Brothers and Sisters, as those who claim the name of Christ, we owe you an apology.
Instead of listening to your concerns, we have vilified the brave and active minds who have asked us difficult questions.
Instead of repenting from hate, we have doubled down on racism, sexism and homophobia that belong in closed history books.
Instead of listening to your concerns about providing for your families and spending time with them, we have instead demanded a tenth of your income and too much of your time.
Where there should have been faith, there has been dogmatism. Where we should have been concerned about having clean hands and a pure heart, we have been more concerned about outward appearances.
Where we had a high calling to nurture and keep safe your children, we instead all too often protected their predators.
We have failed you. We are sorry.
This is not a complete list of our failings. Those are only known to God Almighty.
Effective immediately, all missions will be 100% service oriented. In a world that has moved beyond Christianity, we want to show that love for our fellow man will always have a place.
We know that many of you have serious issues with aspects of church history. Please be at peace. We are not perfect. We never should have claimed otherwise.
Despite our great failings, despite ugliness like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and other aspects of church history, our church has by and large been made of good people. Good people like you, who love their families, work hard and try their best. We hope you are able to celebrate church history and your pioneer heritage where appropriate.
From this day forth, we vow transparency on every level. We vow to serve you better. We vow to be better.
In the coming days and weeks, there will be many positive changes to our humble church. We hope you bear with us.
In this dark world, we know there is still a place for faith, hope and love. It is our renewed mission to be a light on a hill and a refuge for you and your families.
IF, and that's a big IF, you are being serious, I will answer you in all seriousness. I would not be going back. There is still the matters of the BoM, PoGP, Bible. I am no longer Christian, so it just wouldn't work. BUT, what it would help, would be my a lot (not all) of the angst I feel for my loved ones who are still in the church and still raising their children there.
I’d be delighted, but....there would still be absolutely zero chance that I’d ever go back to the church formerly known as Mormon (or any other church).
I would congratulate them on growing a conscience. But they still have nothing to sell. The "leaders" have no right to be my leaders. The "authorities" have no basis for claiming any kind of authority.
If they prove themselves over time to be good organizers of worthwhile activities and constructive community builders, I may find myself wanting to participate. But by their own confession they would have made the other stuff pointless. Temples, tithing, priesthood power...all of the core stuff immediately becomes moot.
If the Book of Mormon witnesses came clean and confessed that they knew the Book of Mormon was false and Joseph Smith was a fraud, that would have been great for their own personal spiritual development. But it would not have made any reasonable person want to join any organization that those guys were running. They were selling something based on lies and manipulation. The confession doesn't give them something else to sell.
It would only be a good start, but not enough. I would want to know if they still believe that all of the 'mormon-specific' scriptures are all still true. They can keep the King James version of the bible. But the rest of the standard works has got to go. Most importantly, they need to give up the 'exclusive authority' claim, and the Joseph Smith first vision story. They need to admit that it is all a fraud, and that they do not teach it anymore. They need to respect the priesthood of other Christian churches as legitimate, and admit to the abuse and betrayal they committed in the pre-1990 endowment ceremony. If they ever played their cards right, I might take them out of the category of cult and consider them a legitimate religion. But I wouldn't re-join them.
Currently, I consider myself their enemy (an honest enemy who would meet face to face to air my grievances against them if they ever wanted that). I do what I can at every opportunity to disparage and delegitimize the mormon church to others. As a former fulltime missionary (a long time ago) I am quite affective at it. So the church has something to gain by taking these actions. Maybe someday, their cult might be legitimized. But until then (and I am not holding my breath on this), they're just a cult and not a valid Christian religion.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2018 09:02AM by azsteve.
As Josephina said, I will never ever trust them again. There's been too much too wrong for too long. Too many people's lives and families destroyed. I might not worry so much about grand-nieces and -nephews. That is, I might keep a slightly hopeful eye on the situation. But it wouldn't work because I'll settle for nothing less than perfect honesty and perfect behavior on their part, and that would mean no priesthood and no mormonchurch.