LDS Church members Deserve Trained Leaders, With Background Checks.

Tweet

by RB MAC

We deserve trained leaders. Actually, we deserve trained leaders that have gone through a proper background check. 

I am just curious, when did the infallibility doctrine of Christ get applied to our church leaders. I am speaking specifically here about our stake and ward leaders, so please call off the strengthening the membership committee. 

My stake is taking all the kids 14-18 to Nauvoo this summer.  I was speaking to the stake Young Men’s president, and I asked what they were doing for Youth Protecting training for the fifty or so Adult chaperones going on the trip? The answer…. Nothing we are not in Texas there is no reason to. 

I had to bit my tongue from snapping back, “You mean there is no reason to besides, ya know, protecting the youth!” Instead, I shared with him that Illinois does indeed have laws like Texas requiring proper, training for all adults that are on overnight trips with kids longer than four days. 

To sum up his answer back…. “We really don’t need it; our leaders are so wonderful, they would never do anything wrong.”

In all honesty, when did this phase shift that our leaders can’t make mistakes happen? And it’s not just the members that view it that way; I have had frank conversations with several Priesthood leaders over the years where they are asking for advice when the leaders are claiming infallibility in anything they do as a leader.  Besides this being totally nuts. It leads to justification of completely inappropriate and often damaging behavior. So, let's dispel some common Mormon myths.

Growing up a Bastard in Mormon Culture.

Tweet

by JAR

Caution: Gratuitous Use of the Word “Bastard”

It used to grind on my nerves.

Like, BAD.

No other word would incite fury in me like “bastard.” I hated it. And when people would use it in regards to me personally, I would go fisticuffs with a quickness. The repercussions for calling me a bastard were often times bloody noses or black eyes--sometimes other kids’, sometimes my own.

It took me quite a while to drill down to the underlying emotion surrounding the word “bastard.” I thought it pissed me off because it was just a mean word. But beneath everything else, being a bastard was downright embarrassing.

That was it: I was embarrassed to be a bastard.

I was embarrassed that other little kids had a dad at school functions. I was embarrassed at the looks that we would get in church. I was embarrassed that I couldn’t answer questions about my father--I still can’t, having never even met him (and only recently finding out his real name).

Embarrassment is a strong emotion. You can tell when your kids start to feel embarrassment, and it completely changes their behavior. It completely changed mine. But there’s something important that I realized as I grew older: I was not the only person embarrassed about me being a bastard.

And I was probably not the person most embarrassed about it.

The ministering visit where my buddy was told the church would be better off without him

Tweet

by Mark G.

This week I was over at a friend’s house.  It was late afternoon, normally he and I would both be at work, but he had taken the afternoon off the help me with an engineering problem my group has been struggling with.  As my friend usually does, he solved my issue in a few minutes, and as it turns out, I am glad he did.  Soon the doorbell rang, and my buddy answered the door calling the visitor by name 

Brother Smith (alias)  and welcomed him in. The man joined us in the study:

My Buddy:  How can I help you?

Bro. Smith: Well this is a hard visit to make, but I came here to rebuke you. 

My Buddy:  ok… let's get started. 

Brother Smith laid out his argument.  Specifically about how the church and its leaders including stake presidents and bishops are infallible. My friend listened kindly until a remark was about the evil of scientists and then he snapped a bit.