Chap wrote:(Clearly I am not talking about cases where religious worship is done in secret for fear of persecution, as happened sometimes in the former Soviet Union.)
Might that not be worth considering as a motivating factor for LDS to keep the Temple ceremonies sacret?
Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded.-charity 3/7/07
MASH quotes I peeked in the back [of the Bible] Frank, the Devil did it. I avoid church religiously. This isn't one of my sermons, I expect you to listen.
Chap wrote:(Clearly I am not talking about cases where religious worship is done in secret for fear of persecution, as happened sometimes in the former Soviet Union.)
Might that not be worth considering as a motivating factor for LDS to keep the Temple ceremonies sacret?
Yes indeed.
Why, just look at the wave of bitter persecution that hit the Saints when they just revealed how they felt about homosexual people getting married. If people were allowed to talk about what goes in in the Temple .... blood would run in the streets of Provo.
Wait a minute. People interested in such matters do talk about the Temple a lot. They put up pictures, and they post videos. And yet the sky does not fall. The Saints are not massacred. Hmm.
(Anybody want to answer my question about whether any other significant self-identified Christian group has anything parallel to LDS Temple sacrecy?)
Zadok: I did not have a faith crisis. I discovered that the Church was having a truth crisis. Maksutov: That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
What are the chances that this is pay-back for prop-8
SLC vs hollywood
Doubtful as this season was shot last spring and summer (I believe). Next season (if there is a season 4...I haven't heard) might be able to have some fun with the Prop 8 issue. Perhaps the argument that was made in Season 1 by Roman could be rehashed in which polygamist marriage rights are connected to gay rights, and the attempt to pigback onto gay marriage into legality.
> > > >
Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded.-charity 3/7/07
MASH quotes I peeked in the back [of the Bible] Frank, the Devil did it. I avoid church religiously. This isn't one of my sermons, I expect you to listen.
Aargh, I finally broke and read these fantastic reviews, after the TV guide photo leak.
The series won't make it downunder for MONTHS. but at least it will be on a public TV channel. Which is a bit odd - it is cable in the US but on National telly in NZ. Although pretty much anything goes in the late (after 10:30pm) slots.
The series has been very popular, but completely mystifying to the average audience over here. TV reviews have been good, highlighting the opportunity to peek in on the lives of more crazy americans. We had ads on the sides and backs of Wellington (capital city) buses for the last two seasons. Which probably induced a massive collective cringe by Wellington Mormons. I can't wait for this season to get here. I spend most of an episode explaining stuff to dh, then fielding calls from friends who can't believe this actually goes on somewhere in the world.
Polygamy may be one of the last taboos over here, we have already grown accustomed to gay (too many to count) and transsexual (the fantastic Georgina) members of parliament, we have no problems with atheists as prime-minister (our previous two PMs, one from each main party were women) or Govenor General, Speaker of the House, or Attorney General (recently all female as has been the head of our largest corporation). We have senior army officers who are single mothers or gay or whathaveyou. But polygamists! By Crickey, that is just not right!
Now that I have peeked at the review, i will have to keep updated! excellent thread!
Danna wrote:Polygamy may be one of the last taboos over here...
And I wonder if it polygamy's practice by Muslims doesn't have something to do with it. I currently am taking a course called Public Image of the MIddle East (taught by a fairly famous or infamous professor depending on your viewpoint I guess) and it's interesting how much the issue of polygamy is used to blacken Muslims as an exotic/unnatural behavior. The idea (held by many Christians) of Muslims as Infidels meant that their exotic practices must have been wrong too. Ergo polygamy=wrong.
Starting with the Greek Revolution in the 1840s through WWI there were several cycles of negative media material about Middle Easterners (Turks specifically, who being on the doorstep of Europe in the Balkans were especially seen as a threat) much of which focused on the issues of sex and through that polygamist behavior (besides other stereotypes like violence, laziness) all of which was of course tied to Islam as well to prove the the Muslims were wrong. Anyways...
I wonder how much that anti-muslim stuff fed anti-mormon stuff back in the 19th century, because here you have a group (Mormons) who are claiming Christianity and yet are practicing the "exotic" relationship style of polygamy practiced by those "evil" Muslims right in God's Country. I wonder about that. Probably already has been some scholarship on the issue but I haven't looked due to lack of time.
Now that I have peeked at the review, i will have to keep updated! excellent thread!
Thanks.
Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded.-charity 3/7/07
MASH quotes I peeked in the back [of the Bible] Frank, the Devil did it. I avoid church religiously. This isn't one of my sermons, I expect you to listen.
