My OPEN LETTER OF SUGGESTIONS to the Brethren
Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 6:05 am
Years ago I sent a Open Letter to The Brethren, offering them a few suggestions, such as:
1. Stop saying that the Church is fastest growing religion on Earth. It never was anywhere near that.
2. The Book of Mormon was not written to convince people that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It
was written to convince people that Jesus was the Christ, and that they would go to Hell unless
they were "born again". Start telling Mormons they needed to be "born again" in order to be
a son or daughter of God, as the Book of Mormon itself teaches.
3. Stop sending missionaries in North America on fruitless missions to Wards. Instead, have missions
in North America concentrate on university and college students. Provide non-smoking and non-alcohol dance clubs near all major universities in North America, and place large advertisements asking people who don't smoke or drink to attend them. These people must get a "dance card" in order to dance at these clubs; which means they must fill out an application with their name and mailing address. Compile the lists and give them to the missionaries. Tracting is a waste of time. Do direct mailings to university students, offering free copies of Church films on DVD. Have missionaries deliver them.
4. Stop insisting that Mormons accept that Adam was the first man, and Eve was made out of a rib!
Spencer W. Kimball, as "Living Prophet" wrote "The rib story is, of course, figurative". Present Adam not
as the first man, but the first Adamite (as Elder James Talmage did in General Conference, and the Church published his talk, "The Earth and Man", as an official Church pamphlet).
5. Stop insisting that evolution is false and a lie of the devil. Evolution is true, but Darwinism is false. Distinguish between the two. The Cosmos being made in six days refers to the spiritual cosmos, not the physical cosmos.
6. Stop telling young Mormon girls that they are "daughters of God" and "pure" just as they are! They are growing up believing they ARE Pure and sinless, no matter how sinful they may become. Start teaching all Mormon youth that they must be born again to become the sons and daughters of God, as the Book of Mormon teaches.
7. Tell the Membership in no uncertainly terms that "The Brethren are not infallible, never have been, and never will be". Otherwise, the membership will keep assuming you are infallible, and when they discover you are not, they fall away.
8. Issue a Public Apology for the Curse of Cain Doctrine. STOP denying the Church taught it, and admit the Church did teach it, as official doctrine, for 130 years. Admit it was a "mistake".
9. Provide for African-American Mormons their own Wards and Branches, with their own "lively" style of worship and Gospel music. You are NOT doing them any "favors" by insisting they worship with white Mormons. They have their own culture. The inactivity rate of African-American Mormons is about 97%, and you blame THEM for that. Give them their own separate Wards and Branches, and even Stakes, and most of them will remain active. People are NOT comfortable being the minority in a different culture.
10. STOP the "hero worship" of Joseph Smith. Stop presenting him as this hero who could do no wrong. Present him as a sinner as all of us, but Jesus.
11. Admit that Brigham Young taught Adam-God and other false doctrines. Admit he was wrong.
12. STOP insisting that the Book of Mormon MUST BE HISTORICAL OR FALSE AND OF THE DEVIL. The Book of Mormon simply cannot be history! The animals are wrong. The plants are wrong. All evidence is that the Nephites never existed in ancient America...anywhere. If you like, begin to present it as a "parable" like the Book of Job or the Book of Jonah. The more you insist on the Book of Mormon being history, the more problems you will have now and especially in the future.
13. START teaching that Mary was a literal virgin both before and after the conception and birth of Jesus, as the Book of Mormon teaches.
14. STOP insisting that Members cannot call themselves "Mormons" and THAT will convince other Christians that they are Christians. IT WILL NOT!!! Let members call themselves Mormons.
15. START teaching that all forms of salvation come from the grace of God, as is taught in the Book of Mormon.
16. TELL young Mormons at the age of 13 to take Spanish or other foreign languages in middle and high school, so that when it comes time for them to go on missions, they will already know how to speak a foreign language.
17. STOP insisting that investigators read and pray about The Book of Mormon. 99% or more will not do this. The Book is too hard to read! Instead, publish a book called "The Joseph Smith Story" in many languages, in large print, fully illustrated, with many questions and answers in the back, and use that for investigators to read. In non-Christian countries, the book must include the story of Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, and how the Christian church fell away, and THEN the Joseph Smith story. Otherwise, non-christians won't understand it. Give this book to investigators instead of the Book of Mormon, which they won't read (save 1 in 100 maybe). Once a person is baptized, give them a year to read The Book of Mormon. Once they do, then confirm them. But not until then. THE Book of Mormon WAS NOT WRITTEN TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT JOSEPH SMITH WAS A PROPHET...BUT TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT Jesus IS THE Christ and that we cannot be saved unless we are "born again".
