The "mass Resignation Event" Of July 25, 2015

[smac97]

Here:

On Saturday, six years after ending her participation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Logan resident Stephanie) Engle took a final step to sever her ties with the Salt Lake City-based faith.

With a signed letter in hand, Engle joined with roughly 100 current and former Mormons — including Ordain Women co-founder Kate Kelly — at a mass-resignation event a block from the church's downtown headquarters.

...

Organizer Brooke Swallow said the event — similar to other mass resignations staged from time to time — was intended to provide a sense of community for people leaving Mormonism.

She said the resignations are not done out of anger nor to provoke the church, but to show a sense of dissatisfaction among church dissidents.

"We know that it's a painful process," she said. "Some people are ostracized or they feel like they need to ostracize themselves from their Mormon families."

After gathering at City Creek Park, participants crossed North Temple and State Street to deliver their resignation letters to the LDS Church Office Building.

Because of noise from traffic, the group continued walking around Temple Square, briefly falling into disarray before regrouping at City Creek Park to hear remarks from speakers, including Kelly and former LDS bishop Earl Erskine, host of the online video series "Ex Mormon Files."

...

He pointed to recent church essays as evidence that LDS leaders are scrambling to maintain order.

"They're on the defensive," he said.

These articles — confronting touchy topics such as the long-ago abandoned practice of polygamy, the former ban on black males holding the faith's priesthood, and Mormonism's view of mankind's divine potential — have earned praise even from critics for their evenhanded treatment of historical and doctrinal issues.

Kelly, who was excommunicated from the church last year after advocating for the inclusion of women in the all-male LDS priesthood, said that Mormons should stay in the faith if it brings them joy, and leave if it doesn't.

"If you stay, you should raise hell," she said. "I think you have a moral imperative to make it a better place for children and especially for girls."

...

Brent Parkin said he resigned three months ago after protracted discussions with the lay bishop of his Mormon congregation.

He described the participants at the mass resignation — which took place the day after Pioneer Day, a celebration of the Mormon settlers' arrival in Utah — as pioneers at the early stages of what will be a mass exodus of disaffected Latter-day Saints.

"The house of cards," he said, "is falling down."

 

Thoughts?

 

-Smac

Edited July 26, 2015 by smac97

[carbon dioxide]

Here:

Brent Parkin said he resigned three months ago after protracted discussions with the lay bishop of his Mormon congregation.

He described the participants at the mass resignation — which took place the day after Pioneer Day, a celebration of the Mormon settlers' arrival in Utah — as pioneers at the early stages of what will be a mass exodus of disaffected Latter-day Saints.

"The house of cards," he said, "is falling down."

Thoughts?

 

-Smac

How does less than a 100 people resigning constitutes evidence of a house of cards falling down, then there is no need to worry.  All of them and more were replaced just by 8 year old kids being baptized today. 

 

It also bugs me that these people think that the bishop is the best person to discuss some of these issues with.  Bishops are busy and they are not called because they are the most informed of the ward. One would think they would find the most informed members they could and talk to them about issues that bother them if the bishop is not the best source.

Edited July 26, 2015 by carbon dioxide

[readstoomuch]

I want to own up to my resignation from MormonStories awhile back. I was dissatisfied with the uneven, mean, snarky attitude of these dissidents. There was way too much hell-raising and lack of balance. Too much feigning of objectivity and victimhood. I can no longer tolerate the loss of the spirit in the name of hearing the cutting edge complaints of the embiterred (even though they claim they are not). Yep, no more Mount Everests manufactured from molehills for me.

As far as the original article. At least the Church got some acknowledgement for the essays, even if they are to stem the tide.

[Avatar4321]

I'm curious how many actually were members to begin with.

[carbon dioxide]

What other churches get examples of drama queens and kings like this.  Is there "mass resignations" events held in front of Catholic or Baptist churches.  Do Jews who are leaving the fold put on a show like this?

[Storm Rider]

It is very difficult to know exactly who is a member and who is not in these types of things.  Glad that these die-hard media junkies are able to get their fix.  I strongly support cutting the head off this snake of stupidity by ignoring them and all like them. 

 

As far as the pied piper of desperate to be seen as victims, it is really difficult for a leopard to change their spots.  Stop looking at what comes out of her mouth and just watch her actions.

[Vance]

Bye bye!

[smac97]

Some preliminary observations:

1. Kate Kelly is really not doing the OW folks any favors here. The more obviously "anti-Mormon" Kate Kelly becomes, the more she will pollute the already questionable perception of the OW movement amongst the LDS faithful.