Last week we saw Kathy (Joey's soon to be second wife) stab a pig (and a polygamist extra) and get her neck broken for her trouble. This week, the funeral. To the points:
1) As stated, the overall plot of this episode was based around Kathy's funeral. As you can expect, she was buried. In the ground. Ho hum. There was more important things afoot.
2) Bill's war with his brother-in-law continued unabated. Frankly I think we should just lock them in the Dome of Devastation and give them pointy objects at this point. They butted heads over the Woodruff document (that proved polygamy wasn't originally going to be stopped) and the casino (brother in law [whose name I don't know apparently!] once again is getting the casino slowed down). Needless to say it's a big mess. I thought that Barb's sister was going to be the major conflict, but as everyone knows behind every snippy woman there is a social climbing man looking to buy historical documents to protect his church.
3) The couple (Barb's sister and brother in law) must appear to familiar to some LDS who see people who act as if the Church is a career, moving around for different positions as they are called to "service". Making a career out of the Church does appear plausible right? The sister also had a weird trip to meet her Bishop (who called her "sister") to discuss her sister the polygamist. Next week Barb will probably get a visit from the Church. This quick scene probably sending chills down the spines of many an exmormon. Stay tuned on that issue.
4) Anyway, the real storyline this episode was Nicki. Her chickens came home to roost. First she told Ray (the DA guy who was prosecuting Roman) that she was done with her other guy, so Ray, poor schmuck, had the gall to try and date her. Silly Ray, you're dealing with Nicolette Grant. Nothing is at it seems. She's got a BS in BS and a Masters in Liberal Interpretation of the Truth. You've been told a bigger fib than those stories your grandpa used to tell you on the front porch after he'd had his third cup of "tea". So Ray like brings her flowers and well...he arrives at Margene's house. Needless to say Nicki finally has to drop the truth and Ray goes a bit well bonkers, not only at the realization that the daughter of Roman Grant was holding his legal notes, but that he was dating the wife of the guy who was trying to get him to put his girlfriends' father in prison for killing the sister in law of the girl he was dating. Wow. I'm surprised his head didn't explode. So basically Nicki was humiliated in front of her entire family as this was all outed right there on the street. Nicki is facing criminal charges for a slew of things, and Ray articulates an interesting thing we tend to forget as we watch Big Love, polygamy is still illegal. Nice. Ray is one of my favorite characters.
5) Nicki decided to stay on the compound for a while after the funeral, seeing as she was caught cheating on her husband with the guy who was trying to help her husband put her father away for crimes against humanity (or something like that.). Man without a program it's hard to keep all the alliances and relationships in perspective. You piss off one person and you piss off half of your own family. Nicki was thrown out of Joey's house and ended up staying with...Albie. I see an alliance forming. Oh yeah.
6) Joey was pissed the whole episode. He's going to end up killing someone. He broke into Adeleen's (Roman's wife) room and threatened her. For a moment I thought he would kill her, a little quid pro quo, but he didn't. I do think he would rip Roman in half if he had the chance. Stay tuned.
7) Back to Bill, who in order to blackmail his brother in law (I really need to learn that guy's name) had some black ops done by some hoodlums to steal the certificate of authenticity that proves the Woodruff letter exists. Not exactly the letter, but could be decent leverage. Those hoodlums then turned around and told the Greens' (who last week helped in the killing of Kathy) who in turn tried to strong arm the document from Bill. Luckily Don showed up to scare them away. He also had taken the document to try to get his ex wives to come back to him. They didn't and laughed at him. He's such a loser.
8) What else, Barb didn't do much except talk to Sarah who didn't do much except make a cake and talk to Barb. Basically they were shocked at Nicki's behavior. Marg started a jewelry business. Which doesn't make up for the no nudity issue. Once again. Bleh.
9) That's about it. Another really good episode. The Ray-Nicki confrontation scene was excellent, and the bit actors (Joey, Wanda, the Greens) really do excellent support work. Really good ensemble cast. Next week...well apparently they will be Temple bound.
Sorry if I missed anything, writing this from memory in twenty minutes means I probably left something out.
Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded.-charity 3/7/07
MASH quotes I peeked in the back [of the Bible] Frank, the Devil did it. I avoid church religiously. This isn't one of my sermons, I expect you to listen.
B23 wrote:...Back to Bill, who in order to blackmail his brother in law (I really need to learn that guy's name)...
I think his name is Tom. Not positive though. The last two episodes have really redeemed this season for me. I'm really interested in the next one because of the "temple ceremony controversy". I also want Teenie to bring back some of those Playpen magazines. And I want Don to get lost on the Indian reservations permanently. His hair hurts me.
PS: Are you watching Eastbound and Down? It's fetching* hilarious.
