KevinG Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46855299/#.T3HoP2Ege8AA southeastern Pennsylvania church subjected members of a youth group to a mock kidnapping and interrogations without telling them it was staged, and the outraged mother of one 14-year-old girl has filed a complaint with police.... "It was a youth event, to illustrate what others have encountered on a regular basis," he said, adding that the focus of the lesson was "the persecuted church" in other countries.Lanza said there were about 17 students at the meeting and the mock kidnappers covered the students' heads, put them in a van and interrogated them. Neither the students nor their parents were told about the raid beforehand, he said, though it was discussed with the parents of one youth who might have health issues.Oops...
Nominee Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 That is awful! I think those responsible should be held accountable for their ignorance.
ERMD Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 Instead of raising the bar, maybe we should whack them with it... 3
Buzzard Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 I thought it was common knowledge that our missionaries kidnap young girls, whisk them off to Salt Lake City, where they are held captive in the temple until chosen as a plural wife by high church officials. The reason this is so well known is that a few have heroically rescued themselves by leaping from the high towers of the temple into the waters of the Great Salt Lake, where they have been able to swim to safety.It's kind of the same thing, right?
guitarist Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 I thought it was common knowledge that our missionaries kidnap young girls, whisk them off to Salt Lake City, where they are held captive in the temple until chosen as a plural wife by high church officials. The reason this is so well known is that a few have heroically rescued themselves by leaping from the high towers of the temple into the waters of the Great Salt Lake, where they have been able to swim to safety.It's kind of the same thing, right?I was approached by someone while on my mission trying to push this same exact thing. Only thing extra he added was that there was a secret underground tunnel from SLC to Chicago, where the missionaries there would kidnap young girls out of their bedroom windows, and transport them via the tunnel direct to the SLC temple.My response was that I was very glad those girls safely made the leap into the Great Salt Lake--15 miles away.
BCSpace Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 (edited) New idea for Stake and Priesthood training:Our Stake President (I was about 18 at the time) called an impromtu (perhaps 24-48 hours notice) general priesthood meeting on a Saturday morning. When we arrived, we were told the Church had asked all the TR holding Elders and High Priests and their families of our Stake and several others to sell all they had and move to Missouri ASAP. For about an hour assignments were made (leaders of new neighborhoods to be built etc.) and we were asked to start preparing an accounting of all our resources etc. Attendance seemed to be high I and I would attribute that in part to major curiosity of what this was all about.Of course it was revealed that this was not really the case and we did not have to turn in our resource accounting but we spent another hour with talks on preparedness, temporal and spiritual, etc. Most took it in stride with humor and felt it was a good object lesson. I would guess that some non TR holders were shocked into re-examining their lives. I'm sure some were very offended or at least put off about their Saturday morning.The bottom line for me is that I wish this would happen again. It was a good time and a good lesson. Edited March 27, 2012 by BCSpace
Bob Crockett Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 I dunno. I think those things are discouraged, like asking a family in the ward to live off of food storage for a couple of weeks.
mfbukowski Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 I thought it was common knowledge that our missionaries kidnap young girls, whisk them off to Salt Lake City, where they are held captive in the temple until chosen as a plural wife by high church officials. The reason this is so well known is that a few have heroically rescued themselves by leaping from the high towers of the temple into the waters of the Great Salt Lake, where they have been able to swim to safety.It's kind of the same thing, right?I have heard that story - where did it come from? It was ascribed to Fawn Brodie I thought but I don't think that is correct. I have been trying to track that down for years!!
Pahoran Posted March 27, 2012 Posted March 27, 2012 I have heard that story - where did it come from? It was ascribed to Fawn Brodie I thought but I don't think that is correct. I have been trying to track that down for years!!I don't think it's fair to blame that 19th century atrocity tale on Brodie. She has enough problems.The story was written in England. I've forgotten the name of the book, but the movie version was called Trapped by the Mormons. The book purported to be autobiographical but was, I believe, actually published as a novel.Regards,Pahoran
mfbukowski Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 I don't think it's fair to blame that 19th century atrocity tale on Brodie. She has enough problems.The story was written in England. I've forgotten the name of the book, but the movie version was called Trapped by the Mormons. The book purported to be autobiographical but was, I believe, actually published as a novel.Regards,PahoranThanks for the lead- I first heard that one probably 20 years ago or more. Pretty goofy what some people believe.Now I will tell one on myself.I had no idea what Mormon was, then someone explained it to me. (I was Catholic and a Catholic explained it) They were kind of like Catholics but they only believed in saints that were from the present- or the last hundred years or so- that's why it was the church of "latter-day saints".Also all their saints were American Indians. They thought that Indians were special, holy people and they had a prayer book which was all about the Indians.
