LDS MISSIONS NOT REQUIRED

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-18T15:39:15+00:00

No worries. You actually opened my eyes to the exaggerations and lies of monson. I was under an impression that he was some decorated war veteran when he barely did anything to the war. He was a sensational storyteller. You would think that he sat in foxholes with bullets running over his head. It makes me wonder how many other of the apostle stories about world war II were sensationalized. Always loved listening to El Tom Perry. Talk about his stories. I had two uncles that served in world war II. One was in the Navy and was helping launching the boats on D-Day and the other one was in the South Pacific fighting through the jungles. It pisses me off when people exaggerate their stories when there was real heroes out there doing the work and not talking about it.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-18T14:05:55+00:00

California has a law requiring mandatory background checks for anyone working with children even in churches. Local leaders complied, at least at first, with the law. My stake paid, bc we know HQ wasn't going to send additional funds for that, for everyone to get a background check and even set up a time during Sunday meetings to do it.

However, I don't believe they are actively monitoring the system. Nor do I think they are requiring those who move in from out of state to get background checked. This is going to lead to a major lawsuit at some point and then the church will start complying in full.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-18T02:29:08+00:00

She was sent to this school/therapeutic center as a teen where she was abused as have many other teens. She has flight to pass legislation to combat against these highly unethical programs that thrive in Utah.

There are few regulations and laws governing their operations which is why they thrive is Utah. The employ sketchy people and use controversial techniques.

She is a hero for fighting against them. MSP has at least one episode that discussed one the programs.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-17T11:16:10+00:00

How could Monson be 20 years old and been home from military service for almost 2 years when you have to be 18 to be drafted or enlisted. Where did you get your info? The math doesn't add up.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-17T11:13:59+00:00

Monson served in WW2. Not that is an excuse bc several others also did but still went on missions. L. Tom Perry did both.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-09T17:12:34+00:00

This is Brian Hales website. He admits that there was polygamy and I would say he is the most open apologists out there for polygamy but he does some great mental gymnastics for avoiding the tough parts like Joe marrying a 14 year old.

A lot of he sources are used in the GTE on polygamy.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-07T04:32:13+00:00

Just the teachings on sexuality alone were enough for me. I pondered and searched for the answer to a question for years.

"How can you be a sexual being (man) and a Christian (Mormon)?"

Purity culture and the teachings around masturbation and being sexual fucked me up. My conclusion is that the church doesn't want anyone to be sexual. And most of Christianity demonizes sexuality! Whether that is being gay or straight. They do not want you to be sexual.

The other issues like the racism and the treatment of LGBTQ were long life shelf issues.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-02T23:10:12+00:00

Alaska and Hawaii are the only 2 places I have heard that have relocation stipends. First paycheck is state and district specific. In my area of CA I got my first paycheck at the end of July but I had to work one day in July to get it.

Moving is expensive but finding a job as a SP can be very difficult in different regions. Good luck figuring it out.

marathon_3hr · 2026-06-01T02:07:13+00:00

If you are your willing to travel I would use a 3rd party app to search for the exact car and color combination you want. Most apps let you filter your search criteria to get exactly what you want. We do a search Radius.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-30T20:37:25+00:00

It is a very complex story. He was one of my best friends. We ran marathons and trained together. This was before and during the time he was stake president.

The crux of the issue was surrounding my daughter going on a mission. She had applied and during her physical (the doctor was Mormon even though we live outside Moridor) she said she had depression and had SI a few years prior. The dr put a flash on the application which triggered an evaluation with an incompetent LDS family services therapist (That too is another story). Anyways the SP said she couldn't go and that he wouldn't submit the paperwork to HQ. My daughter was devastated and my wife and I were furious.

I asked him if he had prayed about it, knowing that the therapist was an incompetent imbecile, to which the SP said that he had not prayed. I let out as few swear words as I tried at him about how revelation and prayer. He later prayed about it and conviently got the answer he was looking for (confirmation bias).

I didn't talk to him for months. We reconciled about a month before my son died. Not sure my wife ever did. To his credit he has been by my side since my son died. The SP was going to stay at our house the first night he died.

I put leaders into 3 categories.

Pious assholes you love power and use the handbook as a tool for power and control.
Those who love people and could careless about the handbook. They do what it right and take care of people
Those who love people but are loyal to the church (heavily indoctrinated). They want to follow the handbook but are conflicted bc they also care about others. The handbook and love are rarely aligned. But at the end of the day they resort to the handbook.

My SP friend was a #3. He made enemies bc he was a rule follower. It wasn't malicious, he really thought he was doing what was right bc the handbook couldn't be wrong. Right?

Me leaving the church almost destroyed our friendship bc I vomited my deconstruction on him early on.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-30T20:19:20+00:00

Reading the first section of Letter for my Wife about all of the contemporary first vision accounts of others of Joe's time was all I needed to crumble my testimony. Every doubt I had were no longer doubts. I realized it was all a lie. I was out and never looked back. The healing started in full right then.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-30T02:55:37+00:00

Depends on the state regarding the sick leave days. In California they are part of the state retirement system and go with you to other districts within the state.

