They had better add many more females from 14 upwards to that romantic statue of the loyal JS and his spouse.

The church's PR dept is working overtime to sugar coat it's history.
The fact is simply this.
The ONLY reason the LDS church is being "transparent" about its history, is because the truth cannot be hidden any longer.
They are being forced to acknowledge their catalogue of lies because of the Internet and the courage of so many victimised ex members.
If it wasn't for this, the church leaders would STILL be lying through their teeth.

This was tacitly admitted by GA Steven Snow:

“My view is that being open about our history solves a whole lot
more problems than it creates. We might not have all the
answers, but if we are open (and we now have pretty remarkable
transparency), then I think in the long run that will serve us
well. I think in the past there was a tendency to keep a lot of
the records closed or at least not give access to information.
But the world has changed in the last generation—with the access
to information on the Internet, we can’t continue that pattern;
I think we need to continue to be more open.”

http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/truth-in-church-history-excerpts-from-the-religious-educators-qa-with-elder-steven-snow/

Notice that the reason he gives for the new "openness" is that
the strategy of dishonesty and suppression is no longer working
because of the internet. No mention is made that hiding the
truth and lying is wrong, just that it no longer works in the
Church's favor. These people were forced to tell the truth
against their wishes. They are basically dishonest people.

Big changes by the church are almost always forced ones (e.g., the move away from polygamy in the 1890s and the move to extend the priesthood to all male members in the 1970s). We are seeing more of the same thing here. If it weren't for the Internet, the church would not be publishing these essays.

I can't wait for the follow up article with the headline "Mormon Leaders Didn't Tell The Whole Truth! " That's when the juicy details come out.

Nice!

The New York Times article is spot on.

Why is the church suddenly interested in being transparent? Well, the church really isn't interested in being transparent at all. The only reason the church has come out with the plural marriage essay(and the other essays)is that, as the article says, "there are thorny historical and theological issues that are causing some to become disillusioned or even to abandon the faith."

Church leaders are well aware that people like myself (returned missionary, former Elders Quorum President, bishopric member, and seminary teacher) are abandoning the church. The leaders cannot control the facts that are out there on the Internet. So they are just going to go ahead and acknowledge the facts (albeit with a bit of a spin). But make no mistake, the leaders are not trying to be transparent. As noted in the article, "[t]he church has not publicly announced the posting of the essays and many Mormons said in interviews that they were not even aware of them." As further noted in the article, the essays "are not visible on the church's home page; finding them requires a search or a link."

The purpose of the essays is to make it seem to members who learn of this information about Joseph Smith that the church has never been hiding this information. This causes many persons who learn of this information to essentially say to themselves, "Oh, this must not be so bad, the church has already addressed this and look at all of my fellow church members who are still active."

Also, I find it troubling that Snow passes Joseph Smith's actions off as just the actions of a person like you and me who is not perfect ("these people weren't perfect"). Excuse me, but there is a huge difference between: (1)being imperfect; and (2)marrying other men's wives and explaining that an angel commanded you to do it and that if you didn't you would be destroyed. As the CES letter says, this is Warren Jeffs territory. And he is currently serving a long prison term.

Exactly my thoughts!

Lest we forget, about a decade ago, we heard it often in General Conference and other meetings that Joseph Smith is second only to Jesus Christ himself with regards to what he did for mankind, the latter being a purported perfect man Himself. Why would God choose a man like Joseph to "usher in the last dispensation of times," and "restore the one true Church," when there were many contemporaries of Joseph who were conscientious objectors to Josephs silatious activities. Why didn't God choose one of these many better men or women of good character to restore His one true Church? They were instead, excommunicated for calling out Joseph in many instances.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2014 01:10PM by london.

I am so glad this made the New York Times but with my interactions this morning I have realized that so many don't care, they say "so what, we already knew this", "none of it matters because the church is the best and the truest in the world" "blah, blah, blah". When you are brainwashed and drinking the kool-aid daily all the bad deeds, all the evidence can smack you in the face and you keep going, you keep defending, you keep testifying. So many are beyond help and I won't argue with them anymore, they are delusional.

I saw that too - it was great. It was on my MSN newsfeed as one of the main stories, complete with a picture of the statue of Joseph and Emma on Temple Square. I wonder how many Mormons are like "I knew that" and how many are reeling this a.m.

And when are the 15 cowards going to man up and face the media?
They are the ones currently accountable for the lies and cover ups.
Where are they? Disreputable scum.

They can be 'transparent" now as they have reached critical mass and like the FLDS will not go away and those that remain have a larger share of the loot that they have amassed. This is where they would feel the most if there was a threat.

The NY Times should have reported that Hinckley lied to Larry King. He told Larry that polygamy started "when our people came out west".

Agreed.

Here is an idea: Everyone grumbles about how dry and boring the new priesthood lesson program is. Perhaps those of us that may still attend, especially in a HP group, should suggest next Sunday in quorum meeting "how about today we talk about that church essay that recent 'liberal' NYTs article referred to so we can see what the church essay really says. This would help us be prepared to talk to others we know who might bring it up. It would at least be a nice change from the today's lesson in the manual that we've all already seen for the umpteenth time." Then just sit back and let nature take its course ....



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2014 10:13AM by mannaz.

The article currently is the "Most E-Mailed" and "Most Viewed" article in the U.S. section of the NYTimes website.

So much for quietly posting it in a hard-to-find location on the LDS website and hoping nobody notices.

UGH. I am soooo out of there. I want nothing to do with that crazy church. I stopped attending 25 years ago. Should I finally resign?
I already say "NO" if someone asks if I am a Mormon.

My family are now defending the indefensible. "Joseph Smith was a true prophet so anything he did was OK".

Why do my family continue to drink the kool aid?

OHWHA-TAGOO-SEIAM has clearly morphed into OH-WHAT-A-GOOSE-I-AM. Yet they still refuse to acknowledge it.

When are the 15 Apostle bast--ds who infest temple square, going to grow some balls, and face the media?
These lying fu-ks are the chief policy makers and are directly responsible and accountable.
Get these grand deceivers in front of a judge and jury and watch them squirm and contort as their lies are exposed to the public.

What's also interesting is that the article points out the church's continued belief in eternal plural marriage - that a man can have more than one wife in heaven. Church leaders like Russel Nelson should be assigned to give a talk in the next general conference on how he is looking forward to populating more worlds with his current two eternal wives. Now THAT would be real transparency!

"They are basically dishonest people." - DUH! Really?

Also in the UK guardian newspaper today.

Link:

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/Nov/11/mormon-church-admits-founder-joseph-smith-40-wives#comment-43502371

kingcyrus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also in the UK guardian newspaper today.
>
> Link:
>
> www.theguardian.com/world/2014/Nov/11/mormon-churc
> h-admits-founder-joseph-smith-40-wives#comment-435
> 02371

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/11/mormon-church-admits-founder-joseph-smith-40-wives

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/mormon-church-addresses-past-racism

"We are sofa king lame."

Internet vs Mormonism

Internet wins.

Top 15 con-men know the jig is up.

Members are realizing they are being bamboozled by church leaders.