Some of his comments make it sounds like he wants the Mormon people to be less mainstream Christians again, and stick out as being different.

Sounds more like the 60's and 70's

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900055154/president-russell-m-nelson-tells-65000-of-the-faiths-arizona-batallion-to-strengthen-themselves-and-others-mormon.html

I drove by that stadium this afternoon..no special feelings...no inspiration..
Zip...nada..bupkiss.

Thanks for bringing the cold weather down with you, eh.

Lethbridge Reprobate Wrote:
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> I drove by that stadium this afternoon..no special
> feelings...no inspiration..
> Zip...nada..bupkiss.

Thank goodness. I am thinking of relocating to AZ and if you'd felt the HG I would have had to choose another destination, pronto!

Ugh, I just saw this in the article:

Arizona's Latter-day Saint population 428,000 people

Of course that means that only around 15% made it to the stadium, so 65,000 not so impressive, percentage-wise...

To 'Heathen me', the lack of focus on Christ-like basics (Honesty, Kindness, Respect for others; Repenting & Forgiving) are a shout-out.

Mormonism can't ever get too far away from being "peculiar", it's inbred.

Without their weirdness, there's nothing to put on display.

Renting the stadium and setting up the PR was a brilliant move compared to past leaders. If he can fire up the saints, more power to him. They should get something out of their high suck factor religion. Or personality cult, which is what started it.

"To be faithful to our temple covenants means we are willing to be different — much different — from men and women of the world," President Nelson said. "As covenant keepers, our thoughts, behavior, language, entertainment, fashion, grooming and time on the internet — to name a few things — are to be distinct from patterns and habits considered as normal by the world."

---

Really has his priorities in order ... fashion, grooming, and time on the Internet!

xxMo0 Wrote:

>be distinct from patterns and habits considered as normal by the world."

Wow he actually admits TSCC is 'abnormal'.....

>> "To be faithful to our temple covenants means we are willing to be different — much different — from men and women of the world," President Nelson said. "As covenant keepers, our thoughts, behavior, language, entertainment, fashion, grooming and time on the internet — to name a few things — are to be distinct from patterns and habits considered as normal by the world."

Translation for the general public: We're not different, we're Christians just like everyone else.

Translation for mormons: We're different, we're not Christians, we're latter-day saints!

Nelson could admonish Mormons to be vigilant in Honesty, in Kindness, in Charity, or in a lot of different qualities, aspects, or traits such as (drum roll) avoiding divorce, BUT NONE OF THOSE HAVE the SEX APPEAL that gets Mormon's attention or press exposure...

Sad, isn't it?

Also it's Arizonans not Arizonians ... the Mormon Newsroom site had it wrong in their headline earlier today but now they corrected it, lol

Is that like Kolobans vs. Kolibians ?
Does anyone care ?

is a standard cult attribute.

Being true to yourself and your values, even if that results in you being considered abnormal is of course not a bad thing in itself, especially if the values you follow are, at least by some objectively measurable standards, can be seen as ways to achieve better outcomes than those achieved by people who reject such standards.

Abstaining from alcohol and smoking, by themselves, can be positive differences. But the positive effects can just as easily be achieved through moderation as opposed to fanatically strict prohibitions.

Abstaining from green tea and wearing weird underwear are just nutty things to do. Lots of people do weird things in order to be "different" and "stand apart". There's nothing particularly virtuous in being different just to be different.

Wearing weird underwear and feeling virtuous for doing so is ridiculous--especially if you've never examined the origins of the practice and never bothered to learn that the weird underwear was introduced as part of Joseph Smith's super secret swingers' club in Nauvoo, based on plagiarizing elements from the Masonic secret society. Hey, it's sort of different and out there, but....nothing particularly meritorious about it.

Wally Prince Wrote:
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> being different for the sake of being different is a standard cult attribute.

Ah. Hadn't thought of that....

> Abstaining from green tea

In my first Word of Wisdom class, the teacher said "because it makes us different" as the answer to why they couldn't drink that.

I was mind-boggled---Because it makes us different?--what???

I couldn't believe that, alone, was a reason? You could use the same reasoning for the Nazi's killing the Jews! Most countries don't kill them, so we're doing it because it makes us different!

“As you work together to remodel your home into a sanctuary of faith — filled with learning together from the home-centered, Church supported curriculum — that is gathering Israel.”

Cult much?

My home is a sanctuary of slack.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
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> “As you work together to remodel your home

Yes, make sure to do it at home as the next money-saving effort will be getting rid of all the chapels entirely. You pay your own taxes, electricity, toilet-cleaning, etc., not us, but keep tithing anyway, maybe we'll let you in the temple sometime...

I think the home study thing is also about the church's habit of claiming more and more of your personal time and non-church life. It's similar to the way cults get you so absorbed that you no longer have a private life.

pretty "unique" and different from the rest of the world. I KNOW that I didn't like that kind of different.

Even my TBM daughter told her father (she wouldn't dare talk to me about it) that she found it bizarre, but off she goes all the time to the temple.

My home is a sanctuary of being with my dogs, watching TV, sleeping, eating, (cleaning), reading. Even my good mormon neighbor said that she didn't like them going to 2 hours as she didn't really want to have the hour of study with her 6 children (youngest 4).

cl2 Wrote:
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> pretty "unique" and different ...

Yes, I wonder if any other religions base permission for entry on donations. I wonder if any other religions ever keep anybody out of their houses of worship for any reason at all.

I still laugh at how no one said the requirements for getting into the Temple when they were enticing me in....

I think of two things
1.Oral Roberts
2.Chatagua tents

google "Scientology convention"....you will see the exact same stuff....

i can't stop thinking of all the thousands of dollars i gave to the cult not to mention a big chunk of my life.