So we all know how members struggled to get the church to accept resignation or name removal from the church's records. We also presume that the church does not remove people from their rolls just because they have moved or can not be located.

So here's a new twist to the possibility that the church is removing members or holding disciplinary council WITHOUT notifying members that said action is taking place.

I have siblings who have not been active in the church since the 1980s. They have not formally resigned and as recent as 2000, ward clerks have reached out to my parents about "giving up their addresses" so the church could sic missionaries and other leaders to hound them to return to the Mormon church.

A couple years ago, one of my siblings moved back home. My Mom did her Mormon duty and requested (through her ward's bishop) to request his/her membership record (which still existed in Y2K). A few weeks went by and this ward bishop told my Mom that my sibling's membership record did not exist. If he/she was interested in the church, then he/she would have to be rebaptized. Huh?

So what the heck happened through the years? Well, Prop 8 then the SCOTUS ruling in 2013 about same sex marriage. BTW, my sibling who I love dearly is gay/lesbian. He/she has been outspoken in the gay community and is visible in the pride section of social media.

Do you believe in serendipity? Sometimes, I do but not in this case. The timing of this action coincided when the church secretly changed its policy on the hateful/hurtful on the baptism of children of gays.

So did the bishop, stake president or some "higher council of men" cancel my sibling's membership?

Now another sibling of mine is downright antagonistic and even hostile towards any members of the church. He/she also left the church in the 1980s and apparently is considered a member in good standing because he/she was assigned a minister when the HT-VT thingy was changed. He/she wrote letters, made phone calls to demand to be left alone. The church replied that they would honor the request but that he/she was still expected to receive regular church messengers. This sibling is NOT gay.

Any thoughts?

-bag of chips

Is it possible that they resigned, but didn't want to tell anyone? Or that they got ex'd, but didn't go to the "Love Court?"

Maybe they got mail from the ward about attending the court, but just saw that it was from the Church on the envelope and threw it out, not giving it another thought.

Sounds like your sister was excommunicated. I think it more likely that she was informed about the excommunication, but just blew it off or threw out/ignored the letters, than LDS instituting double secret excommunication.

They have the same legal obligation when they end your church membership that you have when you end your church membership, to tell the other party that the membership is terminated.

The language you used, "...membership records do not exist ... will have to be rebaptized...", is confused/confusing.

You can only be 'rebaptized' if a membership record exists, showing ex-communication or resignation.

As for the second sibling, it's not a question of Rights, but of Powers. That sibling can yodel all he wants about a Right to be left alone while still allowing his name to remain on the rolls, but no one is going to enforce that Right, since it's equally valid for the church to say that they have the Right and the Power to stay in touch with him/her as long he/she is a member.

Rights & Powers are two different animals... Don't get me started...

It's a roll of the dice. We've heard reports of bishops purging the rolls in the past. In other cases they will track you down and hound you like a bill collector.

Other than maximizing cash flow there is no principle guiding the actions of this institution. Things are pretty random.
Not sure why anyone would expect consistency.

Dr. No Wrote:
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> Not sure why anyone would expect consistency.

Because they are supposedly led by God via a living prophet. God is not a deity of chaos to Mormons but is a house of order.

many times OPie ~


people just have to be asked ~


to come back to church ~