Leave aside the idea that you just want it to shut down permanently. What things would you change about the church if you could.

Here is my list.

Make it 'come as you are' no more of this judging people for not wearing the uniform. No talks on double earrings or tattooes or not wearing proper 'sunday attire' Or have beards or moustashes, or not being the right sexual orientation, etc.

Base the Word of Wisdom on following documented,scientific health facts, and make it NOT by COMMANDMENT. If science has shown coffee is healthier than say Mountain Dew, encourage it's drinking.

No more non-members left out of weddings. Sheesh, put video cameras in the room with a connection to the ceremony so they can watch it take place if keeping the gentiles out is so important.

Remove any 'Follow the Prophet' of 'Praise to the Man' music from the hymnals or any other sort of brainwashing crap music.

No more 'Masters of the Universe'or interviews for 'worthiness' If a member needs to speak and get help from the Bishop, they can, but no disciplinary courts or sitting in 'judgement' or calls to repentance, or 'counsels' about someone to make them 'shape up'

No more 'we are the only true and living church on the earth shit.'

No more 'you need to attend every meeting, including SS or you are going to hell' attitude. If you miss Stake Conference, SO What

Make GC one hour, and make it relevant, not just platitudes. Make it pertinent to actual events.

No claiming revelation if you haven't had one in years.

Allow for descent. Actually allow the opposition for callings by people without calling them into the bishops office to scorn them if they do disagree with a calling.

Boyd K. Packer can drop dead, so can Bednar and any of the other tight assed pricks.

It would become non-existent.

There is very little that is honest, true or of good report or praiseworthy about the Mormon church. I don't think there's any way for them to come completely clean without becoming something antithetical to their identity or just shutting down and giving all the money back to the members.

First things first

They need to change their underwear!

I'd change the fact that Mrs. Smith didn't have a stillborn birth on Dec. 23, 1805 in Sharon, Vt.

Two things:

Tithing, no more 10% to all in order to get a recommend. Especially no more pay tithing first and food later.

Obedience is the first law of heaven - where did they find that one? The first time I heard it I had a hard time processing the statement.

Ok, maybe three things, no more temple rituals for a selected few.

D

I think that any organization benefits by honestly admitting past mistakes. A good start would be to come out with the following statement.

"The taking in marriage of more than one wife is immoral and an insult to the institution of the family. In the past the LDS church has sanctioned and performed these marriages as if they were doctrine. This evil practice made it into our doctrine only by the selfish desires of early church leaders who used scripture and supposed revelations to justify their carnal desires. To this we simply and sincerely say that we are profoundly sorry. With his first step of the repentance process we now look to do everything in our power to right the wrongs that we have caused. Nothing can atone for the many decades of sadness inflicted on women and children involved in these marriages. However, we can and will take a more active role in preventing the spread of this counter-doctrinal behavior. We also invite those who have left the church or may be struggling with their testimony because of this issue to please come back to the fold. You were right and we we're wrong. We need your love and strength to help us move forward and heal."

Dieter Uchtdorf would become prophet, seer and CEO, and would purge/fix the rest of church leadership and policy from top to bottom.

Though I'm tempted to say that BKP would become prophet and cause the implosion of the church. That would be much better, but it defeats the condition you set up with the question.

Quit callin it a "church". If they called it the MORMON SOCIAL AND BUSINESS CLUB..would be more truthful.

Full financial disclosure of the church including GA compensation. Open ALL the vaults containing all church historical documents. I think the reason why they changed the endowment ceremony in 1990 was because of the Internet - can't slice open the Internet. The church is going to have to come to grips regarding how the Internet is challenging them.

I remember when they use to disclose financial statements during the second session of GC on Saturdays. Was this mandated by law or did they do it on their own? What is the law that changed policy? Who was leading the charge? I would like to know the money trail on that political move.

Seems to me that tithe payers ought to have the same rights as shareholders. I predict the church will require you to provide tax forms during tithing settlement - I bet you more than one GA thought about it. They could spin it like they did cleaning the toilets weekly.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2011 11:17AM by joelaban.

Had to have a revelation for blacks to have the PH (eventhough McKay wanted to change it in the mid-1950's), It took hard-ass McConkie to tell the rest of the GAs that there is no scriptural reason to deny blacks the PH any longer (besides the Feds taking their tax-exempt status away). All God's children...

