When a secular organization has an appointee go rogue, they can say, "We had no idea...!" They still get sued but basically people understand...

But the mormon church has said that its appointees are vetted by ghawd himself, and so when it's determined the appointee was rogue when he was called, well that's embarrassing!

To say the least.. What could they possibly say as an

explaination? Ghawd was having a bad day?

When a leader screws up, its the man's fault.

When they want you to obey that leader, its God's command.

Stupid double-binds.

"Now Brother Young, I have been placed as God's representative on earth, to determine if your little Timmy/Jessica is worthy."

Later

"Whoopsie, That bishop got caught running a Pimp ring! Well, the church is perfect, the people aren't."

My dad wasn't very what you'd call TBM. He believed more towards the end of his life, but he couldn't get over the Mark Hoffman thing. He talked to me about it--and brought up discernment.

I already knew that they didn't have discernment by the time my "husband" was the ex. sec. and the bishop kept bugging him to get me to come in and talk to him. I finally did and he told me my "husband" would be one of the next 2 bishops. He was cheating with men at the time.

Talk about mind blowing. I went inactive immediately so he wouldn't be called and we'd have this big drama in front of the whole ward if he got called.

As a kid in the fifties and sixties one of the number one Mormon brags was that we didn't have "trained clergy." Trained clergy was a dirty word and indicated that they were controlled by Satan who was cleverly using part of the truth in order to deceive.

Back then the Pope was still evil and the Catholic church was an abominable whore. Minister's collars were not a sign of having been trained in a seminary, but a sign that they too were deceived as we knew per Joseph that all the churches "drew near god with their lips but their hearts were far from Him."

This is what was taught. God wanted the untrained (clueless) so he could fill their very empty vessels with his ways of doing things.

Of course the joke is, they did get a hand book so that the poor over worked Holy Ghost could get a break now and then.

These teachings (and many more weird ones) were taught in the 70s, too!

When I knew that top-level leader guys like Hinckley, Packer, Monson and many others were lifetime church employees (including work at church-owned business, CES, etc.). And once you realize that there is a top layer of Church officials who are very well compensated for their "service" (including stipends, pensions, expenses, often housing, and benefits such as free tuition for offspring, etc.), the whole "unpaid clergy" thing loses any meaning. The unpaid clergy work under the supervision and direction of a very paid clergy. And it the very paid clergy that makes all of the decisions/appointments with regard to the unpaid clergy positions.

Of course, the problem with the very paid clergy in Mormonism is that they still don't need to have any relevant training or accomplishments in areas such as theology, counseling and the like. The very paid clergy are the ones who cut ribbons at new commercial properties owned by the "church" and say to us: "Let's go shopping!"

At least they don't have to do any math on payday ever since they voted themselves exempt from tithing.

Is they think SOMEONE ELSE can tell them they ARE or AREN'T worth of anything... (much less, the kingdom of God)

SOMEONE ELSE talks
to God
So you won't have to

You aren't WORTHY
Aren't Good Enough

AREN'T QUALIFIED-

When NORMAL people talk like that, you don't listen
.
When 'saints' talk like that, you laugh...

And speak up!

"When 'saints' talk like that, you laugh..." Exactly.

Good advice. "Laughter still is the best medicine." When you get to the point that you can see the humor along with every other emotion you have felt, you are getting somewhere.

And, there is no better time to laugh than when some other human just like you says they have talked to God and you now need to do what they say, there is no better time to laugh than that.

I like this...well stated.

Laugh - and then head quickly for the door ;-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2019 05:50AM by Soft Machine.

Yes. Laughter isn't just the best medicine but a great weapon as well.

I believe, my friend, that that was the thesis of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. No religion, no government, is safe from the power of ridicule.

Hence the injunction against loud laughter and making fun of the Lord's anointed.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Jebus didn’t like that.

Even after being out nearly 25 years, I still hate the word "worthy". It is such an offensive word to me. It was used extensively here in the Mormon church in the Bible belt. We heard it almost weekly.

It seemed to serve two functions:

* Make one feel worthless - as a result, to feel the need of church to be worthy, even though the church made one feel even more worthless. It is a simple control technique and a vicious cycle.

* An excuse not to help someone. That was common here. "He (or she) are not worthy". I cringed every time I heard that.

Seemed like every lesson and talk was about being worthy. Any subject of talk that was given could be turned into a worthy issue.

There's lots of Hidden wiggle room in Mormon application of 'Worthiness', especially for Mormon Royalty.

I, too, detest the word "worthiness" used continually by the Mormon Church. My detest grew in leaps and bounds when, back in the day, this word was used to describe how we Mormons, by our actions up in heaven, had earned our placement on this earth.

What? This just did not speak of a loving, fair scenario. Would not loving heavenly parents want us to have a level playing field? (Oh, the church eventually backed away from declaring this - just as they have backed away from a thousand other of their declarations).

At this time I was already questioning why some people had debilitating handicaps, why some were born into harsh and inhospitable environments, and why some were born into homes plagued with poverty and abuse such as I was. So, if I had fucked up royally in heaven why wouldn't a loving god have sent me to a place on this earth where I could have been surrounded with the care and help I needed? And, of course, this same reasoning applied to many others, too many to count.

Problems like this made me question and question some more which was what led me to conclude that, for me, "TRUTH", not "worthiness" was what mattered and that, the church did not treasure TRUTH at all. I found that obedience and worthiness ranked mighty high as being among the golden treasures the church worshiped.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2019 08:47PM by presleynfactsrock.

Notice how "worthiness" replaces things like "vetting" or "qualified".