"We reach out to members of the church throughout the world in a spirit of love and brotherhood inspired by the lord jesus christ. Our interest and concern are always with the individual man or woman, boy or girl. Our great responsibility is to see that each is "remembered and nourished by the good word of god" (Moroni 6:4). If any have been offended, we are sorry. Our only desire is to cultivate a spirit of mercy and kindness, of understating and healing. We seek to follow the example of our lord, who "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38) To you who for any reason find yourselves outside the embrace of the church, we say come back. We invite you to return and partake of the happiness you once knew. You will find many with outstretched arms to welcome you, assist you, and give you comfort. The church needs your strength, love, loyalty and devotion. The course is fixed and certain by which a person may return to the full blessing of church membership, and we stand ready to receive all who wish to do so. Sincerely yours, the first presidency."
"The church needs your strength, love, loyalty and devotion."
... and? ... what else? ... come on ... spit it out ... you can do it ... and what else does the Church need from me? ... you left one very important thing out ... what is it? ...
when I learned that Joseph Smith married other men's wives, sometimes while those men were serving missions. when I learned that the text on the papyrus doesn't match the text of the Book of Abraham. when I learned that Joseph Smith married teenagers and used the promise of eternal life for them and their families as a reward. when I learned that the endowment was stolen from the freemasons. when I realized that the GA's are businessmen, not men of God. when I matured and realized that the LDS Church is racist and homophobic. when I realized that the top 15 don't trust the members enough to have financial transparency. when I learned that Joseph threatened Emma with destruction if she didn't allow him to have more wives. when I realized that family isn't first, the church is. when I learned that my tithing alone was enough to fund all the ward activities for the year (and I'm a school teacher). when I realized that there is no possible way that the LDS Church is "true" and that the top 15 have to know also.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/2015 10:04PM by Leaving.
My wife and I chuckled when we got our pamphlets, especially this phrase: "If any have been offended, we are sorry"
HQ needs to wrap its head around the fact that the problem is not with people being offensive (I generally happen to like Mormon people); it's that the doctrine and history being espoused by the LDS church is fundamentally unsound.
As long as HQ continues to believe it's just people acting offensive, good people will continue to leave in droves.
"The course is fixed and certain by which a person may return to the full blessing of church membership, and we stand ready to receive all who wish to do so."
Translation –
"We'll let you back in, but only on OUR terms. Prepare to grovel."
1. Even if you come back, you will always be treated with suspicion;
2. It will always be assumed that you left for the church's standard reasons, i.e., a) you were offended, b) you wanted to sin, c) you never had a testimony to begin with; d) you were lazy or stopped praying and reading the scriptures; and/or e) you studied anti-Mormon literature.
3. You will never hold a confidential leadership position and probably will be relegated to library, secretary, nursery, greeter, or other 'support' low profile "callings";
4. You'll find getting a temple recommend will be more difficult and longer, and even more probing even if you qualify;
5. You will totally lose your privacy and probably will have all of your social media postings monitored for any signs that you are spy or are backsliding;
6. You will be declared a fair target for slander by the CK members of your ward. They will shun you, and possibly be polite to your face but always backbiting and gossiping about you. You will deserve it, of course, because you will be the designated 'sinner' in the ward.
7. And you will always be treated as a second class member, maybe even cursed with a dark skin (in their eyes).
Having been on both sides of this situation, I can only wince at the hypocrisy of a church that invites people back, and then continues to punish them through ecclesiastical and cultural pressure even though they have repented and confessed their sins.
When a business wants previous customers to come back, they usually need to dangle a few carrots and not just hit them with sticks.
Let's start with tithing. Most churches get by with donations of no more than 2-3% of a person's income and have trained and paid clergy. Why the need for 10%? What exactly is the church doing with all that money? And, where are my tithing discount coupons?
Beverage restrictions should be optional. How about offering a Starbucks gift card?
Underwear should be a personal matter. Get the church out of the underwear business. My knickers are none of a bishop's business.
To increase temple attendance, make it amusing. How about something like Joseph Smith's Wild Ride. Just look at the number of people that pay to go to Disneyland and Disney World (even in Europe). Give temples a funhouse feel and members will be lining up around the block.
I particularly liked the letter that accompanied it. An unsigned form letter. How insincere can they be? At the VERY LEAST have an auto pen sign the damn thing. Nothing says "we are just going through the motions" better than an unsigned form letter and a lame pamphlet. Pathetic
When I got mine, the only thought I had was they sure don't want me back very badly. It comes off as insincere, unloving, vanilla. Makes it easy for folks to see they made the right choice to leave the church. It is not caring at all.
If you translate the church's message from the OP correctly, here's what they're saying. "We gave you the token apology. So what's left to apologize for? We still believe that god endorses our dysfunctional society. So just get over what drove you away. If you grovel enough, we'll take you back. If not, you cannot be happy".