Bishop in Cornflake, AZ told is god comes before country and we shouldn't show support for gays on social media because we don't show support for murders or illegal drug users so why would we show support for Sam? He also said people involved need to seek repentance for said activity. Someone need to make a post on the best way to record this crap cause I don't have a clue besides using a tape recorder and it has been years since I have seen one of those.
I had a member on Twitter feed who said during her service, "An elderly couple stood up and left during the middle of the reading". Other than that, I haven't heard anything.
They didn't read the letter in SM...it was only to be read to the adults and youth. They had a special 3rd hour meeting to read the letter. Sorry, I didn't stick around for that.
For F&T meeting, a young woman that had just been through the temple for the first time got up. She talked about how weird it was, how nothing could have prepared her for that, how she would have freaked out if her parents weren't there, etc... Still, she KNOWS the church is true because she felt the spirit SOOOO strong when the missionaries taught her when she was 12. As additional evidence, she talked about how hard Satan was working to keep her away from the temple, giving her strong feelings that she shouldn't go, etc... (Maybe there is a god)
This was the second time in a little over a year that I've heard a testimony from a young woman about how weird the temple is.
In thirty years of church activity I never heard anyone say anything like that about the temple. Hell, my wife never told me that she thought it was weird until after we had been resigned from the church for ten or fifteen years. Is this something that especially affects women more so than men? I did not feel weird at all. Maybe I am weird.
michaelc1945 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In thirty years of church activity I never heard > anyone say anything like that about the temple. > Hell, my wife never told me that she thought it > was weird until after we had been resigned from > the church for ten or fifteen years. Is this > something that especially affects women more so > than men? I did not feel weird at all. Maybe I am > weird.
You had me going there for a minute. I actually thought that you didn't think that it was weird to make promises that were not yet revealed to you, but you still had to agree to. Pantomiming your own suicidal punishments for breaking the promises would just be an extra giggle. DAMN,you crack me up.
In my ward, they read the letter after F & T. They kicked all the kids 12 and under because of it. It's not the letter is porn. They had a few questions and not very many answers. The questions were what can we do to stop this? Will our building be used for SSM? And the big one! What about our tax exempt status and " religious freedom/ liberty". The morg here assume that since we live in a conservative area that they aren't here (or they aren't holding hands and kissing in public like lots of heterosexuals do).
I noticed that nobody left when it was read. But by the time they read the letter on Sunday, it was old news. On the bright side it at least made Sunday school and Priesthood shorter. I think that morg is circling it wagons as they are still very anti SSM despite it being the law of the land!
See members are so naïve and ignorant of Rights and Laws...
Yet, the corporation could be in trouble tax wise due to the fact of their Schools. These schools are eligible for a variety of Federal and state money (Housing, Grants, nutrition, etc...). So yes BYU could be open to tax exempt status, just as any of the other private Catholic, Protestant Universities that receive Govt. money.
The Govt. could come after them for same-sex discrimination if they fire a person who is in a same-sex marriage or if they refuse to provide benefits (insurance, retirement, etc...) to the spouse(s). Remember they have many "for profit" companies, plus Polyneisan Cultural Center, etc...
Their real problem may come for Govt and Private boycotts. Contracts for beef may be cancelled. Universities/ Colleges may start boycotting them in games.
Whatever happens: If the church "gets new inspiration" and allow SSM to live and enjoy all church benefits; members will think it comes from Jesus.
If the church doubles down and accepts the boycotts and liabilities, members will see it as Satan and his minions attacking the church.
My brother is on his way out. His bishop asked him to attend a special third hour meeting to discuss the letter. He told his bishop, "You know how I feel about this. I suspect that your job as a bishop would be much easier if I didn't attend. Now do you really want me there?"
No mention of it in either the family or YSA ward.
The bishopric knows that it generally wouldn't have been well received. There were a large number of members' Facebook profile pictures that went rainbow after the ruling. We also have one women is openly gay.
Also in our ward during the Q&A a sister mentioned having gay family and asked about how to treat them because of the ruling. Of which the morg basically doesn't have a answer. I also noticed a lot of members squirming while the letter was read. So it's obviously a subject that members aren't happy about and are probability wondering why the morg is so obsessed with...that along with "religious liberty/ freedom" and being tax exempt of course!
The meeting was pretty pleasant. People talked about prayer and missionary work and I thought I'd dodged a bullet....then right before the closing song, the bishop stood up and asked all the children and primary leaders to leave. After they were gone, he read the letter. The place was dead silent and I was really annoyed with the content of the letter. It felt like a huge slap in the face to all the singles, people that can't have kids, gay/lesbian members....anyone that's not an upper class Mormon family with a mom, dad, and perfect kids.
The letter struck me as way more than just homophobic.
No, I've never seen them do that before. It sounds like the ridiculous "we don't want children hearing disgusting things about homosexuals and sex!"
The whole thing was pointless. The bishop didn't even discuss anything afterwards. He just read it (awkwardly)then folded it up and everyone left the chapel.
I thought they believed homosexuals were all pedophiles? According to that logic they should have allowed the children to stay and learn more about the Mormon bogeymen.
Only stayed for sacrament meeting so I don't know about the letter but the bishop specifically called on about 7 or so men in attendance for a baby blessing to give their testimonies. All were visiting bishopric members, a temple president, etc. After they were done there was only time for 2 of their wives to get up before the meeting was over. I'm fairly sure this was planned to keep the unpredictable members from getting time at the mic.
It was brutal in my ward. All about how civil law doesn't change god's law. Also about how sad they were about the passing of Boyd kkk packer. Boo-hoo. My highlight was this one lady who went on for about twenty minutes about how apostates have no right to take their children with them when they leave the church. "How dare they" yes how dare they decide for themselves and their family how they will be raised. Honestly though. This old lady was nuts. She was like I only know one other person who left the church and "she was dumb." Not even joking. What terrible people surface on F&T mtg. Oh but it was really funny when the bishop was like "satan disguises his work with words like love and tolerance"(talking about SSM)he's an ok guy, the bishop, but honestly. Love and tolerance? That's a goddamn good thing. People deserve love, and the rights that come with it. Ok. My rant is over.