Further Light and Knowledge

http://m.heraldextra.com/article_dba7b325-5c70-566f-b6af-96c523e1ff84.html

Heh. He "buckled under the pressure."

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People Who Don't Want Their Beliefs Laughed At Shouldn't Have Such Funny Beliefs.

Okay, let me get this straight . . . nearly a billion people all over the world are starving to death and these people are making "incredibly hard decisions" and experiencing "extremely emotional" stress over a building that's going to be nine stories tall that's how far from where their comfortable, food-packed homes are located?

Maybe I'm missing something. I'm sure it wouldn't be aesthetically favorable to have this quasi-leviathan raise up near my neighborhood but good god a-mighty, if you're stupid enough to make the choice to move within the shadow of TSCC's playground then hell yes, you deserve to wake up each morning, open your bedroom window and see the large and spacious building as a reminder that they are "rolling forth."

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It's good to talk about these things and to sort out the messed up mindfuck we were in.
- SIMS

Did god forget to tell these addled old windbags that there has been a substantial decline in the number of missionaries? How can they justify expanding the MTC? What the fuck are they up to?

This must have been one of the flecks in the past that GBH claimed is behind us.

Ahh, a church that will expect utmost honesty from its members in confession, which predicates your temple recommend upon being honest in all your dealings with your fellow man, cannot behave according to its own standard. The church's word is clearly not its bond.

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I don't know how I got this way, I'll never be all right...

Linkin Park

What a bunch of thugs.

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The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin to see, we are doomed and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less. ~ Arthur Miller

"Real nice church membership ya got there. Be a reeeaaalll shame if somethin' happened to it."

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Apostasy loves company.

When I first read this, I thought about the number of "convert baptisms" which I thought were on the decline. What's the deal - are convert baptisms going up, down or what? If the number of convert baptisms is declining, then the push to have this large and spacious building constructed is even more ridiculous than I'd originally imagined.



LOL!
Like they've ever known what they've been doing?
LOL!

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It's good to talk about these things and to sort out the messed up mindfuck we were in.
- SIMS

This makes even less sense in light of:

1. American missionaries have been increasingly farmed out to foreign MTCs
2. Since the bar has been raised, the number of eligible missionaries has dropped by 10,000 per year.

I remember well the raise the bar talk. I had been home for a year. I remember Ballard saying that while the number of missionaries would decrease, the superior worthiness of the remaining would overwhelm investigators that they would be joining in droves. I was TBM at the time but knew this was bullshit. I knew from my experience that my success was entriely predicated on my social skills and not if I masturbated in the shower. I remember the SL trib article a few years later when the brethren were concerned at the shocking decline in convert baptisms. Yeah when you cut your salesforce by 20%, these things happen. Morons.

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I don't know how I got this way, I'll never be all right...

Linkin Park

Ugh...what a great way of bullying people that just want to voice their opinions. And making them feel afraid for their salvation, all for a silly building.

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A Post-Mormon Life: http://postmormongirl.blogspot.com

Hmmm, it sounds like someone needs to walk in to the church administration building and read them that scripture about "gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned," and "amen to the priesthood of that man."

I find these strongarm tactics reprehensible.

These strongarm tactics are a tradition going right back to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. They used the threat against your salvation to get their way all the time. It's built into the culture - both the making of the threat and the knuckling under to it.

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The apple cannot be stuck back on the Tree of Knowledge; once we begin to see, we are doomed and challenged to seek the strength to see more, not less. ~ Arthur Miller

Yes, and I believe D&C 132 is a good scriptural example of this. The word "destroy" or "destroyed" is used eleven times? What a loving god - can't wait to meet that bastard, eh?

And, threatening the members? What about how the temple is used to "scare" members with the warning from Satan when the closeup shows him looking at the camera telling the patrons they will be in his power unless they walk up to every covenant they make at these alters in this temple this day (or whatever the fuck he says) and then they all jump up and raise their right hand to the square, swearing with an oath to give all their money - and time - to the organization.

So, I guess you could say someone placed enmity between me and the organization. I believe it was all those fuckers who lied to me for so many goddamn years.

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It's good to talk about these things and to sort out the messed up mindfuck we were in.
- SIMS

Back to the crux of the matter: wild speculation about motives.

We know that there has been a decrease of about 10,000 missionaries -- down from from a 2001 count (http://www.cumorah.com/index.php?target ... apter_id=5). We know that the church is guilting more older members into serve missions (http://www.lds.org/ensign/2005/05/coupl ... e?lang=eng) (you may need to take a break here and spew chunks, but that is ok -- I understand -- the rest of this can wait for you to come back when you're ready) at an estimated cost of about $1,800 per month (most likely more). If the church is asking the older generation to give up their retirement savings, or come up with the money some other way by, for example, selling their home -- it doesn't seem very nice to expect them to spend any amount of time in dilapidated college dorms at the MTC that even today's college student wouldn't deign to live in. Some of the wealthier mormon couples I've known have opted for several missions after their retirement. One couple has sold their home. One old lady I know spent all her money on a mission that she had to cut short because she had to fight cancer. You won't read about that story in the Ensign, but you can bet people will be seeing color photos in the Ensign of a 9-story beacon of promise to Teh Faithful who feel like a lifetime of sacrifice will be rewarded.

I think that Marriott-like accommodations in the foothills of one of the prettiest views in America would help draw in the money of all those mormons who have shown a willingness to throw heaps of money at things like Prop 8 and Mitch Thurston Howell The Romney's presidential campaign.

That's one idea. The other speculation is that since the highest concentration of mormons is in Provo, the church is slowly consolidating its administrative power base there, and leaving its MBA minions in Salt Lake City to tend to the business of making money. The 9-story building will metastasize into another complex to rival the Vatican -- only way uglier. There are historical precedents for moving church headquarters to avoid threats to its heirarchy, so hey -- I can't be too far off. Can I?

15 prophets and this is what they spend their time praying about -- whether to build a building?

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"You can call me Joe,
Buy me a drink and shake my hand"

Sounds about right - really, why would they care about starving people in the world (including some of their own members, who are still commanded to pay tithing above food and rent)

That's my rant for the day.

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A Post-Mormon Life: http://postmormongirl.blogspot.com