This refers to situations where a person or organizations invests considerable time and effort on establishing, maintaining, advancing or otherwise promoting a particular plan or position...only to see all the effort go to waste as huge, irresistible events playing out beyond their control make all of their plans and positions irrelevant.
An example could be a group of people in a small city forming a "historical preservation society" aimed at protecting and preserving a cluster of historical buildings in the downtown area. Their activities include drawing up a 15-year preservation and restoration plan and budget, lobbying local political authorities for funding, hiring a PR firm to develop public awareness and support and seeking legislation to provide protective measures for the buildings to keep them from falling into further disrepair. Then, maybe 6 months after all of that planning, effort and launching of the society, an earthquake hits, badly damaging the buildings, causing a gas leak that then ignites and burns the buildings...and then...a while later...a sinkhole opens up and swallows half of the remaining structures. Obviously all of their carefully prepared plans and scheduled activities have been OBE'd in a major way.
This happens all the time to the LSD Church. (Polygamy is a big example.) It shouldn't happen at all in a church that is led by living prophets, called and directed by god himself, and who (as it has been promised) will not ever be permitted to "lead the church astray."
But it's always happening.
You would think that among the rank-and-file members this might be a wake-up call and a pretty major clue. But it doesn't seem to phase them.
The one and only "true" church on earth, led by the only "prophet" authorized to speak for God to the whole world, should not be playing follow the leader and catch-up, following worldly governments and worldly social trends, all the time. But it is. What are the logical ramifications of this fact?
In comparison to several hard-line, fanatical religions, Mormonism has been rather wimpy since the last of the first- and second-generation saints died off.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away--SLC in fact--there was a restaurant called Lamb's that had been on down town Main Street, I believe, since the 1800's.
We went one Saturday for breakfast at the storied cafe to partake of history. They had a dish on the menu that sounded like a wonderful breakfast with a twist. The full breakfast came and appeared yummy. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, toast, and all you could want in a low wide bowl.
Next came the twist. Suddenly a waiter poured hot milk over the whole thing and turned it into a soggy mess. We must have missed the part that this was for old people with no teeth or bad dentures. I guess we were supposed to know.
True story. Not kidding. I wish I could remember the special name the dish had. Must have been given that name in the temple.
The obvious comparison is at least Joseph started with a hot dish. Had some appeal even if it wasn't what it was cracked up to be--Adultry, seduction, money laundering, Danites, pillaging, fires, wars with the government---there was excitement and danger and Native Americans to blame for everything. You wouldn't fall asleep in that movie, lemme tell you.
But, ever since, each of the prophets have poured a little more steamed milk. The fantasy has been less and less appealing. The edge gone. And now Russ in his bumbling way has just dumped the whole pitcher all over everything. So soggy now it looks like vomit.
Lambs founded 1919. They recently went out of business when their liquor license was suspended for a couple months because of an idiotic interpretation of the Utah liquor licensing law. That was enough to do them in.
The law they "violated" required that when licensed restaurants changed ownership, it had to be reported to DABC so the DABC could make sure that the new owner was fully trained WRT the Utah liquor laws. OK, fine.
Lambs had two owners. One sold his interest to the other, so there was only one owner, who had been a co-owner for years. He did not report the change in ownership to the DABC. That's what got Lambs liquor license suspended. Idiotic.
They are trying to become more mainstream. We could look at this as a whole christian movement to sweetness and light. Our American Nation has been going for almost 250 years and most of that time people had to be really tough to survive. From clearing the land, to exploring far off region, taking over open lands and pushing away the Indians, building industries. Now most of that hard work is done, and life is easier. There were a lot of mean people who fought hard. Now since all the great civil right movements are finished and people don't have a reason to protest injustice like in the past, The attention has turned to fighting new demons. Such as wealth and gender inequalities. All searching for new and inventive ways to be triggered.
IN the process since everyone has become so afraid of offending others, people are becoming softer and nicer. The new upper class educated don't express what really think like they once did. They hide for cover. And we are certainly moving in the direction of becoming more simple minded. We now have safe spaces and talk about trigger points and micro aggressions.
