IMO: you will never hear anything official from the cult. That's now how it works. They will let their lackeys do the job. There will be some sort of Conference talk about how the church "invites" people of all persuasions to participate in the wonderful work of the Restoration(TM). The real message is all hidden away. They will give plum ecclesiastical promotions, such as mission or ar
Forum: Recovery Board

To repeat an earlier post: why do we need the churches when it comes to marriage? Marriage is a social contract. Marriage is not a divine ritual. There are historical reasons, but here in Utah it is simply a case of the dominant church insisting that it be allowed to control everything. Thank you.
Forum: Recovery Board

It sounds to me like a perfect recipe for outright violence. It is time to stand up for your rights and not let them push you around any more.
Forum: Recovery Board

left4good Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > They are on a campaign > to be seen as kinder, gentler, and more welcoming > to GLBT people. > The main problem, of course, is that they want to be seen as kinder/gentler without actually being kinder and gentler.
Forum: Recovery Board

Mateo Pastor Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I got gay married a year ago in my country > (Belgium) which has had gay marriage for more than > ten years. > > All my friends in their twenties, straight or gay, > congratulated us. So did many straight people who > were much older, including a ninety-year-old > neighbour who shared o
Forum: Recovery Board

We have a figurine of a bare-headed Santa Claus worshiping the Christ Child. That will soon mysteriously disappear into the trash.
Forum: Recovery Board

Now that racism has been openly acknowledged, how long will it take before TSCC openly acknowledges that much of its current "doctrine" is motivated by other non-revealed "isms"? I am thinking specifically of the blatant sexism that has been the underlying basis for most of Mormonism. Any thoughts?
Forum: Recovery Board

3X (NLI) Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > mormonism is, plain and simple, a pseudo-religion. You bring up what I feel is a fundamental question: what constitutes a real religion? I don't mean the name of an alternative church, but rather the attributes and criteria of an organization that would qualify it for the title of a religion. As far as limiti
Forum: Recovery Board

To corroborate the comments by Tupperwhere: Ask your Dad: what makes you think I have abandoned Jesus? Then get into some specifics, like public religious observances are abominations, and the main criterion for admission to heaven is kindness and tolerance (rather than secret handshakes), and so on. Make him give you examples of you not following these teachings. Throw the ball back in his
Forum: Recovery Board

munchybotaz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > n/t IMO, the main body issue Mormon women have is the firm doctrine that their bodies are not their own. Their bodies, in Mormonism, belong to their husbands. So the women can never be "good" (i.e., sexy) enough, and their whole purpose is to make babies to pass on the gene pool of their husbands. Tha
Forum: Recovery Board

Don't forget Immanuel Swedenborg and the whole Plan of Salvation thing.
Forum: Recovery Board

Per Carl Sagan, the phrase "the world's most accurate psychic" is like "the world's tallest dwarf". There are no psychics. Never have been, never will be. Period, full stop. That is not to say they are all frauds- some of them may really believe they have special powers, and are therefore merely delusional. But for anyone else to believe their claims is just plain stupid.
Forum: Recovery Board

How about "Tobacco is Like Love", by Tobias Hume, around 1570? Look it up.
Forum: Recovery Board

My favorite is the sectionon opposition in all things. I have never once met a mormon who understood this section. They fixate on the first line, and bastardize it to justify their persecution complex. Its real meaning- which anyone can discover by the arcane philosophical technique known as "reading the rest of it" -is the essence of Taoism- yin and yang and the rest. It is all about o
Forum: Recovery Board

IMO: in Mormonism, the whole point is to make you believe that you are never good enough not to be willing to confess anything you have ever done in your entire life. No, there is no official list, because everything you do is subject to condmenation by the leadership simply because you are you. You are made to constantly question every decision you make and let those decisions be subject to offi
Forum: Recovery Board

Quick question: what kind of whiskey (or whisky) did Brigham Young order the Saints to haul with them over the plains to Salt Lake? This is not a rhetorical question. It really happened. What kind would they have toted in 1846/47?
Forum: Recovery Board

What if his kids don't want to be stuck with him forever? I for one see little benefit to me or anybody else in staying under the patronage/control of my father. It relates to Tolstoy's observation about how happy families are all happy alike but unhappy families are all different. The concept assumes that everybody in the family wants to be there. It also assumes that every family member
Forum: Recovery Board

Several recent posts here have asked about the Second Anointing or Second Endowment. It is virtually unknown among non-members, and among even most Mormons. Several posters opine about the theological meanings, etc. May I be so bold as to point out the real problem with this ceremony (I am not the first)? The real problem is not the caste system in the next life. The real problem is the caste
Forum: Recovery Board

I think the greatest hypocrisy is found in the leaders, who claim they are God's representatives while doing their utmost to judge, condemn and control anybody and everybody who poses a challenge to their status.
Forum: Recovery Board

You claim that your subject is off topic; that is, unrelated to the main theme of problems with Mormonism. Actually TSCC is over-populated by moon-shot conspiracy theorists. Sad but true.
Forum: Recovery Board

I was one of the first to serve under the mission president who succeeded Hibbert. I vividly remember that not a single one of Hibbert's group had anything nice to say about him. Why do you ask?
Forum: Recovery Board

But wait a minute- why did they not get a message from God months ago that a big storm was coming? I thought they had a direct line?????
Forum: Recovery Board

I offer a small parable. There once was a youg lady from Africa who was offered a job in England as a domestic. When she got to England she learned that her real job was as a sex worker. She continued in that profession because before she left Africa the employment agency had put a curse on her should she ever defy them and try to quit her job. She just couldn't make the connection:l if they l
Forum: Recovery Board

How about: lie.
Forum: Recovery Board

Hold on a minute- I thought it was God who shaped the church???? To paraphrase a sacred motion picture: why does God need YSAs???
Forum: Recovery Board

Wonderful!! I jut did a search for Keynes, and was reassured that ETB really did feel it important in a GC talk to bad-mouth Keynesian econimics (apologies to Steve Benson). Twice, actually. One if his diatribes itself gave this gem of a quote from Karl Maeser: Said Karl G. Maeser, " I would rather have my child exposed to smallpox, typhus fever, cholera, or other malignant and deadly dis
Forum: Recovery Board

Never mind. Someone else already said what I wanted to say, and I didn't read clolsely enough.
Forum: Recovery Board

The temple robes are extremely close to the garb worn by Freemasons- or at least some Freemasons in the 19th century. The Freemason ceremonies are not divine. Deal with it.
Forum: Recovery Board

Speaking for myself, I will never say that there is no possibility of the existence of a god. That is trying to prove a negative. What I can say with 100% certainty is that there is nobody yet in the whole history of humanity who has come up with anything like independently verifiable evidence of such a being. The central problem has dawned on me over several decades. It is this: God, as usua
Forum: Recovery Board

Get him a book espousing an alternative viewpoint, such as "An Insider's View" or something by Michael Quinn.
Forum: Recovery Board