The authoritarian ideology of Russell Nelson

[Moksha]

The Policy of Exclusion. It was from the revelation that the children of same-sex marriages could not be members of the Church unless they reached the age of eighteen, formally renounced their parents, and obtained special permission from the Quorum of the Twelve.

The title was a bit confusing since it started as a policy, but Elder Russell Nelson was giving a youth talk in Hawaii and wanted to embellish what he was saying, so he told the audience that the policy was a revelation from God to President Thomas S. Monson. Elder Nelson knew that both a revelation from God and surviving a fiery commercial flight could hold an audience's rapt attention.

The policy was due to the white-hot hatred the Brethren felt when the Obergefell v. Hodges decision was announced by the Supreme Court. It was the Brethren's way of lashing out at those Gays and their children. Knowing how bad the PR optics were for this policy, the apologetics immediately went into action with the explanation that being excluded from membership would spare the children all the ugly and uncouth things the Mormons would say about their parents and themselves.

Four years later, the Church reversed the policy with no mention that it had been elevated to a revelation from God. I suspect they wanted everyone to forget about President Nelson's tall tale embellishment.

[Wonhyo]

The Policy of Exclusion. It was from the revelation that the children of same-sex marriages could not be members of the Church unless they reached the age of eighteen, formally renounced their parents, and obtained special permission from the Quorum of the Twelve.

The title was a bit confusing since it started as a policy, but Elder Russell Nelson was giving a youth talk in Hawaii and wanted to embellish what he was saying, so he told the audience that the policy was a revelation from God to President Thomas S. Monson. Elder Nelson knew that both a revelation from God and surviving a fiery commercial flight could hold an audience's rapt attention.

The policy was due to the white-hot hatred the Brethren felt when the Obergefell v. Hodges decision was announced by the Supreme Court. It was the Brethren's way of lashing out at those Gays and their children. Knowing how bad the PR optics were for this policy, the apologetics immediately went into action with the explanation that being excluded from membership would spare the children all the ugly and uncouth things the Mormons would say about their parents and themselves.

Four years later, the Church reversed the policy with no mention that it had been elevated to a revelation from God. I suspect they wanted everyone to forget about President Nelson's tall tale embellishment.

I remember the 2015 policy-revelation very well. Leaders of the church had issued veiled threats from the pulpit about calamities that would happen if gay marriage were legalized.

Then, in November 2015, the policy restricting baptism for the children of a parent who'd ever been in a gay relationship came about. The policy was so vaguely and badly written that ecclesiastical abuse in its application by strident local leaders was inevitable.

If I recall correctly, Russell Nelson's characterizing of the new policy as a revelation came on the heels of criticism and murmuring about the policy from rank and file members. What better way to quiet the internal criticism than to remind members that the policy came from the mind and will of God, or in other words, that it was a revelation.

These men speak for God, the unchanging author of an unchanging set of gospel doctrines. Yet God does change, he changes often according to the shifting, evolving, and sometimes devolving doctrines the church promotes. "New light", they call it in the Jehovah's Witnesses organization...

[Gabriel]

I don't know. I actually think that Nelson's previous prophecies had more pizzazz.

The following is from p. 299 of the chapter titled Concluding Thoughts from Nelson's 1979 campaign autobiography:

Divine law tells us to prepare for that which is to come. Today the world is ripening in iniquity that will destroy civilization as we now know it. Holocausts surely shall come. ‘The anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth.... And the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither... [his] prophets and apostles,
shall be cut off from among the people.” (D&C 1:13-14.)

Source:
From Heart to Heart

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[Moksha]

Leaders of the church had issued veiled threats from the pulpit about calamities that would happen if gay marriage were legalized.

It was like the Church's response to the ballot measure of adding fluoride to the Utah drinking water so the children would have strong teeth without cavities. The Church responded that such a health measure would turn Utahans into godless communists. Astonishingly, the voters believed this utter nonsense. The Church has experienced great success with its lies over the years.