2BizE

Great example of a terrible human being.

Another example of an article about science that provides no scientific evidence…trying to be used to make someone feel good about their life decisions….maybe the next article will be about how applying tobacco to wounds in milk cows will cause a higher yield of milk production… (added extra snark for entertainment purposes:)

I moved on a long time ago from anything BRM has taught or said. So much of it was either false or inappropriate that I tend to completely ignore him.

Thanks Kenngo. I’ll take the rep point. I’m not all snark, just…most of the time.

I have an interest in the colonies. I have visited a few of them several years ago including Colonias Juarez and Dublan. I have studied the history of the church in Mexico, and served a Spanish speaking mission.

Very serious. Isn’t there an expectation that there will be a return on investment for your tithing donation? I think there is. I think that if I am paying 10% of my income, the church can mange these menial tasks, so I can apply my efforts to important aspects of building Zion….not cleaning Zion.

Who do you pay more money to each month? The restaurant down the street or the church?

I agree with this. It is an unnecessary risk to have members cleaning toilets and using chemicals, etc. The church has $$ that members have already paid to cover the cost of church maintenance. The church should hire professional janitors.

Joseph Smith once said, “I never thought it was right to call up a man and try him because he erred in doctrine, it looks too much like Methodism and not like Latter day Saintism. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be kicked out of their church. I want the liberty of believing as I please, it feels so good not to be tramelled.” Joseph Smith in The Words of Joseph Smith, pp. 183-184. I also believe that I do not need to believe every doctrine and creed of Mormonism. I want the liberty to believe as I please. What is is shared on this forum is mostly for likeminded folks. I do not have an orthodox view of Mormonism. I believe to truly learn, one must understand and appreciate points of view different from their own. I help provide those different points of view on this forum.

I’m taking about immense poverty in South America and other areas of the world. There are no Bishop’s Storehouses to send the family. There is not a DI for non-food needs. There are not reserves of food. Most of the ward members are just as poor. These are the people that need help, yet the fast offerings paid are not really available like in parts of Utah.

Except if you read the handbook, it will say that church resources are only to be used after the family has exhausted resources with their relatives and other family members. So, it is not always that easy to get fast offering resources.

Imagine taking your family to your favorite Italian restaurant. After eating the waiter presents you a check for $150 for the meal, which you pay. Then the restaurant tells you that the restaurant now requires that before leaving, the patrons of restaurant need to wash their own dishes, and clean the bathrooms and mop the restaurant floor…what would you do in that situation?

I think the church’s wealth is becoming a liability. Cue the movie “The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug”. The inability of the church to use its great wealth to further support the suffering of the world is a sign of immense greed. Many members are leaving the church over this issue. What people are seeing is church leaders going to Africa and telling people they are poor because they don’t pay 10% of their small income to a nearing trillion dollar business trying to hide behind the name of a church. Or the talks in GC telling impoverished people to give their money to the church rather than feeding their children. This is truly what the church is saying, and those who don’t see this have been blinded by their commitment to the church.

There was a show on discovery channel, history channel or National Geographic channel called “How the States got their Shapes”. It does a really good job explaining how Utah started as a territory called Deseret and how big it was originally proposed and then shrunk down to the size Utah is today.

Great question Calm. I may not be 100% accurate with my response, but yes, this was presented in person to one or more church leaders by Greg Prince and Travis Stratford. I want to say the GA met with them in Baltimore or Washington, DC. John Dehlin was asked not to attend and present as had been planned, because he had started to rustle some feathers at that point with Mormon Stories. This was then presented to members of the 12, I believe it was Elder Ucktdorf. Shortly after this was presented to Elder Ucktdorf and at October 2013 GC, Elder Ucktdorf gave a talk where he explained that the reasons people leave the church are not so simple and asked “if the gospel is so wonderful, why would anyone leave?”. He said, “Sometimes we assume it is because they have been offended, or lazy, or sinful. Actually, it is not that simple. In fact, there is not just one reason that applies to the variety of situations. Some of our dear members struggle for years with the question of whether they should separate themselves from the Church. In this Church that honors personal agency so strongly that it was restored by a young man that had questions and sought answers, we respect those who honestly search for truth.” Jana Riess had a nice story about it. https://religionnews.com/2013/10/05/lds-leader-dieter-uchtdorf-addresses-leave-mormon-fold/