Did anyone else find this talk at the height of lds hypocrisy? I'll just jot down some of my thoughts here and add more as I remember them. Please discuss or add your own!

He put the lds church above all those other religious institutions which "changed their beliefs, or even their doctrine". Okay, maybe he's right there. What sort of organization changes their core beliefs like that? Such an institution must be trying to manipulate their members somehow..

Also, his spiel on sexual purity really irked me. He only further enforced the gender roles and "life plan" created in the lds church. He implied that God's plan is the same for everyone, that everyone must get married at an earlier age, have children, and devote everthing to God (read: church).
Didn't you just talk about the freedom for people to choose, the importance of agency, and your 12th article of faith, which supposedly allows for religious freedom? Okay, so what about gay rights? Nope, only a man and woman can get married and have sexual relations.
Why does it matter to you if two people of the same gender decide to get married? Why does it matter to you that the state will allow this marriage? If you think your God is against that, then that's fine -- you're allowed to believe what you want -- but don't try to interfere with the rights of others and enforce your self-righteous doctrine which creates nothing but a lack of empathy and misunderstanding between your fellow human beings!



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2013 01:23PM by msp.

Up until now, I thought I was doing fairly well this conference by keeping calm and not reacting too much to the messages which I felt were poisonous in nature However, this talk really encapsulated a lot of what I think is wrong about the ldsc and had to vent, so I'm sorry if I sound very bitter and cynical.

No apologies needed, I found your analysis spoton

If god didn't want people to have kids until they got married, why didn't he put a switch in their finger that clicked "activate" when the ring slid on?

Oh yeah, temptation and sin.

And nature.

How can you possibly get angry at a man who uses the phrase "procreative powers?" I just laugh thinking about it.

onlinemoniker Wrote:
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> How can you possibly get angry at a man who uses
> the phrase "procreative powers?" I just laugh
> thinking about it.


It sounds like a superhero power!! LOL

Condoms are his kryptonite.

Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh...I do not avoid women, Mandrake...But I...I do deny them my essence.

Of course he couldn't call it what it really is: "biological continuation of species".

Instead, he makes sex sound like some unexplained supernatural power-- as if he was living 1000 years ago or something.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2013 01:25PM by hangar18.

remember that Oaks used to be the scoundrel who was the boss of the utah supreme court.

Whenever one thinks of Mormonism, either 'doctrine' or culture... the overshadowing feature (one or two layers below the surface) is the Uber-legalistic approach to matters of faith & church government. It is so pervasive in most all of the things of Mormonism...that it takes almost the top priority in relationships with pre-defined expectations for marriages.

Any 'practicing' Christian who becomes aware of this would RUN away at first opportunity

A discerning individual figures this out relatively soon in their LDS journey; I don't know of any 'more perfect' example of this other than Oaks.

As a nevermo, I really and truly tried to watch this conference.

OMG, I had an instructor in an art class who would literally put me to sleep.

Brings back those memories. I can feel my brain synapses shut down.

Really.

notamormon Wrote:
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> I can feel my brain

Yeah, and just think, twice per year we were supposed to spend our entire weekend listening to this stuff.

Near the end of my membership, I would wait until all the talks were available on the internet and then I would listen to the entire thing over a 2 or 3 week period.

It was much easier to take that way.

Why would god set our biological clocks so early if we aren't allowed to act on it? and make the driving urge so f-n strong.
If this is the plan than we should be married younger then 12.

Agreed. Only over the last century has teen marriage become taboo. Used to be quite normal. And logical IMO.

As I listened to his babbling on I thought of all the poor people who were drinking his cool aide.

+1 because it's everyone I know.

I can't bring myself to watch this crap. I just find it totally depressing.
Did he really say people should marry at a younger age? Holy Crap!
That may be good news for me because every totally stupid thing that is said in GC is one more good push towards getting my siblings out of LDS,INC.
I know my bros. are NOT going to like that comment.

Trust me, I know how you feel. It's playing from the tv that's central to me family's apartment, so I get to hear or see most of it.
He didn't say that tbms need to marry younger, but criticized the increasing average age at which marriages (non-lds ones) occur. In the op, I meant that Oaks said that people need to get married at a younger age (than the current norm, between 25 and 30 for men and women).
I've noticed a trend in the past few years for GA's to push dating and marriage RIGHT after a mission and to not delay. Lots of guilt-tripping regarding that topic, especially in the ph session a few conferences ago (October 2011?). I remember this as I was VERY tbm at that time.

I'm hoping that something a GA says will strike a dissonant chord with my mom, but it's hard to see that happening soon, unfortunately.

Wow, this looks great. Thanks for the link!

http://www.utlm.org/navtopicalindex.htm

Other great sites:

http://mit.irr.org/joseph-smiths-changing-first-vision-accounts

Rethinking Mormonism: http://www.i4m.com/

http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/an-insiders-view-of-mormon-origins-2/

http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/early-mormonism-and-the-magic-world-view/

http://signaturebooks.com/2010/10/excerpt-losing-a-lost-tribe/

http://signaturebooks.com/2010/02/in-sacred-loneliness-the-plural-wives-of-joseph-smith/

http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/

The Lost Book of Abraham: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcyzkd_m6KE

And on a lighter note, "All About Mormons", a 2003 South Park cartoon: http://vimeo.com/13150374

Enjoy!

Does Oaks really have a grandson who's gay? Or was that just a rumor?

I overheard some of this douchebag's talk while my wife was watching. He said something about how population growth is really low in western cultures, and people are marrying later in life. He said it like it was a bad thing. Does he want western cutlures to emulate impoverished third world nations with their young marriages and huge population growth?

He is just another wealthy, white controlling asshole who hates people who actually work (this includes people who make really great money, but aren't as rich as he is). He wants them to suffer. He wants to control them. He wants to fuck up younger people's earning potential. Oh I know the cult wants more money, as much fucking money as they can get, but assholes like Oaks love fucking with people's minds.

I LOVED how he put "women pursuing careers" in the "concerning trends" category. Hilarious!

OMFG...I want him to go back in time & tell my 2 TBM great-grandmothers that they shouldn't be working. They would laugh in his face. They had to work because they were poor (Yes, even the one that was a teacher - great-grandfather her husband was a teacher too - was poor), & no one hassled them about it.

What about post-kids? In my extended family, these former moms seem to have little confidence or self-esteem because they are dependent on their husbands. When the kids are gone, what's left for them? It's not as if these people "saved" for that day to enjoy their current lives. The dad goes to work, and the mom hangs out at home facebooking all day.

I suppose in the church scheme of things, grandkids and senior missions are suppose to fill the void. Well.. that doesn't always happen.

Oaks is a lawyer playing to the jury. You don't need to be honest. Tell a lie like you mean it long enough and some will buy it.