CA Steve

So few sentences and so many fallacies.

These people are the real life equivalent of an internet troll. The best way to treat them is not react at all. They are just looking for a reaction, any reaction.

I have spent a decade or more living in both Utah and Ca. I love both states. Recently my visits through the former made me think I was actually in Ca. Traffic congestion, overbuilding, housing prices (my original 30K low income house in Provo, that I sadly no longer own, is now worth almost 500K) and overpopulation in parts of Utah looked just like Ca. About the only significant difference in them now seems to be weather and earthquakes. I know a lot of members in the Santa Clarita area. I will touch bases with some of them to see if this was even an event to them.

I suspect a lot. President McKay reacted this way to the initial publication of Mormon Doctrine.

This. (Though I think Bob meant "what" not "want".) I believe we are a church who follows the prophet, not doctrine, of course it could be argued that the prophet defines current doctrine. McConkie was, in my opinion, the last high level GA theologian who was willing to explicate doctrine.

Have there been any GA level theologians since McConkie?

My experience with the younger generations is that it is not so much they feel no need for religion as it is they feel no need for organized religion. Recently a 30 something niece of mine, B.I.C. raised in the church and totally inactive now, told me she did not need someone to tell her how God felt about her. I think this is a result, in part, of social networks, which expose people to a much wider collection of religious and spiritual beliefs and the realization that individual religious organizations are not all that different. On Edit. I hate it when someone posts my point better than I, one minute before I do. 🤬

To a priesthood leader who may or may not accept it. (I know most do.)

And question #10 of the temple recommend interview.

That was the reason for my comment on the number of wives one could bring, I was trying to make some sort of connection between Pratt and this event.

I think it is also important to understand how those who still believe perceive those who have left. As we can see from this thread, that group has a variety of opinions too.

I wonder if attendees are allowed to bring more than one wife?

We tend to focus on the vocal minority who leave. That group may actually have specific reasons for leaving, but this is a small percentage of those actually walking away. I think the majority of those leaving are doing so without a conscious reason. They simply no longer feel the need to attend. A big cause of that is, in my opinion, the massive cultural shift happening due to social networking. The pulpit is not able to compete with the phone.

I would guess that "morally straight" is where the BSA and the church differ in definitions. 😉

This thread should have had a survey on how we feel about surveys.😀