From an earlier time: everybody was just so sure that Walt Disney was a Mormon- and if not him, then surely his wife had to be. I guess in a roundabout way, he sort of was, if by "Mormon" you really mean someone who championed the middle-class American suburban 1950's lifestyle.
Forum: Recovery Board

So maybe some people do have a real addiction to such things. I fail to see how it is an ecclesiastical matter. yes, the LDS church "preaches" against it, but then, so does everybody else. And I understand how it is difficult to draw the line between being excited over naked females and outright addiction. But true addiction must be seen as a psychological/medical condition, not a theol
Forum: Recovery Board

mia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > > They don't stop and consider what > the 18 year old may want to do. It's pathetic. > > The sad fact is, most 18 year olds have no idea what they want to do. That is such a tragedy, that they will be pushed into a mode of thinking that explicitly stifles any attempts on their part to figu
Forum: Recovery Board

Bully for them. The tax exemption was instituted as a way to relieve the government of some of its burden for caring for the poor. It is supposed to promote charitable activities. It has been totally turned on its head to the point where the churches see it as their privelege in exchange for their public "service" of being other-worldly. Maybe someday America will wake up and realize th
Forum: Recovery Board

Yes, the Ten Commandments are good rules to live by. So is the Code of Hammurabi, the Seven Aphorisms of Summum, and the Zend Avesta.
Forum: Recovery Board

I'm with smithscars. A fourteen-year-old who indulges in porn is in no way addicted. I don't think anybody is actually addicted to it, apart from maybe one or two really messed up people in the whole world. Porn addiction is an ailment invented by religious folk to give them a purpose in life. A 14-yo is curious, and probably hopelessly lost in the vast sea of hormones. He doesn't need condemnati
Forum: Recovery Board

I may have posted this before. If so,please forgive me. But the fact is, I have finally worked it all out. I mean everything. It came to me in a vision in the night that was accompanied by a glowing man wearing a loose robe. He said his name was Mahonri. Or Nephi. Or something. But that doesn't matter. What matters is the thoughts and feelings that came into my heart and mind at the time. And
Forum: Recovery Board

My parents had lots of oddball phobias and rules that did not derive from the church- sort of (see below). My father wanted me to have crooked teeth, so I didn't get braces when I was a kid. He also didn't believe in: TV remotes, pizza, and racial equality. I kid you not. Having said that, one of the defining features of Mormonism is the subtle but very real way in which it reflects back to th
Forum: Recovery Board

In the mid-Seventies one of the eastern states was considering a bill "allowing" new brides to keep her maiden name rather than give it up for that of her husband. I was at BYU at the time, and in my ward the genealogy specialist passed around a petition requesting that the state not proceed. The argument was that it would make genealogy harder. Apparently it was instigated by the leade
Forum: Recovery Board

It has never been acceptable to "marry" a fourteen-year-old when you are twice her age and married already and supposedly the most perfect representative of our Creator on the earth.
Forum: Recovery Board

Shaklee Noni Juice Agel MonaVie Tupperware Pampered Chef Party Lite and on and on. Some of these companies sell legitimate products, and for some people it works out well. The problem comes when the products themselves are bogus, and the "hook" is faith in the company. This is the point of contact between Mormonism and MLM's, as many people have pointed out. The emphasis is op
Forum: Recovery Board

And another thing: there was a religion that apparently promised its adherents that participation in its ceremonies would ensure continuation of the family unit as constituted on earth in the afterlife. The religion in question was the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Forum: Recovery Board

I raised this issue once in a Sacrament Meeting talk. The next Sunday, I came a few minutes late, and found out that I had been released from my calling. I kid you not.
Forum: Recovery Board

This is a question that arose while I was reading the thread about why TSCC is losing members. The questionis this: when TSCC announces a new program or initiative (such as whether or not to open or close a YSA ward, or to lower the mission age, etc.), how do these things originate? I know that the Correlation Committee has a big hand in in, but who makes up the Correlation Committee, or whatever
Forum: Recovery Board

