Back in 2008, my mother's visiting teacher saw my absentee ballot on the table and told my mother she should throw it out, as I was "likely to vote for that Obama!"
sab Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When I was active my temple recommend was pulled > because I didn’t pay enough fast offerings And that my friends is E X T O R T I O N !!!!!
And this is the truth about the one true church. Mormons always say that tithing and donations are voluntary. That no one is being forced to pay anything. The LDS church is a church of agency, blah, blah, blah. But the consequences for any deviation from the rules are severe enough that the only choice ends up being to follow all the rules.
sab Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > When I was active my temple recommend was pulled > because I didn’t pay enough fast offerings
Ran into a Bishop once who insisted we were not paying enough - and was willing to do this to us.
So I took our food pantry list and showed him we were actually over paying. No chips, no cookies, no soda pop - just basics. No frozen dinners, pizza or such. Usually bought on Sale, by the case or more if possible and it would last in storage as we cycled through it.
A lot from our garden and meat from neighbors who farm - we would buy 1/3 to 1/2 a cow and kept the cost way down this way.
I never did know why I was disfellowshipped. Maybe that was because I refused to attend their kangaroo court. They must have sent some sort of letter; again, I did not read it.
Interestingly enough (in a bad way), the stake high council and presidency allow people to make accusations, but frequently don't allow you to know by whom or why. This is why it is a kangaroo court, and many church members don't seem to see as such.
Oh yes. Decided ahead. My convert friend went to her Court of Love, was grilled on her own by 3 men about sensitive personal issues and handed an envelope with a letter already prepared, informing her she's d'd.
A mishie of her acquaintance was sent home early in disgrace too.
would you settle for the weirdest MORmON ways that MORmON members have been found to be in sin in order to meet the MORmON agenda ???
MORmON ASSpostHOLE John Henry Smith preached that a MORmON married couple were in sin equal to adultery if they had sex with out the express purpose of creating a pregnancy.
I was told not to take the sacrament and threatened with disfellowship if I continued to pleasure myself. Not to mention my "same sex attraction".
It wasn't until i disfellowshipped myself, started to live my life authentically, and stopped giving them any power that I realized THEY are the weird ones.
Joke is on them, as the very things they told me to avoid and change were the key to me realizing their church was not only untrue, but abusive and contrary to living any kind of happy life.
So I'd say ANY 'reason' related to "chastity" is the weirdest.
I was disciplined for not paying enough in tithing because the other two CES guys in my stake didn't pay on their net income (I'm guessing). I was ordered to bring my CES paycheck stubs to the stake president to verify that I was making X amount of money but only paying Y amount of tithing. So he could designate the amount of tithing I would have to pay, to be worthy to stay employed with CES.
I was disciplined on the same day (same meeting) for not attending a 3 hour block of meetings when visiting my mom and dad (in their late 80's and in ill health) on Sundays. They lived 3 hours away. I was ordered to have the bishop of the ward my parents (who were not members) lived in, report to my stake president, when I visited my parents, to check to see if I had attended the 3 hour block.
I did not comply. But I did quit CES and the church that very day.
kenc Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- I was > ordered to bring my CES paycheck stubs to the > stake president to verify that I was making X > amount of money but only paying Y amount of > tithing. So he could designate the amount of > tithing I would have to pay, to be worthy to stay > employed with CES. >
My bishop was much easier on me. I was working as a therapist at LDS Family Services when I became a non believer. I liked the job, just not the employer. So I kept paying tithing to keep my job for a while.
I paid a ridiculously low amount, like maybe $300 in six months. I didn't sign up for settlement, and when asked if it was a full tithe, I said that I paid on my increase, not my gross. And that it seemed to be what my increase was. I was just making word salad. But he went along with it. I left their employment not long after. And moved to a new condo with a secure entrance to the building and didn't leave any forwarding address anyway. So never saw them again.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/30/2022 01:04AM by DNA.
I envy you. On the other hand, it gave me the kick in the pants I needed to just leave CES, the church; and jump into the darkness, to find peace (and a job). It worked.
You must have left the church too, and went to work with a different agency or private practice.?
I left church and the job at the same time. But Family Services didn't know I left the church. And they kept referring clients to me in my private practice. Now I'm a professor.
I was threatened with excommunication if I ever let civil authorities see the evidence I had on a high level church official skimming money from the building fund, double billing the church and billing for goods and services never performed.
I had taken the evidence to my stake president, who at the time I considered a trustworthy and honorable man.
I was told that despite my evidence, a person that high up in the church did not do the things I was accusing him of.
I was ordered to leave all my evidence with the stake president, which I did (I had copies) and to write a letter of apology or I'd never hold a calling or get a temple recommend.
I refused to write the letter, after all who'd pass up being excused from callings and temple nights?
Every time I see a church building project, I wonder how much if this same behavior is going on.
In the late 60’s, when they started to build the Ogden Temple (Carousal projector, with a golden, spider leg on top…but I digress). My stake president was in charge of the finances for temple. He did the same thing…skimmed off the top, but he got ex’ed and had to move out of the stake boundaries.
One time some old lady temple worker scolded me for not holding my husband's hand while walking down the hall in the temple. They separate you once you get in the room. It was weird.
That's not really "discipline," but why she felt the need to stop us was a WTF moment.
Many years ago when I lived in a particularly sunny place in So. Cal. I was making a feeble effort at getting active in church again after being fully inactive for all my teen years.
One day I was letting the Bishop know that I had succumbed to the flesh and had relations recently with my girlfriend. He told me my sins were "grave" but there was no punishment.
A few years later I was told he was caught having an affair with a woman in the ward. Don't know if got exed, dis-fellowshipped, etc. but I thought the irony was pretty good.
Tried mormonism for a couple months, was amorous, ditched mormonism again until almost 22 yrs old.