18. PRINT the Book of Mormon in plain English, easy to read. The King James English is too difficult for people not raised to be accustomed to King James English.
19. REDUCE the three-hour block to two hours, and get rid of Sunday Schools except for children. On the 1st Sunday of every month, hold a Break-the-Fast. 2nd: Priesthood/relief society. 3rd: Testimony meeting. 4th: show a film (i.e. dramatized re-enactment from the Scriptures).
20. START Saturday Wards for people who work on Sunday, and also to make greater use of the Meetinghouses. With Saturday Wards, you can double the number of Wards meeting at a Meetinghouse; reducing the need to build more chapels. Tell people who worship on Saturday that Saturday will be "their" Sabbath day.
21. TRAIN and pay bishops like you do Seminary or Institute teachers. Hire retired men to become bishops, and provide for them a home and a modest living allowance. Train them for 10 weeks full-time at a Bishop Training Center. Call them to serve for 5 years. In countries where men do not retire, call such men to serve for much longer terms.
22. STOP the "Gospel of Gain teaching" (i.e. that the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to
make you a success in life---i.e. rich--as well as to exalt you). Preach against it. The Gospel of Gain always bares BAD fruit!
23. STOP the false traditions in the Church, such as offering a prayer for safety in travel. Can that be found in the Scriptures? No! Taking hats off in chapels come from Protestant churches.
24. Separate the men from the women in meetinghouses, as they are in temples.
25. TELL the sisters to STOP wearing perfume during Church on Sunday. Some of us are highly allergic to it.
26. TELL the members that wealth is NOT a sign that one has been blessed by God, and poverty is NOT a sign that one is "not living the Gospel" but that the rain falls upon the just and the unjust in equal measure, and that material wealth and prosperity is not the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but treasures in heaven are.
27. TELL the young Mormon women that when they are at dances, to say "No thank you" if they don't want to dance with a guy, and not to lie to him. Tell them not to lie in refusing a date, but to say "No thank you".
28. TELL the young men that God can see them in the dark, and that if they violate the Law of Chastity thinking they will get the Celestial Kingdom if they are loyal to the Church, and nobody finds out, they are deceiving themselves. Tell the men who use porn they are "whoremongers" that won't inherit the Celestial Kingdom. That is the only thing that may cause them to repent.
29. TELL the Members that the Gospel of Jesus Christ holds no promises of earthly wealth or material blessings, such as assured physical health and protection from tragedy and accidents, but the Gospel only promises treasures in heaven for those who live it.
30. PREPARE A BOOK to prepare Members for the Endowment Ceremony, and be detailed in all but the signs and tokens.
31. STOP using social pressure and "Make a Friend" schemes as a means to get people baptized or re-activated! Fake friendships always leads to fake testimonies that cannot stand.
32. DE-emphasize Joseph Smith in Church talks and materials, and RE-emphasize Jesus Christ.
33. Stop ordaining boys at age 12 to be deacons, and at ate 15 to be teachers! According to the D&C, the job of Deacons and Teachers and Priests is primarily to counter "gossip" in the Church. Ordain young men as Junior Deacons, but ordain mature men as Deacons, Teachers, and Priests to supervise them, and have them counter gossip as the D&C says, questioning those who gossip, and investigating those who do so. A "Bishop" is a High Priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood! Yet, he hold a Aaronic office! So too Elders may be Deacons and Teachers and Priests too. All men under 18 should be Junior Deacons and Junior Teachers and Junior Priests; under the supervision of Deacons, Teachers, and Priests. And allow Teaches (the mature men) to actually TEACH by teaching new converts and giving talks in Sacrament. Our current "teachers" don't teach! The way the Church is currently doing things regarding this, with "teachers" not teachcing, and "Deacons" not investigating gossip, is not in accordance with the Revelations in the D&C.
Those are my suggestions. Thank you.
I mailed this to the Brethren (their home addresses....those that I could find) several years ago. Why? Because, the Mormon Church is going to continue! No matter if God himself came down and said "It ain't true!" The Church WILL continue. It is too big NOT to continue. So, why not make it as liveable as possible? Daheshism teaches that we are judged solely by our "works". A follower of Sun Myung Moon, who believes he is the Messiah, will not burn in Hell forever, as the stupid Evangelicals preach. We are judged by how we "treat" others, that is all. The Mormon Church will continue. Why not make it more palatable?