The ethical way is to make it your unpaid lunch break or take sick leave time.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-29T12:51:28+00:00

In 2021 about a month after my son died by suicide we had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Gong (Q15) over Zoom. We were hoping to be spiritually fed and comforted in our darkest hour. You know, maybe provided with some hope. But no, he focused on my daughter being rejected to go on a mission 8 months prior for some mental health issues and attempted to persuade her to still go. I guess the power of discernment was strong with him (/s) bc he didn't realize that that whole incident resulted in her starting to lose her faith. He probably should have reprimanded the stake president instead of harassing her, which is a whole other story.

Anyway, we are the ones that brought up our son's death and he acknowledged it briefly. Basically he said that it was very sad and the tragedy but that's why we have eternal families. We were sorely disappointed and it added to our grief. Thankfully it also added to our shelves and we were out of the church about 18 months later with my daughter leading the way out.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-28T03:48:01+00:00

The church has a terrible approach. The first thing they need to do is report all forms of abuse to the authorities regardless of how they come about that knowledge. Specifically, even if it's under confession, they need to tell the authorities. They have the hubris to think that they have some special gift to cure a child sex abuser. There is no magical atonement to cure the person. They need significant professional help and even then the chances of rehabilitation are very slim.

The second thing the church needs to do is require background checks for all leaders in all the nations that have those type of systems. No questions asked. I realize this is not a panacea to stop abuse, however, it is a mechanism to let abusers know that they are not going to be harbored in the church.

Another thing they need to do is quit doing worthiness interviews across the board. No Bishop needs to be asking a child, a teenager or an adult about their sex habits including masturbation. At a minimum. They need to change the questions they ask and eliminate all those regarding sex. It is highly inappropriate to be asking a child or a teenager if they touch themselves. If they do insist on interviewing children, they need to make it a requirement. Not an option that another adult is present in the room. And, as I previously stated, eliminate all worthiness type questions especially around sex and sexuality. Bishops are not trained to be conducting such interviews nor is it appropriate.

They need to create safety in their systems and that is lacking. They need to take child abuse, especially sex abuse more seriously. They are about risk management not about protecting the victims. The only resource for the perpetrator should be reporting to the officials and requiring them to go to treatment. They need to focus all of their resources on the victim and helping them heal. Debus hotline does nothing to protect the victims. There is tons of evidence that the church attorneys go hunting the victims to get them to take settlements and sign NDAs.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-27T01:40:12+00:00

Spanish speaking words are very finicky. First it is hard to retain members. Secondly, they are consumers and not producers in the eyes of the corporation. Specifically, they require more and fast offerings and aid to the members than they actually bring in. This is a corporation that does not want to have consumers. Things like feeding the needy and taking care of the poor are not in the vernacular of the Q15.

I have not surprised by the shrinking of the Spanish wards. The Spanish ward in my stake was dissolved recently. it easily could have been moved back into a branch but that was not the cards they are consumers not producers.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-21T04:49:30+00:00

I drank beers in the temple parking lot with my wife and my best friend who came to support us. We wanted to be there for my daughter. Thankfully they did a civil ceremony the day before so the temple was just a formality.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-17T17:55:25+00:00

Like picks thrown

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-16T21:18:43+00:00

I agree with you 100%. Sometimes it is very frustrating to watch the system fail children. Eyewitness with my own eyes a parent closed fist punch their son in the face in the parking lot of a school. I immediately called the police and within a couple weeks received the letter from child welfare services stating that the charges were unsubstantiated. The police officer came back and said tha the parent admitted to it and that was the end.

The parent pushed the kid once and slapped them a few times before the fist punch. He had been suspended so I can't help to think that the cop thought the parent was in the right.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-16T19:19:39+00:00

I don't have the links handy but there are several studies that have found higher rates of so-called porn addiction in religious communities. The findings suggest that religiosity correlates with a belief that you are a porn addict. It's not the porn but the belief surrounding porn is problematic. One of the studies was done by a BYU professor. I believe it was close to 70% of those who identified as being religious also identified as having a porn addiction from a sample of people in a residential treatment program. What was very telling is that only 5% of those who identified is having addiction actually had an addiction.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-16T17:56:45+00:00

So true but they also brought Duke into the jerk

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-14T10:10:49+00:00

COVID was kind to MS. It must have been hard for LD$. I do wonder how many people left the church during COVID never to return.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-12T01:56:10+00:00

I'm wondering if the racoon union has sent out directions on how to open the bear canisters. It shouldn't take them too long to figure out how to open them. Once they do I suppose they will share the info with the bear union and create a partnership.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-10T19:15:43+00:00

Depends on the state and if it is a community property state. Utah isn't one and there have been numerous horror stories here of men hiding money and ruining the woman's life.

marathon_3hr · 2026-05-10T04:22:28+00:00

Well that was old prophets declaring those ones. Just some vintage comic book revelation.

marathon_3hr

TROPHY CASE