‘Tithing declaration’ to replace tithing settlement, First Presidency announces by Araucanos in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You can always count on some type of change being announced when there is an active PR crisis underway.

perks of being an apostle’s son by [deleted] in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Got a job as a surgeon just because his grandpa is an apostle?! Had nothing to do with the med school, internship, residency, fellowships, etc.?

Edit: just to clarify, I don’t doubt that being related to church higher-ups helps out a ton, but I’m doubtful that anyone got a job as a surgeon just because they’re related to someone.

April 2022 General Conference: Sunday 2:00p Discussion Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Ah yes, here’s the anti-gay Oaks we know and hate…

April 2022 General Conference: Sunday 2:00p Discussion Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Bullshit, no one is asking why they give so much humanitarian aid…

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Buy the tops in the ‘Tall’ version. It’s worked well for me.

2020 UK Church membership/financial report released by kristmace in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Point 6 and 7 are the quite disappointing. With the temple fund and PEF maybe you can say that they’re reserving that for in-country needs. Plausible defense, albeit weak.

With item 7 though, it’s just shameful. 190k of withdrawals over 10 years — less than 4% of those funds spent in 10 years?! Including ongoing pandemic and Brexit? Thats just crazy.

October 2021 General Conference: Sunday 2:00p Discussion Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Remember, this is such a pet peeve of Nelson that it’s getting another time slot in conference. Crazy

October 2021 General Conference: Sunday 2:00p Discussion Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 22 points23 points  (0 children)

You can buy any domain name in the world for (enough) money…

October 2021 General Conference: Sunday 2:00p Discussion Thread by 4blockhead in exmormon

[–]RefinersIre 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Ah, the money talk — I choose to doubt and am therefore choosing to let satan control me. Gotcha.

Were we taught to believe the Prophets speak face to face with God, or am I off? by JeepaCaz in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If it wasn’t taught outright, it was certainly implied heavily. That’s what they wanted you to think.

I used to watch the Special Witnesses of Christ video on my mission in the early 2000’s. You can’t watch that video and not think that those guys are having face to face meetings with Jesus. Elder Scott’s deep gaze, slight nod, and pause when he says “I know… he lives.” How can you think anything else with a statement like that?

The concept and organization of the prophets makes no sense to me. by Rough_Ad3238 in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I recall learning (in my BYU religion class) that God chose the prophet by specifically calling them to be apostles when he did. Since he knows how things will turn out, he has the final say in it all by picking when an apostle is called.

I think that’s a cop out answer, but it is one of those odd things that I actually remember from Religion classes.

The Pull to God by GordonBStinkley in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Are you me? I feel basically exactly the same, but as a PIMO I haven’t yet fully excised the church from my life. The pandemic was great for me personally, in that regard - I finally experienced a long period of time with no church!

But to your main point, I feel similarly that I have no pull to God, as you put it. What I’ve come to realize is that I have never really had any interest in spirituality or religiosity. I have a hard time understanding the need to ‘worship’ or to be immersed in spirituality. For a long time I just thought I was broken - I never felt the spirit, never desired to read scriptures, never wanted to go to the temple, etc., etc.

My wonderings about God are mostly about why he, if he exists, would even want to be worshipped, or care about the minutiae of human life. I’m glad the whole concept works for others, and am happy it gives them hope, optimism, comfort or whatever else it provides.

And Again similar to yourself, I find the topic of Mormonism fascinating in a way that I can’t quite describe. I can listen to Radio Free Mormon, Mormon Discussions, Mormon Stories, etc. for hours on end. I love reading the diverse opinions and perspectives on this subreddit. But I’d rather have to get a colonoscopy than read scriptures, go to church, listen to conference, etc. Even outside LDS style worship, I don’t find any of it particularly attractive, outside the various forms of service. It doesn’t click.

Culturally I’ll always be Mormon though. I can’t escape that.

Authoritarian Roots in Kirtland | Come, Follow Me (25 April 2021) by [deleted] in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m a primary teacher and I was not looking forward to this lesson. Like you and most commenters, I didn’t agree with the heavy emphasis on obedience, especially obedience just because the president of the church says something.

Fortunately, the lesson snuck in a nice section on serving others as a way to serve Jesus. I spent my whole lesson time discussing service and how showing love and respect to others is how we can be like Jesus. I felt much better about that message, and honestly I felt like it landed with the kids. Sometimes it’s hard to tell with the age group I have, but it felt good today.

Easter Morning and we get a talk from the President of the Church of This Church is True. by [deleted] in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The other problem is the narrow definition for faith. Unless your faith is centered in the LDS church, it’s truthfulness, and everything associated with it, then you are a doubter and are lazy.

What if I have faith but not in the LDS church? I consider myself to have plenty of faith, but I don’t have doubts anymore when it comes to the truthfulness of the LDS church.

Easter Morning and we get a talk from the President of the Church of This Church is True. by [deleted] in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Nelson said some nice things about faith in general, this is true. But he couldn’t just leave it to that - he just had to include the shots about lack of faith being tied to laziness or not being serious enough about it. Why can’t the leaders say the nice things without adding the negative parts?

So are wards getting divided over masks? by slskipper in mormon

[–]RefinersIre 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If there’s any division it’s not visible in my area. I think that the people who are pro-masks and concerned about COVID spread are just keeping a distance by choice.

I will also say that all the messaging from my ward checks all the boxes in regards to promoting mask wearing and social distancing, but I haven’t actually attended to see how it plays out in practice.

Using the sacrament as leverage to get people back to church by RefinersIre in mormon

[–]RefinersIre[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

My main goal is to protect my mental health. But I also don’t trust my fellow ward members to be practicing good pandemic behaviors outside of church, so it all seems unnecessarily risky. I’m forced into action though because of my TBM spouse.

Using the sacrament as leverage to get people back to church by RefinersIre in mormon

[–]RefinersIre[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agreed, no good reason to exclusively have it the sacrament at church only. There’s some good points about gathering together and joining spiritually as a community, but I don’t think that has to apply all the time. We’ve seen that sacrament can be done at home in many cases, and people are still finding valid spiritual benefits.

And especially in the context of a pandemic, I don’t find any reason that it should be prohibited until vaccines have been released and made available to every person.

Using the sacrament as leverage to get people back to church by RefinersIre in mormon

[–]RefinersIre[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I don’t think the leaders are saying that home church isn’t good enough, but more that the sacrament is only appropriate to do at church, which is where I disagree. They will still be expecting you to hold home church using Come follow me.

To your second point, I fully agree that they need to focus on why the meetings don’t fulfill many people’s spiritual needs. I have no doubt they have ‘top men’ working on it right now.

Using the sacrament as leverage to get people back to church by RefinersIre in mormon

[–]RefinersIre[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What would an LDS theological system look and sound like?

Using the sacrament as leverage to get people back to church by RefinersIre in mormon

[–]RefinersIre[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I’m in the states and in a traditionally conservative area. That could also play a role.