But they did not need a revelation to make the WOW a commandment, just a vote. The revelation even says this is not by way of commandment. Just as bad as Marie Osmond not eating chocolate so she can live the higher law. I guess the GAs like meat too much to obey that.

They did not need a revelation to make the WOW a commandment, just a vote. The revelation even says this is not by way of commandment. Just as bad as Marie Osmond not eating chocolate so she can live the higher law. I guess the GAs like meat too much to obey that. I go to Sac Mtg, then off to McDs for a large coffee ($1.67) and return late for PH with coffee breath. My TBM wife went from being upset, to disappointed to sadly smiling now.

My wife knocked on our hall bathroom and I opened it asking "what is wanted?". She nearly flipped out. I told to give equal scorn to the folks at church who use the "Return and Report" phrase.

If the upper crust of the ward does it, then it must be ok - it is cute. If I do it, then I'm being influenced by the devil. Why is everything good a blessing from God and everything bad a curse from the devil. Why is satan always at fault?

Allow a civil ceremony before a temple sealing, acknowledging the fact that a marriage should be a joyous occasion for all the friends and family of the couple. The temple sealing could then be done within a few days or weeks, since it is just a religious rite. No more one-year castigation for having a civil ceremony.

Annual, full disclosure of all church financial affairs.

Open the vault and disclose all papers, journals, etc. No more hiding history. If the church did it, then own up to it.

My participation; oh wait, I could, and I did! The rest of it has too much momentum for me to impact.

The thinkers of the Enlightenment solved this problem long ago. Any church that sets its self up as the only path to salvation will use that catch to hurt and extort their congregations. Every problem that the church has stems from the fact that they claim to be the sole source of salvation on the planet.

I look at this retrospectively:

what has ChurchCo supplanted / replaced from (what was represented as) Christianity? my answer:

the Basics:

Kindness, Honesty, Charity, all the tokens of Love for God & Neighbor.

they're been utterly & completely, systematicaly replaced by a set of Rules & Regulations.

Pharisees indeed.

The lessons. Get rid of all the leading questions that can be answered with "pray, go to church, read your scriptures, pay tithing." Let people actually ask hard questions even if there is no "faith-promoting" answer - actually, let the teacher ask difficult questions. Make the church democratic - let members vote for their teachers, bishops etc.
Also many things that were already mentioned - stop focusing on appearance, change the WoW, include non-members at weddings, no more brainwashing, acknowledge that there is nothing more "true" about this church than any other, make tithing voluntary and not linked to temple worthiness, teach critical thinking instead of obedience, get rid of all the secrecy about the temple, stop lying about their history, apologize for their history, and full financial disclosure.
And stop getting involved in business, use the money for charity instead - real charity as in helping people who need it, not just for publicity or in the hope of getting a lifetime of tithing payments in return.
Finally, stay out of politics completely! And apologize for Prop 8, along with the apology for racism, sexism, exploitation of poor people, and lying. Allow homosexual weddings in the temple. Make a black woman the next Church President (eliminate the BS about prophets). Send missionaries to work in soup kitchens, at medical clinics in Africa, Habitat for Humanity, suicide hotlines, or anywhere they are actually helping, instead of teaching "discussions". Instead of teaching obedience, teach along the lines of Buddha:

"Don't blindly believe what I say. Don't believe me because others convince you of my words. Don't believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don't rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don't infer or be deceived by appearances."

"Do not give up your authority and follow blindly the will of others. This way will lead to only delusion."

"Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real."

true charity stop giving a penny and then blowing a million trumpets.
turn temples into soup kitchens

Apart from the obvious - micro-manage it's downfall from the grassroots upwards - the one single doctrine I would change would be the WoW. It is the most obvious outward difference that Mormons have compared to the rest of Christianity. Sure, there are more important differences, but the WoW is what makes Mormons a "peculiar people", more than every other doctrine, in my opinion.

The result would be Mormons fitting in to general society more easily, and I believe this would reduce depression in the members, and help them discover the truth.

I would take steps to dismantle it the church part, but keep the business part. Except, the business part would actually raise money to help people, especially all the members & former members who have been swindled. Yes, there would be massive reparations!

I don't think Dieter believes, so he can stay on as some sort of coordinator.

I would make sure to drop 'Latter-Day Saints' from the church name.