May
25
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
In the previous post, I focused on the fact that 12 year-old young women in the Church are taught, in YW Lesson Manual 1, Lesson 5, to find joy in their mysterious “divine potential”. It is mysterious because Lesson 5, despite using the term repeatedly, never reveals exactly what that “divine potential” is. The mystery is rendered non-mysterious and solved, however, by reading through the group of lessons in the manual that follow Lesson 5. Lessons 6 – 8 seem to flesh out the concept that Lesson 5 merely hints about. Here is the whole group of lessons, in summary form: Continue reading
4 comments | tags: Conformity, General Conference, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS social pressure, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, Quentin L. Cook, sexism, Young Women organization, youth in the Church | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 10, List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 16, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Stories
May
23
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
In the previous post, I asserted that young women in the LDS Church receive messages that essentially accord them second-class status to young men. It is clear, based on the words of Church leaders and the contents of the YW and YM curriculum, that the Church understands that these messages are there, and that they are psychologically harmful to girls. Instead of repudiating and changing these messages, however, the Church reaffirms them as divine truth.
As an example of this, I will use Lesson No. 5 in the current YW Lesson Manual 1, titled “Finding Joy in our Divine Potential“. Here is the stated objective of Lesson 5:
OBJECTIVE: Each young woman will understand her divine potential and learn how to find joy in it. (emphasis added)
Clearly, a young woman’s “divine potential” (whatever that happens to be) is not something she would be happy with naturally. The Church recognizes that she needs to be persuaded and taught, from a young age, how she can adjust her thinking to eventually feel okay about it. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Conformity, gender, general authorities, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS gender roles, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority, sexism | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 10, List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Feb
14
2011
Poor Wayfaring Man
The LDS Church has developed gender-segregated youth programs to educate and socialize (read: indoctrinate) boys and girls in the Church as they reach adolescence and grow into adulthood. The programs start when they reach age 12 and generally end at age 19, at which point they join the gender-segregated adult programs. The girls’ program is called the “Young Women organization“, and the boys’ program is called the “Aaronic Priesthood“. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Aaronic Priesthood, Conformity, gender, indoctrination, LDS Church Sunday curriculum, LDS gender roles, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, Mormon Doctrine, priesthood authority, rites of passage, socialization, Young Women organization, youth in the Church | posted in List Item 12, List Item 13, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Mar
10
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
As noted in a previous post, Church leaders often struggle to control how the lifeblood of the Church (i.e., personal reassurance that one is on the path to salvation in the Celestial Kingdom–a concept I’ve termed “Hope”) is distributed to, and apportioned among, the members of the Church. Below are two examples of such battles.
Example 1: Elder Poelman’s View of Divine Love:
About a month after McConkie’s speech excoriating George Pace for promoting the concept of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, Elder Ronald E. Poelman, a fairly new member of the First Quorum of the Seventy (one level below the apostles in the Church hierarchy) gave an address in General Conference which appears to have been carefully worded to imply the existence of a personal relationship with the Lord, without crossing any of the lines that McConkie had drawn. Elder Poelman’s talk included the following statement: Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Bruce R. McConkie, BYU, censorship, Conformity, criticism, divine love, Ensign Magazine, general authorities, General Conference, George Orwell, George Pace, heresy, LDS legalism, LDS spirituality, lifeblood, Living Systems, Mormon History, Nineteen Eighty-Four, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority, Ronald E. Poelman, Russell M. Nelson, Sunstone Magazine | posted in List Item 02, List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 21, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Mar
9
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
As noted in a previous post, Church leaders often struggle to control how the lifeblood of the Church (i.e., personal reassurance that one is on the path to salvation in the Celestial Kingdom–a concept I’ve termed “Hope”) is distributed to, and apportioned among, the members of the Church. Below is an example of one such battle.
