"Obedience is doing what you are told, regardless if it is right or wrong."
For example, to paraphrase a famous Mormon mantra, "Follow (obey) the prohet,
EVEN IF HE'S WRONG and you'll be blessed." (my emphasis)

"Morality is doing what is right, regardless of what you are told to do."
The problem with Mormonism is that the Mormon members are conditioned
to always obey their leaders on matters of what constitutes morality (right & wrong).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2014 01:31PM by heretic.

Yes.
Mormonism wants its members stuck at the very first level of morality development "Obedience and punishment orientation".
A quick overview on wikipedia outlines the stages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg's_stages_of_moral_development

They go entirely too far with their "be like a little child" schtick.

Institutions are held together by conformity/obedience. If you're part of the group, you should do what everyone in the group does. No independent action, no differing ideas about what's right or wrong. Otherwise, you end up herding cats. The institution's number one concern is the institution. The people in it exist to serve the institution, to keep it viable. If not, then there's no point being part of the institution. There's no point claiming to be the source of authority and morality if everyone is free to decide what is or isn't moral. Notice ChurchCo talks about how many members it has, how big it's getting, not how happy and independently directed

The concept of obey is interesting because,according to Matthew 20:35-40 Jesus is purported to have said something quite different.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a
question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy
mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.
How do the powers that be reconcile this?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2014 02:57PM by thedesertrat1.

TSCC's leaders have reconciled it by
1) conditioning the membership (and themselves) into accepting that when they, the leaders, speak it is the same as if God himself has spoken,
and
2) they literally believe themselves to be Gods themselves (2nd Annointing) and as a result, not subject to any accountability
and worthy of complete and unquestioned obedience, devotion and deference from the Mormon Church's membership.

I suspect this is partly why some of TSCC's leaders sounded so pissy at the last General Conference.
Some of the TSCC's members are starting to act like rams, no longer willing to accept the role of obedient sheeple.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2014 08:58PM by heretic.

Strict obedience and "just following orders" worked so well for the Nazis, didn't it?

How any American can sign away their rights as a citizen to some cultish church - it boggles the mind.

I had a pretty screwed up childhood, my parents are f*cked up. One time I had a breakdown at church and ended up in the bishop's office. The (very young and untrained) Bishop tried to explain to me that I needed to obey my parents no matter what. He told me this story about how a little boy always did what his parents told him to even when they asked him to steal cigarettes for them (cause of course there is two big sins right there). I was 15 and it was one of my first wake up calls

"Obedience is doing what you are told, regardless if it is right or wrong," said Himmler to his boss, Adolf Hitler.

To Mormon leadership, obedience IS morality.

Why I was an abject failure as a Mormon...I fucking hate obeying.

Ron Burr