances as the main reason.

So all of us who wrote letters --good on us, it had an effect.

LDS, Inc. didn't care about the hurt feelings of black Americans until the Civil Rights Movement brought them legal grief BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO INSPIRATION AND NO COMPASSION. They are always behind the curve. They don't lead, they follow--scrambling to stay ahead of the tsunami of public scrutiny which swirls around their sacred secrets, their weapons of mass deception.

What will they sacrifice next to mainstream?

Will eliminating garments solve the problem of the Gay Day meets the Mormon Moment?

Will eliminating garments make women feel more empowered once they learn about polygamy as their destiny?

Will eliminating garments make up for blatant political activity requiring members to get out campaign against an issue?

Will eliminating garments stop kids at school from taunting Mormon kids with, "You're from Kolob! You're an Alien Freakazoid!"

Nope.

I agree that change is coming in the wake of several failed attempts to shore up the Mormon image without correcting any of the problems which cause the image of "weird."

The church has failed in its various campaigns to change perception without actually changing its terrible behavior. It has tried the affinity grab to increase revenue through more American converts in the old "Every Member A Missionary." That one turned formerly pleasant neighbors into sharp-eyed opportunists waiting for a moment to get in some love-bombing, then dropping those who would not convert, exposing their friendship as a sham. Neighbors looked at each other and said, "Weird."

They tried the admiration grab by portraying unusual Mormons as your average gymnast, ballerina, Nascar driver, and ending with a cutesy "And I Am A Mormon." This is so far from the truth it is laughable. You can't even have a conversation with a really active Mormon because they are, I'm saying it, stunted. If you ask them for their opinion, you might as well save your breath and go directly to mormon.org and get their opinion right from the source--the Brethren. Here in Oakland they erected a huge billboard with a 30 foot white blond lady overlooking the OccupyOakland area "...and I'm a Mormon." Passersby: "That's some weird shit"

They tried the victim ploy with the vehemence of a Brittany Spears fan shrieking, "Leave us alone!You are persecuting us!" because people started talking about Mormon Doctrine once they made a power grab for the presidency of the United States. Most of us would say that was predictable. It's so hard to feel sorry for a Big Billions corporation which no longer cares about doctrinal questions, doesn't know what it teaches, won't reveal how it spends donations, yet can order members to wear certain underwear while gardening.

Will garments disappear. No--in fact they are tightening in the crotch control area. It will no longer be shameful to show them but rather a badge of honor. I am certain there are men out there mowing the lawn in levis and garment tops as I write this. And if no one is around, they are dropping the tops to get some sun on that pasty skin.

This is what I see changing: the announcements. No more using social networking like a baseball bat. They are not building that huge computer center for nothing. Like the Nigerian money requests, they will evolve, becoming more like regular English and using better ploys.

More and more women will be featured in posts, blogs and articles with words like "leader" and "inspirational" and "cornerstone of the program." There will be no real power sharing, of course, just the suggestion of some. There will be statuettes and plaques honoring and noting accomplishments which contribute to the bottom line of the gargantuan LDS, Inc. in some way.

"Sister Johnson has been a conduit of charitable outreach to the entire Faraway Region for many years as she and Brother Johnson served a senior mission focusing on efficient food production, providing jobs an dignity and raising the standard of living for the large number of citizens in poverty."

In one fell swoop, the Mind Masters create the impression of female leadership and charitable outreach. Of course Sister Johnson has never done anything but carry out the dictates of Brother Johnson in the management of the coconut juice factory, which sells the juice and sends the money to Salt Lake. She keeps missionaries from bailing as they massage the workers, begging them to convert and insinuating that their jobs depend on it. The locals tithe on their earnings and nobody takes home a bottle of coconut juice without paying for it.

This is why they needed a top notch PR firm. Smoke and mirrors do not come cheap and you saw how awful it turned out when the last GA who had any real power (Hinckley) thought he could handle things by himself, like he had for decades.

I have switched out my beans and rice for chips and dip as more and more members are pulling up chairs next to us exmos and asking, "What is really going on? They don't tell us anything!"

So if you are a member reading this and feel like you are kept in the dark, come out of the cave. Have some more light, or at least some speculation. It's better than another seventy rounds of the story of the creation struggling to stay awake while wearing curtains.

Anagrammy

In my mind the prediction is very simple.

Many religions have been very succesful in incorporating clothing in their religions. Even things like wearing a cross. It just works well in religion. It creates a sense of community, commitment & symbolism.

Over time the rhetoric of the garments will change. It is already changing. They will be seen less and less as magic underwear and more and more as symbolic.

They will become less and less invasive. The symbolism will long term become public insted of secret.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2012 04:50PM by bc.

Hmm, shorter more service-based missions for a variety of ages, home teaching in prepackaged bite size chunks, high profile ecumenical work, direction signs to stake centres (just beginning to happen in the UK), opening more family history centres, more 'charismatic' worship, mainstreaming all the way, it's just going to happen more and more.

I've been reviewing our induction pack for freshers/freshmen - somehow they have got themselves onto the Chaplaincy list - it's quite lengthy - along with JWs, Adventists, Bahai etc, so it probably isn't a huge deal. This is not something I can get changed, but I felt like I was going to vomit!