Posted by:
azsteve
(
)
Date: July 14, 2013 05:31PM
I once knew someone who was excommunicated from the church for their third time. I also know someone else who was excommunicated twice, and several who were excommunicated once and came back. I know one of them who now has a temple recommend after doing time in prison for child molesting. I also know a woman who was a member after having an abortion although I don't know the details.
To me, this seems more like a reset (kind of like re-booting a computer) than any process of the person making real changes in their lives. It's common knowledge that you can get re-baptized in one year and just start over. Like the cult itself, the whole process seems more like a sham than anything else.
It used to be that when a person was excommunicated, that they couldn't be re-baptized until after they received an approval from the ward where they were excommunicated. Now-a-days it's all streamlined. You can go in to any Bishop, tell your lies about knowing the church is true, etc..., get dunked again, and you're good to go as a church member again.
Does this sound dysfunctional to anyone else besides just me? I think if the church would publish honest figures about number of ex-communications, re-baptisms, re-re-baptisms, etc... that people would be shocked. Has anyone heard of a person coming back after being ex'd a third time (or even more than three)? Is the number of times allowed unlimited?
Of course these people would be much better off if they just stayed out or just had their names removed themselves without having to be kicked out. What are your thoughts? This is starting to look a lot like Catholic indulgences to me.