None of the evangelicals (like Joyce Meyers, and Joel Ostein) dare talk about hell, and who is going there. What it's like to burn for a 1000 years. And what's funny is that just 35 years ago we use to hear this kind of thing right on TV. I remember Billy Graham saying Mormonism was the kingdom of hell, etc. and everyone was going to burn in torment because we were so awful and lost etc.
It's the whole Christian establishment that is drowning in it's own dumming down.
The majority of American's don't really have a cause, so they make one up. Including pretending they are a victim of X,Y,Z.
I ought to stick with my original admonition from about 20 years ago, that is; The biggest problem with most American's is that they are soft, spoiled, decadent.
This is an uninformed post. There are several points that merit comment, but I will mention just four.
First, you have more than once praised what the Europeans did to the Native Americans (the "Indians" actually live in India). But what you describe as "pushing away" the Native Americans was, to use the actual word, genocide. By minimizing the reality, by applauding it, you put yourself in the same category as Hitler and Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot. Is that really the company among whom you feel comfortable?
Second, you assert that "the new upper class educated don't express what really think like they once did. They hide for cover." I find myself wondering whether you have recently considered the White House and the Cabinet, both of which are chock full of billionaires who went to "the best schools," "have the best words," and are "very stable geniuses." Are those people afraid to assert themselves? Do they seek cover?
Of course not. When rebels take the reins of government, they cease being rebels: they have BECOME the establishment. When peripheral media become dominant in terms of viewership, they by definition ARE the mainstream media. If someone who sympathizes with those political forces and media insists on claiming he and his fellow travelers are still outsiders, they are behaving just like Mormons whose persecution complexes are impervious to reality.
Third, you complain that Mormonism and modern Christianity have become timorous and dare not speak of hell and eternal suffering the way the churches once did. Is it relevant to your argument that Mormonism and Christianity are factually false? What is the purpose of preaching hellfire and damnation when those things do not exist?
Fourth, you contend that "we are certainly moving in the direction of becoming more simple minded." This is one point on which you and I may be on the same page. But what is the implication of that observation? Are you willing to learn? Because this post makes you sound remarkably Mormon. Thus you [alternatively the Mormons] believe that Native Americans are Indians [Hebrews], your group is persecuted by the rich educated elite [the non-Mormon world], and you aver that the aggressive teaching of falsehoods is essential to true Christianity [Mormonism].
Perhaps the toughest thing about leaving a cult is unraveling not the doctrines but rather the habits of mind that accompanied those doctrines. This post makes it sound as if you still have some distance to go, that you are still deeply enmired in the Mormon covfefe.
It feels like desperation to remain relevant, to me. Letting sister missionaries wear pants. Optional veiling of the face of women in their casket. More equal in the temple (supposedly). Now I see they are going to let the missionaries have more say as to when they come home from their missions. Also just today a bill introduced in the Utah Legislature that lets churches apologize for abuse without admitting guilt. Good grief.
I believe their lack of attention to divorce (compare to what Christ said in the BoM) is the best example because they've clung to 'focus on family', yeah Right...
the 'Proclamation' doesn't directly address divorce, divorce is the biggest threat to Mormon families. They pretend that living the gospel is all a family needs to thrive / be happy...
other matters don't come close to this because SSM & other social issues are handled directly but don't effect nearly as many Mormon families.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2019 03:22PM by GNPE.
When I was a kid, my mom struggled to get everyone to do "Family Home Evenings" in the church-approved manner, using the OFFICIAL family home evening manual.
It always deadened things and terminated the natural, healthy family interactions that often were occurring spontaneously.
We would often be together as a family after dinner (as was not unusual when I was growing up), having very interesting, lively, invigorating conversations that just naturally developed and then mom would see the opportunity.
"Well, now that we're all together, I think this is a good time to have family home evening."
Out would come the OFFICIAL manual, then would begin the turn-taking at reading the predictable, boring, repetitive text of the manual, written in the same manner as all church manuals. Then would come the inane "fun activity" designed and suggested by some brain-dead bureaucrat working in the COB in SLC. "Fun activity idea: Hand out index cards and have everyone write on it what aspect of the church and gospel they have been most thankful for recently. Then share with each other. To make it more fun, try to guess what others wrote." Hideous stuff like that.
