liz3564 wrote:Morley asked a question on a thread in Celestial which pertains to this topic. This was my response:
Morley wrote:Would you rather that Elder Dunn had not been exposed?
Liz wrote:Yes.
I enjoyed Elder Dunn's talks. He was one of the best speakers that the Church had.
So what if some of his stories were made up? He probably could have made quite a bit of money putting them all into a novel. Instead, he devoted his life to the Church. His messages were positive gospel messages. If he had been a preacher in any other Church, he would have likely been hailed.
Bah! Mormons are way too judgmental. And Ex-Mormons don't tend to fall too far from the tree.
I'll probably get clobbered by folks on both sides of the aisle (as usual), but this is exactly how I feel.
Who cares? Who was Elder Dunn hurting? Why did Lynn Packer feel the "need" to put together a huge presentation to Sunstone to expose him?
And, frankly, how stupid was he, if he really didn't think that, as an employee of BYU, there wouldn't be some form of retaliation? Good grief!(as my friend, Harmony, so often says) Did he not know what side his bread is buttered on? I mean, really....if you are going to agree to work for BYU, then you better be prepared to play their game or reap the consequences.
Dunn DID make a lot of money as a paid speaker and LDS author. Being a general authority is a great opportunity to make a lot of money on the side, in addition to the salary from the church.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
Buffalo wrote:Dunn DID make a lot of money as a paid speaker and LDS author. Being a general authority is a great opportunity to make a lot of money on the side, in addition to the salary from the church.
Is this just speculation, or do you know how much he made?
Granted, I'm not denying that he lived a comfortable life, and I'm sure he profited from his self-help books. I'm not going to deny that he might have been paid for some of his speaking engagements, but I don't believe that he was paid for the majority of them. He spoke to many ward, stake, and regional conferences like any other GA, and was compensated for travel, like they all are.
Of course, I really have no problem with the GA's getting paid by the Church, period.
Buffalo wrote:Dunn DID make a lot of money as a paid speaker and LDS author. Being a general authority is a great opportunity to make a lot of money on the side, in addition to the salary from the church.
Is this just speculation, or do you know how much he made?
Granted, I'm not denying that he lived a comfortable life, and I'm sure he profited from his self-help books. I'm not going to deny that he might have been paid for some of his speaking engagements, but I don't believe that he was paid for the majority of them. He spoke to many ward, stake, and regional conferences like any other GA, and was compensated for travel, like they all are.
Of course, I really have no problem with the GA's getting paid by the Church, period.
Obviously I don't have his tax returns. But he wrote an awful lot of church books and was a very popular paid speaker, even after the scandal.
Cashing in on the fame you get by being a general authority is, of course, not limited to just Dunn.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
liz3564 wrote: Of course, I really have no problem with the GA's getting paid by the Church, period.
Don't you think that's a bit unfair to local leaders though, liz?
Heck, I think that local leaders should be paid, too...and Bishops should be at the top of the line. They clock in more hours than any CEO ever thought about.
If you really believe that it is okay for Church leaders to tell tall tales, whether they be false assertions about which these leaders are too lazy or ignorant to learn the facts, or lies that they make up on the spot, then I would think you certainly should expect to get "clobbered".
What a thing to say. Sorry to say it, but in my experience the attitude you express does reflect that of many Mormons when it comes to other Mormons, and it does not reflect well on them or the LDS Church.
When one thinks it is okay to lie to the public, and especially when one says publicly that those who do so should be given a pass because they are doing it for a good cause, that individual is adding confirmation, in no uncertain terms, to the claim that "Lying for the Lord" is alive and well in Mormonism.
Well done.
David Hume: "---Mistakes in philosophy are merely ridiculous, those in religion are dangerous."
DrW: "Mistakes in science are learning opportunities and are eventually corrected."
If you really believe that it is okay for Church leaders to tell tall tales, whether they be false assertions about which these leaders are too lazy or ignorant to learn the facts, or lies that they make up on the spot, then I would think you certainly should expect to get "clobbered".
What a thing to say. Sorry to say it, but in my experience the attitude you express does reflect that of many Mormons when it comes to other Mormons, and it does not reflect well on them or the LDS Church.
When one thinks it is okay to lie to the public, and especially when one says publicly that those who do so should be given a pass because they are doing it for a good cause, that individual is adding confirmation, in no uncertain terms, to the claim that "Lying for the Lord" is alive and well in Mormonism.
Well done.
Why, thank you.
I don't see the harm in someone telling a faith-promoting religious story. It would be one thing if Elder Dunn's story-telling was malicious, but it was not. His stories were told with good intent.
Intent outweighs a lot of things for me. And, considering that we are judged based on what is in our hearts, I would say intent matters a lot to the Lord, too.
Do I expect you to understand where I'm coming from? No.