2. The article describes the event as "similar to other mass resignations staged from time to time," but later on it quotes a "Brent Parkin" predicting that this particular event was attended by "pioneers at the early stages of what will be a mass exodus of disaffected Latter-day Saints." I'm not convinced. That's not to say that large-scale apostasy is not possible. It might happen some day. It happened in the early days of the Church. It also happened in the primitive Church as recorded in John 6 and described by Elder Neal A. Maxwell this way: 

The more declarative Jesus was, the more tentative some followers. Is this not the same today? As long as Jesus’ church and its prophets are doing certain things of which people fully approve, there is admiration. But when modern prophets begin to be declarative, then it is a very different matter!

“The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.” (John 6:41.)

“From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.” (John 6:66.)

And by Sister Ardeth G. Kapp here: 

Sometimes we are shortsighted and are not aware of what awaits us just around the corner following our obedience. We do not “receive a witness until after the trial of [our] faith” (Ether 12:6). We don’t negotiate with our Father in Heaven on these matters. The laws are in place. We know that “there is a law. . . upon which all blessings are predicated,” and we know that when we receive any blessing “it is by obedience to that law” (D&C 130:20).

And so our Father, wanting us to qualify for all of the blessings, has given us laws and commandments. These commandments are given not to restrict us but to redeem us—not to just reform us but to exalt us. Therefore, as Nephi said, “Cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23).

Some of us will resent, resist, even recoil from the apparent restrictions imposed upon us. And so it was in the Savior’s time. There were those who didn’t like what he taught. “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” they said. “When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?” (John 6:60–61). And we read that “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:66).

The number of people who have accepted the Restored Gospel is not a first order piece of evidence in favor of the truth claims of the Restored Gospel. The Church is as true in 2015 with 15 million members as it was in 1830 with six.

Thanks,

-Smac

[filovirus]

Brent Parkin was one of my good friends throughout my teenage years. We were in our ward's youth together. Same baseball team. We used to toilet paper the Bishop's home regularly. We'd play basketball every weekend at the church. I truly hope he finds happiness in his new endeavor and he will always be my friend.

[Scott Lloyd]

Brent Parkin was one of my good friends throughout my teenage years. We were in our ward's youth together. Same baseball team. We used to toilet paper the Bishop's home regularly. We'd play basketball every weekend at the church. I truly hope he finds happiness in his new endeavor and he will always be my friend.

That's a nice sentiment, but the best you can hope for him is that he will repent of his apostasy and humbly return to the fold of God.

[readstoomuch]

Brooke Swallow has a blog on womanevolving.org. She has drifted from the Church since 1997 and had her name removed in 2012. I guess it didn`t take the first time, so it needed to be done again. Maybe it was actually a demonstration of exmormons, excommunicated, self-resigned and newly resigned Mormons. If so, how many new minted exmormons were there today? Less than half? Hard to see and sad any way it is cut-yes.

[filovirus]

That's a nice sentiment, but the best you can hope for him is that he will repent of his apostasy and humbly return to the fold of God.

I am not naive on what it means for his place in the eternities if he continues down this new path he started. At one point I know he had a testimony of the gospel. Like Esau, he has traded his birthright for bread and pottage. I just hope it is the best bread and pottage around.

[Duncan]

I am not naive on what it means for his place in the eternities if he continues down this new path he started. At one point I know he had a testimony of the gospel. Like Esau, he has traded his birthright for bread and pottage. I just hope it is the best bread and pottage around.

 

is he related to Bonnie Parkin, former RS General President? I knew two of her sons

[filovirus]

No. His parents are Val and Patti Parkin of Laguna Niguel CA. If there is any relationship to Bonnie Parkin, I do not know it.

[Duncan]

No. His parents are Val and Patti Parkin of Laguna Niguel CA. If there is any relationship to Bonnie Parkin, I do not know it.

 

aha! thanks!

[JAHS]

I thought Kate Kelly was in Africa. How could she afford the plane ticket back to Salt Lake?  Let me guess, Gofundme,com?

[Scott Lloyd]

Brooke Swallow has a blog on womanevolving.org. She has drifted from the Church since 1997 and had her name removed in 2012. I guess it didn`t take the first time, so it needed to be done again. Maybe it was actually a demonstration of exmormons, excommunicated, self-resigned and newly resigned Mormons. If so, how many new minted exmormons were there today? Less than half? Hard to see and sad any way it is cut-yes.

An alert news reporter would have tried to find that out and report it.

[Scott Lloyd]

If they keep holding staging these manufactured "news events," they will lose their newsworthiness. Even the Tribune will lose interest after a while.

Edited July 26, 2015 by Scott Lloyd

[Scott Lloyd]

I am not naive on what it means for his place in the eternities if he continues down this new path he started. At one point I know he had a testimony of the gospel. Like Esau, he has traded his birthright for bread and pottage. I just hope it is the best bread and pottage around.

