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Light is Good.


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Against.

Christ was clear that pearls are not to be cast before swine.
Not everything is for public consumption.

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7 minutes ago, Meadowchik said:
Are you for or against light shining on every part of an organisation's doings?
 
Why or why not?

 

God is aware of all things.  That being said I don't think it's necessary for everybody to know everything about what others are doing.  God can be trusted with all knowledge, others not so much.

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7 minutes ago, JLHPROF said:

Against.

Christ was clear that pearls are not to be cast before swine.
Not everything is for public consumption.

Not even for the membership?

Edit: Not even for members worthy of entering into sacred covenants?

Edited by Meadowchik
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Just now, ksfisher said:

God is aware of all things.  That being said I don't think it's necessary for everybody to know everything about what others are doing.  God can be trusted with all knowledge, others not so much.

Can you explain what kind of knowledge can only be entrusted to some in an organization but not all members?

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6 minutes ago, MiserereNobis said:

My Catholic diocese publishes online the audit report done yearly by an outside accounting company.  Anyone can go to the finance department and look at the books.  It's pretty open (and pretty boring).

I'm not sure how other dioceses do it, though, and I've heard grumblings here and there about the Vatican's finances.

That is cool. Off topic, but I once met a former Easter Orthodox monk who translated texts in a Greek monastery for years. 

What about other things, like historical archives?

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15 minutes ago, Meadowchik said:
Are you for or against light shining on every part of an organisation's doings?
 
Why or why not?

 

It's hard to see why sunshine would be a bad thing. Are church finances really "pearls" of great price that cannot be cast before swine? I believe the "pearls" talked about in scripture are doctrines and mysteries of godliness, not church administration. I suppose we all have our own definitions for what is and is not a "pearl."
 

Quote

 

“If we have the truth, it cannot be harmed by investigation. If we have not the truth, it ought to be harmed.”

J Rueben Clark

 

 

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Just now, The Nehor said:

Against.

If the membership of the LDS Church could keep their big fat mouths shut we would have glorious revelations much more regularly.

"The reason we do not have secrets of the Lord revealed unto us is because we do not keep them but reveal them; We do not keep our own secrets, but reveal our difficulties to the world, even to our enemies, then how would we keep the secrets of the Lord?  I can keep a secret till Doomsday." -Joseph Smith

So keeping secrets is directly tied to worthiness?

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2 minutes ago, HappyJackWagon said:

It's hard to see why sunshine would be a bad thing. Are church finances really "pearls" of great price that cannot be cast before swine? I believe the "pearls" talked about in scripture are doctrines and mysteries of godliness, not church administration. I suppose we all have our own definitions for what is and is not a "pearl."
 

 

The Clark quote is excellent. 

I also like the one about the truth setting you free. A pretty important person said it ;)

Edited by Meadowchik
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44 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

The foundation that I work for has the social security numbers of all of our clients who are receiving federal assistance.  Employees who work with that specific program have access to that information.  I have no need for anything like that in my position, hence I cannot access it.

The same is true with people who donate to us using a credit card.  Specific people have access.  I have nothing to do with that, so I don't. 

In an ecclesiastical setting, a member of a church may confess a sin to his priest or bishop.  The general membership of that church has no need to know anything about what other members of the church may or may not have done.

The same would be true of donations to a church.  A person who donates a portion of their income to a church, or for that matter any charity, does not routinely expect that donation to become public knowledge. 

I think the church should disclose like other charity organizations, that's all. Nothing about finding out info from people that donate. That doesn't happen with your average charity organization.

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32 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I think the church should disclose like other charity organizations, that's all. Nothing about finding out info from people that donate. That doesn't happen with your average charity organization.

I was asked about what types of information should an organization not share with its members, not about LDS Church finances.  My answer is not applicable to the latter.

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2 hours ago, Meadowchik said:

Not even for the membership?

Edit: Not even for members worthy of entering into sacred covenants?

Sometimes especially not for them.
And there are plenty of stories to back that up.

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2 hours ago, Meadowchik said:

So keeping secrets is directly tied to worthiness?

Yes, absolutely.
Does God tell even his own children everything?  If we want to be like God we need to learn to reveal truth line upon line.
If God dropped the veil and told us everything about this organization we are part of (his creation) how catastrophic would the results be?

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I think light is good if something nefarious is going on but otherwise no I don't want to know. Do I want to know if someone is kifing tithing money? yeah and what is being done to remedy it but no I don't want to know who is bringing what colouring books to nursery:rolleyes:

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6 hours ago, Meadowchik said:
Are you for or against light shining on every part of an organisation's doings?
 
Why or why not?

 

I find it prudent that the LDs church does not reveal all its finances unless explicitly directed to by law. By showing its financial holdings and assess, people, such as juries, are much more susceptible to grant financial rewards of compensation towards accusers of the Church. Revealing such finances would encourage a money grab by, well, money grabbers.

Also, things like tithing and fast offerings are matters between and individual and God. Except for ecclesiastical leaders, there is no need for anyone to know how much one donates unless that individual chooses to divulge said information.

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7 hours ago, Meadowchik said:
Are you for or against light shining on every part of an organisation's doings?
 
Why or why not?

 

In my job (ie, an organization) definitely not. It's considered unethical and/or illgal, depending.

Light is generally good, yes....but I do think there is a balance that needs to be struck. Even on an individual basis with God or with relationships we don't get all the information all the time or right when we want it. At least I don't....maybe you hit gold and got the omniscient ticket :P . I find myself sometimes wondering why I can't just know more....My curiosity is generally insatiable....but I recognize there is value is NOT knowing sometimes. At least it has been valuable for me.  Again, on in interpersonal level, I was reading a book about vulnerability and it talks about how over-sharing is actually a form in false-vulnerability and at times a way to control the situation and keep people oddly at bay.

Having things "brought to light" can also be dangerous based on who's hands that knowledge is given to and who utilizes it. Knowing stuff, having all the data, etc. isn't good on its own anymore than technology is good by itself. Most people in the US like having an ultrasound and have a good experience finding out whether their child is a boy of a girl. This light shining leads to happy innocuous choices about clothes and decorations. In other parts of the world the same technology and knowledge is used to increase abortions of little girls, drastically increasing gender disparity, and feeding a system that is leading to long-term national instability. The knowledge and tools are the same, the context and implementation are what's important. 

So lets see my why nots so far include: ethics, legality, context, oversharing problems, boundary problems, safety, and context/implementation. The only other thing I can think of is Spiderman and privilege. Mainly that spiderman stated with great power come great responsibility. To me knowledge is a form of power. Privilege was something that I was thinking about the other day in correlation with the talents parable. I always thought it was a little weird that they all got different amounts. Why not disperse equally? It struck me that those who were given more also had the same expectation of multiplying every extra talent received. Every righteous servant doubled their talents, whether that went from 1 to 2 or 5 to 10.  They had a greater level of responsibility to receiving more from the master. 

 On a church level, I'm not super concerned. I don't know the perfect balance when weighing or deliberating these varying concerns. But what I have seen elicits trust that it is something that those who may be more "privileged" with structural, financial, or behind the scenes concerns take very seriously and very carefully. Though they're not by any means perfect and at times there will be individuals who will end up abusing the system. I would also be lying if I didn't say that some of the things people get heated about over transparency I just don't care about.

 

With luv,

BD

 

 

Edited by BlueDreams
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