It is nice to hear from the average member having doubts but I would like to know if there are any active bishops, eq presidents, sp, etc. who are questioning the faith.
The elders quorum pres. (MY DH) has left the room.
He sees no point in spending another minute on the mormon church.I aspire to be more like that. Unlike me, he wasn't BIC. His brainwashing wasn't quite as thorough.
I've been EQ pres, YM pres, exec sec, and bishopric. But I'm not currently in any leadership (nor will I be, they tend to only call people who show up every week and pay tithing, and I no longer do either.)
Hi kenc! U said u don't post a lot(I don't either) but I looked u up to see what u posted in the past since u said you're a former bishop. Anyway, I read your past posts and realized I knew you. I served a mission in a student ward where u were working with CES. It was my first area in 1998. Crazy, small world
Bishopric 2nd councilor, EQP, and 1st and second councilor ,Ward finance Clerk, Stake finance, Scout master, young mens president, Young mens 1st and 2nd councilor, High Council, Ward missionary, Ward mission President, Group leader 26th MEU USS Whidbey Island under direction of Navy Group leader USS Whidbey Island under direction of LDS Chaplain Camp Lejeune NC.....And get this ,.......Side walk sweeper.
EQP, YM Pres twice, Scoutmaster twice, second counselor & first counselor Bishopric, High Counselor, Bishop. Believe the gospel of Jesus Christ completely, can't tolerate the obedience obsessed corporate management of the current church. Eagerly awaiting the fall.
Manager of a Furniture and appliance store, twice, Partner in Law Firm, Sole proprietor of Law Firm, Manager of Tax Research Center (About 25 CPAs, EAs and Lawyers.)
Oh yeah, and a DL a couple of times on my mission. ;-)
I was a mild mannered LDS librarian in public, while at the same time I was a Fundamentalist Seventy Apostle in secret. Kind of like a Clark Kent/Superman thing. I also had two separate lines of priesthood, one from the church and another through Fundamentalist lines that were "more pure." I guess I still hold that position but since I don't show up to the meetings or return their phone calls anymore I think they are starting to figure it out.
I was 1st Councilor in BP, Councilor in EQ, Councilor in SS, Ward Music Chairman, Stake Organist, Gospel Doctrine Teacher, Veil Worker. Member for 23 years. Been out for 7.
Ward Mission Leader, 2 Bishoprics, High Councilor, Ward YMP, SS Pres and other leadership callings here. I was YMP, and they had called me to be HPGL, when I left.
I think really only bishop and above are considered "high up".
There's a quantum leap from counselor in a bishopric to bishop...in the church's eyes.
A bishop has to be vetted by Salt Lake. A counselor is locally approved. The bishop was privy to things the counselors weren't. And, when the counselors did temple recommend interviews, if there were any issues, they were referred to the bishop. BTW, the #1 "issue" was tithing. Members could confess other stuff, but nothing was referred to the bishop more certainly than not paying a full tithe.
The church is looser about EQP. EQP was by far my hardest-working time in the church, matching my mission but compounded by work and school...but it didn't invlolve alot of confidential information (as the church sees it...now I realize I crossed privacy boundaries all the time).
When I was called as a bishopric counselor I thought it would be a sky-high experience...but it was actually more mundane than EQP was. The clerk, the executive secretary, and the counselors were kind of a secretarial staff for the bishop. All of us answered to the bishop pretty much as peers to each other. A bishop's absence is pretty much a good lesson in how monolithic he is. No one comes to the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th "in command" with any serious issues. The bishopric counselors and the HPGL (sorry for offending HPGL's) are widely dismissed by the lay membership as having power. Maybe that's because Salt Lake does not invest in them.
A bishop, however, is a bad-ass calling. The lay membership starts their worship here. They don't care much for bishopric counselors and certainly not for high priest group leaders...but they act as if the bishop is as prophetic about their lives as the president of the church is.
I saw instances where lay members preferred the bishop's word to the "brethren's", who were only seen on tv and were not personally accessible.
The power among the lay membership is invested in bishops and the stake president. They simply don't regard stake presidency counselors with the bad-assness they should, but many if not most stake presidency counselors are also former-bishops, so they still get the worship factor.
IMO, "high up" means bishop or stake presidency and higher...not stake high council, not other "stake callings" like HPGL or EQP. Those have their own insights, but they're not worshipped by the lay membership. And, possibly as importantly, they're not vetted by Salt Lake. If your calling wasn't vetted by Salt Lake, then you're considered...whatever.