Thursday, December 02, 2010

Choice

The great thing about not being a Mormon (or, one must suppose, of any religious cult) is that one has the freedom to choose what one does.

Let's take two example.

Mr Jones decides that he will have a carnal relationship with his girlfriend.

That is the business of Mr Jones and his girlfriend. Nobody else. Nobody else is involved.

However, if Brother Jones decided that he will have a carnal relationship with his girlfriend, oh dear! Who are involved here?

There's Brother Jones and his girlfriend. The Elders Qurom President, the Bishop, plus his two councillors, the two Home Teachers of Brother Jones, and if she is from a different Ward, her Bishop and his two councillors, the girlfriend's Home Teachers, her Visiting Teachers, perhaps, then there is the Stake President and his two councillors. All will, in one way or another, become involved in investigating the fact that two adults decided to become involved in a carnal relationship, with perhaps disfellowship and/or excommunication as the end result. Then there's the PEC and the Ward Council Meeting, with all of the people who attend those meetings.

Crazy way to treat two adults, isn't it?

6 comments:

AlexisAR said...

Any way you view it, if you're LDS, there are many others besides just you and your significant other in your bed and in your business in general. Even if it were the only reason not to be LDS, by itself it would be sufficient reason.

Weston Krogstadt said...

Never fear, the Screaming Nephite is here!

pollypinks said...

The relationship problem with two people is only a problem if we choose to either join, remain while "fencing it", or find another legalistic religion. Mormons and ex's ( I left 24 years ago), only know how to live and judge and be judged by some legalistic system that either keeps us in or shuts us out. If you want to believe in God, it ain't necessary to jump through ridiculous hoops to do it. I stayed too long, long enough for my daughter to go to camp one summer and be the victim of hideous and intense bullying. My son could not pass the sacrament because I stopped making him get his hair cut. Ponytail by 14. I finally just said to hell with this and opted out, but spent many years searching as I knew I believed in God. At this point, nobody is more liberal than I, I do believe in God, and I don't believe anyone needs saving from anything.

Anonymous said...

Yuck. So true.

AlexisAR said...

I agree with what everyone has written. Weston, can you draw? The screaming Nephite sounds like a great cartoon or comic book superhero.

Unknown said...

I had my name removed rather than have myself get ex-communicated for things just like this. It's no one else's business.

I even started telling friends the weird stories about my missionary days, and started a blog at http://sorryaboutthatjapan.wordpress.com

Kinda felt like I owe Japanese people an apology