The lively, natural, fun family interactions that had immediately preceded this stilted, contrived "program" pushed on everyone by the church, was forgotten. We all squirmed and couldn't wait for the OFFICIAL family home evening to be over. We didn't feel like family when we were doing it. We felt like a collection of objects being manipulated by an organization for the organization's purposes.
More fights, sibling rivalry, and violence erupted from that forced Church lesson night than if we had watched the "too violent movie of the week." My TBM mom declared FHE a war to be waged to get 3 unruly kids to sit quietly and declare why church was so grand. I'm sorry, but my worst memories are watching my raging mom chase two older siblings from one end of the house to the other. Complete with hurtful insults, objects being thrown and doors being slammed.
The other nights when church was not CENTRAL to home life of the Goops was spent in relative calm and peace.
There may come a prophet, maybe Bednar, who says "I want a smaller fanatical religion that is into the sacrifice of all things, absolute doctrine etc." That would give the thing a sense of purpose beyond just building more temples, shopping malls and whatever. Maybe they could leave Utah and go to Missouri for the second coming. That would be a shocker for the city plans of greater Kansas City!
They also know that whenever they bend too strongly to the prevailing social tide like they did in 1890 and 1978, people start to ask themselves reasonably: "Why did I ever need to follow the prophet in the first place?"
Who knows? It's the religion of the last thing the guy currently in charge says. Other than that, I could not tell you what Mormonism (if you are allowed to call it that anymore) stands for at the end of the day.
I don't know. Just a random theory popped in my head. Ignore it.
I just thought, well golly, if they really believed all this stuff they would be like their detractors who either believe in a vacuum or have "led others astray" in attempting to follow their prophet Joseph Smith.
Smith hid things from the public (polygamy etc.), came up with imaginative spins on things (nature of God, Ancient American History) and kept the revelations rolling in...
Milk toast? Excuse me. They are still raging bigots WRT LGBTQ, and women. That shows no sign of changing. Allowing sister missionaries in Minnesota to wear pants does not milk toast make. Neither does a two hour block.
ETA: OK, the Endowment is a less sexist now. So they are only half a century behind the times on that issue. Woo Hoo.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2019 11:48PM by Brother Of Jerry.
Reminds me of that new Cuckianity megachurch, Hillsong, that seems to have taken over the old t.v. channel formerly occupied by Trinity Broadcasting.
Seems to be a losing proposition. They're like those t.v. preachers that wear jeans and a turtleneck on stage to look "cool" and "relevant" to the youth that they can never actually reach because it's obvious they're trying too hard.
The LDS church has a long history of capitulation to a more powerful force. People forget that the church was actually dissolved by government fiat in 1890 and they came close to having their four temples (SLC, Logan, St. George, Manti) seized by the Feds. The church structure had to be totally reincorporated, as a corporation sole that it is today.
In my own lifetime you could see the popularization/obfuscation craze go full bore with Hinckley. Obviously there were earlier examples like the 1978 revelation of course.
Honestly I am surprised that Nelson is going this route. I would have predicted he would have just tried to hold the line and not make waves, like Monson.
I think eventually more marginal splinter groups like the Restoration Branches are going to benefit from more traditional LDS members disaffected by the changes.
From my understanding, Hillsong is quite successful because of its focus on high quality music performance, minimal traditional doctrinal rigour and endorsement the prosperity gospel model.
Mormonism seems to be going the other way by reducing the fun component, but is not sure yet how hard to double down on doctrine. If they go hard, they will retain some members but will never grow (see JWs). If they want to go mainstream, they will need to follow Hillsong to some extent and try to be more fun and easy-going!
I think the church controls its membership mostly by requiring their money through tithing. To me, all the other rules and aspects of the church are lesser and fairly insignificant. The church can make changes to mission rules, lesson manuals, temple procedures, church structure, etc. and it doesn't really change the church much at all. The church still demands your money in order for you to be a full participant, go to the temple, hold callings, see your children get married and be with your family in the hereafter.
If there's ever a day that tithing requirements change, I'd consider that real change in the church.