I think with this prophet/every one a priest thing they got going to consider oneself a believer in Mormonism makes one inclined to respect all kinds of authority.
Robert Kirby in one of his articles takes it further and only discounts Mormon authority if he personally doesn't respect the Mormon claiming authority over him.
It is a simple caveat. But Kirby has parleyed it into a weekly column since it is such a radical point of view for Mormons.
This alone tells me that reading Kirby is like looking at porn for the average authority mislead Mormon. And it is. It is their natural man at work. It is the man who requires those claiming authority over him to somehow earn his respect instead of worshiping a mantel. But it makes me wonder.
Is one of the strongest forces in The Mormon Delusion the selling of a priesthood to the masses? You can buy it. It isn't something Levitical. It isn't hereditary. It isn't just some wanderer in the woods claiming visions of doom. Of which The Bible is replete. It is literally selling religious belief based authority. You get to be like Abraham. I actually have that "New Name" and I'm sure thousands upon thousands of Mormon men do too.
Think about that. A belief system which grooms followers to hold up a system of authority more than grooming personal beliefs in something (they would find) uplifting to their souls individually.
Quite a racket. And it also comes with a built-in easy to use system of ostracizing those who won't pay to play prophets. How? It makes questioning authority (Kirby only questions individuals) a sin.
I recently saw the two new LDS visitor center films. One is Joseph and Oliver receiving the authority to baptize. Something bothered me when watching it. I couldn't put my finger on it until now. What was it?
Joseph Smith seemed so much like a soft spoken polygamist man. I've heard them a lot. I first heard one when I visited my grandfather Rulon Jeffs in his Sandy compound in the 80s. It is that not loud, but delusionaly firm and conviction powered cadence somewhat related to the General Conference voice. But in the film it was waaaay closer to the polygamists than the boredom of the twelve.
I wonder. Are many Mormons who are prone to leave just a self regulating feature of Mormonism? And the current goal less a kingdom of God on the earth than a people like Smith claimed he had - who would follow him wherever he would go blindly. Joe Smith had so many problems committing adultery, not losing members, and keeping people engaged in following him that he invented selling authority, the mysteries of the temple, and polygamy.
He was a hard working con man and we have a system of selling authority with billions of dollars today. Polygamy fell off early, the mysteries of the temple are being diluted, but the powerhouse of Mormonism is still going strong.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2017 12:00PM by Elder Berry.
It's interesting how being an awful person forced him to diversify his product line to survive. He had to invent something unique to keep people in his brand even when it sucked.
TBMs would make great Nazis. It seems two of them did, according to another thread. Follow the prophet, he knows the way. No, according to the facts, he does not know the way. None of them even have a clue. Mormons are an objective lesson that authority should always be questioned.
bradley Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > TBMs would make great Nazis.
Or even "comrades" in a Communistic Utopian political lie like is portrayed in "Animal Farm."
The Brethren are the self righteous pigs walking around like rich entitled people claiming to have special authority to be like they are. In reality, they are just running a business which requires them to meeting semi-annually with shareholders who have zero power in the corporation.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/04/2017 07:04AM by Elder Berry.
Mormons are all about authority and enforcing it. This is why Bradley says they would make great Nazis. What am I saying?! The WERE great Nazis! Anyway, to blindly obey is a Mormon virtue. To question authority is wrong.
After all. The d&c states that their authority dissipates if used incorrectly. After researching Mormon history I saw Joe never had much that wasn't unrighteous.
"You and each of you do covenant and promise that you will pray and never cease to pray to Almighty God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this nation, and that you will teach the same to your children and to your children's children unto the third and fourth generation."
I can't speak for every Mormon, but yes I was that way as a TBM. Married in the temple, virgin, paid tithing faithfully before marriage (husband later would not allow me), had kids right away, put off my education, earned my medallion.... The list goes on and on. If that's what the prophet said it must be true. The prophet receives revelation, end of story.
Have a job? Don't question the boss. He is in charge. Feel uncomfortable with something you are told to do? You need to be more Christlike. You aren't in charge. Your opinions don't matter.
My experience has been that Mormons tend to respect other Mormon authority far beyond what would be tolerated in most circles (though The Brethren flaunt their authority less where men are concerned than they do in dealings with females), but that members of the LDS church have virtually no respect for any authority that doesn't come from The Priesthood.
scmd not logged in Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > no respect for any authority that doesn't come > from The Priesthood.
It makes sense because the authority is shared. It is actually a brilliant scheme. They accord Mormon authority over all else because in a minuscule way they "hold" it and participate with it.
This is one of the things why I posted. I believe Mormons grant authority in general more credence than most people because of their religious scheme.