Maybe it's harsh to say, but if I have a friend or loved one who strays, I don't want him to get too comfortable on the outside. I would rather it be like the experience of Thomas B. Marsh or Alma the younger. Or the prodigal son.

[Rivers]

I want to own up to my resignation from MormonStories awhile back. I was dissatisfied with the uneven, mean, snarky attitude of these dissidents. There was way too much hell-raising and lack of balance. Too much feigning of objectivity and victimhood. I can no longer tolerate the loss of the spirit in the name of hearing the cutting edge complaints of the embiterred (even though they claim they are not). Yep, no more Mount Everests manufactured from molehills for me.

.

I second this. I feel exactly the same way.

[The Nehor]

If 100 already less-actives resign near a building does anyone hear?

[Bernard Gui]

The number of people who have accepted the Restored Gospel is not a first order piece of evidence in favor of the truth claims of the Restored Gospel. The Church is as true in 2015 with 15 million members as it was in 1830 with six.

In the parable of the sower, only a third of the plantings remained.

[Scott Lloyd]

Brooke Swallow has a blog on womanevolving.org. She has drifted from the Church since 1997 and had her name removed in 2012. I guess it didn`t take the first time, so it needed to be done again. Maybe it was actually a demonstration of exmormons, excommunicated, self-resigned and newly resigned Mormons. If so, how many new minted exmormons were there today? Less than half? Hard to see and sad any way it is cut-yes.

It seems like some of these folks are making a hobby of resigning their Church membership not once but several times. Maybe they could have a contest to see who can rack up the most number of resignations. They could put it in their speaker's bios for the Ex-Mormon Conference: "Mr. Blowhard is a veteran of five staged resignations from the Mormon church."

[mikegriffith1]

Here:

On Saturday, six years after ending her participation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Logan resident Stephanie) Engle took a final step to sever her ties with the Salt Lake City-based faith.

With a signed letter in hand, Engle joined with roughly 100 current and former Mormons — including Ordain Women co-founder Kate Kelly — at a mass-resignation event a block from the church's downtown headquarters.

...

Organizer Brooke Swallow said the event — similar to other mass resignations staged from time to time — was intended to provide a sense of community for people leaving Mormonism.

She said the resignations are not done out of anger nor to provoke the church, but to show a sense of dissatisfaction among church dissidents.

"We know that it's a painful process," she said. "Some people are ostracized or they feel like they need to ostracize themselves from their Mormon families."

After gathering at City Creek Park, participants crossed North Temple and State Street to deliver their resignation letters to the LDS Church Office Building.

Because of noise from traffic, the group continued walking around Temple Square, briefly falling into disarray before regrouping at City Creek Park to hear remarks from speakers, including Kelly and former LDS bishop Earl Erskine, host of the online video series "Ex Mormon Files."

...

He pointed to recent church essays as evidence that LDS leaders are scrambling to maintain order.

"They're on the defensive," he said.

These articles — confronting touchy topics such as the long-ago abandoned practice of polygamy, the former ban on black males holding the faith's priesthood, and Mormonism's view of mankind's divine potential — have earned praise even from critics for their evenhanded treatment of historical and doctrinal issues.

Kelly, who was excommunicated from the church last year after advocating for the inclusion of women in the all-male LDS priesthood, said that Mormons should stay in the faith if it brings them joy, and leave if it doesn't.

"If you stay, you should raise hell," she said. "I think you have a moral imperative to make it a better place for children and especially for girls."

...

Brent Parkin said he resigned three months ago after protracted discussions with the lay bishop of his Mormon congregation.

He described the participants at the mass resignation — which took place the day after Pioneer Day, a celebration of the Mormon settlers' arrival in Utah — as pioneers at the early stages of what will be a mass exodus of disaffected Latter-day Saints.

"The house of cards," he said, "is falling down."

 

Thoughts?

 

-Smac

 

It's interesting that one of the doctrines that these apostates find troubling is "mankind's divine potential." That makes me wonder how many of these folks really ever had a testimony.

 

Anyway, this group's comments only go to show that sooner or later apostates show their true colors.

 

The supposed "house of cards" is not "falling down" but is growing and will one day fill the earth.

Edited July 26, 2015 by mikegriffith1

[sdc999]

 

 

The supposed "house of cards" is not "falling down" but is growing and will one day fill the earth.

It's going to have to hurry if you want it to "fill the earth".  Mormonism is about .2% if you use the generously mentioned 15 million number and you say we are in the Latter days.  One has to give.   You need to speed up or Christ is going to have to delay His return.