How about a lifelong journey to find out who you are? Make yourself your hobby. This is the message of the best of the gnostics, the best of the mystics, and the best of Pauline Christianity.
Forum: Recovery Board

I got this idea while listening to a Radio West show a few weeks ago (on KUER, the University of Utah NPR station). It sort of derives from what the guest was saying. Anyway: what if the Creator was only mostly intelligent? What if the Creator of the Universe was a guy named Fred who got a Create Your Own Universe kit for his thirteenth birthday? Wouldn't that explain almost everything in all thi
Forum: Recovery Board

According to the Article of Faith (I don't remember which one- I see that as a sign of success, actually): We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression. However: If you are a black African you are punished for Cain's trangression... If you are a native American you are punished for Laman and Lemuel's trangression... If you have a vagina you ar
Forum: Recovery Board

Such things are contrary to church policy. The ward contact information is not to be used by anyone for anything other than official churhc business. The SP is obviously in non-compliance with official church regulations and should be reported. The big question is, to whom should you report? I suggest that reporting him to official church authorities would be counterproductive. They really can
Forum: Recovery Board

One thing you need to remember is that the missionaries transfer in and out quite often, so there is little "institutional memory" from one set of missionaries to the next. They are indeed under intense pressure to get results. And, being teenagers, they are by and large not mentally ready to really understand the nuances of those goals that the mission system imposes on them. So short
Forum: Recovery Board

Plus, almost nobody in the UK really understands what the serious issues with TSCC are. So they are much less likely to respond negatively. Does the absence of negative make positive? TSCC certainly thinks so. They have always misinterpreted people's politeness for acquiescence. And of course they sift through the multitude of responses and pick out the best ones.
Forum: Recovery Board

Your teacher should have called Child Protective Services. I had similar experiences. My parents used to hit us kids a lot, and my father never let pass an opportunity to ridicule me. I was supposed to "take a joke". My mother just laughed right along. And yes, at Mothers' and Fathers' Days I too was baffled as to what exactly we were celebrating. Maybe that's why I am more than slightl
Forum: Recovery Board

Taking this discussion in another direction, where do you think these ladies will serve their missions? My guess is: not Outer Mongolia. Probably not Guatemala or Honduras. Maybe France or Norway? How about Temple Square? Somewhere that their "talents" will be appreciated?
Forum: Recovery Board

I never had any doubts, because I had been conditioned to believe that I was unworthy to question anything that came from TSCC at all. I won't go into details, but I'm sure most can guess what one of those problems was. But is goes so far beyond that. Having grown up in the church, I was taught from Day 1 that the reason the leaders were on top was because of their unmatched spirituality. Those o
Forum: Recovery Board

Just in case anybody is interested: several of the songs that are original with the LDS church were written by Evan Stephens. He was gay.
Forum: Recovery Board

To answer your opening question: I read as much as I can. For many years I have been appalled at the tiny library selection that satisfies most Mormons- the "Especially for Mormons" series and the latest hagiography about the current church president. It is rare to see anything by such unknowns as Dickens, Twain, Thackeray or Hugo. We don't need to read such things. They divert us from
Forum: Recovery Board

How about Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck?
Forum: Recovery Board

It is so refreshing to hear from other posters who feel like I do regarding Mother's Day. My mother used to hit me and call me a little sh!tpot. Daily. Several times a day. And then on Mother's Day I am supposed to acklowledge that she was the most Wonderful Thing That Could Ever Happen On This Earth????? Please help me out here. The most puzzling wquestion,for me, is: why does the LDS church
Forum: Recovery Board

I think it would be fun, at the next GC, to organize a human circle around the conference center and sing "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" (the song from that old Coke commercial that became such a hit).
Forum: Recovery Board

I served my mission in the mid-seventies, when Pail H. Dunn was the bee's knees. I'm not sure how much his agenda influenced the church as a whole, but at the time and for many years thereafter being a successful salesman was seen as the ultimate goal for any sensible Mormon young person. Or am I mistaken? Did anybody else get that impression?
Forum: Recovery Board

What was the prescribed topic?
Forum: Recovery Board