For those of us who have not kept up with changes by Nelson, please enlighten us?

Been out of the church for a decade and out of Utah for a few years ... Whenever I talk to a mormon, they always tell me that my information is out of date.

Thank you in advance for your participation. : )

I certainly don’t follow the CoJSoL-dS these days, but the most obvious change is that they’re all ex-Mormons now. Apparently, Jesus is offended by the word “Mormon.”

The High Priest group and the Elders’ Quorum is now one big happy group (that frees up one leader, two councilors, one secretary, and one instructor to serve in other callings).

No more home/visiting teaching, though they have replaced it with a “ministering” program.

They have made church discipline appear kinder and gentler (as I understand it, they don’t call it excommunication when they effectively excommicate you).

Rusty tries to walk the tightrope between appeasing stalwart members and having minimal recognition of the fact that we’re living in the 21st century.

Basically, lots of lipstick on the pig that is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Rusty issued a Palm Sunday Message a couple days ago. I don't recall LDS Inc doing that in the past, though perhaps I just didn't notice.

Is Rusty trying to get more street cred with traditional Christians, who make a big deal out of Holy Week? My recollection is that Mormons never made a particularly big deal about Easter, and basically ignored Holy Week completely.

Rusty is now a "global faith leader" so I expect he'd chime in when other global faith leaders se d out something.

Oh, that’s right, he got demoted from Prophet, seer and revelator. “Global faith leader” does have the advantage of at least being accurate.

I don't think "global faith leader" is an accurate description of Nelson.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
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> I don't think "global faith leader" is an accurate
> description of Nelson.


Can U suggest something better as in more accurate while still have a bit of sex appeal?

It's hard to beat BoJ for sex appeal.

But if you don't mind a bit of pedestrian prose, how about The Leader in Decline of a Cult in Decline?

Or using Weberian terms, Caretaker of a Once Charismatic Cult?

>how about The Leader in Decline of a Cult in Decline?

Declining Cult Leader

You can interpret it both ways

The most notable change is the two hour block (down from three)

RMN doesn't like the nickname "Mormon" and has tried to banish it. The "I'm a Mormon" campaign - possibly one of the best things the LDS ever did has been quietly buried.

The Christus symbol is used as a logo of the church and out goes Moroni with the trumpet.

The new First Lady has gained Co-pilot status. Who says Mormons are Misogynist?

The "M" word is now more offensive than the "F" word to them. If you say MORMON three times in under a minute you can make them cry.

They don't teach anything anymore--they "minister". This is still however done from the same handbook as before. Sort of like when Janitors became Sanitation Engineers.

They have finally noticed their lack of Jesus in the church and have pushed Him front and center. More like a mascot than a god though. Of course they borrowed somebody else's Jesus so the Joseph Smith appropriation thing is still going on.

Now that they insist on being called by their full 9 word name and never use the "M" word, it works well to refer to them as the Church of LDS if you want to piss them off. "What? All of a sudden Jesus has been put in the game as Quarter Back after all these years?"

The new goal is to build as many temples as Starbucks has coffee shops. They can't let Satan have more visibility since Coffee is still the most dangerous poison on earth.

What hasn't changed is their expectation of being deferred to in a way verging on worshipping them as you give a pass to their illogical and evidence-less beliefs. As madeguy put it in another thread, they still expect you to stand when they enter a room.

Rusty instituted changes to the temple ceremony to take out some of the cringiest aspects.

There was recently a survey sent out to younger Mormons that indicates the church is considering changes to keep the younger generation.

I think there have been certain adjustments to the missionary program, i.e. permitted apparel, but I can't remember the details.

I don't follow Latter Day Saintism closely but hear about something called 'the covenant path' and Even Jesus Christ quite a lot.

As a nevermo I notice: much more talk of Jesus.

As Easter approaches the air is filled with Mormon talk of Jesus and Atonement that sounds Christian and carefully avoids inconvenient Christian words like Trinity.

Of course the careful avoiding is not new.

What's new is the big emphasis on Jesus, while still carefully avoiding certain questions about Jesus. It's quite a tightrope to walk.