My exmo DH's TBM friend recently sent us a pirated children's dvd in the mail. Pirated DVDs ok, tea evil? This is the kind of the thing that drove my husband from the church.

You can't have a go at 'the Church' because of something one member did. That's just an excuse to have a rant.

Why not? One person's experience puts a lot of perspective on why this board is even here. You could make the case that this is all a bunch of rants.

Its one example in a trend.

In the area I live in I have personally seen a Stake Patriarch rip off people. A Bishop do the same. And the Bishop spent jail time. Saw another big name in the local church do time for theft. Saw a former Stake Leader have the current Stake Presidency cover up his child abuse. And on and on and on.

Mormon ethics is to rip off the gentiles like Smith et al said to their people in Missouri. There's your land!

so many rules, there isn't time to discuss ethics.

I think all Mormons have a tendency to judge a person who drinks tea and has a tattoo as less ethical.

That's time and energy they could have used to think about the ramifications of their actions.

This isn't a personal problem for a few, it's a systemic problem in an invasive, controlling religion that tries to keep people from thinking.

My bishop was a car dealer with the morals of a pimp.
He's doing 10 years for fraud, and is his cellmate's bitch.
Car salesmen are the scum of the earth.

But it was a special circumstance.

My grandson has autism and gets obsessions.

Walle came out and it was INSTANT obsession for him.

We took him to see it three times but we couldn't afford to take him anymore. And the DVD wasn't going to come out for months.

So a friend pirated a copy for us and all was well.

Of course, as soon as it came out we bought it (in blueray) AND we have the video game for the X-box too.

So we soothe our consciences with the knowledge that our foray into "piracy" didn't cost the company any money -- it just made life a little smoother in our home. :)

Oh, but we haven't run into a situation like that again. My grandson is growing up and beginning to understand the concept of patience. He still gets obsessed with various things but he's figured out that if he waits they will usually come to him. Lego's is his current obsession. (Each set sold separately.) lol

Autism is a handful...My autistic boy is obsessed with knobs,dials and buttons and "How to train your Dragon"....Those obsessions are hard work....

But yeah, it can be a handful. The three months leading up to his birthday were a daily routine of Lego.com and "can I have this one", "can I have that one" and "keeping in mind"? :D

He got a LOT of Legos for his birthday and he and Dad put them together over the next few days.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2010 11:50AM by Rebeckah.

They don't know anything about ethics.

Or morals.

And good luck trying to beat any into them.

Don't even get me started on the welfare fraud that is rampant among mormon student families, not to mention the pyramid schemes...ugh.

mormons wouldn't know what ethics were if it kicked them in the face.

liars and frauds beget liars and frauds I suppose.

it's an ethical thing to do. I've been screwed so many times by so called "saints" that I'm starting to walk funny.

ST

Having spent Thankgsgiving around my family, I'm once again reminded that we live in totally separate moral worlds. My values are so different from theirs it's unbelievable. When we get together, we really only talk about the old days, because we differ too much to talk about what we're up to these days. They have their way of thinking, and I have mine, and what's more, these days I teach people how to avoid thinking the way they do about ethics and morality. That's really my profession, in a nutshell. To teach people how to think secularly about how to make good decisions in their lives. I don't teach people the rules they should obey, I teach them how to think ethically even in the absence of any kind of external guideline. Society has rules, but to me, ethics is concerned with decision making much more than simply following rules.

I've posted this before,but the only time my dh has had problems in his painting business has been with tbm's. And the wealthier and more prominant in the church,the more discounts they want. Absolutely true. Dh painted for a bishop and they guy thought he should get a huge discount. Then when I had to go get my TR from this turkey I had a really hard time not telling him off. One businessman tbm thought since he wore a suit to work and dh wore paint clothes that automatically ment mr. suit should make more. Unfortunately mr. suit made a lot less than dh and didn't want to pay dh for his painting because "it's not fair" whine-whine-whine.

in the church. . . .and out of the church. I don't think it's fair to generalize that Mormons have no ethics.

I was a Mormon once. I had ethics then, and I do now as well.

I know current Mormons who are honest, kind and generous. And some that aren't, who I don't trust.

I think that people deserve to be judged for their own behavior. The ones to mistrust and avoid are the phony ones and those who claim that they should be trusted because of their religious affiliation, church position/rank, or the fact that they have a temple recommend. In fact, ANYONE who asks for unearned trust is waving a big red flag that says "beware".