It's not just you. When I joined the Mormon Church there was constant talk of free agency. I felt happy that I joined a church where I was respected for being allowed to believe what I liked. Then I stopped hearing free agency preached and noticed that almost every speech from the mouths of leaders was about obedience. That's when I started noticing that church was more like a business and less like a service to mankind. It was such a relief to leave and be my own person again.
I experienced all of that, too. But I think NNATA is talking about more recent things.
I think the church is reeling. They are losing people so fast they don't know what to do. So they announce lower missionary ages to keep young people in the church, try to "rescue" Sweden, set Richard Bushman loose, publish the new essays to appease the intellectuals, etc. These are panicky moves designed to stop the bleeding.
The one thing that is clear is that the old confidence is gone. In the 1950s and 60s and 70s the church felt strong enough to emphasize free agency. By the 1990s and 2000s the church was not sure people's consciences would lead them in the "right" direction, so they tightened down. Free agency now became agency, which was in no way free. And over the last five years the church has realized that the internet is destroying their authority, so they are doing anything they can think of.
The speed of the change right now may be greater than at any time since 1820. Maybe excepting the Nauvoo period.
Continuing to use an analogy, I saw on the news today that Alaska is having trouble with making money off the oil companies because the state has raised the taxes to about 75%. The oil companies can make so much more profit in other states that don't tax them so much that they are pulling out and pumping far less oil in Alaska. It's down to a trickle. Alaska is hurting.
TSCC is doing the same to their faithful. They are taking away all the perks and demanding that they work harder at missionary work, temple attendance, and house cleaning. The talks are all about paying their tithing and doing more to build the kingdom but the people themselves get little or nothing in return, not even a little praise for their efforts. And then when they ask for answers to the truths getting thrown at them, they are simply told they are bad for talking to apostates and reading info. from outside the propaganda allowed. LDS, Inc. is fast approaching the critical 75% tolerance level. If you do nothing but take, take, take and give nothing back except empty promises of a wonderful afterlife something has to give. I don't think the promises of a great afterlife are even coming out. It's more like threats of hell and damnation if you don't do what you are told. The youth are not going to take it much longer. And even the oldsters who are fully indoctrinated are going to get worn down. We will see.
Lot's wife has this down cold - Reeling is a great term for what is happening. If some of the things had happened/were happening (like the Sweden nightmare) and deal with the changing FAIR and FARMS problems, they would be scrambling to get things back on their even "the members kiss our ass keel," BUT everything that causes testimonies to fall apart is happening at once and it is on the internet immediately. The analogy I see is the GAs, the Apostales, the 70s etc. come into a bar (no this is not a joke just hear me out for this analogy). They are all sitting there sipping their mineral water or whatever. The door flings open on a group of bishopric people come in, along with EQ guys and a few 70s. They are angry from the info they have been getting. They walk over to the big wig group (GAs etc.) and suddenly start punching them in the face with all their might, a full scare barroom brawl, tables being thrown, bruises all over the place. The GAs were not expecting this group to do this. They were expecting NON-Mos to perhaps pick a fight with them, but not a barroom knock down drag out fight. Non-Mos may argue but this mess is much worse than that. The reason why it is so much worse is because the bishopric guys and EQ guys etc. have discovered they've been lied to forever, lied to and used. Now the beating they are getting leaves them reeling. They don't know which way to turn to make things better, make things like they used to be. So, as the punching continues, they grab onto whatever they can get a grip on as they continue to fall down again and again, like anonymous essays "grab those essays those might help," "tell the people that it was policy not doctrine," that might help," "lower the mishie age, that might help." They are reeling so bad that they don't see that they can't fix lies by telling more lies. They are spiraling down hill faster and faster grabbing things that won't/can't help. They have hurt the ones who were their faithful servants. BAD MOVE! There is nothing that causes a greater feeling of panic than grabbing endlessly at things that don't help so that things just get worse and worse. All they are doing now is putting tiny band aids on severed arteries. Not helping! The internet is their greatest enemy and there is nothing they can do about it which just infuriates them further. We should watch them self destruct now because they will. I'm sure that have hired teams of marketing expects and damage control spin doctors. But there is not much that can be done after a certain point to make a fairy tale look real, a false prophet criminal look like a great citizen/prophet. As long as they continue to tell LIES to the members, it will get worse and they CAN'T TELL THE TRUTH BECAUSE THAT WILL END THE CHURCH. Yes they are reeling. The gig is up and they don't want it to be. If you think of the story of those little Dutch boys who try to stop the leak in the dike with their fingers. First two or three fingers work but fairly soon all 10 fingers don't work, then the dike breaks. TSCC is on the 10th finger I think.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2013 03:31AM by verilyverily.
verilyverily Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ...The internet is their greatest enemy and there is nothing they can do about it which just infuriates them further.
The TRUTH is their greatest enemy. The internet is merely the mechanism.
By the descriptions - Can't recognize it. Examples: - When I left, to formalize it one would have HAD to be excommunicated. No resignation/name removal option. - No one came in weekends to shine thrones. - So many doctrinal changes, have run out of fingers and toes to count these.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 02:15PM by zenjamin.
Also, it seems like I am sensing a change on this board. It is hard to explain, but it is like the momentum is changing as far as the church and people that leave the church. Like the church is in a boxing match and the person it is beating up is getting stronger and pushing back the church.
It seems like people that are leaving the church faster now and with more confidence. It seems like leaving the church has historically been very scary, but as more and more people leave, now it is more like the people leaving feel sorry for those still in.
In my personal situation everyone now knows I am out after many, many years of pretending, anxiety, and depression. Sites like this have given me the ability to stand up to mormon authorities and you know what...they don't have any authority and become surprisingly meek when they know you are not scared of them.
My visiting teachers stalked me on facebook for an appointment and I kindly told them that it was strange to have vts when I no longer attend the mormon church. I never would have said anything to them before...I would have meekly answered the door when they show up and fake smile until they leave. When the ward members showed up talking about going to the temple I just blurted out I am NEVER going back there again. A few years ago I would have endured the surprise visit because I am a shy person but no more.
I think a lot more people are just realizing the church is way messed up and simply.....leaving.
I think there are two trends here. One is the greater confidence of people who leave, which you mention. The number of actively ex-Mormon people, meaning not just inactive but participants in boards like this and discussions like those that Dehlin and his ilk present, has reached critical mass. Anyone who leaves now has a ready-made community and proof that post-mo life is not the horror that the church warns about.
Second, the church's behavior is appearing ever more bizarre. Prop 8 and the more recent anti-equality efforts are probably the most obvious example, but in the long-simmering mistreatment of women, the black priesthood restriction, and such spectacles as the every-member-a-janitor program and the Great and Spacious Mall. It is difficult to be a Mormon now, since these things are so amazingly inappropriate.
The internet is related to both of these. It reveals the stupidity, the lies and the existence of ex-mo communities.
Yeah, but then we'd lose the ability to call the COB the "great and spacious building." And the new conference center reminds me of the "hanging gardens of babylon."
Can we just call the church the "whore of all the earth?" Or how about the "whore on the hills?"
If they were real prophet's, they would have seen what the reality of the internet would bring. They would have seen the bleeding. They would have done something years ago. Some preventive maintenance. But no..Saw nothing. Now a last ditch effort to stop the bleeding.