More fallout from gay marriage spat

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by danimal

A few weeks ago I told my bishop that I supported gay marriage. He shrugged and said he personally preferred civil unions.

Folks should move on out to our neck of the woods.

This is an important point, danimal. There is a high degree of variably in how church leaders deal with these issues. I believe the mullahs will fade into history eventually.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Excommunications of conscience such as this case brings to mind, make me sad. There is one person on CB who has said he is preparing a dossier to "expose" me to local church leaders.

Talk is cheap. I wouldn't lose too much sleep over that.

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

What if the church demands I shut down this website? The clock is ticking.

Just tell them that you are following Elder Ballard's admonition to use the internet as a tool to defend the faith. I will be your first character witness.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

You know, I often wonder if our kids will be talking about our parents' generation, (and ours to a lesser extent) in the same way that we talk about our grandparents' generation in relation to blacks and the priesthood. They'll wonder how we could have been so out of touch.

There is no doubt about it.

[il Padrino Ute]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Just tell them that you are following Elder Ballard's admonition to use the internet as a tool to defend the faith. I will be your first character witness.

I'll back you up as well, Mike.

As for the weenie on CB, let him do it. It reflects more on what kind of person that he is than what you are. He is/was probably one of those Honor Code Nazis too.

[danimal]

I think the farther you move away from high LDS population places, the less people care about things like this. Our stake couldn't afford to ex people for silly things like this. People are just glad if you come to church. Temple worthy -- big bonus.

[Taq Man]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I guess what it boils down to, is that I believe in a personal relationship with God. And I don't think ANY mortal man has the power to step between a person and God.

I don't care what the religion is, I don't care about what priesthood, what authority, or anything. The personal relationship between a person and God is inviolate, and only dependent on God and that person.

I recognize that social organizations do have and should have the power to regulate their membership. That's fine. And we are always taking in data that either pushes into stronger or weaker membership in that social organization.

We need to decide who we want to be. Figure out how big this tent is. And also we need to think about why some stakes have larger tents and other stakes have smaller tents.

Maybe SEIQ is right. Maybe the very soul of the LDS church is up for grabs right now, and the mullahs are in furious attacking retreat.

It's sad.

Hence my personal belief in God and my personal rejection of organized religion. Mormonism like all other isms are the creations of men to reap money and exercise control. Nothing more nothing less.

The Mormons just have a better family message than most. And an uncanny affinity for jello.

[scottie]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

...There is one person on CB who has said he is preparing a dossier to "expose" me to local church leaders. What happens when my day comes? Do I take the path of conscience, or do I kowtow to unrighteous dominion?

What if the church demands I shut down this website? The clock is ticking.

I'll donate $50 to this site if you publish who the CBer is. My guess would be "Mister P".

[Taq Man]

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Just noticed that Dr. Bradshaw from the Biology dept. at BYU got quite a bit of mention at the end of that article. He was one of my favorite professors at the Y.

I had Dr. Bradshaw for Molecular Biology and Cell Bio. He was a hard nosed prof. and I learned a lot from him. He was a mission president at one time too. I used to wonder what it would have been like to have him as my MP.

5 years after I graduated I was working for the Armed Forces DNA lab and an auditor was having a shit fit about the cell bio class I took at the Y. He wanted a full breakdown of the class to see if it was rigorous enough. I called up Dr. Bradshaw to see if he could help me out. He had everything from the year I took the class (All the tests and everything) He was gracious and kind and willing to help a former student when he had no obligation. He is absolutly one of the good guys.

The auditor was more than satisfied.

[Tex]

Wow, a sad story indeed. What a picture-perfect example of kicking against the pricks.

And what a terribly written article. Peggy Fletcher Stack should be ashamed of herself.

[woot]

Originally Posted by Tex

Wow, a sad story indeed. What a picture-perfect example of kicking against the pricks.

And what a terribly written article. Peggy Fletcher Stack should be ashamed of herself.

Funny how "kicking against the pricks" is bad, but "standing up for what you believe in" is good when they're basically synonymous in this case.