1. Stop saying that the Church is fastest growing religion on Earth. It never was anywhere near that.
2. The Book of Mormon was not written to convince people that Joseph Smith was a prophet. It
was written to convince people that Jesus was the Christ, and that they would go to Hell unless
they were "born again". Start telling Mormons they needed to be "born again" in order to be
a son or daughter of God, as the Book of Mormon itself teaches.
3. Stop sending missionaries in North America on fruitless missions to Wards. Instead, have missions
in North America concentrate on university and college students. Provide non-smoking and non-alcohol dance clubs near all major universities in North America, and place large advertisements asking people who don't smoke or drink to attend them. These people must get a "dance card" in order to dance at these clubs; which means they must fill out an application with their name and mailing address. Compile the lists and give them to the missionaries. Tracting is a waste of time. Do direct mailings to university students, offering free copies of Church films on DVD. Have missionaries deliver them.
4. Stop insisting that Mormons accept that Adam was the first man, and Eve was made out of a rib!
Spencer W. Kimball, as "Living Prophet" wrote "The rib story is, of course, figurative". Present Adam not
as the first man, but the first Adamite (as Elder James Talmage did in General Conference, and the Church published his talk, "The Earth and Man", as an official Church pamphlet).
5. Stop insisting that evolution is false and a lie of the devil. Evolution is true, but Darwinism is false. Distinguish between the two. The Cosmos being made in six days refers to the spiritual cosmos, not the physical cosmos.
6. Stop telling young Mormon girls that they are "daughters of God" and "pure" just as they are! They are growing up believing they ARE Pure and sinless, no matter how sinful they may become. Start teaching all Mormon youth that they must be born again to become the sons and daughters of God, as the Book of Mormon teaches.
7. Tell the Membership in no uncertainly terms that "The Brethren are not infallible, never have been, and never will be". Otherwise, the membership will keep assuming you are infallible, and when they discover you are not, they fall away.
8. Issue a Public Apology for the Curse of Cain Doctrine. STOP denying the Church taught it, and admit the Church did teach it, as official doctrine, for 130 years. Admit it was a "mistake".
9. Provide for African-American Mormons their own Wards and Branches, with their own "lively" style of worship and Gospel music. You are NOT doing them any "favors" by insisting they worship with white Mormons. They have their own culture. The inactivity rate of African-American Mormons is about 97%, and you blame THEM for that. Give them their own separate Wards and Branches, and even Stakes, and most of them will remain active. People are NOT comfortable being the minority in a different culture.
10. STOP the "hero worship" of Joseph Smith. Stop presenting him as this hero who could do no wrong. Present him as a sinner as all of us, but Jesus.
11. Admit that Brigham Young taught Adam-God and other false doctrines. Admit he was wrong.
12. STOP insisting that the Book of Mormon MUST BE HISTORICAL OR FALSE AND OF THE DEVIL. The Book of Mormon simply cannot be history! The animals are wrong. The plants are wrong. All evidence is that the Nephites never existed in ancient America...anywhere. If you like, begin to present it as a "parable" like the Book of Job or the Book of Jonah. The more you insist on the Book of Mormon being history, the more problems you will have now and especially in the future.
13. START teaching that Mary was a literal virgin both before and after the conception and birth of Jesus, as the Book of Mormon teaches.
14. STOP insisting that Members cannot call themselves "Mormons" and THAT will convince other Christians that they are Christians. IT WILL NOT!!! Let members call themselves Mormons.
15. START teaching that all forms of salvation come from the grace of God, as is taught in the Book of Mormon.
16. TELL young Mormons at the age of 13 to take Spanish or other foreign languages in middle and high school, so that when it comes time for them to go on missions, they will already know how to speak a foreign language.
17. STOP insisting that investigators read and pray about The Book of Mormon. 99% or more will not do this. The Book is too hard to read! Instead, publish a book called "The Joseph Smith Story" in many languages, in large print, fully illustrated, with many questions and answers in the back, and use that for investigators to read. In non-Christian countries, the book must include the story of Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, and how the Christian church fell away, and THEN the Joseph Smith story. Otherwise, non-christians won't understand it. Give this book to investigators instead of the Book of Mormon, which they won't read (save 1 in 100 maybe). Once a person is baptized, give them a year to read The Book of Mormon. Once they do, then confirm them. But not until then. THE Book of Mormon WAS NOT WRITTEN TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT JOSEPH SMITH WAS A PROPHET...BUT TO CONVINCE PEOPLE THAT Jesus IS THE Christ and that we cannot be saved unless we are "born again".
