Posted by:
Elder Berry
(
)
Date: September 13, 2021 11:06AM
I had to laugh at this and didn't want to derail the thread.
"It also shows the church does not trust it’s members."
https://www.exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,2393601,2393640#msg-2393640The church is one of the oldest modern day cults is not the oldest and by the distance to Kolob the richest.
Cults in my opinion inherently don't trust their acolytes regardless of how many generations they have been ones.
Cults create circles within circles in a person ascending to the top of the cult's pyramid. Every point in the ascension is only passed via loyalty tests administered from leaders.
Tom Phillips is a mystery to me. Here is a man who ascended but did so without I believe understanding the language used (passive aggressive testing I think.)
He wasn't earmarked for higher leadership but seems to have done a lot of work at some of their higher levels without being properly vetted. I guess one can get a Second Anointing without being thoroughly vetted by the highest leaders.
But Tom is also an example of someone they put misplaced trust in from just the work he did and people he influenced and not some friend of a friend vouching for them and passing interviews with upper echelons.
I once read here that Gordon Hinckley had an intense dislike for the rag tag run of the mill membership. I think if this is true it is indicative of Mormonism's distrust and dislike of regular people. Maybe Mormonism has passed some point where it is now as accepted as Catholicism by most people. That would be sad. It is as much a cult today in my opinion as when Joe Smith decided to attempt flying to Kolob. He trusted people like William Law but also Bennett and Rigdon both of whom were bent on outshining Joe at his own game.
So trust isn't in the picture for authoritarianism and that probably includes all cults. Maybe there are kinder and gentler ones but not Mormonism. It is a strong rule by a strong man and any littler men who can't be belittled into submission are replaced. And all of the people below them are seen as marks more than members.