Families can be together lforever... well, maybe

[_Joseph]

Years back when younger our family was transferred to Utah. In preparation my mother found a Mormon church and called - missionaries came over and all were baptized but my father. Some pressure to convert but he never did.
He supported us in the church callings and even paid for my mission as my small savings didn't nearly cover it. At the time of the mission he had retired from the Navy and owned a small franchise store in small-town Utah. With all us kids being in the Ward we did OK though some would not shop there because he was "not one of us". We felt it at school as well where I was questioned about it before being asked to be Seminary President. Was given the 'special assignment' to convert and baptize him. Never got it done.

After the mission it was BYU and marriage and then BYU and grad school. The sad part of the marriage was the fact both parents could not attend the wedding in the Temple. Mother was a faithful member but the Bishop would not give her a recommend because my dad would not allow tithing on his Navy retirement pay. The Bishop would not accept tithing on the money made from the store because they sold beer and tobacco products. "evil and tainted' money was his phrase. A mean spirited individual as I look back now and supported in this by the Stake President. An even worse individual(looking back-with more information now) The SP was one who gossiped a lot and would tell his fellow workers what was 'confessed' to him. Didn't know it at the time, only found out later from co-workers of his when we were doing some jobs together while visiting the family.

Anyhow, the beer and tobacco sales were part of the franchise deal. Finally, to be able to attend he weddings of two of my sisters my mother talked my dad into dropping the beer & tobacco sales(had to quit the franchise store and go it alone), had to mortgage the house and borrow almost $8,000 and pay "back tithing" - new Bishop) and she was able to attend their weddings. My father took another job as without the beer and tobacco sales in this small Mormon community - the store was not doing well. Some still would not shop there because of his not being a member, they drove 15 miles to the next town to buy all their groceries. Within two years the store closed due to declining sales and the family moved out of Utah for good.

Saddest thing is that baloney of 'families can be together forever'. It still hurts that my parents could not attend the wedding, especially my mother. She died a while back and expressed this disappointment on her deathbed to my sisters. (I was out of the country at the time and was not able to get there)

Way too much power in the hands of people who use it to try and control the lives of those 'under their stewardship'. Very little real training in The Gospel and too mucn in legalistic BS and 'protect the church'. I watched a good woman in pain because of a Bishop who was a jerk. Marriott paid tithing on pornography rentals but my mother was denied a seat at our wedding because the money came from the sale of beer and tobacco? A Mormon community of a few thousand people with a total of 7 non-mormons. Three of the seven didn't drink or smoke and the other four would not buy enough to justify having the stuff. It was the Mormons who were buying it. And the Bishop would not accept tithing because of what was sold. What an ass.

I am glad I am not part of that any longer though I do visit with some friends who are still in. Most out of Utah where the strictures from SLC aren't really bothered with too much.

[_jon]

Families together forever is nonesense.
Even in Mormondom no family will be together in the Celestial Kingdom, what a lonely place that will be.

Tithing is a nonesense.
I can understand the Church not accepting tithing from ill gotten gains such as the selling of alcohol or pornography...oh...wait a minute....<tumbleweed crosses the room>...

You have every right to be angry at a cult that forces a perfectly normal family into a dysfunctional spiral that lasts generations.