18. PRINT the Book of Mormon in plain English, easy to read. The King James English is too difficult for people not raised to be accustomed to King James English.
19. REDUCE the three-hour block to two hours, and get rid of Sunday Schools except for children. On the 1st Sunday of every month, hold a Break-the-Fast. 2nd: Priesthood/relief society. 3rd: Testimony meeting. 4th: show a film (i.e. dramatized re-enactment from the Scriptures).
20. START Saturday Wards for people who work on Sunday, and also to make greater use of the Meetinghouses. With Saturday Wards, you can double the number of Wards meeting at a Meetinghouse; reducing the need to build more chapels. Tell people who worship on Saturday that Saturday will be "their" Sabbath day.
21. TRAIN and pay bishops like you do Seminary or Institute teachers. Hire retired men to become bishops, and provide for them a home and a modest living allowance. Train them for 10 weeks full-time at a Bishop Training Center. Call them to serve for 5 years. In countries where men do not retire, call such men to serve for much longer terms.
22. STOP the "Gospel of Gain teaching" (i.e. that the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to
make you a success in life---i.e. rich--as well as to exalt you). Preach against it. The Gospel of Gain always bares BAD fruit!
23. STOP the false traditions in the Church, such as offering a prayer for safety in travel. Can that be found in the Scriptures? No! Taking hats off in chapels come from Protestant churches.
24. Separate the men from the women in meetinghouses, as they are in temples.
25. TELL the sisters to STOP wearing perfume during Church on Sunday. Some of us are highly allergic to it.
26. TELL the members that wealth is NOT a sign that one has been blessed by God, and poverty is NOT a sign that one is "not living the Gospel" but that the rain falls upon the just and the unjust in equal measure, and that material wealth and prosperity is not the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but treasures in heaven are.
27. TELL the young Mormon women that when they are at dances, to say "No thank you" if they don't want to dance with a guy, and not to lie to him. Tell them not to lie in refusing a date, but to say "No thank you".
28. TELL the young men that God can see them in the dark, and that if they violate the Law of Chastity thinking they will get the Celestial Kingdom if they are loyal to the Church, and nobody finds out, they are deceiving themselves. Tell the men who use porn they are "whoremongers" that won't inherit the Celestial Kingdom. That is the only thing that may cause them to repent.
29. TELL the Members that the Gospel of Jesus Christ holds no promises of earthly wealth or material blessings, such as assured physical health and protection from tragedy and accidents, but the Gospel only promises treasures in heaven for those who live it.
30. PREPARE A BOOK to prepare Members for the Endowment Ceremony, and be detailed in all but the signs and tokens.
31. STOP using social pressure and "Make a Friend" schemes as a means to get people baptized or re-activated! Fake friendships always leads to fake testimonies that cannot stand.
32. DE-emphasize Joseph Smith in Church talks and materials, and RE-emphasize Jesus Christ.
33. Stop ordaining boys at age 12 to be deacons, and at ate 15 to be teachers! According to the D&C, the job of Deacons and Teachers and Priests is primarily to counter "gossip" in the Church. Ordain young men as Junior Deacons, but ordain mature men as Deacons, Teachers, and Priests to supervise them, and have them counter gossip as the D&C says, questioning those who gossip, and investigating those who do so. A "Bishop" is a High Priest in the Melchizedek Priesthood! Yet, he hold a Aaronic office! So too Elders may be Deacons and Teachers and Priests too. All men under 18 should be Junior Deacons and Junior Teachers and Junior Priests; under the supervision of Deacons, Teachers, and Priests. And allow Teaches (the mature men) to actually TEACH by teaching new converts and giving talks in Sacrament. Our current "teachers" don't teach! The way the Church is currently doing things regarding this, with "teachers" not teachcing, and "Deacons" not investigating gossip, is not in accordance with the Revelations in the D&C.
Those are my suggestions. Thank you.
I mailed this to the Brethren (their home addresses....those that I could find) several years ago. Why? Because, the Mormon Church is going to continue! No matter if God himself came down and said "It ain't true!" The Church WILL continue. It is too big NOT to continue. So, why not make it as liveable as possible? Daheshism teaches that we are judged solely by our "works". A follower of Sun Myung Moon, who believes he is the Messiah, will not burn in Hell forever, as the stupid Evangelicals preach. We are judged by how we "treat" others, that is all. The Mormon Church will continue. Why not make it more palatable?