Something is afoot, and I want to put forward a theory that Hamula is being set up to return as the Prodigal Son next year.

What a story for the masses to fixate on and be inspired by. It would herald in the champion in the church who is the epitome now of an imperfect leader who through the grace of god can return, be completely forgiven for human foibles, and never wavers from the faith in the gospel of TSCC.

It's a master stroke by the church. It could even be Hamula's own idea and plan to cement his place into an apostolic calling (such as Peter who denies Christ three times before the sun rose and still gets the keys to the kingdom.)

That is my theory and I think in a year our feeds will be all about his re baptism.

It's a perfect way for TSCC to cap off the essays and show
The mistakes of the past should be forgiven and move the dialogue past its past and Cement that it doesn't matter.

Who better to champion that than correlation and history boy Hamula?

(In full disclosure, I recently binge watched Game of Thrones, and -wow- the characters are cunning in their strategies to gain power.

episode in the Mormon reality series "Game of Drones."

loved your comment cricket!

If it were the game of drones, Hamula could win the seat Monson has, but then get poisoned. If he were a smart and devious player, he could make some coin - just think of the royalty income from the book deals and all the LDS adoration during his world "Forgiveness Tour". The tshirts alone would go for $40 each (after tithing). :)

Edited to add:
All kidding aside, the press release on lds.org is what got me thinking this way. The church narration is all about how it was not apostasy, and that excommunication is the first step to return to enjoy the full blessings. https://www.lds.org/church/news/general-authority-released-following-disciplinary-action?lang=eng



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2017 07:40AM by Scully.

I think your expectation that he could get back next year is off. In my experience, the quickest I got an ex bishop re-baptised was 5 years. That was after constant battle with the Office of the First Presidency, who were thinking in terms of 10 years of 'perfect living'.

Also, getting back into a high position is not possible after excommunication. I once had a 45 year old bishop declined by the 'Brethren' for a transgression he committed at age 18, before he went on a mission.

I could be wrong, times do change, but they don't need a future leader with this kind of experience.

Thx Tom, your experience in the upper levels of churchdom gives good perspective.

Do you think Hamula received the 2nd anointing?

Would that make it impossible to ex him, unless perhaps he agreed or volunteered? I think he must have developed very close and trusted relationships with the 12 etc in the years of working there.

"they don't need a future leader with this kind of experience"

I love that! It is true. So true for those of us that were turned off by the lies and deceit over church history. But at the same time, what better way to redirect the members' reactions to past leaders JS and BY than by setting up poster prodigal boy Hamula to be "inspired" yet "human" and still chosen to lead the restoration of Gods church on earth.

I admit it's a stretch. Especially for the stale pale male church leadership to devise something so devious. But I've invested a lot of leisure time last week into binging game of thrones and would love to see this plot twist.

<Do you think Hamula received the 2nd anointing?>

Undoubtedly. But it doesn't mean he can't be excommunicated. John D. Lee was excommunicated for Mountain Meadows Massacre. However, his temple blessings were later restored to him.

"Something is afoot, and I want to put forward a theory that Hamula is being set up to return as the Prodigal Son next year."

Nope. TSCC wants members to think that they are being merciful towards a sinner. Excommunication is supposedly their loving way of helping someone overcome a weakness.

I would bet Hamula spent so much time working in the church history department and then on to the correlation department that he developed some serious cognitive dissonance. He's probably one of the few leaders who still have some real morals left and didn't feel good about deceiving members anymore.

May be wishful thinking on my part... I like to think that some of these top guys will have some broken shelves soon.

TSCC claims that it has nothing to do with "apostasy" and then people start speculating about everything else: pornography, sexual abuse, cheating on wife, etc. TSCC: "We're not going to comment about the excommunication except to say that it wasn't apostasy." Yeah, right. And why even comment to that extent?

Hopefully Hamula will open up with the real reasons. Anything other than the church's definition of apostasy actually makes him look worse.

If a person is working with inspirational material (church history) and spends lots of time with inspirational people (GAs), then it would seem less likely that one would fall to rather banal and mundane sins (cheating on wife). However, if one is working with material that corrodes faith (church history) and spends time with people who undermine faith in God's chosen (GAs), then it seems likely that one would be more susceptible to banal and mundane sin.

The Mormons see the road to God a a tight-rope - one slip and you're forever lost. That really contradicts the gospel's teachings on repentance.