“Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods and smooth gods who not only don’t rock the boat but don’t even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds." - Holland


Really? So they think that by insulting millions, or billions, of people will get them more converts or greater acceptance in the world?

Does he, and his groupies, really believe that god believing people think that you giggle them "run along and pick marigolds"?

This is insulting, condescending, and mean spirited. They're becoming bullies and it's not pretty.

I guess he thinks their god is better - the one who expects people to believe that putting a rock in a hat and getting a sacred book is better.

It is a complete and total strawman, but it makes the TBMs feel good that they have a "real" god, which is the point: to enhance feelings of xenophobia and superiority.

No wonder I always felt down and hopeless after listening to this dim wits. Talk about a Debbie downer.

And Mormons are so fucked up that they CHOOSE to worship a god that is a total asshole...

one who orders the leader to rape underaged girls or suffer death.

I choose neither.

I don't have to believe in fairy tales to giggle and pick marigolds.

Holland is a pretentious ass.

Who is he to talk ?

His god allows him and his cronies to live off the tithes of members who are too deluded to see whom and what they really serve.

Classic cult (and religious) dogma from the same old scratchy record.

"A" side: Our leader made/makes sacrifices and freely gives you esoteric knowledge and blessings and forgives your sins, so that your pain and burdens will be lifted and you can feel joy and happiness.

"B" side: You must make sacrifices and obey our leader, promising to give everything before you can be given esoteric knowledge and blessings, and you will be judged and punished for your sins, and if necessary you must bear burdens and feel pain in order to be tested before you can feel joy and happiness.

We aren't supposed to stop and smell the roses?

I found something my nonmo boyfriend said lately rather interesting. My daughter is very TBM. She has graduated from college and worked many jobs. She works in Alaska in the summer as a Princess tour bus driver and earns a lot of money. She has traveled extensively.

My son has been through a divorce at age 21, has been addicted to many different drugs, has worked a few jobs, but has been unemployed for a year and living here at home while we taper him off his prescribed medications.

My boyfriend said he has seen my son experience happiness and joy, but he has never seen my daughter experience it. She is too caught up in being perfect.

I'm sure Mother Teresa was picking marigolds in the slums of India.

Holland has a long history of ridiculing people in his talks

Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our contemporary Mormonism that if people want to be gods at all, they want to be able to become gods quietly while not demanding much publicity in their hope to become gods. They want their potential to become such comfortably and smoothing this doctrine out for those who not only don’t rock the boat but don’t even row it, becoming gods is downplayed by those who pat us on the head, make us giggle with ear wiggles, then tell us to run along and pick up Moroni's golden plates.

I don't see anything wrong with giggling or picking marigolds.

All that other crap the mormon god requires is just nonsense.

This is what should prove to the world that he knows little to nothing about religious teachings of other faiths. And--sadly--he's the only GA with a background in "theology," in quotes because it's BYU's edition of a theology degree. A man with a PhD and two masters degrees should be just a little brighter.

I definitely did not feel like it was picking marigolds and giggling when I pantomimed slitting my own throat in the temple. That was a traumatic experience for me and if an LDS apostle wishes to put down other religions in such a demeaning way then perhaps more people should know what happened in the Mormon temples. Non-Mormons should be made aware of the blood oaths that went with learning to become gods. It was Holland that was caught trying to lie about that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jyU97I12AQ

Yep. Joe's saturation in the Methodist and Calvinist beliefs around him led him to invent a new religion much like the old.. Don't get comfortable, if you're having fun you're probably sinning, work is good for you even if it's pointless. We are here to suffer and be tested, if you're not busy you're a lazy sinner.

Marigolds. A short story.

Wherein the kids are picking marigolds.

And giggling.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/clarksburghs/academics/english/Marigolds-J-Douglass.pdf

I just watched Holland's talk. Damn, that guy want to become Prophet really really bad.