Moved back to Cal. was tired of the high life, met some nice people my age in the church, heard stories of foreign missions which sounded cool, mentioned I was entertaining the idea of a mission to the local bishop and he said "great, lets get the paperwork started" so I just rolled with it.
Got called to the Caribbean Islands, had a great time, was an AP, fully transitioned into an adult.
Came back, got married too fast in the temple, neither of us was into church much. Partied a few times.
Went to BYU at 26 yrs old, read the Tanners big blue book or mormonism and quit for good 2 years into BYU. Flew under the radar, got my degree and went to work at 30 yrs old.
Divorced my wife after 15 years of hell. Stayed single for about 5 years, met the woman I am now married to during that time and life is great! No regrets except not sharing a spliff with Bob Marley's mom and other family members in Jamaica when it was offered to me......but I was still carrying the mantle of AP so, well, you know :)
>> No regrets except not sharing a spliff with Bob Marley's mom and other family members in Jamaica when it was offered to me......but I was still carrying the mantle of AP so, well, you know :)
Okay, now that is a cool story. :)
In my misspent youth, seeing Bob Marley (and Peter Tosh) perform live were musically peak moments.
pollythinks Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Qua SA rah, SA rah, the future's not ours to see, > qua SA rah, SA rah. > > Please don't complain about the spelling--this was > the best I could do--unless you can do better. :-) actually yes I can it is Que sera' sera' but the meaning is the same
A young teen mother who has gotten pregnant "out of wedlock," as they say, and refuses to hand over her child to LDS Social Services for a $40,000 sale of the child to an LDS couple who want to adopt. It was (possibly still is) a real racket. They doubtless based it on a "failure to obey" rationale, but losing out on the $40,000 probably helped piss them off.
Edit: My understanding is that it could lead to disfellowshipping or excommunication--either one being the whim of the stake president. All out of love, of course.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2022 04:44PM by cludgie.
A dear friend of mine's mother was exed for having sex with her husband. She was separated from him at the time. Not divorced, mind you, but separated. It was a terrific humiliation. Only her mother was exed, not the guy, who happened to be raping his step kids; her daughters.
I resigned from the CULT after my Bishop told me he’d be forced to discipline me for sharing my doubts about the Mormon church with other Mormons. ‘Even my wife and kids?’ ‘Especially your wife and kids!” He had my resignation before he could ‘discipline’ me for being honest with my wife and kids, instead of just answering my questions, he just thought it’d be better to threaten me.
Just don't get caught drinking caffeinated root beer before the 2012 Great Pepsi Proclamation or you would have been forbidden from taking the sacrament at the MTC,
-forgiven Barqs Root Beer drinker from the 1990s after being ordered to repent or be sent home
I was made to pay penance for “sin”, if that counts as discipline. I’d confessed to self pleasuring and told it was because other areas of my life were not Christlike enough. Initially baffled as I was ticking every mormon box. Apparently I had bad feelings towards my ex-in-laws and had to repent by cooking them a three course meal (on top of nursing school and single-parenting). I did as I was told but I’ve no idea how feelings I didn’t have had anything to do with my “sin”. Makes my head spin even more in retrospect. Not to mention it did nothing to take away normal human urges. I think that game went on for a while with me jumping through hoops to obtain forgiveness by doing unrelated things that did nothing but exhaust me.
An older lady in our ward was beat back on bearing her testimony about walking back to Missouri in the last days. Missouri was talked about quite often when I was a teen but I didn't know it had become a "no-no" subject.
They told us this is why we had girl's camp. We would need skills to make it back to Missouri as there would be no gasoline to put into our cars or campers. We would have to resort to handcarts and wagons again.(my TBM mom hated camping & said it would be a cold day in hell before she would participate).
The sister had the facts correct about it being taught but someone in the ward didn't want her sharing truths and bringing up the old doctrine.
I was a ward clerk for most of my ~30 years in the Church (all as an adult).
Some members feel their need to "police" the Church by reporting sinners to the bishop.
Sometimes it is the bishop himself. A bishop owned ~1/4 of the rental properties in the town where we lived. Since the ward was the entire town, there was little escaping his reach as a landlord/bishop. Basically, if 2 people of the opposite sex appeared on a lease and they were not married (to each other), if one or both of them were Church members, a Disciplinary Council would be scheduled.
Another bishop was far less active dealing with sin. One Ward Council the Stake President marches into the meeting to present the bishop with newspaper clippings about a (less-active) member convicted of keeping a common bawdy house.
The Stake President wanted the member dealt with. Bishop lets the Stake President state his piece. After the Stake President departs, bishop says to us, "If she seeks my advice, I'll see what I can do. Otherwise, it is her business."
Basically, Church discipline works like this: you can expect to be disciplined for the sin of making the bishop's life difficult. And one of the easiest was to make a bishop's life difficult is to incur the wrath of the bishop's wife (who can rule many wards).
If ur asking me, it was an open hearing of the (Washington) state parks & recreation commission; subject was a request to designate a portion of a state park as Clothing Optional .
I have been politically active for many years in the city in which I live. For instant, I was on the council board of directors, three of which members came from each city surrounding the airport near where I live.
When the church learned about this, they held a conference regarding the same, to see if I was acting appropeetly as a member of the church. What?!
I had asked if my son could be present for this hearing, and they said OK, but he wouldn't be allowed to speak.
Happily, I was exonerated, and several came down from their high seats to smile, and shake hands with me. I didn't smile back.
And this, my friends, was the end of my activity at church.
As grooming standards changed with a new stake president, long hair 16 year olds were not worthy to bless the bread or water. Had there been enough Priest aged young men, then shoulder length hair would have been banned altogether, but they needed a third priest (one in the middle) to break the bread and hand trays to the deacons.