blackstrap Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Thanks for the lead- I first heard that one probably 20 years ago or more. Pretty goofy what some people believe.Now I will tell one on myself.I had no idea what Mormon was, then someone explained it to me. (I was Catholic and a Catholic explained it) They were kind of like Catholics but they only believed in saints that were from the present- or the last hundred years or so- that's why it was the church of "latter-day saints".Also all their saints were American Indians. They thought that Indians were special, holy people and they had a prayer book which was all about the Indians.Close enough for the girls we go with !
Matthew J. Tandy Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 The story was written in England. I've forgotten the name of the book, but the movie version was called Trapped by the Mormons. The book purported to be autobiographical but was, I believe, actually published as a novel.I own a copy of the classic silent film "Trapped by the Mormons". I've even held a few viewings of it for fun. Sadly, the quality of surviving copies is low, which can make reading the text a bit hard. Maybe one day I will put subtitles on the already subtitled silent film.:-) Anyway, there are references to the crystal temple on the shores of the salt lake in there. However, the part about a girl jumping out is not. I do know that my father, who served in Spain in the 70's, heard the account of the woman jumping to safety from the temple tower from non-members there at the time with some regularity, as it was spread by some group or another.I also recall a tract from a long time ago that may have been one of the earliest records of the story. It was a "first-hand" account included as part pf the tract. In it, the girl was being forced to marry one of the apostles, and Brigham Young was ordering her to do so. She was held prisoner in one of the temple towers, was I believe supposed to be starved, etc until she submitted. She in the end jumps out to safety and reports it from thence. I beleive the tract was from the late 1800's, but could be wrong. Sadly, I ran across it long before I started meticulously cataloguing these things.
mfbukowski Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) I also recall a tract from a long time ago that may have been one of the earliest records of the story. It was a "first-hand" account included as part pf the tract. In it, the girl was being forced to marry one of the apostles, and Brigham Young was ordering her to do so. She was held prisoner in one of the temple towers, was I believe supposed to be starved, etc until she submitted. She in the end jumps out to safety and reports it from thence. I beleive the tract was from the late 1800's, but could be wrong. Sadly, I ran across it long before I started meticulously cataloguing these things.Yep, that was pretty close to the story I originally heard. The way I heard it, it was one of Brigham Young's wives though. Edited March 28, 2012 by mfbukowski
Pahoran Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 Yep, that was pretty close to the story I originally heard. The way I heard it, it was one of Brigham Young's wives though.You know how second-hand stories get conflated with each other. Chances are the person who told you that had also heard some version of the story of Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning, who "escaped" from Brigham, not by leaping 15 miles into the Great Salt Lake, but by the almost-as-dramatic method of walking out the door of her hotel, stepping into a carriage or buggy (I forget which), driving or being driven to Ogden and thence catching a train to (are you ready for this?) Wyoming!Regards,Pahoran
mfbukowski Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 You know how second-hand stories get conflated with each other. Chances are the person who told you that had also heard some version of the story of Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning, who "escaped" from Brigham, not by leaping 15 miles into the Great Salt Lake, but by the almost-as-dramatic method of walking out the door of her hotel, stepping into a carriage or buggy (I forget which), driving or being driven to Ogden and thence catching a train to (are you ready for this?) Wyoming!Regards,PahoranWhat? Why didn't they make a Broadway play about this one! I can see it now.... up in lights..... Escape to Wyoming!
Calm Posted March 28, 2012 Posted March 28, 2012 (edited) You guys might be interested in this article: http://ldsmag.com/co...ne/article/8603As my companion and I were going about our missionary labors in southern Germany, someone showed us a pamphlet that was circulating about us Mormons. It told the story of a woman who ostensibly joined the Church, moved to America, became disillusioned, returned to Germany, and tearfully told her minister her odyssey. Poorly written and obviously rushed into print, it went from one salacious episode to another and finished up with the woman sobbing (as close as I can remember the words), “The final humiliation was when the Mormon priests pushed me out of the second story of the Salt Lake temple into the Great Salt Lake to be baptized.” Edited March 28, 2012 by calmoriah
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