How come what god wants is always exactly the same as what Holland wants ?

Enquiring minds like mine want to know.

I'm gonna have to go with the funny god who likes flowers.

It's only fair that my god can tell me to run along and pick marigolds if I want, when Holland's god tells him he can eat whatever he wants.

His mean God is no more real than the nice God. If you must have an imaginary God, why not have a nice one that lets you pick flowers?

Man is that he might have joy.
+
Holland lied over the pulpit in General Conference, and on TV.
=
Who cares what Holland says?

Even more sad is people who want a God who will create busy work for them to take them away from their life's purpose.

Another use for my favorite saying "See THIS is why people don't respect Mormons." Because fundamentally, they are mocking all others who believe in God, saying they only want to believe in a shallow God who lets them have fun and do whatever they want. Even if you feel that way, saying it out loud in a public forum makes the speaker a HUGE jerk.

But as others have mentioned, a God who wants to control you as an obedient slave like Mormons believe, who never thinks anything you do is good enough ... that isn't a better God. Why would you WANT to believe in a God like that? Come to think of it, it sounds more like Satan's Plan from the story of the pre-existence. Jesus wanted us to have a choice and if that choice is happily giggling whilst picking marigolds, then it's OUR life and OUR choice by the standards of the Jesus Mormons claim won the war in heaven and became the Savior of the World. That control freak became fallen, Satan, the adversary and evil.

Makes you think...

My religion calls on me to cut through thorns and weeds and see what's hiding in there--the hungry, the poor, the homeless, the disabled, the oppressed. It asks me to help at the soup kitchen, stand up for justice, help illiterate people learn to read, mentor students in the inner city, and other various projects we get involved in. It doesn't tell me to just take the envelope from the boy at the door once a month, put in the money I "saved" from missing a breakfast and lunch after over-indulging on a dinner before and after to get me through it, hand it back to the kid and run along and pick marigolds because I've done my duty to help those in need. Only to see people in my own congregation who are in need and won't be helped with the money I donated because they're somehow not "worthy" enough to be helped.

STFU Mr. Holland, you stupidfuckingpig. You have no idea what other religions teach or do or how much more true giving of themselves they're called to do. They aren't just ordering sheeple to serve the arrogant asses at the top. They are taking care of each other. For real. Out of their hearts, not just because they're assigned to.

What the hell good is this type of religion if there is no money to be made? I guess you have to hand it to Mormons for not being chumps.

(Hey, you know what my mom used to do with the fast offerings envelope? We were very poor, and she used to angrily take it from the boy, walk trough one door of the kitchen, then walk back out the other door as if she'd been somewhere, and hand it right back to the boy without even opening it. And this was back in the day when $0.25 or a half dollar was considered a normal offering.)

Hear hear!

:: golf clap ::


Excellent post.

Damn. All the ways in which I volunteer to make others' lives a little easier or brighter is really no better than giggling and picking marigolds. I am hanging my head in shame this morning.

I'm so glad we have theological and intellectual giants like Holland around to school us.

I may need an x-ray -- my jaw hit the floor so hard something might have broken. What an arrogant prick.

When I heard this it was an "aha" moment for me... this was basically his (and i'm assuming "theirs" too since they approved his message) way of saying that they DO NOT believe in Biblical Christianity, and that Grace means NOTHING. I know a lot of you are atheists or agnostics after leaving, but there are the other half of those that leave that choose a different religion like Christianity. This is insulting for those that still believe in Christ and the sacrifice he made.

Even though I'm in the agnostic/atheist camp, I found it humorous that he would make a statement like that, totally denying the "Christian" image they've been trying to portray and rebrand with for years and years.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2014 01:31PM by virgil.

Grace would mean you can go to heaven without cleaning the toilets, and they ain't havin' none of that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/08/2014 01:39PM by wastedtime.

It's much more fun to chop off the head of a drunk king than it is to go pick marigolds. What's not to like about that God?