by that, one application would be to apply for a TR knowing you can't answer the questions truthfully;

also, the interviewer KNOWS the facts of the matter, such as:

Dishonesty

word of wisdom violations

abuse or violence to another individual, possibly a family member

failure / refusal to pay tithing.

If you don't have a testimony, bear a testimony (in other words, lie) and eventually you'll get one! That was Packard, right?



"What'er thou art,
Act well thy part."

David O. McKay, telling us to pretend...

Yes, It was called a full time (MORmON) mission.

FTR, I hated it !!!!

I well remember a letter to the editor of the Provo Daily Herald back in the late 80's or early 90's. BYU had as a new condition of employment the requirement to hold a temple recommend. The letter basically said that requirement would make skillful liars of many of employees of BYU.

Yes, every time some sort of report that involved numbers. As a missionary that did not leave the apartment for 8 days due to an illness (yet I somehow taught discussions). And I won't go into the sacrament attendance when I was a ward clerk trying to please the bishop.

messygoop Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, every time some sort of report that involved
> numbers. As a missionary that did not leave the
> apartment for 8 days due to an illness (yet I
> somehow taught discussions). And I won't go into
> the sacrament attendance when I was a ward clerk
> trying to please the bishop.

Oh, that last one. I had the same thing happen to me when I was a ward clerk. The Bishop was never happy with the numbers I gave him. So we both counted one day and ended up with the same numbers. So he told me from then on to add 15 on to whatever I counted "to make up for late arrivals, people in the hall, and using the restroom".

Yes. My mission president did.

When I was transferred to Barbados after 7 months in St. Vincent, we were instructed to wear P-day clothes, no name tags, and say we were tourists when we went through customs.

The group that came in a few months before my group did the same. one guy in that group was asked by the customs agent "are you a mormon missionary?" and he replied "no."

I had a great MP and I totally enjoyed my mission, but this was one instance of pure "lying for the lord."

I was a convert to the Church for 30 years. About halfway through that journey, I was ready to quit the Church.

Confessing my sins was not working. I would confess. I was told not to take the sacrament that week unless I stopped my sin. I was able to have the sacrament honestly 2-3 times per year. A temple recommend was totally beyond me.

My constant weekly failures were affecting my mental health. For 6 days/week I was a successful, capable person. Then on Sundays I was continually a total failure. Why should I continue subjecting myself to a religion that was such a degrading experience?

I was done. Notwithstanding the horrible storm that would result in my home life if I was excommunicated (resigning hadn't occurred as yet), I was done with Church.

A bishop convinced me that before I quit the Church I should see a counselor from LDS Family Services. The counselor was a Stake President from another province.

The counselor/SP told me that my confessions were "wrong." He said that my private faults were only a problem if I was "working on that particular area." With a hinting wink, we both knew that I wouldn't mention any of those sins to a bishop or during a temple recommend interview.

How strange? This was the first I learned about how the Church really operated.

my (now former) wife submitted wildly/blatantly FALSE (in her favor, of course) financial statements to the court in order to satisfy her GREED;

I showed them to our bishop, who acknowledged they were false/mis-leading...

But then he IMMEDIATELY fabricated excuses for her, allowing her to continue with temple recommend-privileges.


I asked him: "What about HONESTY?"

all I got was a blank stare.

Yes, via the sin of omission.

I would be allowed to remain a member of the church (per my Stake President), if I would keep my mouth shut reg. Packer's attempts to have me excommunicated. (I agreed, as I would rather quit than be X'd--as that leaves a stain on the persons's reputation and good character.)