In the early 1980’s, a BYU professor named George Pace had previously given speeches and written a book promoting the idea that people should “center their lives on Christ and…develop their own personal relationship with Him.” Even though Pace was simply echoing ideas recently taught in General Conference by then-apostle (and future First Presidency Counselor) James E. Faust, his “taking out the middle man” approach to interacting with the Savior prompted a humiliating public rebuke from Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, which included the following counsel: Continue reading
3 comments | tags: Apostasy, Bruce R. McConkie, BYU, Conformity, general authorities, General Conference, George Pace, heresy, hope for salvation, James E. Faust, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, LDS spirituality, lifeblood, Living Systems, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, populism, priesthood authority, prophets | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Mar
8
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
In a previous post, I outlined the concept of the LDS Church as a living system. I’ve been thinking recently about what keeps a living system like the Church together. I think the general answer has something to do with the system as a whole being able to obtain and create things that the system components need (or want), but are unable to get independently. Continue reading
no comments | tags: Conformity, LDS morals and ethics, LDS social pressure, lifeblood, Living Systems, obedience, orthodoxy enforcement, priesthood authority | posted in List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 08, List Item 09, List Item 22, List Item 24, Mormon Culture
Mar
1
2010
Poor Wayfaring Man
Here is an example of LDS Church leaders retiring unwanted doctrine by playing with the concepts of “policy” and “doctrine”, and then making overtures of respect to the originators of that doctrine, in order to avoid violating LDS stare decisis.
In the nineteenth century, leaders of the Church taught that the practice of polygamy was an inextricable doctrine of Mormonism, and the only way to reach the highest levels of heaven. Continue reading
3 comments | tags: Authority, Brigham Young, doublespeak, Gordon B. Hinckley, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses, Larry King, LDS Church Policy, LDS legalism, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon History, policy vs. doctrine, polygamy, priesthood authority, prophets, spin, stare decisis | posted in List Item 07, List Item 11, List Item 13, List Item 19, List Item 21, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine
Nov
1
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
My professor at BYU once asked us to read the first couple of chapters of the Book of Mormon–the First Book of Nephi. The book starts with a story about Nephi’s father, a well-heeled man named Lehi, who has a vision from God, in which the Lord tells him to pack up his things, leave his home in Jerusalem, and depart with his family into the wilderness. Lehi obeys, but some of his sons are harder to convince than others that Jerusalem is to be destroyed and that wandering in the wilderness is the will of God for them. The skeptical sons in the family are Laman and Lemuel, and the believers are Nephi and Sam. My professor asked us, as devout Mormons, which of the brothers we were like.
In case you are wondering, the right answer is always “Nephi”. Continue reading
1 comment | tags: Book of Mormon stories, BYU, Conformity, Mormon fundamentalism, obedience, prophets, revelation, skepticism | posted in List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Stories
Oct
23
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
I have had experiences with testimony. Lots of them. Here is Example 1:
When I was a child, maybe 8 or 9 years old, I thought up the concept of reincarnation. I didn’t know it by name, and I didn’t know that anybody else had ever thought of it. What I did know is that I got a real charge out of contemplating the possibility that my soul could inhabit another body and I could live another life again after this one was over. The feeling I felt as I put the theory together in my mind was something I hadn’t felt before. It was a spine-tingling, euphoric, exciting sensation. Everything seemed to make sense at that moment, and for that moment I felt a sense of clarity, confidence, and peace about my future that overwhelmed my usual petty concerns and fears. I still remember it.
Continue reading
no comments | tags: answers to prayer, false doctrine, Holy Ghost, Mormon Doctrine, philosophies of men, reincarnation, spiritual discernment, testimony, The Gospel | posted in List Item 01, List Item 10, List Item 24, Mormon Doctrine, Mormon Stories
Oct
20
2009
Poor Wayfaring Man
In 1844, in the wake of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s murder at the hands of a mob in a Carthage, Illinois jail, he was eulogized by a very close friend, John Taylor, with the following statement:
“Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.”
Now, that’s pretty high praise coming from a Christian. Maybe a little too high? Continue reading
no comments | tags: Apostasy, Brigham Young, Conformity, criticism, Dallin H. Oaks, doctrine & covenants, John Taylor, Joseph Smith, LDS Hymns, LDS morals and ethics, LDS Social Circles, Mormon Doctrine, prophets | posted in List Item 01, List Item 02, List Item 03, List Item 04, List Item 07, List Item 09, List Item 21, List Item 22, List Item 23, List Item 24, Mormon Culture, Mormon Doctrine