An awesome weekend to be sure! It concluded with the largest gathering of Urban Koda followers in history, and now begins the task on my part to write a post worthy of the event!
I also got to participate in the Priesthood Session Round up of General Conference on Mormon Expression...
I'll blog more about my experience there in the future, but one talk stood out above the rest - well aside from Monson's "evil" voice every time he referred to Satan!!
The one guy talked about Laziness and Rebellion, and he said those words over and over and over again.
It struck a chord with me, because one of the primary charges leveled against me early on in my disaffection was that it was based purely on the fact that I am a rebellious person.
It's not.
It's also not because I've had douche bags for leaders at times, or because I was offended.
It's not because I wanted to sin either.
In simple terms...
I left Mormonism because I found the movement increasingly incompatible with my desire to maintain personal integrity.
Integrity was the reason I left.
Of course, that may come as a shock to some of the sheeple who were told that by virtue of my secular tendencies, that I have no morals.
But it is what it is.
Good luck convincing them of that as well because many of them only believe what the "leaders" tell them in that people leave because they got offended, are trying to justify sin, are just taking advantage of the welfare program, etc. while the church itself or people involved are never held responsible.
ReplyDeleteThese days I only still go because it's really the only time and place I can hang out and chat with some of my friends, though lately I've only been attending sacrament meeting. When asked why I simply tell people that the other two meetings aren't meeting my spiritual needs and I'm often able to learn far more through independent study in the chapel or someplace quiet (which is actually possible to have in my single's ward due to lack of small children).
And in terms of conference itself, I enjoyed the few talks about, you know, the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it's touched the lives of people who have wanted to do good or search for peace. The ones I hated were the ones that had more references to "follow the prophet" or "the church" than the Savior! Those along with the "fire and brimstone" session that was Sunday afternoon's really killed the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how we feel the need to justify our lack of attendance to others, and yet, as you point out, there really is no expectation that they'll actually believe our reasons.
ReplyDeleteI actually kind of enjoyed the Priesthood Session, but that was the only one I actually participated in, and my enjoyment was likely due purely to the fact that I needed to know what happened to participate in the podcast.
From what I've heard of the other sessions though, perhaps it's best I missed them.
Quentin Cook and Boyd "Fudge" Packer aren't in my good books right now, based on the stuff I've been reading.
Monson's "Satan's gonna get you talk" from Priesthood should probably have bugged me too, but I'm still giggling about the voice!
If I remember correctly, Cook was the one who simply parroted out the false "14 Fundamentals of Following the Prophet" for the second time that day (Rock's blog has a new post about that) and what bothered me about Packer's talk is how apparently the priesthood suddenly took over the Atonement.
ReplyDelete"I left Mormonism because I found the movement increasingly incompatible with my desire to maintain personal integrity."
ReplyDeleteMay I please, oh please, plagiarize this comment....LOVED IT....and how true!
I didn't watch one second of conference and neither did my wife or more importantly, my kids. It was a great conference weekend! Sorry I missed the after party.
The part about Cook that really got up my nose was his assertion that secularists have no morals.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea.
I'm now on a quest for easy women and cheap drugs... Although perhaps I could go for the trifecta and try to track down some easy men as well. And that way I could piss Packer off as well.
Packer's talk, was just plain vile in my mind.
He has blood on his hands - enough said.
And what was with all the references back to Benson? They rehashed his pride talk in Priesthood, although I much preferred Uchtdorf's take on it - up until he suggested that we should all become mindless tools in the hand of god.
And of course the gay community isn't happy with Packer's talk. The final quote in this article says it well: http://is.gd/fJ3WF
ReplyDeleteAnd rather than triple post, I just found out I was wrong and Cook was not the one who parroted the "14 Fundamentals," (as he spoke on Sunday, both talks that parroted it were on Saturday).
As a whole, I felt the entire Sunday afternoon session was completely pointless because I didn't feel uplifted at all by any of the messages; the majority of which were "fire and brimstone" talks anyway.
Montello, use it as you will! I think partial credit goes to Robert though.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the party... We're going to plan another social get together in the very near future.
Looks like our responses are overlapping.
ReplyDeleteI always found it interesting how the scriptures define the Lord's followers as "instruments" while those on the opposite side are the "tools." I realized this a few years ago in that an instrument is something that, when given proper practice, maintenance, fine-tuning and care will produce beautiful results and be remembered fondly long after its life is over. A tool is something meant to be whacked, hacked, smacked, rusted, and thrown away when it's no longer useful.
Forget about becoming tools for Satan, people need to be aware of not becoming tools for the church (which is NOT the same as being an instrument in the hands of the Lord).
Either I'm on fire this morning or I'm just being hasty in posting before my thoughts are complete.
ReplyDelete"He has blood on his hands - enough said."
That statement reminds me of a group of members who Packer led a charge in ex-communicating for the "sin" of daring to ask questions in the early 90s (again, Rock blogged about this over at his) and one member of that group asked the people to compare his body count to Packer's.
Found it: http://equalitysblog.typepad.com/equality_time/2007/11/mormon-stories-.html
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with analogies involving tools and instruments, is that neither article has the ability to think for itself.
ReplyDeleteIf we are indeed the offspring of God, I just think our potential is so much greater than merely to be used for another purpose.
And thanks for the links... I'll have to watch/listen to those!